Mrs. Noah

FIRST POST-FLOOD MATRIARCH
GENESIS 6, 7, & 8

IMAGINE: Being the first woman to watch the world, as you know it, disappear before your very eyes and a new world order appear.
Mrs. Noah’s life was indeed lived differently from any other.

When the Lord saw that man’s
wickedness was widespread
on the earth and that every scheme
his mind thought of was nothing
but evil all the time, the Lord
regretted that He had made
man on the earth and
He was grieved in His heart.
Genesis 6:5,6

Because of the great length of life span in the days of Mr. and Mrs. Noah, the earth’s population would have been filled with a massive amount of people.
Whereas, Noah and his wife were living their lives in a manner pleasing to the Lord, the rest of the population appears to have been living for themselves.
Wickedness consumed the entire world. Mankind had come to the point, in a very short time, where every scheme of his mind was nothing but evil. Noah was only the tenth generation from creation of mankind and the last of the pre-flood patriarchs.
However, Noah did have the comfort of other believing family members with him. The family tree included Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah himself. Lamech, Noah’s father, lived in an evil time before the flood yet, predicted his son would bring comfort and rest to his generation. The name Noah means “rest”. Lamech died approximately five years before the flood at the age of 777 years old. (Gen. 5:31).
Also, living in this evil day was Lamech’s father, Methuselah, who died the day the flood began. Methuselah is the longest living person, having died at the age of 969 years old. (Gen. 5:27). Father Lamech and Grandfather Methuselah were, most likely, a part of the “all hands-on deck” ark building project when it started.
In Noah’s day the earth was filled with wicked, vile, anti-God activity. There was much demonic activity and sexual perversions. Also, much apathy. The people were preoccupied with their mundane daily doings concerning their useless everyday lives.

Then the Lord said,
“I will wipe man off the face of the earth:
whom I created, together with the animals,
creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky – for
I regret that I made them.” Noah, however
found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:7,8

There was, however, one man along with his wife, who chose to believe and worship the one true Jehovah God and not follow the crowd in their self-worshiping wickedness. Mr. and Mrs. Noah chose not to follow the crowd that encouraged perversions, those who helped increase immorality, sexual promiscuity, along with senseless violence. They chose to not be part of the falling away in what had become a Godless culture.
Although the people of that generation were totally depraved, they were not the least bit concerned about it. They continued to live their lives without one thought or concern of the judgment of God.
God, in His mercy, had to start over as the world was becoming more and more evil with each generation. The people were happy and content in their wickedness and depravity.
Because of the corruption of the day, God would give man only 120 years more to remain on the earth and then His Spirit would no longer remain with man. The evil would have gotten worse as the allotted time for man’s existence to end came closer.

Then God said to Noah,
“I have decided to put an end to all flesh,
for the earth is filled with violence
because of them; therefore, I am going to destroy
them along with the earth.
Make yourself an ark of gofer wood.”
Genesis 6:13,14

When Noah brought the ark building news to his wife, one wonders what went through Mrs. Noah’s mind. Her first question was probably “huh”? Or possibly “what is an ark”? They more than likely did not live close to a large body of water. Since the earth, at that time, was watered by a mist, the conditions may have been somewhat tropical, but still no large amounts of water around to hold a huge boat.
The boat instructions given Noah by God was not a small undertaking. As mentioned before, Noah’s father, Lamech, and his Grandfather, Methuselah, were alive in the years Noah spent building the ark. Even though they may have assisted Noah in this venture, Mrs. Noah would have had to have been a comfort to her husband each day after work.
The ark was to be built to save all the remaining humanity during the flood, i.e. Noah, Mrs. Noah, their three sons, the three daughters-in-law, and a literal “boat load” of animals. This was the preservation for all generations to come.
An ark is a large non-powered boat that moves where the current takes it. This ark was one and a half football fields in length and as high as a four-story building. It was six times longer than it was wide. This is the same ratio used by modern ship builders today. Considering there was no water around to accommodate a boat this size, Mrs. Noah probably had many questions for her husband. The thought might have crossed her mind that her husband was now up in years and maybe he had not heard God’s instructions clearly.
Specific taunts Noah must have received from his neighbors are not mentioned. But, the project was too big to hide, so the vile would have had a heyday, never running out of slurs to throw at the Noah family.
Second, Peter 2:5 tells of Noah being a preacher of righteousness. As Noah was building a monstrous boat on dry ground he was, more than likely, also urging his neighbors to repent from their wicked ways.
One can only imagine the hurt and helplessness Mrs. Noah would have felt for her husband and the frustration to live in and among “consistently and totally evil people.” It appears she was very devoted to her husband, unlike Mrs. Lot who would have to be pulled from the burning city of Sodom in future years to come.
As Noah was ark building, and preaching judgment to come, Mrs. Noah would have been preparing for the long journey ahead. The people, meanwhile, were “eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark. (Matt. 24:38).
One can only imagine the disrespect and rejection the Noah family must have suffered. Their obedience to God’s orders would have only enhanced the disobedience of their neighbor’s actions.
Mrs. Noah must have suffered a great deal of heartache from the jeers the neighbors heaped upon her. They more than likely thought her not too smart for standing by her lunatic husband. Maybe they just felt sorry for her, being stuck with such a poor choice for a mate.

