NOAH: EXAMPLE OF DYNAMIC FAITHFULNESS

How he lived offered as much as what he built

History sometimes leads to a person who becomes synonymous with an attribute of life. Albert Einstein is epitomized as the Genius. Mother Teresa of Calcutta stands for Compassion. Hitler is the essence of Evil. Noah has achieved that status in regards to unashamed Faith.

In chapter one of this character study, the personal attributes of Noah were highlighted. He was a man devoted to God, living with integrity, and a believer who had proved his faith. This chapter turns to the New Testament book of Hebrews to find further aspects of his life that may challenge us in our chaotic 21^st century world.

Genesis is the beginning of the Jewish Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Testament. The Torah was compiled during Israel’s Exile of the 6^th century BCE, incorporating various strands of writing that had emerged in the previous centuries of Hebrew life into a single narrative. The Torah formed a story which taught “the proper norms of living and the relationship between God and the world” that should guide the Hebrew people.^[1] Awareness of this central purpose is critical for shaping how the faithful in the modern world can find meaning in the story of Noah.

Fundamentalist interpreters notwithstanding, this legend of Noah is not written to give us scientific facts, or zoological data, or even a map for archaeologists to find the Ark on a mountain. The ancient worldviews of this prescientific era are not compatible with modern science. “[The] description is culturally conditioned… and rhetorically shaped. We cannot derive a scientific explanation of the flood from the Bible, and it would be misguided to try to find scientific evidence for that description.”^[2] There was not a historical Noah who passed his DNA to the rest of humanity. We are wise to put away the views appropriate for a children’s storybook and find the heart of this saga: God’s redemptive work with the universal human family.

The followers of Jesus in the first century found in Noah an example of faith that was important to their own journey. The book of Hebrews has the purpose of encouraging faith in the presence of trials and discouragement. The character of Noah appears as an illustration of the persevering faith the church should show in their world as Noah did in his.

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“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval… By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.”[3]