“Faultless [tamim] in his generations” – bar Ḥatya said: Everyone in whose regard tamim is stated, he completed his years to a multiple of seven.18Tamim also means “complete,” and numbers that are multiples of seven are considered “complete.” Noah lived for three hundred and fifty years after the Flood. Abraham (also called tamim, in Genesis 17:1) lived for seventy-seven years after that reference.
“Was [haya]” – Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Anyone in whose regard haya is stated, he was righteous from beginning to end. They raised an objection against him: But is it not written: “Abraham was (haya) one, and he inherited the land” (Ezekiel 33:24); was he the same from beginning to end?19Was he not an idolater in his youth? He said to them: This, too, is not a contradiction, as Rabbi Levi said in the name of Reish Lakish: At the age of three years, Abraham recognized his Creator.20So he was indeed righteous from beginning (early childhood) to end.
Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Yoḥanan, both of them say: At the age of forty-eight years, Abraham recognized his Creator. How, then, do I explain “haya”? It means that he was destined to guide the entire world to repent.21Rabbi Yoḥanan disagrees with the interpretation of haya given above, and explains that it indicates that a person had a particular destiny from birth. [Similarly,] “Behold, man [Adam] has become [haya]” (Genesis 3:22) – he was destined for death.
“The serpent was [haya]” (Genesis 3:1) – he was destined for calamity. “Cain was [haya]” (Genesis 4:2) – he was destined for exile. “Job was [haya]” (Job 1:1) – he was destined for suffering. “Noah was [haya]” – he was destined for a miracle.
“Moses was [haya]” (Exodus 3:1) – he was destined to be a redeemer. “Mordekhai was [haya]” (Esther 2:5) – he was destined for redemption. Rabbi Levi and the other Rabbis [discussed this]. Rabbi Levi said: Everyone in whose regard haya is stated saw [the emergence of] a new world.
Rabbi Shmuel said: They are five: Noah – yesterday [during the Flood], “stones were worn away by water” (Job 14:19), as Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: Even the lower millstone was obliterated in the water. Then you read: “The sons of Noah who emerged from the ark”? (Genesis 9:18). This [change] is bewildering! However, it indicates that he saw [the emergence of] a new world.
Joseph – “they tortured his legs with chains” (Psalms 105:18), but now, “Joseph was the ruler”! (Genesis 42:6). However, it indicates that he saw a new world. Moses – yesterday, he was fleeing from Pharaoh, and now he was drowning him in the sea! However, it indicates that he saw a new world.
Job – yesterday, “He spills my bile onto the ground” (Job 16:13), and now, “the Lord added to Job double of all that he had before”! (Job 42:10). However, it indicates that he saw a new world. Mordekhai – yesterday he was destined for hanging, and now he is hanging his hangers! However, it indicates that he saw a new world.
The other Rabbis say: Everyone in whose regard haya is stated, he fed others and sustained them. Noah fed and sustained [the animals] all twelve months, as it is stated: “And you, take for you [from all food that is eaten…and it shall be for you and for them for food]” (Genesis 6:21). Joseph – “Joseph provided for his father and his brothers” (Genesis 47:12). Moses fed and sustained Israel for forty years in the wilderness.
Job – “I ate my bread alone, and an orphan did not partake of it?” (Job 31:17). This was meant as a rhetorical question. Mordekhai fed and sustained others. Rabbi Yudan said: One time he went around to all the wet nurses, but did not immediately find a wet nurse for Esther, and he nursed her himself.
Rabbi Berekhya and Rabbi Abahu said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: Milk came into him [his breasts] and he nursed her. When Rabbi Abahu expounded this in public, the audience laughed as he spoke [of a man producing milk]. He said to them: But is it not [stated in] a mishna: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: The milk of a male is not subject to ritual impurity.22Mishna Makhshirin 6:7.