Commentary for Genesis 6:13

קץ כל בשר THE END OF ALL FLESH — Wherever you find lewdness and idolatry, punishment of an indiscriminate character comes upon the world killing good and bad alike (Genesis Rabbah 26:5).

VIOLENCE, that is, robbery and oppression. Now G-d gave Noah the explanation [that the flood was due to the fact that the “the earth is filled with] violence” and did not mention “the corruption of the way” [recorded in the preceding verse] because violence is a sin that is known and widely publicized. Our Rabbis have said³⁰Sanhedrin 108a. that it was on account of the sin of violence that their fate was sealed. The reason for it is that the prohibition against violence is a rational commandment,³¹Likewise Ramban above 6:2. See also Yehudah Halevi’s Al Khazari, II, 48, that “the rational laws are the basis and preamble of the divine law, preceding it in character and time, and being indispensable in the administration of every human society.” (Hirschfeld’s translation.) there being no need for a prophet to admonish them against it. Besides, it is evil committed against both heaven and mankind. Thus He informed Noah of the sin for which the end is come — the doom is reached.³²See Ezekiel 7:6-7.

The end of all flesh. That is, the end of their 120 year reprieve.

ויאמר אלוקים קץ כל בשר, G'd said: "The end of all flesh, etc." If we accept the sages' interpretation that the "violence" mentioned here comprised such sins as bloodshed, incest, and idolatry, we can understand the harshness of the retribution. If however, the word חמס refers to robbery with violence (compare Rashi based on Sanhedrin 108), why would the victims of the robbery suffer the same fate as the perpetrators of the crime?

ויאמר...קץ כל בשר, the time had arrived for their destruction from the world. The destruction which G’d had threatened before allowing for the 120 years grace period. Not only had they not mended their ways, but they had become ever more corrupt.

כי מלאה הארץ חמס , “for the earth has become saturated with violence.” The Torah states here that the decree to destroy mankind was not finalized until the anarchy, i.e. indiscriminate violence, had made the establishment of a civilized society a utopian dream. Robbery is a basic commandment of the seven universally applicable prohibitions given to mankind, a commandment which any group of people would have invented for themselves had such laws not been formulated by the Creator Himself and been conveyed by one of His prophets. Non-observance of such basic laws leads to the destruction of mankind.

Upheaval comes upon the world. Not that upheaval will definitely come; but if death is decreed upon them, it is of this type.

קץ von קצץ (verwandt mit גזז): abschneiden, daher das Ende, wo etwas aufhört. "Das Ende alles Fleisches ist vor mich gekommen", kann heißen: die Verhältnisse alles Fleisches sind in ein solches Stadium getreten, dass sie mich auffordern, dem ein Ende zu machen. Oder wahrscheinlicher: wenn ich nicht einschreite, geht alles Fleisch von selbst völlig zu Grunde, "sein Ende ist bereits vor mich gekommen." Wie schon oben durch למינהו gesagt, ist das Gedeihen des Geschlechtes an die geschlechtliche Gattungsreinheit also geknüpft, dass, wenn Gott spricht, die Erde soll blühen, implizit damit die geschlechtliche Reinheit bedingt ist. Wenn daher השחית כל בשר את דרכו על הארץ, so ist ihr קץ von selbst da, und wenn Gott nicht eingeschritten wäre, so wäre auch selbst der noch mit Noa zu rettende reine Funke unrettbar verloren gewesen. Dann dürfte auch das מפניהם zu verstehen sein. מפני heißt nämlich immer: ein sich Zurückziehen vor etwas aus einem Gefühle der Unterordnung, der Angst, der Rücksicht u. dgl. Wir haben schon erwähnt, dass חמס auch von leblosen Dingen vorkommt, ויחמס כגפן בסרו usw. Vielleicht hier ebenso: "Das Ende alles Fleisches ist vor mich gekommen." Wenn dies so weiter geht, gibt es keine Zukunft für den Menschen mehr; denn "aus Furcht vor ihnen" ist bereits die Erde voller חמס geworden, sie entzieht ihnen schon ihre Kräfte aus Scheu vor der Unsittlichkeit, dem Raube und dem Morde, die sie mit ihnen unterstützen würde. והיה מקול זנותה ותחנף הארץ (Jirm. 3. 9), הדם יחניף את 33.53( ץראה.M.B .4(, היבשוי תחת הפנח ץראהו )mriJ. 5.42םתיחשמ יננהו, הנה — .) Partikel des Darreichens, Gewährens. Mit הנה entspricht man den Anforderungen, die aus den Verhältnissen sich ergeben. Also: diesem gegenüber schreite ich Verderben bringend ein; allein dies Verderben ist keine Vernichtung, ist die von den Verhältnissen dringend geforderte Rettung.

כי מלאה הארץ חמס FOR THE EARTH IS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE — Their fate was sealed only on account of their sin of robbery (Sanhedrin 108a).

