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Biblical People

Biblical People: Noah (1)

Following the biblical story arc, we move forward several generations. Sin entered the world through Adam, found its expression in Cain, and, over the following centuries, chaos prevails. The world becomes corrupt, filled with violence.

God decides to wipe away humanity’s rampant evil. 

The rest of God’s creation can stay, but he decides to do away with people—all except for Noah and his family. The Bible calls Noah righteous. This means he lives rightly, even though God has not yet defined what that means. Noah is blameless in his life and walks faithfully with God.

Scripture doesn’t tell us the spiritual condition of Noah’s family: his wife, his three sons, and their wives. These seven may be righteous like Noah, but the Bible doesn’t say that.

Regardless, God plans to save all eight. A better understanding is that they will live not because of their own merit but because of Noah’s. So it is with us and Jesus.

God plans to send a massive flood to destroy the world. Only these eight people will survive. Everyone else will die. Most land animals will perish as innocent victims in all this. Then God will allow humanity to start anew, through Noah. It’s a massive do-over, Creation 2.0.

To accomplish this, God tells Noah to build an ark, a huge boat, one big enough to carry a representative pair of each species and seven pairs of clean animals—along with enough food for all.

Noah obeys. 

People back then lived for several centuries, and it takes Noah and his family one hundred years to complete this massive project. Building an ark doesn’t make sense and requires years of backbreaking work.

Yet they persist, no doubt enduring the ridicule of those around them and making many sacrifices as they build God’s boat, all the while attending to the daily needs of living.

When the rains come and the floodwaters rise, Noah, his family, and the animals God sends to them board the ark. God seals them inside and they survive the great deluge.

When the waters recede, eight people emerge. 

God then gives Noah the same command he gave Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply. They do. We’re here today as a result.

God told Noah to do something difficult that didn’t make sense from a human perspective. But Noah obeyed and saved his family, along with giving humanity a fresh start.

We applaud Noah for his obedience to God.

How well do we do at obeying God? Would we be obedient like Noah if God told us to undertake a huge task that would take several years to complete?

[Read about Noah in Genesis 5:28–9:29. Discover more in Hebrews 11:7.]


Learn about more biblical characters in Old Testament Sinners and Saints, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover. Get your copy today.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Biblical People

Biblical People: The Daughters of Zelophehad

Zelophehad has five daughters but no sons. His girls are Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah (2), and Tirzah. Zelophehad dies in the desert before he can receive his allotment of property in the Promised Land. Since he has no sons to receive his inheritance in his stead, the girls will get nothing.

They boldly go before Moses and ask for their father’s share, contrary to convention. God tells Moses to include them in the land assignments, which Joshua later carries out.

With a population of millions, there are surely other daughters in this same predicament. But only these sisters come forward, and only these women receive land.

Are we willing to speak up to receive what is due us? Will we trust God with the outcome? 

[Discover more about Zelophehad’s five daughters in Numbers 26:33, Numbers 27:1–7, Numbers 36:1–11, Joshua 17:3–7, and 1 Chronicle 7:15.]


Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in audiobook, e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Two Expressions of Faith

Last week we talked about Noah’s obedience and Moses’ boldness. Both actions were reflections of their faith: the faith to obey and the faith to confront.

But what if Noah didn’t obey God, instead interceding for the people? If God changed his mind (as he did when Moses fasted and prayed), the great flood would have been averted.

What if Moses didn’t boldly approach God but merely accepted his plan, allowing the destruction of the people of Israel and making Moses into an even greater nation?

Then millions would have died. Instead of there being the “children of Abraham,” we’d have the “children of Moses.” We wouldn’t talk about Father Abraham, but of Father Moses.

Had Noah and Moses acted differently, the world would have turned out much differently.

But both acted with great faith: obedient faith and bold faith. Both provide great examples for us to follow.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Are You Like Noah, Moses, or Neither?

To Noah, God said I will destroy the earth. But God had a plan to spare Noah and his family. Building an ark didn’t make sense and required years of hard work, but Noah obeyed God’s instructions and survived the great flood.

We applaud Noah for his obedience to God.

To Moses, God said I will destroy these people. He promised to make Moses into an even greater nation afterwards. If I were Moses, I’d readily receive God’s words, both getting rid of the people who continually caused him grief and the part about making Moses into a nation.

But Moses didn’t accept what God said. Instead, Moses sought to change God’s mind – and he did.

We greatly admire Moses for his boldness.

May we obey like Noah and be bold like Moses.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.