Flood Warning

Genesis 6-8

"There goes crazy Noah, the boat builder!" one of the men called out as he passed a cluster of them in the market.  "Hey, Noah, think it's going to rain?"

He was used to their catcalls, and ignored them as he hurried on his way home, walking beside a fully-laden cart.  The yoke of oxen pulling the load strained against it, but they kept plodding steadily down the street.  Noah was gathering supplies for the great boat he had labored over for many years, and he had almost all he needed.  His sons were busy elsewhere, obedient to their father despite their own doubts that he knew what he was doing.

After Abel had been murdered by his brother, Cain, Eve had given birth to a third son.  She called him Seth, or Substitute, because, she said, God gave me a son to take the place of Abel.  Noah's great grandfather, Enoch, was so in tune with God, in his relationship, that he did not die, but was taken up directly into Heaven.  His grandfather, Methuselah, lived longer than any man ever had, or would; he was nine hundred sixty-nine.  Methuselah's son, Lamech, called his own son Noah, or Comfort, because he said the boy would be a comfort to him in helping with his work.

After Enoch, the state of the world grew steadily worse.  Men indulged in every conceivable sin, scoffing at God.  Out of them all, only one man, Noah, found favor in God's eyes.  He talked with him every day, and God made his intentions clear.

"I am sorry I even created man.  He thinks only of evil, and never of me.  I've already decided I'm going to destroy everyone and every living thing, except for you and your family, and the creatures you take with you."

"What should I do, Lord?" Noah asked.  "How will you destroy everything, and how can I do anything to help?"

"I will send a flood that will cover the whole earth," the Lord replied, "And I want you to build a boat in the shape of a box, an ark, so that life may begin again after the flood recedes."

After that, the Lord gave Noah specific directions about the ark.  He was to build it of gopher wood, or cypress, 450 feet long by 75 feet wide, and 45 feet tall, with three stories.  It was to have a window eighteen inches high, and a door in the side.  "In the ark," God continued, "you will take yourself, your wife, your sons and their wives, and and at least two of every creature, male and female.  In the case of the birds, and the beasts that are clean to eat, you will take seven."

He would also have to collect enough food for himself and his family, and for all the animals.  That's what he was doing now; everything else was almost ready.  The time came finally, after many years of hard work and unceasing ridicule from those about him, when God spoke to him again.

"The flood will begin one week from now.  Take all of the animals and birds you have collected into the ark, and load all of the provisions.  The time for waiting is over."

Noah did as God commanded him, and when he, his family, and the animals were all safely inside, God himself closed the door.  No one could open it then, it was too late.  The pounding rains began, and the waters stored up beneath the earth gushed out in great torrents.  For a little while, Noah heard someone pounding on the outside of the ark, but the noise soon ended, and there was only the pounding of the rain.  The waters lifted the ark from the earth, and it rode safely over the waves as the water level continued to rise.  The rain continued for forty days and nights, as the Lord had promised, and the only life remaining on the earth, except the creatures of the deep, were in the ark  Water covered even the highest peaks, and reached over twenty feet above them.  The first few days were terrifying, as Noah and his family considered what was happening outside their sanctuary, but life soon settled into a routine.  Caring for the animals was a fulltime job for all of them, and their whole world was centered in feeding, nursing, cleaning the stalls, and watering.

It seemed to be an eternity before the rains finally stopped, but the all awoke one morning surrounded by an eerie silence.  The only noise was the lapping of the waves against the side of the boat.  Even then, they dared not open the door and look out, because they knew that all they would see was water.  It took a hundred and fifty days for the waters to go down, and the ark finally came to rest on a mountain called Ararat.  Forty days after that, Noah opened the window of the ark, and sent out a raven.  The bird flew back and forth from the ark, waiting for the waters to go down.  Not satisfied, Noah next released a dove.  It came back to him the first time, because it could find no place to rest.  A week later, he sent it out again, and this time it returned with an olive leaf, so Noah knew then the waters were really going down.  He waited another week, and when it left this time, it did not return.  On his six hundred and first birthday, Noah removed the cover from the ark, and saw the ground around it was dry.  Less than two months later, God told Noah that the waters were gone from the earth, and that he and his family, and all the creatures with him, could leave the ark.

Afterward, the Lord made a covenant, or agreement, with Noah, which through him extended to all mankind.  "I have given you authority over all the creatures of the earth.  I make this promise to you as well, that I will never again destroy the world with a flood.  As a token of my promise, I will place my rainbow in the clouds.  Every time I see it, I will remember my promise."