What are the connotations of "Lo Yadon Ruchi ba'Adam l'Olam"?
Rashi: It means 'My spirit will not grumble and grapple with Myself on account of Adam 1 for a long period of time'. 2
Sanhedrin 107b: It teaches us that the Dor ha'Mabul were destined to lose, not only their portion in this world, but also their portion in the next - 'Lo Din ve'Lo Ru'ach'. 3
Da'as Zekenim #1: He meant that when his soul rises above, He will not return it to him'.
Da'as Zekenim #2: It means 'I will not create Nefesh for man'.
Da'as Zekenim #3: It means That 'My spirit will not dwell in man until [Moshe] will come, who has a heart of flesh'- because the Gematriya of "be'Shegam" is equivalent to that of Moshe. 4
What was Hashem's quandary? What does "b'sha'Gam Hu Basar" mean?
Rashi and Rashbam: Hashem in His Mercy, was wavering as to whether to destroy them or not - even though they were worthy of destruction; and especially since, despite the fact that they were mere flesh, they refused to humble themselves before Hashem. (Imagine if they had been fire or some hard substance!)
Seforno: On the one hand, seeing as they were made in Hashem's Image, they deserved to be wiped out; on the other, they needed Hashem's Mercy, seeing as they were also flesh, which made them prone to sin.
Ramban: Hashem's Spirit would not remain inside man forever, 1 since he was flesh (physical) just like all the animals, and was no longer worthy of having the Divine Spirit inside him. 2
Targum Yonasan: The quandary refers, not to the generation of the Flood, but to future generations, whom Hashem now promised that He will not judge in the same way as He judged the current one. He bestowed upon man His Holy Spirit in order that he should do good, but he perpetrated evil, since he is flesh.
Da'as Zekenim: It alludes to Moshe, since the Gematriya of "be'sha'Gam" is equivalent to that of Moshe, and Moshe lived 120 years). 3
Lev Eliyahu (Bereishis p. 33): They should have activated the Neshamah to conquer the body. They did oppositely. My Ru'ach will not remain in him, because he became physical, and not spiritual.
Rosh: "L'Olam" means a long time. Man was living so long that his intellectual soul from above was being drawn after the lust of his flesh.
"For Hashem made man straight," to be like the angels, by means of the Neshamah with which He endowed him - but he was drawn after his flesh.
Chulin 139b; Chasam Sofer (ibid.) - Moshe was Reishis; like Terumah is 1/50 of the crop, so his years were one out fifty of world history (6000/50 = 120). Moshe pertained to the 4000 years of Torah and Yemos ha'Mashi'ach, but not to the first 2000 years of Tohu (see Sanhedrin 97a; refer to 11:32:2.2:2 ); so he should have lived only to age 80. However, since he was Basar (born to a woman), he was given those 80 years after the age of Binah, i.e. 40. I heard in the name of the Vilna Gaon that Hashem wanted Moshe to live like a generous Terumah of the world, (i.e. 1/40 of 6000 years = 150). But, 'b'sha'Gam Hu Basar' - because Moshe asked, "Can You give meat for this entire nation?!" (Bamidbar 11: 21-22); Hashem said 'I will make him average Terumah,' which is 1/50, i.e. 120 years.
What is the significance of the hundred and twenty years wait until the Flood?
Rashi and Targum Yonasan: The hundred and twenty years were a chance for the people to do Teshuvah and be saved from extinction.
Seforno: Because that was the time it took Noach to build the Teivah and warn the people about the impending Flood.
Yerushalmi (Nazir, 7:2): The Pasuk is referring (not to the time period until the Flood, but) to the hundred and twenty years that it takes for the body to decompose. 1
See Torah Temimah, note 6.
Bearing in mind the Pasuk in Parshas Eikev, "Va'Avadtem Meheirah me'Al ha'Aretz ha'Tovah" (Devarim 11:17), why did Hashem give the Dor ha'Mabul a hundred- and twenty-years grace?
Rashi (ibid.): Because, as opposed to Yisrael, the Dor ha'Mabul had nobody from whom to learn.
From the birth of Yefes (mentioned a few Pesukim earlier) until the Flood was only a hundred years (and not a hundred and twenty)?
Rashi: The decree of the Flood was issued twenty years prior to the birth of Yefes. 1
In which case, we must say that the current Pasuk was said before the Pasuk that announces the birth of Yefes (see Bereishis 5:32), in keeping with the principle that the Torah does not always follow a chronological order (Refer to 6:4:1:1). Moshav Zekenim asks that within one matter, the Torah follows chronological order! Riva answers that the Torah treats this like two matters, for there is a reason to write out of order, lest people criticize Noach for fathering children destined to perish in the flood.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'Lo Yadon Ruchi' - I shall not clash with Myself..." (from the term Madon - adversary (e.g. Shmuel II 21:20)). But in his next comment, Rashi writes, "My Spirit deliberates within Me" (from the term Din - judgment). How should "Yadon" be translated?
Gur Aryeh: Deliberation between two sides of an argument is also a form of clash or fight. When an issue is in doubt and has not been decided, it is in a state of unrest and turmoil.
Rashi writes: "'L'Olam' - for so long (l'Orech Yamim)." Why doesn't Rashi translate in the usual way, "I shall not deliberate forever"?
Gur Aryeh: The verse implies, "If I do not punish them, then I would be deliberating 'l'Olam.'" Would they never be punished? Rather, "l'Olam" means "for so long;" in other words, continuing to deliberate would allow them to evade punishment for a long time ['and so,' Hashem said, 'I must give a deadline'].
Rashi writes: "Also this regarding man - he is [mere] flesh, and nevertheless he does not submit to Me." Our verses (see also 6: 5-7) imply that Hashem was frustrated (so to speak) with living species as a whole, both man and beast. If so, why did Hashem instruct Noach to save two of every living creature, to perpetuate those species (6: 19-20)?
Mizrachi: This shows that Hashem's judgment was only against those particular individuals who had corrupted their ways - but that comprised the entire world, other than Noach and his family.
Gur Aryeh: Life inside of the Teivah was a separate existence. 1 When the two remaining members of each species were concealed inside of the Teivah (and even they were forbidden to procreate, for the duration of the Flood 2 ), it was as if that species was completely destroyed. When they emerged, and undertook to only breed within their own species, 3 it was if each species was created anew.
