Noah

Noah (also Noe) was the man of the godly line of Seth. He was selected from among a godless society to build the Ark that protected him and his family during the Great Flood. Though he proved to be godly himself, he was chosen to be the father of a new mankind by the grace of God who revealed to him the plan to destroy the world with a flood.

For at least 100 years Noah would work on building a large boat in which he was to escape the flood with any who would believe God's warning. He had been also told to also take on all the animals that breathed air (except the whales which populated the sea).

When he was 600 years old, he and his family, along with the animals and enough food for at least a year, climbed into the ark and prepared for the judgment of God upon the earth. A little over a year later, they stepped out onto dry land. Noah would live for another 350 years.

Early life
Noah was born when his father Lamech was 182 years old. He was named "Noah" which meant "rest" for mankind had come to be weary of the curse on the land. It is likely Noah knew his grandfather Methuselah well. After the age of 500, Noah fathered three children: Shem, Ham and Japheth. As his sons grew up, Noah also had fellowship with his father Lamech until a few years before the flood. His grandfather actually lived until the year of the flood

Before being called to build the ark, Noah was seen as righteous by God. Though God lamented having created mankind, He told Noah about His plan to destroy mankind and how to avoid that fate himself.

Noah showed himself faithful to God's call as he listened to the plans and began to build the vessel that would save him and his family.

Building the Ark
At Noah's time, the Earth was full of wickedness and so God revealed to Noah that he would destroy nearly all of humanity because of this. God then made a covenant with Noah assuring him that he and his family would be saved through an Ark. Furthermore, he was instructed that a male and female of each kind of animal would board the Ark in order to repopulate and that he was to take food to feed himself and them.

Therefore, Noah did all of this and built the Ark in the 120 years before the flood. During this time, Noah exemplified the righteousness of God to the people around him.

Surviving the Great Flood
After the construction of the Ark was completed Noah was told by God to board the Ark with his family and seven of each clean animal (for sacrificial purposes) and two of all the rest to  repopulate the world. At the time of boarding the Ark, Noah was six-hundred years old.

Obeying God, Noah and his family boarded the Ark. It rained and flooded (from submarine water reserves) for forty days and the water rose steadily for another a hundred fifty days. During the time Noah was on the Ark he and his family ate the food he had stored there. As the head of his household, Noah was responsible for managing his household, providing emotional comfort, directing his family spiritually and being the go-to for any issues that may have occurred. He and his family occupied their time on the Ark caring for the animals and maintaining the Ark itself.

God did not forget Noah on the Ark. After a long deluge, the rains ceased and the springs of the deep closed. Eventually Noah and his family in the Ark landed in the mountains of Ararat. Eager to the possibility of seeing dry land, Noah opened a window he had constructed in the Ark. Out of this window Noah sent a raven, and then a dove, to see if dry land was nearby. Noah was saddened when the dove did not have a place to perch. When it returned to him he extended his arm and received the dove. Noah waited seven days and sent the dove again. In the evening the dove returned and in its beak was an olive leaf. Waiting an additional seven days, Noah once again sent out the dove, but it did not return.

Called out of the Ark
In Noah's six-hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the Earth. It would be almost two months into the year before he removed the covering of the Ark and saw that the ground was dry. On the twenty-seventh day the second month the Earth was completely dry. During this time God called out to Noah, commanding him and his family and all the animals to exit the Ark. Noah obeyed and came out of the Ark, followed by his sons and their wives.

Covenant with God
Noah then built an altar and sacrificed some of the clean animals that had been on his Ark. God blessed Noah telling him to reproduce and to fill the Earth. God then told Noah and his sons that all living things not human would fear them, and be food for them. However Noah was told that he must not eat the blood of an animal, for that represented its life. Then God established a covenant with Noah and his ancestors: to never again destroy all life by a flood. Noah and his sons were then promised that the covenant would be remembered by rainbows.

Man of the Vineyards
Sometime after God had established a covenant with him, Noah planted a vineyard, being a man of the soil indicating that he probably farmed before building the Ark. After drinking some of the vineyard's wine, Noah became drunk and laid naked in his tent. Noah's son Ham saw his father's nakedness from his drunken state and told Noah's two other sons. Then Shem and Japheth came in the tent backwards, so that they would not see their father Noah naked, and covered him with a cloth.

Once Noah recovered from his drunkenness, he discovered that Ham had seen him naked (possibly assaulted Noah). Noah then cursed his grandson Canaan in order to punish his father Ham. Knowing how Shem and Japheth honored his privacy, Noah then blessed them. This happened sometime within 350 years of the flood.

Death
Noah lived 350 years after the flood. Noah was 600 when the flood happened; therefore he lived 950 years before he died. The specific cause of Noah's death is unknown but it is likely he died from natural aging. Also his hard work in construction, farming, and the likely post-flood stress may have contributed to his death.

Legacy
Despite a great amount of sinful influence, Noah remained one of the very few that was faithful to God and was favored by God. Noah was blameless and walked with God in the time before the flood. Noah obeyed all the instructions of God without questioning or asking and did all that was commanded unto him. Noah was an example of righteousness. He did all of this because of his faith

Noah was one of the few privileged individuals in the Bible to receive a covenant from God. During Noah's time on the Ark he was remembered by God and was shut into the Ark. Noah and his descendants were blessed by God and given the same promise that had been given to Adam and Eve.

Noah was a hard laborer for contributing in building the Ark, which would've been an immensely physical task. Noah also did much farming. Though Noah was faithful, he is known to have become drunk and naked, affording Ham, his youngest son, an opportunity to commit the first recorded sin after the flood.

Days of Noah
Due Noah's role in the Flood, the phrase "Days of Noah" was eventually coined and used when discussing how things were during the flood. This term is used several times throughout Scripture.