NOAH, A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUNESS

Noah, a preacher [herald; RS] of righteousness: According to Heb 11:7, Noah, after being given divine
warning of things not yet beheld, showed godly fear and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; and
through this [faith] he condemned the world. But Noahs preaching was more than just preaching by example, as
can be seen from the following:
Ancient testimony to his vocal proclamations: Since nowhere else in the Bible is there reference to Noahs
preaching, Peter, under inspiration of the holy spirit, probably got his information from an ancient reliable source.
Other Jewish writers of antiquity likely drew from this same written or oral tradition. All of them testify to Noahs
preaching being a verbal warning given by him to those around him.
The earliest extant extra-Biblical source that records Noahs preaching is from the 1st C. CE, being written about 30
years after Peters letter, but preserving information transmitted from thousands of years before: Many angels of
God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust But Noah was very uneasy at what they did;
and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for the better: but
seeing they did not yield to him he departed out of that land (Antiq of Jews 1, 3, 1).
One ancient source uses an Aramaic word that means the same as preacher (or, herald) here in 2Peter: [NOAH
WAS IN HIS GENERATIONS] A MAN [RIGHTEOUS AND WHOLE-HEARTED]. [Gen 6:9] Wherever 'a man ' occurs, it indicates a
righteous man who warned [his generation]. For a whole one hundred and twenty years Noah planted cedars and cut
them down. On being asked, 'Why are you doing this?' he replied: 'The Lord of the universe has informed me that He
will bring a Flood in the world. Said they [his contemporaries] to him: 'If a Flood does come, it will come only upon
your father's house!' The Holy One, blessed be He, said: 'One herald [ ]arose for me in the generation of the
Flood, viz. Noah they despised him and called him, 'Contemptible old man!' (Midrash Rabbah, Genesis 30, 7;
5th to 10th C. CE).
The righteous Noah rebuked them, urging, Repent; for if not, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring a deluge
upon you.and cause your bodies to float upon the water like gourds when Noah rebuked them and spoke words to
them that were as hard as fiery flints, they derided him. Said they to him, Old man, what is this ark for? He replied,
The Holy One, blessed be He, will bring a flood upon you (Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a-b; 6th C. CE).
Noah said to them: Turn from your ways and evil deeds, so that He bring not upon you the waters of the Flood, and
destroy all the seed of the children of men (Pirke Eliezer 22, pp. 161, 162; 9th C. CE). Noah during all the one
hundred and twenty years until the flood came he used to go forth and forewarn multitudes Noah proceeded to
upbraid multitudes of men for all of one hundred and twenty years, so that the punishment decreed for them would
not befall them (Elijah ER 80, p. 178; EZ 174, p. 372; 10th C. CE).
Usage of the Greek and Aramaic words for preacher: The original language words for preacher always refer to
one who made vocal proclamation of the message he transmitted. The Greek word for preacher is 2783, a
herald, a messenger vested with public authority, who conveyed the official messages of kings, magistrates, princes,
military commanders, or who gave a public summons or demand (Thayer). This is related to 2782, a
proclamation by herald, and both are derived from 2784, to be a herald; to officiate as herald; to proclaim
after the manner of a herald; always with a suggestion of formality, gravity, and an authority which must be listened
to and obeyed specifically used of the public proclamation of the gospel and matters pertaining to it, made by
John the Baptist, by Jesus, by the apostles and other Christian teachers (Thayer). Since the heralding referred to in
these words always has the connotation of formality and authority which must be obeyed, they could hardly
apply to the passive witnessing by conduct referred to in 1Pet 2:12; 3:1, 2, 16.
2783 and its related word group is never used in the Scriptures for a non-verbal proclamation. The only other
occurences of the noun 2783 in the Christian Greek Scriptures are in 1Tim 2:7 and 2Tim 1:11, in reference to

the apostle Paul, and his preaching was certainly by more than just his example. A review of all the occurrences, in
the Christian Greek Scriptures, of 2782, preaching (9 times in W & H), and 2784, to preach (61
times), shows that they only refer to oral proclamations.

