Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Thus did Noah. He began without delay to prepare the colossal fabric, and in every step of his progress faithfully followed the divine directions he had received. His acting as he did was one of the most heroic acts of faith which the history of the world records: For an undertaking of such a magnitude, and for such an object, must not only have imposed on him immense labour both of body and of mind-have not only demanded vast appliances of skill and expenditure of resources-but great fortitude and resolution to encounter the ridicule and obloquy of which he would be made the object. But neither scorn nor pity could shake his resolution. Firmly persuaded of the divine testimony, he prosecuted his work, as well as his zealous warnings as "a preacher of righteousness (1 Peter 3:19-20), and never ceased either his labours or his admonitions until the period of respite was exhausted. Nay, it would appear that he began his preparations in his 480th year, while he was childless (cf. Genesis 10:21 with Genesis 10:32). But "being warned of God of things not seen as yet," - including probably the promise of children, as well as the dispensation of the deluge - "moved with fear, he prepared an ark for the saving of his house;" and the birth of his sons, after he had been twenty years occupied with the building of that gigantic vessel, must have tended greatly to confirm his faith and stimulate his obedience.