Troublesome Topic: WHY DID NOAH WAIT 500 YEARS BEFORE HAVING CHILDREN?

Genesis 5:32 tells us that Noah was 500 years old when he started having children. That was an exceptionally long wait even in those times.

There are two reasons for such a long wait that come naturally from what we know of that time and what we know about Noah.

1. He wanted a righteous wife, and it may have been difficult to find one. While this may have been part of the reason for the long wait, I don’t think this was all of it. He also wanted righteous wives for his sons and yet they did not have to wait 500 years. So I put more stock in reason #2.

2. Most men waited until they had learned their trade well, however, I picture Noah being driven to learn several trades. Genesis 9:20 says that Noah was a “man of the soil,” so farming was probably the first vocation he learned. However, I believe God put in his heart to also learn a number of other trades such as, basic metal working, construction with wood and stones, felling of large trees, ship building, animal husbandry, basic veterinary skills, and possibly navigation by the stars and music. Besides these skills, God had to have given Noah the ingenuity he needed to build much larger cranes than were used in his day. If Noah took the time to properly learn all these trades and learn then well, it would explain why he did not get married until 400 years later than other men.

Why did the length of time before having children drop after the flood?

We must remember that after the flood they were able to eat meat. Therefore raising domesticated animals for meat and hunting became options. Some of them found that killing animals was easier than trying to get all their food from the ground. When they figured that out, they felt comfortable bringing children into the world at a much earlier age.

The next lesson is: The Context of Genesis 6:1-4