“Understand that I am bringing a deluge – floodwaters on the earth to destroy all flesh under heaven with the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will die”.
Genesis 6:17

Noah may have had a moment where he was mulling over in his head how he was going to explain the big boat idea to the Mrs. She surely would have been curious as to what a flood consisted of, looked like, or the means as to come about. Large amounts of water had never fallen from the sky or burst forth from the middle of the earth, so just where was all the water coming from. Never having seen “rain”, just how much moisture was it going to take to make a flood?

“But I will establish My covenant with you, and you will enter the ark with your sons, your wife, and son’s wives. You are also to bring into the ark two of every living thing of all flesh male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of everything – from the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from every animal that
crawls on the ground according to its kind – will come to you so that you can keep them alive. Take with you every kind of food that is eaten;
gather it as food for you and for them.”
Genesis 6:18-21

Hopefully, Mrs. Noah was an animal lover! God was getting ready to bring a lot of His animals to the ark. Mrs. Noah must have been quite the grocery gatherer. Rations had to be collected and stored for who knew how long a time period. It appears this journey was going to take some planning and packing. In her grocery gathering process, she would need provisions for one husband, three sons, three daughters-in-law, and a literal boat load of animals. She also would need to include herself for meals if indeed she had time to eat.
This was not going to be a pleasure cruise. It has been determined the ark, because of its size, could have held up to 45,000 animals. That would have brought about a lot of feeding, clean up time and required super human energy.
As much as one can speculate, Mrs. Noah “lovin’ her man”, choosing to load up on a big boat with family, and take on a menagerie of animals, all for an undetermined amount of time, would indicate she, herself, had a great deal of her own faith in God.

Then the Lord said to Noah,
“Enter the ark, you and all your
household, for I have seen that
you alone are righteous before me in this generation”.
Genesis 7:1

As mentioned before, Noah was a preacher of righteousness who was motivated by faith and Godly fear. Who would not want to be married to a man of this description? Noah had now preached for 120 years as a large boat was being built and was now sitting on dry ground. Noah spent 120 years preaching righteousness and warning friends, family, and neighbors what God was about to do. No one listened. No one cared.

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
watery depths burst open, the
floodgates of the sky were opened,
and the rain fell on the earth
40 days and 40 nights.
On that same day Noah
along with his sons Shem, Ham,
and Japheth, Noah’s wife and his
three sons’ wives entered
the ark with him.
Genesis 7:11-13

Using genealogies of the Bible the flood occurred approximately 4400 years ago, 1650 years after creation. Noah was 600 years old when the watery depths burst open and the floodgates of the sky opened. Mrs. Noah’s age is not mentioned but, more than likely, was close to that of her husband’s age.
The three sons of Mrs. Noah must have been raised to trust God and obey Him. These were grown men with wives at the time of entering the ark. These “boys” would have been 100 years old or older at the time of the flood. (Gen. 5:32). They did not have to go on the voyage but apparently believed what their father and mother had instructed.

