Who is Noah from the Bible? Noah. Noah's Ark Image of Noah in Christianity

Noah's father was Lamech, his mother's name is unknown. According to the Bible, when Noah was five hundred years old, he fathered Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Noah's Ark.

Noah was a righteous and believing man, for which he was chosen by God as the builder of the ark, in which everyone who would restore the human race after the Flood - God's punishment for the sins of mankind - were to be saved. God gave Noah precise instructions regarding the construction of the ark and exactly how to equip it for the long voyage. Before the flood, Noah took a pair of each type of animal, as well as seven pairs of those animals that could be sacrificed. Of the people, Noah himself, his wife and three sons with their wives entered the ark. After this, it began to rain, such as had never happened before or since. After 40 days, the ark sailed. All living things outside the ark perished. The ark floated for 150 days before the waters began to recede. After the 8th month of the journey, Noah released a raven from the ark, but it, not finding dry land, returned to the ark. Then Noah released the dove, at first the dove returned with nothing, then it brought an olive leaf, and the third time it did not return at all, this indicated that the land had again become suitable for life. Noah left the ark about a year after the flood began.

Noah's Covenant with God.

It is believed that Noah left the Ark at the foot of the Ararat Mountains, after which he immediately made a sacrifice to God in gratitude for saving him and his family. God, in turn, promised never to devastate the earth with floods and blessed Noah and his descendants (the future humanity). God gave Noah's descendants a series of commandments:

• To be fruitful and multiply,
• Possess the Earth
• Command the animals and birds,
• Feed from the earth
• Do not shed human blood.

The sign of God's covenant was a rainbow that shone in the heavens.

Noah's life after the flood.

According to the Bible, after the flood, Noah began to cultivate the land and planted a vineyard. Noah is considered the first winemaker on Earth. One day, after drinking wine, Noah lay naked in his tent. His son Han and his son Chaan entered the tent and saw Noah naked and sleeping. Without doing anything, they hastened to tell Noah’s sons Shem and Japheth about this, and without looking at their father, they covered his nakedness with clothes.

Waking up, Noah was angry with his son Khan and especially with his grandson Khan for disrespect. Noah cursed Haan and all his descendants, ordering them to be slaves to their brothers. The name of Noah's son Ham became a household name.

According to the Bible, Noah lived another 350 years after the flood and died at the ripe old age of 950.

After Noah.

The descendants of Noah are considered the ancestors of all humanity. As we already know, Noah had three sons who became the founders of different nations.

The descendants of Shem are Jews, Arabs and Assyrians.

The descendants of Ham are the peoples of North and East Africa and South Arabia, incl. Egyptians, Libyans, Ethiopians, Phoenicians, Philistines, Somalis, Berbers, etc.

Japheth's descendants settled Europe. The sons of Japher became the ancestors of the tribes and peoples of Rus', Chud, Yugra, Lithuania, Livs, Poles, Prussians, Varangians, Goths, Angles, Romans, Germans, Finno-Ugrians, etc. The peoples of the Caucasus also descended from Japheth.

The image of Noah in Christianity.

Noah serves as a prototype of the new humanity. He is the forerunner of Christ. Noah's salvation during the Great Flood anticipates the sacrament of baptism. Noah's Ark is a prototype of the Church, saving those who thirst for salvation.

The Orthodox Church classifies Noah as one of the forefathers and commemorates him on the “Sunday of the Forefathers.”

The release of Hollywood with its interpretation of biblical events, which is very far from the original, means the creation in modern mass culture of a distorted image of the Old Testament patriarch, whom the Orthodox Church reveres as a saint. Therefore, I would like to remind you of what the real Noah was like, what is known about him from the Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition. And it must be said that a lot is known, and he was certainly an outstanding figure.

Chapters six through nine of Genesis are devoted to the life of Noah. His name appears in many other places in the Bible. Thus, in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord mentions Noah among the three greatest righteous people of ancient times, along with Job and Daniel (Ezek. 14:13–14, 20). In the book of the prophet Isaiah, God mentions His covenant with Noah as an example of an unchangeable promise (Isaiah 54:8–9).

In the Book of Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach, the forefather is praised: “Noah turned out to be perfect, righteous; in times of anger he was a propitiation; therefore he became a remnant on the earth when the flood came” (Sir.44:16-17). In the third book of Ezra he is called the one from whom “all the righteous came” (3 Ezra 3:11). And in the book of Tobit, Noah is mentioned among the ancient saints who should be imitated (Tob. 4:12).

