Noah’s story

Noah’s story. The story of Noah is of fundamental importance in the Bible; He is a biblical character of great relevance, known and venerated in different religions, thanks to the important mission that was given to him by Jehovah God. Belonging to the tenth offspring of Adam, Noah was the last super-long-lived antediluvian patriarch to make life on Earth.

Where is the story of Noah found? In what book?

The life, work and history of Noah, is related in the first book of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible: Genesis. Specifically from chapter 6 to 9 of this book, the prophet Moses describes the events that occurred during Noah’s life, including the importance of his stay to once again populate the Earth.

The Ark built by Noah and the universal flood, is one of the best known episodes in the Bible, but it also conforms to the sacred writings of other religions. The Torah; text that contains the foundations of Judaism and the Koran, the book of Muslims, speak of this important event.

This catastrophe or natural disaster described in the texts already mentioned, was considered many years ago as a historical fact. However, geological and paleontological studies do not coincide with the data provided by the defenders of this theory.

What we are sure of is that it is a legend that has transcended through many generations and cultures. In order to fully understand it, it is necessary to study many events prior to the flood and the influence of the different characters that made life on Earth during that time.

About Noah

The data that exist of Noah before God chose him to renew the human species, are scarce. None of the sources that speak of the life of this character specify the place of his birth, the place where he died or where his remains were left.

In the sacred texts we can only find that Lamech, a descendant of Adam through Set, was the father of Noah. For his part, Methuselah or better known as the patriarch who lived the longest on Earth, was the father of Set and grandfather of Noah.

The rest that we know about this character is that he was the most just and honored man of his entire generation. The Earth at that time, was corrupted and full of violence due to the perversion of the people. This caused immense anger in God, who decided to destroy all life forms on Earth, but took pity on Noah and his family because of his obedience.

Before the flood

In order to understand the cause of God’s wrath, which caused the destruction of all humanity, we need to inquire a little more about what life was like for humans on Earth before the flood.

The Bible says that during this time, Satan was causing a lot of trouble on Earth; he inflicted bad thoughts on people and forced them to commit sinful acts. He even tried to influence the behavior of the Angels of God.

When humans began to reproduce and have daughters, the Angels of God were drawn to the beauty of these women; Accompanied by the influence of Satan, the Angels took human form and came to Earth to become masters of the women they wanted.

The result of the union between the Angels and the humans, they were children of great size and with an abnormal strength. It was thus, how the giants arose that would become the famous heroes of those times.

If a portion of these giants came from an angel, they were supposed to live for eternity. However, God did not allow his breath to remain for long in the body of a mortal; reducing the life span to 120 years.

The aberrations that were being spawned were only part of the unacceptable behavior of humans. The evil grew more and more and abounded in the thoughts of the people; perversions that were frequently committed had to be stopped once and for all.

It is then when God regrets having created the human being and decides to disappear them from the Earth; animal species such as reptiles and birds would also suffer the consequences. God’s idea was to cause the worst flood, which could generate the flooding of the entire earth’s surface.

But before imposing his punishment on mankind, he took pity on the only man who had ever lived according to his will, Noah. The Lord commanded this man who had worked his whole life as a carpenter to build an Ark; made with resinous wood and covered with tar, it had to be resistant to water.

God warned Noah that he would send a flood of water, capable of destroying everything in its path. However, she would establish an alliance with him and his family; if they entered the ark they could survive this catastrophe, accompanied by the animal species that they had to take with them.

And the ark, Noah’s story

Noah obeyed God’s orders; With the help of his sons, he soon began the creation of this majestic ship. Additionally, he warned the other inhabitants about the Lord’s intentions, but they only mocked and doubted his words.

According to Genesis 1: 7, the dimensions of this boat should be 150 meters long, 25 wide and 15 meters high. This ark would have three floors, in which compartments would be distributed that would serve as rooms. Finally, in the upper portion it had to put a dust jacket with a door on one of its sides.

It took Noah 120 years to build this Ark with his own hands. Upon completion, he followed God’s other instructions: to bring seven pairs (male and female) of each pure animal species into the boat and only one pair of those species that were impure. In addition, he had to stock up on all kinds of food and store it in a safe place on the Ark.

Was Noah’s Ark Before Jesus?

Yes, the story of Noah and the universal flood is placed chronologically in the year 2304 BC.

Universal flood

The hour of the universal flood was drawing near; Noah decides to enter the Ark with his wife, his three children, and each other’s wives. Only those who had decided to listen to the Lord’s warnings deserved to survive that tragedy.

Outside of the Ark, the people continued their life as usual, they did not believe that the flood that Noah spoke so much about would actually happen. When the ocean fountains burst and the water from the sky fell with force, the laughter and jeers towards Noah stopped.

But when was the universal flood according to the Bible? In Genesis 1: 7, it appears that seven days after the Ark’s preparations were completed, the floodwaters began to fall on Earth. It was specifically the seventeenth day of the second month and Noah was then six hundred years old.

Soon the entire surface of the Earth was covered by water, firmly pushing huge trees and heavy rocks. People ran desperately to the highest ground they could reach, but it was not enough; they wished they had heard Noah’s words.

For forty days and forty nights, the water level continued to rise until it covered the highest mountains. As the Lord had warned, everything that was alive on dry land and could breathe, animals and humans, perished.

Meanwhile, Noah and his family were in perfect condition inside the Ark, she floated without any problem and the water had no space to enter; they had done a good job.

