Comentário sobre Gênesis 6:11

ותשחת [THE EARTH] WAS CORRUPT — It means lewdness and idolatry, as (Deuteronomy 4:16) פן תשחיתון “lest ye deal corruptly” (the following words show that this refers to idolatry) and as ‘כי השחית כל בשר וגו “for all flesh had corrupted etc.” (in next verse of this chapter where Rashi states that this has reference to lewdness) (Sanhedrin 57a).

ותשחת הארץ. The earth had become corrupt. This entire verse is superfluous in view of 6,5. If the Torah only wanted to spell out details of man's sins, this too had been spelled out in greater detail in the previous passage. If the Torah wanted to add the element of violence perpetrated by man on earth, that is all that needed mentioning here. Besides, why did the Torah switch to the use of the name אלוקים, the attribute of Justice, whereas in 6,5 G'd's attribute of Mercy is used? What do the words לפני האלוקים in our verse add to our understanding? Why does the Torah repeat once more in 6,12 that "G'd saw, etc.?" The Torah certainly did not need to tell us that G'd had become aware of man's sins, as we all know that He is aware of all this?

ותשחת הארץ, the people on earth had become corrupted; we have a similar formulation in Exodus 1,2 where the Torah writes of the Israelites ותמלא הארץ, and the meaning cannot be that the whole earth was filled with Israelites. There are many examples of similar stylistic formulations used in the Torah.

Lewdness and idolatry. I.e., since either one could be described as ותשחת, the verse means both.

שחת ist der Begriff des Verderbens, nicht des Vernichtens. Es ist das Zerstören eines guten Zustandes, das Hindern und das in das Gegenteil verkehren eines zum guten Gedeihen bestimmten Gegenstandes. Grundbedeutung von שחת: Grube, und zwar nicht etwa zum nützlichen Zwecke des Aufbewahrens, sondern um einen seines Weges zu einem Ziele Schreitenden in diesem Wege zu unterbrechen und zum Untergange zu bringen. Verwandt mil שחד: Bestechung. שחד ist eine, der auf das Recht gerichteten Beurteilung des Richters gegrabene Grube, die die Einsicht und das Ürteil des Richters auf diesem Wege unterbricht, von ihrem Ziele zurückhält und zum Falle bringt. So spricht auch שחט sowohl die Wirkung als die Prozedur als eine solche aus, die den, bis dahin in vollständig unangegriffener Entwicklung gewesenen Lebensprozeß durch plötzliche Hemmung des Weges unterbricht, der den Organismus mit der Außenwelt, Luft und Nahrung zuführend, in Verbindung setzt. Der Querschnitt über Luft- und Speiseröhre macht ein שחת in diesem Wege. Von dieser Grundbedeutung des שחת begreift sich׳s, warum שחת vorzugsweise mit דרך verbunden ist. הִשָחֵת allgemein heißt: auf seinem Wege zum Heile unterbrochen, und von diesem hinabgezogen sein. הַשְחִית דֶרֶך setzt voraus, dass der ganze Lebensweg, auch die auf das Sinnliche gewendete Lebensrichtung an sich nur zum sittlichen Heile führt; Unsittlichkeit ist die Grube, die diese an sich zum Heile führende Richtung ins Verderben hinabzieht. — חמס: ein solches Unrecht, das nicht durch menschliches Gericht gefasst werden kann, אינו יוצא בדינים, das aber, fort und fort geübt, nach und nach den Nächsten begräbt. So: ,ויחמוס כגן שכו ויחמס כגפן בסרו (Klagel. 2, 6. Job 15, 33). Wenn die Beere des Weinstocks unreif abfällt, so hat er חמס gegen die junge Beere geübt, nicht auf einmal, sondern indem er ihr nach und nach die Nahrung entzog, bis sie abfiel; ebenso der Garten gegen sein Gehege. Verwandt mit חמץ: Essig, diejenige Verderbnis, die nicht auf einmal geschieht; nur nach und nach geht der Wein in Essig über. Nun heißt es hier bedeutungsvoll: Die Erde ward vor dem Angesichte Gottes verderbt, und da ward die Erde des Unrechts voll. Es war zuerst Sittenverderbnis, Vergehen, bei denen man die bürgerliche Gesellschaft nicht beteiligt glaubt. Ob die Jugend ausschweifend, die Ehen sittlich faul, dabei, meint man, könne Handel und Wandel blühen und redlicher Verkehr fortbestehen. Allein wenn erst vor Gott die Erde verderbt ist, dann vermögen alle menschlichen Einrichtungen die Gesellschaft nicht vor Untergang zu retten. Mit גול, mit offenbarem Raub wird sich nie die Gesellschaft füllen, dagegen weiß sie sich durch Kerker und Strafgewalt zu schützen. Allein an חמס, an der mit Schlauheit gepaarten Unrecht- fertigkeit geht sie zu Grunde, wogegen nicht menschlicher Arm, wogegen nur die vor Gott sich selber richtende Gewissenhaftigkeit zu schützen vermag. Diesen Kern des Menschen tötet die Unsittlichkeit, und mit ihr ist auch dem bürgerlichen Heil das Grab gegraben. החמס קם למטה רשע, heißt es in Jecheskiel (7, 11) "die durch Sittenlosigkeit erzeugte Gewissenlosigkeit wird zuletzt ihre eigene Rute, לא מהם das Unheil kommt nicht aus dem natürlichen Menschen selbst, kommt nicht מהמונם, nicht aus der Überfüllung, kommt nicht מֵהֶמֵהֶם, kommt nicht aus den gegenseitigen sozialen Beziehungen (dem doppelten ולא נה בהם ,(מֵהֶם es liegt überhaupt nicht das Elend in den Menschen als solchen, sondern es ist das חמם, an dem sie zu Grunde gehen, wodurch die ganze Gesellschaft חמץ wird, in gährende Fäulnis endet."

