Noah and the ark is one of almost everyone’s top ten Bible stories. Noah was known to be the tenth and last of the pre-Flood Patriarchs. He is remembered for having built an ark in preparation for a Great Flood that destroyed the world and only him, his family, and a boatload of animals were saved. But more than that, what do we really know about Noah?
Name: Noah
Family: Lamech (Father), Methuselah (Grandfather), Adam (Great x7 Grandfather), Enoch (Great x5 Grandfather), and Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Sons)
Nicknames: Noah means “rest”
Personality:
- Leader
- Courageous
- Persevering
- Righteous
- Loyal
Noah’s Family
The family of Noah had some big names in the Bible. Adam, his great x 7 grandfathers, was the one from the Garden of Eden. Enoch, his great x 5 grandfather was the one that didn’t lie, and Methuselah, his grandfather was the oldest man ever recorded. Noah’s father was Lamech, but not Cain’s descendant, and there are not many details about him.
Noah had a wife and three sons namely, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. All of them were saved on the Ark. His sons also had wives but not much about them is said in the Scripture.
Major Events in Noah’s Life
Noah lived in the time when the world had not gone well since Adam and Eve broke God’s rules in the Garden of Eden. During that time, wickedness was widespread on earth such as violence, corruption, and lawlessness, and people ignored God. But despite all of these, Noah was a good man, a man of integrity.
God talked to Noah and told him that He was going to destroy all the living things on earth with a flood. Therefore, he should build an ark out of gopher wood and cover it inside and out with pitch. God also told Noah how big the ark should be, and that was with three decks and rooms inside, as well as an opening at the top and a door on the side.
When Noah had finished building the ark, God told him to take his wife, his three sons and their wives, and a male and female of every kind of “unclean” air-breathing land animal. And aside from that, Noah should also take seven pairs of ritually “clean” animals and birds, as well as enough food for the people and the animals.
When all of them have boarded the ark, God shut its door and after seven days, all of the outlets of the vast body of water beneath the earth had burst open. All of the floodgates of the sky were opened as well, and rain feels on the earth for forty days and nights. The floodwaters rose until all of the high mountains were covered and everything not on the ark died. The floodwaters stayed for five months.
When the water began to go down, Noah’s ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah sent out a raven to see if the waters were low enough to exit the ark. Noah also sent out a dove to look for land but neither were able to find land. A week later, Noah sent another dove out which came back with an olive leaf on its beak. They waited another week and Noah sent the dove out again, but it did not come back.
After a year and ten days when the flood unleashed its fury on earth, God told Noah to leave the ark with all the animals. When Noah left the ark, the first thing he did was build an altar and make a sacrifice of clean animals and birds. After that, God promised that never again will everything living to be destroyed by floodwaters and never again will a flood destroy the earth.
Noah’s Death
Noah was able to live for 350 years after the flood. He died at the ripe old age of 950 due to natural causes, well after the birth of Abraham.
Noah is indeed loyal and courageous. He isn’t perfect, but he truly wanted to live God’s way. And it is believed that every time we see a rainbow in the sky, we are looking at the sign God gave Noah to remind him of His promise that never again will everything be destroyed by floodwaters.