פירוש על בראשית 5:32

בן חמש מאות שנה FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD — R. Judan said: “How is it that all the previous generations had children at the age of hundred years and this one (Noah) at the age of 500 years? The Holy One, blessed be He, said, “If they (Noah’s children) be wicked, they will perish by the water of the Flood and it will grieve this righteous man; if they be righteous, I shall have to trouble him to construct several arks.” He therefore restrained him from having children until he was 500 years old, in order that Japhet, the oldest of his sons (cf. Rashi on Genesis 10:21) should not reach the punishable age before the Flood. For it is written (Isaiah 65:20), “For as a lad shall one die when he is one hundred years old”, meaning, that in the future time, he will only then be of punishable age, and this was so, too, before the giving of the Torah (Genesis Rabbah 26:2) .

ויהי נח בן חמש מאות שנה, we do not know why Noach waited for such a long time to sire children, seeing that all the generations who had preceded him generally sired children at about the age of 100. It appears that the early generations did not chase after women during their youth and did not feel the need to mate and settle down until they had become close to 100 years old. When they did marry, their main concern was to leave offspring behind them, not to indulge their libido. They were aware according to what they had observed that they had a long lifespan at their disposal. This belief was reinforced by their confidence that their lifestyle was pleasing in the eyes of G’d. Noach, who had observed the corrupt ways of his contemporaries wanted to hold off siring children, because he was afraid that any children of his might also be displeasing in the eyes of G’d. He waited until he was 500 years old when he felt the urgent need to mate with a woman. It is also possible, that he had prophetic insight, i.e. that G’d told him to get married and to sire children. These children were good, but Cham was not as good as his brothers. Noach did not produce daughters. According to Bereshit Rabbah 26,2 G’d had reasoned that in the event that Noach’s children turned out to be wicked, He did not want them to die in the deluge. In the event they should turn out to be good people, G’d’ did not want Noach to have to construct separate cabins for all of them in the ark so that they could enjoy their privacy. G’d therefore made Noach sterile until he reached the age of 500. According to the view of Rabbi Eleazar, son of Rabbi Yossi Haglili, even Yaphet, Noach’s eldest, was not quite 100 years old when the deluge began and people under 100 years of age were not considered culpable for their deeds in those times.

I would have to burden him to build many arks. Maharam Yafeh objected: On the contrary, if they would be righteous, together with their wives they would be more than ten and would protect the world, and no arks would be needed! For Rashi explains in Parshas Vayera (18:32) that Avraham did not pray [for Sedom to be saved] for less than ten tzaddikim, since [he knew that] the generation of the Flood had eight tzaddikim, and it did not save their generation. This implies that ten tzaddikim would save their generation. The answer is: Ten tzaddikim would not save the whole generation from the Flood; they would save their city only. Consequently, “I would have to burden him to build many arks” for all the inhabitants of their city, as the Flood would still come and wipe out the rest of the world. (Tzeidah L’Derech)

Im Gegensatz zu allen Früheren hat Noa sich erst so spät verheiratet, und heißt es daher nicht wie bei den übrigen einfach: ויחי, sondern ויהי בן; ein Gegensatz, dessen Bedeutung durch das folgende noch klarer hervortritt. — Schem, Cham und Japhet werden uns noch später in ihrer charakteristischen Eigentümlichkeit vorgeführt.

ויהי נח בן חמש מאות שנה ויולד, “When Noach was five hundred years old, he begat;” people knew that the deluge was about to occur, as explained by Rashi already in connection with the attitudes displayed by the wives of Lemech (the descendant of Kayin); he therefore delayed becoming a father until G-d had promised him that he and his children would survive. [Up until then, the Torah had reported of people beginning to father children around the age of 100. Ed.] (based on an ancient version of Tanchuma)

את שם ואת חם ואת יפת SHEM, HAM AND JAPHETH — But was not Japheth the eldest? But you naturally first interest yourself in Shem who was a righteous man, who was born circumcised (a sign of righteousness) and from whom Abraham was to descend (Genesis Rabbah 26:3).

ויולד נח את שם, את חם, ואת יפת, in the opinion of our sages (Sanhedrin 69) Yaphet was the oldest. They derived this from Genesis 11,10 where the Torah writes ויהי שם בן מאה שנה ויולד את ארפחשד שנתים אחר המבול, “Shem was 100 tears old when he begat Arpachshad 2 years after the deluge.” If Shem had been the eldest, he would have been 100 years old already at the end of or during the deluge, not 2 years later. We think that Shem was born during Noach’s 501st year, allowing for the fact that the year was a leap year, and his wife had become pregnant when Noach married her when he was 500 years old. The deluge commenced in the 600th year of Noach’s life. As a result, Shem was 99 years old when he entered the ark at the start of the deluge. After the deluge he was only 100 years old. How could the Torah describe him as 100 years old 2 years after the deluge? We must therefore conclude that Yaphet was the eldest. This is also how we must understand Genesis 10,21 אחי יפת הגדול, “the brother of Yaphet, the senior.” Even though our sages have arrived at this conclusion, we must wonder why, every time, the three brothers are mentioned together, Shem is always mentioned as the first one. Surely, this suggests that Shem was the oldest. The words “2 years after the deluge,” may be understood as “2 years after the beginning of the deluge.” At that time Shem would have been 99 years old as we have mentioned already. When the Torah speaks of his son being born 2 years after the deluge, we must understand this as at the beginning of the second year after the deluge.

Of punishable age. You might ask: Rashi already explained what would happen if Noach would have children before the age of five hundred, why was that explanation not sufficient? The answer is: It still needed to be explained what Noach gained by waiting, for if his children would be wicked they too would be destroyed! Thus the second reason is needed, that Noach’s children would not be of punishable age, thus Noach’s merit can save them even if they would be wicked. But all the other people who were not of punishable age were destroyed nonetheless, since they had no [saving] merit. Thus, only one ark was needed. For Noach’s children were not considered righteous just because they were below punishable age — only in Noach’s merit were they saved, which is why Noach did not build a separate ark for each of them.

And so it was before the Torah was given. This raises a difficulty: Later, in Parshas Chayei Sarah (23:1), Rashi explains: “When Sarah was one hundred years old, she was like a twenty year old regarding sin.” This implies that from the age of twenty, she was already at a punishable age. Furthermore, Yaakov and his sons did not live to be one hundred and fifty. How could it be that for two thirds of their lives, they were not of punishable age? (Nachalas Yaakov, see further explanation there)

First you must discuss... Question: [If so,] why is Yefes not mentioned after Shem, [as he too was righteous]? The answer is: The Torah did not wish to change [the order] too much. Since Shem and Cham were born one after the other, it did not interrupt between them. (Maharshal)