I will never forget the night I woke to hearing wailing.  It shook me out of my sleep and sent a cold chill down my spine.  At first I thought ghosts or something were coming but it was the sound of women crying.

I got dressed and ran out of the shed towards the sound.  The closer I came the more I realized that the crying was coming from Noah’s home.  When I arrived I found his sons, their wives, and the news that I feared.

That night Noah had passed away.  It was in his sleep, no pain or suffering.  His body just gave up life.  No doubt this gutted me, but if he had to go at least it was like this in peace.

Noah’s Death Brings Complications

The boys were debating what to do.  The women insisted that we bury him near his favorite spot by the river.  He spent a lot of time there praying, meditating, and talking to God.  It was beautiful there as well.

Tension brewed between the people.  Many wanted proper mourning as I did.  For that matter so did the boys, yet it would not be so.  We were torn by our desire to pay proper respects and also the urgent needs at hand from threats that surrounded us.

With recent events due to Babel there were pressing concerns.  Nimrod blamed Noah and his sons for what had taken place.  Babel had essentially been torn to the ground.  Nimrod’s seat of power was presently in a place called Nineveh.

There were three main powers in the Mesopotamian region, each of them wary of the other but all blamed Noah.  The real concern was a unifying hate for us.  The followers of Yah had to be dealt with.

It would be impossible to keep Noah’s passing a secret.  No matter how hard we could try it would get out.  Just as we knew things about Nimrod’s camp, he also knew things about ours.  At best we could buy a few days, maybe a week before news would reach Nimrod.

Our following at the farm had been growing through time.  Although nothing in size compared to a city it was certainly a community.  Word had spread quickly that if one needed help, go to Noah.  The problem with this is obvious.  Spies were in the camp.

Once word got out that Noah was gone, all fear of “us” would be gone.  Whatever was to be done would need to be accomplished quickly.  Of course, this upset many but there was no other choice.

The same night Noah passed there was a meeting.  When no one could agree on what to do with Noah’s body the talk turned to what should be done with the farm and its people.  It would be impossible for all of us to stay.

Decision To Abandon The Farm

Shem, Ham, and Japeth all agreed the best thing to do would be to completely follow God’s command and will.  The boys would stay regionally close to each other, but they would split the community three ways.

Ham and his sons would go, and Japeth with his sons would also leave.  Shem though had a different mindset.  He would attempt a unique strategy.

Those who were strong would try to keep the farm running but appear small and non-threatening.  It was desirable that the farm survive for the purpose it served, even if it would now fall into hostile territory.  Naturally there are no guarantees the place would not be burnt to the ground. 

It had become too important to people in the region.  It is for this reason that Shem believed it was worth the risk.  Only volunteers would remain.  Anyone who desired to leave would go with their respective party.

The rest of Shem’s family would relocate to a land called Uz.  This city was located in northwest Arabia.  In modern times its position would have been southeast of the country Jordan.  Shem already knew this region and had descendants presently in that area.

The land in Uz was good land and historically was a little off the beaten path.  This allowed it to often be overlooked.  We had been there a couple times in the past trading and visiting family.  The problem presently was getting his family that far south past the regional powers at play.

If we attempted to travel in a straight line we would go through the heart of Nimrod’s territory.  This would never work.  Moving several hundred people is no easy task on a good day.

Nimrod’s hold on power was immediately southwest of us in Nineveh.  The goal was to bypass as much of his territory as possible.  The escape route was determined almost by default due to terrain.

The Aras river flowed from the northwest to the southeast.  From the farm we would simply follow it for a ways upstream to the northwest.  Any invading forces coming from the south would find us missing.

The passage across the mountains from Nineveh to the Farm was our greatest weapon for buying time.  It was not an easy path.  We could make quick time traveling while those mountains would slow Nimrod.  The goal was for us to reach what would one day be modern Kars, then turn southwest.

Once we turned southwest it would be our turn to face hills and mountain ranges.  This route we could navigate but it would eventually dump us right on Nimrod’s far western doorstep.  Unfortunately, there was no other way.  Naturally we would attempt to push as far West as we could within the terrain, but we would be forced to cross his lands.

