God and Noah

A few years ago, while teaching Bible in high school, I had a student ask me if Noah might have known Adam. I did a bit of research, basing my work on two assumptions: 1) that the writer of Genesis knew what he was talking about when it comes to ages and numbers, and 2) that there are no missing generations in the genealogical list of Genesis 5. Adam lived 800 years after Seth was born. Seth had Enosh at year 105, Enosh had Kenan at year 195, Kenan had Mahalel at year 265, Mahalel had Jared at year 330, Jared had Enoch at year 492, Enoch had Methuselah at year 557, Methuselah had Lamech at year 744, and Lamech had Noah at year 926. So Adam was not around when Noah was born. He had been dead for 126 years. Seth also was not around; he had been dead for 4 years. This means that, when Noah was born, Adam's grandson Enosh was still alive. Adam was alive, however, when Lamech was born; Noah's father could easily have known and spoken personally with Adam. Lamech was 56 when Adam died.

This interesting tidbit comes to mind when I think of the life of Noah. In the genealogical list of Genesis 5, Noah is a slow starter. Some of the men in the list are approaching 200 years old when they have the named son, but Noah is 500 when he "becomes the father...". By comparison, Mahalel and Enoch are only 65 when they become fathers. Some other things come to mind when I read and think about Noah. I think about how, in some ways, Noah was a very unsuccessful person. He was certainly a disappointment as a preacher. He preached for 100 years (let me know if you would like the logic behind this statement) and had no converts, excepting (perhaps) his three sons. I also think about how gracious God was in being the one to close the door to the ark. Finally, I think about the progressive nature of revelation from God. In chapter 6, two of every kind of animal are to go into the ark with Noah, while in chapter 7, 7 pairs of some animals are to be accommodated. Let's look a bit at the story of Noah, from Genesis 6-9.

At the beginning of Genesis 6, God determines to destroy His creation on the basis of the increase of wickedness among people. Much of this passage is unclear. Who were the sons of God that saw the daughters of men? Who were the Nephilim? But the main point - that wickedness was increasing - is abundantly clear. God had made a perfect creation that was very good, and it had been, and continued to be, spoiled by the wickedness of people. There was one bright spot in the midst of the wickedness, and that spot was Noah.

So God comes to Noah with a mission. "Noah, build a big wooden chest 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high." As a visual reference, the boat was as long as 11/2 football fields, as wide as 1 1/2 basketball courts are long, and higher than a 3-story building. This is a large-scale building project, accomplished, to the best of our knowledge, by manual labour.
The story of Noah is the longest story in Genesis prior to the stories about the Patriarchs (Abram/Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel. The bulk of narrative space is given to God's instructions and Noah's obedience. God's instructions come in several stages. First, God tells Noah to build the Ark, giving instructions about both design and materials. Noah obeys. Then God tells Noah to start loading the ark, but adds details to the initial loading instructions, specifically telling Noah to include 7 pairs of clean animals. The initial instruction was for a single pair of each land- or air-based, air-breathing creature. This does not seem to be a change in instruction or direction, but a necessary clarification from the original simplistic directive. Noah did not need to know, while constructing the chest, that some animals would be represented by a single pair, while others would be represented by seven pairs. When the time for loading came, this detail became significant, so that is when God revealed it.
The third instruction from God comes after the Flood has receded. "Time to leave" is the basic instruction. Again, Noah is obedient to the word of God. God's final instruction to Noah and his sons echoes God's "be fruitful" instruction to Adam and Eve. Again, Noah is obedient to God's word.
Noah was not a perfect man, though God considers him to be a righteous one. He plants grapes, makes wine, and gets so drunk he falls naked onto his bed. He curses his grandson (or his son, depending on which argument you think is stronger) for his son's disrespectful conduct. But one thing about Noah, perhaps the character trait that earns him the "righteous" label from God, is that he was obedient to the commands of God. Build an ark? Check. Get food, animals and people into the ark? Check. Leave the ark? Check. Replenish the earth? Check. Whatever God needed Noah to do, Noah's answer was always, "Yes". May this be true of God's people today.