창세기 6:3의 주석

לא ידון רוחי באדם MY SPIRIT SHALL NOT STRIVE AGAINST MAN — My Spirit shall not be in a state of discontent and shall not strive with Myself because of man.

‘BESHAGAM’ (FOR THAT ALSO) HE IS FLESH. It is as if beshagam were written beshegam with a segol under the shin. And Rashi explained: “This quality is also in him, that he is only flesh, and yet he is not humble before Me. What would he do if he were made of fire or some hard substance.” This explanation has neither rhyme nor reason.
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that G-d said, “My spirit will not abide in man forever because of this violence and also because man is flesh, and when he reaches a certain age he disintegrates.” Ibn Ezra thus understands the verse as if it said, gam beshehu basar (also because he is flesh). But what need is there for stating this contention when it is known that they were but flesh.⁴⁹⁶Psalms 78:39. and death had been decreed on them, as it says, For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return?⁴⁹⁷Above, 3:19.
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that G-d said: “My spirit shall not abide in man forever because man also is flesh as all flesh that creepeth upon the earth in the forms of fowl and cattle and beast, and it is not fitting that the spirit of G-d be within him.” The purport is to state that G-d made man upright⁴⁹⁸Ecclesiastes 7:29. to be like the ministering angels by virtue of the soul He gave him. But he was drawn after the flesh and corporeal desires; he is like the beasts that perish,⁴⁹⁹Psalms 49:13. and therefore the spirit of G-d will no longer be sheathed in him for he is corporeal and not godly. However, He will prolong for them [this withdrawal of spirit] if they repent. The sense of this verse is thus similar to [the verse in Psalm 49]: So He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

לא ידון, G’d says that He cannot continue to weigh if to destroy mankind or not constantly, בשגם, although He is making allowances בשר, for the fact that they are largely composed of flesh; nonetheless they keep deteriorating so that He is forced to put an end to them.

לא ידון רוחי באדם לעולם בשגם הוא בשר, it is intolerable that there will continue the argument, strife before Me allowing (the angels?) to claim that although seeing that man has been endowed with divine qualities he must be punished, whereas his close ties to physical earth must be considered as excuses for his conduct, entitling him to continued mercy, and indulgence by Me.

ויאמר השם לא ידון רוחי. G'd said: "My spirit will not abide in man permanently." This verse needs someone to explain it. Our sages have given numerous explanations to it without explaining the plain meaning of the verse. It appears that the Torah wishes to tell us that a change occurred in G'd's dealing with man. During the lifetime of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel, G'd personally had rebuked man for any misdemeanour. When man's deeds became increasingly repulsive to G'd, He decided not to deal with them on such an intimate basis.

ויאמר ה' לא ידון רוחי באדם לעולם, G’d either said this to Himself, or to Noach. My father of blessed memory (Joseph Kimchi) explained the line לא ידון in the same sense as the word מדון in Proverbs 15,18 as referring to a struggle, strife. The soul G’d had blown into Adam’s nostrils was meant as an antidote to the pull of the raw material man was made of. The body, basically is in tow of the animalistic urges of the animals, something natural, seeing that man’s own body is made of the same raw material as are the animals. G’d now decided to grant man an extension of 120 years to do תשובה, repentance, failing which He would wipe out mankind from the earth. Other commentators, including Ibn Ezra, explain the word ידון as related to נדנה in Chronicles I 21,27 וישב חרבו אל נדנה, “he returned his sword to its sheath.” Actually, if correct, the word ידון should have been spelled with a dagesh in the letterד, replacing the missing letter נ, however, in this instance, instead of such a dagesh, the Torah simply omitted the letter נ at the beginning, as it did in Genesis 25,29 ויזד יעקב נזיד where the letter נ in front of the letter ז has also been omitted. At any rate, the meaning of the expression is that G’d would not let His spirit rest until both man’s body and spirit would be wiped out.
Rabbi Yishmael son of Yossi, (Bereshit Rabbah 26,6) understood this verse as G’d saying that when the time would come to share out reward to the righteous, these people would not participate in it. He was speaking of ידון in the sense of “passing judgment.” Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish as well as his colleague Rabbi Yannai, said that there is no such thing as the popular concept of a hell, gehinnom, lasting a long time, but that at the time when G’d passes out judgment the wicked will be burned by the fiery heat of a flame. They based themselves on Maleachi 3,19 הנה יום בא בוער כתנור, “here a day will come when the fire will burn as in a furnace.” The other sages said that there most certainly is such a thing as gehinnom, as we have a verse in Isaiah 31,9 נאום ה' אשר אור לו בציון ותנור לו בירושלים, “says the Lord Who has a fire in Zion and an oven in Jerusalem.” Rabbi Yehudah bar Ila-i claims there is neither a specific day, nor a specific place such as gehinnom, but fire will come forth from the very bodies of the wicked and will consume them with its heat. He based himself on Isaiah 33,11 תהרו חשש תלדו קש רוחכם אש תאכלתם, “you shall conceive hay, give birth to straw; My breath will devour you like fire.”
We have also written what the sages of the Midrash wrote concerning the matter of gehinnom in connection with Genesis 1,31 וירא אלוקים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד, “G’d saw all that He had made and here it was very good;” the point made there was that the word טוב refers to Gan Eden, whereas the expression טוב מאד, refers to gehinnom. [refer to page 72 in my translation. Ed.] Rabbi Yehudah in the name of Rabbi Ila-i (also in Bereshit Rabbah 26,6) interprets the words לא ידון רוחי עוד, that “these wicked spirits of man will never be allowed to come to rest before Me.” Various sages concur that the generation destroyed during the deluge will neither be judged for an afterlife during the time that the world awaits its own rejuvenation, nor will it be judged (if any are fit) to be resurrected in the world following the interval between our present world being turned into chaos and the subsequent resurrection of the deserving from the former world. (Sanhedrin 107)

