No 11

(Noah)

Everyone knows who Noah was. If you ask someone – “Who was Noah?” They will say, without hesitating, “he’s the one who built an ark”. The Patriarch, Noah is one the most familiar persons in the Bible; his name means “rest”. He was not only an ark-builder; he was many other things also. First and most importantly, he was a man who “…found grace in the eyes of the LORD” Genesis 6:8. Noah and his family were the only group of persons who feared the Lord during that period of time. His was also a “preacher of righteousness” 2 Peter 2:5. As the Bible tells us, the world was totally ungodly and sinful; God undoubtedly used Noah to preach righteousness to the masses of people but, as we know, they did not heed his preaching; not even one. Noah was also a man of faith – we read in Hebrews 11 “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” (v7). Because of his faith, God made an everlasting covenant with him (Genesis 9: 1 to 19).

In a more practical sense, Noah also had to be a husband (to his wife); a father (to his children); a carpenter (to build the ark); a farmer (to tend to the animals); a husbandman (to plant a vineyard); a priest (to sacrifice animals) and, as we have seen in other studies, he was also a prophet (Prof Zebulon Vol 1 No 61).

Finally and lest we forget, we are all descendants of Noah!!