Noah is mentioned repeatedly in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ refers to his story as very real and uses it to explain what will happen before the end of our world (Matthew 24:37-39). The Apostle Paul cites Noah as an example of a true believer (Heb. 11:7). In turn, the Apostle Peter mentions the events associated with Noah and the flood as proof that God does not leave the sinner without reward and does not leave the righteous without help and salvation (2 Peter 2:5,9).

According to St. Augustine, in the story of Noah, “no one should think that all this was written for the purpose of deception; or that in the story one must look only for historical truth, without any allegorical meanings; or, on the contrary, that all this did not really happen, but that these were just verbal images.”

So, let's look at what and why happened in the time of Noah and what spiritual significance it has.

According to the testimony of St. John, thanks to such a prophecy, “this child, growing little by little, served as a lesson for everyone who saw him... this man, who lived before the eyes of everyone, reminded everyone of the wrath of God.”

From the Bible, all that is known about the first five hundred years of Noah’s life is that during this period he married and had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen. 5:32). Saint Cyril of Alexandria writes that Noah “attracted general attention, was very famous and famous.”

During the life of Noah, “the wickedness of men was great on earth, and every thought of the thoughts of their hearts was evil continually” (Gen. 6:5), “for they sinned not only at times, but constantly and at every hour, not by day.” , never ceasing to fulfill your evil thoughts at night.” However, the Old Testament patriarch differed from his contemporaries: “But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). Why? Because “Noah was a righteous man and blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9).

Saint John Chrysostom notes the main personality trait of Noah - unprecedented firmness and determination on the path of virtue: “how devoted this righteous man was to virtue, when among so many people, with great strength striving for wickedness, he alone walked the opposite path, preferring virtue - and there was no unanimity , not such a great multitude of evil people stopped him on the path of good... Imagine the extraordinary wisdom of the righteous man, when, among such unanimity of evil people, he could avoid infection and not suffer any harm from them, but retained firmness of spirit and avoided sinful unanimity with them ".

A truly unbending will was required in order to be alone against the whole world, especially if you consider that “for his determination to strive in virtue in spite of everyone, Noah endured great reproach and ridicule, since all the wicked usually always mock those who decide to withdraw from wickedness and cling to virtues."

The holy forefather was not indifferent to the plight of his contemporaries: “during all this time he preached to all people and urged them to give up wickedness,” but no one responded or came to their senses, and in response to his preaching he received new ridicule.

And “Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9), that is, he conformed all his actions, aspirations and thoughts to His will, remembering that God sees and knows everything. So Noah “was able to neglect and rise above such a great multitude of those who mocked him, attacked him, reviled him, and dishonored him... He constantly looked at the never-slumbering Eye of God and directed the gaze of his soul towards it; therefore, I no longer cared about all these reproaches, as if they had never happened.”

When Noah was five hundred years old, he received a revelation from God: “The end of all flesh is come before Me, for the earth is filled with their evildoings; and behold, I will destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark... And behold, I will bring a flood of water on the earth... everything that is on the earth will lose life. But I will establish My covenant with you, and you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will come into the ark with you” (Genesis 6:13–14, 17–18). The Lord also commanded Noah to bring into the ark pairs of all animals, birds and reptiles (and seven clean species of livestock and birds), and stock up on food for himself and for them. “And Noah did everything: as [the Lord] God commanded him, so he did” (Gen. 6:22).

It took Noah a hundred years to build the ark. “Noah’s work became known throughout the entire universe, and his words were transmitted everywhere that such and such a man was building a ship of extraordinary size and talking about a flood that would cover the whole earth. Many came from afar to look at this ship in progress and listen to the sermon to Noah. The Man of God, urging them to repentance, preached to them about the approaching flood vengeance on sinners. That is why he was named by the Holy Apostle Peter preacher of truth(2 Peter 2:5)."

If Noah’s contemporaries had repented and corrected their lives, they could have averted punishment from themselves, just as the Ninevites did when they believed Jonah’s three-day sermon. However, “the people did not repent, despite the fact that Noah, by his holiness, served as a model for his contemporaries, and with his righteousness he preached to them about the flood for a whole hundred years, they even laughed at Noah, who informed them that all generations of the living would come to him to seek salvation in the ark creatures, and they said: “How will the beasts and birds come, scattered throughout all the countries?”