בשגם הוא בשר, “seeing that he is part flesh.” According to Rashi G’d said that if man, made partially of soft issue such as flesh, did not bring himself to humble himself in His Presence, how much worse would he be if made of a hard substance or of fire? Ibn Ezra claims that G’d said: “My spirit will never prevail within man, on account of this sin (the practice of indiscriminate violence) coupled with the fact that the raw material he is made of, i.e. flesh, which will cause him to die so that only his spirit (soul) will return to Me.” [once his spirit leaves him his flesh will decompose. Ed Maimonides explains the meaning of the verse to be that G’d’s spirit will never prevail in man seeing that the fact that he too is made of flesh like all other moving creatures, ensures that he will die just as all creatures die and disintegrate. He therefore does not deserve that G’d’s spirit be at home within him. What Maimonides means is that whereas G’d had given man a divine soul such as He gave to the angels, they had chosen to prefer to emphasise the physical part of themselves, be more like the animals so that they do not deserve the gift G’d had given them.

לא ידון רוחי באדם לעולם, “My spirit will not contend evermore concerning Man, etc.” Actually, the word ידון is derived from נדנה, a word which we encounter in Daniel 7,15 אנא דניאל בגוא נדנה, “I, Daniel, my spirit was uneasy in its sheath;” the sheath of a sword is called either נדנה or תיק. In a similar manner the body is the sheath of the soul. What our verse means is that “My Spirit,” i.e. the soul, will not ever find a permanent home within the body of Man. The composition of Man’s body after it had become corrupt is simply not fit to be a permanent home for such a lofty intelligent spirit as the soul.

His days shall be. Hashem saw that their long life spans were not to their benefit because after years of struggle the body inevitably defeated the soul, dragging it down to its own level.

Due to manAccordingly,] the ב of באדם is similar to (29:20): “So Yaakov worked for Rochel (ברחל),” which means “due to Rochel.”

והיו ימיו מאה ועשרים שנה, it is possible that G’d extended their life spans for another 120 years, seeing the measure of their sin was not yet full. We have the Torah on record as the Emorites’ measure of sin not being complete, and that as a result of this the Israelites could not yet dispossess them (Genesis 15,16). Abusing one’s G’d given tzelem is something that cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely. David already summed this up in Psalms 82,6 when he quoted G’d as saying: אני אמרתי אלוהים אתם ובני עליון כלכם, אכן כאדם תמותון, “I had said that you are all divine beings, sons of the most High; all of you, but you shall die as men do, etc.”

