Family Home Evening Lesson #37: NOAH AND THE ARK

1. Opening Prayer

2. Sing "Follow the Prophet" (verse 3) Children's Songbook pg. 110

3. Read Genesis 6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

4. Read and discuss "Building the Ark" from the Gospel Art Picture Kit:

During a time when almost everyone on the earth was wicked, the Lord called Noah to teach people the gospel. Noah told them to repent and be baptized or they would be destroyed by floods, but the people would not listen. Some of them were so angry with Noah that they wanted to kill him, but the Lord protected him.

When the people would not repent, the Lord told Noah that He would “bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 6:17). To protect Noah and his family from this great flood, the Lord commanded Noah to build an ark. The ark was to have three levels, many rooms, a window on the top, and a door in the side. Noah was to use pitch, or tar, to make the ark watertight, and the ark would be about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

Noah and his sons built the ark according to the Lord’s instructions. The Lord told them to take at least one male and one female “of every living thing of all flesh” (Genesis 6:19). They also had to take food for the animals and for themselves.

When the ark was finished and everything was ready, Noah and his family boarded the ark along with the animals. Noah was now 600 years old, and the flood waters were about to come upon the earth. Noah had obeyed the Lord in preaching the gospel, building the ark, and gathering the animals.

Then read and discuss "Noah and the Ark with Animals" from The Gospel Art Picture Kit:

Because of the wickedness of the people during Noah’s time, God caused a flood to cover the entire earth with water. Noah and his family were righteous, so God spared their lives. He commanded Noah to build an ark so they would not drown. He also commanded Noah to save the animals so that they would not be destroyed.

Noah built an ark big enough to take at least two of every animal on board. He was commanded, “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female … and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 7:2–3, 8).

Noah and his family lived on the ark with the animals for over a year. When the earth had recovered from the Flood, Noah brought the animals out of the ark so they could “be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth” (Genesis 8:17).

5. Closing Prayer

Additional Resources: Noah's Cubit (Friend, Oct. 1994)
The Prophet Will Tell Us (Friend, Feb. 2001)
Gospel Covenants Bring Promised Blessings (Liahona, Nov. 2005)