In Genesis, the story of Noah has origins indirectly resulting from the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. The eating of the forbidden fruit as discussed in the previous class instilled a sort of separation between God and man. When Eve takes the fruit, she is rejecting God’s command in favor of her own good. Humans now have a greater capacity to be the final authority on their own decisions, but they have now isolated themselves from God and his capacity to always make correct decisions.
According to Kass, this isolation from God is seen not by all men, but by one of two separate lineages. The descendants of Cain are self-reliant as humans and appreciate purely humanistic beauty, while the descendants of Seth remain loyal to God and appreciate true divine beauty. We have contrasting lineages of “impious pride” and “modesty” (154). It is easy for those Seth’s line to remain fully dedicated servants to God until Adam and Seth experience the first human deaths. At that point, those in Seth’s line panic and become increasingly drawn to the purely artificial beauty conjured by Cain’s line because the idea of death makes them feel, naturally, removed from God. The two lineages eventually converge, and now neither one is completely dedicated towards divine obedience. There is seemingly no more hope for humanity to find its way back towards reliance on divine command, and so God has no choice but to completely “clean the slate” and begin an entirely new lineage, beginning with Noah. According to Kass, since Noah is the first human born after the death of Adam, so he is not shocked by death and is still able to dedicate himself as a servant of God. This is the reason he “[finds] grace in the eyes of the Lord” (162).
Essentially, Noah’s story indirectly results as an amendment to the removal of humanity from God which ends up taking several generations to completely unfold. It signifies a new beginning for mankind, giving them another chance to act against the prideful sin that took place in the Garden of Eden.
James Duke, Foundations of Theology 