After reading my children the story of Noah recently and watching the film adaptation with Russell Crowe, I’ve been thinking about Biblical models of masculinity. I often get asked what books to read to learn about being a better man. Where is the confused modern man supposed to look? Achilles? Odysseus? No. In fact, Dante rightly places both of these in Hell in his great poem. The more righteous Hector — the true hero of the Iliad — makes it into Limbo, but our best guides are in the Bible.
This, then, will be a four-part series of articles covering everything I wish I’d been taught in my early twenties:
Noah, Abram/Abraham, Joseph
Job, Moses, Gideon, Joshua, Samson
David, Solomon, Elias, Tobias
Christ
Because I wasn’t taught it, however, I was a confused Nietzschean until I figured things out the hard way. And now I can make sure that doesn’t happen to you.
Noah: Riding the Storm
The story of Noah and the Flood (Genesis 6:11–9:19) is a model of fortitude, faith and fear. ’Fortitude,’ said the Rev. Charles Callan, ‘is like a strong tower or like an army that protects the other virtues.’ Without fortitude, for example, a judge will be too scared to give the just verdict. What if he gets cancelled? But in a corrupt world, Noah had the courage to do only what was pleasing to God.
He was too manly to be distracted by pleasure or deterred by pain. While people mocked him, he stood strong. As St. Augustine said, ‘We detect weakness in a mind which cannot bear physical oppression of the stupid opinion of the mob.’ The true fight is staying true to what’s right, and cancel culture is a symptom of an effeminate culture: it only works on men too weak to bear the stupid opinion of the mob.
Noah also had real love of his neighbour. He knew his fellow men were on the road to ruin. But he didn’t tell them to “enjoy the decline.” You can’t do that without being the decline. No, for 120 years he built like a man with all his muscle and might because he had a mission. His love of his neighbour was real and practical: ‘Let us show our love by the true test of action, not by taking phrases on our lips’ (1 John 3:18).
And Noah’s fear of God meant he was prepared to lose the whole world rather than the friendship of God. Holy fear was the key to his fortitude. The man who fears men more than he fears God is weak. Why? Because if people can make him ashamed to make the sign of the cross, they can make him break it.
Noah also had great confidence in God. How would all the animals survive? Would the mountainous waves sink the ark? Instead of allowing himself to be paralysed by his own anxiety, Noah submitted completely to the will of God. He knew that this was the surest foundation for this future because God always keeps His promises. ‘Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in Him, and He will do it.’ (Psalm 36:5) When a man realises this, he becomes formidable because it’s the foundation of courage.