Noah's Family
"And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His hear."
Genesis 6:6
The Sorrowful Path
5:1-32 This is the book of the generations of Adam… The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years; and he had other sons and daughters. When Seth had lived a hundred and five years, he became the father of Enosh... When Enosh had lived ninety yeas, he became the father of Kenan...When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Ma-hal'alel.... When Mahal'alel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jared... When Jared had lived a hundred and sixty-two years he became the father of Enoch... When Enoch had lived sixty five yeas, he became the father of Methuselah... All the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him. When Methuselah had lived a hundred and eighty-seven yeas, he became the father of Lamech. When Lamech had lived a hundred and eighty-two years, he became the father of a son, and called his name. Noah, saying, "Out of the ground which the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands." ... After Noah was five hundred years old, Noah became the father of Shem. Ham, and Japheth.
I do not necessarily think that Adam lived 6.000 years ago. The time between Adam and Abraham is considered as the pre-historic age. At that time, according to the Bible, people lived 800 or 900 years.
We don't know if they had the same kind of calendar we have today Nine hundred years in their time might not be 900 years by our way of measuring time. As it says in the Bible, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Often things revealed by God are not literally true, but symbolic.
We say it is ten generations from Adam to Noah, ten generations from Noah to Abraham. and so on. The ten generations are not necessarily literal. God may choose one person out of ten million to accomplish a certain mission. He will count that person as one generation.
For example, Adam was the first generation; Jesus was the second generation; and the Lord of the Second Advent is the third generation. We should count the generations from Adam to Noah and Noah to Abraham just as we count Adam, Jesus and the Second Messiah... However, the existence of Noah and of Adam as individual human beings is factual, pray about this matter and try to get answers yourself.
The Master Speaks of Creation
March-April, 1965
God raised Noah through the ten generations after Adam. When Noah could no longer serve the will because of the mistake of Ham, God prolonged His will ten more generations and came upon Abraham. However, because Abraham made another mistake while making the offering, it was extended two more generations.
The twelve sons of Jacob symbolized the time from Adam to Noah. Jacob had to raise twelve children who possessed this kind of significance.
The Meaning of the Trinity
January 3, 1958
What kind of sorrow then does God possess? This is a very important question for us.
It was derived from the result that, since the Fall of Adam and Eve, God could not establish the original world of creation, which was to be established through them. We should experience the grief of God.
Due to the Fall of Adam and Eve, the ideal of creation through which they were to enjoy an eternal blessing in the garden of love centered on God's love and ideas, was frustrated. God thus came to labor continuously until the present day, throughout thousands of years of history. To fulfill the ideal of creation that Adam and Eve could not fulfill due to the Fall, God has been experiencing all kinds of grief while fighting Satan. We should empathize with such the heart of God Since Adam, what did all the prophets and sages, from Noah, Abraham, Moses to Jesus say to humans on the earth? It was only to convey God's grief to the ignorant people. Due to the human Fall, God came to carry grief. He sent many saints and sages, but He endured double grief when lie had to watch them fighting Satan also.
Many saints and sages walked a sorrowful path to witness to the ignorant people, none of whom welcomed the will of God, or felt His sorrowful heart. The more they empathized with the sorrow of God, the more they felt responsible on behalf of God, and they had to fight Satan with the sorrowful heart of God.
The saints and sages were to be recognized for their value on behalf of the eternal will, but on the contrary, God had to feel a double grief, watching them being ridiculed and rejected by the ignorant people and chased from here and there. God was already sorrowful enough not to have been able to fulfill the ideal of creation, but it was an indescribable grief for Him to watch many saints and sages who were sent to awaken the ignorant earthly people and fight Satan. We should not forget that God has carried a double grief.
Let Us Become the Ones that Can Understand God's Sorrow
October 25, 1957
6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuant
6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.
At the time of Noah, God was overwhelmed with indescribable sorrow. The sorrow toward humans was so overwhelming that He could never forget it for even one moment. Overcoming it, to fully manifest His sorrows before all humankind and the creation, He set up Noah.
Why then did God establish Noah in the position that people at that time could not understand? It was to establish one person, Noah, as a representative of humans, and put him in an incomprehensible environment, to experience the sorrow and pain of Heaven, caused by humans for 1,600 years.
Noah tolerated people who opposed and ridiculed him in faithlessness for 120 years.
Even 120 years later, when a warning was given that the earth was to be judged, he accomplished his duty to God in faith.
