|
|
Noah
Name means: Rest
Parents: Lamech and unnamed wife
Wife: Not named
Children: Shem, Ham, Japheth
Found in: most notably in Genesis 6-9, Ezekiel 14:14, 20; Matthew
24:36-41 (and parallel in Luke 17:26-27); Hebrews 11:7 and 2 Peter
2:5. (Another Noah, one of the seven daughters of Zelophehad, appears
in Numbers 26:33, 27:1 and 36:11.)
Noah is an important figure, noted mostly for his righteousness (he
"found grace in the eyes of the Lord" - Gen. 6:8, and in 6:9 he is
called 'righteous' and 'blameless' and we are told he 'walked with
God' (also said of Enoch in Gen. 5:22 and 24). As a result, God had
him build an ark to save his family and remnants of each kind of
animal in pairs - one pair of 'unclean' and 7 pairs of 'clean'
animals. He entered the ark 7 days before the waters flooded the
earth. After the flood, when the ark came to rest, he sent first a
raven and a week later a dove. The dove eventually plucked a living
olive branch and brought it back to Noah. A week later, the dove was
sent out again and never returned. Noah then left the ark and built an
altar to offer a burnt offering to God after coming out of the ark and
in response God vowed never again to destroy the world by a flood. The
rainbow became his "reminder" of this promise, just as the olive leaf
became a symbol of peace and reconciliation. The waters of the flood
have become for Christians a model of baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21) and
the ark for the Church - or more directly Jesus - who saves his people
from judgement. Jesus uses the example of the flood as an example of
how suddenly final judgement will come, and some use the seven days
prior to the flood that Noah was in the ark as a model of the Rapture
of Christians 7 years before the final judgement preceding Christ's
return.
Hebrews 11:7 - By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
|
Civilizations