And so, when Noah was six hundred years old, God said to him: “You and all your family go into the ark, for I have seen you righteous before Me in this generation... and take every clean beast... also from the birds of the air... to preserve a tribe for all the earth, for in seven days I will cause rain to fall on the earth for forty days and forty nights; And I will destroy everything that exists that I have made from the face of the earth” (Genesis 7:1–4).

“And Noah, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, went into the ark...” (Gen. 7:7). According to St. John Chrysostom, the members of Noah’s family “although they were far inferior to the righteous in virtue, they were also alien to the excessive wickedness of their corrupt contemporaries.” They were among the saved because they believed Noah’s preaching and obeyed him, unlike Lot’s sons-in-law, who did not believe the same preaching of their relative and died along with all of Sodom: “And Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were taking for himself his daughters, and said: Arise, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. But it seemed to his sons-in-law that he was joking” (Gen. 19:14). In addition, according to Chrysostom, the salvation of family members was a reward from God to Noah for his righteousness.

“On that very day, elephants began to come from the east, monkeys and peacocks from the south, other animals gathered from the west, others hurried to come from the north. The lions left their oak groves, fierce animals came out of their lairs, the animals that lived on the mountains gathered from there. Noah’s contemporaries flocked to such a new spectacle, not for repentance, but to enjoy seeing how lions entered the ark before their eyes, oxen rushed after them without fear, seeking refuge with them, wolves and sheep, hawks and doves entered together.” .

St. Filaret of Moscow indicates that “the longitude of the ark was more than 500, the latitude was more than 80 and the height was more than 50 feet,” that is, the ark was approximately 152 meters long, 25 meters wide and 15 meters high - this size was quite enough to accommodate animals, birds and reptiles. “Experts of nature find that all the genera of animals that were supposed to be in Noah’s ark extend only to three hundred or a little more. Of these, no more than six are larger than a horse; few are equal to him."

After Noah, along with his family and animals, entered the ark, by the mercy of God, the time of the flood was postponed for another week: “God gave people a hundred years to repent while the ark was being built, but they did not come to their senses. He gathered animals that had never been seen before, but the people did not want to repent... Even after Noah and all the animals entered the ark, God delayed for another seven days, leaving the door of the ark open... but Noah's contemporaries... were not convinced to leave the wicked their affairs."

The Lord Jesus Christ testifies that Noah’s contemporaries carelessly continued their lives, with ordinary everyday activities: “In the days before the flood they ate, they drank, they married and were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they did not think until the flood came and He did not destroy them all” (Matthew 24:37–38).

And so “after seven days the waters of the flood came to the earth... all the sources of the great deep opened up... and rain poured on the earth for forty days and forty nights... the water increased and greatly multiplied on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. And the water on the earth increased exceedingly, so that all the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered... And every creature that was on the surface of the earth lost its life; from man to cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the air - everything was destroyed from the earth, only Noah remained and what was with him in the ark. And the waters increased on the earth for an hundred and fifty days” (Genesis 7:10–12, 18–19, 23–24).

Saint John Chrysostom draws attention to the fact that the water rose gradually for forty days before everyone died, and asks: “Why is this so? Couldn't God, if He wanted, bring all the rain in one day? What am I saying - in one day? In an instant. But He does this with intention... Out of His great goodness, He wanted at least some of them to come to their senses and avoid ultimate destruction, seeing before their eyes the death of their neighbors and the disaster threatening them.” Saint Philaret also speaks about this: “The forty days of the beginning flood were the last gift of God’s patience for some sinners, who, even at the sight of their well-deserved execution, could feel their guilt and cry out to God’s mercy.”

And this happened - many people of the former world, having seen with their own eyes how Noah’s prediction was coming true, remembered his preaching and only now, in the last days of their lives, they repented to God and humbly accepted death from the flood as a well-deserved punishment for their sins. Thanks to this, albeit belated, conversion, Noah’s contemporaries found themselves among those dead ancients to whose souls the preaching of Christ was addressed when He descended with His human soul into hell after death on the cross, as the Apostle Peter testifies to this: “Christ... was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, by which He went down and preached to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient to God’s long-suffering that awaited them, in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved from the water” ( 1 Peter 3:18–20).

Thus, the global flood was not only an act of punishment for sins, but also O to a greater extent, the saving action of God, since the people who lived then brought themselves to such hardness of heart that only the contemplation of the destruction of the whole world and the awareness of their imminent death could awaken their hearts and, through repentance, save them from eternal death. Those of them who sincerely repented in those forty days and nights and turned to God subsequently found themselves among the souls of Old Testament believers saved by Christ from hell.

