בראשית, פרק ט׳, פסוק כ״ח

The conclusion of Noah's life marks a major shift in the biblical story. Until this point, the narrative treats Noah and his sons as a single unit, but it now parts ways with him to focus entirely on the history of his descendants. This pattern of formally summarizing a patriarch's life and passing before moving on to the next generation appears throughout the early biblical history, continuing later with figures like Terah, Abraham, and Isaac [קאסוטו]. Providing the exact number of his years is not merely a biographical detail; it allows future generations to calculate the timeline of history and the world's renewal by combining these numbers with the records found in the Prophets [רד״ק].

The farewell formula used for Noah mirrors the historical records of the generations before the Flood, yet it contains two striking differences. First, the timeline of his life is not divided by the birth of his firstborn, which was the standard marker for his ancestors. Instead, his life is divided by the Flood, reflecting its role as the absolute defining event for both him and all of humanity. Second, unlike his predecessors, there is no mention of him having additional sons and daughters. This omission highlights that the entirety of human civilization developed exclusively from his three known sons [קאסוטו].

Tracking the specific timeline following the Flood requires precise calculation. If the count of his remaining years began only after the earth had completely dried in his six hundred and first year, adding his final three hundred and fifty years would bring his total age to nine hundred and fifty-one. Therefore, the starting point for this calculation must be the period immediately after the forty days of rain ended. Since this occurred while he was still in his six hundredth year, the math remains perfectly accurate [קאסוטו], summarizing the remainder of his life until his death at exactly nine hundred and fifty years old [צאינה וראינה].

The specific number of years he lived after the Flood also reflects ancient methods of tracking time, blending the base-sixty system common in the ancient Near East with multiples of seven. While his six hundred years before the Flood represent ten times sixty, his final three hundred and fifty years are composed of exactly fifty times seven [קאסוטו].