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Noah’s Righteousness beyond Genesis

Noah’s Righteousness beyond Genesis

Last updated on: December 10, 2023 at 8:05 am by B. J. Oropeza

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Noah’s Righteousness beyond Genesis 2023-12-10T08:05:09-07:00 B. J. Oropeza

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The story in Genesis 6–9 narrates how Noah and his family were saved in an ark from the Great Flood. God sent the Deluge on earth as result of human wickedness, but Noah escaped on account of his righteousness. Noah also reappears in later Jewish traditions as well as the New Testament due to his righteous character. Here are some examples:

Noah's righteousness

Noah was saved due to his righteousness. “Noah’s ark sea seagull” via pixabay.com

Noah in Scripture and Jewish Literature

In Ezekiel 14:12–20 the prophet announces judgment on Jerusalem so severe that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they would only be able to save themselves on account of their own righteousness.

In Sirach 44:17 Noah is considered righteous: “Noah was found perfect, righteous. In time of wrath he became an exchange. On account of this, a remnant came to be on the earth. When the flood took place, eternal covenants were set before him so that all flesh might not be wiped out by the flood.”

In Wisdom 10:4 Noah is considered a righteous man, and in Tobit 4:12, Noah is a prophet: in this verse Tobit instructs his son not to take a foreign wife, because “we are the sons of the prophets Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, our fathers from long ago.”

In 1 Enoch 106-107 Noah was born with an angelic-like appearance and, depending on the text manuscript, either “spoke to the Lord of righteousness” or “spoke to the Lord with righteousness” (106:3: E. Isaac, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha). Either way, his piety is clear enough.

In Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, also known as Pseudo-Philo, Noah found favor and mercy with God, for he was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, and pleased God (L.A.B. 3.4).

In Jubilees 5.19 Noah’s heart was righteous and he avoided transgression.

Philo elaborates that Noah found grace before God not because he was unique or more deserving than others; in fact, God heaps mercy on the entire human race. Noah, however, was mindful of the grace he received; he did not show ingratitude as did the rest of humankind (Philo, Questions & Answers on Genesis, 1.96).

Noah in the New Testament

Likewise, in the New Testament, Noah is called a “herald of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), an “heir of righteousness according to faith” (**Hebrews 11:**7), and his deliverance through water is presented as an antitype of salvation through water baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21).

He also plays a unique role of being favored by God even though a non-Jew—his name appears in Jesus’s genealogy, which helps establish that gentiles are included in God’s family (Luke 3:36). Likewise, his story is compared analogously to prophecies about the second coming of Christ. As it was in the days before the Flood, things will continue as normal until the day of the Lord occurs (Matthew 24:37-42; Luke 17:26-27; compare 2 Peter 3:3–10).

Noahide Commandments

Finally, the righteous decree in Romans 1:32, which condemns vices characterized by gentile practices in Romans 1:18–31, perhaps assumes Noahide commandments that non-Jews were supposed to follow, such as to honor the one Creator God and do not commit murder.

In Genesis 8 God established a covenant with Noah considered to be perpetual (repeated briefly in Isaiah 54:10): “I will never again curse the earth on account of humankind, for the heart of humankind is bent on evil from their youth. And I will never again strike all the living creatures as I have done. As long as all the days of the earth continue*,* seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night, will not cease” (Genesis 8:21b–22). Then in Genesis 9 God reconfirms this covenant with Noah and includes stipulations such as repopulating the earth and a reckoning for shedding human blood.

Early Jewish sources expand on this covenant’s obligations with a set of specific commandments. The gentiles were expected to keep these rules independent of the Law of Moses. They are known as Noahide commandments. Noah commanded his children and grandchildren to do the following (Jubilees 7.20):

Do justice (what is right)
Bless the Creator
Cover the shame of your flesh
Honor father and mother
Love one another
Keep away from fornication
Keep away from impurity (sexual)
Keep away from injustice/violence/bloodshed

This appears to be the standard to which God held gentile nations accountable, according to Jewish thinkers ands possibly Paul.

*** * ***

Through Noah we find that the influence of a righteous person can go a long way! May we today seek, preserve, and encourage a life of righteousness by trust.

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About B. J. Oropeza

B. J. Oropeza is Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Azusa Pacific University and Seminary. Among his many works are Perspectives on Paul: Five Views (Baker Academic) and Practicing Intertextuality (Cascade). He can be followed on X/Twitter @bjoropeza1 and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bjoropeza1/) You can read more about the author here.

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