Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth

Genesis 5:32 - After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Did Noah have any other children before the Flood besides Shem, Ham, and Japheth? It doesn't sound like he did. No children for 500 years? Sounds strange to our ears. Yet that was only mid-life for Noah's day. Still, to wait 500 years?

Sometime after he was 500, he and Mrs. Noah had these three boys. Probably in fairly quick succession. Why three all of a sudden? It's easy to see God's plan in hindsight, but what was going through their minds?

When Noah was 480, God decided that mankind had another 120 years to get it right or be removed from the scene. God may have mentioned this to Noah at that time, but the Bible doesn't specifically say he did. In any case, God did tell Noah to build the ark sometime before he reached his 600th birthday. I wonder how old the boys were when God gave Noah the blueprints for the ark. I've always assumed that they were old enough -- say, 20 years or so -- to help with the construction. [Update: See my Shem post.] Did Noah hire anyone else to help? Maybe some of Cain's best craftsmen?

If you've read some of my previous posts, you'll notice I've hinted that I think these ancients may have had what we consider modern inventions at their disposal. And why not? How many years has it taken for modern man to go from basically nothing gadget-wise to automation of all sorts, machines of all kinds, and conveniences that were almost unimaginable not too long ago? 200 years? 400 years? 600 years? That would take us back to about A.D. 1400 -- long before 1492 even. Tell me again how old Noah was when the Flood came. "600 years," you say? Hm. So my real question is: Did Noah and his crew have a Binford 6100 gas-powered chainsaw to cut the timber for the ark?