Compare and contrast the God in Noah's story
and the God in the Prodigal Son Parable
Reading the Bible, we notice how changes the personality of God. In the Old Testament He appears as a strict creator, disappointed with His creation and angry with people, who disrespect their Lord, whose thoughts and deeds are evil. In the New Testament we see the Lord, who loves every sinner, who's ready to meet him with open arms. Why the authors of Genesis and Gospels describe Him so differently? Was the Lord different, or maybe people had a different perception and understanding of His deeds?
- The Lord and people in Noah’s story
Two stories illustrate this difference clearly. One of them is the story about Noah and his Ark. The author of the Old Testament is telling that people in those times were cruel, dissolute and forgot about their God, had no respect for Him (New Jerusalem Bible, Genesis 6:5). The Lord was disappointed in His creation and saw no way to make people become better.
The basis of the relationship between God and people is love and free will. He made people free of His influence on their feelings, so He couldn't make people love and respect Him. Their sins were so great and deep that only one man Noah and his family were worthy of life-saving. Nothing could stop the endless evil on earth, but the Lord's interference. His aim was to wipe the sin and evil from the face of earth and also people, who became slaves of sin. The Lord didn't want to kill people, but had to destroy their evil.
The God sees in Noah the only person, whose heart has love for Him and readiness to follow His will. It isn't mentioned that Noah was sinless. He was just one of people, but didn't give way to madness and general depravity. His deeds and thoughts showed the God his blameless and righteous.
We can only imagine how cruel people were at that time, that only one man from millions was worthy of forgiveness. The sin became the norm of behavior, people watching each other did the same ugly things. Christian morality teaches us not to follow the crowd, that does evil, but then people didn’t have this notion and had no fear of God. The first mention about this combination of love and fear we see in the relationship between Noah and the Lord.
The Noah's story shows us that God was angry with people, who had chosen the wrong way of sin, but he didn't want his creation to be lost and dead. He chose the best of men and saved his family - those people, who were not holy, who also had sins. So we see that God understands our imperfection, because He knows us. But He also sees how much good we have in our hearts. If there is a chance for any of us to choose the way of good, He gives us this opportunity. He gave Noah and his family this chance to turn their faces to their God and become His people.
We see how God takes care about Noah and every human or animal in his Ark. He told Noah what kind of ship to build - its lengths, widths and right material. This proportion we see in modern ships. His Ark had to be firm enough to resist the storm and waves of the flood and all entrances and windows had to be closed properly. The God "closed the door", saving His creations (Genesis 7:16).
When Noah leaves the Ark, he is so grateful for his rescue and God's mercy, that burns offerings and worships the Lord. The flood showed Noah the God's might, so he felt fear and responsibility for his children's lives in the face of God.
- The Lord in the Prodigal son parable
The parable about the Prodigal Son was addressed to the Pharisees, who complained that Jesus was kind to sinners and welcomed them. In this parable Jesus is telling about one man, who had two sons. The younger son wanted to become independent and live separately from his father. So he asked for his part of the inheritance and went to a distant land. Soon his fortune was wasted, his friends left him. That land was suffering from famine and the younger brother had to feed pigs and even eat their food to survive (Fairchild). Then he realized how far he was from his family and the person he used to be. He understood that even the servants in his father's house had a better life than he had. So he returned to his home, willing to ask his father's forgiveness and work in the father's house as a servant. But the father met him with open arms. The elder brother was angry with the father's decision and didn't understand why he was so kind to his prodigal son. The elder son considered himself blameless, but the younger in his eyes was dead and unworthy of love.
- The image of father in the parable
The father in this parable is the Lord, who's our Heavenly Father. He's loving and patient, waiting for every sinner, who wants to get back on the right path. He doesn't remind of the sinner's past, but offers everything - love, compassion and kindness. Like the God lets a sinner choose his own way, the father in this story patiently gives his son what he wants. Being older and knowing life better, the father understands his son's mistake. But he also understands that his child needs to make this mistake in order to become wiser and learn to appreciate what he owns (Fairchild).
- Who is the prodigal son
The younger son hurts his father's heart by his decision to separate. He wants his part of the inheritance, showing how he's tired of waiting for his father's death. This is not a loving attitude towards parents. We all have this wish for independence, even when we are not ready for the responsibility. Independence from God is the worst thing we can think out, because some difficulties on our way we just can't overcome without His love and support. The younger son has no wisdom and experience, he is proud, opinionated and ambitious. Growing up, many of us feel the same and make this foolish mistake (Houdmann).
We can only imagine how hard was the younger brother’s life in the far land, that he had to eat with pigs. It is worth mentioning that pigs in Jewish culture have always been filthy animals. Even touching pigs was something shameful. So we see that he really was in a desperate situation.
- The image of elder brother in the story
The elder brother portrays the Pharisees, who lived unstained lives, but were intolerant to others' imperfection and sinful past. This son is jealous when his father welcomes the prodigal son with celebration. He is angry with his brother, who's accepted to be a part of the family in spite of the fact that he's guilty and deserves punishment. He sees a threat in his younger brother.
The elder brother is so focused on himself and his own righteousness that he forgets about love and compassion (Houdmann). But the father shows understanding and patiently explains his elder son reasons of his deed. He reminds his son about kindness and mercy. This is the image of brotherly love that we all need to have in our hearts.
This story illustrates God's wisdom, who understands weakness and jealousness of His children. Like this obedient son we all sometimes show intolerance to each other, condemning others for sins. But only good works can't make us righteous if we hate our brother. John in chapter 2, verses 9-11 writes that those, who hate their brother are in the darkness and the darkness blinds them. The wise father tells his obedient son that his brother was dead, but now is alive. He invites the elder son to share his gladness about his brother who was lost and now is found (Luke 15:32).
- Why we see Him so differently?
These two stories picture the character of the Lord. With Noah He was emotional and judgmental. He decided to destroy with a cold blooded heart almost all the mankind, except one small group of people. Reading the New Testament we see the difference in the description of the Lord's personality. Here He is full of compassion and ready to forgive every sinner, who wants to feel his life with light and love.
This is our nature to imagine the Lord as a person with character like if He was one of us. But we are created in the image and likeness of God and He gave us some of His features. So we can't fully understand His motivation and reasons of His decisions.
In the days of Noah the God was more severe, but his attitude to people has always been the same. He was always the same loving Father, but He used different methods of influence on people.
Before the flood people had more bestial features and understood the power only, but not love. Mankind, which was completely corrupted, lived with violence, adultery and murder, could not raise a worthy progeny. This meant that the vicious circle could never be broken and goodness in people's hearts wouldn’t grow.
The first time the Lord destroys all the mankind except Noah and his family, seeing no other way to save the earth from evil. Then He couldn’t go another way. But, as we know, He decided never destroy people again.
The second time He doesn’t let the evil completely subdue human’s heart and sends his Son, in order to save people and put them on the right track. God doesn’t change, He only changes His way to our salvation!
Works cited
The New Jerusalem Bible: standard edition.. New York: Doubleday, 1999. Print.
Fairchild, Mary. "The Prodigal Son - Bible Story Summary." About.com Christianity. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://christianity.about.com>.
Houdmann, Michael. "What is the meaning of the Parable of the Prodigal Son?." GotQuestions.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014. <http://www.gotquestions.org>.
