One of the most remarkable and at the same time terrifying stories in the Bible is when a flood occurred on earth, taking away many lives.
The scale of this disaster makes us wonder about its causes. Life is so fragile and precious that it is worth preserving what the Creator has entrusted to us.
After all, according to the Bible, we are created in the image and likeness of God. We are creatures who are like Our Creator and created to do good works.
So why did the flood happen? Why were only eight souls saved, what made them special? What role did Noah and his children play in human history?
Seven sons of Japheth
Genesis 10:1-2 says, “These are the genealogies of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, their children were born. The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras
.
Sons of Gomer: Askenaz, Riphath and Togarmah" The first grandson of Noah mentioned in Scripture was Gomer
.
He was the progenitor of the Cimmerians, who originally settled on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Ezekiel wrote that the descendants of Gomer, as well as the descendants of Togarmah (Gomer's son), lived in the northern reaches
(
Ezekiel 38:6
).
There is an area in modern Turkey that in New Testament times was called Galatia.
The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the people who in his time (93 AD) were called Galatians or Gauls were formerly called Gomerites.1 They moved west into the area now called
France and Spain
.
For many centuries, France was called Gaul, named after the descendants of Homer. Northwestern Spain is still called Galicia to this day. Some of the Gomerites moved further into the area now called Wales. Historian Davies reports the traditional Welsh belief that the descendants of Homer "arrived in the land of the British Isle from France, about 300 years after the Flood."2 He also writes that the Welsh language is called Gomeragh (after their ancestor Homer). Other clan members settled in areas along the route of settlement, including Armenia. The sons of Gomer were “Askenaz, and Riphat, and Togarmah” (Genesis 10:3). The Encyclopedia Britannica
says that Armenians traditionally consider themselves descendants of Togarma and Askenaz.3 The borders of ancient Armenia extended into the territory of
Turkey
.
The name Turkey probably comes from the name Togarm. Others resettled in Germany
.
Ashkenaz
is the name of Germany in Hebrew.
Figure 1. Ruins in Turkey. There is evidence that the name of the country was formed from a descendant of Noah named Togarma (see text). The next grandson mentioned in Scripture is Magog
.
According to Ezekiel, the descendants of Magog lived in the northern lands
(Ezekiel 38:15, 39:2).
Josephus writes that those whom he calls Magogitians were called Scythians by the Greeks.1 According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the ancient name of the area that today includes parts of Romania
and
Ukraine
was
Scythia.4
The next grandson is
Madai
.
Together with Elam, the son of Shem, Madai is the ancestor of modern Iranians. Josephus says that the Greeks called the descendants of Madai the Medes.1
Whenever the Medes are mentioned in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word Madai (
medai
) is used.
After the reign of King Cyrus, the Medes are always mentioned (except once) together with the Persians. These two nations became one kingdom, ruled by one law - “the law of the Medes and Persians” (Dan. 6:8, 12, 15). Later they were simply called Persians
.
Since 1935, they began to be called in accordance with the name of their country - Iranians
.
The Medes also “settled in India
.”5
Javan
is the Hebrew name
for Greece
.
The names Greece, Greece, or Greeks appear five times in the Old Testament, and always in the form of the
Hebrew
word
Javan .
Daniel speaks of “the king of Greece” (Daniel 8:21), which literally means “the king of Javan.” The names of Javan's sons were Elisha, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim
(Genesis 10:4).
All of them had family ties with the Greek people. The Aeolians (an ancient Greek people) got their name from Japheth's grandson Elisha. Tarshish or Tarsus was located in an area called Cilicia (modern Türkiye). The Encyclopedia Britannica
states that Kittim is the biblical name for
Cyprus.6
The Greeks worshiped Jupiter under the name Jupiter Dodeneus, who took his name from the fourth son of Javan (Dodim).
The name Jupiter comes from the name Japheth. His oracle was located in the city of Dodona. The next grandson is Tubal
.
Ezekiel mentions him along with Gog and Meshech ( Ezekiel 39:1
).
Tiglath-pileser I, king of Assyria, reigning around 1100 BC, names the descendants of this grandson as Tabali. Josephus called them Tobelites, who later became known as Iberians.1 “In the time of Josephus, the Romans called this territory Iberia. Iberia was located where Georgia
, the capital of which to this day bears the name of Tubal - Tbilisi.
From here, having crossed the Caucasus Mountains, the people moved further to the northeast, calling the Tobol River after their tribe, and hence the name of the famous city of Tobolsk
”7
Meshech
, the name of Noah’s next grandson, is the ancient name of the city of Moscow.
Moscow
is both the capital of Russia and the region that surrounds the city.
One of the geographical areas, the Meshchera Lowland, is still called by the name of Meshekha, having undergone virtually no changes over the centuries. According to Josephus, the descendants of Thiras
were called Tyrians.
The Greeks changed their name and they became known as Thracians.1 Thrace stretched from Macedonia
in the south to the Danube River in the north and to the Black Sea in the east.
of Yugoslavia
known to us belonged to this area .
The World Encyclopedia says: “The people of Thrace were cruel Indo-Europeans who loved to fight and plunder.”8 The descendants of Firas worshiped him under the name Turas, that is, Thor - the god of thunder.
Cause of the flood
The only reason for the flood is that man allowed himself to be corrupted by sin. The earth was filled with atrocities, and disobedience to the Creator led to the fall of all mankind.
Man himself decided who to serve, who to listen to and how to live, since God gave everyone choice and free will.
