†. Gen 6:15a . .This is how you shall make it:
Some have objected that since paper and writing were not yet invented in
Noah's day, then God couldn't possible have provided Noah with plans to the
ark. But any pictograph, even one on a clay tablet or a rock face, qualifies as
a drawing. That objection infers that the Bible's God was illiterate until Man
learned to read. (chuckle) I guess it just never occurs to them that holy men
like Noah were far more advanced than your average cave-dwelling hominid.
†. Gen 6:15b . . the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits,
its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
There was a cubit among the Babylonians, and one in Egypt too. But there
seems to have existed double standards in both countries. Because of that,
there exists no undisputed example of the cubit that remains to the present
time; so the length of the cubit has been variously estimated.
One of the ancient cubits was the length of a man's forearm, from the elbow
to the tip of the middle finger, as is implied from the derivation of the word
in Hebrew and from the Latin cubitum. It seems to be referred to also in
Deut 3:11 as "after the cubit of a man." But that's too vague, and unsuitable
for a scientific standard because not all men's arms are exactly alike.
The Babylonians employed two different cubits, the so-called royal cubit and
the common cubit. From the remains of buildings in Assyria and Babylonia,
the royal cubit is made out to be about 20.6 inches. A cubit of similar length
was used in Egypt. This was probably the cubit mentioned by Ezk 40:5 and
possibly that of Solomon's temple as "cubits after the first measure" (2 Chr
3:3)
The commercial cubit was shorter, and has been variously estimated at
between 16 and 18 inches or more, but the evidence of the Siloam
inscription and of the tombs in Palestine seems to indicate 17.6 inches as
the average length. That was the cubit of six palms, while the longer one
was of seven (Ezk 40:5). The cubit mentioned in Judges 3:16 is from a
different word, the Hebrew gomedh, and was probably shorter.
The cubit of Noah's day remains a total mystery. We have no way of
knowing exactly how long it was. Maybe Noah and his boys passed on their
antediluvian knowledge of weights and measures to the post-flood world and
it stayed pretty close to the original standards over the years; but it's
impossible to know for sure.
If we use an 18-inch cubit as a close approximation, then the ark would
have been in the neighborhood of 450' long x 75' wide x 45' high. The ark's
beam was 30 feet wider than its height, so should have proved very stable,
and difficult to capsize even in rough seas-- especially since it had a flat
bottom, which was good too for the purpose intended.
Nothing fancy. Since it didn't have to navigate, nor did it require a means of
propulsion, there was no practical need for a bow, or a stern, or a wheel
house, a rudder, sails, engine room, anchor, windlasses, or masts-- not even
a handrail around the main deck. Since the ark didn't have to cut through
the water like a schooner, there was no need for tapered undersides. All the
ark really had to do was float. It was really nothing in the world but a barge:
and a very crude barge at that. Really little more than a very large
watertight crate.
Compared to modern ships, 450 feet is not all that impressive. Oil tankers
are around 1,500, and the Nimitz aircraft carrier is about 1,092 feet. The
distance from home plate to the center field fence in major league baseball,
averages 400 feet or better. So the ark would just about fit into Yankee
stadium. The main playing area of a football field is 300 feet. Add 26 more
for the end zones, and the total is 326; which is still 124 feet short of the
ark's length but at least gives some idea of its scale.
†. Gen 6:16a . . Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and
terminate it within a cubit of the top.
The ark was probably capped with a steeply sloped roof so the immense
volumes of water falling from the sky during the rain stage of the Flood
wouldn't impinge it perpendicularly; but rather strike a glancing blow; and
the eves were likely quite considerable so water running off the roof wouldn't
find its way to the window. Whether or not the window was shuttered isn't
stated, but was very likely a practical consideration. The first forty days of
the Flood were extremely inclement.
When my son was a little boy I built a playhouse for him in the backyard
with ventilation somewhat similar to the ark's. The exterior siding on the
walls stop at the plate; and I left the 3½-inch space between the roof and
the plate unfinished. That way air can freely circulate in and out of the
playhouse. After my boy grew up, mommy raccoons starting using his
playhouse to birth their cubs.
The dimensions of the window aren't stated. It could have been as wide as
six feet and extended the full length and width of the ark-- all the way
around it; who really knows. The only requirement was that it be adequate
for light; but undoubtedly served for ventilation too. With all that respiration
going on in there, Noah's air supply would become foul in very short order.
