In this Bible Study we are going to focus on the Life of Noah. Tonight’s Study will be shorter than usual. Tonight we will have a question and answer session upon the completion of our study. We will closely examine the character of Noah over the next few weeks or so.

Gen 5:25-32

(25) And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:

(26) And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:

(27) And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

Useless Bible Trivia: Methuselah was the oldest living man ever!

(28) And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:

(29) And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

Remember the curse of the ground for man’s sake in Genesis 3:17-19?

(17) And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

(18) Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

(19) In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Because of man’s sin of listening to the voice of his wife, instead of the voice of his Creator, the ground that he was created to till was cursed. He had to work by the sweat of his face in order to eat anything. Not at all like it is today. Today, we complain that the grocery store is too cold! Men hunt for sport today. Today’s farmers are not as concerned with the crops as the are with the taxes that they have to pay to keep their farms, requiring them to have to work harder to grow more crops to pay more taxes to grow more crops… We are a blessed people; in Noah’s time you labored in sweat just to eat.

This is a prophetic reference to Genesis 8:21-22

(21) And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

(22) While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

The curse is lifted after the flood! Man will no longer have to labor and sweat to eat. He will still have to work, as that was declared from creation in Genesis 1:28.

(28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Prophecy has always been God’s way of proclaiming to man important future events. We will learn more about prophesy, as we get further into our study.

(30) And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:

(31) And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

(32) And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Noah was 500 years old when his sons were born; this indicates that they were triplets. Noah is the first man in the Bible to have only three sons, and each one be named in the Bible. Notice in Genesis 9:29 “And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died.” Noah is not recorded as begetting any more sons and daughters; this is an important fact to take note of.

Five hundred years is a long time to go without children. We will learn that Noah’s life consisted of long waits. A patient man this Noah must have been. In the upcoming weeks as we review Noah’s life lets observe the patience of Noah, and try to better understand his motivation. Let us not look at this Bible truth as the generic “Old man in a boat full of animals” Instead, I challenge you to try to invest some of your personal time into reading and praying on your own, asking God to reveal to you what there is for you to learn from the life of Noah, that will benefit our spiritual walk today. You may be surprised at what you find. We will come together each week, and discuss our findings, as well as go over significant points from our text, surrounding Noah’s life.