Noah

NOAH

Scripture references:
Genesis 5–9; Ezekiel 14:14–20;
Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20

————————v————————

————————v————————

NOAH’S ROLE IN SCRIPTURE

When God determined to wipe out a corrupt human society, He chose Noah to build an ark in which his own family and representatives of all animals would be preserved. Genesis describes the cataclysmic Flood that then scoured the entire earth, radically changing earth’s ecology. After a year in the great ship, the waters receded, and Noah and his family were deposited in a fresh, new world to begin again the process of populating earth.

Most references to Noah are found in the Genesis 6–9 account of the Flood and its aftermath. However, other references to Noah help us sense his significance in the Old and New Testament.

Noah is an example of a righteous man(Ezek. 14:14–20). The prophet Ezekiel was among the Jewish captives taken to Babylon in an early invasion of his homeland. There he received a message from God. Judah and Jerusalem soon would be crushed by the Babylonians, the city and its temple destroyed, and the people either killed or taken into captivity. Ezekiel emphasized that there was no hope that God would relent. Not even Noah, Daniel, or Job would be a shield against the coming judgment. The three righteous men would survive, but they would be unable to shield even their own children—something Noah had done in the time of the Flood.

This reference to Noah underlines the utterly corrupt character of moral and religious life in Judah at the time of the Babylonian invasion. As in the days of Noah, the wickedness of the people was so great (cf. Ezek. 8–11) that nothing could turn aside the divine judgment.

————————

Noah and his family labored on the ark for 120 years, undoubtedly earning the ridicule of neighbors for miles around.

————————v————————

Noah is an example of a man of faith (Heb. 11:7). The writer of Hebrews said of Noah, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” This brief mention makes several significant points. When God warned Noah of a coming Flood, Noah believed God. This faith—not any innate moral goodness—made Noah different from the people of his time. Noah’s faith, as all faith, was exercised as a response to God’s revelation. Noah did not seek God; God spoke to Noah. Noah’s response to the divine warning “condemned the world” (Heb. 11:7). Noah’s response to God revealed what was right and exposed the unbelief of those around him as wrong. In the same way today, the Christian’s faith and life condemns those who refuse to trust the Lord.

Noah’s experience foreshadowed our salvation in Christ (1 Pet. 3:18–4:3). The 1 Peter passage is often misunderstood, even though the text makes it clear that Noah’s experience is a type, or foreshadowing, of salvation. The points of comparison are these: Noah was preserved from waters of the Flood in the ark, and deposited in a fresh new world. Believers are preserved from divine judgment in Christ, and given a new life as citizens in Jesus’ kingdom. The analogous points are:

The waters = Divine judgment

The ark = Christ

The new earth = Christ’s kingdom

The “baptism” mentioned by Peter is not water baptism, as some have mistakenly assumed, but rather spiritual baptism, by which the Holy Spirit bonds the believers of Jesus so that we are united to Him in His death and in His resurrection (Rom. 6:1–14).

————————

God caused the animals to enter the ark Noah had prepared.

————————v————————

Noah’s times symbolize godlessness and wickedness(Matt. 24:37; Luke 17:26–27). Jesus warned that when He returns, human beings will be just as indifferent to God and just as wicked as were the people of Noah’s day. Human nature remains corrupt despite the passage of many centuries. This condition will call for divine judgment when Jesus returns to rule, just as when Noah lived.

From references to Noah in the rest of Scripture, we see that this man is of more than historical interest. Noah and his times are also a metaphor, reminding us that in our day too we must deal with issues of faith, judgment, and redemption in Jesus Christ.

NOAH’S LIFE AND TIMES

When Noah lived human society was totally corrupt. Genesis states that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). God was grieved and determined to destroy humankind. Verse eight then states, “but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). Of all his generation, only Noah was sensitive to the Lord or concerned about a personal relationship with Him (Gen. 6:9).

The making of the ark (Gen. 6:11–22). When God spoke to Noah and warned him of the coming flood, Noah immediately set out with his sons to construct a giant vessel. God provided the plans, and the rationale. The ark must be large enough to house members of each animal kind, Noah’s family, and food for them all.

Genesis 6:3 suggests that it took Noah 120 years to build the ark, something possible because of the long life-spans of those who lived before the Flood (cf. Gen. 5). Interestingly, the proportions of the ark are in harmony with modern ship building practice, as the giant vessel was 450-by-75-by-45 feet.

As this great vessel rose over the plains, people from miles around must have come to see and to laugh at “Noah’s folly.” Peter refers to this when he speaks of the spirit of Christ speaking to the people of Noah’s day. Along with the ark’s powerful witness to the coming Flood, Noah must have urgently warned his neighbors of what God was about to do. Through Noah’s words, God both invited faith and damned unbelief. By their ridicule of Noah and his message, the people of Noah’s day condemned themselves.

