Visiting the Patriarchal
Stavropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist (Essex, England) one finds near
the entrance Noah and the Ark. This beautiful mosaic was created recently by
children and adults, being the ‘funniest and most fun fact within the
monastery,’ according to one of the sisters. On the 14th December,
the Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of Noah. We find a number of facts of
his life and the story of the Ark in the first book of the Old Testament. The story
is as follows, (Genesis 5:32-10:1) (NKJV):
32 And Noah was five hundred
years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The Wickedness and Judgment of
Man
6 Now it came to pass, when men
began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and
they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit
shall not strive[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days
shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in
those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters
of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of
old, men of renown.
5 Then the Lord[b] saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had
made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I
will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and
beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made
them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Noah Pleases God
9 This is the genealogy of Noah.
Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And
Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt
before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the
earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the
earth.
The Ark Prepared
13 And God said to Noah, “The end
of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through
them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark
of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with
pitch. 15 And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be
three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You
shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above;
and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second,
and third decks. 17 And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth,
to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life;
everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish My covenant
with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your
sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring
two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male
and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and
of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will
come to you to keep them alive. 21 And you shall take for yourself of all food
that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for
you and for them.”
22 Thus Noah did; according to
all that God commanded him, so he did.
The Great Flood
7 Then the Lord said to Noah,
“Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you
are righteous before Me in this generation. 2 You shall take with you seven
each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are
unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and
female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after
seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty
nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I
have made.” 5 And Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. 6 Noah
was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth.
7 So Noah, with his sons, his wife,
and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. 8 Of
clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that
creeps on the earth, 9 two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and
female, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And it came to pass after seven days that
the waters of the flood were on the earth. 11 In the six hundredth year of
Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day
all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven
were opened. 12 And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and
Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his
sons with them, entered the ark— 14 they and every beast after its kind, all
cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after
its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15 And they
went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of
life. 16 So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God
had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.
17 Now the flood was on the earth
forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above
the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the
ark moved about on the surface of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed
exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were
covered. 20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were
covered. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and
beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 22 All
in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit[c] of life, all that was on the
dry land, died. 23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of
the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were
destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark
remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty
days.
Noah’s Deliverance
8 Then God remembered Noah, and
every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God
made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of
the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven
was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end
of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in
the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of
Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the
tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were
seen.
6 So it came to pass, at the end
of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then
he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up
from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters
had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place
for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters
were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and
drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and
again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the
evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah
knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another
seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.
13 And it came to pass in the six
hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that
the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the
ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the
second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.
15 Then God spoke to Noah,
saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’
wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is
with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth,
so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the
earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with
him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on
the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.
God’s Covenant with Creation
20 Then Noah built an altar to
the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered
burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then
the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s
sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will
I again destroy every living thing as I have done.
22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
God’s Promise to Noah
9 So God blessed Noah and his
sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.[d] 2 And
the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on
every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of
the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall
be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But
you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your
lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will
require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I
will require the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.
7 And as for you, be fruitful and
multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the
earth
And multiply in it.”
8 Then God spoke to Noah and to
his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant
with you and with your descendants[e] after you, 10 and with every living
creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth
with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I
establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the
waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said: “This is the
sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature
that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud,
and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It
shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen
in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you
and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a
flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will
look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living
creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is
the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that
is on the earth.”
Noah and His Sons
18 Now the sons of Noah who went
out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan.
19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was
populated.
20 And Noah began to be a farmer,
and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and
became uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the
nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and
Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and
covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they
did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 So Noah awoke from his wine,
and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said:
“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brethren.”
26 And he said:
“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem,
And may Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of
Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant.”
28 And Noah lived after the flood
three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and
fifty years; and he died.
Nations Descended from Noah
10 Now this is the genealogy of
the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the
flood.
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