†. Gen 6:16b . . Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with
bottom, second, and third decks.
A hatch in the hull was practical. Its cover could be let down as a boarding
ramp.
The very bottom of a ship is normally not counted as a deck. The lowest
deck is usually somewhat above the bottom and separated from it by a void
called the double bottom. That way if the actual bottom is pierced, the ship
won't sink because the void is sealed. Whether or not Noah's ark had a
double bottom is unknown; but likely it had at least a bilge because the
lowest deck needs to be above the bottom a bit so the passengers and crew
don't have to slosh around down there in the lower parts of the ship where
fetid water and other unsavory liquids typically collect.
The spaces between decks were fairly tall. If we divide 45 by 3 we get
roughly 15 feet apiece not counting a bilge, nor the thickness of the deck
planks and their beams. Fifteen feet can accommodate pretty tall animals;
and provide enough room for the birds to exercise now and then too.
An ark 450 feet by 75 feet, with three decks would have provided 101,250
square feet of living space. If Noah were resourceful, he might have installed
shelves and cabinets on the hull and the bulkheads, plus more on the
overheads, and the underside of the ark's roof for even more storage/living
space.
Detractors insist there wasn't enough space aboard for all the various
creatures in Noah's day, but they fail to take into account a few facts. For
one, nobody really knows how long the cubit of Noah's day was and, most
importantly, nobody really knows how many species of life existed in his
day. By the time Man appeared on this old earth of ours, some pretty
colossal mass extinctions had already taken place; and on top of that, the
species that exist on earth in our day, may not have existed in Noah's day,
but instead what we are seeing in our day is the result of millennia of
somatic mutations and adaptations.
Plus, larger creatures could have shared their spaces with smaller creatures,
even permitting the ones smaller than themselves to climb up and rest on
their backs. Life finds a way.
I wish we were told more about the ark-- how Noah and his boys fastened
all the wood together, and especially how they cut it to size. They say there
are seven wonders of the ancient world, but that is not quite accurate.
There's actually eight if we include Noah's ark. Sure, building a big wooden
barge like Noah's would be child's play for a modern shipyard like Northrop
Grumman Newport News; but in his day, it had to be quite a feat.
Cont.
/
Some have objected that since paper and writing were not yet invented in
Noah's day, then God couldn't possible have provided Noah with plans to the
ark. But any pictograph, even one on a clay tablet or a rock face, qualifies as
a drawing. That objection infers that the Bible's God was illiterate until Man
learned to read. (chuckle) I guess it just never occurs to them that holy men
like Noah were far more advanced than your average cave-dwelling hominid.
†. Gen 6:15b . . the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits,
its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
There was a cubit among the Babylonians, and one in Egypt too. But there
seems to have existed double standards in both countries. Because of that,
there exists no undisputed example of the cubit that remains to the present
time; so the length of the cubit has been variously estimated.
One of the ancient cubits was the length of a man's forearm, from the elbow
to the tip of the middle finger, as is implied from the derivation of the word
in Hebrew and from the Latin cubitum. It seems to be referred to also in
Deut 3:11 as "after the cubit of a man." But that's too vague, and unsuitable
for a scientific standard because not all men's arms are exactly alike.
The Babylonians employed two different cubits, the so-called royal cubit and
the common cubit. From the remains of buildings in Assyria and Babylonia,
the royal cubit is made out to be about 20.6 inches. A cubit of similar length
was used in Egypt. This was probably the cubit mentioned by Ezk 40:5 and
possibly that of Solomon's temple as "cubits after the first measure" (2 Chr
3:3)
The commercial cubit was shorter, and has been variously estimated at
between 16 and 18 inches or more, but the evidence of the Siloam
inscription and of the tombs in Palestine seems to indicate 17.6 inches as
the average length. That was the cubit of six palms, while the longer one
was of seven (Ezk 40:5). The cubit mentioned in Judges 3:16 is from a
different word, the Hebrew gomedh, and was probably shorter.
The cubit of Noah's day remains a total mystery. We have no way of
knowing exactly how long it was. Maybe Noah and his boys passed on their
antediluvian knowledge of weights and measures to the post-flood world and
it stayed pretty close to the original standards over the years; but it's
impossible to know for sure.