The Bible says that every intent of the thoughts of man's heart is always evil (Genesis 6:5). Society has descended to the very bottom of perversion; life is worthless. The depravity of man had reached its limit - such concepts as kindness, decency, mercy, meekness were completely absent.
The Lord repented that he had created man and was grieved in His heart. The Creator decided to destroy His creation and, along with it, all animals, birds and reptiles.
Only eight souls were saved (Noah, his wife and three sons with their wives) and animals of different pairs.
Four sons of Ham
Next come the four sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Puth, and Canaan
(Genesis 10:6).
Ham's descendants primarily populated southwestern Asia and Africa
.
The Bible often speaks of Africa as the land of Ham ( Ps 105:23, 27; 105:22
).
The name of Noah's grandson Cush
is a Hebrew word for ancient
Ethiopia
.
The word Ethiopia in the Bible is always, without exception, a translation of the Hebrew word Cush
.
Josephus, who calls them Hus, wrote that “even in our days the Ethiopians themselves call themselves Husseins (Husites), as the inhabitants of Asia also call them.”9 Noah’s next grandson is Mizraim
.
Mizraim
is the Hebrew name
for Egypt
.
The name Egypt appears hundreds of times in the Old Testament and (with one exception) is always a translation of the word Mizraim
.
For example, at the burial site of Jacob, the Canaanites saw the crying of the Egyptians and named the place Abel Mizraim
, meaning the crying of the Egyptians (
Genesis 50:11
).
The stories of the great empires of the past: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia are strongly associated with biblical characters directly related to the sons of Noah. The origins of most tribes and peoples can be traced back to the sons of Noah - and this can be easily verified by examining their family tree. Fut
- the name of the next grandson - is the Hebrew name
for Libya
.
This ancient name appears three times in the Old Testament. The ancient Fut River was located in Libya. By the time Daniel lived, the name had been changed to Livia. Josephus says: “Puth populated Libya and called the inhabitants of the country Phutians.”9 Canaan
, the next grandson of Noah, is the Hebrew name for the territory that was later called
Palestine
, i.e.
modern territory of Israel and Jordan. It is worth saying a few words about the descendants of Ham ( Genesis 10:14-18
).
They were: Philistae, who is undoubtedly the ancestor of the Philistines (from which the name of Palestine was derived), Sidon, the founder of the ancient city named after him, and Hittite, the founder of the ancient Hittite Empire. Canaan is also spoken of in Genesis 10:15-18
as the progenitor of the Jebusites (Jebus is the ancient name of Jerusalem -
Judges 19:10
), the Amorites, Gergesites, Hivites, Arkeites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Himathites - the ancient peoples who inhabited land of Canaan. The most famous descendant of Ham was Nimrod, the founder of Babylon, as well as Erech, Akkad and Chalneh in the land of Shinar (Babylonia).
God informed Noah in advance that he was going to destroy all life on Earth
God informed Noah in advance that he was going to destroy all life on earth, and gave him precise instructions on how to build the ark. The Ark was a wooden vessel that could survive the global flood. When all the preparations for the ark were ready, God commanded Noah to take with him a pair from each type of animal and bird into the ark.
Here's what the Bible says about it:
“...And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had perverted its way on the earth. And God said to Noah: The end of all flesh is come before Me, for the earth is filled with evildoings from them; and behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make compartments in the ark and coat it with pitch inside and outside...And behold, I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the spirit of life under the heavens; everything on earth will lose life.
But I will establish My covenant with you, and you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will come into the ark with you. Bring also into the ark two of every living creature, and of every flesh, so that they may remain alive with you; let them be male and female. Of birds according to their kinds, and of cattle according to their kinds, and of every thing that creeps on the earth according to their kind, two of every kind will come to you, so that you may live. Take for yourself all the food that people eat, and gather it for you; and it will be food for you and for them...”
God allowed Noah to take his family and each creature into the ark in pairs.
Death awaited the rest on earth. And then the 17th day came, this is what the Bible writes to us:
“...In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the sources of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened; and rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights...”
Five sons of Shem
And finally, the sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram
(Genesis 10:22).
Elam
is the ancient name of
Persia
, which itself is the ancient name
of Iran
.
Before the reign of King Cyrus, the people who lived here were called Elamites, they are even mentioned several times under this name in the New Testament. In Acts 2:9
, the Jews from Persia who were present on the Day of Pentecost are referred to as Elamites.
Thus, the Persians are descendants of both Elam, the son of Shem, and Madai, the son of Japheth (see above). Since the 1930s, they have called their land Iran. It is very interesting to note that the word "Aryan", which so fascinated Adolf Hitler, is a form of the word "Iran". Hitler wanted to create a pure Aryan “race” consisting of superhumans. But the term “Aryan” itself denotes a mixed line of Semites and Japhetites! Assur
is the Hebrew word for Assyria.
Assyria was one of the great ancient empires. Whenever the words Assyria or Assyrian are found in the Old Testament, they are translated from the word Assur. Assur was one of the first people to be deified and worshiped by his own descendants. “Throughout the entire existence of Assyria, i.e. before 612 BC, reports of battles, diplomatic and foreign relations were read aloud, referring to the image of Assur; all the Assyrian kings believed that they wore their crown only with the divine permission of the spirit of Assur.”10 Arphaxad
was the progenitor
of the Chaldeans
.
This fact is "confirmed by the Hurrian (Nuzi) tablets, where his name appears as Ariphurra
- the founder of Chaldea."11 His descendant, Eber, transmitted his name
to the Jewish
people through the line Eber-Palek-Raghab-Serukh-Nahor-Terra-Abram (
Genesis 11 :16-26
).
