Noah

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This article is about the biblical Noah; for other uses, see Noah (disambiguation).

Noah or Nóach ("Rest," Standard Hebrew נוֹחַ (Nóaḥ), Tiberian Hebrew נֹחַ (Nōªḥ); Arabic نوح (Nūḥ)), is a Biblical figure who, according to Genesis, built an ark to save his family and each species of the world's animals from the Deluge (an example of Divine retribution). The story of his life is told in the Book of Genesis and the Quran.

1 Life of Noah
2 Interpretive differences
3 The Seven Noahide Laws
4 Popular culture
5 See also
6 External links and references

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Life of Noah

Image:Michelangelo Buonarroti 015.jpg According to the account in Genesis, Noah was the son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah. He and his wife had three sons: Japheth, Sem or Shem, and Ham. The order can be deduced from the Genesis record: Noah was 500 when the first son, Japheth, was born (Genesis 5:32) and 600 when the Flood came. Shem had his son, Arphaxad, 2 years after the Flood, when he was 100 years old (Genesis 11:10), making him 2 years younger than Japheth. Ham is stated to be the youngest (Genesis 9:24). (See Sons of Noah for further discussion).

Noah's wife is not named in the western canon of the Bible. Later Midrashic writings give her name as Naamah, also employed by the Book of Jasher. According to the Book of Jubilees (canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church) her name was Emzara.

According to Genesis, Noah was a "just man and perfect in his generation", and "walked with God" (cf. Ezekiel 14:14,20). The "sons of god" (Hebrew bnei ha elohim) and "the daughters of men" began to intermarry. Genesis 6:4 says, "The fallen ones (Hebrew "nfeeyleem") were in the earth in those days, and also after that (Numbers 13:33; Deuteronomy 1:28, 9:2; Joshua 11:21; Anakhim means huge men in Hebrew)...., when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown." Men became more and more corrupt, and God determined to rid the Earth of its wicked population (Gen. 6:7). But God entered into a covenant with Noah, with a promise of deliverance from the threatened Deluge (Gen. 6:18). He was accordingly commanded to build an ark (6:14-16) to save himself and his family. According to Rashi, the Jewish medieval commentator, as well as Christian interpretations of Genesis preserved in the First Epistle of Peter 3:18–20 and the Second Epistle of Peter 2:5, an interval of 120 years elapsed while the ark was being built (6:3), during which Noah tried to convince the people to repent so they could avoid the wrath of God.

When the ark of "gopher-wood" (a Biblical hapax legomenon) was finally completed, the living creatures that were to be preserved entered into it. Noah was commanded to save two of each non-kosher bird, animal and creeping thing (a male and a female) and seven of each kosher bird or animal (the additional creatures were meant to be brought as sacrifices after the Deluge). Noah also stocked up on enough food to feed all the humans and animals in the Ark for a year, plus seeds to replant trees, vegetables and the like after the Deluge. After the animals were in place, Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his three daughters-in-law entered it, and then the "Lord shut him in" (Gen. 7:16). The judgment of God then fell on the guilty world:

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them" (Gen 6:5-7).
Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. (Gen 6:11-13)

The waters rained down from above and burst out of terrestrial fissures below, flooding the earth for 150 days. All life was blotted out from the earth (the fish, though, survived in the water) and when the waters diminished, the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat (in modern-day Turkey) (Gen. 8:3,4). To test whether the waters had indeed receded, Noah first sent out a raven and then a dove to see if these birds would find something to eat. The dove returned to him the second time with an olive leaf; the third time she did not return at all, as she found a place to build her nest.

After a year of occupancy in the ark (Gen. 6:13), Noah was given permission to leave it (Gen. 6:16-17). His first act on dry land was to erect an altar (the first altar mentioned in the Bible) and offer sacrifices of thanks and praise to God. God entered into a covenant with Noah—the first covenant between God and man—granting him possession of the earth by a new and special charter, which remains in force to the present time (Gen. 8:21-9:17). As a sign and witness of this covenant, the rainbow was adopted and set apart by God as a sure pledge that the earth would never again be destroyed by a flood.