Because he was a righteous person, he was deeply concerned and saddened for the corrupt society in which he was living. Because Noah was concerned with and grieved for the people of that time, God called him.
Let Us Become the Ones that Can Understand God's Sorrow
October 25. 1957
6:13 And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled wish violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth,
14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and over it inside and out with pitch."
In Noah's time, no one could believe that Noah had received a command front God -- nor did anyone accept his mission of revealing the coming flood judgment. Can you imagine how Noah appeared to the people of his day?
For 120 years he went up and down, up and down that mountain working on his boat.
Would anyone among the ladies in the audience like to think of herself in the position of the wife of Noah? I don't think you would be a very happy wife.
Noah's wife must have packed his lunch basket every day, using only a little food.
Noah was so busy with the ark he could not find time to provide for his family. Within only a few months the family squabbles must have begun, but it was not just for twelve months or twelve years that Noah's wife had to sustain her situation, but for 120 years.
Why, then, did God ask of Noah such an incomprehensible mission? Why does God have to work that way? There is a reason. It is because of evil.
God cannot dwell together with evil. The direction of God is 180 degrees contrary to the direction of evil. God abhors evil! God cannot accept the things that the evil world accepts. God does not want anything to do with the evil world, or with whatever is tainted by evil.
We are all in the image of God and can find traits similar to His in our human nature.
Consider if you have an enemy toward whom you have strong feelings; you don't want to so much as look at that person. Likewise, Gal will have nothing to do with die evil, satanic world. Therefore, in dealing with us, He chooses ways often incomprehensible to man.
God also tests the faith of mans He cannot do this by asking just ordinary things of people. We must be willing to comply with God's extraordinary instructions. We must display absolute faith. This is not an easy task. People thought Noah was a crazy man for building the ark. Nobody knew he occupied the central position in God's view.
God's Hope for America
October 21, 1973
The ark was built with three decks, symbolizing the cosmos which had been created through the three stages of the growing period. The eight members of Noah's family who entered the ark represented Adam's family who, having been invaded by Satan, had to be restored through restitution.
Thus, the ark symbolized the cosmos, Noah, its master, symbolized God; the members of his family symbolized humanity; and the animals brought into the ark symbolized the entire natural world.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 3, Section 1.2
God chose Noah to declare the word. Noah's announcement was, "The flood is corning. The salvation is the ark." The people could have saved themselves by listening to Noah's words.
However, the people treated Noah as if he were a crazy man, and they perished -- because they opposed the word of God, According to the Bible, only the eight people of Noah's immediate family became passengers on the ark. Only these eight believed, and only these eight were saved.
The Future of Christianity
October 28, 1973
Noah maintained his unyielding determination even when Heaven dragged him around for 120 years. This is what made him greater than Adam. We know that Adam fell when he had not yet reached adulthood.
Because Adam betrayed God, to make it possible for God to believe in us again, we must exert ourselves more than Adam. Even If we are to suffer through toils hundreds of times more harsh, we must be able to break through them.
Noah was not affected when his own self, his family; his relatives, his people and anything in the world put up opposition. Fixed on his determination, he clung to God and fought on for 120 years. This became the condition for him to be elevated before the humanity of that time, representing God.
The most important thing for Noah, who was inside the realm of the grace of God and escaped the flood judgment, was that he needed someone who could inherit his heart.
which possessed the heart of God. However, even Noah himself did not know this.
Let Us Not Weaken Our Determination For Heaven
February 23, 1958
7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.
12 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and North's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark,
14 they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort.
When reflecting on God's providence of restoration, God established one person, Noah, alter having endured a long 1,600 years since the Fall of Adam and Eve. God chose Noah and saved him and his family. Further. He attempted to put Noah in the position of a chief priest, as a representative of humanity.
This was God's will. If Noah had understood the endeavor of God, who had worked for 1,600 years to establish him, and if the eight members of his family had felt the heart of God, there would not have been the grief caused by the mistake of Ham.
Some people think that salvation is completed by being free from personal lamentations and pain, but it is not true. We should cleanse our own individual sins while also cleansing the universal sin.
Alter pulling out many nails of lamentation from deep in the heart of God, we should be able to say "Father, please rest in peace! God, who has been leading the dispensation of restoration until the present, please be relieved from the heartbreaking grief. Hallelujah! Amen." God has been waiting for such a victor to come to earth.