Eber's other son, Joktan, had 13 sons (Genesis 10:26_30), all of whom settled in Arabia.12
Lud
was the ancestor of
the Lydians
.
Lydia was located in what is today Western Turkey
.
The ancient capital of Lydia was the city of Sardis. One of the seven churches of Asia was located at Sardis ( Rev 3:1
).
Figure 2.
A huge carved statue of the great Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II.
Aram
is the Hebrew name
for Syria
.
Every time the word Syria appears in the Old Testament, know that this word is translated from the word Aram. The Syrians call themselves Aramaic, and their language is called Aramaic. Before the expansion of the Greek Empire, Aramaic was the international language ( 2 Kings 18:26ff
).
As Jesus hung nailed to the cross and spoke the words, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” ( Mark 15:34
),13 He spoke in Aramaic, the language of the majority of the people.
The flood lasted forty days and forty nights
This flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights, after which the waters of the flood lifted the ark and it floated. The water was so high that the ark floating on its surface was higher than the very mountain peaks. Naturally, it becomes clear that all life on earth perished in the waters of the flood. Only Noah and his companions remained.
After 150 days, the water gradually began to decrease, and on the 17th day of the 7th month the ark stopped. He landed on the rocks of the Ararat Mountains. But even after this, Noah still waited another 40 days, and then sent out the first raven. The raven, not finding sushi, returned back each time.
To find out when it was possible to go on land, Noah sent one dove at a time. One day a dove flew in with a Maslenitsa branch, and then Noah realized that the water was gradually beginning to recede.
So Noah released the dove three times. The first time the dove came with nothing, the second time the dove brought a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah realized that the water had begun to recede from the earth. The third time the dove did not return at all.
When the ground finally dried out, the family was able to go ashore. After Noah left the ark, the first thing he did was thank God. Here's what the Bible says about it:
“And Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him; Every beast, and every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moved on the earth, according to their kinds, came out of the ark. And Noah built an altar to the Lord; and he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a pleasant aroma, and the Lord said in His heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man’s sake, because the thought of man’s heart is evil from his youth...”
After the flood, the first thing Noah did was to thank God for his salvation.
He built an altar to God. It was after this that the Lord promised to return the world to the previous order of things, and would never again devastate the earth for the guilt of people. After this, he blessed Noah and all his descendants for further human creation. The Lord also promised that He would no longer destroy the human race with the waters of the flood. And as a sign of this divine covenant, a rainbow shone in the heavens.
Links:
- Josephus: The Complete Works, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Antiquities of the Jews, 1:6:1 (i.e. Book 1, Chapter 6, Section 1). Return to text.
- D. Davies, History of the Welsh Baptists from 63 to 1770, D.M. Hogan, Pittsburgh, 1835, reprinted by The Baptist, Aberdeen, Mississippi, p. 1, 1976. Return to text.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2:422, 1967. Return to text.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 20:116, 1967. Return to text.
- A.K. Coustance, Three Sons of Noah, vol. 1, Doorway Papers, Zondervan, Michigan, p. 92, 1975. Return to text.
- Encyclopedia Britannica 3:332, 1992. Return to text.
- Bill Cooper, After the Flood, New Wine Press, Chichester, England, p. 203, 1995. Return to text.
- World Encyclopedia, vol. 18, p. 207, 1968. Return to text.
- Link 1, 1:6:2. Return to text.
- Link 7, page 170. Return to text.
- Link 7, page 172. Return to text.
- Link 5, page 117. Return to text.
- Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 contain quotations from Psalm 22:1 in Aramaic, but Matthew changed Eloi to the Hebrew word Or. Return to text.
- For example, we have not attempted here to trace the origins of the Chinese. Information regarding this topic is contained in the article "China's Original, 'Unknown' God," Creation
20(3):50-54, 1998. Also, the hieroglyphs of ancient China show that the Chinese knew the message of the Gospel found in the book of Genesis.
Link: https://www.origins.org.ua/page.php?id_story=625#ixzz43RZfwr00
The descendants of Shem began to be called Semites, Japheth Japhethites, Hama Hamites
The descendants of Shem began to be called Semites. These include the Jewish people who retained true faith in God. The descendants of Japheth are the Japhethites. These include the peoples who inhabit Europe. It was they who accepted faith in Christ from the Jews. The descendants of Ham are called Hamites. These include the Canaanite tribes that originally inhabited Palestine, and many peoples of Africa.
As we see, in this situation, Noah’s son Ham acted very badly. Only evil and cruel children mock the actions of their parents. For which he paid.
But let us examine in more detail the relationships between three great people in the history of mankind - Shem, Ham and Japheth. Before talking about them, we need to consider the aspirations of all three.
Shem, Ham and Japheth - three brothers who were very different people
Initially, the meaning of their names also follows. Shem is a priest, a spiritual person. All his thoughts are aimed at the physical side of existence. Japheth is a soulful person, but he is also a bearer of beauty and harmony. It was not without reason that they said that the people who descended from Japheth were considered the guardians of beauty and the most perfect art.
The brothers Shem and Ham and Japheth were different from each other. What happened after? Then they all lived in one country, not far from the Ararat Mountains, and all spoke the same language. But when the human race became numerous, quarrels began to occur between people, so they decided that they would soon have to disperse throughout the entire Earth.
What was the real Noah like?