————————v————————

WHICH ANIMALS WERE ON THE ARK?

Some have ridiculed the notion that Noah’s ark could have been large enough to contain pairs of all kinds of animals and birds. The ridicule is based on the assumption that Noah took one of every species of animal and bird. But the Hebrew tells us that Noah took one of every “kind” of animal. On this point the New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words notes:

Despite the often-stated truth that the Bible is “not a book of science,” it is clear that Scripture is in conflict here with modern evolutionary thought. The conflict is even more clear when we explore other passages in which the word “kind” (min, 31 times in the OT) is used (particularly Gen. 6–7, Lev. 11, Deut. 14). In Scripture, min designates what biologists would identify as species, genus, family, and even order. And in each case the Bible affirms that God created and maintains the identity of the form within the creation order. Whatever we may conclude from Scripture’s affirmation, we find no support for the evolutionary hypothesis that calls at the least for development and change across kingdoms and phyla (p. 375).

————————v————————

Riding out the great Flood (Gen. 7:1–8:14). When the ark was finished and supplied, God caused representatives of each animal kind to come to the ark. When all were aboard God himself shut and sealed the door.

In the surging waters that flooded earth, all human and animal life on earth was wiped out. [For a fascinating examination of the Genesis Flood, and comparison of Scripture’s account with other ancient flood stories, see the companion volume in this series, Every Miracle and Wonder of the Bible.] Adjusting the dates given in Genesis to our calendar, Noah and his family would have been in the ark for over a year, from 10 May (Gen. 7:10) to 27 May the next year (Gen. 8:14).

The Flood’s aftermath (Gen. 8:15–9:29). When Noah and his sons and their wives left the ark, Noah’s first act was to build an altar and worship the Lord. Several themes in these chapters are significant.

God’s promise (8:20–22; 9:8–17).God promised that He would never again destroy the world by water, even though man’s heart remains evil.

God’s commission (9:1–7).The divine permission God gave Noah and his descendants to use fish and animals for food suggests that before the Flood human beings were vegetarians. Even more significant however is the responsibility that God imposed on human beings in Genesis 9:6–7. Noah’s descendants were charged with once again populating the earth, and they were also given the responsibility of governing themselves. This responsibility is implied in the call for capital punishment: “whoever sheds man’s blood, / by man his blood shall be shed; / For in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:6). It would now be up to humankind to restrain one another’s evil impulses. And should a person take a human life, murdering an individual made in God’s image, the penalty must be forfeiture of his or her own life.

Sin’s persistence (Gen. 9:8–28).Genesis makes it clear that despite the purging of the pre-Flood population, our world was hardly purified from sin. Noah and his family carried within themselves the sin nature that was a consequence of Adam’s fall. This is illustrated in an incident that happened after Noah had become a farmer. One day he drank too much wine, and as he lay in a stupor one of his sons, Ham, “saw the nakedness of his father” (9:22). While many have speculated just what this phrase implies, it is clear that Ham’s shameless attitude was far different from that of his two brothers. These two hurried and carefully covered their father.

The predictive curse recorded here on one of Ham’s offspring, Canaan, is suggestive. Later Canaanite religion was shameless in its exploitation of sex and violence.

The main point of the incident, however, is to remind us that human beings remain flawed after the Flood. Even a Noah can sin unintentionally, while a Ham will take a perverse delight in what others view as shameful.

NOAH: AN EXAMPLE FOR TODAY

Noah’s relationship with God is emphasized throughout Scripture. Genesis depicts Noah as a man who believed God despite the bizarre content of God’s revelation. Who would have believed, in a land without seas, that it was necessary to build a giant boat? Who would have persisted in the task for 120 years, rallying his family to the work, despite the certain ridicule of all around him. There can be no doubt that Noah was a truly exceptional man who challenges us in our own walk with God.

•     Noah challenges us to commit to the unseen. There was no visible evidence of a coming flood. Yet, Noah considered God’s Word far more trustworthy than what he could taste and touch and see, and he made his choice accordingly.

•     Noah challenges us to persistence. It’s easy to undertake a task we can finish in a few minutes or a few days. It is far more difficult to remain committed to tasks that we must faithfully perform for years before we derive any benefits.

•     Noah challenges us to withstand peer pressure. So many of our choices are made so we will fit in with others, to please them or to avoid their criticism. Noah was so committed to his God-given course that he could not be influenced to abandon it, even though the entire world thought him a fool. We need to determine in our hearts to please God, whether we please others or not.

^[1]