Als diese Vermischung überhand nahm, sprach Gott: לא ידון רוחי באדם לעולם בשגם הוא בשר. Es kann nicht heißen: Mein Geist soll nicht ewig wider den Menschen streiten. Abgesehen davon, dass דון nie mit — konstruiert wird (ידין בגוים heißt: unter den Völkern, in ihrer Mitte), dass das Zeitwort דון auch wohl kaum sonst streiten, sondern nur richten heißt, so gehört hier dem Akzente nach רוחי zu באדם und bildet einen Begriff mit ihm. רוחי בארם ist vielmehr das Subjekt des Satzes: Mein Geist in dem Menschen, d. i. der göttliche Geist, den ich dem Menschen eingehaucht habe, dieser Geist sollte der דַיָן sein, die Stimme Gottes, die den Menschen im Menschen selber richtet. "Die Seele des Menschen selbst ist die Gotteslampe, mit der Gott hineinleuchtet in des Menschen geheimstes Innere" die Handlungen des Menschen nicht nur sieht, sondern auch beurteilt. Auf diesem den Menschen selbst richtenden Gottesgeist im Menschen beruht es, dass, trotz der Vermischung, auf einen Kenan doch ein Mahalallel folgt usw. dass auf ein gesunkenes Geschlecht stets ein gehobenes wieder folgen kann. Allein dieser Richter ist auch der Bestechung zugänglich, er lässt sich einschläfern, es ist sogar möglich, dass seine Stimme immer mehr betäubt, dass das Sinnliche im Laufe von Generationen immer mehr in dem Menschen geweckt werde, und der Richtergeist im Menschen endlich sein Amt niederlege. Nicht umsonst stellt das göttliche Gesetz die Keuschheits- und Ehegesetze so sehr in den Vordergrund. Es wird uns hier gezeigt, wie sie das Wach- bleiben des Gottesgeistes im Menschen bedingen. Als Gott sah, dass die Söhne des göttlichen Geschlechts ohne Wahl bei ihrer Verheiratung vorangingen, sprach er "Nun wird mein Geist im Menschen sein Richteramt nicht ewig üben". Das bisherige Verhältnis, in welchem die Entwicklung, wenn gleich keine stetig aufsteigende, doch auch keine stetig abwärts steigende, sondern mehr eine Wellenlinie bildete, wird nicht mehr lange so andauern, בשגם הוא בשר, indem ja der Mensch auch sinnlich ist, dem רוח steht ja auch בשר im Menschen gegenüber, dem Gottesgeiste der für Sinnlichkeit empfang■ liche Leib, und dieser im reinen Menschen durch Unterordnung des בשר unter den רוח ד׳ באדם zu endende Gegensatz, kann durch eine solche fortgesetzte, dem Göttlichen keine Rechnung tragende Vermischung auch mit dem Gegenteil, mit der Begrabung des Geistes durch den Leib enden, und wird, wenn dies ewig so fortgeht, sicherlich damit enden. Darum setzte Gott diesem Treiben eine Frist von 120 Jahren. So lange soll noch der Versuch dieses Kampfes währen.

לא ידון רוחי באדם לעולם, “My spirit will not rule within man forever;” this is a metaphor describing G–d as withholding man’s souls from participating in an afterlife after they had returned for Divine judgment. An alternate explanation: “I will no longer equip man with a heavenly soul.” (B’reyshit Rabbah 26,6.)

לא ידון רוחי באדם, “My spirit will not predominate within man;” according to Rashi, the meaning of this phrase is that G-d feels that He will not continue for much longer to entertain conflicting emotions concerning the future of mankind in such conditions; we find a similar construction as here in Job:2,3 where G-d is on record as telling Satan that nowhere on earth can there be found a man as righteous Job. An alternate exegesis of this phrase: the philological background is נדן ותיק, “returning one sword to its sheath,” quoted by Ibn Ezra, but not attributed to a source that he revealed. The “sheath,” would be man’s body. In other words, man would be reduced to being a body without Divine spirit.

לעולם ALWAYS — for a long time. Behold, My Spirit has been contending within Me whether to destroy or whether to show mercy: such contending (deliberation) shall not be forever — meaning, for a long time.

והיו ימיו, he will be given a certain length of time within which to repent his sins;

My breath shall not abide in man forever. "The spirit of man" is that individual spirit which God implanted into each person, that is, human intellect. A degree above this is one who merits the spirit to understand Torah. Be aware that someone whose desires overcome his intellect, which is the "spirit of man," this normal desire becomes second nature until it destroys his intellect and the "spirit of man" and his intellect then changes to base desire. This will be explained more later on. This is what is meant by God saying "my spirit will not dwell," similar to what our sages say (Berakhot 61b) "A righteous person is judged by his good inclination and an evil person is judged by his evil inclination." "Judged" means that it guides him and he perceives the world and decides what to do based on it. And in God's language "will not dwell" means, my spirit will not guide man, that is, the spirit which I implanted in each person which is the human intellect.

