Noah and the Ark
The story of Noah and the ark is probably one of the most read stories of the bible. Perhaps it is because of the great tragedy it portrays, or because it is a story of salvation. Noah and his family along with the animals were saved from the flood, while the other people and animals perished as a result of it.
Growing up the story of Noah and the ark was one of my favorites; Quite simply because of the drawings depicting the story. They appeared so beautiful, when after many years I'm realizing the whole of the story. The story of the destruction of mankind, and the story of regrowth. I chose this topic because I realized how little I really do know about Noah and the ark. I will relay the story of Noah and the ark as well as answer a couple questions I have. Who was Noah, and why was he chosen by God? What did he possess that God didn't see in others? I will also look at what was going on at the time as far as why God wanted to erase all of life. “The story of Noah and the ark is one of the most cherished episodes and the most terrifying.”(Readers Digest)
This paper is not going to explore the possibilities of building such an ark, or weather it was sufficient enough to hold all the animals Noah was to board. I will not be comparing different stories of the flood, although that would be interesting as well. I am going to look deeper into the story of Noah and the ark. I am looking for reasons for the flood, and reasons Noah was chosen for the task of building the ark.
Noah was the ninth decedent from Adam. Noah was the son of Lamech, and the grandson of Methuselah, and the great-grandson of Enoch who “walked with God”. Lamech called his son Noah as to say, “This one will console us for the pain of our hands' work from the soil which the Lord cursed.” (Genesis, pg 25)
Men began to increase in number.“ The LORD 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 the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth and it grieved his to his heart.(Genesis 6:5-6) The LORD was going to wipe out the human race, the cattle, the crawling things and the fowl. God said “I regret that I have made them. (Genesis 6:7-8) The LORD found favor in the eyes of Noah. Noah was chosen by God to build an ark. Noah was chosen because he was a r...
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... the purpose that God commanded it, which was to save Noah and his family. This shows others that we too will be saved if we do as God commands.
The story of Noah is a story that should remind us that there are consequences for abusing God's laws. We are to remember that we all have a responsibility to abide by the laws God put forth. It is a story of salvation. Noah was saved as opposed to the others who died in the flood. The others didn't do as God commanded them.
As the LORD says in Jeremiah 18:7-8 “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.” It appears that the LORD would have allowed other people to repent and perhaps be saved from the flood, just like Noah.
I would assume that people made fun of Noah and his sons for building the ark. The other people, much like Noah had probably never seen rain, and therefore failed to believe that a flood was coming. These nonbelievers perished in the flood. It was to late for them to repent. They had their chance, but chose not to change their ways.
It contains useful comparisons and historical data to help support his analysis. The author considers the story to hold very value for Christians. It concerns the typical myths that were tied to pagan people. Despite that theory, there have been many Christians who have studied the afterlife and creation in the epic. He suggests an interesting thought when he starts to explain the story. The author hints that maybe the main character, Gilgamesh, was a historical figure. The base analysis for his line of thought is the story of the flood found in the bible. After looking at the lengths of time of each story, he considers it to not be a problem. To provide some evidence, the author shows a chart of a series of questions about each flood and compares the two. The most striking comparison in the chart was the command to build a boat; "O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubar-Tutu, tear down thy house, build a ship; abandon wealth, seek after life; scorn possessions, save thy life. Bring up the seed of all kinds of living things into the ship which thou shalt build. Let its dimensions be well measured."17 The text from the quote can almost match what the bible said. In both stories the person was commanded to build a boat because a flood is coming due to man’s sins or man’s wickedness. In the conclusion of the article, the author says a bold statement; “the widespread nature of flood traditions throughout the entire human race is exce...
Flood myths help to explain events which cannot be controlled, such as natural disasters. The Hebrew flood myth tells of a man named Noah, who is selected, along with his family, to survive an epic flood. The flood must occur to cleanse the world of its impurities (Leeming, 47-53). The “flood” in Mabel’s own life involves the many things she loses: her mother, her family’s money, her idea of the future. However, these losses allow her to become a stronger person, to move away from merely being a daughter or a sister and become Mabel (Lawrence, 1-15).
God is the creator, sustainer, judge, and redeemer. However, the most important characteristic of God is love. Love is an admirable quality. Genesis is an account of God’s magnificent creations. God saw that everything he created was good. The book of Genesis focuses on six persons and their families: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. God blessed man and all of his creations. For a moment, God’s creation was as He intended; paradise. Man sinned and God became unhappy, but he still provided for his people. God wanted man to repent. He still wanted things to be good once again. Noah was of the “few” good people on earth. Noah was obedient and honored God. God wanted to rid the earth of evil and start anew with righteous men and women. God wanted to give people a second chance and that was through Noah. God’s decision to save Noah and his family was, because He still longed for man’s obedience and faithfulness.
