On January 1st, I started reading the Bible through again. I decided to use the Amplified version this year because I appreciate the added synonyms that give me a fuller meaning of words.
Sometimes, I find it hard to get a sense of the people in the Bible stories as real people in relationships with one another and with God. They appear as paper cutouts like the image above.
Last month I shared a poem with you written by my friend, Agnes Fisher. I loved what that poem did for me in sensing some of the emotions Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have felt. Today I want to share another poem by Agnes. It is titled Noah’s Wife. I read it as I got to the story in Genesis of Noah and the ark. It made me pause to reflect on Noah’s obedience to God over a long period of time as he built the ark and what it cost him emotionally.
We know from the Bible that Sarah questioned God’s promise to Abraham that he would have a biological son. Since she couldn’t believe the promised son would be born to her, she proposed that Abraham have a child by Hagar.
Job’s wife told him to curse God and die, after Satan was allowed to afflict him physically.
We don’t know from the Bible what Noah’s wife experienced. However, this poem helped me to see her as a real person as I caught a glimpse of what it might have been like.
Noah's Wife
She stood far back
listening to her neighbors
laugh and deride Noah
pointing accusing fingers
shaking wise heads
shooting scornful looks
laughing, laughing, laughing
at her husband
at the boat builder
at the dry ground.
The great Ziggurats
the sophisticated city
the gardens and roads
the tree-lined streets
the modern cafe's serving
the flat breads and fruits
that stood in mocking judgement
to the folly of the simple-minded
builder hammering his silly
vessel together as though
it would rain.
They slunk
out of the city
to observe
perhaps to spy
perhaps to ridicule
perhaps to laugh to
double over in
mutual hilarity
and be entertained
by the madman
the "captain" at they
called him now.
"Hey, Captain Noah
when's it gonna rain?"
How much rain would it take?
she thought as she struggled her way
through Noah's obstinate
building days,
through her former
friends' ridicule and laughter
through dried out days
to launch such a great,
such a stupid ship?
Jaweh, Maker of heaven
and earth had given orders.
Jaweh was the planner,
the predictor
the architect
the contractor
the foreman
and Noah
the poor
mad builder.
Why had Jaweh made such a fool of him?
She
could not grasp
Jaweh's plan,
Noah's obedience,
her friends' derision,
her own confusion.
His wife laughed him to scorn
with the others.
Then the rain came.
The times, customs, culture, and language described in the Bible are vastly different from our own. However, despite these differences, we, like them, are human beings living in a fallen and sinful world. After reading this poem, I found myself contemplating what Noah may have been feeling – the pain and loneliness in his marriag and family, having relationships that are unsupportive, full of questions and doubts, and the weight of sacrifice. Also, I wondered about the encouragement, the honor, the reverential fear, the intimacy in Noah’s relationship with Jaweh.
Since I am now reading in the book of Deuteronomy, I have read the stories of so many others that have caused me to pause, ponder, think of them as real people, and then look at myself. There was and is always a price for obedience. But far more valuable is the invitation to intimacy with our Creator, who gives the necessary grace for living each day in the midst of all our circumstances and relationships.
Thank you, Agnes, for a poem that causes me to reflect and an opportunity to share it.
