A figure of major importance in the early chapters of Genesis, with whom God established a covenant, the sign of which was the rainbow. The life of Noah (whose name means “rest” or “comfort”) demonstrates God's ability to save the righteous and destroy the ungodly.
Noah's righteousness
Noah walked with God
Genesis 6:8–9 See also Ezekiel 14:14, Ezekiel 14:20
Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.
Noah enjoyed God's protection
if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;
Noah illustrates God's restoring grace after judgment
“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer. “For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you. Though the mountains may be removed and the hills may be shaken, My loving devotion will not depart from you, and My covenant of peace will not be broken,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
The history of Noah
Noah's family
See also Genesis 5:22–29; 1 Chronicles 1:1–3
Noah built the ark at God's command
Hebrews 11:7 See also Genesis 6:11–21
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Noah had three sons
Genesis 5:32 See also Genesis 9:18–19; 1 Chronicles 1:4GEN 1 Chronicles 10:1, Genesis 10:32
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Noah saved his family and animals from the flood
Genesis 7:7–9 See also Genesis 8:18–19; 1 Peter 3:20
And Noah and his wife, with his sons and their wives, entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. The clean and unclean animals, the birds, and everything that crawls along the ground came to Noah to enter the ark, two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
Noah worshipped the LORD
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
God established a covenant with Noah, the sign of which is the rainbow
Genesis 8:21–22 See also Genesis 9:8–9, Genesis 9:12–17
When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”
Noah lived to a great age
After the flood, Noah lived 350 years. So Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.
Noah's character
Noah was obedient
Genesis 6:22 See also Genesis 8:15–19
So Noah did everything precisely as God had commanded him.
Noah was reverent
Noah was a man of the soil
Now Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
Noah was subject to human frailty
Genesis 9:21 Nakedness was seen as shameful by OT writers.
But when he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and uncovered himself inside his tent.
Noah blessed and cursed his sons in a prophetic way
See also Genesis 9:24–27
Jesus Christ was a direct descendant of Noah
The last days are likened to the time of Noah
Matthew 24:37–39 parallel Luke 17:26–27
As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they were oblivious until the flood came and swept them all away. So will it be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.