Noah releases a dove from the ark
The release of the Hollywood film “Noah,” with its interpretation of biblical events, which is very far from the original, means the creation in modern mass culture of a distorted image of the Old Testament patriarch[1], whom the Orthodox Church reveres as a saint. Therefore, I would like to remind you of what the real Noah was like, what is known about him from the Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition. And it must be said that a lot is known, and he was certainly an outstanding figure.
Chapters six through nine of Genesis are devoted to the life of Noah. His name appears in many other places in the Bible. Thus, in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord mentions Noah among the three greatest righteous people of ancient times, along with Job and Daniel (Ezek. 14:13–14, 20). In the book of the prophet Isaiah, God mentions His covenant with Noah as an example of an unchangeable promise (Isaiah 54:8–9).
In the Book of Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach, the forefather is praised: “Noah turned out to be perfect, righteous; in times of anger he was a propitiation; therefore he became a remnant on the earth when the flood came” (Sir.44:16-17). In the third book of Ezra he is called the one from whom “all the righteous came” (3 Ezra 3:11). And in the book of Tobit, Noah is mentioned among the ancient saints who should be imitated (Tob. 4:12).
Noah is mentioned repeatedly in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ refers to his story as very real and uses it to explain what will happen before the end of our world (Matthew 24:37-39). The Apostle Paul cites Noah as an example of a true believer (Heb. 11:7). In turn, the Apostle Peter mentions the events associated with Noah and the flood as proof that God does not leave the sinner without reward and does not leave the righteous without help and salvation (2 Peter 2:5,9).
According to St. Augustine, in the story of Noah, “no one should think that all this was written for the purpose of deception; or that in the story one must look only for historical truth, without any allegorical meanings; or, on the contrary, that all this did not really happen, but that these were just verbal images”[2].
So, let's look at what and why happened in the time of Noah and what spiritual significance it has.
Noah belonged to the tenth generation after Adam, but people at that time lived much longer than now - many hundreds of years, so Noah's father, Lamech, according to the Bible, was a younger contemporary of the very first man. During the time of Noah, there were many who found the forefather Adam still alive: in addition to Lamech, these were Methuselah, Jared, Maleleel, Cainan, Enosh, and probably others whose names were not preserved in the Book of Genesis. So Noah heard about the tragedy of the Fall, which occurred at the beginning of the world, from those who personally knew its eyewitnesses and participants.
Already at the birth of Noah, special hopes were placed on him: “Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years and begat a son, and called his name Noah, saying: he will comfort us in our work and in the labor of our hands in cultivating the land which the Lord has cursed” ( Gen. 5:28–29). The name Noah itself means “comfort.” The Holy Fathers explain these words as a prophecy of Lamech: as Chrysostom says, “he foresaw the future, and, seeing that the wickedness of people was increasing, by the name of his son he predicted disasters that would befall the entire human race, so that people, having come to their senses even through fear, would refrain from sin and turned to virtue"[3]. The Monk Ephraim the Syrian interprets Lamech’s words about Noah this way: “He will give us peace with his sacrifice, with which he will appease God from our deeds and from the sorrow of our hands.”[4] Noah “really appeared as a gracious comforter, as the preserver of the human race and restorer of it in its best form”[5].
According to the testimony of St. John, thanks to such a prophecy, “this child, growing little by little, served as a lesson for everyone who saw him... this man, who lived before the eyes of everyone, reminded everyone of the wrath of God”[6].
From the Bible, all that is known about the first five hundred years of Noah’s life is that during this period he married and had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen. 5:32). Saint Cyril of Alexandria writes that Noah “attracted general attention, was very famous and famous” [7].
During the life of Noah, “the wickedness of men was great on earth, and every thought of the thoughts of their hearts was evil continually” (Gen. 6:5), “for they sinned not only at times, but constantly and at every hour, not by day.” , never ceasing to fulfill his evil thoughts at night.”[8]. However, the Old Testament patriarch differed from his contemporaries: “But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). Why? Because “Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9).
Saint John Chrysostom notes the main personality trait of Noah - unprecedented firmness and determination on the path of virtue: “how devoted this righteous man was to virtue, when among so many people, with great strength striving for wickedness, he alone walked the opposite path, preferring virtue - and there was no unanimity , not such a great multitude of evil people stopped him on the path of good... Imagine the extraordinary wisdom of the righteous man, when, among such unanimity of evil people, he could avoid infection and not suffer any harm from them, but retained firmness of spirit and avoided sinful unanimity with them "[9].
A truly unbending will was required in order to be alone against the whole world, especially if you consider that “for his determination to strive in virtue in spite of everyone, Noah endured great reproach and ridicule, since all the wicked usually always mock those who decide to withdraw from wickedness and cling to virtues"[10].
The holy forefather was not indifferent to the plight of his contemporaries: “during all this time he preached to all people and urged them to give up wickedness” [11], but no one responded or came to their senses, and in response to his preaching he received new ridicule.
And “Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9), that is, he conformed all his actions, aspirations and thoughts to His will, remembering that God sees and knows everything. So Noah “was able to neglect and rise above such a great multitude of those who mocked him, attacked, reviled, and dishonored him... He constantly looked at the never-slumbering Eye of God and directed the gaze of his soul towards it; therefore, I no longer cared about all these reproaches, as if they had never happened.”[12]
When Noah was five hundred years old, he received a revelation from God: “The end of all flesh is come before Me, for the earth is filled with their evildoings; and behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark... And behold, I will bring a flood of water on the earth... everything that is on the earth will lose life. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will come into the ark with you” (Genesis 6:13–14, 17–18). The Lord also commanded Noah to bring into the ark pairs of all animals, birds and reptiles (and seven clean species of livestock and birds), and stock up on food for himself and for them. “And Noah did everything: as [the Lord] God commanded him, so he did” (Gen. 6:22).