Two of all flesh that has
the breath of life
in it entered the ark
with Noah.
Then the Lord shut him in.
Genesis 7:15,16

As they were all called into the ark and God shut the door, the neighbors were probably still laughing and shaking their heads at such lunacy, not realizing their own fate was at hand.
When the first streams of water sprang forth from below and the first droplets of water fell from above, one wonders if they, for just a minute or two, considered the possibility they had misjudged the boat building circumstance.
It started to sprinkle with dark clouds overhead and rumbling beneath their feet. Serious notice had been given but had not been taken seriously.

The deluge continued 40 days
on the earth; the waters
increased and lifted up the ark
so that it rose above the earth.
Genesis 7:17

The rain did indeed come and continued to fall for 40 days and 40 nights. Mrs. Noah must have had a personality like none other. We would like to think she had a calm, quiet spirit and hopefully could indulge in a good sense of humor on occasion.
Water falling from above and rising from below, plus covered in dark clouds, not to mention all the death surrounding her would have been a very daunting task to embrace. These would have been very dark days and not just because of clouds overhead.
Mrs. Noah was the only female of her generation to board the ark. She would have probably received some hostility and ridicule from neighbors. Some may have just felt sorry for her, figuring she had not married well. She watched the destruction of everything and everyone she knew. She had to face the unknown, not knowing what was on the horizon or if she would ever see another horizon.

Everything with the breath of
the spirit of life in its nostrils –
everything on dry land died.
Genesis 7:22

The people were busy with their own daily doings so that judgment came upon the masses unexpectedly as they were going about their mundane activities. The people rebelled the entire time the ark was being built. They had been warned and yet they remained indifferent and thus unprepared for God’s judgment when the rain began.
Mr. and Mrs. Noah both must have been heart broken that no one believed the message Noah had put forth for the last 120 years. It appears no other family members, neighbors, or friends (if indeed there were any), chose to heed God’s message through Noah. As a wife, Mrs. Noah had to, at times, experience hurt feelings and frustration towards the stubbornness of the population.
Nothing is mentioned as to other family members of these eight seafarers. A few of Noah’s direct descendants are mentioned but nothing more. Mrs. Noah’s relatives and the family members of her three daughters-in-law are unknown along with information concerning their demise. Even with the apparent loss of her family she seems to have never lost faith in God or her husband.

The ark came to rest in the
seventh month on the
seventeenth day of the month,
on the mountains of Ararat.
Genesis 8:4

The rain had started falling and the earth burst open with a gushing of water on the seventeenth day of the second month. The water engulfed the earth and after 150 days the water had decreased by a great amount and the ark came to rest on a mountain top. Mountain tops were visible by the tenth month and 40 days later Noah sent out a raven and a dove. The dove returned and was sent out again seven days later returning with a leaf. The dove was sent out seven days later and did not return. As the waters continued to recede, the Noah family could now see dry land. When the land was completely dry the family of eight exited their home after one year and ten days from the day God had shut them in.

Then God spoke to Noah,
“Come out of the ark, you,
your wife, your sons, and
your son’s wives with you.”
Genesis 8:15

After bobbing up and down and waiting for the waters to recede, this little band of people, along with all the animals, stepped onto dry ground. The earth now was not only void of water everywhere, but also of people, animals, and the appearance they had once known. It is hard to imagine what the Noah family was able to digest from this set of circumstances.
The world they left consisted of a cool mist for moisture and longevity of life. Now they were entering where years of life began to decline immediately and rapidly. They had now, for the first time, experienced rain but now they would be subject to storms and severe weather, high heat, freezing cold, earthquakes, and natural disasters from every direction.

Then Noah built an
alter to the Lord.
Genesis 8:20

Upon disembarking from the ark, Noah immediately built an alter to the Lord. His main priority was to prepare for worship. God blessed the Noah family and gave instruction on how to live in their new surroundings. He instructed them to be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
He informs this little family group that, as of now, everything that has life and moves will be food for them. Man’s relationship with animals was changed to the point that not only were they limited to fruit and grain, but they were now free to eat the meat of animals. This included the birds of the air, beasts of the earth, and fish in the sea. Mrs. Noah’s cooking skills would now be put to the test. Just one more thing to learn in this new world of theirs.
Upon being commanded to go forth and multiply, this family was also instructed not to murder. At this time God invoked capital punishment. If man killed man he was to be killed by man. (Gen. 9:6).