Thus, if Peter were intending to mean that Noah preached by example only, he would have surely chosen some other
word that does not convey so strongly the idea of forthright and authoritative verbal proclamation. One such choice
could have been a form of the word 3140, to bear witness (Thayer), since Gods silent witness to the
pagans, referred to in Acts 14:17, here uses 267 (meaning without witness), a word related to
3140. See below further information about the usage of 2783 in the Greek world, and its related
Aramaic word in the Jewish world. Their usage is restricted to verbal proclamation.
Usage of in the Greek world and in the Christian Greek Scriptures: The in the Greek World An
external attribute is required in a herald. He has to have a good voice The herald had to declare official decrees
and announcements. He could do this only if he had the voice A number of lists have come down to us which
mention not only the victors in gymnastic contests but also heralds, poets, flute-players, players on horns, zithers etc.
These contests were to test the strength and diction of heralds the best herald was the one with the best voice
The Herald and the Jewish World The in the New Testament The word occurs only 3 times [and
rendered preacher in NW] Paul is in 2 Tm. 1:11. Cf. also 1 Tm. 2:7 2 Pet. 2:5 (TDNT under
2783).
Greek heralds: Agamemnon bade the clear-voiced heralds summon to the place of gathering the long-haired
Achaeans. And they made summons, and the men gathered full quickly But the son of Atreus [Agamemnon],
stricken to the heart with sore grief, went this way and that, bidding the clear-voiced heralds summon every man by
name to the place of gathering (Homer Iliad 2, 50-52; 9, 9-10).
. The work of the heralds the sound
of their voice is strong, loud clear (Pollux 4, 94).
Usage of the cognate Aramaic word in the Jewish world: The Herald and the Jewish World ( same word
used of Noah in Midrash) is used very generally for the crier who goes through the town and makes something
known Criers are used in the temple to waken the priests for the sacrifice (TDNT under 2783). is
defined as herald preacher in CAL.
Jewish heralds: Then Moses commanded, and they sent a herald [ ;same word used of Noah in Midrash]
through the camp, saying, Let no man or woman do any more work for the holy offering of the sanctuary. So the
people stopped bringing And the leper in whom is the plague a herald [ ]shall cry out and say, Keep away,
keep away from the unclean! (Targum2 Onkelos of Ex 36:6; Jonathan of Lev 13:45). What does Gebini the
Temple crier [ ]call out: Arise, ye priests for your service, Levites for your platform, Israel for your post! And his
voice was audible for three parasangs [~ 7 miles] (Talmud, Yoma 20b).
Matt 24:39: They took no note until the flood came: Other translations imply that the antediluvians knew
nothing about what would happen until the flood came (NIV), or similar. But total ignorance of what would happen
could not be the true meaning, for Noah preached to the people (2Pet 2:5). But the verb 1097 is in the aorist
tense, concerning which we read in Smyth: The complexive aorist is used to survey at a glance the course of a past
action from beginning to end This is often called the concentrative aorist, because it concentrates the entire
course of an action to a single point (see more on the aorist tense below). Thus, Jesus is saying that the sum total of
the cognizance of the antediluvians in regard to the deeds of Noah, over the period of time that Noah was building
the ark and preaching (2Pet 2:5), was that they never took to heart what Noah was doing, they took no real note of
his actions and continued on, choosing to ignore the warning, until the flood destroyed them all.
The Aorist has a punctiliar action, that is, it regards action as a point: it represents the point of entrance (Ingressive
[or, Inchoative] ), or that of completion (Effective ), or it looks at a whole action simply as having occurred,
without distinguishing any steps in its progress [that is, viewing it as a single act] (Constantive ) On [a]
graph, the Constative will be reduced to a point by perspective. The Present has generally a durative actionlinear,
we may call it, to keep up the same graphic illustrationas in [present tense] to be throwing,
[present tense] to be on the throne [the time of reigning being viewed as a continuous action] (Moulton Grammar
vol. 1, p. 109).

The aorist expresses the mere occurrence of an action in the past. The action is regarded as an event or single fact
without reference to the length of time it occupied [hence the name, aorist, timeless] The complexive aorist
[called Constative in Moulton above] is used to survey at a glance the course of a past action from beginning to end
This is often called the concentrative aorist, because it concentrates the entire course of an action to a single
point (Smyth 1923, 1927).
To illustrate the difference in the Greek tenses: At 1 John 2:1 The Greek verb for sin is in the aorist tense, hence
the time of the action is punctiliar, or momentary. The aorist tense here points to one act of sinning, whereas the
present infinitive would denote the condition of being a sinner or the continuous or progressive action in sinning. So
John does not speak of someone carrying on a practice of sinning, but of one who does commit a sin. (Compare Mt
4:9, where the aorist indicates that the Devil did not ask Jesus to do constant or continuous worship to him, but an
act of worship.) (Insight under Greek).