NOAH (⅛ Nω∈, Noe) is, according to the book of Genesis, the son of Lamech, and the second father of mankind after the deluge. His name, which is of obscure origin, is connected in Gen. v. 29 with a play on the word DΠ3 (nahem), to comfort. The story of the flood, the two elements of which the extant narrative is composed, and the parallel traditions of other nations, particularly of the Babylonians, have been spoken of in the article Deluge. The earlier narrative does not mention the point at which Noah left the ark, and it is doubtful if Gen. xi. 1 sq., which seems to be a fragment of a still older tradition, and which makes mankind disperse from Babylonia, originally stood in any connexion with the story of Noah and the flood. The later priestly (or, as it used to be called, Elohistic) narrative names the mountains of Ararat, i.e., one of the mountains of the land of Ararat, as the place where the ark rested. The identification of this mountain with the Ararat of modern maps (Μ. Masis) is tolerably old; Jerome (on Isa. xxxvii. 38) already places the land of Ararat in this quarter; but a more ancient Jewish tradition, which remained alive throughout the Middle Ages, seeks Ararat in the land of Kardu, i.e., the mountains of the Kurds east of the Tigris (comp. Ararat). From the Bible it is only certain (Isa. xxxvii. 38; Jer. li. 27) that the kingdom of Ararat was a remote northern district. After describing the covenant which God made with Noah on leaving the ark (Gen. ix. 1-17) the priestly narrative has nothing further to tell of the patriarch’s life; but an older fragment (Gen. ix. 20-27) makes him plant a vineyard and drink of the wine with consequences which lead him to pronounce a blessing on Shem and Japheth and a curse of slavery on Canaan. The story ...

the son of Lamech. Amidst the general corruption of the human race, Noah only was found righteous, Gen. vi, 9. He therefore found grace in the sight of the Lord,” and was directed for his preservation to make an ark, the shape and dimensions of which were prescribed by the Lord. In A. M. 1656, and in the six hundredth year of his age, Noah, by divine appointment, entered the ark with his family, and all the animals collected for the renewal of the world. (See _Deluge_.) After the ark had stranded, and the earth was in a measure dried, Noah offered a burnt-sacrifice to the Lord, of the pure animals that were in the ark; and the Lord was pleased to accept of his offering, and to give him assurance that he would no more destroy the world by water, Genesis ix. He gave Noah power over all the brute creation, and permitted him to kill and eat of them, as of the herbs and fruits of the earth, except the blood, the use of which was prohibited. After the deluge Noah lived three hundred and fifty years; and the whole time of his life having been nine hundred and fifty years, he died, A. M. 2006. According to common opinion, he divided the earth among his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. To Shem he gave Asia, to Ham Africa, and to Japheth Europe. Some will have it, that beside these three sons he had several others. St. Peter calls Noah a preacher of righteousness, because before the deluge he was incessantly preaching and declaring to men, not only by his discourses, but by the building of the ark, in which he was employed a hundred and twenty years, that the cloud of divine vengeance was about to burst upon them. But his faithful ministry produced no effect, since, when the deluge came, it found mankind practising their usual enormities, Matt. xxiv, 37. Several learned men ...