G-d promised never to destroy the world by flood again. Does this mean that we have a Divine guarantee that our landmasses will not be submerged, no matter how much carbon dioxide we pour into the atmosphere?
The simple answer is no. We should not tie Chumash’s credibility to specific claims about the physical world. Just as we should not accept or reject evolution or the big-bang theory on the basis of Genesis Chapter 1, we should not reject or accept global warming on the basis of Chapter 6.
But the question of Noach and global warming can be understood as a theological rather than a factual question: Are there any circumstances under which G-d would allow the human race to be destroyed?
A classic spiritual gives a spectacularly discomfiting answer: G-d gave Noah the rainbow sign/No more floods, it’s the fire next time. This reading is well-grounded textually. The Flood occurs because the sin of the human beings is rabboh – great. The next time things go rabboh wrong is at Sodom, and His response is to rain fire on the city.
But what then is the meaning of G-d’s promise?
Rabbinic literature plays this tension out in a wonderful series of historical plays:
1. Vayikra Rabbah 96:10 presents Avraham saying the following to G-d:
At the time that Avraham sought mercy for the people of Sodom, he said before Him:
Master of the Universe, You swore that you would not bring a flood to the world,
as Scripture writes (Yeshayahu 54:9), “For that would be the waters of Noach to me”
(just as I have sworn not to pass the waters of Noach again on the land,
so I have sworn not to lose patience with you and not to act on anger against you) –
You won’t bring a flood of water, but You will bring a flood of fire?!
Are You evading Your oath!? If so, You have not fulfilled Your oath!
This is what Avraham meant by saying, “It would be a desecration (of Your word) to do such a thing!”
2. In Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael, the conversation takes place within the Gentile world:.
At the time (of Sinai), all the Gentile kings came to Bil’am.
They said to him: Is He perhaps bringing a Flood to the world?
Bil’am said to them: The Holy Blessed One has already sworn not to bring a flood to the world, as Scripture writes (Yeshayahu 54:9), “For that would be the waters of Noach to me, etc.”
They said to him: Perhaps he is not bringing a flood of water, but rather a flood of fire?
Bil’am said to them: He is bringing neither a flood of water nor a flood of fire; rather, The Holy Blessed One seeks to give the Torah to His nation . . .
3. Finally, Tosefta Taanit 2:13 brings the conversation directly into the rabbinic era:
A story about a pious man whom they told: Pray for rain to fall! He prayed, and rain fell.
They said to him: Just as you prayed and they fell, pray that they will go away!”
He said to them: Go and see – If a person can stand on the Horn of Ofel and rinse his legs in Wadi Kidron, then we’ll pray for rain not to fall, but we are certain that the Omnipresent will not bring a flood to the world, as Scripture says, “There will be no further flood”, and it also says, “For that would be the waters of Noach to me, etc.”
Rabbi Meir says: Not a flood of water, but yes a flood of fire and sulfur as He brought upon the people of Sodom, as Scripture says, “And Hashem rained on Sodom, etc.”
Avraham recognizes the possibility that G-d’s oath contained a loophole, but objects. His objection is overruled. Bil’am tries to assure the world that the oath is absolute, but his assurances are found unsatisfying. The anonymous pious man (possibly Choni the Circlemaker) seems confident that G-d will not destroy the world, but Rabbi Meir points out the loophole – fire rather than water – and seems to endorse it. In the end, only Bil’am seems convinced, and his own denial was coerced. So it seems that according to Jewish tradition, there is no promise that G-d will not destroy the world and the human race again.
There are other loopholes in G-d’s promise as well. We might say, for instance, that G-d promised not to bring complete destruction, but made no commitment to prevent us from causing our own destruction. Or perhaps that G-d promised to prevent rapid but not gradual destruction.
What then does G-d’s promise mean?
Here I want to put in a note of perspective. In the 60s, 70s and 80s, the world faced imminent destruction through nuclear war. As scary as global warming may seem today, that humanity survived the Cold War largely unscathed gives some credence to the optimistic notion that the promise has some real-works meaning.
But as we have not yet discovered the contours of that meaning, it seems best to be cautious in the meantime.