Noah’s sons who came out
of the ark were Shem, Ham,
and Japheth. These three
were Noah’s sons, and
from them the whole
earth was populated.
Genesis 9:18,19

Imagine being mother to three men who would father all future generations. Everyone has a tendency to stay focused on their own life span which is not how God works. Mrs. Noah would never have foreseen all the generations that would come from her obedience to her husband’s call on his life. All people who have ever lived came from Mr. and Mrs. Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
In raising these three boys they would have had to have stayed close to the home front, away from the beliefs and practices of the people that had lived around them.
Shem’s descendants were Abraham, David, and Jesus. His ancestry was called Semites.
Ham’s descendants settled in Canaan which includes Cypress, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, and Libya.
Japheth’s descendants migrated to what is Europe and Asia Minor making up the majority of the Republic of Turkey and is the western most protrusion of Asia.

Noah, a man of the soil, was
the first to plant a vineyard.
He drank some
of the wine, became
drunk, and uncovered
himself inside his tent.
Genesis 9:20,21

Noah became a farmer after the flood and planted a vineyard. After he drank of the wine he became drunk. Because of the climate change he may not have realized or understood how fermentation would occur. Again, because of these changes, he may have been in his tent unclothed since he had never experienced intense heat up until this time. Changes were going to take some time getting used to.

Now Noah lived 350 years
after the flood.
So, Noah’s life lasted
950 years; then he died.
Genesis 9:28,29

Noah lived to be the third oldest person, out of all mankind. The age of Mrs. Noah and the time of her death is not given. All that is recorded is she left the ark with Noah, their sons and daughters-in-law, and all the animals.
What is known about Mrs. Noah is she was an amazing woman of faith. She obeyed God by submitting to her husband’s leadership even when she was given the news of a large vessel being needed to escape a flood, although she had never seen water fall from the heavens.
She raised three sons with the reminder of coming doom. She entered the ark leaving family, friends, and possessions behind, believing God and believing He would save them as He had promised. She must have had a few anxious thoughts as to what the world would be like after this thing called “flood”. Talk about blind faith.
Bless her heart, this woman had no idea what a flood was. Yet, here she finds herself being stuck at “home”, bobbing up and down, with a husband (Godly as he was), three kids, three daughters-in-law, and a zoo filled with animals to feed and clean up after for over a year. This woman must have been rather Godly, herself.
Even though Mrs. Noah is given a small mention in time, her job on the world stage was much larger than most. Mrs. Noah’s life consisted of helping her husband with several hundreds of years of farming. She helped him with 120 years of boat building. She was, hopefully, an animal lover. After the flood, for how long is unknown, she helped with farming in the way of wine-making. Then, of course, helping as the grand babies started showing up. This was not an idle woman. This is a woman with her gaze upon the future of mankind.
Even though Mr. and Mrs. Noah were unable to influence family, friends, and neighbors they did not let family, friends, and neighbors influence them.

“As the days of Noah were,
so, the coming of the
Son of man will be.”
Matthew 24:37

The people of Noah’s day were busy with eating, drinking, and their “all about me” lifestyle. They were so caught up in their day to day ‘’stuff” that they were unconcerned about a big boat being built nowhere near water. God, in His mercy, gave the people a saving vessel from the judgment to come. Just as God gives people a Savior today. His name is Jesus. They did not listen then. Pray they will listen now. Because, just as in the days of Noah, when judgment falls, it will fall suddenly and unexpectedly.

  Thought for the day:
“I know not what the future holds,
but I know Who holds the future”.
 Anonymous

Lessons From Noah’s Ark

Don’t Miss the boat
Remember we are all in the same boat
Plan ahead-it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark
Stay fit-when you are 600 years old someone may ask you to do something really big
Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done
Build your future on high ground
For safety’s sake, travel in pairs
Speed isn’t always an advantage-the snails were on board with the cheetahs
When you are stressed-float awhile
Remember, the ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals
No matter the storm-when you are with GOD,
there’s always a rainbow waiting
Author Unkown