This was a blessing even for those who did not want to repent - with this last resort it was possible to “tear away incorrigible sinners from sin, who every day inflict new wounds on themselves and make their ulcers incurable.”

The flood also had a beneficial meaning for subsequent humanity - “it was necessary to destroy them and destroy their entire race, like unusable leaven, so that they would not become teachers of wickedness for subsequent generations.” The flood interrupted both the tribe of Cain and all other clans that deviated into evil. God made righteous Noah the founder of a new humanity. And if even despite the fact that everyone now living has as their ancestor a great righteous man, so many have turned to sin, then what would be the spread of evil on earth if the majority of humanity were the descendants of those clans rooted in vice?

However, not only people died in the flood, but also all creatures living on land. Saint Ambrose of Milan writes: “What have the foolish creatures done wrong? They were created for man's sake; and after the destruction of man, for whose sake they were created, they should also be destroyed: after all, the one who would use them would no longer exist.” And Chrysostom explains it this way: “Just as during the pious life of man and creation participates in human well-being, according to the word of Paul (see: Rom. 8:21), so now, when man must suffer punishment for his many sins and undergo the final destruction, and with it livestock, creeping things, and birds are subject to the flood that is about to cover the entire universe,” since they share their fate with the one who is their head. And just as many animals shared death with many sinful people, so few animals shared salvation in the ark with a few righteous people. In addition, if, with the death of almost all of humanity, God had preserved all animals without exception, then this would have led subsequent generations of people to the conviction that animals are more important and superior to humans, and the pagan deification of animals, which arose in some nations, would have received even greater and greater significance. fastest spread.

Saint John Chrysostom draws attention to the fact that the ark did not have constantly open windows and, moreover, God Himself confined it from the outside. This was done out of mercy towards Noah, in order to save him from the painful and terrifying vision of the destruction of the world.

"The beginning of the flood" O it is false to believe in the last half of autumn,” and it lasted a year. And “a year of this life, it seems to me, is worth a whole life: Noah had to endure so much sorrow there, being in such cramped conditions... Imprisoned in the ark as if in a prison, he rushed back and forth, could not see the sky there, nor fix his eyes to some other place - in a word, he did not see anything that could give him some comfort... Noah lived for a whole year in this extraordinary and strange prison, not being able to breathe fresh air... how could this righteous man, as well as sons and wives, can they endure being together with livestock, animals and birds? How could he bear the stench? ...I am surprised that he has not yet fallen under the burden of despondency, thinking about the destruction of the human race, and about his own loneliness, and about the difficult life in the ark. But the reason for all that was good for him was his faith in God, for which he endured and endured everything complacently.”

Therefore, it is not surprising that the Apostle Paul praises Noah precisely for his faith: “By faith Noah, having received a revelation of things not yet seen, fearfully prepared an ark for the salvation of his house; by it he condemned (the whole) world, and became heir of the righteousness of faith” (Heb. 11:7). “It is not that Noah himself condemned his contemporaries; no, the Lord condemned them by comparing them with Noah, because they, having everything that the righteous man had, did not follow the same path of virtue with him,” explains St. John Chrysostom.

Here is what the Scripture says about what happened next: “The waters began to subside at the end of one hundred and fifty days. And the ark stopped in the seventh month... on the mountains of Ararat. The water continually decreased until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared. After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent out a raven, [to see if the water had subsided from the earth,] which flew out and flew back and forth" (Genesis 8:3-8). A week later, Noah “released a dove from the ark. The dove returned to him in the evening, and behold, a fresh olive leaf was in his mouth, and Noah knew that the water had fallen from the earth” (Gen. 8:10-11). Even later, “the water on the earth dried up; and Noah opened the roof of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the earth was dry... And God said to Noah: Come out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons’ wives with you; Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you, of all flesh, birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth: let them scatter throughout the earth, and let them be fruitful and multiply in the earth” (Genesis 8:13, 15 –17).

Saint Philaret draws attention to the perfect obedience of the righteous man to God: “Despite the fact that after the opening of the ark for about two months, Noah saw the state of the drying up earth, he did not dare to come out of it until a command from God.” And the Monk John of Damascus notes: “When Noah was commanded to enter the ark... God separated husbands from wives so that they, maintaining chastity, would escape the abyss... after the end of the flood He says: come out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives with you, because marriage is again allowed for the propagation of the human race.”