Decision On Where To Bury Noah

As for the issue of where to bury Noah, finally there was an agreement.  No one wanted his body to be used in a wrong way. This was the main argument which decided the end choice.  He was too large of an icon to be left alone in peace.

The fear was that some would try to deify him into something he is not.  Others would desecrate him in an attempt to deify themselves.  Either way the boys did not want their father’s body disturbed.  The women who were often the silent majority agreed with this point.

A secret burial was out of the question.  There were simply too many people that would know where the body would lay.  Noah was to be taken back to the ark, placed there, and the ark was to be set on fire.  If Nimrod was later encountered, misleading information would be given that Noah was buried nearby at Mt Lubar.

There would be no memorial, no tombstone, no marker left behind.  No one really wanted this.  Truly it was a matter of what was necessary.  The dust began to settle on this argument and people began making preparations for traveling to the ark.

It was the first time Shem and the boys were able to breathe for a moment.  I went to the meeting place in front of Noah’s home to find Shem sitting there.  With this privacy I asked him if he would be okay moving forward with this option. I could see the sadness in Shem’s eyes.

He began to explain. “We will all be fine with it in time.  You see, we were promised to be sustained and have life coming from a world where everything was destroyed.  That promise was fulfilled.”

“You only know this world, Clay.  This world is not our home.  The before was our home.  Sin caused our world to fall.  To us this place began as a nightmare, and we are now reliving the errors of old.”

“We have no attachments here.  No land was promised to us.  We are all waiting for going home to Yah.”

“Those like Nimrod cling to the few shiny things, the belief in themselves, and a false sense of power.  I have seen the hand of God erase the face of this planet.  We have no such illusions as some do.  We put our faith and trust in Yah and wait on Him.”

“This body is just dust Clay.  It is nothing but a shell.  Who we really are in spirit this world cannot destroy.  That part of dad is already in our real home.” Shem stated.

Noah’s Burial And My Reflections

No time was wasted transporting Noah to the ark.  The entire community from the farm was there.  I helped the boys carry the body into the room where we had spent those nights on our last trip here.  We laid him down on the cot in the corner.

The people outside were singing a melancholic tune.  The door was shut to the room and fires were lit within the ark.  It would not take long for the smoke that was billowing to turn into a fast-roaring blaze.  Watching from a distance I felt the final cord be severed to the life I had in this place.

In some ways I too understood the sentiments Shem held.  This place was not my real home either.  Despite the fact I had lived what would be the equivalent to multiple lifetimes on the farm, the only attachments I had was with this family.

I never really knew my father.  After he left my mother I would see him from time to time, but he was not involved in my life.  As a child I was told so often to man up, quit whining, and quit being weak.  I never knew what real strength was in a man, that is until Noah.

I remembered from psychology class in college there were lessons on how the experiences of our past within childhood shape our future.  Everything that I was before was built on this neglect and anger that persisted from childhood to adulthood.

When I met Noah, I was still angry.  I wanted to lash out.  After over three hundred years being here it was like having a second childhood.  It forced me to face myself and my past.  I saw my errors with my wife and my kids.  I was not a man, but a child.

By all rights Noah was more of a father to me than my real dad.  Being strong was not about putting on a show of strength.  Being a man and being strong was about character, consistency, and placing yourself into the lives of others caring for them.  It was a life of service.

While I never knew Noah in the before I heard of how passionate he was, joyful, and he loved uplifting others.  In the now the man I knew had been broken, beaten, and drained of everything he had.  Despite this he never quit loving and caring for people.  After all, he didn’t feed me to the fish.

The fire continued through the night and by dawn it was a smoldering pile of debris.  Shem gathered us and we began the journey back to the farm.  There was once again no time to waste.

On the trip back words began to echo in my mind.  “Your head gets in the way of your heart”, “Your mind is always working to make sense of things.  It is good to try and understand.  You may think I am crazy, but I am the guy who built a boat on dry land.”

I could see Noah, why couldn’t I see what he could see in God?