Background
The name of Noah is associated with the idea of rest, comfort or relief. Genesis 5:29 Noah is the tenth in the line from Adam, and the son of Lamech not the same Lamech as is mentioned earlier in Genesis 4:29. Noah was a righteous man and blameless in the eyes of God Genesis 6:9 and lived to be 950 years old. 9:29
The Bible tells us that Noah was 500 years old when his first child was born. He was the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth from whom come all the nations of the earth. 5:32 One hundred years later the flood came.
The sin of man had increased to the point where God looked down upon the earth and said.
'And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.' Genesis 6:5-6
Noah's Character
But God's grace shines through in the person of Noah. He is brought into the world and commissioned to do a great work of deliverance. Genesis 6:8 says 'that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord'. Noah is contrasted to the rest of humanity in their wickedness. Noah was given the grace of God not because of his own righteousness but because of the undeserving favour of God. And so he would become the father of the entire human race.
Noah's place in history is highlighted as the chief character in the greatest catastrophe to yet come upon the earth. Noah's qualifications for this position are given in 6:9 'These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.' It was his communion with God that made the difference. Hebrews tells us that he was an heir of righteousness. Hebrews 11:07
As one of God's servants Noah was given a ministry of preaching righeousness and building an ark of deliverance. 2 Peter 2:5 While Noah and his family obeyed by faith, the rest of humanity remained unrepentant and perished in the flood. But the grace of God is even present here. God could have destroyed man without warning and with just cause but chooses out of his grace to send a preacher of righteousness and send him for one hundred and twenty years.
Noah's Ark
Noah and his family entered the ark and remained for almost a year. The waters were over the earth for one hundred and fifty days. It rained for forty days and forty nights and Noah stayed in the ark until a dove returned with an olive leaf indicating that there was dry ground and life. The question as to wheather it was a universal flood or not is somewhat irrelevant. The point is that Genesis 7:22 'All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.' This fact would imply a universal flood but does not prove it.
Immediately upon exiting the Ark Noah proceeds to build an altar and offered sacrifices of clean animals upon it. Noah's response to deliverance and salvation is one of worship and sacrifice.
For Further Study See The Ark
Noatic Covenant
In conjuction with the ark we have the word covenant mentioned for the first time. Genesis 6:18 It is a solumn agreement between two parties, where each side is bound to perform certain things agreed upon. God renews his covenant of grace with Noah and the whole human race. God continues to maintain his promise of Genesis 3:15. And to seal the covenant in the memory of all men God places the beautiful phenomenon of the rainbow in the sky. A perpetual reminder of God's covenant keeping.
With the backdrop of this covenant Noah is commanded to enter the ark and close its doors. With him are his immediate family and two of every unclean animal and seven of every kind of clean animal for the purpose of some to eat and some to sacrifice. Man is officially given permission to eat animals for food. God does however give some restricitons to this law. It is the restriciton of the blood. Genesis 9:4 'But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.' This was to prevent eating the animal while it was still alive and also to reserve the blood as a reminder that it is God who demands the blood for propitiation for sin.
Joined with this issue of the blood is the issue of shedding human blood. An account will need to be given if a man's blood is shed. The issue of capital punishment is bound up with the elements of the covenant God made with Noah. Civil government has its roots here in the outset of post-flood humanity. God has given the appointed government the right to execute murderers using capital punishment. It is as bound up in the covenant with Noah as God's promise not to destroy the earth again by universal flood and is also brought to memory by the rainbow. This covenant is universal and binding upon all mankind and God.
For Further Study See Noatic Covenant
Noah Blesses His Sons
Following the ark an account of Noah's private life is given. Noah was a farmer and planted a vineyard which produced wine. One night he became intoxicated and was lying naked in his tent. Ham, Noah's youngest son witnessed his nakedness and reported it to his other two brothers who went into his fathers presence backwards and covered him. When Noah awoke he blessed Sehm and Japheth but cursed Canaan, Ham's son.
These blessing and curse show the future direction of the nations of the earth. Canaan is cursed as a slave to his brothers.
The blessing of Shem is that Jehovah would be his God. This family retained the benefits of this blessing for nearly 2400 years while the other two sons' descendants showed no indication of worship of the living God.
The blessing of Japheth is that they would be a large nation and historically this has been true in that Japheth has been the father of the inhabitants of Europe and Asia.
Noah continued to live after the flood about 350 years but little is known about him during this peirod. Noah died at age 950.
For Further Study See The Flood