ותשחת הארץ לפני האלוהים, the words: לפני האלוקים at first glance appear unnecessary; however these words are providing the clue to the moral disintegration of mankind. It started at the top, because the בני האלוהים, high ranking individuals, mentioned in Genesis 2,6, had set an example of depravity; it did not take long for them to be copied by the people at large. Noach was the only one who “swam against the stream.” בארץ, they raped women against their will.

ותמלא הארץ חמס AND THE EARTH WAS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE — means robbery.

לפני האלוקים, this expression is meant to inform us that G’d does indeed watch over the actions of His creatures in the “lower” regions of His universe not only in a general way, but sometimes even over the deeds of individuals; now He saw that the human species had become thoroughly corrupted. This is the meaning of the word ותמלא in our verse.

Robbery. [Rashi is explaining that] חמסן is different from the Rabbinic term חמסן, which refers to someone who pays [for what he forcibly takes]. But the Scriptural term חמסן includes outright robbery. See Bava Kama 62a.

We must understand the passage along the lines of the Mishnah Avot 4,11 that when a person violates a single commandment he acquires one accuser for himself. The "accuser" is to be understood as a destructive power (angel). This destructive power is not unleashed until the Supreme Judge of the whole universe has given a verdict concerning the person guilty of a misdemeanour. This is the deeper meaning of every time the Torah speaks about a sinner "carrying his guilt" (Leviticus 5,17 et al). Once G'd has pronounced judgment, He unleashes these accumulated destructive forces. When the prophet Jeremiah 2,19 says: תיסרך רעתך, "your wickedness will discipline you," he refers to these destructive forces which our sins have created and which G'd unleashes after having judged us. We have to appreciate that although G'd holds the accuser in check so that he cannot yet harm us, this applies only as long as our sins are relatively few or minor. If our sins keep accumulating, they exert pressure on the Heavenly Court so that the perpetrator of the sin may find himself the victim of some of these accusers even before final judgment has been decreed upon him. When the Torah speaks of "the earth had become corrupted before G'd," this means that before G'd had completed judging everyone individually, the collective total of the destructive powers created by man's sins was such that the destructive forces already dominated the earth. The reason the Torah speaks about הארץ is to tell us that the corruption had penetrated earth itself.

