by Tim Chaffey
Chapter 36: Once the door shut, Rayneh walked to it and wept because she realized that the fate of everyone outside had been sealed. On Deck Two of the Ark, visitors can see Rayneh pondering some difficult questions about judgment and God’s character. When the Ark first opened, guests could hear an audio that revealed Rayneh’s inner thoughts about lost loved ones outside the door, especially Evet. Now instead of hearing an audio track, guests can read some of the issues she struggled with on signage behind her.
Chapter 36: Near the very end of the story, Noah asks Shem to put a pair of animals in their pen and then join the family in the sitting room for a time of prayer. This prayer scene is shown at the end of the First Floor Show at the Ark Encounter.
Borrowed from the Bible
Since the Bible does not give us many details about Noah’s life, we needed to use artistic license. To keep the story more closely tied to the Bible, we decided to borrow and slightly adapt some concepts found elsewhere in Scripture and work them into Noah’s story. This book includes several obvious events taken right from Scripture, such as anything having to do with the building of the Ark. We will limit this section to discussing those items that are not so obvious.
Major spoiler alert! Do not read this section unless you have first read the novel.
Chapter 7: Naamah’s ritual of harming herself in worship of her false god has similarities to other pagan practices, including one well-known biblical account. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mt. Carmel to see which god (or God) would respond by sending fire to light a sacrifice on an altar. After pleading all morning to Baal, the false prophets cut themselves with swords and lances until “blood gushed out” (1 Kings 18:28). Since Naamah worshiped the serpent god, we decided that her self-inflicted injury would be consistent with a snake bite. However, unlike the Apostle Paul who was bitten by a venomous snake and suffered no ill effects (Acts 28:3–6), Naamah suffered great pain for a time.
Chapter 8: Captain Iradel repeatedly insulted King Lamech, Naamah, and their army as his Nodite forces assembled outside the gates of Iri Geshem. This practice of attempting to instill fear in one’s enemies has been practiced throughout much of history, and it is also found in the Bible. In 2 Kings 18, King Sennacherib of Assyria sent his forces to Jerusalem and they surrounded the city. His spokesman, known as the Rabshakeh, boasted about all of Sennacherib’s victories against the surrounding peoples and how their gods could not rescue them from the Assyrian army. A Jewish man named Eliakim asked the Rabshakeh to speak to them in Aramaic because they could understand it, but the Rabshakeh refused. Instead, he raised his voice and continued speaking in Hebrew, attempting to frighten the people by telling them that their God could not protect them. Read 2 Kings 19:35 to see how God responded to this man’s taunts. Our story borrowed the idea of a military man mocking the opposition before his defeat.
Chapter 21: In the second book, King Lamech boasted about his greatness at a ceremony and was immediately humbled when his city was leveled by an earthquake and volcano. In this book, he took his boasts to greater heights, claiming to be the highest of all gods, and it did not work out well for him. This is similar to what happened in Acts 12:22–23 to Herod Agrippa after the people proclaimed him to be a god.
The means of King Lamech’s demise was borrowed from one of the Bible’s most famous scenes. In Exodus 7:10–12, Moses’ brother, Aaron, threw down his rod and it became a serpent. The Bible states that Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing by their secret arts, “for every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents” (v. 12). Some Christians believe that Pharaoh’s magicians faked this miracle by using serpents that had been in a rigid position and then writhed about when they hit the floor. But the biblical text does not give any indication that this miracle was faked. It says that they did the same thing as Aaron, and it states that their rods became serpents. Of course, this gets into a theological debate about whether evil spirits have the capacity to perform such a feat. It seems that in this case, God permitted them to do it so that He could show His power over them, which He demonstrated when Aaron’s rod-turned-serpent swallowed up the others. In our story, we decided that God might permit Nachash to achieve a similar act to execute judgment upon a wicked tyrant. Eventually, Nachash would be shown to be powerless to help Naamah when the Creator sent His judgment.
Chapter 35: Naamah’s arrogant boasting seemed to know no boundaries. She repeatedly threatened the cherubim at the entrance to the garden that she would kill them. The response from one of the cherubim was nearly identical to the words of an angel in Revelation 14:7 who will urge the people of the world to fear and glorify God.