Noah and the ark just might be one of the most popular stories in the Bible. Even those who are unbelievers know the story of Noah. As well, there are a few different movies about this man and what happened, but none come to biblical truth. Noah was more than a character in a story, he was a real man who did something amazing for the kingdom of God. Noah was a just man who found grace in days of wickedness, the work he did in the Old Testament was symbolic and a representation of the foreshadowing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The story of Noah’s Ark begins with God being upset at mankind's wickedness. He decides to destroy it with a flood. God new Noah was righteous and told him to build an ark so he would be safe from the rain. Noah did so and took aboard his family and pairs of every kind of animal. It rained for forty days and nights, until the highest mountains were covered. Then God sent a wind and the waters receded, and the...
The flood story that is told in The Epic of Gilgamesh has the same principle as the story of Noah told in the book of Genesis in the Bible, but there are some major differences. In the epic, Utnapishtim is immortal and, although Noah was extremely old when he died, he wasn’t immortal. Utnapishtim was a human, but because he saved mankind, Enlil said, “Hitherto Utnapishtim has been a human, now Utnapishtim and his wife shall become like us gods.” (Gilgamesh 11.206-207) In the Biblical story, God told Noah that he was going to send a flood and asked him specifically to make the ark in order to save mankind. In Genesis 6:13-22, God tells Noah why he’s flooding the earth and exact instructions to build the ark. “13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[a] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high.[b] 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all arou...
Noah and the great flood, and the suffering of Job. The biblical excerpts provide the guide to
1. Flood is sent by God to destroy his creation, which has become corrupt and evil The humans are so wicked and evil that "it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart" (Gen. 6:6). He says,"I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. . . " (Gen. 6:7)
Man’s sin became so unbearable to God that he finally decided to get rid of humanity through a Flood. As the sole survivors of the Flood, Noah and his family mark the transition from the Adamic Age to the current age.
In the Mesopotamian version: the gods apparently displeased with the evils of mankind decided to destroy it by means of a great flood. Ea, the god of wisdom and subtlety, was privy to their council and warned Utnapishtim, the Babylonian Noah, of the coming disaster. Utnapishtim was told to build a ship thirty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. Provision it and put in it specimens of every living thing. Then to board it with his family and possessions and launch it on the waters.
The roles of Noah and Utnapishtim in the Flood Myths are quite similar. There are several differences regarding the two flood myths, but the general idea behind the two remains consistent. In the Mesopotamian Flood Myth, the Gods were overwhelmed by the amount of humans that existed on Earth and were unable to sleep due to the noise of men. So they decided to "exterminate mankind." While in the Hebrew story of Noah and the Flood Myth, God grew tired of the evil that had plagued mankind and engulfed the earth. So God decided to start the world over to undue the mistakes of man. Both of these stories display an attempt by the Gods to start the world over to cleanse the earth. Both Utnapishtim and Noah were spoken to by Gods and asked to build large boats from which all who were to be spared would seek shelter during the storm. Both men were allowed to spare the lives of their family via the safety of the boats. Also, the method used by the Gods in these myths are the same, the skies would rain down upon the earth flooding the land and killing all who were not ordered onto the boats.
The website illustrates Noah as the faithful covenant man who received the covenant from God that grace, redemption and restoration will be maintained in his family.
After the events on the boat regarding the twin children, Noah acts as if he has failed God for being unable to murder the two and carry out his plan, implying that God had actually wished for and expected Noah to murder his grandchildren. This played into portraying both God and Noah as vicious and cruel. In the story written in the Bible, God had chosen Noah to build the ark because he was the only one without wickedness present in his heart. However, he is featured in the film as one who was cold-hearted and would be willing to do anything to ensure that there would not be a future for
Noah, reputably known as the builder of the Ark, the 1st wine drinker and the 10th and final of the Antediluvian Patriarchs. Not much is known about Noah origins other than his age which was said to be roughly 500 years old when 1st mentioned in Genesis 5:32. It is said that Noah was a blameless man that walked with God, but due to his righteousness he was disliked by his fellow man. After the great flood, God promised to Noah that never again would the he destroy all life on Earth using a flood also known as the Noahic covenant. Noah later became a husbandman, or small landowner, which is below that of a yeoman. There he planted a vineyard and eventually created wine. This led to Noah becoming a drunk and passing out in the nude. Noah’s son Ham happened upon Noah and told his brethren of the ordeal. Noah blamed Ham for his embarrassment and cursed Ham’s son, Canaan. The curse of Ham was that Canaan would be a servant under his uncle, Shem. It is said that Noah died at the ripe old age of 950 years old, nearly 350 years after the floods told about within Genesis. He ...