Noah fulfilled the command of God, but also did what the Lord did not order him, and which was dictated by the movement of his soul: “immediately upon leaving the ark, he shows his gratitude and offers thanks to his Lord, both for the past and and for the future” - “And Noah built an altar to the Lord; and he took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered them as burnt offerings on the altar” (Gen. 8:20). Here, for the first time in human history, we see the creation of a place of special worship of God. If Abel and Cain had already made sacrifices to God, then Noah built a special altar to the Lord. However, Saint Philaret says that in reality Noah was not the first to build an altar, since, knowing the humility of the righteous, “one cannot think that Noah would dare to introduce anything new in the rituals of sacrifice adopted from pious ancestors.”

“And the Lord smelled a sweet aroma, and the Lord [God] said in His heart: I will no longer curse the earth for man’s sake... and I will no longer smite every living thing” (Gen. 8:21). These words mean that God “accepted the sacrifices. After all, God does not have an organ of smell, since the Deity is incorporeal. True, what is lifted up is fat and smoke from burning bodies, and there is nothing more fetid than this. But so that you know that God looks at the sacrifices made and accepts or rejects them, Scripture calls this smoke a pleasant aroma.” So " the Lord smelled not the smell from the meat of animals or the burning of wood, but He looked and saw the purity of heart in the one who sacrificed to Him from everything and for everything.”

Seeing the piety of the patriarch, “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth; Let all the beasts of the earth fear and tremble at you, and all the birds of the air, everything that moves on the earth, and all the fish of the sea: they have been given into your hands; everything that moves and lives will be food for you... only flesh... with its blood, do not eat; I will require your blood... from every beast, I will also require the soul of a man from the hand of a man, from the hand of his brother; Whoever sheds the blood of man, his blood will be shed by the hand of man: for man is created in the image of God... And God said to Noah and his sons with him: Behold, I have established my covenant with you and with your descendants after you... that all flesh shall no longer be destroyed. waters of the flood, and there will be no more flood to destroy the earth... I set my rainbow in the cloud, that it might be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:1–6, 8–9, 11, 13).

First of all, it is clear here, as Chrysostom notes, that “Noah again receives the blessing that Adam received before the crime. Just as he, immediately after his creation, heard: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28), so this one now: “Be fruitful and multiply on the earth,” because just as Adam was the beginning and the root of all who lived before the flood, so this righteous man becomes, as it were, leaven, the beginning and root of all after the flood.”

God then gives permission for people to eat animals, birds and fish. Blessed Theodoret explains the reasons for this: “foreseeing that those who have fallen into extreme madness will deify everything, God, in order to stop wickedness, allows the use of animals for food, because to worship what is used for food is a matter of extreme little thought.”

After this, God establishes a ban on eating meat with the blood of animals, which is subsequently repeated in the Law of Moses (Deut. 12:23) and in the regulations of the Apostolic Council (Acts 15:29). This is explained by the fact that the soul of animals is in the blood. Promise " I will require your blood too... from every beast“God “predicts the resurrection... meaning that he will collect and resurrect the bodies devoured by beasts.” Then God prohibits murder, warning of severe punishment for it, and “declares that every murderer must be put to death.”

After this, “God says: “ I establish my covenant", i.e., I conclude an agreement. Just as in human affairs, when someone promises something, he concludes an agreement and thereby provides the proper confirmation, so the good Lord speaks here.” God raises his relationship with people to such a height. He does not simply prescribe and command as an omnipotent Lord, He enters into an agreement in which He voluntarily undertakes to never again destroy the human race through a flood.

It is no coincidence that the rainbow was chosen as a sign of this covenant - since the global flood began with rain, then the rainbow appearing through rain becomes a sign that no rain will be the beginning of the destruction of humanity. Saint Philaret admits that “the rainbow could have existed before the flood, just as water and washing existed before baptism,” but after the flood it was chosen by God as a sign of His covenant with Noah.

It goes on to say: “ the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were: Shem, Ham and Japheth... and from them the whole earth was peopled"(Genesis 9:18–19). The truth of this is confirmed by the universality of the legend of the flood. The most ancient legends of different nations tell of a righteous man who was able to survive the global flood in a specially constructed ark or ship. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh calls him Utnapishtim, the ancient Greek writers called him Deucalion, and the Indian text Shatapatha Brahmana calls him Manu. Legends about the global flood are found everywhere - in China, in Australia, in Oceania, among the indigenous peoples of South, Central and North America, in Africa. All these peoples trace themselves to the descendants of the few survivors of the Flood. Traditions recorded in ancient times show significant similarities in major details with the story of the Bible, and traditions recorded more recently show more differences, which is not surprising, since retellers have introduced many interpretations and conjectures into the story over the past millennia. Nevertheless, the memory of the Flood is a truly universal phenomenon.