Genesis 9:20-27 relates that Noah planted a grapevine and, in the first mention of alcohol in the Bible, we are told that Noah drank of the wine, became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent (Gen. 9:21). Ham "saw his father's nakedness" (opinions differ on just what this means) and told his brothers about it. Ham's older brothers, Japheth and Shem, covered Noah's body with a garment, respectfully walking backwards and turning their faces (Gen. 9:23). When he awoke, Noah cursed Canaan, the young son of Ham, and all his descendants.

Logically, in this account, Noah followed Adam as the ancestor of all human beings. The New Testament's gospels trace Jesus's ancestry, though they are not fully consistent with each other or with the Old Testament; Luke follows the geneology back to Noah (Luke 3:36: "... the [son] of Arphaxad, the [son] of Shem, the [son] of Noah, the [son] of Lamech").

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Interpretive differences

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Christian

Noah is pointed to as someone who has absolute faith in God. Jesus referred to Noah as a real person and the Deluge as a historical event. He compared the account to the salvation of man.

"For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah" (Matt 24:37 NASB)
"For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark" (Matt 24:38 NASB)
"And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man" (Luke 17:26 NASB)
"they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all" (Luke 17:27 NASB) (Noah and the Deluge are also mentioned in 1 Peter 3:20)

Following New Testament Scripture, Hebrews and the Second Epistle of Peter, most Christians accept the account of Noah as a righteous man, in the same category as Abraham and Jacob.

Hebrew 11:7—By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
2 Peter 2:5—and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly

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Jewish

The Jewish tradition, however, gives Noah less credit as to his righteousness. At the start of the story, Noah is described as being "perfect in his generation" (Genesis 6:9), implying to some Jewish scholars that his perfection was only relative. In his generation of wicked people, he could be considered righteous, but in the generation of a tzaddik like Abraham, he would not be considered so righteous.

The proof is that God gave him the task of building a huge ark, which took 120 years to construct. With such a massive building project going on for so long, there was plenty of time for other people to travel to Noah, ask him what he was doing, get the answer that a great flood was coming to wipe out the world because of their sins, and be motivated to repent. Noah answered all their questions but, unlike Abraham, he did not go one step further and actively pray to God on their behalf. In contrast, when Abraham heard about the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a wicked part of town that he had nothing to do with, he nevertheless argued with God on their behalf and got God's promise that He would not destroy the cities if even 10 righteous people could be found there, Noah did not argue at all. He just went about his business and then entered the ark with his family and the animals when God told him to.

This led later Jewish commentators to offer the metaphor of a man who is cold: A fully righteous person would light a fire to warm his entire environment, but a partly righteous person would only put on a coat and be warm while others stayed cold. Abraham lit a fire of God-consciousness in his part of the world, teaching others about God and trying to save them from sin. Noah was the "man in a fur coat," who ensured his and his family's safety while everyone else died.

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Islamic

نوح Nūḥ (the Arabic form of Noah) is a prophet in the Qur'an.

Because the Qur'an is more poem than prose, references to Noah are scattered throughout the Qur'an, but no historical account of the entire Deluge is given. Generally speaking, the references in the Qur'an are consistent with Genesis and Islamic tradition generally accepts the Genesis account as historical. However, the degree of detail varies between the two accounts.

Generally, the Qur'anic account emphasizes Noah's preaching of the monotheism of God, and the ridicule heaped on him by idolators.

Particularly:

We sent Nuh to his people: He said, “O my people! worship Allah! Ye have no other god but Him. Will ye not fear (Him)?”

The chiefs of the Unbelievers among his people said: “He is no more than a man like yourselves: his wish is to assert his superiority over you: if Allah had wished (to send messengers), He could have sent down angels; never did we hear such a thing (as he says), among our ancestors of old.”

(And some said): “He is only a man possessed: wait (and have patience) with him for a time.”

(Nuh) said: “O my Lord! help me: for that they accuse me of falsehood!”

