January 21

The story of Noah’s Ark directly relates to the story of Adam and Eve because of the concept of man’s disobedience toward God and in turn His punishment to humankind. Sin is a theme all throughout Genesis, which is an effective way to begin the Bible, because knowledge of sin is an essential part to reading and understanding the Bible. In both cases, man commits a grave sin that God cannot accept. In Adam and Eve’s case, they are banished from the Garden of Eden for doing what God explicitly said not to do, eating from the Tree of Knowledge. In the case of Noah’s Ark, the world became ridden with sin and violence, so God sent a flood to cleanse the Earth. As Kass says, Noah is the first man born into the world after Adam, and this might be the reason he is tasked with fixing the sins plaguing the Earth. Noah has no contact with Adam and therefore no knowledge of the immortal life Adam experienced. Noah better understands the concept of death, and this might make him more God-fearing and obedient than Adam was. In the story of Noah’s Ark, he is spared from the flood that cleanses the Earth because he is seen as graceful in God’s eyes. Noah is different than the rest of mankind because they were living with the concept of immortality and with arrogance and great expectations. Noah is conscious of his impending death and more conscious of his actions. Kass says “Death is… the beautification of an ugly world,” so God sends the flood to beautify the world ridden with pride and violence. It is even said that God “repented” creating humans because of these sins. These stories in Genesis may be to explain why God made man mortal and to remind us of the consequences of grave sins.