I’ve been reading through Genesis with the children the last two weeks and stumbled across a surprise. I’ve written out my thoughts along with a few pictures that help illustrate the point.
Genesis 5 list out generations from Adam to Noah, ending with Noah having three sons at or around age 500. The next chapter goes into the evils of mankind, and God’s directions for the ark, which includes space for his sons and their wives. Due to this, (and the many Bible story pictures) I had always thought Noah’s sons were adults when they started this project.
Now, go over to chapter 11 – we’re in a different story already but it seems necessary to relist some generations, just so we have it all straight. Here’s where a verse caught my attention:
Genesis 11:10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was 100 years old and begat Arpaxhad, two years after the flood.
Don’t get stuck on the names, look at Shem’s age! Noah was 500 when he had his sons and 600 (Gen. 7:11) when the flood came. That means 100 years building. How old is Shem 2 years after the flood? Only 100. That has Noah taking on this massive project when his boys are young and possibly not even born!
Maybe this is not so amazing to you, but as a parent of very young children and being in the middle of a building project, this really hit home. Families with young children, don’t be afraid to take on something big.
Serving God and having a family don’t have to be two separate seasons of life. I know (very well) that young children can be a lot of work and most of the time you’re just trying to survive.
These boys grew up with Dad working on this crazy project but they must have caught the vision because they stuck with him 100 years! What better way to teach the next generation than by faith in action.
What an inspiring observation! Thanks.
You are so right, Amy. I remember Jim was doing a project in our pantry and had, I think Joshua on his back. Jim forgot the spices were on the door of the pantry and while he was working inside the pantry, Joshua began taking the spices off the door and pitching them. That was a fun project, picture taken, and then we fixed the situation. Blessings on you all.
What a fun collection of pictures and a very interesting observation – Visionary Parenting – right?
Do you think that maybe this is why those particular sons stayed faithful to God – because their family was putting faith into practice. It is very likely that Noah had a bunch of children in the 500 years before those boys, and that they left off being faithful and were destroyed in the flood. May your children see you and Brian practicing your faith and may they grow to be faithful as well.