Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
Zohar: Bereshith to Lekh Lekha
By Nurho de Manhar
The Occult Meaning of the Six Hundred Years of Noahs Life
Referring again to the words "And Alhim said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is before me," Rabbi Simeon spake and said: "These words mean that the destroying angel presented himself before the Holy One, demanding power and authority to mark for destruction the race of the antediluvians. We further read, 'And behold! I will destroy them with the earth' (Gen. VI. 13). make thee an ark of gopher wood wherein entering thou mayst be preserved, and he may have no power over thee. And Noah did according to all that Alhim commanded him, "and in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up and the windows of heaven were opened" (Gen. VII. 11). These words imply that only in that year of his earth life and incarnation, did Noah attain unto human perfection and by thus becoming a just man and perfect, was able to escape the doom impending over the wicked generation in which he lived, whose iniquity had then reached its climax. When Noah had attained unto this age, then the forbearance and long suffering of the Holy One ended and the destruction so long deferred overwhelmed the world and the race of the antediluvians was suddenly swept out of existence from off the face of the earth. Note the words, 'Behold I (ani) even I (hinneni) do bring a flood of waters upon the earth.' Wherefore the repetition of the personal pronoun, the one being the synonym of the other? It is because wherever in scripture Ani (I) is found it is used to designate God and having the same relation to Him as the soul has to the body. Thus it is written, 'I (ani) will make my covenant with thee' (Gen. xvii. 4), implying that God sometime or other will manifest himself and make himself known to mankind. Again, why is it written, 'Ath hammabbul mayin' (the deluge of waters), because thereby to show by the word 'ath' that in addition to the waters of the deluge, Alhim sent the angel of death to destroy the world and gave him authority to accomplish it by the element of water. We know also from tradition that the words 'I (ani) am the Lord' have the same meaning as, I am faithful in my promises of recompense to the righteous, as also in my denunciations of punishment on the wicked in the world to come, and all are made under the name of Ani. The additional words 'to destroy all flesh' also imply that the death angel is the real destroyer of the world and is alluded to as such in (Ex. xii. 23). 'And He will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.' That is to say, that the destroyer, who in the account of the deluge is designated 'the end of all flesh' shall have no power over you, nor authority to afflict and injure you. All this occult teaching in the secret doctrine respecting the deluge was imparted to me by Rabbi Issac."
