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NOAH
1. Son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, a descendant of Seth, third son of Adam (Gn 5:3-20). Lamech named his son Noah, a name that sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “relief” or “comfort.” When Lamech gave him this name, he said, “He will bring us relief from the painful labor of farming this ground that the Lord has cursed” (v 29, NLT).
Determined to destroy creation because of rampant wickedness (cf. Mt 24:37-39; Lk 17:26-27), God made an exception with Noah, a man righteous in God’s sight and blameless before people (Gn 6:3-9). Following God’s precise instructions, Noah constructed an ark into which went only eight people—Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives—and all kinds of creatures in pairs. They were thus protected from the ensuing deluge in which all other living things perished (6:14–8:19). When they emerged from the ark, Noah built an altar and sacrificed burnt offerings that pleased God, who promised that the Flood would never be repeated or the sequence of the seasons disrupted, despite man’s sin (8:20–9:17).
Noah had withstood mighty temptations, but, whether through carelessness or old age, he became drunk. Family members reacted differently and were judged accordingly. Shem and Japheth received blessing. Ham received no blessing, but his son Canaan was cursed (9:20-27). Noah was 950 years old when he died, 350 years after the Flood.
Noah, Daniel, and Job are specifically cited for “their righteousness” in Ezekiel 14:12-14, 19-20. The Letter to the Hebrews commends Noah, who by faith, holy fear, and rejection of the world became the heir of righteousness (11:7), and 2 Peter 2:5 calls him “a preacher of righteousness.”
See also Flood, The; Gilgamesh Epic.
2. Daughter of Zelophehad of Manasseh’s tribe (Nm 26:33). When their father died without a son, she and her four sisters successfully petitioned for a change in the law that would protect their inheritance rights (Nm 27:1-11; cf. Jos 17:3-6). They were, however, restricted to marrying within their own tribe (Nm 36:1-12).