AND BEHOLD, I WILL DESTROY THEM ‘ETH’ THE EARTH. This is similar to saying “from the earth.” So also: When I go forth ‘eth’ the city,³³Exodus 9:29. [meaning “from the city”]; he suffered ‘eth’ his feet,³⁴I Kings 15:23. [meaning “from his feet”]. Another interpretation is that eth ha’aretz means “with the earth” for even the land was blotted out to the depth of a furrow of three handbreadths. Thus the language of Rashi quoting Bereshith Rabbah.³⁵31:7.
And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the word mashchitham (destroy them) draws along with it a similar word, [meaning it is as if the verb “destroy” appears twice in the verse], thus stating, “And behold, I will destroy them and destroy the earth.”
By way of the truth [the mystic teaching of the Cabala],³⁶See Bereshith, Note 63. this is like the verse, eth hashamayim ve’eth ha’aretz (the heaven and the earth),³⁷Above, 1:1. thus intimating that “the earth”³⁸Here referring to “the earth of immortal life.” will be destroyed, and with the destruction of the earth they too will be destroyed and thus they will be blotted out from the World to Come, just as is intimated in the verse: and it grieved Him at His heart.³⁹Above, 6:6. See Ramban there. It is to this that the Rabbis alluded in Bereshith Rabbah:⁴⁰31:7. “This is like a master’s son who had a wet-nurse; whenever he would commit an offense the wet-nurse would be punished.”⁴¹“So, said the Holy One, blessed be He: ‘I will destroy them and destroy the earth with them.’” (Bereshith Rabbah.)

בא לפני, this period has now expired.

בא לפני, we have explained the word בא already elsewhere as meaning “that the time had arrived before Me.” The same expression is used in Jonah 1,2 when G’d describes the impending fate of the people of Nineveh in the words כי עלתה רעתם לפני, meaning that the effect of the wickedness had reached Him. The קץ described in our verse is the natural reaction to the effect the wickedness of the people had on G’d when it confronted Him.

והנני משחיתם את הארץ, “and I am about to destroy them together with the earth.” According to Rashi the word את is to be understood as מן from, i.e. “I will destroy them from the face of the earth.” According to Ibn Ezra the word משחיתם drags the next word with it, i.e. G’d will destroy the earth together with man [as an earth without man has no purpose. Ed.]

The good and the bad. I.e., normally it kills bad and good alike. But here, it did not kill the good along with the bad. (Maharshal)

Although one might answer that everybody indulged in robbery, each one according to what he thought he could get away with, our sages (Vayikra Rabbah 23,9) have explained the matter differently when they said that in any society in which sexual licentiousness abounds retribution will strike both the wicked and the good people. Therefore we must understand our verse as saying that though the decree to destroy mankind was sealed because of the prevalence of robbery with violence, the fact that amongst all the sins there were many instances of sexual licentiousness and promiscuity resulted in the retribution including also those who were innocent of robbery. You may ask that all these people could have saved themselves from Divine retribution by each one forgiving the other? As a result of this G'd would not have sealed the evil decree! Perhaps G'd did not want to reveal the effectiveness of mutual forgiveness to anyone but Noach. Noach in turn was not able to reveal this secret to his contemporaries seeing that unless G'd tells a person to communicate revelations made to him to others, such revelations are confidential communications from G'd. One of the reasons G'd did not want this secret revealed to Noach's contemporaries may have been that they all remained guilty of having committed robbery. The sin of robbery cannot be atoned for by simply offering the sinner your forgiveness without making restitution. Although the Midrash mentioned types of robbery which are not subject to prosecution, these types of robbery were not the only ones perpetrated by the people of Noach's time. The people of that generation indulged in every form of robbery. Whenever they confronted someone stronger than themselves they resorted to the kind of trickery described by the Midrash. Otherwise they had no qualms about simply grabbing what they fancied.

את הארץ, the word את, at the end of the verse, includes all the previously not spelled out creatures on earth. An example of such indirect references is: Exodus 19,5: כי לי כל הארץ, “for the entire earth is Mine,” where the word כל substitutes for: “all the creatures on.”

את הארץ [I WILL DESTROY THEM] WITH THE EARTH — It is similar to מן הארץ "from the earth”; other examples of this use of את are: (Exodus 9:29) בצאתי ‘‘when I go forth” את העיר which means מן העיר “from the city” and (1 Kings 15:23) חלה ‘‘he suffered” את רגליו which means מן רגליו ‘‘from his feet”. Another explanation of את הארץ is: “together with the earth” — for the earth was blotted out and washed away to the depth of a furrow of three handbreadths (Genesis Rabbah 31:7).

The earth is filled with violent crime. A landlord would steal openly from his tenant farmer while the tenant farmer stole surreptitiously from the landlord in return. Thus all the earth’s bounty went to thieves.

