Noah

Life and work

Noah was the son of Lamech, a descendant of Seth, born as the world's population grew increasingly corrupt and violent. Genesis singles him out as 'a righteous man, blameless in his generation,' who 'walked with God' (Genesis 5:28-29; 6:8-9).

Seeing that human wickedness had become great and that 'every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,' God resolved to blot out humanity and all land-dwelling creatures with a flood, but found favor with Noah (Genesis 6:5-8, 11-13).

God instructed Noah to build a large ark of gopher wood, coated with pitch inside and out, giving precise dimensions (300 by 50 by 30 cubits) and instructions to bring his family and two of every kind of animal — seven pairs of clean animals — aboard, along with food for all of them (Genesis 6:14-22; 7:1-3).

At age 600, Noah entered the ark with his wife, his three sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth), and their wives, along with the animals, just before the rain began. The flood came: 'the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened,' and rain fell for forty days and nights, with the waters prevailing over the earth for 150 days (Genesis 7:6-24).

God 'remembered Noah,' and the waters gradually receded; the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah sent out a raven and then a dove three times to test whether the waters had subsided, finally releasing all the animals once the ground was dry (Genesis 8:1-19).

Noah built an altar and offered burnt offerings, and God, pleased by the aroma, resolved never again to curse the ground or destroy every living creature in this way, establishing the seasons as a fixed order (Genesis 8:20-22). God then made a covenant with Noah and 'every living creature,' setting the rainbow as its sign (Genesis 9:1-17).

After the flood, Noah became a man of the soil and planted a vineyard. He drank of its wine, became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent; his son Ham 'saw the nakedness of his father' and told his brothers, who covered Noah without looking. On waking, Noah pronounced a curse on Ham's son Canaan and blessings on Shem and Japheth — a passage later badly misused historically to justify racial slavery, though it names Canaan, not any racial group (Genesis 9:20-27).

Noah lived 350 years after the flood, dying at the age of 950 — the last of the extraordinarily long-lived patriarchs recorded in Genesis 5 and 9 (Genesis 9:28-29).

Dating

Born when Lamech was 182 (Genesis 5:28-29). The flood came in Noah's 600th year (Genesis 7:6), and he lived 350 years afterward, dying at 950 (Genesis 9:28-29). These dates anchor the entire pre-Abrahamic chronology.

Questions and debates

The episode of Noah's drunkenness and the resulting curse on Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27) has a long, troubling history of misuse: some later interpreters — particularly in the era of transatlantic slavery — wrongly claimed the 'curse of Ham' justified the enslavement of Africans. The text curses Canaan specifically, not Ham broadly and certainly not any racial group, and mainstream scholarship rejects the racialized reading entirely.

Extra-biblical evidence

Scripture references

• Genesis 6:1-22 — Corruption of the earth and command to build the ark
• Genesis 7:1-24 — Entering the ark and the flood
• Genesis 8:1-9:17 — The flood recedes and God's covenant with Noah
• Genesis 9:20-29 — Noah's drunkenness, the curse on Canaan, and his death
• Matthew 24:37-38 — Jesus compares the days of Noah to his second coming
• Luke 17:26-27 — Jesus again references 'the days of Noah'
• Hebrews 11:7 — Noah commended for building the ark in faith
• 1 Peter 3:20 — Peter references the flood and the ark as a type of baptism
• 2 Peter 2:5 — Noah called 'a herald of righteousness'

Further reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Noah
• British Museum: The Flood Tablet

Reflect

Noah built for decades with no rain in sight — what are you being asked to keep building without visible results?