Borrowed from the Bible

Since the Bible does not give us many details about Noah’s life, we needed to use artistic license to tell the story. To keep the story more closely tied to the Bible, we decided to borrow and slightly adapt some concepts found in elsewhere in Scripture and work them into Noah’s story.

Major spoiler alert! Do not read this section unless you have first read the novel.

Chapter 23: In the serpent ceremony in Havil, Lamech boasted about killing a young man who wounded him. Of course, this plotline goes all the way back to the first chapter of the first book and forms the basis of Aterre’s tragic story. He was the young man who wounded Lamech in self-defense. This boast of Lamech is taken directly from Genesis 4:23–24.

Chapter 23: During the same speech mentioned above, in response to being called a murderer, Lamech boasted about being the most powerful man in the world, although he was unable to finish his sentence because a violent earthquake interrupted him. This concept of judgment immediately falling on a boastful king is found in the Bible. In Daniel 4:28–33, Nebuchadnezzar boasted about all that he accomplished even though he had been warned to humble himself, and immediately God caused Nebuchadnezzar to live like a beast for seven years. In the New Testament, Herod Agrippa gave a speech causing the people to hail him as a god. We are told in Acts 12:20–24 that he failed to give glory to God, so an angel of the Lord immediately struck him so that he was eaten by worms and died.

Chapter 25: After our story jumps forward 450 years, we learn that Noah and Emzara are still childless and that they have been praying for a child throughout those centuries. Of course, if you are familiar with the account of Noah in the Bible, you know that he will eventually have three sons. The idea of a barren couple praying for a child is not uncommon in Scripture. Hannah prayed for a son and eventually gave birth to Samuel (1 Samuel 1:10–11). We do not specifically read about Abraham and Sarah praying for a child, but we know they longed for a son, and even though they tried to fulfill God’s plan in a different way, Abraham trusted the Lord (Genesis 15:1–6). Our story probably parallels the experience of Zacharias and Elizabeth in the New Testament. She was barren and both were advanced in years. When Zacharias entered the temple to fulfill his priestly duties, an angel appeared to him and announced that his prayer had been heard and that he and Elizabeth would have a son. Unlike Noah in our story, Zacharias did not believe at first and was struck with muteness until his son, John the Baptist, was born (Luke 1:5–25).

Chapter 26: In our story, when God appeared to Noah in a vision, we borrowed several ideas from other portions in Scripture. The Lord opened by saying, “Do not be afraid, Noah, for you are greatly loved.” Many times in Scripture when God or an angel appears to a person, the first words often spoken are, “Do not be afraid” (see Genesis 15:1 and Matthew 28:5 for some examples). The line about being “greatly loved” comes directly from Daniel, who was told multiple times by an angel that he was greatly loved (Daniel 9:23, 10:11, 19). Since Noah is described as being righteous, like Job and Daniel (Ezekiel 14:14, 20), we thought it was fitting for Noah to hear from God that he was greatly loved too. Finally, when Noah replies to God, he begs forgiveness for daring to ask a question. We borrowed this concept from Genesis 18 where Abraham pleaded with God to not be angry with him for asking about possibly sparing the city of Sodom on behalf of a certain amount of righteous people that might be found in it (Genesis 18:22–33).

Chapter 26: After the Lord appeared to Noah in our story, Noah tripped over a stone and knocked it loose from the ground. He decided to stack several rocks together as a way of remembering the place where God spoke to Him. Jacob did something similar to this in Genesis 28:18. He stood one stone on end and poured oil on top of it after the Lord appeared to him during the night in a dream. When the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the land promised to them, God instructed them to take 12 stones from the river and set them up as a memorial to what He had done for them (Joshua 4).

Chapter 31: When the city of Iri Geshem is taken over by the Havilites, one of the first rules they make is that everyone must bow down to an image of Nachash. Of course, the city council made sure that Noah was in attendance, knowing full well that he would refuse to bow and they would have an excuse to arrest him. This scenario is quite similar to the situation faced by Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in Daniel 3. They refused to bow and were subsequently thrown into the fiery furnace. In our story, Noah refuses to bow to the statue, so he is arrested and eventually brought into the arena, presumably to meet his doom.

Chapter 33: In another scene reminiscent of the Book of Daniel, Noah finds himself in the coliseum being ordered to bow before a false god or face what would seem to be certain death. In Daniel 6, King Darius signs a law forbidding anyone to petition any man or god over the next 30 days, or they would be thrown into the lion’s den. The entire plot was a setup by the Medo-Persian governors and satraps who were envious of Daniel. They knew Daniel would refuse to follow such a law, and after he continued praying to the true God, they brought him before the king who reluctantly ordered for him to be thrown into the den of lions. The Lord miraculously delivered Daniel, and those who accused him were then thrown into the lion’s den. Similarly, in our story, Noah is delivered from a terrifying beast while some of those calling for his death met their own end.