It is appropriate now to talk about the allegorical meaning of the events associated with the sweat and salvation of Noah, which was indicated by the holy fathers.

According to St. Augustine, everything “that is said about the structure of this ark means that it relates to the Church.” And in Noah himself, as well as in his sons, the image of the Church was revealed. They were saved from the flood on the tree of salvation... foreshadowing that on the tree [of the cross] the life of all nations would be established.” Saint Cyril of Alexandria also speaks about this, pointing out that Christ is “the truest Noah, who in the prototype of this ancient and glorious ark built the Church. Those who enter it avoid the destruction that threatens the world... So Christ saves us by faith and, as if into an ark, brings us into the Church, staying in which we will be delivered from the fear of death and will escape condemnation along with the world.”

Saint Bede the Venerable offers a detailed interpretation: “The ark means the universal Church, the waters of the flood - baptism, the clean and unclean animals [in the ark] - spiritual and physical people staying in the Church, and the planed and tarred logs of the ark - teachers strengthened by the grace of faith. The raven flying out of the ark and not returning signifies those who become apostates after baptism; an olive branch brought into the ark by a dove - those who were baptized outside the Church, that is, heretics, but who nevertheless have the fat of love and are therefore worthy to be reunited with the universal Church. The dove, which flew out of the ark and did not return, is a symbol of those [saints] who have renounced their bodily bonds and rushed to the light of their heavenly homeland, never to return to the labors of their earthly journey.”

The last episode of the patriarch's life, described in the Book of Genesis, concerns the period when he began to organize the life of his family in the new world. At that time, his son Ham already had his first child, Canaan:

The same saint writes: “Notice here, beloved, that the beginning of sin lies not in nature, but in the disposition of the soul and in free will. Now, after all, all the sons of Noah are of the same nature and brothers among themselves, had one father, were born from the same mother, were raised with the same care, and, despite this, they showed unequal dispositions - one turned away to evil, while others showed their father due respect."

Ham's act "revealed in him pride, consoled by the fall of another, a lack of modesty and disrespect for his parent." “Disregarding respect for the parent, he strives to make others witnesses of this spectacle and, having made the old man into a kind of theatrical stage, he persuades his brothers to laugh.” He, “having left the house, subjected his father to ridicule and reproach as much as he could, and wanted to make his brothers accomplices of his vile act; and then, as he should have, if he had already decided to announce to his brothers, to call them into the house and there to tell them about his father’s nakedness, he went out and announced his nakedness in such a way that if there were many other people here, he would do them too would be witnesses to the shame of the father."

But the event that contributed to the fall of Ham served to the glory of Shem and Japheth: “Do you see the modesty of these sons? He divulged it, but they don’t even want to see it, but they walk with their faces turned back so that, coming closer, they can cover their father’s nakedness. Look also how, despite their great modesty, they were still meek. They do not reproach or strike their brother, but, having heard his story, they only care about one thing, how to quickly correct what happened and do what was required for the honor of the parent.”

Having learned about what happened, Noah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, pronounces one curse and two blessings. The Holy Fathers examined the question of why, if Ham sinned, then it was not he himself who was cursed, but his eldest son Canaan?

The Monk Ephraim writes that by “younger son” cannot mean Ham, who was the middle son of Noah, but his grandson is meant, since “this young Canaan laughed at the nakedness of the old man; The boor went out with a laughing face and, in the middle of the haystack, announced it to his brothers. Therefore, one can think that although Canaan is not cursed with all justice, as he did this in childhood, it is not against justice, because he was not cursed for another. Moreover, Noah knew that if Canaan had not become worthy of a curse in his old age, then in his adolescence he would not have committed a deed worthy of a curse... Therefore, Canaan is cursed as the one who laughed, and Ham is only deprived of blessing because he laughed with the one who laughed.” Saint Philaret also writes about this: “Canaan... was the first to see the nakedness of his grandfather and told his father about it.” And Chrysostom says that “the son of Ham, who was cursed, suffered punishment for his own sins.”

In addition, the holy fathers explained that by placing a curse not on Ham, but on his firstborn Canaan, Noah frees all the other sons of Ham from inheriting the curse, and also avoids placing a curse on the one who, among others who left the ark, was honored to receive God’s blessing. According to Blessed Theodoret, there is also justice in this, that “since Ham himself, being a son, sinned against his father, he accepts punishment by cursing his son.” “The boor is punished in that son or in that tribe to whom he leaves his sins as an inheritance.”

