THE patriarch Noah is a character of deep significance although we possess no definite record of the place or even the country of his birth. Of his father, Lamech, we know almost nothing, but his grandfather Methuselah has the distinction of having had a longer life than anyone mentioned in the Biblical records.
In Noah's great-grandfather Enoch we find a foreshadowing of that obedience and closeness to God reflected in the experience of Noah, who, accepting the divine warning about an impending flood of incalculable proportions, took steps to protect all his family and the living creatures in their care. Moreover, the description of Noah as "a preacher of righteousness" (II Pet. 2: 5) surely indicates that he may have made persistent if fruitless efforts to convert and thereby to save his materialistic neighbors.
Enoch is twice recorded in Genesis 5 as having "walked with God," a highly significant phrase generally understood as indicating that Enoch was so consistently at one with his creator that, like the prophet Elijah, he was spared the stern experience of death. It is said of Enoch that "he was not; for God took him." While Noah did not follow him in this respect, Noah was prepared to obey when he heard God's voice. He too is recorded as having "walked with God" (Gen. 6:9), and having proved himself just and upright, he was accepted in God's sight.
