Daily Chumash

Abram rebuffed the king of Sodom's wish to award him with all the war's spoils. When G‑d reassured Abram that he would be greatly rewarded for his righteousness, Abram broaches his childlessness. "What is the point of all the reward and wealth," Abram cried, "if I have no heir to inherit it?!" G‑d assured Abram that he will indeed have a child, and promised that Abram's descendents will be as numerous as the stars of the heaven.

Abram requested a sign from G‑d that his descendents would inherit the land of Canaan. G‑d responded in the famous "Covenant Between the Parts." Abram and the Divine Presence passed between an assortment of halved animals, and G‑d told Abram that his descendants would be exiled and in bondage for four hundred years. At the conclusion of this period, Abram's descendents would leave with great wealth, G‑d would punish the nations which enslaved them, and Abram's children would inherit the lands of Canaan. Following this pact, Sarai — seeing that she and Abram were still childless — suggested that Abram father a child with her Egyptian maid, Hagar. Hagar conceived and began to mistreat her mistress Sarai, who responded with a heavy hand, prompting Hagar to flee. Hagar encountered an angel who encouraged her to return to Sarai, promising her that the child she will bear will become a great nation. She obeyed, and gave birth to Ishmael. At the very end of this section, G‑d added the letter hey to Abram's name, making it "Abraham."

Lot, who had accompanied Abram and Sarai, was independently wealthy. When Lot's shepherds quarreled with Abram's shepherds, the two parted ways, with Lot settling in the province of Sodom, which was renowned for its evil inhabitants. After Lot departed, G‑d spoke to Abram again, reiterating His promise to bequeath the land to his descendents, and promising to make his descendents numerous as the soil of the earth.

G‑d commanded Abram to leave his father's house and homeland, and travel to the land that He will show him. As reward for doing so, G‑d promised to make Abram the patriarch of a great nation. Abram obeyed, taking along his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot. Once Abram arrived in Canaan, G‑d informed him that He will eventually give that land to his descendents. Abram traverses the length of the land until a famine forces him to travel to Egypt. Fearing that the Egyptians would kill him in order to take Sarai, Abram asked her to allege that he was her brother.

Noah planted a vineyard, made wine, became drunk and fell into a deep drunken slumber — while naked. Noah's son, Ham, saw his father naked, assaulted him, and informed his two brothers of their father's state. The brothers, Shem and Japeth, modestly approached their father and covered him. When Noah awakened, he cursed Ham's son, Canaan, and blessed Shem and Japeth. This section then names Noah's seventy grandsons and great-grandsons, the antecedents of the "seventy nations," and their adopted homelands.

G‑d told Noah that he is establishing a covenant to never again bring a flood to destroy the world. G‑d designated the rainbow as the sign of this covenant: "And it shall come to pass, when I cause clouds to come upon the earth, that the rainbow will appear in the cloud. And I will remember My covenant..."

The torrential rains lasted for forty days and nights. The waters rose to great heights and covered even the highest mountains, killing all humans and animals; everything died aside for Noah and the other occupants of the teivah. After the waters raged on the earth another 150 days, G‑d caused the waters to subside. The teivah eventually rested on the Ararat Mountains, and shortly thereafter the mountain peaks came into view. Noah opened the window of the teivah and dispatched birds to see whether it was time to leave the teivah. First he sent a raven, which refused to execute its mission and just circled the ark. He then sent out a dove. On its third attempt the dove went and did not return, signaling that the earth was once again habitable. After one full year in the teivah, the earth had dried.

Of kosher animals and birds, Noah was commanded to take seven pairs of each species (as opposed to one pair of all other species). Noah, his family, and the required animals boarded the teivah and the mabul began: "The springs of the great depths burst forth and the windows of the heavens opened."

While society as a whole descended into a state of anarchy and utter corruption, only Noah remained righteous and faithful to G‑d's ways. Noah was informed by G‑d that a mabul ("flood") will soon destroy all of civilization, and only Noah and his immediate family would survive in a teivah ("ark," boat) that he was to build. G‑d gave Noah the exact dimensions of the teivah he was to build, and commanded Noah to bring along into the teivah specimens of every species of animal and bird to repopulate the world after the mabul, and to stock the boat with food to feed all its inhabitants.

Lemech accidentally killed his great-great-great-great-grandfather Cain in a hunting accident; the blood of Abel was finally avenged. Adam and Eve gave birth to a third son, Seth. This section then chronicles the first seven generations of mankind, from Adam to the righteous Enoch.