The punishment was to subject the descendants of Canaan to the descendants of Shem and Japheth. As Saint Philaret says, “this was fulfilled among the Canaanites, who were partly destroyed by the Israelites, the descendants of Shem, and partly conquered from Joshua to Solomon.” Blessed Augustine draws attention to the fact that “in Scripture we do not meet a slave before the righteous Noah punished the sin of his son with this name. Thus, it is not nature, but sin that deserves this name."

Finally, Noah utters a blessing to his youngest son: “May God extend Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem.” And this prophecy was also fulfilled: “the descendants of Japheth occupied Europe, Asia Minor and the entire north, which then was a nest and breeding ground for nations... Shem's tents mean the Church, preserved in the descendants of Shem, and, finally, taking into its shelter and participation the heritage of its own and the pagans, the descendants of Japheth.”

“And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years” (Gen. 9:28). The Lord allowed Noah to live for a long time after the flood in order to preserve longer the living example of a righteous man for the first generations of renewed humanity. Indicating that all people descended from his three sons born before the flood (Gen. 9:18-19), Scripture reports that Noah himself after the flood did not give birth to any more children, spending his life in abstinence.

“All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died” (Gen. 9:29), and subsequently became one of the Old Testament righteous whose souls Christ saved from hell, descending there between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection from the dead.

As St. John says, “This righteous man can teach our entire race and guide us to virtue. In fact, when he, living [before the flood] among such a multitude of evil people, and not being able to find a single person similar to him in morals, reached such high virtue, then how will we be justified, who, having no such obstacles, don’t we care about good deeds?”

Noah, according to the Bible, is the last (tenth) of the antediluvian Old Testament patriarchs, descended in a direct line from Adam. Son of Lamech, grandson of Methuselah, father of Shem, Ham and Japheth (Gen. 5:28-32; 1 Chron. 1:4). In the Bible, Noah is the first vinedresser and inventor of wine. The name Noah is associated with the story of the Flood and Noah's Ark.

According to the Hebrew text Noah was born in 1056 (according to the Septuagint - in 1662) from the Creation of the world . His age, like other antediluvian patriarchs, is estimated in hundreds of years: Noah was 500 years old when construction of the Ark began And Noah already had three sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth. Moreover, Shem was the firstborn, Ham was born a year later, and Japheth was born a year after Ham. Such a late fatherhood of Noah is explained in legends by the fact that, foreseeing the destruction of mankind, he did not want to have children, and married only at the behest of God. Noah's wife is usually identified with Noah, the daughter of Lamech.

The Bible calls Noah the only righteous man in his generation who “found grace in the sight of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8).

According to the Bible, when God saw that people's thoughts were always evil, He repented that He had created man on earth and decided to destroy him. The Lord sent heavy rain, due to which the World Flood began, which was Divine punishment for the moral fall of mankind.

For their righteousness, Noah and his family were chosen by God to revive the human race after the Flood. God informed Noah in advance of his decision to destroy all life on earth, and gave precise instructions on how to build the Ark (which later became known as Noah's Ark) - a ship capable of surviving the impending flood - and equipping it for a long voyage.

According to Jewish tradition, It took Noah 120 years to build the ark (according to one version, the trees for the ark were also planted by Noah), although the Almighty could save Noah with one of His words or speed up his work miraculously. This is explained by the fact that the decision of the Almighty to destroy all life on earth was not irrevocable and the Lord wanted to give people the opportunity to repent of their sins and correct their behavior. Noah's contemporaries had the opportunity to observe his work. When asked what he was doing, Noah explained that God had pronounced a verdict on the destruction of humanity, and if people did not come to their senses, in 120 years (Gen. 6:3) they would be destroyed in the waters of the flood. However, everyone laughed at Noah, not giving his words any meaning. When the construction of the ark was completed, the Lord gave Noah's contemporaries one last opportunity to come to their senses: "and the rain fell on the earth"(Gen. 7:12) and only five verses later: “And the flood continued on the earth”(Gen. 7:17). Jewish interpreters explain this by saying that when at first God sent down rains out of mercy (rain, welcome and beneficial). If people had returned to God, abandoning their crimes, the flood would not have happened, and the rains would have remained rains of blessing. When they did not repent, the rains turned into a flood.

