John Calvin Commentary Genesis 5:29

"and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, [which cometh] because of the ground which Jehovah hath cursed." — Genesis 5:29 (ASV)

And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work. In the Hebrew language, the etymology of the verb נחם (nacham) does not correspond with the noun נוח (noach), unless we consider the letter ם (mem) superfluous; as sometimes, in composition, certain letters are redundant.

נוח Noach signifies to give rest, but נחם nacham to comfort. The name Noah is derived from the former verb. Therefore, there is either the transmutation of one letter into another, or only a bare allusion, when Lamech says, This same shall comfort us concerning our work. But as for the matter at hand, there is no doubt that he promises himself an alleviation, or solace, of his labors.

But it is asked, from where he had conceived such hope from a son whose disposition he could not yet have discerned. The Jews do not judge erroneously in declaring Lamech’s expression to be a prophecy, but they are too crude in restricting to agriculture what is applicable to all those miseries of human life which proceed from the curse of God and are the fruits of sin.

Indeed, I come to this conclusion: that the holy fathers anxiously sighed when, being surrounded with so many evils, they were continually reminded of the first origin of all evils and regarded themselves as under the displeasure of God. Therefore, in the expression, “the toil of our hands,” there is the figure synecdochee; because under one kind of toil he encompasses the whole miserable state into which mankind had fallen.

For they undoubtedly remembered what Moses has related above concerning the laborious, sad, and anxious life to which Adam had been doomed; and since the wickedness of man was daily increasing, no mitigation of the penalty could be hoped for unless the Lord should bring unexpected relief. It is probable that they were very earnestly looking for the mercy of God, for their faith was strong, and necessity urged them ardently to desire help.

But that the name was not rashly given to Noah, we may infer from this that Moses expressly notes it as a thing worthy to be remembered. Certainly, some meaning was implied in the names of other patriarchs, yet he passes by the reason why they were so called and only insists upon this name of Noah.

Therefore, the contentious reader should not conclude from this that there was something peculiar in Noah which did not apply to others before him. I have, then, no doubt that Lamech hoped for something rare and unusual from his son, and that, too, by the inspiration of the Spirit.

Some suppose him to have been deceived because he believed that Noah was the Christ, but they offer no rational conjecture in support of the opinion. It is more probable that, seeing something great was promised concerning his son, he did not refrain from mixing his own imagination with the oracle, as holy men are also sometimes accustomed to exceed the measure of revelation, and thus it happens that they neither touch heaven nor earth.