Noah’s ark: Lessons for humanity’s survival in a changing world
By: YOSSEF BEN-MEIR (The Jerusalem Post)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Noah’s ark: Lessons for humanity’s survival in a changing world
Exploring Noah's story reveals the urgency of sustainable development, urging leaders to act before it's too late and build a resilient path for humanity's future
Noah's Ark, large wooden ark on dry land, Noah standing beside, pairs of animals boarding the ark (photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
It is worth considering, in light of humanity's profound struggle against the world's climate and matters of elemental justice, how the onset of the Biblical tale of Noah is relevant today.
According to ancient Hebraic commentaries, Noah actually grew the timber he used for his ark from cedar seeds. In fact, the entire process of building the ark is said to have taken 120 years.
The theme of this portion of the story is that the people, the public, any witnesses or observers, and anyone willing to listen had years of warning that a calamity, in this case utter destruction, was on its way.
Of course, many of us can relate to this idea in our own lives and situations when something less positive comes upon us, and we look back to how many signs appeared of what ultimately befell.
How many times could we have corrected our actions, and in how many ways might we have adjusted or done something differently?
credit: INGIMAGE)
Considering experiences of sustainable development and the projects that create livelihood opportunities while safeguarding the environmental future, it is also certainly apparent that there is overwhelming opportunity and, rarely, if ever, a lack of community vision and ideas for lasting, positive change if people are given the assistance they need to analyze and find the specific initiatives that will enhance their futures.At the same time, the so serious difficulty in securing the funds needed to implement those ideas—whether in water infrastructure, public health, education, or small businesses—makes implementation relatively uncommon, explaining at least in significant part, rampant, constant poverty.But we know the systemization of losing humanity's potential. We have been warned about this and live through this. An ample warning was fixed in the flood story. In Noah's time, Divinity's patience (or that of binding universal energy) seemed to have dissipated too low.Ancient commentaries about this Biblical episode explain what it was that finally brought torrential submersion upon civilization. It is described as a consequence of that time's rule of law as an injustice against the common person where they were legally robbed of the value they created.
Might our time be characterized in such ways, with nations entrapped by other nations via debt, where mighty conglomerates pay nothing to their national public purse, where farmers of the world grow what is invaluable and retain just a fraction of the real value, where innocence is no shield.
Only, in our time and perhaps in Noah's, so much of this occurs unbeknownst to the one and the many who are stripped of their value.
Hebraic immemorial knowledge about Noah's time also explains that he did not enter the ark when the light rains first began to fall and, in fact, only finally entered when the waters reached his knees.
The deluge had come and the wellsprings of the deep began to open. Sages debate whether his hesitancy was due to a challenge of faith, or whether he held on to continue warning whoever could hear.
However, this question may be settled, some faulted Noah for not beseeching God Almighty enough on behalf of the people, his contemporaries, to save them and their world.
What lesson can workers for sustainability learn who already so honestly worry about our time, who may have spent years building their mission ark, who may have done what they feel is their own best to espouse and try to build a pathway to prosperity's harbor?
The lesson we can apply as leaders in our circles, as ones who may be able to represent others, organizations, groups, communities, or even just our own selves, is to relentlessly implore representatives of localities, states, and nations, presidents, prime ministers, and kings and queens. Tell what it is that people need and where.
Explain why it matters again and again, and do not stop ever, not once, even as the waters rise and the heat and cold burn. And, as we are beseeched, we will try to give the response we hope for when we are a beseecher.
The rainbow, according to ancient thinking, seems a bit double-edged.
Yes, it is a promise, a pact that we will last and we will continue forward. At the same time, we are also warned not to dwell upon looking at the rainbow, however impossible it seems to not fixate on total beauty.
Our environment
Why not take in as long as we can that assurance that somehow humanity will find a way to sustain itself and our environment?
Considering the warning not to settle one's eyes on the rainbow for too long beyond just the time needed to recognize its good meaning, perhaps it may be explained that fixation upon the promise may take it for granted, may come to subdue our luster by believing in a guarantee sealed by the perfect beauty of a rainbow.
This makes one think, then, how certain is this actual promise if taking it for granted might ultimately mean its undoing?
Where are we in our time along the 120-year spectrum? Have the light rains started?
Are we calling out to any and all who may be open to the call? Have we fortified our own ark of service to others?
Are we heeding Noah's lessons so that whether flood or not, climate ruin or not, mutually assured destruction or not, regional wars or not, sudden disappointment or not, that we have done all we can and live on together, we shall?
Yossef Ben-Meir is a sociologist and President of the High Atlas Foundation, a sustainable development non-for-profit organization in Morocco.
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Although I'm at an age wherein I'm most likely not to personally suffer from what Man is doing to our planet, I am very concerned for my grandchildren.
