Genesis 6:9 reads:

אֵלֶּה, תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ–נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה, בְּדֹרֹתָיו: אֶת-הָאֱלֹהִים, הִתְהַלֶּךְ-נֹחַ

“These are the generations, the story, of Noah. Noach was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with the Lord.”

Noah plays a vital part not only in biblical history but also in end-time theology. Messiah likened His return to the days of Noah, as He said, “And as the days of Noah, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be.” We know that the days of Noah was a time of wickedness, but this one man, Noach, נֹחַ, יְהוָה בְּעֵינֵי חֵן מָצָא, “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8).

From the beginning of his life, Noah somehow provided “comfort” to those close to him. His father Lemek calls his son Noah/Noach noting, “This one does comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.”

Noah is called by God, as the apostle Peter explains, to be “a proclaimer of righteousness,” but out of all those who heard him, only seven (7) other souls were comforted by his message and entered the Ark with him.

The message revealed by the flood is both terrifying and comforting; judgment and destruction for disobedience and wickedness, but comfort for belief-obedience.

Noah’s birth was a comfort to the heart of his father Lemek. The name Noah, Noach, is from the family of verbs meaning, “rest” and “comfort.” The picture created by the verb root of Noach is: a place to rest to receive comfort. Therefore, we find that “comfort” is an important theme in the life and narrative concerning Noah. Let us therefore consider the related verb root נָחַם, “comfort.” נָחַם/nachem, “comfort” means “to be sorry, to be moved to compassion or pity,” but can also be translated as “repent or regret.” It marks a condition in need to tending.

The word-picture is drawing breath forcibly, panting or groaning, as if ones lungs are compressed by a heavy weight restricting the breath. In Scripture נָחַם/nachem is used to describe two conditions: 1) our distressed condition, and 2) the Lord’s compassionate response to our condition.

At the beginning of the Book of Consolation in Isaiah 40:1 we read, “Comfort, comfort My people!” says your God.” And how the Jewish people are comforted is revealed in Isaiah 40:2, “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her hard service (toil) is completed, that he crookedness is pardoned, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double for her sins.”

The Lord is announcing the end of Israel’s chastisement, for her sins have been pardoned.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3 the apostle Paul calls the Lord, “the God of all comfort,” the God who responds to our toil, trial, loss of breath, and distress.

נָחַם/nachem is a very primal sound, a groan or moan or sigh. The sound of נָחַם is seems to be cross-cultural, as not only do we moan or sigh when we are in distress, but also, those who are responding to distress often do so by returning a deep and warm sound of breath: a sound that stirs compassion.

How many of us have witnessed or ourselves responded to the cry of a child with “they’re there,” drawing them close to us and patting the child on the back as we draw them in tight. This is a compassionate response, and to understand this response that helps us to correct a misunderstanding created some translations of the Bible.

In Judges 2:18 we read, “And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.”

The underlying text is נָחַם/nachem, it may also be read, “for the Lord had compassion on their groanings.” The Lord comforted, a compassionate response to the groaning of His people.

In Exodus 32:14, after the sin of the Golden Calf, the Lord desires to destroy Israel, as we read, “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.” Again, not repented as we would understand it, but a change in response based upon the condition, the sorrowful groaning, of His people.

This is a quality, to respond with compassion and comfort, that we as followers of Messiah are to display and exercise. Why? Yeshua/Jesus said in John 14:16, “And I shall ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, to stay with you forever.”

Why? So that we would not be left as orphans, unable to endure the pressures of this life. So rather than being breathless, we are breath-full. Only God knows the depths of another person’s pain, and only He can heal that pain and give lasting comfort.

Yeshua asked the Father to send the Comforter to be with us and in us so that we can comfort others as He comforts them. When we are comforted, we are reminded how good it is to be able to breathe again, and we need to give that relief and comfort to others.

When those around us are groaning—will we be stirred with a response to mark, tend and comfort the need? As we mature in Him, yes we will, as we become more like Him (Ro. 8:28-29).

Be well. Shalom.

When Moses did not immediately return (Ex. 32:1), the children of Israel turn to Aaron to make them a god, a leader to go before them:

“And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said: ‘This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 32:4).

Israel needed a visible leader, and in their fear of being leaderless, they returned to what they knew: idolatry. With the calf before them, and in their midst, they found a short term, and a tragic form of comfort.

How easy it is for us, in our times of desperation, to turn once again to what we have been delivered from. The familiar is comforting, comfortable, but unfortunately those things that once ensnared and controlled us, do so once again when we turn to them rather than the Lord.

The Lord resolved to destroy the very people He has just delivered when the sin is revealed. Yet, Moses passionately intercedes on their behalf, and the Lord relents. What does Moses say?

שׁוּב מֵחֲרוֹן אַפֶּךָ וְהִנָּחֵם עַל־הָרָעָה לְעַמֶּֽךָ

זְכֹר לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיִשְׂרָאֵל עֲבָדֶיךָ

“Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent (reconsider) of this evil against Thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel Your servants” (Ex. 32:12-13).

The Torah then records: וַיִּנָּחֶם, יְהוָה, “the Lord repented” (Ex. 32:14). He turns away from His wrath for the sake of the fathers (Ro. 11:28), and the comfort ministered to Him.

What is the message here? The word translated as “repent” or “reconsider” above is from the root נָחַם/nāḥam meaning comfort, comforter, consolation, or to sigh.

The children of Israel turned to an idol for comfort, and did not seek counsel from Aaron in their time of need. They reconsidered their circumstance and found immediate, but tragic comfort from an inanimate object: the Golden Calf.

In the Lord’s anger, Moses intercedes – literally standing between the Lord and Israel – pleading on their behalf: Lord, Moses is saying, turn from your wrath to comfort. The intercession of Moses was a persuasive comfort to the Lord, and He turned away from judgment.

As I have taught many times, the Tabernacle (Ex. 25-31) was the cure sent before the illness of the Golden Calf (Ex. 32). The Lord would show the way of reconciliation when we fail so terribly so as to believe that we are forever disqualified from His love and presence. He also established a visible minister, in the high priest, who would make intercession for His people.

Still, this was all modeled on what Moses witnessed in heaven, as He saw the intercession of the great High Priest Yeshua/Jesus. Moses would then, through many types and shadows, teaches the hope of the coming Comforter (Deut. 18:15).

Comforter is an important concept in messianic theology. He is promised in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writing, we find a beautiful example in Isaiah 40:1: נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ, עַמִּי–יֹאמַר, אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, “Comfort, comfort My people says the Lord.” Then Messiah promises to send another Comforter (Jn. 14:16) in the person of the Holy Spirit Who would remain with us until His return. Yeshua by saying “another” reminds us of His position as Comforter.

The Lord, Who had every right to be wrathful at His people, reconsidered, relented and was comforted, not for His own sake or good, but ours. The Father was showing us the good that comes when we change our minds by listening to the comforting words spoken to us. Comfort changes our attitude, our disposition, and our outlook.

We may not have a Moses or Aaron with us today, but, hallelujah, we have someone greater. The Holy Spirit ever present and walking with us. Ministering comfort to our hearts as needed, and inspiring others around us to speak words of comfort as well. He is ever with us. Yeshua, our Savior, Redeemer and Lord, is ever with us. They are the only comfort we need. Idols of immediate remedy will fail us. Returning to what has ensnared us will only lead to greater guilt, shame and remorse.

This is why we must turn away from the golden calf of our own making, and listen to His healing and comforting words of intercession: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jer. 31:3).

Be well. Shalom.