by Caryl McAdoo
“Oh, I’ve been thinking about how the Lord has blessed me.” She held her arms out. “Us. He chose us to save, to carry on.” She gave a slight grin, coupled with a little head shake. “I know it’s been hard, especially compared to what we once had, but we are the only people left. Everyone else drowned. It’s difficult to imagine, isn’t it?”
Hattimas smiled. “Yes, it is. And we are extremely blessed indeed, dear.” She leaned in close and lowered her voice. “The Lord knew what He was doing, putting you and Shem together.”
A giggle escaped. “I so agree. Your youngest son is so much like his father. See how blessed I am?” She rubbed her belly. “Now if only the Lord will open my womb, my joy will be full, and I will be complete.”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. Father Jared’s deluge of babies will come soon enough, I’m certain. Have you not noticed? No female is pregnant.”
“I haven’t! Really? Are you sure?”
“Yes. Noah saw it first. He’s been watching for a while now. It’s for the best.”
“How so? I’d love nothing better than to have a baby.”
“As would I, but who then would do the chores if we all grew huge with child? The men are working hard enough as it is.”
“You’re right. I hadn’t thought of that, and if the animals were popping out babies…oh dear, we’d be overrun!” Jemri glanced around. Still no one had come yet. “Shem and I have been talking about our sons’ wives.”
Her mother grinned but only nodded.
“Anyway, we want to return to the tradition of the oldest son marrying the oldest daughter.”
A sadness washed over Mother’s face, and Jemri regretted saying anything. She would never intentionally hurt Hattimas. “I’m sorry, Mother. I shouldn’t have –”
The woman held her hand up and waved it. “No, no, my darling girl. It was God’s will. I don’t know why, but that’s all I can say. It is a wise decision.”
“But I –”
“Truly, daughter, don’t fret. The Lord decided it was not to be so with us. And yet…” She lifted both hands toward Heaven. “Bless His Holy Name! Look at what He gave to me! I couldn’t love you girls more if I’d birthed you myself.”
Hurrying into her adoptive mother’s outstretched arms, she embraced the woman whom she couldn’t love more, either. Curiosity wanted to ask about Myelin, find out what Hattimas thought about Shem’s theory that Ham was evil. But before she could find just the right words, Father boomed into the dining room singing.
The others streamed in, and the crowd dissipated any chance to ask. Perhaps for the best. What Mother wanted to hear that her son was less than perfect?
“Today.” Noah stood and looked first at his sons then their wives. He turned, faced Hattimas, and smiled. “The ark will come to rest on the mountain Abba calls Ararat.”
She jumped to her feet. “Wonderful, Husband! Father God told you this news?”
“Yes, this morning while I prayed.”
“Oh, when can we –”
He held up his hands. “The water has been receding for a while, but we still have many days before the earth is dry.”
“How many more, Father? Did the Lord say?”
“No, Son.”
Shem nodded, then his joy turned to concern. “I’m running low on grain. I’ve emptied two of the four bottom decks’ storage bins already.”
“We’ll have enough.” Noah chuckled. “When He first showed me the design, I thought He meant for me to lay up years’ worth of grain and fodder, but yes, we will have plenty.” He nodded at Hattimas’ seat that she filled again. Oh, how he loved his wife’s passion, especially in the little things. “Speaking of a bounty, your mother once again has prepared us a fine meal to break our fast. Let’s eat and…”
The screech of scraping timbers echoed. The great ship slowed. The menagerie voiced their concern, muffling the gopher wood’s groans and moans as it crushed rock, hunting its final resting place. He sat and smiled at each around the table. “Eat. All is well with our souls. The Lord has prepared a place for His Great Ship. The ark has carried us through the storm.”
For a double score of heartbeats, it appeared no one believed him, then Shem broke off a chuck of rye bread and took a small bite. As the ark slowed and the screeching and scratching lessened, more of his children ate. Finally, the boat stopped, hesitated for a long sigh, then dropped a hand’s width. It would move no more—ever.
Hattimas sucked her lungs full then smiled. “What day is it?”
“The seventeenth day of the seventh month.” Noah looked to his sons then their wives. “I want the waterwheel running until the tanks are full.”
