Noah

According to Genesis, Noah (Hebrew נוֹחַ), the son of Lamech was commanded by God to build an ark to save his family and representatives of all the world's land animals while God destroyed the wicked world with a flood. The story of Noah is found in the Bible in chapters 6 to 9 of Genesis and he is described as one of the 'Heroes of Faith' in Hebrews chapter 11.

Life

God saw that man had become wicked in every inclination and thought and the earth was filled with violence, but Noah alone was righteous. God commanded Noah to build an ark that would have seven (or seven pairs) of every "clean" (kosher) animal and two of every unclean animal Noah did as he was told and spent many years building the ark, and God flooded the earth with rain from above and waters from within the earth. Noah was 600 years old when the flood started. After the flood waters had subsided, (which lasted almost a year), Noah came out of the Ark. Noah made sacrifices to God and God formed a new covenant with Noah where he promised never again to flood the earth. Noah planted a vineyard and drank of the wine until he fell asleep naked in his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw him and told his two brothers, but left his father as he was. The two brothers, upon hearing Ham's pronouncement, took a garment and walked backwards into their father's tent and covered his nakedness without looking at him. When Noah awoke, he cursed Canaan, his grandson, for he "knew what his younger son had done unto him.". Noah lived 350 more years before dying.

All people alive today are descendents of Noah and his family.

Biblical Account and World Flood Myths

Proponents of Biblical literalism have pointed out that many cultures have a tradition of a global flood and that the biblical account has many commonalities with the world's flood myths. They have argued that this supports the likelihood of the flood being a real event.

See also

• Noah's Ark
• Great Flood