After the Flood

The Earth was covered by water for 150 days. Then God caused a strong wind to blow and the water level began to drop, the rain falling from the sky stopped and the ocean currents were closed.

You may wonder, where is Noah’s ark after the flood? On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the water had diminished enough that the Ark was able to run aground in the mountains of Ararat. This reduction in water continued gradually and on the first day of the tenth month, the mountain peaks could already be observed.

At 40 days, Noah decides to open the windows of the Ark and let out a raven; Noah wanted to see if the waters had run off the Earth. However, this bird flew from one place to another without finding a place to land, so he had to return to the Ark.

Noah kept releasing the raven a couple more times, to no avail. After a few days, he decides to let out a pigeon, but it also returns after a few hours.

Even so, Noah did not give up and decides to send the dove once more. To everyone’s surprise, this time the bird returns with an olive leaf in its beak. The third trip of this bird was more victorious, since it does not return after being released; he has found a dry place to land and live.

A whole year had passed since the beginning of the flood; On the twenty-seventh day of the second month, at 601 years of Noah, the earth was already completely dry. It was then that God informed Noah that he could go out with his family, set all the animals free, and begin to repopulate the Earth.

The first thing Noah did when he stepped on the ground was to build an altar; here I could show his gratitude to the Lord. God, witnessing this act of devotion, affirmed that he would never again curse the Earth because of the perversions of humans; he would not once again destroy the living beings as he had done back then.

How many people survived the universal flood?

Noah, his wife, his sons and daughters-in-law were the only ones willing to enter the Ark, therefore only eight people were able to survive the universal flood. The rest of the human beings on Earth died during the flood, just as God had told Noah.

The Earth had been freed from the bad people who had corrupted it; women, men and children died during the flood. Even those giants that had been born by the union of the Angels with human beings.

What would happen to those Angels that had taken human form on Earth? When the flood occurred they could not die like the rest, they were not human beings. They simply left the body they had created and became Angels again. However, they would no longer belong to the family of God, they would become Angels of Satan or better known as demons.

Noah’s family

At the age of 500, Noah fathered his three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The identity of his wife is not mentioned in any of the sacred texts, but some theories or traditions assure that she was Emzara Naamá.

In biblical prehistory only the birth of male children is mentioned, except for Naamá, the only daughter born by one person (Lamech and Sila). And in case the theories are true, this woman was responsible for bringing Noah’s sons into the world.

In biblical history there is much controversy about Shem’s birthright. However, there is no evidence to prove otherwise. For its part, it is well known that this son of Noah two years after the flood begot Arfaxad, when he was 100 years old.

The existence of Shem has a great historical and religious connotation, since he was the father of all the children of Hebrews (Hebrews). Furthermore, he was responsible for the birth of Elam, who would later become the founder of the Kingdom of the Elamites. Finally, 502 years after the flood occurred, Shem passes away.

With regard to Japheth, there are some authors who describe him as the older brother; but all the scriptures do not coincide with this theory, turning the order of birth of Noah’s children into another controversy.

As for the descendants of Japheth, this character is considered the ancestor of the European nations; according to the data provided by the Table of Nations or better known as “Generations of Noah”.

Ham, son of Noah

Ham had four children, from whom arose the following peoples with the same names: Canaan, Mizraim, Cush and Fut (Possibly Libya). According to the Table of Nations, the descendants of Ham were the inhabitants of Africa and some areas of Asia.

In one of the passages of the Bible, an event of great importance in the history of Noah is described, known as the curse of Ham or the curse of Canaan.

Months after the catastrophic flood, Noah dedicated himself to agriculture and began to cultivate the land; the vine was one of the first species he planted. After collecting the first specimens of grapes and extracting their juice, Noah accidentally discovered the wine.

After having ingested a certain amount of this drink, Noah inevitably got drunk; here is the first drunkenness recorded in history. Unable to stand, Noah was left without clothes in the middle of his tent.

Some time later, the first to witness this scene of Noah was Cam, who took advantage of his father’s intoxication to make fun of him. Some Talmudic experts even claim that Ham may have abused his father, or on the contrary, have copulated with his mother during Noah’s unconsciousness.

Shem and Japheth were not part of this humiliation; both with their eyes closed, they took a blanket and covered their father’s nakedness, thus avoiding the tragic fate that awaited Cam.

When Noah woke up and found out what had happened, he indignantly threw a curse on Canaan, Ham’s fourth son; he prophesies that he would be a slave to Shem and Japheth. Some translators indicate that this prophecy is fulfilled when the Israelites subdue the inhabitants of Canaan, and finally culminates when the surviving Canaanites serve the descendants of the people of Japheth.

Reflection on the story of Noah, message, moral

The story of Noah is an example of faith; Despite the circumstances in which this man was born, a world full of corruption and violence, he knew how to find the way to God and live according to his will.

Noah’s faith is also demonstrated because of the confidence he had about God’s promises; even if he had physical proof of what would happen, he at no time did he doubt its existence. This allowed him to maintain a firm stance in the face of other people’s disbelief.

His determination to follow the Lord’s orders, while others around him labeled him crazy; it was the only truth the day the flood finally came. All the people who had decided to sin by rejecting the word of God were destined for destruction.

If Noah’s faith had also been broken; If this man had also not been willing to maintain a righteous relationship with the Lord, the human being would have been completely exterminated. Based on this, it is that the story of Noah has been seen as a new opportunity for humanity.

Read also: David’s Story ; Noah’s ark has been found