ותמלא הארץ חמס, there is a discussion between the sages as to the difference in meaning between the word: חמס (violence) and the word גזל (robbery) when used in the Holy Scriptures. According to Rabbi Chaninah, the difference is m erely in the amount m isappropriated by violent m eans. If the object one robs is worth more than a certain ancient copper coin, known as p’rutah, the term חמס is used, whereas if it is worth less than that, the Torah refers to it as גזל. The people of the generation of the deluge devised a nefarious scheme of avoiding to become guilty of having misappropriated at one time more than the worth of a prutah. When someone brought a basket full of fruit to market offering to sell it, he would be mobbed by people each of whom helped himself to less than the value of that coin. By using this subterfuge, the party helping himself to fruit without paying for it, escaped being cited before a judge, who did not entertain claims below that amount. How did G-d outwit these people? He would deprive them of the excess wealth they had accumulated by such means at the times they died. (This is how Ibn Ezra interprets Job 4,21 which he explains as G-d depriving such “robbers” of the excess money they had accumulated at the time they died, so that they would be punished by not having benefited by Torah knowledge (according to our author).[If I understand the author correctly, he means that when people use their Torah knowledge in order to escape their responsibilities, then instead of getting credit for their Torah studies, they will find that their abuse of Torah had been counterproductive; they will be worse off than if they had not studied Torah. Ed.] Another interpretation understands the word as indulging in sexual misconduct, basing itself on Jeremiah 51,35: חמסי ושארי על בבל, “let the violence done to me and my kindred be visited upon Babylon.”A third interpretation understands the word חמס as an alternate for idolatry, quoting Ezekiel 8,17: כי מלאו את הארץ חמס להכעיסני, “that they must fill the land with the abominations in order to anger Me;” (these have been described in the verses preceding this one)?Lastly, some commentators understand the word חמס as applying to shedding innocent blood, basing itself on Joel 4,19: מחמס בני יהודה אשר שפכו דם נקי בארצם, “from the חמס of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Yehudah who spilled innocent blood in their land.”

The Torah said in the previous verse: "the earth had become full of this corruption in the form of violence." Why did the Torah reverse this sequence? It should first have stated what G'd saw, and afterwards the extent of the corruption. As it is, the Torah tells us of the effect before telling us of the cause! The inverted method of reporting is to emphasise that even after the earth had already become full of corruption, all of which is subsumed under the heading "violence," man added further abominations to those already perpetrated. Although it is G'd's virtue to forgive or suspend punishment (נושא עון) until the time He sits in judgment, the sins of this generation were such that G'd could no longer practice this virtue. It was somewhat similar to when Cain had said to G'd that he found his penalty too hard to bear. He had used the term גדול עוני מנשוא, "is my guilt too great to forgive (4,13)?" Alternatively, the words ותשחת הארץ refer to the actual deeds, which caused the earth to become full of destructive agents all of which are described as חמס. G'd informed Noach (6,13) of this when He told him that קץ כל בשר בא לפני, that "the end for all flesh is approaching." According to the Zohar this means that the destructive forces created by man's sins which are called קץ have appeared before G'd demanding the speedy destruction of the perpetrators of all this evil. The Torah tells us for how long G'd restrained the attribute of Justice. This is why we have repeated references to G'd's awareness of man's wickedness ever since 6,5. When the Torah here finally uses the word אלוקים to describe G'd, it is to give notice that the attribute of Mercy itself had turned into one demanding that justice be done.

ותמלא הארץ חמס. The earth was filled with violence. There is a Midrash which illustrates the violence perpetrated by describing how people each helped themselves to a lupine out of a bowl that was set on the table. The Rabbis could not understand why the example mentioned shows that mankind was exterminated for a robbery involving such a minute amount. According to halachah theft of an amount worth less than a פרוטה, a certain small coin, is not subject to prosecution! I believe that the Midrash wanted to demonstrate that not only were the people of that generation guilty of violating all the seven Noachide commandments, but of something additional. They were sophisticated enough to engage in the kind of theft that was not subject to prosecution because the stolen goods came into their possession indirectly. According to Maimonides chapter nine of Hilchot Melachim even merely withholding wages from a labourer was subject to the death penalty in those days. Nonetheless the people of that generation were astute enough to borrow, i.e. to secure themselves credit and to draw on these credits in amounts of less than the value of the coin mentioned. This did not make them subject to prosecution if they failed to repay the credits. According to others it did not constitute robbery as long as the object was given to them willingly by its owner. Here in our verse the Torah may have alluded to all these kinds of robbery.