When Noah's family was saved from the flood judgment, they should have led a life of gratitude, but they continued their habitual life. We who came forth after being called by the heavenly principle can also easily commit the same mistake.
Thus, we should not be the kind of person who will go back to our habitual lives. If Noah had faced God, who had saved him and his family, with a constantly renewed heart, had felt God's heart of wishing for the arrival of a day when all humanity possessed the same kind of heart, and had established a life of absolute faith before God, he would not have committed the mistake of the second Fall
Let Us Be Strong and Bold and Restore' the Lost Land
June 23, 1951
8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided...
6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.
7 and sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth.
8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground;
9 but the dove found no place to set her foot and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put forth his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him.
In the Bible we read that at the end of 40 days of rain, Noah sent forth from the ark a raven and a dove. (Gen. 8:6-7) Let us examine what future providential situations this foreshadowed...
By building the ark and passing through the forty-day flood judgment. Noah fulfilled a condition of restitution for the restoration of the cosmos. The flood corresponds to the period of chaos before the creation of the universe when "the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters." (Gen. 1:2) Accordingly, the works which God performed around the ark at the end of the 40-day flood symbolized the entire course of history following God's creation of heaven and earth.
What was foreshadowed when Noah sent forth the raven, which circled about looking for a place to land until the waters subsided? It signified that Satan would be looking for a condition through which he could invade Noah's family just as the Archangel vied for Eve's love soon alter the creation of human beings, and just as Satan couched at the door looking for an opportunity to invade the offerings of Cain and Abel. (Gen. 4:7)
What was foreshadowed when Noah sent forth the dove three times? Although it is written in the Bible that Noah sent out the dove to see if the water had subsided, that was not its only purpose. Certainly Noah could have looked out the opening from which he set forth the dove to examine the situation for himself.
The sending forth of the dove had a deeper significance connected with the mysterious will of God. Seven days after God proclaimed the flood judgment through Noah, the flood began. (Gen. 7:10)
Forty days later, the dove was first sent out. It flew about but then returned to the ark because it found no place to land, and Noah took it back inside. (Gen. 8:9) The dove, when it was sent out the first time represented the first Adam.
Seven days later. Noah sent forth the dove a second time. Still the water had not yet dried, and again the dove returned. This time it carried in its mouth an olive leaf, indicating that there would be a place for it to and the next time. (Gen. 8:10-11)
The dove, when it was sent out the second time symbolized Jesus, the second Adam whose coming would be God's second attempt to realize the perfect incarnation of the divine ideal on the earth.
These verses foreshadowed that if the chosen people were to disbelieve in Jesus at his coming, then he would have "nowhere to lay his head" (Luke 9:58) and thus would not be able to realize God's complete will on the earth. In that situation, Jesus would have to go to the cross and return to God's bosom, leaving behind the promise of the Second Advent.
After another seven days had passed, Noah sent out the dove for the third time. This time the dove did not return to the ark, for the ground was dry. (Gen. 8:12) The dove, when it was sent out the third time, symbolized Christ at the Second Advent, who is to come as the third Adam.
This foreshadowed that when Christ comes again, he will surely be able to realize God's ideal of creation, which will never again be withdrawn from the earth. When the dove did not return Noah finally disembarked from the ark and walked upon the earth, which had been purged of sin and made new.
This foreshadowed that when the ideal of creation is realized on the earth through the work of the third Adam, the new Jerusalem will descend from Heaven and the dwelling of God will be with men. (Rev. 21.1-3)
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter I. Section 2.1.2
8:10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
11 and the dove came back to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth a freshly plucked olive leaf: so. Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.
12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove: and she did not return to him any more.
Noah's Sons
9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth....
9 "Behold. I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you,
10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with an, as many as came out of the ark.
11 I establish on covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
12 And God said. "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
13 I set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."
In the providence of restoration through Noah's family, Noah was the central figure to restore the foundation of faith. God called Noah ten generations or 1.600 biblical years after Adam for the purpose of fulfilling the will which He had intended to realize through Adam.
Accordingly God bestowed His blessings upon Noah, "be fruitful and multiply," (Gen. 9:7) much as earlier He had bestowed the three great blessings upon Adam. (Gen. 1:28) In this sense, Noah was the second ancestor of humanity.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter I, Section 2.1.1
9:18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the Ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.
19 These three were the sons of Noah: and from these the whole earth was peopled.
20 Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard:
21 and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father; and told his two brothers outside.
