Why God favoured Noah

Most of us remember occasions when we hear important news. We remember details, not only where we were and what we were doing but also how we reacted. No doubt Noah never forgot the day he received the news from God, the Sovereign of the universe. And what news could have been more important? God said that He was determined to bring to ruin ‘all flesh’. Noah was to build a gigantic ark for the preservation of him, his family and animals of every kind.

How did Noah respond? Did he rejoice upon hearing the news or did he protest? How did he break the news to his wife and family? The Bible does not say. What it does tell us is this: Noah proceeded to do according to all that God had commanded him – he did just so (Genesis 6:22). That, surely, is an important point, for the statement explains in part why Noah found favour in God’s eyes: Noah was willing to do what God asked him to do (Genesis 6:8).

Noah lived early in human history. He was born a thousand years after the first man was created. People then were not the cavemen that many people envisage – hairy, dim-witted creatures who slouched about with clubs in their hands! They forged tools of iron and copper, and Noah may have used these in constructing the ark. They used musical instruments. People married, raised families, cultivated crops and had livestock. They bought and sold things. In these ways, life then was much as it is today (Genesis 5:5; 9:29).

Bro Nelson Anyal (Kisumu, Kenya)