Wednesday Studies No. 6
Takeaways for the study of Noah
Noah was from Mesopotamia, probably from the North, near Akkad and Haran.
Noah spoke not a word to God, but simply obeyed.
Noah means rest, comfort…noach
Noah was the last of the long lived Patriarchs.
Noah’s father, Lamech, overlapped Adam by about fifty years.
The ark was under construction for about 150 years. All of which time Noah. Talked about repentance and the coming Deluge.
The ark construction is the first of many specific, detailed and practical schematics that God has given to mankind.
Ark = teba, means salvation from waters
Cubit= the forearms
Gopher wood, likely cypress, pitch is tar, but also means atonement, expiate, cleanse.
Made of gopher wood, smeared inside and out with pitch, with three decks and internal compartments; it will be 300 cubits long (137.16 m, 450 ft), 50 wide (22.86 m, 75 ft), and 30 high (13.716 m, 45 ft); it will have a roof “finished to a cubit upward”, and an entrance on the side.
Many attempts to find the Ark. But I know where it is. It is in Dordrecht, Belgium and is open to the public. Actually there are two, a half scale version that was built in 2007, and a full sized version that was built in 2011 with profits, loans and donations from the smaller Ark.
The only words that were recorded as Noah’s, was the curse of Ham, years after the Flood.
The use of Noah by Mankind…
In Christianity, Noah is almost exclusively used as a Sunday School lesson, very rarely used in modern sermons
In Jewish tradition Noah is not in the same league as Abraham or even Issac.
“Despite the fact that Torah plainly describes Noach as אִישׁ צַדִּיק / ish tzaddik: “a righteous man,” “blameless in his generation” (תָּמִים הָיָהבְּדרתָיו), and a man who “walked with God” (אֶת־הָאֱלהִים הִתְהַלֶּךְ־נחַ), Jewish tradition takes a somewhat ambiguous view of him, especially when he’s compared to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people… In the Midrash Tanchuma (מדרש תנחומא), for example, it is said that Noach was righteous in his generation — though he would not be so regarded in other generations: “To what might this be compared? If a man places a silver coin among copper coins, then the silver appears attractive. So Noach appeared attractive in the generation of the Flood.” In other words, Noach was only relatively righteous compared to others…. “. hebrew4christians.com
In Islam Noah is mentioned 43 times and has his own chapter.
The Islamic tradition is quite detailed and matches in most details the description of the Deluge. Noah is very important in Islam, the most important prophet next to Mohammed.
Flood traditions in the world…
Sumerian creation myth
Epic of Gilgamesh, Babylonian
Greek mythology
German tales, The Louse and the Flea
Irish tales, Lebor Gabála Érenn – Cessair
Finnish flood myth
India myths, Manu, Matsya, Kumari kandam
Myths from Turkey, China, Malaysia, Australia, Polynesia, and North America
If the was was not worldwide, then certainly the stories of the Flood are worldwide.
There are two out stanuding views that accept the Deluge as factual.
1) A local event that was adopted by adjacent peoples
2) A world wide event seen from different perspectives
Example of local event:
Black Sea Floo
