Noah

[justaname]

We just had our lesson on Noah and the flood. I wouldnt even consider myself remotely familiar with the Old Testament, so please dont bash me for any of these questions.

Im curious as to where geographically Noah lived and built the ark. I was considering this more from a climate perspective. Id like to know how rare significant rain was in that region during that time. If it was as arid as I imagine it being, maybe that is one of the reasons he was ridiculed as much as he was.

If I understand it right, which I probably dont, Noah was two generations removed from Adam. I know that people back then lived longer lives, so Im assuming that would also mean they fathered many children. Were the men during Noah's time practicing plural marriage? Im curious about his mostly because Im wondering how many people were on the earth during the building of the ark. If Noah was only two generations removed from Adam, is it reasonable to assume that Noah was being persecuted by nieces, nephews, cousins and other family members? I can only imagine that this persecution was especially painful because he must have had a personal relationship with all of those that belittled him.

There is a scripture in Genesis that leads me to believe that the ark took 120 years to build. What kind of help do you think Noah had in its construction? I know that Noah's education in shipbuilding must have come from the Lord, but Im more referring to physical help from others. I was wondering about the type of tools he may have used or what techniques he used to bend the wood. What ways do you think the ark was sealed from water? If it really did take him that long to build, I am in awe that he was so dedicated to the project for such a long time.

Lastly, Im sure this has been brought up a million times, so I apologize if this is another horse to beat on. We know that Noah brought animals on the ark two by two, and in other cases by sevens. I dont picture there being too many different species in his region at this time. We see renditions of Noah bringing on giraffes, elephants, tigers, and bears. Is this reasonable to assume that these species were on the ark considering that some of these animals have no ties back to this area? Was the ark even big enough to house all of the species? This leads into the question as to whether or not the flood was localized or if it spanned the whole earth. Im not as much interested in the answer to that question as I am to the others.

Oh, one more. . . what approximate year was Noah born?

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

[rameumptom]

Jewish/Christian tradition has Noah beginning in the Middle East.

According to George Laub's journal, Joseph Smith said the ark was built in what is now South Carolina. If that's the case, then he could have built it on the coast line. A hurricane/tsunami could have hit, wiping out the peoples in his area, and lifting the ark away. Once the ark was in the ocean, for Noah it would have seemed as if the entire world was flooded.

Noah was several generations down from Adam.
Adam-Seth-Enos-Cainan-Mahalaleel-Jared-Enoch-Methuselah-Lamech-Noah (Book of Moses 5, 6, 8). The Flood, according to the Bible story, was about 1500 years after Adam left the Garden of Eden (circa 2500 BC).

The Lord gave Noah 120 years to preach the gospel to the people, before he would send in the floods. George Laub's account suggests that mobs destroyed/damaged the ark on at least one or two occasions, prior to its completion.

I discuss your other issues on my Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Class lessons here at LDS.Net.

[justaname]

Great thanks! Ill check it out. Thanks for not razzing me about my ignorance.

[deseretgov]

Noah was actually quite a few generations from Adam. Here is a list:

Adam
Seth
Enos
Cainan
Mahalaleel
Jared
Enoch
Methuselah
Lamech
Noah

Now as to where the Ark was. This depends alot on your views. If you view that the continents were still together and then broke apart during that days of Peleg(Gen 10:25) then it's possible that Noah could have built the ark anywhere. Becasue the ark was built before the earth was "divided" in the days of Peleg.

But if you go with more traditional views taht the continents were already broken apart. Then Noah would have built the Ark in either North or South America. Since the garden of Eden(Independence, Missouri) was in North America. The children of Adam and Eve would have dwelled in North/South America. Then the flood would have transported Noah to the "Old World."

Anyway we're going to assume that Noah built is Ark in North America. Apparently Moroni, on his way to bury the plates, made several stops. He consecrated these places. We get this inofrmation from prophets who have talked about it. On of these was the Manti temple location. I refer you to this thread:

Significant of Consecrating Three Specific Temples Site by Moroni

Any of those sites consecrated by Mornoi could possibly be the site where Noah built the Ark. Of course so could any other place. But I like the idea of one of these places being the actual location.

