• Adam lived 130 years and then had a son named Seth. 800 years later, when Adam was 930 years old, he died.
• Seth lived 105 years and then had a son named Enosh (ee-nosh).
• Enosh lived 90 years and then had a son named Kenan (key¬-nan).
• Kenan lived 70 years and then had a son named Mahalalel (mah-hah¬-lah-lel).
• Mahalalel lived 65 years and then had a son named Jared.
• Jared lived 162 years and then had a son named Enoch (ee-noch).
• Enoch lived 65 years and then had a son named Methuselah (meh-thoo-sah-lah).
• Methuselah lived 187 years and then had a son named Lamech (lay-mek). This is not the same Lamech as mentioned last week.
• Lamech lived 182 years and then had a son named Noah, the man we’ll study today.
All of these years are mentioned because a very interesting point needs to be made. Keep in mind that Adam was 930 when he died. When you add up all the years given in Genesis for the lineage between Adam and Noah, we see that Adam died 126 years before Noah was born. I realize that seems like a lot of years when compared to our lifespan. But, when we consider that these men were around 100 years old before they begat their first son, we see that Noah just barely missed knowing his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Adam.
It’s important to note this time frame because the flood comes just after Adam’s death. Within the lifetime of one sinner, things had gotten this bad. Things were SO bad that Genesis 6:5 & 6 say, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was sad that he had even formed man on the earth, and it made his heart hurt.”
You know things are bad when such a generalization is drawn. But, I think it speaks even more into the horror of the condition of man to say that God was filled with regret. Parents, at what point is your kids’ behavior so bad that regret having them? That’s saying a LOT about the evil in the world.
In all this darkness though, there is a bright spot. Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord because, like his great-grandfather, Enoch, Noah walked with God. And during one of this walks, God confessed to Noah that He intended to destroy the earth. We don’t have a record of Noah’s response when God let that one fly—I imagine it is because he was speechless.
“Noah, build an ark. Make it this big. Use these materials. Put a door here and a window there.”
Noah is speechless, presumably because “ark” means “floating coffin”. Doesn’t sound like a vehicle for a joyride.
“I gonna make it rain…a lot. It’s gonna rain so much that the entire earth and every living thing will no longer be a living thing…except for you and your family and the animals I want you to bring. That’s why you need a big boat.”
Noah is still speechless.
“I like you Noah, so I’ll establish my covenant with you. You and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives, 8 of you in all—8 is enough—will all go into the boat with two of every kind of bird and every kind of animal—because it takes two to tango. And, of course, you’ll need enough food for all of you and those animals. Make sure you have enough food.”
Noah is still speechless. But, Noah did everything just as God commanded him. And that’s especially significant when you realize that he was 600 years old before the flood came. I’m pretty sure that this guy ate his Wheaties!
In Genesis, there are three full chapters in the account of the flood. And I know all of it was included for a reason, but in a literary sense, not all the details move the plot along. Since I am just a storyteller, let me Reader’s Digest condense it for you.
• Noah built the boat according to the specs given him by God. It’s significant to note that twice in the story Noah is called “righteous”. But four times, it says that Noah did “just as God commanded”. Obedience is really important if you’re gonna keep things afloat.
• Noah and his wife, Joan of Ark, along with their 3 sons and their wives all went into the boat and brought a male and female of every kind of animal, so they could propagate the planet after the flood. But some animals, they actually brought 7, instead of just 2, so they’d have fresh food.
• God shut them in the ark 7 days before the flood came.
• And then the water came. And not just rain fell from the sky, but the springs of the deep opened up also—it was water from above and water from below at the same time. That’s why throughout the story of Noah, it refers to floodwaters, not just rain. Essentially, all of the water in existence came to the surface of the planet, whether it fell down or rose up. This continued for 40 days and 40 nights.
• And everything that wasn’t in the boat, died. Every person, every animal, every bird—dead.
The text gives some actual dates, but they are given in the Jewish calendar. So with a little research on the internet, you can see how those dates line up with our current calendar.
• Genesis 7:11 says the floods came on May 1, give or take a few days.