Animals in the Series
Since we did not use modern names for the animals, here is a guide to some of the creatures described in the series. If the name of the type of animal is given in the series, then that name is in parentheses. Asterisks indicate the animals that can be seen at the Ark Encounter in either artwork or sculpted form.
Beasts of burden:
Prolibytherium — Taht pulled Noah’s cart in book 1
Entelodont* — pulled the chariots in book 3
Macrauchenia — (lunker) Meru pulled Lamech’s wagon in book 1
Theosodon* — pulled Lakh’s wagon in book 3 (small representative in macrauchenia kind)
Palaeomastodon* — (large-eared tuskers) pulled Noah’s wagon in book 3
Flying Creatures:
Pterodactyl* — (supergliders) featured in book 1
Hummingbird — (buzzbirds) mentioned in each novel
Vulture/Eagle — (tarocs) mentioned in each novel
Dinosaurs:
Pachycephalosaurus* — sparring animals in book 2
Tyrannosaurus rex* — (grendec) mentioned in each novel
Carnotaurus* — (horned grendec) featured in books 2 and 3
Ceratopsians* — (horn face) featured in book 3
Sauropods* — (earth shaker) featured in book 1
Others
Giraffe* — (keluk) mentioned in each book
Goat/Sheep* — (bleater) used for sacrifice in each book
Cattle* — (bovar) used for sacrifice in book 1
Thylacosmilus* — (pithoct) featured in books 2 and 3
Snakes — (serpents) featured in book 2 and 3
Rabbit — (bounder) mentioned in books 1 and 3
Kangaroo — (leaper) mentioned in book 3
Dog* — (calic) mentioned in book 1
Anisodon* — large furry beast seen by Noah and Aterre in book 1
Koala* — furry gray animals first to arrive at Ark site in book 3
Chameleon — Noah and Aterre watched this creature in book 1
Mosasaur — sea monster that nearly swamps the boat in book 1
Dear Reader,
Thank you for sticking with us through all three books of The Remnant Trilogy. When we started the series, we were highly aware that there would only be a remnant — eight people — who would survive the Flood. That meant that all the other characters we grew to love would have to face some kind of death, which in several cases, was hard to write.
Even though they survived the Flood, Noah and his family only lived a certain number of years before they too faced the inevitable consequence brought on by Greatfather Adam’s sin. But death is not the focal point of our story. The Creator is. He’s the Author of life. He is the one who at the beginning breathed life into man so that he became a living being.
Colossians 1:15–16 and Hebrews 1:3 teach that Jesus Christ was actively involved in the creation of the world. As the Creator warned the newly alive Adam that death was the punishment for disobedience, He knew that one day He would endure the punishment He had set.
The Bible describes Jesus as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. So as He brought about life, He knew there’d be death for all mankind and also for Himself. He took on human life so that He could die on the Cross and pay the penalty of ou
r sins. But death was not the end — if that were the case, we of all people would be miserable. Instead, Jesus rose in triumph over death and the grave.
Death and life. Just as we knew who would live and die in this series, all of us know that we, too, will one day die. However, those who believe on the Lord Jesus will be saved and will live forever with Him. If you haven’t considered this before, we pray that you may come to know Jesus as your Savior.
Someday we will all pass from this life into the next. If you are a fellow believer, we look forward to gathering with you and with Noah and his family at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ as we spend eternity growing in our understanding of the depths of His greatness and glory.
Sincerely,
Tim Chaffey and K. Marie Adams
About the Authors
Tim Chaffey is the Content Manager for the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum. A former pastor and teacher, Tim is also a leukemia survivor and competes in half-marathons with his wife and son while his daughter cheers them on. He has earned advanced degrees specializing in apologetics, theology, and church history. Tim maintains a popular blog (www.midwestapologetics.org/blog), contributes regularly to Answers magazine and the Answers in Genesis website, and has authored over a dozen books, including The Truth Chronicles series and In Defense of Easter: Answering Critical Challenges to the Resurrection of Jesus.
K. Marie Adams has an obsession with words that once resulted in her being grounded for reading too much. Later, it served her well as she worked for many years at a bookstore and as a literature and grammar instructor. Now, as a graphic designer, her love of language goes by the fancy name of typography. K. Marie also volunteers for several ministries dedicated to rescuing young girls from modern-day slavery.