בשגם, the letter ש has the vowel patach, just as the letter ש in Judges 5,10 שקמתי דבורה. The meaning is that “seeing it too is but flesh (and no better than the beasts.).” In other words: “the reason why My spirit will not prevail within man is due to the fact that man like beasts are only flesh.” Even though G’d had implanted man with a divine soul, this soul had been unable to assert itself within him. As a result, G’d said, “I will give him another 120 years during which he has a chance to improve himself, failing which his fate is sealed.” We do not know the special significance of the number 120. This was G’d’s arbitrary decision.

For a long time. You might ask: Why cannot לעולם mean literally, forever? The answer is: Then the verse would imply that Hashem’s spirit will not contend forever, only for a long time. But, afterward it is written, “His days shall be one hundred and twenty years”! This implies that right away, Hashem [tentatively] decreed upon them [to perish after one hundred and twenty years, if they do not repent]. Thus Rashi explains לעולם as “For a long time.” Accordingly, it means that His spirit will not contend for a long time. Rather, [He will tentatively decree upon them] right away.

The word רוחי in our verse therefore means "My Presence." Man had forfeited the privilege of proximity to G'd's Presence. G'd's Presence withdrew from man in direct proportion to his deeds. As long as G'd had confronted man directly whenever He had reason to rebuke them they were on the spiritual level of prophets. When man began to profane himself (meaning of החל in 6,1), he no longer enjoyed that status. In the course of time outstanding individuals, צדיקים, appeared on earth. These individuals succeeded in restoring a closer relationship between man and G'd. After the destruction of the Temple there were no more prophets; the most that remained were individuals who possessed a degree of what our sages describe as רוח הקודש, a measure of holy spirit. Ever since Israel's eyes closed, we no longer have even ריח הקודש, a holy fragrance, not to mention רוח הקודש. The absence of this line of direct communication from G'd is the greatest misfortune for those of us who thirst for at least a fragrance of the holiness of our Father in heaven in order to revive our spirits. The curse we speak about originated with the generation of the deluge. G'd supplies the reason for this in our verse. בשר בשגם הוא, man added to his abominations by adding the sin of בשר, adultery to his other sins. G'd hates sexual permissiveness more than anything else. As a result G'd resented having to communicate directly with such people.

בשגם הוא בשר, this word is an acrostic, the numerical value of its letters totalling 345, as does the numerical value of the letters in the word משה, (Moses) Moses lived for 120 years, meaning that he demonstrated that during 120 years on earth the human being can attain earthly perfection. This presupposes that such a human being had lived by the laws of the Torah. If man had not become corrupted, he could have attained such perfection by his own efforts without having to observe all the laws of the Torah, but it would have taken longer. This is why originally he was allowed to live to almost become one thousand years old. Once man only has a לב בשר, “a heart of flesh,” this process had to be drastically changed. [I have borrowed from the commentary of Rabbi Elie Munk in his “The call of the Torah.” Ed.]

לעולם, for an interminably long period. Compare use of the word לעולם, in Samuel I 1,22. [When Chanah made this vow concerning her son Samuel, she did not use the word as meaning: “forever,” as in: לעולם ועד. Ed.] In Exodus 21,6 where the Torah speaks of the servant who had his ear pierced continuing to serve the same master: לעולם, the meaning also could not possibly have been: “forever.”

בשגם הוא בשר FOR THAT HE ALSO IS FLESH — This is the same as בְּשָׁגַּם — that is to say: because this quality is also in him viz., that he is only flesh, and yet he does not humble himself before Me; what would he do if he were of fire or of some other resisting matter! Similarly we find שַׁ for שָׁ, (Judges 5:7) עד שַׁקמתי דבורה “Until I Deborah arose”, where it is the same as שָׁקמתי; so also (Judges 6:17) שַׁאתה מדבר עמי “that it is thou who talkest with me”, where it is the same as שָׁאתה — so also here.

מאה ועשרים שנה, during which time Noach would have time to construct the ark, and by doing so rebuking and warning people of what is in store for them. (compare Sanhedrin 108)

Whether to destroy or to show mercyhis implies that Hashem did not yet decide definitely to destroy them. But why did Rashi not say that לא ידון רוחי means, “I will not wait anymore for man”? Furthermore, how does Rashi know [that it means Hashem’s spirit was undecided]? The answer is: Otherwise it would imply that Hashem already decided definitely to destroy. And this is not so, for only later it is written (v. 7): “I will obliterate mankind,” and that is the first Divine utterance [on this matter]. But beforehand He did not decide [definitely] to destroy.

