A neglected aspect of the story of Noah is his birth. When Noah was born, his father “called his name Noah (rest), saying ‘this one will console us over our work and the pain of our hands from the ground which Yahweh cursed.’ ” (Gen 5:29) This clear allusion back to the curse of Genesis 3 expresses and exasperated hope for fulfillment to the promise of Genesis 3:15–that God would send the seed of the woman to finally crush the serpent’s head and reverse the curse. Lamech expressed hope that Noah, whose name means rest, would finally bring about rest from the curse God put on the ground. Now while in the story of Noah and the ark we do not see Noah become this savior, and in fact at the end of chapter 9 of Genesis we see him disqualified form being this savior, the idea of God’s rest must somehow be connected with Noah. This is for a couple reasons: his name, and his salvation by God. But then, why does the author of Hebrews ignore the story of Noah in writing his exhortation to enter God’s rest in Hebrews 4?

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