Take Noah, for example. The world’s about to be… well, let’s just say thoroughly cleansed. And yet, Genesis 6:8 tells us, almost as an aside, that Noah "found grace in the sight of the Lord."
But why? The Torah doesn’t exactly spell it out.
That little verse has sparked a lot of beautiful, insightful interpretations. One place we find some interesting ideas is in "The Midrash of Philo," specifically Midrash 8. Now, "The Midrash of Philo" isn’t your typical midrash – it's a collection of interpretations and expansions on biblical text attributed to the Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, Philo of Alexandria. Philo lived way back in the 1st century CE, and he tried to harmonize Jewish scripture with Greek philosophy.
So, what does this particular midrash have to say about Noah finding grace?
Basically, it's asking a simple, yet profound question: "Why is it afterwards said, that Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord?" See, the text could have just stated that God chose Noah. End of story. But this little phrase—"found grace"—suggests something more is at play. It hints at a quality within Noah himself that resonated with the Divine.
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What was it about Noah that made him stand out in a world so corrupt that it warranted, well, a complete do-over? Was it just random luck? A divine lottery? Or something more…earned? The midrash invites us to consider that Noah wasn’t simply chosen, but that he, in some way, earned, or at least prepared himself to receive, God’s favor. It’s a subtle, but crucial distinction.
And that, my friends, is the kind of question that keeps Jewish tradition alive and vibrant. It's not just about accepting the story at face value, but about digging deeper, asking "why," and uncovering the layers of meaning hidden within the text. And in doing so, perhaps we can learn something about ourselves, about grace, and about what it truly means to be chosen.