Even righteous people make mistakes

There are a great number of books, and we can find lessons in each and every one of them. Even when the story is just fiction, we can be puzzled by moral dilemmas as well as reflect
on the situation based on our experience. How much more so if the books are based on scientific research, or archeology or based on real events. Although the latter category
seems to have certain weight, they never portray the situation objectively, as there are limits to our knowledge base as well as heavy influence by the authors and often sponsors.

There is only one exception – the Bible. It contains real stories, and the story of Noah is just one of many examples. In previous discussions, we have noted that Noah is described as a
righteous man. As a man, even a great one, he is making choices that seem hard to understand at times. For example, Noah was busy building the ark for over 100 years, yet he
failed to gain followers. People did not repent. Yes, this was not exactly commanded to him – he was commanded to build the ark, yet not one person was helping him.

Let’s just imagine we are having a neighbour building a house. We are talking about someone doing it all by himself, no builders, no contractors, no cleaners…. If this is a neighbour we know, we will ask him about his project. This would include reasons behind it, funding, etc. Furthermore, if there were a great story behind the project, we would become emotionally invested in it and possibly even offer help or just a cup of coffee. This is our natural reaction. What has happened with Noah? Did he not tell other people about the building project? Or maybe he did not tell the reasons? Or could it be that people around were not ready to hear him out? We do not really know. What is clearly notable is that his sons were not involved in the building of the ark. We are only introduced to them once the time comes to actually be saved – Noah is commanded to take his family with him on the ark to be saved from the flood. It is becoming a borderline parallel story to saving the animals.

Now, going back to the point of the flood is over, and Noah is expressing his gratitude to the Divine. He is receiving certain commandments, including the right to consume meat as long
as certain criteria are met. Furthermore, there is an assurance by the Almighty Himself that the flood of that magnitude will not be repeated again. The sign of it is what is described as
the Divine, showing Noah a rainbow in the clouds. Let’s discuss this later, as for now, we are just doing a general overview of the story.

It is given to Noah and his family to restore the world. And here comes a surprise – Noah is planting the vineyard. Rather unexpected turn of events. Let us read the description.
Noah is becoming the master of soil. So it is only reasonable to assume that his farming experience was not very diverse before. And the choice is to plant a vineyard. It surprised
me because there is no clear description of anything else planted at that stage. Even in this case, it could have been a fruit farm, grape growing or many other ways. In this description,
we can hear the intent of it. Vineyards are not just grapes; they are used to make wine.

When talking about wine consumption, what are our associations with it? Is it positive or negative? Do we think about sharing it with family and friends or a lonely person drowning
daily problems? Do we associate it with marvellous food or just something to wash down leftovers with? It all depends on the situation. So in our situation, when the world needs our help to be brought back to life, vineyard choice is puzzling. If we keep on going with the story narrative, we realise that Noah actually consumed the wine and became drunk. Why did he do it? We will try to analyse it later, but for now, let us leave it with the cliffhanger of the choices made.

This should be a lesson to us all; we need to think before making choices in our lives. Some choices are obviously good, and some are not so much. One thing is clear – getting drunk
was not a good choice. What is even more confronting in the story is that Noah actually made all the preparations for the action, from planting the vineyard to consuming the
product and obviously not stopping in time. All sounds negative, yet there is much more to the story than meets the eye. Let’s continue exploring it next time.