• It rained for 40 days and nights—and you thought a 3-hour tour was long. That takes us to about June 9.
• It took 150 days for the waters to recede—5 months. That takes us to about October 5. That’s the day that the boat stopped floating and rested on land—but, we eventually hear that they landed on a mountain, so you can imagine that there was still a lot more water to recede.
• After another 40 days, about November 14, Noah released a raven from the ark. It makes sense that a bird’s eye view would see the condition of things. He also released a dove. But the reports were still soggy.
• A week after that, November 21, he sent out the dove again. This time the report was good; the dove returned with a leaf—meaning that the water had receded enough that plants were sprouting again.
• A week after that, November 28, he sent the dove a third time. This time the dove did not return—meaning it had found things suitable to resume normal life.
• Genesis 8:13 says that on March 14, give or take a few days, Noah could see dry ground.
• The verse after that says that on May 15, give or take a few days, the water was completely gone. The flood was over.
• Noah, Joan, and their boys and wives lived on the ark for more than a year!
Then God said to Noah, “Come out of the ark, you and Joan and the boys and their wives. Bring the animals out too, because they need to get busy repopulating the planet.” So Noah did that, but then he built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed some of the animals. God smelled this offering and was set at ease to say that He would never again would he curse the ground because of man—no matter how bad things ever got. And, He would never again destroy the earth with a flood.
You remember how God gave Adam two to-do’s and one to-don’t? That’s the same number God gave Noah and his family. First, he told them to “increase in number on the earth”—have many babies! Secondly, just as He told Adam, God told Noah that he had to take care of the planet. But, this time he stipulates that every person will be held accountable for his or her own life—the way they live within their purpose or not. The to-don’t is also similar to Adam’s. This time, to-don’t eat meat from animals that are still alive.
And as a reminder of these two to-do’s, the to-don’t and God’s promise to never destroy the earth again with a flood, God placed a rainbow in the sky. And for most people, that’s where the story ends.
But, there’s one more little bit of the Noah story. Years after the flood, Noah had planted a vineyard. From the bounty of that vineyard, he made some wine. From that wine, he got drunk and fell asleep without his clothes.
His middle son, Ham (an ironic name for someone not permitted to eat pork products), told his brothers but did nothing else. The brothers Shem and Japheth (jay-feth), not wanting their father to be disgraced, went in to cover him up—specifically noted that they walked in backwards so they wouldn’t see their father in such a condition.
This part of Noah’s life was included in the bible because a curse is involved. Of course, Noah does not curse the boys that covered him. But, neither does he curse the son that did nothing—Noah’s curse comes down on the son of the son that did nothing: Canaan (kay-nen).
English translations are literarily accurate, but somewhat misleading here. The text says Noah cursed his youngest son, but then a couple of verses later, he blesses Japheth (the actual youngest of Noah’s My Three Sons). The phrase “youngest son” actually implies “grandson”, “the one younger than my youngest son”. Presumably, this curse is because Canaan did something naughty to his naked grandpa that is not recorded in scripture.
Now, just as a preview for next week’s story, we want to peek at Genesis 10. This is called the Table of Nations and traces the lineages of Noah’s three sons.
First listed is Japheth. I’m not going to try and pronounce these names because they really aren’t important to the point being made. But, historically, based on these names, we see that the descendents of Japheth settled in the areas between the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. This is the people-group we come to know, historically, as Ancient Greece.
Second listed is the Hamites—the descendents of Ham. Again, these names aren’t important to our story, but through historical and biblical research, we see that this clan settled on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, particularly around a certain river, the Nile River. The Hamites are better known to us as the people of Ancient Egypt. Keep in mind that this is the group that Noah cursed because of Canaan’s dirty deed (whatever it was).
Finally, are the sons of Shem. Even though his name is spelled s-H-e-m, the descendents of Shem are called Semites. Ever heard of them? Adolf Hitler was very well known for his anti-Semitic views. It is from the line of Shem that we’ll arrive at next week’s hero, Abraham. This is the line that history will eventually come to know as the Jews. King David can be traced in the line of Shem. Jesus can be traced in the line of Shem.
Yeah, that’s kind of a big deal.