Noah and the flood

Few stories in the Bible are as well known as Noah and the ark. It appears in children’s books, paintings, films and toys. But behind the images of animals going in two by two lies a profound account of human sin, God’s judgment, saving grace, the obedience of a righteous man and the first explicit covenant in the Bible. In this episode we walk through Genesis 6 to 9.

“And God 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 it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

Genesis 6:5-8

A world full of violence

The generations after Adam multiplied, but so did wickedness. Genesis says the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence (Genesis 6:11). The phrase “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” is one of the harshest descriptions of the human condition in the whole Bible.

The text says the Lord “repented” that he had made man and “it grieved him at his heart”. This is human language to express divine sorrow over sin. God is not indifferent: wickedness grieves him. The coming judgment does not spring from cruelty, but from the holiness of a God who cannot tolerate the destruction of his creation for ever.

Genesis 6:1-4 also mentions “the sons of God” who took wives of “the daughters of men”, and the Nephilim, “mighty men which were of old, men of renown”. It is one of the most enigmatic passages in the Bible. Some interpreters understand it as the mixing of Seth’s godly line with Cain’s; others as angelic beings; others as powerful rulers. What is clear is that corruption had reached the whole of society.

Noah found grace

In the midst of that darkness shines a sentence: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” It is the first time the word “grace” appears in the Bible. Before saying that Noah was righteous, the text says he found grace. Salvation always begins with God’s favour.

Then his character is described: “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). Like his great-grandfather Enoch, Noah walked with God. His name is related to the Hebrew word for rest or comfort; his father Lamech said at his birth: “This same shall comfort us concerning our work” (Genesis 5:29).

Building the ark

God told Noah that he would bring a flood and gave him precise instructions to build an ark of gopher wood, pitched within and without. Its measurements were three hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, that is, roughly 137 metres long, 23 wide and 14 high. It had three decks, a window and a door in its side.

The six-to-one ratio of length to width is very close to that used by modern cargo ships for stability. The ark was not a ship built to sail to a destination, but a great floating box designed to stay safe. The Hebrew word for ark, tevah, is the same word used for the basket of bulrushes in which the baby Moses was placed on the Nile.

The building must have taken many years. Meanwhile, Noah was, according to Peter, “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). Every plank of the ark was a visible sermon warning of judgment and offering a way of escape. And Noah obeyed: “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he” (Genesis 6:22).

The flood

When Noah was six hundred years old, he entered the ark with his wife, his three sons —Shem, Ham and Japheth— and their wives: eight people in all (1 Peter 3:20). The animals went in too, two by two, male and female, and of the clean animals seven pairs. And a beautiful detail: “the Lord shut him in” (Genesis 7:16). It was God who sealed Noah inside the place of salvation.

Then the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. It rained forty days and forty nights, and the waters prevailed on the earth a hundred and fifty days. The judgment was total, but inside the ark there was life.

God remembered Noah

“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged.”

Genesis 8:1

This verse is the centre of the account. In the Bible, “to remember” does not mean God had forgotten, but that he acts faithfully on behalf of his own. A wind passed over the earth, the waters abated and the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

Noah sent out a raven, which went to and fro. Then he sent out a dove, which returned because it found no rest for its foot. Seven days later he sent it out again, and it came back in the evening with an olive leaf in its beak. Ever since, the dove with an olive branch has become a universal symbol of peace. A week later the dove did not return.

The altar and the rainbow

On leaving the ark, the first thing Noah did was build an altar and offer burnt offerings to God. His first act in the renewed world was worship. God promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood, and established a covenant with Noah, his descendants and every living creature. The sign of that covenant was the rainbow:

“I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”

Genesis 9:13

It is the first formal covenant in the Bible, and it is universal: it includes all humanity and even the animals. Every time the rainbow appears, it recalls God’s faithfulness and mercy. God also renewed the command to be fruitful and multiply, and affirmed the value of human life, for man was made in the image of God (Genesis 9:6).

Noah’s fall

The Bible is honest about its heroes. After the flood, Noah planted a vineyard, drank of the wine, became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. Ham saw his father’s nakedness and told his brothers, while Shem and Japheth respectfully covered him without looking. The episode shows that the flood did not remove sin from the human heart. A deeper solution was needed: a new heart, which only Christ can give. Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood and died at nine hundred and fifty.

Places in the story

Interesting facts

Lessons for our lives

God sees sin and it grieves him: he is not indifferent to violence and corruption. Grace comes before judgment: Noah found grace and was warned in time. Obedience matters: Noah did all that God commanded, even when it seemed strange. It is possible to be faithful against the current: Noah was righteous in a perverse generation. Worship is the response to salvation: the first thing was an altar. Even the righteous fall: we need a deeper redemption.

On the road to Jesus

The ark is one of the clearest images of Christ in the Old Testament. There was one ark and one door; whoever went in was saved. Jesus said: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” (John 10:9). The ark took the blows of the waters of judgment, and those inside were preserved; on the cross Christ bore the judgment that was ours, and those who are in him are saved. And as the dove brought the olive leaf announcing a new world, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove on Jesus at the Jordan, announcing the new creation.

In the next episode we will see how Noah’s descendants multiplied, tried to build the tower of Babel and were scattered into nations, setting the stage for the call of Abraham.

Prayer

Lord, thank you that, like Noah, I have found grace in your eyes. Thank you for Jesus Christ, the ark of my salvation and the open door for all who believe. Help me obey you as Noah did, to be a preacher of righteousness in my generation and to worship you with gratitude. Whenever I see the rainbow, remind me of your faithfulness. Amen.