Leaders of the Bible: Noah
Genesis 7-9
Noah’s generation is a mess. They are violent, abusive, and in Genesis 6, the author writes that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Rough.
God knows that there needs to be a reset. This kind of evil can’t persist on the earth that he designed to be full of peace and goodness. Noah is described as “righteous” and displays consistent obedience, so God calls him to lead humanity into a renewed creation and covenant.
The story of Noah parallels the creation story of Genesis 1. This is an important symbolic connection that will help us understand what type of leadership God was calling Noah to.
In ancient Hebrew thought, a “de-created” state or state of “nothingness” was often described using water imagery. While we as modern western people might imagine “nothingness” as the expanding universe or darkness, the Hebrews imagined it as a dark, deep, watery, chaotic place. In Genesis 1:2, it says,
“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
After creating a flourishing world from this dark, watery, chaos world, God plants a garden and appoints humanity to reign and rule alongside Him. He gives them the plants for food and the animals to rule over. He commands them to multiply (paraphrase from Genesis 1). These humans were God’s partners and the earth’s first human leaders.
So what does this have to do with Noah? Everything. The story of Noah’s leadership is a mirror of the Genesis 1 creation story & God’s appointing of the first human leaders.
In Noah’s day, humanity was so violent and evil that God gave them over to the chaos they created. He sends a flood (remember, uncontrolled waters = uncreated state). God starts over with Noah and appoints him to care for the animals on his ark. Just like the first humans were called to rule over the garden of Eden, Noah and his family rule over this floating Eden that rose above the watery chaos.
When the flood resides, God calls Noah to “be fruitful and multiply,” and just like Adam, God gives everything on the earth to Noah to rule over. Then Noah plants a vineyard, or a grape garden. Everything should be going well. Evil is eradicated. Noah and his family are given the good call to rule and multiply the earth just like Adam. Noah plants a garden on this renewed land, mirroring the garden God planted in Genesis 1.
Humans got a reset, and with Noah’s righteousness and obedience, perhaps this could be the good and peaceful world that God designed before humans messed it up.
Well, that’s not quite what happens. Just one verse after Noah plants the vineyard, he drinks the wine and gets drunk. I have to wonder if Paul had Noah’s failure in mind when he wrote,
“8 In the same way, deacons[a] are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain” (1 Tim 3:8).
Not only that, but while Noah was passed out drunk and naked in his tent, his son Ham must’ve done something shameful to him. When Noah awoke and saw what his son had done, he immediately cursed him and all of his descendants.
Noah and his family, the most righteous people on the earth and the best fit for the leaders of the new creation, have already failed. Yes, Noah did obey God’s commands throughout the story. He showed humble reverence for God’s call, even though it might’ve seemed crazy that he and his family would be God’s chosen remnant. Yet, he and his son both fell into the same trap of self-indulgence and abuse that the rest of humanity did.
This goes to show that even the best leaders will fall prey to sin. Noah and Ham’s failures don’t have to negate their obedience, but it does show us our need for a new and better Adam and a new and better Noah. This is why Jesus came as a human to our chaotic earth. He became the human partner that a righteous, yet broken person like Noah could never be. And by his grace, Jesus gives us his perfect righteousness through his sacrifice so that our failures can be forgiven and so that we, too, can partner with God forever.