The characteristic of the righteous is that they refine the body to give it spiritual content. The characteristic of the wicked is that they do the reverse. They degrade the spirit making it the tool of the body. This leads to the destruction of the universe. G'd referred to this when He said: "My spirit will not find satisfaction in them forever more," not even in the world of eternity. This is because they have turned even their spirit into a tool of the flesh. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 108) states that the people who were destroyed by the deluge do not enjoy a life in the Hereafter.

בשגם הוא בשר, seeing that he is composed only of “flesh,” i.e. a combination of components that will not endure forever. Seeing that he was not meant to live forever anyways, he might as well have his normal lifespan shortened, as longevity did not inspire him to be loyal to his Creator. On the contrary, the illusion of living forever contributed to his feeling unaccountable to Me. (G-d).

והיו ימיו וגו THEREFORE HIS DAYS SHALL BE etc. — For 120 years I will be long-suffering with them, and if they repent not I shall bring a flood upon them. If, now, you object, saying that from the birth of Japheth until the Flood there were only 100 years, remember that there is no “earlier” or “later” in the Torah (events are not always related in chronological order) (Pesachim 6b): the decree (regarding the Flood) was issued twenty years before Noah had any children — so we find in Seder Olam. There are many Midrashic explanations of the words לא ידון but this is transparently its plain sense.

With a segol. I.e., if the shin has a segol it becomes an expression of גם. Similarly, שַקמתי (Shoftim 5:7) is like שֶקמתי, and שַאתה (ibid 6:17) is like שֶאתה. Rashi added the words זאת בו because otherwise the verse implies another [creature] of flesh, and “also” man is of flesh. But there is no other [creature spoken of here].

Another way of understanding our verse is based on the use of the term רוחי. Whereas G'd frequently cancels an evil decree due to considerations of His attribute of Mercy, in this case G'd announced that the decree was irrevocable. Normally, G'd applies the attribute of Mercy because He keeps in mind that man is a mixture of flesh and spirit. In this particular case G'd gave notice בשגם הוא בשר, that the decree was final although man is also flesh.

והיו ימיו מאה ועשרים שנה, “and his (average) life span shall be one hundred and twenty years.” On this Rashi comments that the Torah is not restricted to report events in their chronological order. When we learned in Pessachim 6, that when the subject is a single one, the rule of the Torah not being bound to report them in chronological order does not apply, so that here we would be faced with a contradiction, this is not so. We are dealing here with two separate subjects. Consider that from the birth of Yephet until the onset of the deluge only 100 years had elapsed, seeing the Torah testified that Noach, who was 600 years old at the outbreak of the deluge, had only married and become a father at the age of five hundred. The Torah was concerned with the moral image of Noach, and so that the world would not be able to say that Noach had sired a child knowing that it would perish after he knew already that G-d would destroy the human race, (Genesis 6,7) the Torah reported Noach’s having sired Shem already before it referred to G-d’s resolve to destroy the human race. G-d’s decision to destroy mankind (bar Noach and his family) had not been revealed to anyone including Noach until 6,13. Rashi offers a similar commentary on Genesis 11,32, where the death of Avraham’s father is reported at an age of 205 years, before it reported Avram’s moving to the land of Canaan, although Terach lived on after Avram’s leaving him for another 40 years. Had his death been reported in chronological order, some people would have faulted Avram for abandoning an aged father in Charan. As it is reported, the subject of Terach had already been concluded.

Still another meaning addresses G'd's practice of paying the reward or punishment in the Hereafter, the righteous receiving his share in that world and the wicked descending to Gehinom. In this case, G'd gave notice to the wicked that they would not be judged after death but that since they had tainted their spirit as much as their flesh their spirit would also undergo the afflictions normally reserved only for the flesh. The 120 years G'd speaks about is the period needed to allow the righteous of that generation such as Methuselah to live out their allotted lifespan in full. The Zohar on Genesis 7,22 explained: "all that had a soul of living spirit in its nostrils, of all that were on dry land died," as a reference to the righteous who died on dry land, before the onset of the deluge.

Another message contained in our verse is that henceforth G'd would never again apply the attribute of Mercy exclusively. The verse is introduced with G'd speaking in His capacity of the attribute of Mercy, ויאמר השם. It switches immediately to tell us that His spirit, i.e. that of mercy would not anymore abide in this world completely. G'd attributed part of the corruption in His world to His having exercised too much mercy. He had allowed man to indulge his greed too much. From now on G'd reserved more of His mercy for the Hereafter. As a result of this change of emphasis, even such a righteous man as our patriarch Jacob was not allowed to enjoy the benefits of this world in tranquillity. As soon as Jacob set out to so so, he experienced all the trouble with his favourite son Joseph (compare Rashi on Genesis 37,2).