Global flood. Aivazovsky I.K., 1864

When the ship was built, God commanded Noah to take with him into the Ark members of his family (Noah’s wife and three sons with their wives) and a pair from each type of animal and bird, and “clean” (that is, suitable for sacrifice) - seven pairs, “to preserve a tribe for all the earth” (Gen. 7:2-3). This is the first time animals have been separated based on uncleanliness.

On the 17th day of the second month, the waters fell on the earth (Gen. 7:11). The flood lasted 40 days and nights , after which the waters lifted the Ark and it floated (Genesis 7:17-18). The water was so high that the Ark floating on its surface was higher than the mountain peaks. All life on earth perished in the waters of the flood, leaving only Noah and his family.

Only after 150 days did the water begin to subside, and soon, on the 17th day of the seventh month, the Ark washed up on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4). However, only the first day of the tenth month the mountain peaks appeared. Noah waited another 40 days, after which he released a raven, which, not finding dry land, returned back each time. Then Noah released the dove three times (with intervals of seven days). The third time the dove did not return. Then Noah was able to leave the ship.

Coming out of the ark, Noah made sacrifices to God (here, for the first time in the Bible, animal sacrifice by burnt offering appears). God promised to return the world to the previous order of things and never again to devastate the earth for the guilt of people.

“Landscape with the Sacrifice of Noah”, I. A. Koch, c. 1803. State Gallery, Frankfurt am Main

After this, God blessed Noah and his descendants by concluding a Covenant with him, including certain regulations regarding the consumption of animal meat and the shedding of blood (Gen. 9: 1-17). The rainbow became the symbol of the Covenant - a kind of guarantee that humanity would never again be exterminated by water.

According to the Bible, after leaving the Ark, Noah began cultivating the land, planting vineyards and inventing wine (Gen. 9:20).

One day, when Noah became drunk and lay naked in his tent, his son Ham (probably with his son Canaan) saw “the nakedness of his father,” and, leaving his father naked, hastened to tell his two brothers about it so that they would laugh at him, but They entered the tent without looking at Noah and covered him (Gen. 9:23). For showing disrespect Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan and his descendants, declaring that they would be slaves of Shem and Japheth.

I. Ksenofontov. Noah curses Ham

“Noah wanted to punish Ham for his crime and the insult inflicted on him, and at the same time not to violate the blessing already given by God: “God blessed,” it is said, “Noah and his sons” when they left the ark (Gen. 9: 1)", - St. John Chrysostom explains this moment.

At the time of the flood, Noah was 600 years old. After the flood, Noah lived another 350 years and died at the age of 950. (Gen. 9:29).

According to biblical genealogy, Noah is the ancestor of all the nations of the world , which are divided into three main groups:

- descendants of Shem (Semites are a number of peoples of the Middle East. Semitic peoples include Arabs, Jews, Maltese, descendants of the Assyrians - ancient representatives of the southern subgroup of southern Semites in South Arabia and a number of other peoples of Ethiopia, the New Syrians. The clan of Shem in the Bible is described in detail and its line can be traced up to Jesus);

- descendants of Ham (Hamites are the peoples who live in northern and northeastern Africa (Egyptians, Libyans, Ethiopians, Somalis, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Philistines) and in general all representatives of the Negroid race. In modern times, the idea of ​​​​the children of Ham as the slaves of Shem and Japheth became one of the ideological justifications for the slave trade);

- descendants of Japheth (Japheth is considered the progenitor of Europeans and Indo-European peoples in general. Sometimes the Caucasian and Turkic peoples are also included in them. In a broader sense, this is the entire population of the planet, with the exception of Negroids and Semites).

In the book of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 14:14-20), Noah is named one of the three righteous people of antiquity, along with Daniel and Job. The Apostle Peter calls Noah a preacher of righteousness and in his salvation from the flood in the ark he sees an indication of the possibility of spiritual salvation through baptism (2 Peter 2:5). The Apostle Paul also cites the example of Noah as an example of faith: “by it he condemned (the whole) world, and became heir of the righteousness of faith”(Heb. 11:7). In the Gospel of Luke (Luke 3:36) he is mentioned among the ancestors of Jesus Christ.

Icon of the forefather Noah in the Church of the Holy Martyr Huar in Veshki

The Orthodox Church classifies Noah as one of the forefathers and commemorates him on the “Sunday of the Forefathers” on the second Sunday before the Nativity of Christ. Images of Noah are placed in the uppermost - the forefathers' tier of the iconostasis, representing the Old Testament church, which did not know the laws of Moses.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

Materials used from the magazine "FOMA"