Monday, February 19, 2024

Why did Noach build Ark?

 Rabbeinu Bachya (Bereishis 6:15) You may be inclined to ask that seeing G-d was able to save all these people and animals by working a miracle, why did He bother to command Noach to spend 120 years of his life to build the Ark altogether? Surely, G-d had a number of other alternatives once He had decided to invoke miracles! For instance, He could have enabled the people and animals who were meant to survive to walk on water, or some other miracle not involving 120 years of Noach’s time. The answer to such questions is that the Torah always instructs man to do all in his power to achieve his objective by natural means. If, for reasons beyond his control, man cannot complete his task, G-d will supply the amount of miracle needed to bring man’s deserving endeavor to a successful conclusion. If you will examine other miracles reported in the Torah you will always find that though G-d intervened in the most miraculous manner, there were always elements in what happened which were based on the laws of nature being made full use of. 

1 comment:

  1. During the height of CoVID when the vaccination drive had started, I had a patient in the ER who told me he was refusing to take the vaccine. He believed that JC would protect him as he was a devout and faithful Chrisian. So I asked him "How come Noah had to build a boat? I mean, couldn't God have given him water wings or turned him into Aquaman? Why put 120 years into building a boat?"

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