Week 5: Noah Builds an Ark
Lesson Information
Title: Noah Builds an Ark
Objectives:
Resources:
- Fr Daoud Lamei on Genesis
- Fr Tadros Yacoub Malaty - Genesis Commentary
- Origen on Genesis
- St John Chrysostom on Genesis
Reading:
- Genesis 6-8
Key Verse:
Lesson Structure
Read Genesis 6:1-7
- "the sons of God" and "the daughters of men"
- The sons of God are the line of Seth, who taught his children to love God and be with God
- The daughters of men are the line of Cain, who did not pass down the knowledge of God
- St Luke, in his genealogy of Christ says "the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God"
- Limiting days of man to 120 years
- God will not strive with you forever if you keep rejecting Him
- Are we flesh? Or are we spirit? Are we living according to the flesh? Or according to the spirit?
- The Lord tries to shorten our years so that we don't live hundreds of years without repentance
- Giants
- Mighty men who liked to fight and go to war and kill lots of people
- They would measure their success by how many people they killed or how much they stole
- The devil loves to make the most sinful people famous "mighty men of renown" and give them a name on earth
- "Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"
- What a scary concept - every single intent and thought was evil
- There is no moral compass, or conscience, or guilt, or remorse for any sin
- Sadly, doesn't this remind us of the world today?
- The Lord was sorry and decided to destroy man and beast
- Did God sin? Did God make a mistake?
- The Scripture is using human language to help us try to understand the divine will
- We contemplate on God's love all the time, but we forget that God hates evil and that evil is incompatible with God who is the source of all goodness
- There was no repentance, which is the most important
Read Genesis 6:8-12
- Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord; Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.
Read Genesis 6:13-22
- Construction of the Ark
- God is a God of order
- God is a God of order
- Typology of the Ark
- The Ark is a type of Baptism (salvation and rebirth and new creation by water)
- The Ark is a type of the Cross (salvation through wood)
- The Ark is a type of the Church (and is considered to be the First Church made by hands)
- Those who are inside are saved. Those who are outside are not. Everyone has a chance to come inside... until the door is closed.
- The Church is shaped like the Ark - even the word "Nave" which refers to the area that makes up the body of the church, is from the word "Navis" or "Naval" meaning "ship"
- Allegorical Interpretations of the Ark
- Origen discusses the three decks of the ark representing the three levels of Biblical Interpretation: Literal, Tropological, Allegorical
- The door that is in the side of the ark represents the Eucharist - the door to salvation. Because it is on the side of the ark, and the ark is a type of the Cross. And from the side of the Cross came blood and water.
- Origen uses Numerology with the dimensions of the boat (the length 300 cubits, the width 50 cubits, the height 30 cubits) - see page 96 part 5
- Origen discusses the three decks of the ark representing the three levels of Biblical Interpretation: Literal, Tropological, Allegorical
Read Genesis 7
- Seven of each animal? Or two?
- Seven of every clean, two of every unclean
- Why are more clean animals needed? To offer Sacrifice
- How did Noah know what is clean or unclean? The Law of Moses is not here yet?
- Natural Law which God communicated to those early people like Adam, Abel, Seth, Noah
- Natural Law which God communicated to those early people like Adam, Abel, Seth, Noah
- After seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth
- The first time God told Noah, He didn't give a timeline. Then He came 100 years later and said "it's in seven days"
- The first time God told Abraham about his son, He didn't give a timeline. Then He came 20 years later and said "this time next year"
- Some people want specific answers and timelines from God when they pray for something. God doesn't work this way. God may give a general or blurry picture of His will, until the right time when He reveals more details.
- Everyone needs to be in before the rain starts. Once the door is shut, that's it.
- Someone might not have believed Noah until they started to feel the water... it's too late
- When the day of judgment comes, it will be too late to repent.
- When the day of your death comes, it will be too late to repent.
- The 10 virgins - 5 inside, 5 outside. When the 5 came, the door was shut and the Lord said "I say to you, I do not know you"
- How did Noah get all the animals?
- Adam, before the Fall of Man, resembled God and had no enmity with animals. He played with them and loved them.
- The Fathers say that as one comes closer to God, he starts to resemble Christ, and the animals would treat him as such
- St Barsoum the Naked who had a huge snake in his cave, became friends with the snake. It was a regular snake, but he was not a regular man.
- Daniel in the Lion's Den - real ordinary lions that eat humans after the fall, but not humans before the fall. The more a person becomes like Adam before the Fall, the more the animals recognize the Creator in him
- Where did the water come from?
- Rain from up top - "windows of heaven were opened"
- Rain from down below - "Fountains of the great deep were opened up"
- Am I in the ark?
- We might think we are in the ark because we go to church every week
- But I need to be in the ark at all times and all days
Read Genesis 8
- God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the animals
- Noah sends a raven and a dove
- Noah's patience in leaving the ark
- Noah's first inclination is to offer a sacrifice
- Covenant will be discussed in the next week