Lamech Calls his son Noach because “this one will bring us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground which HaSHEM has cursed.” Here we have the first messianic figure in the Bible. Was Lamech correct in his hope that his son would somehow free them from the curse that Adam and Chava had ushered into the world or was this just wishful thinking on the part of a hopeful parent?
According to jewish tradition Noach was the one who first invented farming tools. Now this may very well be true but I think that there is another answer to this question at the end of the flood narrative when Noach and his family leave the Teva and HaSHEM lays out the seven noachide laws:
1.Do not murder.
2.Do not steal.
3.Do not worship false gods.
4.Do not be sexually immoral.
5.Do not eat a limb removed from a live animal.
6.Do not curse God.
7.Set up courts and bring offenders to justice.
In the middle of this (Bereishit 9:3) HaSHEM says, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; like the green herbage I have given you everything.” The curse was broken by HaSHEM allowing Noach and his descendents to eat meat and not have to depend entirely on vegetation.
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