It took Noah a hundred years to build the ark. “Noah’s work became known throughout the entire universe, and his words were transmitted everywhere that such and such a man was building a ship of extraordinary size and talking about a flood that would cover the whole earth. Many came from afar to look at this ship in progress and listen to the sermon to Noah. The Man of God, urging them to repentance, preached to them about the approaching flood vengeance on sinners. That is why he was called by the holy Apostle Peter a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5)”[13].
If Noah’s contemporaries had repented and corrected their lives, they could have averted punishment from themselves, just as the Ninevites did when they believed Jonah’s three-day sermon. However, “the people did not repent, despite the fact that Noah, by his holiness, served as a model for his contemporaries, and with his righteousness he preached to them about the flood for a whole hundred years, they even laughed at Noah, who informed them that all generations of the living would come to him to seek salvation in the ark creatures, and they said: “How will the beasts and birds come, scattered throughout all the countries?”[14]
Noah lets the animals into the ark in pairs
And so, when Noah was six hundred years old, God said to him: “You and all your family go into the ark, for I have seen you righteous before Me in this generation... and take every clean beast... also from the birds of the air... to preserve a tribe for all the earth, for in seven days I will cause rain to fall on the earth for forty days and forty nights; And I will destroy everything that exists that I have made from the face of the earth” (Genesis 7:1–4).
“And Noah, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, went into the ark...” (Gen. 7:7). According to St. John Chrysostom, members of Noah’s family “although they were far inferior to the righteous in virtue, they were also alien to the excessive wickedness of their corrupt contemporaries.”[15] They were among the saved because they believed Noah’s preaching and obeyed him, unlike Lot’s sons-in-law, who did not believe the same preaching of their relative and died along with all of Sodom: “And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were taking for himself his daughters, and said: Arise, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But it seemed to his sons-in-law that he was joking” (Gen. 19:14). In addition, according to Chrysostom, the salvation of family members was a reward from God to Noah for his righteousness.
“On that very day, elephants began to come from the east, monkeys and peacocks from the south, other animals gathered from the west, others hurried to come from the north. The lions left their oak groves, fierce animals came out of their lairs, the animals that lived on the mountains gathered from there. Noah’s contemporaries flocked to such a new spectacle, not for repentance, but to enjoy seeing how before their eyes lions entered the ark, oxen rushed after them without fear, seeking refuge with them, wolves and sheep, hawks and doves entered together.” [16].
St. Filaret of Moscow indicates that “the longitude of the ark was more than 500, the latitude was more than 80 and the height was more than 50 feet”[17], that is, the ark was approximately 152 meters in length, 25 meters in width and 15 meters in height - this size was quite sufficient to accommodate animals, birds and reptiles. “Experts of nature find that all the genera of animals that were supposed to be in Noah’s ark extend only to three hundred or a little more. Of these, no more than six are larger than a horse; few are equal to him”[18].
After Noah, along with his family and animals, entered the ark, by the mercy of God, the time of the flood was postponed for another week: “God gave people a hundred years to repent while the ark was being built, but they did not come to their senses. He gathered animals that had never been seen before, but the people did not want to repent... Even after Noah and all the animals entered the ark, God delayed for another seven days, leaving the door of the ark open... but Noah's contemporaries... were not convinced to abandon their wicked deeds "[19].
The Lord Jesus Christ testifies that Noah’s contemporaries carelessly continued their lives, with ordinary everyday activities: “In the days before the flood they ate, they drank, they married and were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they did not think until the flood came and He did not destroy them all” (Matthew 24:37–38).
And so “after seven days the waters of the flood came to the earth... all the sources of the great deep opened up... and rain poured on the earth for forty days and forty nights... the water increased and greatly multiplied on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. And the water on the earth increased exceedingly, so that all the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered... And every creature that was on the surface of the earth lost its life; from man to cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the air - everything was destroyed from the earth, only Noah remained and what was with him in the ark. And the waters increased on the earth for an hundred and fifty days” (Genesis 7:10–12, 18–19, 23–24).
Saint John Chrysostom draws attention to the fact that the water rose gradually for forty days before everyone died, and asks: “Why is this so? Couldn't God, if He wanted, bring all the rain in one day? What am I saying - in one day? In an instant. But He does this with intention... Out of His great goodness, He wanted at least some of them to come to their senses and avoid ultimate destruction, seeing before their eyes both the death of their neighbors and the disaster threatening them.”[20]. Saint Philaret also speaks about this: “The forty days of the beginning flood were the last gift of God’s patience for some sinners, who, even at the sight of their well-deserved execution, could feel their guilt and cry out to God’s mercy.”[21]
And this happened - many people of the former world, having seen with their own eyes how Noah’s prediction was coming true, remembered his preaching and only now, in the last days of their lives, they repented to God and humbly accepted death from the flood as a well-deserved punishment for their sins. Thanks to this, albeit belated, conversion, Noah’s contemporaries found themselves among those dead ancients to whose souls the preaching of Christ was addressed when He descended with His human soul into hell after death on the cross, as the Apostle Peter testifies to this: “Christ... was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, by which He went down and preached to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient to God’s long-suffering that awaited them, in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved from the water” ( 1 Peter 3:18–20).
Thus, the global flood was not only an act of punishment for sins, but to a greater extent a saving action of God, since the people who lived then brought themselves to such hardness of heart that only the contemplation of the destruction of the whole world and the awareness of their imminent death could awaken their hearts and through repentance will save you from eternal death. Those of them who sincerely repented in those forty days and nights and turned to God subsequently found themselves among the souls of Old Testament believers saved by Christ from hell.
