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Grant Goodall

Miss Akers

Honors English 9

19 October 2017

Noah was the only man, in the middle of a very sinful world, that God favored. He had

three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah is located in the book of Genesis, the first book of the

Bible. Noah was told by God to build an ark because God wanted to flood the earth and kill

every human except for Noah and his family. Noah suffered because he had to build and live on

an ark with every kind of animal, for almost two months while the earth was being flooded.

Noahs suffering was significant because, without it, humans would be extinct. Although he

suffered great amounts, it was fair because he and his family were blessed by God, and they were

the only humans God allowed to live.

Noah suffered greatly to serve his God, and one of his sufferings was the process of

building an ark from scratch. God gave Noah specific instructions on how to construct the ark,

and it was gigantic. Noah also had to coat every square inch of this boat, inside and outside, with

tar. This was to make the boat completely waterproof. God told Noah that ...the ark is to be

three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. and coat the inside

and out with pitch.(57) The ark had to fit two of every kind of animal on earth, in addition to the

food the animals and Noahs family needed for almost 2 months. Building the ark was not an

easy task, and required extreme physical exertion. Noah had to acquire his own materials and

build the ark in the blazing desert sun. Also, Noah was extremely old which added to the

difficulty of the task. Noah had to build the ark In the year when [he] was six hundred years
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old(58) This would be a hard task for anyone to complete, but it is practically impossible for

a person six hundred years old.

Another way Noah suffered to please his God was the fact that he had to live on the ark

with animals for approximately 54 days. After the rain stopped, Noah sent out a dove to see

whether the water on the earth had subsided. But the dove found no place where she could

settle so she came back to him at the ark.(58) He [Noah] waited seven days more and again

sent out the dove from the ark. She came back to him towards the evening with a freshly plucked

olive branch in her beak. He waited yet another seven days and, when he sent out the dove,

she did not come back to him(59) The dove did not come back the last time because she

found a place to live, which meant there was dry land. Noah needed patience as it took about two

weeks to find dry land after the waters receded. Living on an ark filled with animals in the

middle of a flood for an unknown amount of time was stressful. Noah was burdened by this

situation and suffered greatly.

Although Noah suffered greatly both making and living on the ark, it was fair for God to

inflict this on him because he was rewarded by God after the flood. Noah and his family were

rewarded because God allowed them to live while he wiped out all other living things on the

earth. God also blessed Noah and his sons, saying Be fruitful and increase in numbers, and fill

the earth.(59) In addition to saving Noah and his sons, God wanted them to repopulate the

whole earth. This means that God admired Noahs family to the point where he wanted every

person to be a descendant of Noah

Noah's suffering enabled humans to still be around today. Without Noahs sacrifice, both

humans and animals would have drowned in the flood. Although his suffering was brutal, it was

justified because he and his family were allowed to live, repopulate the earth, and were blessed
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by God. If Noah had not gone through the work of building the ark and living on it for almost

two months, the human race would not exist.