Noah, who had severed his ties to Satan through the 40-day flood judgment, was supposed to secure the position of Adam right after the creation of the universe. God expected that the members of Noah's family would react to Noah's nakedness without any feelings of shame and without any thought to conceal his body.
Had Ham been one in heart with Noah, regarding him whit the same heart and from the same standpoint as God, he would have looked upon his father's nakedness without any sense of shame. He thus would have fulfilled the condition of restitution to restore in Noah's family the state of Adam and Eve's innocence before the Fall.
We can thus understand that when Noah's sons felt ashamed of their father's nakedness and covered his body, it was tantamount to acknowledging that they, like Adam's family after the Fall had formed a shameful bond of kinship with Satan and were thus unworthy to come before God.
Satan, like the raven hovering over the water, was looking for a condition to invade Noah's family He attacked the family by taking Noah's sons as his partners when they in effect acknowledged that they were of his lineage.
When Ham felt ashamed of his father's nakedness and acted to cover it up, he made a condition for Satan to enter; hence his feeling and act constituted a sin. Consequently, Ham could not restore through restitution the position of Abel from which to make the substantial offering.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part 11, Chapter I, Section 2.2
We can say that the failure of every providential mission resulted from failing to think deeply. If Noah had persevered in his vigilance a little longer, instead of becoming intoxicated and lying naked, his mission would not have been invaded. We can definitely say his mission would have succeeded if he had continued his devotion to God and thought a little more.
Perseverance and Contemplation
August 27, 1.978
If Cain had thought more deeply before killing his brother, then history would have been different. If Adam and Eve had examined their motivation one more time before they fell, then history would have been different. Noah was careless in lying naked on his bed. If he had thought about it once more, for his children's sake, he might not have committed that blunder.
Ham was humiliated at seeing his father, and he felt his dignity was hurt, "Me" was the center of his thoughts and actions and, based on that motivation, he covered his sleeping father. That action brought tragedy to the dispensation.
Covering his father's body was not wrong, but Ham should have had unconditional respect for his father as a man of God. If he had approached his father without shame and covered his father's body with a loving heart, then that scene would have been beautiful to God.
It was essential that Ham honor the fact that his father was accepted in the sight of God. Noah had persevered through 120 years of ridicule and persecution in order to build the ark, and because of his faith, Noah's family was the only group of people alive upon the face of the earth after the flood. Ham should have been humble after witnessing this and should have looked at his father from the public point of view.
Let Us Think Once More
June 12, 1977
9:23 When Shem and Japeth took a garment. laid it upon their shoulders, and walked backward and coveted the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him,
25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers."
There was no son who could sympathize with the heart of Noah, who was deeply concerned with the heavenly principles, even while suffering through the 120 years of heartbreaking and distressful toil. No one could say to Noah, "Father, please give me any kind of order and I will do it."
If the eight members of Noah's family had understood Noah's determination to give all of his heart for God, then they should have stood in the position in which they could absolutely obey Noah, whether they lived or died.
They should have obeyed to the extent that they would be willing to die if their father were to die. They should have liked things that their father liked. If they had done that, even if another insignificant bad condition was set, if they could have solidified their hearts centered on God, then they would not have had any problem.
Ham should have listened to the words of his father. Noah. No matter what his brothers told him, if they were not in accord with the will of his father, he should not have listened to them. Because he did not listen to the words that he should have listened to and instead listened to words that he should have ignored. Noah's 120 years of exertion were undermined.
"Let Us Not Weaken Our Determination Toward Heaven"
February 23, 1958
The Global Family
If human beings had not fallen, we would have formed one global family, which may be likened to a body whose members are all inter-linked with each other with God as their head. Then all would have shared a common language: there never would have risen a profusion of tongues unintelligible to one another.
The reason various languages arose and prevented free communication between peoples is that, once their vertical relationship with God was severed at the Fall, all horizontal relationships between people were also cut off. Humanity, then splintered, dispersed to different geographical locations, and formed isolated communities.
There is also a biblical account giving spiritual insight into the confusion of languages. This is the story of the Tower of Babel. Noah's descendants had shared a common language. One day, the descendants of Noah's second son Ham, who had sinned against God, built the Tower of Babel to exalt themselves even above God, thus furthering the will of Satan.
When the descendants of Shem and Japheth, who stood on Gods side, helped with the construction, God brought such confusion to their languages that they' could no longer communicate with each other to further the will of Satan.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II. Chapter 6
