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CHILDREN'S SABBATH LESSONS
LESSON 4
NOAH
Time went on and a man named Lamech was born who would
have been Adam’s great- great- great- great- great- great- great-grandson who
had a son named Noah when he was 182 years old! Noah was a good man and after he
was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth. As all the
people began to grow in numbers and there were many, many people on the earth,
Yahweh said He would not contend with man forever, and from then on a man’s days
would be a hundred and twenty years, Genesis 6:3. Man would no longer live as
long as they had in the past.
 Man was very evil and everything most men even thought
was evil! Yahweh was very unhappy that He even MADE man! He was so heart-broken;
He said He would wipe mankind, who He created, from the face of the earth,
Genesis 6:7.
But Yahweh liked Noah for Noah was a righteous man and
obeyed Yahweh’s laws. The whole earth was full of violence. Yahweh talked to
Noah and told Noah that He was going to put an end to all people, for the earth
was filled with violence because of them. He would destroy them, Genesis
6:11-13.
 Yahweh gave Noah very specific instructions on building
an ark. An ark is a very, very large boat which can hold lots of people or, in
this case, lots of animals and just a few people! Yahweh told Noah how long to
make it, how wide, how high, how to put the doors on and how to make lower,
middle and upper decks. He intended to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy
all life, but He made a very special agreement with Noah.
Yahweh said that He would establish His “covenant” with
Noah. A covenant is a special agreement where both sides agree to do something.
You will read a lot about covenants as you study your Bible.
 Now, Yahweh said that Noah and his sons and their wives
were to enter the ark. They were told to bring two of all living creatures, a
male and a female. That meant two of every bird, every small critter, every big
critter, even snakes! They were also told to take seven of every clean animal
and every kind of food to be stored for them to eat. That would have included
grains and such. They were going to be on the big boat for a long time and
Yahweh wanted to make certain they would have enough food to last them.
Yahweh told Noah then to enter the ark, him and his
whole family along with the food and all the animals, clean and unclean. In
seven days He would send the rain. It would rain on the earth for forty days and
forty nights and every living creature He made would be wiped from the earth,
Genesis 7:4. Noah did everything just like Yahweh asked.
 Noah and his family along with all their supplies
entered the ark and, just as Yahweh said, in seven days the floodwaters came on
the earth. As the rain continued to come down, the water rose higher and higher
until, finally, the boat lifted up and began to float upon the water. As the
water rose, so did the boat, until it was floating above the mountains. In fact,
they were twenty feet above the mountains, Genesis 7:20. Every living creature
which had been on the earth was destroyed and existed no longer. Only Noah, his
family and the animals on the boat were still living.
Even though the rain stopped after forty days, the whole
earth remained flooded for a hundred and fifty days. Yahweh never forgot Noah,
though, and He sent a wind over the earth to help the water go back. As the days
went by, the water got lower and lower until, finally, the ark came to rest on
the mountains of Ararat on the 17th day of the seventh month. It
wasn’t until the first day of the tenth month that you could see the tops of the
mountains, Genesis 8:5.
 After forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in
the ark and sent out a raven and it kept flying back and forth. Then he sent out
a dove, but the dove could find no dry land to set its feet so it came back.
Noah waited another seven days and tried it again. When the dove returned to him
in the evening, in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew
that the water had receded from the earth, Genesis 8:11. In seven more days, he
sent the dove out once again only this time the dove did not return, Genesis
8:12.
By the first day of the first month when Noah was 601
years old, the water had dried up from the earth and by the 27th day
of the second month, the earth was completely dry. Yahweh then told Noah to come
out of the ark, him, his wife, their sons and their wives and all the animals
were brought out so they could be fruitful and multiply on the earth.
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Rainy Day Activities? |
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Just imagine, you and your
family are in a very big boat for a long, long time with all sorts
of critters. Sounds like fun?
Hmmmm
The next time it rains think about being on this boat! How many
activities do you think you could come up with to keep you busy for
40 days and 40 nights, PLUS the time waiting for the land to appear? |
Yahweh blessed Noah and his sons, telling them to be
fruitful, increase in number to fill the earth. He told them other rules too and
established His covenant with them. Yahweh said that never again would all life
be cut off by the waters of a flood and never again would there be a flood to
destroy the earth, Genesis 9:11. Yahweh gave a very, very special sign of the
covenant between Yahweh and the earth. He said, “I have set my rainbow in the
clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth,”
Genesis 9:13. He also said that whenever He sees the rainbow, He will remember
the everlasting covenant between Him and all living creatures of every kind on
the earth,” Genesis 9:16.
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An absolutely awesome rainbow
YAHWEH
made as a sign of what and to who was the sign for? |
Memory Verse
And Noah and his sons and his wife
and his sons' wives entered the ark
to escape the waters of the flood.
Genesis 6:7
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Click
here to go to the Activities Page
for this Lesson. |
HalleluYAH!
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