Today's Favorite Verse: Genesis 7:5-7

Today's Favorite Verse: Genesis 7:5-7

"And Noah did according unto all the Lord commanded him.

And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood."

I sat thinking about the age of Noah when the flood came. How old were his sons?  Did they have little children with them? I went back to Genesis 5 and reviewed the generations of Adam and the ages they had their children.

Adam begat Seth at 130 

Seth begat Enos at 105

Enos begat Cainan at 90

Cainan begat Mahaleleel at 70

Mahalaleel begat Jared at 65

Jared begat Enoch at 162

Enoch begat Methuselah at 65

Methuselah begat Lamech at 187

Lamech begat Noah at 182

Noah begat Shem, Ham and Japeth at 500

In Moses chapter 8 I find that Noah begat Japheth at 452, Shem at 494, and Ham at 500. Noah's sons are between 148 to 100 years old when the flood came. Not considering Noah's age, the age range for the father's in this genealogy are 65-187 years old, making their average age 117. Adam was 130 when he had Seth, and this was after Cain killed Abel. So Adam was even younger when he had his sons. Noah had nearly 400 years to have children prior to Japeheth, Shem and Ham's birth. By then these sons could have had children. I further read in Moses 8:15 that God told Noah "The daughters of thy sons have sold themselves". This would mean at the time of flood Noah at least had grandchildren.

I just sat and grieved for Noah, for he must have experienced the loss of many sons and daughters in the flood. That is something I never thought about. It's one thing to leave your friends and neighbors outside of the ark, hearing their screams and pleading to prevent their drowning, but to hear your own children's voices that would break my heart. How hard it must have been to not open the doors and let your child in. To have done that would have broke God's commandment and they would have all perished. 

The words of the Savior keep coming back to me, when the apostles asked for the signs of his second coming. "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." (Matthew 24:37)

So I believe one of the signs is losing children of the covenant to wickedness. It fits what I have noticed in at least the past ten years. I used to hear parents proudly say "All of my children have served missions and married in the temple." The parents were proud of their righteous sons and daughters. They were good strong anchors in the church. But in at least the last decade those words have changed. Those that I would think are strong anchors, having taught their children righteous teachings, have broken hearts over the wickedness of their children. Some parents tell me all their children are lost. Now I am seeing some of the parents lost. There is hardly a family that is not effected. What I realize I am seeing now is a prophesy coming true. 

Up until the day of the flood, Noah preached the gospel to the children of men, which must have included his own children too. Then the day comes that it is done, and the doors to the ark are closed. For the safety of all that are within we must keep the commandments of God, otherwise we are all lost.

Day 582