This was a blessing even for those who did not want to repent - with this last resort it was possible “to tear away from sin incorrigible sinners, who every day inflict new wounds on themselves and make their ulcers incurable”[22].
The flood also had a beneficial meaning for subsequent humanity - “it was necessary to destroy them and destroy their entire race, like unusable leaven, so that they would not become teachers of wickedness for subsequent generations”[23]. The flood interrupted both the tribe of Cain and all other clans that deviated into evil. God made righteous Noah the founder of a new humanity. And if even despite the fact that everyone now living has as their ancestor a great righteous man, so many have turned to sin, then what would be the spread of evil on earth if the majority of humanity were the descendants of those clans rooted in vice?
However, not only people died in the flood, but also all creatures living on land. Saint Ambrose of Milan writes: “What have the foolish creatures done wrong? They were created for man's sake; and after the destruction of man, for whose sake they were created, they should also be destroyed: after all, the one who would use them would no longer exist.”[24] And Chrysostom explains it this way: “Just as during the pious life of man and creation participates in human well-being, according to the word of Paul (see: Rom. 8:21), so now, when man must suffer punishment for his many sins and undergo the final destruction, and with it livestock, creeping things, and birds are subject to the flood that is about to cover the entire universe”[25], since they share the fate with the one who is their head. And just as many animals shared death with many sinful people, so few animals shared salvation in the ark with a few righteous people. In addition, if, with the death of almost all of humanity, God had preserved all animals without exception, then this would have led subsequent generations of people to the conviction that animals are more important and superior to humans, and the pagan deification of animals, which arose in some nations, would have received even greater and greater significance. fastest spread.
Saint John Chrysostom draws attention to the fact that the ark did not have constantly open windows and, moreover, God Himself confined it from the outside. This was done out of mercy towards Noah, in order to save him from the painful and terrifying vision of the destruction of the world.
“The beginning of the flood must be assumed to be in the last half of autumn”[26], and it lasted a year. And “a year of this life, it seems to me, is worth a whole life: Noah had to endure so much sorrow there, being in such cramped conditions... Imprisoned in the ark as if in a prison, he rushed back and forth, could not see the sky there, nor fix his eyes to any other place - in a word, he did not see anything that could give him some consolation... Noah lived for a whole year in this extraordinary and strange prison, not being able to breathe fresh air... how could this righteous man, as well as his sons and wives, can they endure being together with livestock, animals and birds? How could he bear the stench? ...I am surprised that he has not yet fallen under the burden of despondency, thinking about the destruction of the human race, and about his own loneliness, and about the difficult life in the ark. But the reason for all that was good for him was his faith in God, for which he endured and endured everything complacently.”[27]
Therefore, it is not surprising that the Apostle Paul praises Noah precisely for his faith: “By faith Noah, having received a revelation of things not yet seen, fearfully prepared an ark for the salvation of his house; by it he condemned (the whole) world, and became heir of the righteousness of faith” (Heb. 11:7). “It is not that Noah himself condemned his contemporaries; no, the Lord condemned them by comparing them with Noah, because they, having everything the same as the righteous man, did not follow the same path of virtue with him,”[28] explains St. John Chrysostom.
Here is what the Scripture says about what happened next: “The waters began to subside at the end of one hundred and fifty days. And the ark stopped in the seventh month... on the mountains of Ararat. The water continually decreased until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared. After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out a raven, [to see if the water had subsided from the earth,] which flew out and flew back and forth" (Genesis 8:3-8). A week later, Noah “released a dove from the ark. The dove returned to him in the evening, and behold, a fresh olive leaf was in his mouth, and Noah knew that the water had fallen from the earth” (Gen. 8:10-11). Even later, “the water on the earth dried up; and Noah opened the roof of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the earth was dry... And God said to Noah: Come out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons’ wives with you; Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you, of all flesh, birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing that moves on the earth: let them scatter throughout the earth, and let them be fruitful and multiply in the earth” (Genesis 8:13, 15 –17).
Saint Philaret draws attention to the perfect obedience of the righteous man to God: “Despite the fact that after the opening of the ark for about two months, Noah saw the state of the drying up earth, he did not dare to come out of it until a command from God”[29]. And the Monk John of Damascus notes: “When Noah was commanded to enter the ark... God separated husbands from wives so that they, maintaining chastity, would escape the abyss... after the end of the flood He says: come out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and wives your sons with you, because marriage is again permitted for the propagation of the human race.”[30]
Noah leaves the ark with his family and releases the animals.
Noah fulfilled the command of God, but also did what the Lord did not order him, and which was dictated by the movement of his soul: “immediately upon leaving the ark, he shows his gratitude and offers thanks to his Lord, both for the past and and for the future”[31] - “And Noah built an altar to the Lord; and he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. 8:20). Here, for the first time in human history, we see the creation of a place of special worship of God. If Abel and Cain had already made sacrifices to God, then Noah built a special altar to the Lord. However, Saint Philaret says that in reality Noah was not the first to build an altar, since, knowing the humility of the righteous, “one cannot think that Noah would dare to introduce anything new in the rituals of sacrifice adopted from pious ancestors”[32].
