Noah in rabbinic literature Noah in rabbinic literature Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Noah, who saved his family and representatives of all the animals from a great flood by constructing an ark, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself. According to Midrash Agadah on Genesis v. 29, Noah obtained his name, which means "rest," only after he had invented implements for tilling the ground, which, owing to the lack of such implements, had yielded only thorns and thistles (comp. Genesis 3:18). In this manner Noah really brought rest to mankind and
Book of Noah During the early parts of the second century B.C. a pseudepigraphon circulated that contained considerable material concerning Noah. The tradition was not merely oral but had been written down, since the author of Jubilees and of an interpolation in the Testament of Levi 18:2 refer to a 'Book of Noah'. The work is now lost except for excerpts preserved in 1 Enoch and Jubilees, for 21 fragments preserved in Qumran Cave 1, and for two large fragments found in Cave 4 that are not yet published. Fragment 4Q534 of the Book of Noah in the Dead sea scrolls describes the