NOADIAH (ntVa-di'ah), (Heb. 71:7P.%, no-ad yaw', Jehovah convenes, Jah assembles).
. 1. A Levite, who had charge of the gold and silver vessels brought back by Ezra from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra viii :33), B. C. about 459.
2. A prophetess, who attempted to frighten Nehemiah from his purpose of building the wall of Jerusalem (Neh. vi :14), B. C. about 445.
NOAH (no'ah), (Heb. 0=. or r.-11, no'akh, rest, quiet), the second father of the human race.
/. He was the son of the second Lamech, th6 grandson of Methusaleh, and the tenth in descent from Adam.
The father of Noah must not be confounded with the Lamech who was the fourth in descent from Cain. There is another instance of the samc name in cach line, Enoch ; but the periods of each of the two couples must have been very different, though wc cannot exactly compare them, for the history does not give the years of life in the line of Cain. The two Lamcchs, however, have one remarkable circumstance in common; to each of them a fragment of inartificial poetry is attached as his own composition. That of the Cainitic Lamech is in Gen. iv :23, 24. That of the Sethite now comes before us in oh. v :29, 3o: 'Lamcch lived 182 years, and then begat a son, and he called his name Noah, saying: This shall comfort us From our labor, And from the sorrowful toils of our hands, From the ground, Which Jehovah hath cursed.' The allusion is undoubtedly to the penal conse quences of the fall in earthly toils and sufferings, and to the hope of a Deliverer excited by the promise made to Eve. That this expectation was grounded upon a divine cotnmunication We infer from the importance attached to it, and the con fidence of its expression. (Sec this subject well argued in Bishop Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophecy, Disc. iv.) "In Gen. ix :17, Noah appears as the hero of the Flood ; in ix :20-29. as the first discoverer of the art of making wine. That these two storics come from different sources is probable, because in the ear/ier Accadian history of the Flood that event is immediately followed by the translation of Sitnapisti (Noah), perhaps referred to In chap. vi ; comp. v :24.
"Amongst the Talmudists (e. g., Aboda Zara 64b, Sanhedrin 56b) it was customary to speak of 'the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, by which they meant those precepts that were supposed to be already binding upon mankind at large before Abraham and outside of his family. Other enu merations besides seven are also found." (F. H. Woods, Hastings' Bib. Diet.) (1) Sons of Grod. The descendants of Seth had become designated as 'the sons of God,' faith ful and obedient ; the women of the Cainite race were called by a term evidently designed to form an appellation of the contrary import, 'daughters of men,' of impious and licentious men. These
women possessed beauty and blandishments, by which they won the affections of unwary men, and intermarriages upon a great scale took place. As is usual in such alliances, the worse part gained the ascendancy. The offspring became more depraved than the parents, and a universal corruption of minds and morals took place. Many of them became 'giants, the mighty men of old, men of renown' (nephilim), apostates (as the word implies), heroes. warriors, plunderers, 'fill ing the earth with violence.' (2) Noah as a Preacher. God mercifully af forded a respite of 120 years (ch. vi:3; I Pet. iii: 20; 2 Pet. ii :5), during which Noah sought to work salutary impressions upon their minds, and to bring them to repentance. Thus Ile was 'a preacher of righteousness,' exercising faith in the testimony of God, moved with holy reverence, obeying the divine commands, and, by the con trast of his conduct, condemning the world (Heb. xi:7) ; and probably he had during a long pre vious period labored in that benevolent and pious work.
(3) In the Ark. At last the threatening was fulfilled. All humankind perished in the waters, except this eminently favored and righteous man, with his three sons (born about loo years before) and the four wives. (See DELUGE.) (4) Noah's Sacrifice. At the appointed time this terrible state of the earth ceased, and a new surface was disclosed to the occupation and indus try of the delivered family. In same places that surface would be washed bare to the naked rock, in othcrs sand would be deposited, which would be long uncultivable ; but by far the larger por tion would be covered with rich soil With agri culture and its allied arts the antediluvians must have been well acquainted. (Sec AnAm.) The four men, in the vigor of their mental faculties and bodily strength, according to the then exist ing scale of human life, would be at no loss for the profitable application of their powers. Imme diately after the desolating judgment the merciful Jehovah gave intimations of his acceptance of the sacrifice and thanksgivings of Noah and his fam ily, and of his gracious purposes revealed in the form of a solemn covenant for the continual ben efit of them and their posterity. The beautiful phenomenon of the rainbow was put to a new and significant use. As infallibly certain as is the pro duction of a rainbow under certain conditions of the atmosphere, so certain and sure of fulfillment are the promises of Jehovah.