“And the Lord smelled a sweet aroma, and the Lord [God] said in His heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man’s sake... and I will no longer smite every living thing” (Gen. 8:21). These words mean that God “accepted the sacrifices. After all, God does not have an organ of smell, since the Deity is incorporeal. True, what is lifted up is fat and smoke from burning bodies, and there is nothing more fetid than this. But so that you know that God looks at the sacrifices made and accepts or rejects them, Scripture calls this smoke a pleasant aroma.”[33] So “the Lord did not smell the smell of animal meat or burning wood, but He looked and saw the purity of heart in the one who offered Him a sacrifice out of everything and for everything”[34].
Seeing the piety of the patriarch, “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth; Let all the beasts of the earth fear and tremble at you, and all the birds of the air, everything that moves on the earth, and all the fish of the sea: they have been given into your hands; everything that moves and lives will be food for you... only flesh... with its blood, do not eat; I will require your blood... from every beast, I will also require the soul of a man from the hand of a man, from the hand of his brother; Whoever sheds the blood of man, his blood will be shed by the hand of man: for man is created in the image of God... And God said to Noah and his sons with him: Behold, I have established my covenant with you and with your descendants after you... that all flesh shall no longer be destroyed. waters of the flood, and there will be no more flood to destroy the earth... I set my rainbow in the cloud, that it might be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:1–6, 8–9, 11, 13).
First of all, it is clear here, as Chrysostom notes, that “Noah again receives the blessing that Adam received before the crime. Just as he, immediately after his creation, heard: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28), so this one now: “Be fruitful and multiply on the earth,” because just as Adam was the beginning and the root of all who lived before the flood, so this righteous man becomes, as it were, leaven, the beginning and root of all after the flood.”[35]
God then gives permission for people to eat animals, birds and fish. Blessed Theodoret explains the reasons for this as follows: “foreseeing that those who have fallen into extreme madness will deify everything, God, in order to stop wickedness, allows the use of animals for food, because to worship what is used for food is a matter of extreme little sense.”[36]
After this, God establishes a ban on eating meat with the blood of animals, which is subsequently repeated in the Law of Moses (Deut. 12:23) and in the regulations of the Apostolic Council (Acts 15:29). This is explained by the fact that the soul of animals is in the blood. With the promise “I will require your blood... from every beast,” God “predicts the resurrection... meaning that he will gather the bodies devoured by beasts and resurrect them”[37]. Then God prohibits murder, warning of severe punishment for it, “says that every murderer must be put to death”[38].
After this, “God says: “I establish my covenant,” that is, I conclude an agreement. Just as in human affairs, when someone promises something, he concludes an agreement and thereby provides the proper confirmation, so the good Lord speaks here.”[39] God raises his relationship with people to such a height. He does not simply prescribe and command as an omnipotent Lord, He enters into an agreement in which He voluntarily undertakes to never again destroy the human race through a flood.
It is no coincidence that the rainbow was chosen as a sign of this covenant - since the global flood began with rain, then the rainbow appearing through rain becomes a sign that no rain will be the beginning of the destruction of humanity. Saint Philaret admits that “the rainbow could have existed before the flood, just as water and washing existed before baptism”[40], but after the flood it was chosen by God as a sign of His covenant with Noah.
It further says: “the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth... and from them the whole earth was peopled” (Gen. 9:18–19). The truth of this is confirmed by the universality of the legend of the flood. The most ancient legends of different nations tell of a righteous man who was able to survive the global flood in a specially constructed ark or ship. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh calls him Utnapishtim, the ancient Greek writers called him Deucalion, and the Indian text Shatapatha Brahmana calls him Manu. Legends about the global flood are found everywhere - in China, in Australia, in Oceania, among the indigenous peoples of South, Central and North America, in Africa[41]. All these peoples trace themselves to the descendants of the few survivors of the Flood. Traditions recorded in ancient times show significant similarities in major details with the story of the Bible, and traditions recorded more recently show more differences, which is not surprising, since retellers have introduced many interpretations and conjectures into the story over the past millennia. Nevertheless, the memory of the Flood is a truly universal phenomenon.
It is appropriate now to talk about the allegorical meaning of the events associated with the sweat and salvation of Noah, which was indicated by the holy fathers.
According to Blessed Augustine, everything “that is said about the structure of this ark means that it relates to the Church”[42]. And in Noah himself, as well as in his sons, the image of the Church was revealed. They were saved from the flood on the tree of salvation... foreshadowing that on the tree [of the cross] the life of all nations would be established.”[43] Saint Cyril of Alexandria also speaks about this, pointing out that Christ is “the truest Noah, who in the prototype of this ancient and glorious ark built the Church. Those who enter it avoid the destruction that threatens the world... So Christ saves us by faith and, as if into an ark, brings us into the Church, staying in which we will be delivered from the fear of death and will escape condemnation along with the world.”[44].
Saint Bede the Venerable offers a detailed interpretation: “The ark means the universal Church, the waters of the flood - baptism[45], the clean and unclean animals [in the ark] - the spiritual and physical people staying in the Church, and the planed and tarred logs of the ark - teachers strengthened by grace faith. The raven flying out of the ark and not returning signifies those who become apostates after baptism; an olive branch brought into the ark by a dove - those who were baptized outside the Church, that is, heretics, but who nevertheless have the fat of love and are therefore worthy to be reunited with the universal Church. The dove, which flew out of the ark and did not return, is a symbol of those [saints] who renounced bodily bonds and rushed to the light of the heavenly homeland, never to return to the labors of earthly wanderings.”[46]
Noah makes wine. Ham's sin. Mosaic
The last episode of the patriarch's life, described in the Book of Genesis, concerns the period when he began to organize the life of his family in the new world. At that time, his son Ham already had his first child, Canaan:
“Noah began to cultivate the land and planted a vineyard; and he drank wine and became drunk, and lay naked in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness, and went out and told his two brothers. Shem and Japheth took the robe and, putting it on their shoulders, went backwards and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned back, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. Noah woke up from his wine and learned what his youngest son had done to him, and said: Cursed is Canaan; He will be a servant of servants to his brothers. Then he said: Blessed is the Lord God of Shem; Canaan will be his slave; May God spread Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; Canaan will be his slave. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years” (Gen. 9:20–28).