Each day he lowered a weighted rope, and each day the water receded more; then to his and his family’s great delight, on the first day of the tenth month, the mountain tops could be seen out his window. Then extra waterwheel duty ended. The water had fallen below the screw’s end.”
Bless the Lord. His days in the ark were fast coming to an end.
After another forty—he intended to wait longer, but Hattimas coyly begged at first then insisted quite adamantly—he took a raven and dove and released them. The blackbird never returned, but the dove flew back to the ark in the even. He put her back in the coop and waited another seven days before sending her forth again.
Other than telling his wife, he held his news until the next morning when his children gathered to break their fast.
The delight in her mother’s eyes wasn’t lost on Jemri that morning of their eighteenth day of the eleventh month in the ark. After returning with the teapot and cups and placing them on the table, she slipped up next to Hattimas and leaned in close to her ear. “What is it? You and Father appear almost ready to burst with joy.”
She grinned then smirked and shook her head.
“Is the water going down faster? Or are you with child?”
Her grin increased, and she blushed. “Oh, you silly girl! Sit, daughter. The meal is ready, and your father has news.”
What was wrong with a little foreknowledge for the favorite daughter? But she took her seat in respectful obedience for the woman she loved as her mother and slipped her hand into Shem’s.
Noah stood, and all conversation ceased. “Last even, the dove returned again.”
Groans made their way around the table. Jemri squeezed her husband’s hand. Why would that make them so joyful? She let out a heavy sigh. That was certainly not what she hoped to hear. She’d anticipated good –
“But.” He held his hands out. “In her beak, she brought this plucked olive leaf to me.”
Cheers erupted and praises flowed. “Wonderful news, Father. Shall we open the door?”
“Not yet, but soon. I’ll send her out in another week.”
“Another week?” Ham jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over. “But it’s been –”
Jemri glanced at Father. Everyone had to be tired of the incorrigible man’s temper tantrums, but none more than she. Noah stopped his middle son’s words with a look. “I am fully aware how long it has been, Son, and how anxious we all are to get our feet onto dry ground again, start our new lives. Now sit and eat.”
And to make it more certain Father would soon let them go outside, a week later when released, the dove didn’t come back. Eleven months and twenty-five days cooped up in the ark, and the confinement still wasn’t over. The chores lessened, with no more water duty, but then it turned off cold.
Instead of just seeing to keeping the coalbin full for Mother’s cook stove, it became insatiable and needed to be stoked day and night to heat the dining and sitting room as well. Then the wind stopping howling, and Father made the announcement.
After the morning meal, Shem and his brothers untied the chain rope with all intentions of lowering the door, but as soon as it started toward the earth, it slammed to the ground with thunderous reverberations.
Almost as if it were as anxious as all the rest.
The ark came alive with ro
ars and trumpets, barking, neighing, mooing, crowing, and every other sort of animal cheering. Her hands flew to plug her ears. Shem turned but instead of a look of ecstatic joy she expected, only sadness etched his face, or…or was it horror? She hurried to him.
The sight stopped her heart.
Dear Lord!
Chapter Eight
Barren! Just like Jemri’s womb. Nothing but rocks, and crusted and cracked ground. Where were the trees and grass and flowers and greenery? Even Nod had been lush. Looking out from the door, as far as her eye could see, the earth appeared the same—ugly and brown—and disparaged.
How were they going to live there?
A cold wind whipped in and around her. She hugged herself and shivered then steeped closer to her husband. She’d never felt such cold. The gust cut through her clothing and skin and chilled her to the bone. Bleakness covered everything, earth and sky alike. What happened to the bright blue and sunshine she’d seen out Mother’s window?
Noah stepped into the opening then turned his back on the desolation and held his arms out and gave a little shooing wave. “The animals need attention. We’ll talk about this at the evening meal.”
Shem slipped his hand into hers and tugged. She walked backward a step, having trouble tearing her eyes away from the gloom. She couldn’t believe it. The water had killed everything. He pulled her away for more work, but to what purpose? The animals would never be able to make a living out there.
Halfway down the stairs to the lower floor, it hit her. “Why did Father say the evening meal? Why not when we gather to eat at midday?”
“Sounds to me like he wants more time to pray about it.”
“But what else will we talk about?”
“Whatever comes up. Just not the earth’s condition. Not at midday.”
