NOAH.

      (1). His Genealogy. His blood was pure back to Seth (Gen., 5:3-32), and he was a son of God (Gen., 6:9).

      (2). His sons. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen., 5:32). The order of their births is somewhat difficult to determine. Ham was the youngest (Gen., 9:22-24), and the proof goes to show that Shem was the first born: "Noah was five hundred years old and begat Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen., 5:32)." What is the obvious meaning of this statement? Simply that Noah was five hundred years old at the birth of Shem and that the others were born afterward. Is there anything in the subsequent history of Noah and his sons that is against this interpretation? Let us see. The phrase "Japheth the elder (Gen., 10:21)" does not express seniority according to the testimony of the best scholars. Noah was six hundred years old at the flood (Gen., 7:6), and Shem was (600 - 500 = 100) one [10] hundred at this time. Noah and his family entered the ark on the tenth day (Gen., 7:1-10) of the second month of the six hundredth year of Noah's life (Gen., 7:11), and came out on the twenty-seventh day of the second month of the six hundred and first year of his life (Gen., 8:12-14). They were in the ark one year and seventeen days. Shem was at least one hundred one years and seventeen days old when he came out of the ark (Gen., 5:32; 7:7-11; 8:12-19). Arphaxad was born two years after the flood, that is, after the flood began (Gen., 11:10, 11). Shem was, therefore, one hundred two years old at the birth of Arphaxad.

      (3). God's revelation to him. God revealed to Noah His purpose to destroy the human race. The limit already placed upon the existence of the wicked people was one hundred and twenty years (Gen., 6:3, 11-13).

      (4). The Ark. Noah was commanded to make an ark of gopher wood. The dimensions, allowing eighteen inches to the cubit, were four hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high (Gen., 6:15). During the building of the ark Noah preached righteousness to his contemporaries (II. Pet., 2:5).

      (5). Inmates of the ark. The ark contained eight persons, Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives, and two of every kind of unclean animals, and seven pair of animals that were clean, and seven pair of all kinds of fowls (Gen., 6:17-22; 7:1-16).

      (6). The flood. The water fell in ceaseless torrents for forty days and forty nights until the highest mountains were covered fully twenty-two and a half feet (Gen., 7:12, 20), and ended in the destruction of everything [11] upon the dry land (Gen., 7:21-24).

      (7). Important facts. Noah's salvation is ascribed to, (a) faith, (b) fear, (c) the ark, (d) obedience, (e) water (Gen., 6:22; 7:5; Heb., 11:7; I Pet., 3:19-21).

      (8). God's Covenant with Noah. After the flood God established a covenant with Noah that He would never again destroy all living flesh by water (Gen., 8:18-22; 9:1-17).

[CBC 10-12]