Yes there were people marrying more than one wife during the time of Adam-Noah. Although it is not known if any of the Prophets did.

Noah had three sons. They probably helped him build it. Everybody else was wicked.

As far as species are concerned I don't think all of those species lived in that location at that time. I've read accounts of God guiding animals to the Ark location and then they were loaded onto the ship. No when we consider that all different types of dogs can from the same initial breed of dog then it is resonable to conclude that many other animals had the same thing. So Noah didn't have to load every single type of animal onto the ark.

But there are still complexities to the story. Also we have to consider how long the animals remained in the ark.

Anyway there's some basic information. I'll respond in greater detail when i go to work tonight. I have a chart with all the people in Genesis on my laptop. So I can give you a date for Noah at that time.

[rameumptom]

Arrggghhhh! Not the Peleg days divided the continents argument! Arrgggghhhh!!!!

The ancient Hebrews believed that in Peleg's day, God divided up the kingdoms of the earth to his divine sons. There were 70 major descendants of Noah given in the Bible, and the tradition is there were 70 sons of God. Each was given a kingdom on earth to reign over. Jehovah was given Israel as his kingdom. THAT is what is meant by the land being divided in Peleg's day.

[Hemidakota]

Originally Posted by justaname

We just had our lesson on Noah and the flood. I wouldnt even consider myself remotely familiar with the Old Testament, so please dont bash me for any of these questions.

Im curious as to where geographically Noah lived and built the ark. I was considering this more from a climate perspective. Id like to know how rare significant rain was in that region during that time. If it was as arid as I imagine it being, maybe that is one of the reasons he was ridiculed as much as he was.

If I understand it right, which I probably dont, Noah was two generations removed from Adam. I know that people back then lived longer lives, so Im assuming that would also mean they fathered many children. Were the men during Noah's time practicing plural marriage? Im curious about his mostly because Im wondering how many people were on the earth during the building of the ark. If Noah was only two generations removed from Adam, is it reasonable to assume that Noah was being persecuted by nieces, nephews, cousins and other family members? I can only imagine that this persecution was especially painful because he must have had a personal relationship with all of those that belittled him.

There is a scripture in Genesis that leads me to believe that the ark took 120 years to build. What kind of help do you think Noah had in its construction? I know that Noah's education in shipbuilding must have come from the Lord, but Im more referring to physical help from others. I was wondering about the type of tools he may have used or what techniques he used to bend the wood. What ways do you think the ark was sealed from water? If it really did take him that long to build, I am in awe that he was so dedicated to the project for such a long time.

Lastly, Im sure this has been brought up a million times, so I apologize if this is another horse to beat on. We know that Noah brought animals on the ark two by two, and in other cases by sevens. I dont picture there being too many different species in his region at this time. We see renditions of Noah bringing on giraffes, elephants, tigers, and bears. Is this reasonable to assume that these species were on the ark considering that some of these animals have no ties back to this area? Was the ark even big enough to house all of the species? This leads into the question as to whether or not the flood was localized or if it spanned the whole earth. Im not as much interested in the answer to that question as I am to the others.

Oh, one more. . . what approximate year was Noah born?

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

Most of this have been answered.

But what I can leave you, the earth during Noah days were not as it is today. East was not east, and our curiosity to what was is not what is today. Even the Ark can be found not at Ararat as Christian would tell you but further southwest nearer to the residence of Noah and Shem locality [same area were Abraham dwelt when he fled from Nimrod]; north of the Land of Shinar. What is left of the ark stills reside on the same hill but overlooks the Land of Shinar for miles. This was the tallest mountain in that area at that time and not Ararat. The earth was still in commotion causing mountains that we see today from this event [the deluge].

In answering the area itself, of the ark was built, Noah had to be in the same vicinity of those considered Cainities [those who were born of Cain and apostates of the gospel during the tenure of Noah] in order to preach the gospel with his father and others who were left to help Noah.