Unable to imagine any conversation other than the austerity of the situation, she followed her husband, thinking of nothing else. Then she knew. God had wiped the world clean. Everything needed to start over, begin anew, was stored in the ark. Bare root trees and vines, seeds for each vegetable good to eat. Plows and tools. And plenty of wood for building, too.
Her room wasn’t as nice as in the old home, but considering the tent she’d lived in the first twelve years of life, it seemed like a mansion. That’s what Shem had called the home he would build for her…a mansion. She stopped at the landing and grabbed her husband’s other hand. “We are so blessed.”
He nodded, but didn’t look like he believed her words.
“No, really. Think about it. God is so amazing, and we are truly blessed. We’ve got everything we need right here to start over, and the Lord has brought us to exactly the place He purposed us to be.”
He chuckled. “You’re right, my beautiful optimist. It’s just…I expected it to look more like home. But this land is our new home, and…” He pulled her in close and kissed her. “And I have everything I will ever need in my arms right now.”
She kissed him back. And yes. He was her completion.
But there was more to life than kisses.
Shortly after the first watch ended, but before the cock’s crow of Noah’s six hundred first year, in the second month and the twenty-seventh day, fifty-six days since he and his sons opened the ark’s door. The Lord woke him with a soft whisper.
GO FORTH YOU AND ALL THE ANIMALS
He slipped from his warm bed. “Yes, Lord, at your word.”
He unrolled his rug, covered his head with his prayer shawl, then bowed before the Great I Am and worshiped the Creator of all. “Bless You, Father, for bringing us through to this side, preserving our lives, and those you have chosen to carry on the breath of life.” As he extolled the beauty of His Holiness, a vision unfolded.
Instead of three altars, he only saw one. He was to build it and…to bring his own fire.
Though he started sooner than was his custom, Noah stayed on his knees until the twelfth cock’s crow. Certain of the Lord’s voice, he sat on his bed and kissed his wife awake.
“Husband, why has the dawn broke so soon?”
He kissed her again. “I have news.”
Her eyes popped open, sparkling in that same way as since she was a child. “Tell me.”
“The Lord said for us to go forth. Us and all the animals.”
She sat up and kissed him back. “Praise Him. I am past ready.”
He waited until his children broke their fast before he stood. “Today, the Lord has spoken to me. He says we are to go forth, us and the animals.”
Unlike he expected, his announcement garnered a somewhat mixed reaction. Shem and Jemri were the most exuberant, while Japheth and Varsi’s reactions remained subdued. Perhaps the thought of trading the known for what awaited seemed daunting. Lord knew, the reality of this new world proved nothing like he’d anticipated.
He had loved the blessings of Adam’s Valley, everything he had there, but according to the girls’ reports, it would have been sooner than later that evil would have come to his beloved valley. He couldn’t even imagine taking another man’s life to defend his family. Praise God he’d never been put in that position, because kill he would.
And bless the Lord that the sons of Cain never found their way back to God’s mountain.
Now, they were no more.
The flood cleansed all evil from the land.
Only he and his sons remained.
He gazed around the table, meeting each person’s eyes. “Feed and water them one last time, then open their stall gates.”
“What of the clean ones? Them, too?” Myelin looked at her husband then back to Father.
Ham’s brows furrowed. “Shouldn’t we first build pens? A fold to keep the sheep and goats?”
“Abba said bring forth all the animals.”
Herding the last of his charges up the interior ramp then outside the ark, Shem sang a song of praise. His father, a stone’s throw from the door, gathered large rocks. For a breath, he stared, then realized God’s patriarch was building an altar and hurried to help. Once the stack reached waist high, Noah nodded to the pile of driftwood off to the side.
Shem hadn’t noticed it before, but obeyed his father’s unspoken instruction. He stood back as the patriarch approached the little flock of sheep. He examined each in turn carefully and brought the best of each clean animal and fowl, placed it on the altar, then slit its throat or beheaded it. The others joined and stood while the patriarch made sacrifices to the Almighty.
Overhead, a pure white cloud gathered just like on God’s mountain, but no fire came. Instead, Noah kindled the bundle of driftwood placed under the animals. Soon, flames engulfed the offering. The smoke drifted for a few heartbeats before being drawn into the cloud.
Shem fell to his knees, his mouth watering with the same sweet savor the Lord smelled. Then the Lord said in His heart.
