God and Noah

Noah’s historical significance is that God, through a covenant with Noah, chose him to preserve two of each species of all that was on the earth because God, due to the wickedness of man (Genesis 6:5-8), was going to destroy all else. For God was to allow it to rain heavily for 40 days and nights and so cover all the lands. The Flood rose to its peak after the 40 days. It then took over 2.5 months for the water to recede, over 4.5 months before the dove could find dry land and almost 8 months before Noah and other occupants in the ark could leave. Noah was charged with the unenviable task of building the wooden ark all alone and by hand at times aided by his sons (you know how kids always let dad do all the work). The ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. The capacity was 1.4 million cubic feet.

To give you an idea of that space, it is about the size of 522 standard railroad cars, which could carry 125,000 sheep. There are less than 18,000 species living on earth today. If this number were doubled for species that have become extinct then doubled again for male and female (two of a kind) this would equate to 72,000 creatures. Such a count could easily have been accommodated in the ark along with the one million species of insects, the required food (in the form of additional animals), Noah, his wife, their sons and their wives.

Noah had three sons, Shem (the oldest), Ham and Japheth. In the legend recorded by the Armenian historian Moses of Khoren and according to Armenian tradition, we are direct descendants of Armais, the direct descendant of Hayk (Haik) from the year 2350 BC, who is a descendant of Japheth the son of Noah. This may be valid and capable of being substantiated, but let me give you something to think about.

The Bible does not mention Hayk as a direct descendant of Japheth. However, in Genesis 10:2 it says that the sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. Gomer had a son Togarmah who settled his people in an area where, during the period of Darius I (500 BC), the cities of Kharpert, Malatia, Arapkir were part of the great Armenian nation which covered most of what is Turkey today. His brother, Ashgenaz, settled in the area of Lakes Van and Lirmir, which had the Armenian cities of Moush, Van and Tabris nearby as well as Mt Ararat in the area. Gomer himself settled in the area of Cappadocia where the cities of Ancyra (current Ankara) and Yevtogia were also part of ancient Armenia. It is also noteworthy that Japheth’s son, Javan, settled in what is now Greece. So it appears that the strong bonds between Armenians and Greeks can be traced back to the sons of Noah.

Whether we use the legend and tradition of Moses of Khoren or base our study on Biblical facts, we Armenians do have a very close tie with Noah and so part of the direct lineage of the family chosen by God to re-inhabit the earth and start afresh a new civilization.

Thanks to Bob Takvorian, MA for the contribution of this article.

Have a comment, contribution or suggestion? Click here and send it to us