One of the keys in searching the area of building the ark may be a parallelism when comparing it to those specific sites Moroni blessed. Moroni already knew of these specific sites from his own reading and visions of what was given from either the records of the Brother of Jared to the three whom visited him and not to forget the Lord own instructions. In addition, we cannot discount here in the Americas, now almost completely wiped away by early settlers, the many mounds of found skeletons ranging from seven to twelve feet tall that were considered Native Americans. There is a valley here in North America where many of the eastern settlers found such between two known large rivers. In this same region, Moroni blessed a specific site where a temple now resides. This is the site where Noah dwelled and built the Ark. Not only that, those who came to the temple to give keys to Joseph Smith is a given…this site is considered holy ground, same as the location of Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Independence, and Farwest.

Have you ever heard of the La Brea Tar Pits? If not then Google the result of such diggings and dredging what was found.

Any considering the flood was local, why would the Lord tell Noah to take every seed, every species, and so forth to the new land? Then, if it was a local flood, I highly doubt Noah would not first stopped at Spain, Norway, western Africa first before landing in southern Turkey. It is called educational reasoning in determined what was in this case. Not only that, Egypt was founded still covered over with water by Egyptus, the daughter of Ham. Now, how can one found a land unless there is something that was protruded out of the water to give her confidence the waters will eventually recede? There is an object that reveals this mystery.

[lydlou]

it has always been my understanding that there was no rain before the flood. none at all, the crops got all their moister from the dew. thers somthing in the creation account- gennisis about creating the expanse of the sky, and seperating water from water. as for where he statted it realy dosent matter, seeing as how the whole world was floded. and without any way of steering they could have traveled a greatdistance or hardly any at all.

[deseretgov]

Originally Posted by rameumptom

Arrggghhhh! Not the Peleg days divided the continents argument! Arrgggghhhh!!!!

Hey I said "IF" and then offered some other theories.

[Vanhin]

Originally Posted by rameumptom

Arrggghhhh! Not the Peleg days divided the continents argument! Arrgggghhhh!!!!

The ancient Hebrews believed that in Peleg's day, God divided up the kingdoms of the earth to his divine sons. There were 70 major descendants of Noah given in the Bible, and the tradition is there were 70 sons of God. Each was given a kingdom on earth to reign over. Jehovah was given Israel as his kingdom. THAT is what is meant by the land being divided in Peleg's day.

During the millennium, the Earth will become like it was before it was divided into continents. Interestingly enough, the cross reference points to the days of Peleg for the word "divided".

And the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was ddivided. (Doctrine and Covenants 133:24 Cross reference D)

It appears to be a consistent opinion in the Church throughout the years, and in our curriculum, that the division was a breaking asunder of the continents. Here is from the Old Testament study manual.

(4-22) Genesis 10:25. Was the Earth Divided in the
Days of Peleg?

“The dividing of the earth was not an act of
division by the inhabitants of the earth by tribes and
peoples, but a breaking asunder of the continents,
thus dividing the land surface and creating the
Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere. By
looking at a wall map of the world, you will discover
how the land surface along the northern and southern
coast of the American Hemisphere and Europe and
Africa has the appearance of having been together at
one time. Of course, there have been many changes
on the earth’s surface since the beginning. We are
informed by revelation that the time will come when
this condition will be changed and that the land
surface of the earth will come back again as it was
in the beginning and all be in one place. This is
definitely stated in the Doctrine and Covenants.
[D&C 133:18–20 is then cited.]” (Smith, Answers to
Gospel Questions, 5:73–74.) (http://institute.lds.org/content/lan...Samuel~eng.pdf)

I'm just saying, those who want to believe in a physical separation of the continents during the days of Peleg seem to be in good company.

Regards,
Vanhin

[MeIRL]

Originally Posted by Vanhin

I'm just saying, those who want to believe in a physical separation of the continents during the days of Peleg seem to be in good company.

In "good company" with fellow continental-redistribution believers who added non-canonical footnoting to the scriptures, perhaps. They certainly are not in company with any reputable geologist, archaeologist, or anthropologist. The physical evidence for continental drift having taken place a very long time before any human beings ever walked the earth is overwhelming.

Of course, you can say we're just misinterpreting the evidence, as the Roman church told Galileo. Or you can insist, as do many Evangelicals, that God simply created things to look like they do. In which case, we might as well believe the Earth came into existence 45 seconds ago, with all our "experiences" and "memories" just programmed into place at that time. Whatever.