NOAH AND THE FLOOD
Genesis 5-10
Key Verses
5:3-31 At the age of 130, Adam had a son whom he named Seth. Adam then had other children and lived to be 930 years old. Seth fathered Enosh and lived to be 912 years old. …Enosh fathered Kenan and lived to be 905 years old. …Kenan fathered Mahalale and lived to be 910 years old. …Mahalale had Jared and lived to be 895 years old. …Jared had Enoch and lived to be 962 years old. …Enoch had Methuselah and lived to be 365 years old. …Methuselah had Lamech and lived to be 969 years old.…And Lamech fathered Noah and lived to 777 years of age.
6:1-6 Over time the human race increased in size but God limited length of life to 120 years. …Yet the Lord saw that wickedness and corruption had spread throughout the whole human race. Day and night man’s thoughts were only on evil, and the Lord was deeply saddened that he had created humans in the first place. His heart was broken with grief.
6:8-22 There was, however, one man who was different from the rest—and that man was Noah. …He differed from others because Noah walked with God, living his life with integrity and thus finding favor in God’s eyes. …Understanding the scope of corruption and evil that had taken root, God said to Noah, “I plan to destroy the entire human race because the whole world has become filled with sin and violence. And every living thing on earth will be destroyed along with them. So build an ark made of cypress with rooms inside and coat the outside with pitch. …The floods I bring will destroy all life…but I will create a covenant with you, and the ark you build will be the means to save both you and your family. Then bring two of every species of animal, bird, and reptile into the ark, along with every type of edible food.” And Noah closely followed God’s exact instructions.
7:1-23 When the floods finally began, Noah was 600 years of age. He and all of his extended family entered the ark. …Pairs of every kind of living creature came to Noah and entered the ark alongside the people. …Once all were safely inside, God himself shut tight the door of the ark. …Seven days later the floods began, continuing unabated for the next forty days. …All life on earth perished…every living thing. People and animals of every type were wiped from the earth. Only Noah and all who were with him in the ark survived
7:24-8:1-19 After five months the floodwaters began to recede; for God sent a strong and persistent wind to blow across them. …And the ark came to rest high upon the mountains of Ararat. …Forty days passed before Noah ventured to open a window in the side of the ark. First he sent out a raven but it kept coming back. Then Noah sent a dove out to look for life upon the rain-soaked landscape, but finding nowhere to land it too returned. A week later he sent the dove out again and that evening it returned with a newly-blossomed olive leaf in its beak. That’s when Noah knew the ground was dry enough to safely leave the ark. Still, he waited one more week before sending the dove out once again…but it never returned. …Then God said to Noah: “Now it’s time for one and all to leave the ark. Free all the living creatures to go out and flourish in every corner of the greening earth.” And they happily set out from the confines of the ark.
9:1-16 God then conferred his blessing upon Noah and his family, saying, “Be prosperous and thrive. Inhabit all the earth. Take careful responsibility for all of creation—the source of your food and livelihood. …God then declared to Noah and his family, “I now announce a covenant with you and all of creation that never again will the world perish from floods. …And the sign of this covenant agreement is the rainbow that forms against the cloudy sky. …It will be a permanent reminder of the covenant between me and all that lives and breathes upon the earth.”
9:18-29 Shem, Ham, and Japheth were the three sons of Noah who departed the ark with him. …From these three sons came all the peoples of the earth—every living tribe, tongue, and nation. Noah’s sons were the common ancestors of every person who lived on the earth after the flood…Finally, at the age of 950, Noah died—some 350 years after the great flood.
Basic Message
Among Adam’s descendents was a man named Noah. He alone stood out in his generation as a righteous man. God was distraught that evil and violence was so widespread among the rest of humanity. He planned to destroy all that he had made through a flood, rescuing Noah, his family, and pairs of every living creature by way of a ship that Noah built according to God’s specific instructions.
The flood indeed killed all other life on earth, after which God directed Noah’s Ark to land upon Mt. Ararat as the floodwaters slowly receded. He then directed Noah and his family, along with all the remaining living creatures, to leave the ark and inhabit the earth, blessing them for the task ahead. God then established a covenant with Noah and his family, giving them the responsibility to care for and live off of their prudent management of the rest of creation. From Noah’s family came all the nations on Earth.
Comments
* The further humankind went from Eden in both time and distance, the less idyllic life became. The longevity of Adam’s early descendents, almost a millennium in some cases, declined steadily in direct proportion to the increase in evil upon the earth. God was grieved by humanity’s choice to live wickedly. His loving nature would not allow him to be distant and detached. He was engaged and invested in his creation and with humankind. So wherever evil flourished, God made certain that there was always a righteous remnant through whom he could work his redemptive plans.
* Noah represented the righteous remnant model perfectly. He stood in opposition to an evil generation, living in obedience to God despite the ostracism and ridicule it entailed. Noah’s righteousness was the means of salvation for many. God blessed not only Noah and his family, but through them all who would thereafter follow a life of faith and obedience. In shutting the door to the ark, God did for Noah and his family what Noah could not do for himself. God does no less for us today.
* The covenant God established with Noah and his family, marked by the sign of the rainbow, was to assure him of God’s faithful commitment to bless and be with him in a new way. A new pattern of life was being established and God christened it by establishing a new covenant with his chosen instrument for blessing the world. But it was also a covenant with all the rest of creation which, in God’s design, was inexorably linked to man’s actions, whether good or bad. Noah and his family were given the task of responsible management of the creation he had helped save from the destructive floods. And to make the importance of wise management clear, God established that Noah’s provision would be through the creation he and his descendants had been given charge of. God would still be mankind’s provider, but that provision would come through the wise and skillful management of the whole of creation. It was a divinely established system that mankind desperately needs to recognize and reinstitute today, not only for our own good but also for the good of the rest of creation under our care.
* God was insuring that his redemptive plans for his creation were in effect, but he chose to do so by partnering with man – ennobling him in the process. The life and work of humankind was thus rendered sacred by association with a holy God. And in the process we were saved from mere existence in an impersonal universe—the necessary outcome of all naturalistic philosophies and worldviews. Our lives have meaning because God has chosen to be involved with us in them.
Biblical Themes
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