I wonder if my son will be able to provide the solution - when he was born 46 years ago we named him Noah.
what Man is doing to our planet,
This planet has a long term water cycle between water in the seas and water locked in ice on land, prior to the beginning of the water locked in ice era there is a sea level rise, exclusively caused by on land melting of ice moving back into the seas. The rising seas moves warmer waters to the colder latitudes including into the Arctic Ocean which causes the lift necessary to start accumulating and freezing in in the winters (note: there will and always be winters) more than what can melt during the summers. What also happens is a natural rise in CO2 levels with the warming seas and melting ice, NASA has already proven this with the Antarctic ice cores, which brings up another point, the core depth is 2-1/2 miles that's what cold gets you after 800,000 years. During this time period there has been at least 7 ice ages producing ice sheet thicknesses of over a mile in the colder latitudes NORTH and SOUTH, which brings up another point, Milankovitch cycles in which the assumption is that the climate must get colder to produce an ice age. In all his theorizing he was trying to produce and northern hemisphere cooling, but he was missing several bits of information they hadn't discovered yet, one of which was the southern hemisphere was experiencing an ice age at the same time as the north and while the north may be cooled by his cycles the south would've be warmed. The only thing the same in both the north and south is the sea levels being higher than they are today.
Man will have no solution for this, we are here for the ride, no amount of blaming CO2 will stop the warm up and sea level rise into the next ice age.
As for the story of Noah, I believe it was an actual event, not worldwide, but local to an inland sea. The timing was while the ice sheets and glaciers were melting and running into a sea, more coming in than what was leaving, so the water was rising, so Noah was alarmed and started making preparations, which should've been just move away, but instead he made plans for something bigger than just a rising sea, he had a feeling of not being able to escape it. I believe how the story goes there was a great shake and a mountain to the west disappeared, the people panicked and rushed the ark, but the water instead of rising, fell back, then they laughed at Noah, but then the water came back with a vengeance drowning the people and floating the ark. That description is that of a Tsunami. But then you need to ask, how did Noah know this to the point of taking however many moons to build an ark?
Such scientific evidence could get you thrown out of certain churches in America, couldn't it?
Yes some for sure, because of not believing the whole world thingy. But then I point out that the whole point of Noah wasn't so much the flood, ark, and animals two by two it was he did the whole thing on blind faith that what he had envisioned would come to pass and he built the ark as the preparation to save his family and as many domesticated animals he could. The believing it was a true event is that the description of the event describes a tsunami to a tee and something that devastating wiped everyone away, in that area, except for someone who actually survived it to talk about it. It was to him a future event, so how did he know? This question keeps me in good graces with a church.
The only movie I know of wherein arks are used to save humanity from a flood that eventually subsides is the 2009 movie 2012, which also had Yellowstone exploding.
Well, I’m not big on arks, too crowded with critters and no showers.
Kidding aside, as you I am concerned for my grandkids and great grands kids.
What do you mean, "crowded with critters"?
At least we're okay now. 2012 was 12 years ago and the monster Yellowstone volcano hasn't happened yet.
Um, no. That isn't what Noah's story is about. Not even kinda.
Maybe it depends on who's bible you believe in.
I doubt it. I think it depends more on the assumptions one has going in.
Thank you for your opinion.
Given the context, more than opinion, but you're welcome.
What I see is an environmental analogy to a simple biblical story, and the rain has already started to fall. I don't really care if the biblical story is not stated as accurately as you might understand it. What the warning is here is that we are not dealing with the environment sufficiently and personally taking into consideration the changes in it as I've seen over my lifetime I believe that to be true. THAT is the issue, not whether the story of Noah is sufficiently accurate.
Do not misunderstand me. You're welcome to manufacture whatever meaning you wish. I'm simply stating that it doesn't have any real relation to the story. And that isn't opinion.
Considering that it is SUCH ancient history, do you believe everything you read about what took place thousands of years ago, or do you pick and choose your favourites?
Sorry. Don't see the relevance of your question. What I believe isn't a factor concerning what the author of the story of Noah's ark intended to convey. In fact, I think your question is rather silly. It's as if it doesn't matter to you what Homer was trying to convey in the Iliad, only what you need it to mean.
The real problem is overpopulation
Have you watched the Tom Hanks movie "Inferno" where he plays Professor Robert Langdon, in which a madman had the same opinion you do, and intended to spread a virus that would kill off most of the world's population?
have not seen it.
Saw Soylent Green when it came out years ago
Yes, Soylent Green, the answer to not having sufficient food to feed the planet. Did you know that the scene where Charleton Heston cried, it was with real tears with no need for an eyedropper? It was because he knew that Edward G. Robinson only had weeks left to live, in REAL life.
As I recall from Sunday School the ark was constructed with gopher wood rather than cedar, but a great story and loved the pictures
Well, whatever, I guess it came from trees of some kind.
I didn't mean to be argumentative
I enjoyed the article and simply shared a childhood memory
Always enjoy your articles even though I only occasionally comment
I didn't consider your comment to be argumentative, I appreciated it. As I tried to explain to Drakkonis there are bound to be different stories about the same event when the event took place thousands of years ago, and what I considered to be the most important point from the story I posted, biblically correct or not, was the fact that for us the rain has already started pouring.
I looked as hard as I could for a cartoon I had posted years ago of Noah pushing his mother-in-law off the ladder when she was trying to climb aboard the ark. Couldn't find it in Microsoft Bing images. Maybe someone can find it on google.