רבינו בחיי — את האלהים התהלך נח

Q — What does the unusual phrase "את האלהים התהלך נח" — used elsewhere only of Chanoch and (in similar form) Avraham — actually mean?

A — Rabbeinu Bachya argues it is a technical phrase reserved for tzaddikim who grasped the mechanics of the heavens — the orbit of the sun, the powers of the spheres, the constellations and their effects on the lower world — and who, through that very knowledge, recognized the יש סבה עליונה על כלן and clung to Him. The same astronomical knowledge that led Noach's generation into idolatry (worshipping the sun and the celestial powers, which the Torah calls השחתה) led Noach upward to dveykut. The chiddush: yediat ha-teva is a path to dveykut when it terminates in the First Cause behind the powers; it becomes avodah zarah only when one stops at the powers themselves. Chanoch, Noach, and Avraham each made this same ascent in their generations.