I WILL NOT AGAIN CURSE THE GROUND ANY MORE FOR MAN’S SAKE FOR THE IMAGINATION OF MANS HEART IS EVIL FROM HIS YOUTH
NEITHER WILL I AGAIN SMITE ANY MORE EVERY THING LIVING AS I HAVE DONE
WHILE THE EARTH REMAINETH SEEDTIME AND HARVEST AND COLD AND HEAT AND SUMMER AND WINTER AND DAY AND NIGHT SHALL NOT CEASE
The cloud moved closer. A small part of it moved down the mountain, and it hovered over the valley.
BLESS YOU NOAH SHEM HAM AND JAPHETH BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY AND REPLENISH THE EARTH
AND THE FEAR OF YOU AND THE DREAD OF YOU SHALL BE UPON EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH AND UPON EVERY FOWL OF THE AIR UPON ALL THAT MOVETH UPON THE EARTH AND UPON ALL THE FISHES OF THE SEA
INTO YOUR HAND THEY ARE DELIVERED
EVERY MOVING THING THAT LIVETH SHALL BE MEAT FOR YOU EVEN AS THE GREEN HERB HAVE I GIVEN YOU ALL THINGS
BUT FLESH WITH THE LIFE THEREOF WHICH IS THE BLOOD THEREOF SHALL YE NOT EAT
AND SURELY YOUR BLOOD OF YOUR LIVES WILL I REQUIRE AT THE HAND OF EVERY BEAST WILL I REQUIRE IT AND AT THE HAND OF MAN AT THE HAND OF EVERY MANS BROTHER WILL I REQUIRE THE LIFE OF MAN
WHOSO SHEDDETH MANS B
LOOD BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED FOR IN THE IMAGE OF GOD MADE HE MAN
AND YOU BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY
BRING FORTH ABUNDANTLY IN THE EARTH AND MULTIPLY THEREIN
The cloud sank even lower, and God spoke to Shem and the others like one man to another, except that God wasn’t a man or a son of man that He could lie. His Words were true.
AND BEHOLD I ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU AND WITH YOUR SEED AFTER YOU AND WITH EVERY LIVING CREATURE THAT IS WITH YOU OF THE FOWL OF THE CATTLE AND OF EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH WITH YOU FROM ALL THAT GO OUT OF THE ARK TO EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH
AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH YOU
NEITHER SHALL ALL FLESH BE CUT OFF ANY MORE BY THE WATERS OF A FLOOD NEITHER SHALL THERE ANY MORE BE A FLOOD TO DESTROY THE EARTH
AND GOD SAID THIS IS THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT WHICH I MAKE BETWEEN ME AND YOU AND EVERY LIVING CREATURE THAT IS WITH YOU FOR PERPETUAL GENERATIONS
I DO SET MY BOW IN THE CLOUID AND IT SHALL BE FOR A TOKEN OF A COVENANT BETWEEN ME AND THE EARTH
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS WHEN I BRING A CLOUD OVER THE EARTH THAT THE BOW SHALL BE SEEN IN THE CLOUD AND I WILL REMEMBER MY COVENANT WHICH IS BETWEEN ME AND YOU AND EVERY LIVING CREATURE OF ALL FLESH AND THE WATERS SHALL NO MORE BECOME A FLOOD TO DESTROY ALL FLESH
AND THE BOW SHALL BE IN THE CLOUD AND I WILL LOOK UPON IT THAT I MAY REMEMBER THE EVERLASTING COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND EVERY LIVING CREATURE OF ALL FLESH THAT IS UPON THE EARTH
THIS IS THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT WHICH I HAVE ESTABLISHED BETWEEN ME AND ALL FLESH THAT IS UPON THE EARTH
From the smaller cloud, a bolt of lightning struck the valley below. Thunder boomed. The menagerie—that had only been milling about—erupted into a melee racing down the mountain. The clean animals alone lingered, all huddled together. The rain fell for only a double score of breaths, then both white clouds vanished.
Stretched over the valley, from one end to the other, a beautiful bow appeared high in the sky. It encompassed every color and shone against the soft gray of the remaining clouds. The women ooed and awed at its splendor, murmuring praises. God’s token of His covenant. Never again would He destroy the earth with water.
