by Tim Chaffey
Tsek bobbed his head. “Do you have anything you want me to take to the king in reply?”
She looked at the seer, who had taken a seat a short distance away, while she searched for the right phrase. Stepping close to Tsek, she brushed an imaginary speck from his broad, tanned shoulder, being sure to let her hand linger longer than necessary. She cast him an alluring look as she backed away. “Tell the king that my victory rests in his vast accomplishments.”
Tsek searched her face before replying. “I shall relay that. And may I say that, personally, I thought you were the highlight of the evening.”
She flashed him a broad smile. “You are most kind, Tsek. Thank you for bringing words from my father.” She dismissed him with a small wave of her hand.
He bowed and looked back at her twice as he walked through the garden.
The seer rejoined Naamah, wearing a slight frown. “That was not the type of power I was alluding to.”
With a flip of her head, she tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Oh, I care nothing for him, but it wouldn’t hurt to have his complete loyalty.” She turned around to look at the city again. “There is, however, someone that I’d like to bring to his knees before me. Do you think you could help with that?”
“Perhaps. Tell me what’s on your mind.”
“A man slighted me twice. He dismissed me once a while ago and again just today.” She let tears gather at the corner of her eyes, playing the role skillfully and without hesitation.
“Would this be the man your guard mentioned this evening? Noah? The shipbuilder?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
“And just what do you want to do?” He gently touched her shoulder.
She wanted vengeance. But how? “I, I...never mind.”
“Capture this man’s wife so that he has to beg you for her life.”
Once hidden in the recesses of her mind, her darkest thoughts became clear. And yet, the seer spoke them calmly and with even tones, as if he were simply discussing what would be served for the next meal.
Naamah’s eyes widened. “How — how did you know?”
The seer looked steadily at her. “I’ve been trying to tell you that the power I can teach you is beyond anything you’ve imagined.”
Still awed by his ability, she stared into the wrinkled face before her.
“If you’re bent on making this man pay, then call your guards to go get his wife. But I must say, you’re setting your ambition too low.”
She shook her head, brushing off his disapproval. “Maybe I am. But if I put this behind me, then I can focus more fully on what you have to teach me.” She raised her voice so that the sentry stationed on the terrace might hear her. “Nivlac!”
Her most dependable guard hurried across the roof and stood before her. “Yes, Princess.”
“I have an urgent mission for you.”
Behind the Fiction
The first part of this non-fiction section, “Answering Questions Raised by the Novel,” is designed to address certain questions that readers may think of during the story. Many of these issues will be apologetic in nature. That is, in this portion of the book, we will respond to numerous challenges raised by skeptics and critics. The goal is that these novels will also help you defend the truth of Scripture.
You may have noticed as you read the novel that several things didn’t line up with what you may have expected. This was done on purpose to help break certain stereotypes about Noah and the pre-Flood world that many Christians assume are from the Bible, but aren’t actually found there. We want you to see clearly what comes directly from the Bible and what comes from traditions people have developed over the years.
The second feature in this non-fiction portion is what we call “Borrowed from the Bible.” Since the Bible only includes scant details about Noah’s life and times, we must use artistic license to flesh out his story. We certainly do not wish to be seen as adding to Scripture and understand that these are works of fiction, with the exception of the few details that come straight from the Bible. Some places, we curbed the amount of artistic license taken by drawing from other biblical accounts instead. In “Borrowed from the Bible,” we highlight certain events and customs in our story that will be somewhat familiar to those who know their Bibles.
The third special feature is entirely unique to this series. We had the incredible opportunity to work behind the scenes at the Ark Encounter for the past few years. Tim was involved in the planning of nearly every exhibit and was responsible for writing or overseeing all of the content while K. Marie took part in designing various aspects of several spaces on the Ark. We wanted to use our experience to bring this series to life in a creative manner. As such, many of the objects and animals described in the book are on display in the Ark Encounter, so visitors to the theme park can see part of what Noah witnesses in our story. The “Encounter This” section lets the reader know what these items are and where they can be found.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about what may have been, while learning to better discern between fact and fiction.
Answering Questions Raised by the Novel
Did the people before the Flood really live over 900 years?
The Bible tells us that Noah lived to be 950 years, and all of his male ancestors, with the exception of Enoch (365 years) and Noah’s father, Lamech (777 years), lived over 900 years. Lifespans of this length are difficult for us to fathom, because people in our day do not exceed 120 years. But how is it possible for people to live so long?
Before listing the various theories to explain such longevity, the reader should be aware that the Bible is not the only ancient text that assigns great ages to the earliest people. The Sumerian King List, from one of the earliest post-Flood civilizations, describes a series of rulers before the global Flood who lived and reigned for many thousands of years. While this fictional list includes people living over 20,000 years and is not inspired by God like Genesis is, such an early document shows that people who lived soon after the Flood believed their pre-Flood predecessors lived extraordinarily long lifespans.
