425. "And Hashem said, 'I shall destroy man, whom I have created from the face of the earth'" (Beresheet 6:7). Rabbi Yosi quotes, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts" (Yeshayah 55:8). Come and behold: when a man wants to take vengeance on another, he keeps quiet and tells him nothing. Because if he discloses HIS INTENTIONS, his opponent will be on guard and hard to overpower.

426. Yet the Holy One, blessed be He, does not act in this manner. He does not execute judgment on the world before He declares and informs it OF HIS INTENTIONS once, twice, and three times. Then, no one may reproach Him and ask, 'What are You doing?' Nor can one guard against Him or stand up to Him.

427. "And Hashem said, 'I shall destroy man, whom I have created from the face of the earth.'" He announced these words through Noah, and He warned them several times, but they did not listen. Eventually, He executed judgment and exterminated them.

428. Come and behold what was said of Noah: "And he called his name Noah saying, This one shall comfort us (Heb. yenachamenu) from our work" (Beresheet 5:29). How did he know THAT HE WOULD COMFORT HIM AS SOON AS HE WAS BORN? It says that when the Holy One, blessed be He, cursed the world, saying, "cursed is the ground for your sake" (Beresheet 3:18). Adam said to Him, "Master of the universe, until when will the world be subject to this curse?" The Holy One, blessed be He, replied, "Until you beget a son who is born circumcised like yourself."

429. And they waited until the time when Noah was born. And when he was born, Adam saw that he was circumcised and marked with a sacred sign. And when he saw that the Shechinah embraced the baby, IT THEN BECAME CLEAR TO HIM THAT THE CURSE WOULD BE CANCELED DURING HIS LIFETIME, and so he named him in anticipation of what would transpire.

430. In the beginning, they did not know how to sow, reap, or plow, and they worked the earth with their hands. But Noah came along and manufactured tools needed for working the ground, so that it would bear fruit. Thus, it was written: "this one shall comfort us from our work and from the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Hashem has cursed." Noah liberated the earth from its curse. Before he came, the people used to sow wheat and reap thorns and thistles. Hence, he was called "a husbandman" (Beresheet 9:20).

431. Rabbi Yehuda said "a husbandman" often means that he was considered the "husband of the ground," as it says, "Naomi's man" (Rut 1:3). This is because he was called righteous, and nullified the earth's curse by means of the sacrifices he offered. Hence, it is written: "I will curse the ground any more for man's sake" (Beresheet 8:21). For this reason Noah was called "a man of the ground." And hence he was called NOAH (Eng. 'comfort'), because of what would one day occur.