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Today’s scripture is surely a familiar one. We have been taught the story of Noah’s ark since we were children, and most of us know our own version of it very well. We know that God commanded Noah to build an ark… most of us have sung the song “The Lord Noah…there’s gonna be a floody floody” and we know that Noah did exactly what God told him to do. So…Noah built the ark and loaded up all the critters and also his sons, his wife and his sons wives. See, that’s the part that often gets left out… Noah was not in this alone…
When God calls someone to do something...that person rarely enters the situation alone.
Noah had a wife, 3 sons and 3 daughters in law. Pathetic as it may seem, a 1997 survey by Barna Research Ltd revealed that 12% of American adults believe that the name of Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc! Well, the bible doesn’t actually tell us her name, but in the long-standing oral torah of Jewish Tradition does give Noah’s wife a name. Her name was Na’amah.
Now, we aren’t told a lot about Na’amah in the story presented in the bible, but based on the tradition of the Rabbis, some traditional stories, and our own imaginations…we can perhaps draw a few inferences and maybe even a few lessons.
I think the first thing we can learn from this story is that when God calls someone to do something…that person rarely enters the situation alone. In this case, God told Noah to build and ark and round up all the animals...but God also told Noah to gather his family…his wife, his sons and his son’s wives. Imagine being one of those other Seven people…imagine being one of the sons… “Ummm Dad? God told you to do what?” or one of the son’s wives… “Your Dad wants us to live on a boat? With a gazillion animals? Is he nuts?” Or perhaps, imagine being Na’amah.. Your husband comes to you and says… “hon.. I’ve gotta build a giant boat, load up two of every animal, and then get on it and float while the rest of the world floods over.” “And why is that dear?” “God told me to do it”
It kind of reminds me of a conversation I had with my husband about four years ago. It went something like this… Kevin…I’m going to go to seminary and then be a minister. And he said…ok why…. Ummm God told me to do it. Um ok. Now, me going to seminary didn’t just affect me. Everybody got yanked onboard the ship that was the 4 year adventure. Kevin had to get used to seeing me a lot less, my friend Christy and her family got used to hosting a visitor several nights a week… my church had to get used to me leaving and going to a new church to work as the youth minister… those people had to get used to having me around (not always an easy task)… my family had to help financially and emotionally in ways I don’t think they were quite ready to do. Everyone got pulled in…you all even got dragged along on the journey. Even though God called me to ministry…I was not and am not in this alone.
Even though God called Noah to build the ark and to load up the animals and to sail through the flood, Noah was not in it alone. He had his family along for the ride, no matter how they might have felt about the journey.
Our gifts have purpose and value.
Other lessons we can learn from Na’amah come from her name itself. According to the traditions, there are 2 possible meanings for her name, both of which can teach us something. The first meaning is “pleasant deeds” meaning Na’amah was one who did good or righteous deeds. And because Noah is considered a righteous man, we can assume Na’amah was righteous woman. Thus they would together become parents of a righteous generation. The more interesting meaning of her name however is “sweet singer.” But what would this offer us? Rabbi Julie Spitzer says….
"I imagine that Naamah’s voice was the reason that there was such peace among the animals during the deluge.... The notes of her song carried the prayers of her family through the dark storm clouds to the heavens above, and they were spared the worst of the roiling waves. She inspired her children, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, to work together with their wives, lightening their burdens and making the time pass more quickly. She soothed her husband when he was overwhelmed by the enormity of his responsibility to those in his care, and indeed, his responsibilities to the future."
Our gifts have purpose…Naamah’s gift of singing would have had a purpose on the ark. And although our gifts are not always used for the purposes we had in mind, they always have uses for God and for God’s world. In this version of Na’ahma’s story her gift of singing is used for a purpose…to calm the animals in the ark. Once they landed and disembarked this gift might have been used to lead worship or to sooth her grandchildren to sleep. A gift of song might be used to lead in worship or it might be used to sing wacky songs at camp. A gift of poetry might be used to write liturgy or perhaps children’s books. A gift of a love of games could be used to help at VBS or volunteer at the Home of the Innocents. Our gifts have purpose and value.
One of my favorite tellings of what might be Naamah’s story comes in Sandy Eisenberg Sasso’s book “A Prayer for the Earth.” Sandy imagines Naamah’s role in the preservation of creation…that God would have asked Naamah to gather the seeds from the earth so that the vegetation might re-grow. I’d like to share an excerpt from the story with you now…
In this understanding of Na’mah’s life, God had a job for her to do…Even though God’s original call was to Noah, everyone involved on the journey had an important role to play. This reminds me of the old saying “there are no small parts”. No matter how small we think our role might be, or how strange the request, we do have a part to play and something to share. In Sandy’s story, Naamah was asked to make a garden and reseed the earth. In our own stories we are often asked to play the “supporting role” to some one else’s big story. We might be asked to open our home to a friend or family member… we might be asked to stand in support of someone who is making a major life decision or change… we might be asked to participate in a wedding, or to attend a baseball game or dance recital or graduation. There are many moments where we are not the stars of the story, but rather supporting characters adding to the richness and completeness of someone else’s story. Noah’s story is a good story…but it is richer and more complete when we think about his wife Naamah…and his children and their wives. Our lives are richer when we think about the supporting roles we play in the stories of those we love.
She is un-named and unsung.
So who is Na’amah? She was Noah’s wife…one of 4 women in the story we know as Noah’s ark. And why should we know her name? Why should we know her story?
We tell her story…and we should know her name, because she is like many of the women in the bible. She is un named and unsung. Her story doesn’t get told and her name is not shared. We all know Noah’s story—now we should know Naamah’s. We need to listen to the unsung voices in our Biblical heritage…we need to find the stories that need telling, and we need to not be afraid to learn more about the faith we profess. We need to tell Na’mah’s story…as well as the stories of the countless other unsung heros… those in the bible…and those in the pews next to us.
I challenge you this week…this memorial day week…to tell the untold story of someone you know…to honor their memory by sharing their story and by bringing to light one more un-sung hero. Send that person a card, and if they are no longer living, send one to their family…to let them know that the story has not been forgotten and that the gifts that person has offered have made a difference. Help to sing the song of an unsung hero.
Amen.