Various theories have been proposed to account for such long lifespans. Perhaps the most popular idea among Christians who accept the ages as accurate is that the pre-Flood world had some sort of vapor or water canopy around it that filtered out harmful radiation and allowed people to live for 900 years. There are numerous scientific problems with the canopy model, and it is not explicitly taught in the Bible but was just one possible interpretation of a passage. As a result, many creationists who once held it have now abandoned it.
Another proposal is that something happened genetically to reduce man’s lifespan. In studying the Genesis genealogies, we see two drastic drops in lifespans. At the time of the Flood, life expectancy dropped from roughly 900 down to about 400, based on the small sampling of people mentioned. Then after three generations, the life expectancy dropped to around 200 years. This decrease is often associated with the rebellion at Babel. Then the lifespans slowly dropped over the next dozen or so generations to what we experience today. In support of the genetic argument, one can point to Lamech, Noah’s father, who died five years prior to the Flood at the age of 777. Is this a hint that there was some genetic factor in Noah’s line that would lead to reduced lifespans? Also, at the time of the Flood, humanity’s genetic diversity was reduced to the information carried by eight people. This “population bottleneck” was somewhat repeated at Babel, as a large population was suddenly split into about 70 small groups that went their separate ways. Perhaps these two “bottleneck” events enabled a problem within Lamech’s genes to become pronounced throughout all humanity. Of course, Noah still lived 950 years, so this may not be the best solution either.
The answer to why man does not live nearly a millennium anymore may be found right in the Bible’s Flood account. Genesis 6:3 states, “And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twe
nty years’ ” (NKJV). While many Christians believe that the “one hundred and twenty years” refers to a countdown to the Flood, the text does not necessarily make that point, as the Flood is not mentioned for another 14 verses.
A cursory reading has given many people the impression that the “one hundred and twenty years” refers to a new limit on man’s lifespan. But how could this be since Noah lived 950 years and his son, Shem, lived 600 years? Before dismissing the lifespan view based on this argument we should consider what the Bible reveals about lifespans from the time the announcement was made until the time it was written down by Moses. The following chart shows the lifespans of the people from Noah to Moses.
Name
Lifespan
Noah
950
Shem
600
Arphaxad
438
Salah
433
Eber
464
Peleg
239
Reu
239
Serug
230
Nahor
148
Terah
205
Abraham
175
Isaac
180
Jacob
147
Levi
137
Kohath
133
Amram
137
Moses
120
Man’s life expectancy from that point in history steadily dropped from over 900 years to 120 years in the 16 generations from Noah to Moses. Lifespans continued to decrease after Moses. Joshua lived 110 years, and before long, it seems that few lived beyond 80 years.
It is quite interesting that the Bible records the ages of the people in the genealogy from Adam down to Moses. As soon as the lifespans decreased to 120 years, the Bible stopped recording how old a person was when they died. It is as if Moses showed the fulfillment of Genesis 6:3 by listing all the ages, but as soon as this passage was fulfilled, there was no longer a need to record the ages. Yes, Joshua lived to 110, but the ages of his immediate ancestors are not given, and there may be another reason why his age was specifically given. The Egyptians of that time believed the ideal age for a person was 110 years. As such, it is rather ironic when Jacob tells Pharaoh that his 130 years had been few compared to his ancestors. Moses outlived this “ideal age” and Joshua reached it.
Also, notice that in modern times we see a handful of people live beyond 110 years, but they do not reach 120. Much more could be said about this issue. Interested readers can learn more from my article, “Did Noah Spend 120 Years Building the Ark?” It is available at http://midwestapologetics.org/blog/?p=1445.
Does this mean that they matured at a slower rate?
When a person lived over 900 years, what would their maturation rate have been like? Certainly a 100-year-old person at that time did not look like a modern centenarian. Noah had children and built an Ark while in his 500s. Another potential clue related to the maturation rate can be found in Genesis: the youngest recorded age of a pre-Flood person having children is 65 (Mahalalel in Genesis 5:15 and Enoch in Genesis 5:21). Of course, they may have had other children prior to the sons mentioned in the Bible, but since Scripture is silent here, we have the opportunity to incorporate some artistic license on this point in the story.
Our novel depicts a person’s development into adulthood as taking about twice as long as in our day. The early part of the story revolves around Noah’s 40th birthday — when he would be considered a man and have the opportunity to set out on his own. From that point on, a person would age considerably slower, and once they reached about 250 years of age, you could divide their age by 10 to picture how they might look compared to people today. In other words, a 400-year-old man would look about the same age as a 40-year-old man today.