If we use an 18-inch cubit as a close approximation, then the ark would
have been in the neighborhood of 450' long x 75' wide x 45' high. The ark's
beam was 30 feet wider than its height, so should have proved very stable,
and difficult to capsize even in rough seas-- especially since it had a flat
bottom, which was good too for the purpose intended.
Nothing fancy. Since it didn't have to navigate, nor did it require a means of
propulsion, there was no practical need for a bow, or a stern, or a wheel
house, a rudder, sails, engine room, anchor, windlasses, or masts-- not even
a handrail around the main deck. Since the ark didn't have to cut through
the water like a schooner, there was no need for tapered undersides. All the
ark really had to do was float. It was really nothing in the world but a barge:
and a very crude barge at that. Really little more than a very large
watertight crate.
Compared to modern ships, 450 feet is not all that impressive. Oil tankers
are around 1,500, and the Nimitz aircraft carrier is about 1,092 feet. The
distance from home plate to the center field fence in major league baseball,
averages 400 feet or better. So the ark would just about fit into Yankee
stadium. The main playing area of a football field is 300 feet. Add 26 more
for the end zones, and the total is 326; which is still 124 feet short of the
ark's length but at least gives some idea of its scale.
†. Gen 6:16a . . Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and
terminate it within a cubit of the top.
The ark was probably capped with a steeply sloped roof so the immense
volumes of water falling from the sky during the rain stage of the Flood
wouldn't impinge it perpendicularly; but rather strike a glancing blow; and
the eves were likely quite considerable so water running off the roof wouldn't
find its way to the window. Whether or not the window was shuttered isn't
stated, but was very likely a practical consideration. The first forty days of
the Flood were extremely inclement.
When my son was a little boy I built a playhouse for him in the backyard
with ventilation somewhat similar to the ark's. The exterior siding on the
walls stop at the plate; and I left the 3½-inch space between the roof and
the plate unfinished. That way air can freely circulate in and out of the
playhouse. After my boy grew up, mommy raccoons starting using his
playhouse to birth their cubs.
The dimensions of the window aren't stated. It could have been as wide as
six feet and extended the full length and width of the ark-- all the way
around it; who really knows. The only requirement was that it be adequate
for light; but undoubtedly served for ventilation too. With all that respiration
going on in there, Noah's air supply would become foul in very short order.
†. Gen 6:16b . . Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with
bottom, second, and third decks.
A hatch in the hull was practical. Its cover could be let down as a boarding
ramp.
The very bottom of a ship is normally not counted as a deck. The lowest
deck is usually somewhat above the bottom and separated from it by a void
called the double bottom. That way if the actual bottom is pierced, the ship
won't sink because the void is sealed. Whether or not Noah's ark had a
double bottom is unknown; but likely it had at least a bilge because the
lowest deck needs to be above the bottom a bit so the passengers and crew
don't have to slosh around down there in the lower parts of the ship where
fetid water and other unsavory liquids typically collect.
The spaces between decks were fairly tall. If we divide 45 by 3 we get
roughly 15 feet apiece not counting a bilge, nor the thickness of the deck
planks and their beams. Fifteen feet can accommodate pretty tall animals;
and provide enough room for the birds to exercise now and then too.
An ark 450 feet by 75 feet, with three decks would have provided 101,250
square feet of living space. If Noah were resourceful, he might have installed
shelves and cabinets on the hull and the bulkheads, plus more on the
overheads, and the underside of the ark's roof for even more storage/living
space.
Detractors insist there wasn't enough space aboard for all the various
creatures in Noah's day, but they fail to take into account a few facts. For
one, nobody really knows how long the cubit of Noah's day was and, most
importantly, nobody really knows how many species of life existed in his
day. By the time Man appeared on this old earth of ours, some pretty
colossal mass extinctions had already taken place; and on top of that, the
species that exist on earth in our day, may not have existed in Noah's day,
but instead what we are seeing in our day is the result of millennia of
somatic mutations and adaptations.
Plus, larger creatures could have shared their spaces with smaller creatures,
even permitting the ones smaller than themselves to climb up and rest on
their backs. Life finds a way.
I wish we were told more about the ark-- how Noah and his boys fastened
all the wood together, and especially how they cut it to size. They say there
are seven wonders of the ancient world, but that is not quite accurate.
There's actually eight if we include Noah's ark. Sure, building a big wooden
barge like Noah's would be child's play for a modern shipyard like Northrop
Grumman Newport News; but in his day, it had to be quite a feat.
Cont.
/
