“[Noah was a righteous] man [ish]” – everywhere that ish is stated, it is a righteous man who rebukes. As all one hundred and twenty years,8Before the Flood, when God first decreed that He was going to destroy the world (see Genesis 6:3). Noah would plant cedars and chop them down [for timber]. They said to him: ‘Why are you doing this?’
He said to them: ‘So said the Master of the world, that He is bringing a flood upon the world.’ They said to him: ‘If He brings a flood, it will come only upon the house of that man!’9Noah. When Methuselah died10At the conclusion of the 120 years. they said to him: ‘Indeed, it [tragedy] came only upon the house of that man.’11Methuselah was Noah’s grandfather, therefore his death was a tragedy for Noah.
That is what is written: “A flame [lapid] of contempt for those of complacent thoughts [ashtut], destined to cause slippings of the foot” (Job 12:5). Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: [God declared:] I had a single herald who arose for me in the generation of the Flood – this is Noah;12Noah was a herald in that he announced to his generation the impending Flood, as above. there,13In some unspecified location. when they [mean to] say: ‘He has an announcement,’ [they say] he has a lapid.14And this is the basis of Rabbi Abba’s interpretation of lapid as “herald.”
Of contempt – as they would disparage him, calling him ‘contemptible old man.’ “For those of complacent thoughts [ashtut]” – as they were as hard15In their obstinacy. as blocks of metal [ashatot]. “Destined to cause slippings of the foot” – as they were destined for two disasters16Hence the plural, “slippings.” – a disaster from above and a disaster from below.17“And the windows of the heavens were opened and all the wellsprings of the great depth were breached” (Genesis 7:11).