Ko Te Kirimana A Te Atua Ki A Tatou

GOD’S PROMISE TO US

NOAH’S AKA -

A very very long time ago, there was a tane named Noah. Noah aroha and obeyed Ihowa. During Noah’s lifetime, iwi were acting very kino. This made Ihowa pouri that iwi were thinking more about themselves than they were about Ihowa.

Ihowa aroha Noah. In fact, Ihowa had aroha for all the iwi as much as He had for Noah, but at that time, only Noah chose to whakarongo.

Ihowa was sorry that He had made iwi. He saw how kino the world was and decided to get rid of His ruined creation and make a new start.

But Noah was different. Noah aroha Ihowa, and obeyed Him. Ihowa told Noah of His plan to end the human race by sending a waipuke to destroy the whenua, but that He would keep Noah and his whanau safe.

He told Noah to build an aka –a really really big poti. Noah followed the instructions Ihowa gave him and built a poti that was 1½ football fields long and e toru stories high. That’s a massive poti that took Noah over 50 years to build!

During the years that Noah was building the aka, Noah’s neighbours laughed at him. Noah warned them that Ihowa was going to destroy the whenua but they thought he was crazy. They had never seen ua, or even heard of a waipuke.

Noah didn’t give up. He continued building the aka until it was finished, and warning the iwi to change their ways and listen to Ihowa, but they laughed at him.

When the aka was finished, Ihowa told Noah to collect e rua of all the creatures of the whenua, and e whitu pairs of every type of manu and take them into the aka. He also told Noah and his family to board the aka. When everyone was inside, Ihowa shut the kuwaha.

Noah, his whanau and the kararehe lived in the aka for e whitu days before the first ua fell. Noah was 600 years old when the heavens opened and ua poured down, and the underground springs erupted. The ua poured for forty days and forty nights. The waipuke got worse and soon the whenua and everything in it was covered with wai.

After it stopped raining, the wai continued to rise for 150 days. The aka landed in the maunga range of Ararat during the seventh month of the waipuke. Ihowa sent a big hau and the wai began to evaporate. Noah and his floating zoo had to stay in the aka for several more months while the whenua slowly dried out.

Finally, Noah sent out a raven to look for land. It flew back and forth waiting for the waipuke to dry up. Then Noah sent out a dove. It couldn’t find a place to rest so came back. Noah waited e whitu more days and sent the dove out again. This time it came back with a freshly picked olive leaf in its beak. Noah waited another week and then sent the dove out again. This time it didn’t come back so Noah knew the waipuke had dried up.

Ihowa told Noah to leave the aka and take all the kararehe with them. So Noah and his whanau left the aka to start life again. Noah gave an offering to Ihowa and thanked Ihowa for keeping them safe.

Ihowa told Noah that He would make a covenant (contract) that never again will He send a waipuke to destroy the whenua. As a sign of this agreement, Ihowa put an aniwaniwa in the rangi. Whenever we see an aniwaniwa, we can remember this promise from Ihowa.