Gen 5;29 And he called his name Noah, saying: 'This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, which cometh from the ground which the LORD hath cursed.'
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| Birth of Noah [http://misteroriginal.com/4120bc0814/] |
Strong's #5162: nacham (pronounced naw-kham') a primitive root; properly, to sigh, i.e. breathe strongly; by implication, to be sorry, i.e. (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself):--comfort (self), ease (one's self), repent(-er,-ing, self).A little speculation here. We know that Noah didn't give them comfort - after all, they all died in the flood, and Lamech himself died five years before the flood. Lamech's statement was prophetic, but perhaps it was more of a question than a statement. I can picture Lamech (and all mankind) scrabbling out an existence due to the curse of thorns and thistles (Gen 3:17), heaving a sigh saying "May this one bring us comfort". Was it hope or frustration?
Labor
Lamech wanted relief from "our work and in the toil of our hands". I know what you're thinking, "What's this got to do with Adam and Eve?" There is the obvious connection that the curse of thorns and thistles was Adam's punishment. But there is a linguistic connection as well, the Hebrew for toil (some translations say labor) is itzavon עִצָּבוֹן, the same word used in Gen 3:17.
Gen 3:17 cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life
Gen 3:18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee
But that's not all. Eve's punishment involved pain too.
Gen 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children."In fact, it's the same word for pain as in Adam's curse - itzabon. It's the same in English too, women suffer labor pains in childbirth, and men labor making a living from the earth. Since woman still suffer greatly in childbirth, it appears Eve's curse has not been lifted yet, not even a little. If Lamech's wife had made the prayer, perhaps it would have been...
Rest
Noah's name also means rest. The New American Standard Bible translates it this way.
Gen 5:29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will give us rest from our work"It seems even easier to imagine Lamech sighing and saying "Perhaps this one will give us rest". Rest fits nicely with the Sabbath day of rest, six days of labor, a day of rest, 6000 years of strife, 1000 years of peace, all foreshadowed by Noah. It also fits nicely with Christ's words.
Mt 11:28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.and
Heb 4:9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Sigh Two
Now let's see the other sigh of the story. When God saw that all mankind was wicked, it records this.
Gen 6:6 And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
Gen 6:7 The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."
Gen 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
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| Model of Noah'sArk [2] |
God Suffers With Us
We can think of God as unfeeling, as the Prime Mover, not subject to pain like humans. "Classic theism teaches that God is impassible—not subject to suffering, pain, or the ebb and flow of involuntary passions." God Without Mood Swings [3]. This notion came from the Greeks, not the Bible, The God Who Suffers, Christianity Today [4]. The articles quoted here show that God suffers with us, arguably suffers more than us.
As John Austin Baker says, "The crucified Jesus is the only accurate picture of God the world has ever seen." The sight of Jesus on the cross disclosed God as one who suffers with humanity. [4]
the God who suffered for us also suffers with us The God Who Suffers With Us [5]
This isn't some literary device so we humans can comprehend that God is "feeling our pain", this was real pain that carved His heart out. It is not just the pain a parent feels when their child is ill or hurts themselves, worse than the pain I caused my mother in my misspent youth. He suffers right along with us. I have felt abandoned by God even though I knew the scripture that He will never forsake us (Heb 13:5), but that is nothing compared to how Christ must have felt on the cross.
These two sighs seem to be born of frustration, but they also reveal insights into the gospel of God, one foreseeing mankind's salvation through Noah, and one speaking of mankind's destruction.
Notice that the salvation was arranged before the destruction. The fix was in. The same is true of Christ's second coming, rescue planned long before the end time destruction on the earth.
And Hope
These two sighs seem to be born of frustration, but they also reveal insights into the gospel of God, one foreseeing mankind's salvation through Noah, and one speaking of mankind's destruction.
Lamech: Perhaps he will give us rest.
God: I'm sorry I made man.
Notice that the salvation was arranged before the destruction. The fix was in. The same is true of Christ's second coming, rescue planned long before the end time destruction on the earth.
References
2. https://leesbirdblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/noahs-ark-c2a9c2a9flickr-elmada.jpg
3. http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/impassib.htm
4. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/february3/7t2038.html
5. http://www.myronjtaylor.com/pdf/withus.pdf
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