How many siblings did Noah have?
Our story begins with Noah having a brother, Jerah, and a sister, Misha, but these will not be his only siblings in the story. Genesis 5:30 states that after Noah was born his father Lamech lived another 595 years and had sons and daughters — at the very least, Noah had four siblings. The Bible does not specify how many brothers and sisters he had, and it does not name any of them.
We portray Noah as the oldest of Lamech’s children, but the Bible is silent on this point as well. Some interpreters have assumed that each of the men listed in the lineage from Seth to Noah were the firstborn sons, but this is highly unlikely. We know Seth was not Adam’s oldest child, so there is no reason to assume all the other men listed were the oldest either. Also, Genesis frequently focuses on someone other than the oldest son (e.g., Isaac rather than Ishmael, Jacob instead of Esau, and Joseph rather than Reuben). Noah may have had older siblings, but the Bible says nothing about them.
What does the Bible really teach about Enoch?
In the novel, Noah’s great grandfather, Enoch, is a bit of a mysterious figure, and his sudden disappearance gave rise to multiple legends. The Bible sheds just a little light on him. Genesis 5:21–23 tells us that Enoch lived 65 years before his son, Methuselah, was born, and he had other sons and daughters over the next three hundred years. Then verse 24 states, “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”
Scripture does not say much else about him, but Hebrews 11:5 clarifies what Genesis 5:24 means. “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Enoch was a faithful man who walked with God. This does not mean that he took strolls with his Creator, but that he faithfully followed the Lord.
The final point that we learn about Enoch from the Bible is that he prophesied judgment against ungodly individuals. Jude 14–15 states, “Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’” This is a quote from Enoch 1:9. The Book of Enoch was a popular writing in the first century a.d., but the fact that Jude quotes from it does not mean it should be included in Scripture. It simply means that Jude, whose writing was inspired by God, believed this particular verse was a genuine prophecy.
Much more could be said on this issue, but the important point for our purposes is that Enoch prophesied against wicked people. Approximately 70 years passed from the time God took Enoch until Noah’s birth. Our story opens with many people still following the Creator, at least in the region in which Noah lived, but there are reports that certain places have become quite wicked. One of these places is the land of Nod and its primary city, Enoch, named after a different Enoch — Cain’s son (Genesis 4:17). We envisioned this city as one of the places that Noah’s great grandfather would have prophesied judgment upon the wicked.
What is the difference between land of Eden and Garden of Eden?
Genesis 2:8 states that “God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden” (NASB). The garden is where He put the first man, Adam, and where the Lord made Eve from Adam’s rib. It was in this garden that God made two special trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And it was in this garden that Adam and Eve rebelled against God when they ate the forbidden fruit.
But the garden was just a part of the land of Eden. We do not know how large either one was. And we also do not know where they were located, only that the land was apparently in the east, although some Bible translations have the garden in the eastern part of the land. Many people have assumed that the Garden of Eden must have been in the Middle East, near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers because these rivers are mentioned in Genesis 2:14 in connection with the garden. However, the description given in Genesis does not match the Middle East since it describes one river flowing out of Eden tha
t divided into four rivers: the Pishon, the Gihon, the Hidekkel (Tigris), and the Euphrates. The modern Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are two separate rivers that come together before emptying into the Persian Gulf. We need to keep in mind that the global Flood described in Genesis destroyed Noah’s world and completely reshaped earth’s geography. And it would make sense for Noah’s family to rename some of the places in the new world after the places they knew from before the Flood.
Was Noah the one to bring rest as Lamech thought?
Upon Noah’s birth, his father Lamech uttered the following words: “And he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed’ ” (Genesis 5:29). Lamech’s longing for an end to the Curse on the ground formed the basis of our decision to have Noah grow up on a farm. This verse seems to indicate that Lamech had grown weary of working the ground. And since Noah would one day be required to provide for thousands of animals, it seemed natural to have him learn to grow crops and care for certain creatures at a young age.
Lamech apparently suspected or hoped Noah would be used by the Lord in a very special way, but was his utterance a prophecy, a blessing, or simply an ancient convention appearing frequently in Genesis?
Some commentators (Skinner, von Rad, Westermann, et al.) have suggested that this statement found fulfillment in Noah’s discovery or advancement of viticulture (growing of grapes, particularly for wine). It is argued that Lamech’s generation did not see an end to the Curse, but they were wiped out by the Flood. So the comfort from the Curse came through wine derived from the grapes. It’s difficult to believe that Lamech’s words would be fulfilled in such a seemingly trivial manner. Of course, these scholars do not truly view Lamech’s words as being prophetic, and generally see them being attributed to Lamech after the fact.
