No’ach or Abraham?
Who was better, No’ach or Abraham?
Depiction of Abraham & Sarah
Both.
No’ach was good in himself but he lived in a challenging generation – the moral man in an immoral situation. Life was especially difficult for him because no-one before him had ever faced up to this problem.
It was a hard struggle, but in the end the Torah had to conclude that No’ach “walked with God”.
Abraham was also a good man whose environment was not always conducive to righteousness, but he had the advantage of knowing the story of No’ach and was steeled by No’ach’s example and able to struggle for morality in the knowledge that if No’ah could do it, so could he.
The Torah said about Abraham that he walked “before” (ahead of) God. The Almighty could trust him… precisely because there had been a No’ach to set the example.