God later instructed Nuh to build the ark:

But construct an Ark under Our eyes and Our inspiration, and address Me no (further) on behalf of those who are in sin: for they are about to be overwhelmed (in the Flood). (Surah Hud: 37) (Surat al-Mumenoon: 23-26)

The Qur'anic account contains a detail not included in the Biblical account: a reference to another son who chose not to enter the ark:

So the Ark floated with them on the waves (towering) like mountains, and Nuh called out to his son, who had separated himself (from the rest): “O my son! embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers!” The son replied: “I will betake myself to some mountain: it will save me from the water.” Nuh said: “This day nothing can save, from the command of Allah, any but those on whom He hath mercy!” And the waves came between them, and the son was among those overwhelmed in the Flood. (Surah Hud: 42-43)

Also, the Qur'anic account lacks several details of the Genesis account, including the crime of disrespect by Noah's son Ham in mocking, rather than covering his father's nakedness (Genesis 9:22), and the resultant cursing of his grandson Canaan.

Some Muslims assert that the flood during Noah's time was a local event, in contrast to the Biblical account which asserts that it was global. They infer this from several Qur'anic verses. Other Muslims, however, hold that the flood was indeed global. The Qur'an is not explicit on the point, allowing for some variety of interpretation.

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Latter-Day Saint

Joseph Smith taught that Noah is the same person as the angel Gabriel: "The Priesthood was first given to Adam; ... He is Michael the Archangel, spoken of in the Scriptures. Then to Noah, who is Gabriel: he stands next in authority to Adam in the Priesthood" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 157).

Noah is also the name of a king in the Book of Mormon; see King Noah.

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Gnostic

The Apocryphon of John reports that the chief archon caused the flood because he desired to destroy the world he had made, but the First Thought informed Noah of the chief archon's plans, and Noah informed the remainder of humanity. Unlike the account of Genesis, not only are Noah's family saved, but many others also heed Noah's call. It explicitly disagrees with the account in Genesis that there was an ark; rather, it reports that Noah and the others hid in a "lumninous cloud" (Wisse translation).

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The Seven Noahide Laws

Main article: Noahide Laws

At the time of the creation of man, God gave six pre-Mosaic laws to mankind as a whole. Following the Great Flood, an additional commandment was added (Genesis 9:2-4), making a total of seven laws binding on non-Jews, according to Jewish tradition. These seven laws are known alternately as the Seven Noahide Laws, the Seven Laws of Noah, the Seven Commands of Noah, the Seven Laws of the Righteous Gentile, or the Seven Universal Laws.

The Seven Laws are:

Do not commit idolatry.
Do not blaspheme God.
Do not murder.
Do not engage in incestuous, adulterous, bestial or homosexual relationships.
Do not steal.
Do not eat a limb torn from a living animal.
Establish courts to ensure obedience to the other six laws.

The main function of these laws is to distinguish acceptable gentile practice from corrupted religious practices.

According to Maimonides, a non-Jew who keeps these seven laws only because he or she perceives them as logical is called "wise," but not a "resident proselyte" or a "pious gentile." On the other hand, a non-Jew who keeps these seven laws because God commanded them is considered one of the devout from among the nations and earns a portion in the World to Come (based on RAMBAM - Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shoftim, Hilkhot Melakhim 8:11 in Yemenite Manuscripts). Other authorities to not make this distinction.

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Popular culture

William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part II contains a wry comment about people who claim to be related to royal families. Prince Hal notes of such people,

...they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it from Japhet. (II.ii 117-18)

Genesis 10:5 was often interpreted to mean that the peoples of Europe were descended from Japheth. Clearly, then, any two Englishmen must have at least this one ancestor in common, and thus any individual could claim kinship with the king.

In 1998 a made-for-tv movie entitled Noah depicted a carpenter who is visited by an angel and told to build another ark so he may survive another world flood.

A professional wrestling circuit in Japan is called Pro Wrestling NOAH. The name evokes the biblical story with the fact that most of its wrestlers left a more established promotion at the time, All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Shane Johnson's 2002 novel Ice portrays Noah in a manner consistent with the Christian tradition: as the head of a household consisting of the only kind-hearted persons on the planet, a man on a mission from God, and a leader who sometimes had to make hard, not-quite-pleasant decisions. In one memorable scene, Noah--or a simulacrum of him--orders a man left behind, not because he didn't deserve to be taken aboard the Ark, but because God's orders were that only eight people--Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives--board the Ark.

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