St. John Chrysostom calls Noah’s drunkenness a sin, although an excusable one in view of the fact that “the righteous sinned not through intemperance, but through ignorance... through ignorance of the measure of drinking wine... since at that time they did not yet know the use of this fruit”[47].
The same saint writes: “Notice here, beloved, that the beginning of sin lies not in nature, but in the disposition of the soul and in free will. Now, after all, all the sons of Noah were of the same nature and brothers among themselves, had one father, were born from the same mother, were raised with the same care, and, despite this, they showed unequal dispositions - one turned away to evil, and others showed their father due respect"[48].
Ham's act "revealed in him pride, consoled by the fall of another, a lack of modesty and disrespect for his parent"[49]. “Disregarding respect for the parent, he strives to make others witnesses of this spectacle and, having made the old man into a kind of theatrical stage, he convinces his brothers to laugh too”[50]. He, “having left the house, subjected his father to ridicule and reproach as much as he could, and wanted to make his brothers accomplices of his vile act; and then, as he should have, if he had already decided to announce to his brothers, to call them into the house and there to tell them about his father’s nakedness, he went out and announced his nakedness in such a way that if there were many other people there, he would do them too would be witnesses of the father’s shame”[51].
But the event that contributed to the fall of Ham served to the glory of Shem and Japheth: “Do you see the modesty of these sons? He divulged it, but they don’t even want to see it, but they walk with their faces turned back so that, coming closer, they can cover their father’s nakedness. Look also how, despite their great modesty, they were still meek. They do not reproach or strike their brother, but, having heard his story, they are only concerned about one thing, how to quickly correct what happened and do what was required for the honor of the parent.”[52]
Having learned about what happened, Noah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, pronounces one curse and two blessings. The Holy Fathers examined the question of why, if Ham sinned, then it was not he himself who was cursed, but his eldest son Canaan?
The Monk Ephraim writes that by “younger son” cannot mean Ham, who was the middle son of Noah, but his grandson is meant, since “this young Canaan laughed at the nakedness of the old man; The boor went out with a laughing face and, in the midst of the haystack, announced it to his brothers. Therefore, one can think that although Canaan is not cursed with all justice, as he did this in childhood, it is not against justice, because he was not cursed for another. Moreover, Noah knew that if Canaan had not become worthy of a curse in his old age, then in his adolescence he would not have committed a deed worthy of a curse... Therefore, Canaan is cursed as the one who laughed, and Ham is only deprived of blessing because he laughed with the one who laughed.”[53] . Saint Philaret also writes about this: “Canaan... was the first to see the nakedness of his grandfather and told his father about it”[54]. And Chrysostom says that “the son of Ham, who was cursed, suffered punishment for his own sins”[55].
In addition, the holy fathers explained that by placing a curse not on Ham, but on his firstborn Canaan, Noah frees all the other sons of Ham from inheriting the curse, and also avoids placing a curse on the one who, among others who left the ark, was honored to receive God’s blessing. According to Blessed Theodoret, there is also justice in this, that “since Ham himself, being a son, sinned against his father, he accepts the punishment by cursing his son.”[56] “The boor is punished in that son or in that tribe to whom he leaves his sins as an inheritance”[57].
The punishment was to subject the descendants of Canaan to the descendants of Shem and Japheth. As Saint Philaret says, “this was fulfilled on the Canaanites, who were partly destroyed by the Israelites, the descendants of Shem, and partly conquered from Joshua to Solomon.”[58] Blessed Augustine draws attention to the fact that “in Scripture we do not meet a slave before the righteous Noah punished the sin of his son with this name. Thus, it is not nature, but sin that deserves this name.”[59]
Further, in the words “blessed is the Lord God of Shem,” Noah proclaims that it is “in the tribe of Shem that true knowledge of God and worship of God will be preserved”[60]; “God himself dwelt in the tent of Abraham, a descendant of Shem.”[61]
Finally, Noah utters a blessing to his youngest son: “May God extend Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem.” And this prophecy was also fulfilled: “the descendants of Japheth occupied Europe, Asia Minor and the entire north, which then was a nest and nursery of nations... the tents of Shem mean the Church, preserved in the descendants of Shem, and, finally, taking under its roof and taking part in its heritage and pagans, descendants of Japheth"[62].
“And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years” (Gen. 9:28). The Lord allowed Noah to live for a long time after the flood in order to preserve longer the living example of a righteous man for the first generations of renewed humanity. Indicating that all people descended from his three sons born before the flood (Gen. 9:18-19), Scripture reports that Noah himself after the flood did not give birth to any more children, spending his life in abstinence.
“All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died” (Gen. 9:29), and subsequently became one of the Old Testament righteous whose souls Christ saved from hell, descending there between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection from the dead.
As St. John says, “This righteous man can teach our entire race and guide us to virtue. In fact, when he, living [before the flood] among such a multitude of evil people, and not being able to find a single person similar to him in morals, reached such high virtue, then how will we be justified, who, having no such obstacles, don’t we care about good deeds?”[63]
