The Earliest Christian Preaching

A SYNAGOGUE SERMON

This sermon represents a type of rabbinic preaching more like early Christian preaching than any other form of synagogue sermon. It is not known, however, whether this particular sermon was ever preached, since it is preserved in a collection of sermons edited to answer questions about the correct observance of Jewish law. The collection, not edited until after the sixth century of the Common Era, is called Tanchuma, the Hebrew text of which has been edited by Martin Buber. This sermon appears in the section called parasha Noah, chapter 13. It is translated in William Richard Stegner, "The Ancient Jewish Synagogue Homily," in Greco-Roman Literature and the New Testament, ed. David E. Aune, SBL Sources for Biblical Study, no. 21 (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1988), 60-62. See Vol. 1, pp. 8-11, for discussion.

"And Noah began (to be) a man of the soil." (Gen. 9:20) As soon as he busied himself with the soil he became prladelphia: Fortress, 198ofane (as opposed to sacred). Said rabbi Yehudah son of rabbi Shalom, "In the beginning (Noah was) a man righteous and pure, but now (he is) a man of the soil." "He planted a vineyard" (Gen 9:20b). After he planted a vineyard, he was called "a man of the soil."

Three men busied themselves with the soil and became profane. These were Cain, Noah, Uzziah. Concerning Cain, Scripture says (Gen 4; 2) "... and Cain (was) a tiller of the soil." What else does Scripture say? "... you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth."

Concerning Noah, scripture says, "And Noah began (to be) a man of the soil." "He planted a vineyard," and he exposed himself. "And he drank of the vine...." (Gen 9:21a).

The sages said, "On that day he planted, on that day it produced fruit, on that day he cut (grapes), on that day he treaded (grapes), on that day he drank, on that day he became drunk, on that day his disgrace was exposed."

Our rabbis of blessed memory said, "When Noah came to plant a vineyard, Satan came and stood before him. Satan said to him, 'What are you planting?' He said to him, 'A vineyard.' Satan said to him, 'What kind of vineyard?' Noah replied, 'Its fruits are sweet, neither too green nor too ripe, and they make from them wine which gladdens hearts, as Scripture says (Ps 104:15) 'and wine to gladden the heart of man.' Satan said to him, 'Come and let the two of us join together in this vineyard.' Noah replied, 'To life!' What did Satan do? He brought a sheep and killed it under the vine. After that he brought a lion and killed it there. Then he brought a pig and killed it and after that he brought an ape and killed it under the vineyard. Their blood dripped into that vineyard which absorbed their blood. Thus Satan hinted that before a man drinks wine, he is as pure as this lamb that knows nothing and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. When he drinks a normal amount, he is a strong man like a lion and says that there is none like him in the world. After he has drunk too much he becomes like a pig soiled in his own urine and in something else. When he is drunk, he becomes like an ape, standing and dancing and laughing and bringing forth obscenities before everyone and he doesn't know what he is doing. And all this happened to Noah the righteous man. What? (Did all this happen to) Noah the righteous one whose praise the Holy One Blessed Be He proclaimed? What then of the rest of humanity? How much the more (might happen to them)!"

There is more, for Noah cursed his offspring and said, "Cursed be Canaan: etc." (Gen 9:25) And Ham, because he saw with his eyes the nakedness of his father, his eyes became red. And because he told (about it) with his mouth, his lips became curled. And because he turned his face, the hair on his head and his beard was singed. And because he did not cover the nakedness, he walked naked and his foreskin grew back over his circumcision. According to all the measure of the Holy One Blessed Be He (he received) measure for measure.

Nevertheless, the Holy One Blessed Be He turned and had mercy on him, for his mercy is upon all his creation. The Holy One Blessed Be He said, "Since he sold himself into slavery, let him go out by the eye which saw and by the mouth which told." It is right that he shall go out to freedom by tooth and by eye for Scripture says (Exod 21:26), "When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free for the eye's sake." And further (Exod 21:27), "If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free for the tooth's sake."

And is it not a matter of light and heavy (that is, as with human affairs, so with God's)?

If (in terms of human affairs) a man's slave, his property and wealth, because he blinded his eye and knocked out his tooth, will go out from slavery to freedom (in this life), then (in terms of God's dealings), those blessed by God, who are His plantation to be glorified, when they die, is it not so much more proper that they will go to freedom from sins, as Scripture says, "in death, he is free"; indeed, they will go out with all 248 parts of the body (in the Resurrection they became whole). The Holy One Blessed Be He said, "In this world through the evil inclination they...