כי מלאה הארץ חמס, the word מפניהם belongs next to the words בא לפני, i.e. on account of the violence they have perpetrated. Our sages (Sanhedrin 108) say behold how powerful is the sin of violence seeing that the generation of the deluge was not wiped out in spite of all their other sins until they had become guilty of indiscriminate violence. Iit was only then that the decree of their destruction was sealed.

Only because of robbery. You might ask: Did Rashi not say before that upheaval comes upon the world because of lewdness, implying that they died because of lewdness? The answer is: Both sins played a part. For just robbery, only the wicked people’s fate would be sealed. And for just lewdness, no one’s fate would be sealed. But now since both sins were present, fate was sealed for the wicked and the good alike. We are forced to make this distinction because otherwise the verses are in contradiction. For first it says, “For all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth,” and then it is written, “Elohim said to Noach: ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me.’” This implies that the Flood was due to lewdness. But then it is written, “For the earth is filled with violent crime” — implying that the Flood was due to robbery. Perforce, it means as explained. This answers another question: If “The earth was corrupt” means lewdness and idolatry, as Rashi said before, why does Scripture go on to mention only lewdness but not idolatry? For it is written, “For all flesh had corrupted its way,” which means lewdness, as Rashi himself explained. [The answer is:] There was no death penalty for idolatry [alone. Furthermore, it alone] would not kill the good and the wicked alike. [Thus idolatry was not mentioned, since it did not change the decree]. Furthermore, each stole his fellow’s wife, an act that involves both robbery and lewdness. So their fate was in fact sealed for both. The Maharshal asks: Why did Rashi (v. 11) not mention robbery together with lewdness and idolatry? The answer is: It is written right before, “Elohim saw,” implying sins between man and God. But robbery is a sin between man and his fellow.

The reason G'd explained to Noach exactly what sins prompted Him to decree destruction of the species was to motivate him to build the ark so that all living creatures could be preserved until after the deluge.

והנני משחיתם את הארץ, so that now I will destroy them together with the earth. I will destroy the climate which could support life on earth by interfering with the sun’s orbit and rearranging it from the beginning of the deluge for the entire future. We find that G’d explained this to Job In Job 38, 4-15. This accounts for the lifespan of man having been drastically reduced after the deluge. The climate of the earth changed, there were greater extremes of heat and cold, the produce of the earth was considerably less capable of supporting a long lifespan. As a by-product of this deterioration in the quality of the vegetable products, man was allowed to eat meat as a compensation.

משחיתם, seeing that the people had deliberately corrupted their way of life, G’d matches the punishment to the crime by depriving them of the control they used to exert over nature inasmuch as it effected their habitat, earth.

Together with the earth. The first explanation raises the question: Why is it not written מארץ? Thus Rashi brings the alternate explanation, “together with the earth.” But this raises the question: Since את is not an adjective, why is it not written עם? Thus Rashi needs the first explanation as well. (Maharshal)

Next we must explain what prompted Noach not to ask G'd to have mercy on the people of his time (as did Abraham when G'd told him He would destroy Sodom). It appears that Abraham learned from Noach not to bother to ask that G'd spare a city when there were fewer than ten good people in it. Unless he had learned this from Noach, who told Abraham that it would be futile to pray for the survival of a city which contained fewer than ten righteous people?

את, in this instance it means the same as מן, “from.” A parallel verse in which the word את is used in this sense is Exodus 9,29 כצאתי את העיר, “as soon as I leave the city.” Another such example is found in Genesis 44,4 הם יצאו את העיר “they had just departed from the city.”

That also three handbreadths. For up to a depth of three handbreadths it is called ארץ, but further down it is called אדמה. And here it is written את הארץ.

Noach became convinced from what G'd told him that any prayer of his would be futile, that the fate of these people had been sealed beyond reprieve. All of this is contained in the words: "the end of all flesh has come before Me, here I am about to destroy them." When G'd told Abraham (Genesis 18,20-21) about the sinful nature of the people of Sodom He did not use such kind of language at all. On the contrary, He told Abraham that He was going to examine if what had come to His attention was indeed so, etc. While it is true that in the case of Sodom G'd carried out His decree as soon as He had confirmed the true state of affairs, G'd wanted to demonstrate to Abraham that He does not exercise His power arbitrarily. We have explained in that connection that G'd spoke to Abraham in a manner that invited him to pray on behalf of the doomed cities. Something similar occurred during the episode of the golden calf when G'd proclaimed His intent to wipe out the Jewish people in such a way that Moses saw an opening for his prayer. None of these openings were provided for Noach.

One cannot argue that if G'd did not want Noach to pray for his contemporaries, He did not have to tell Noach what He was going to do and why. G'd needed to tell Noach in order that the latter build the ark. This commandment alone convinced Noach that it would be useless to pray on behalf of the people. Abraham concluded from the fact that Noach and his family were not enough to save the earth from the deluge that fewer than ten good people could not save a town from destruction.