.
I was thinking it might be fun to kick around some of the facts and figures
related to Noah's non nuclear-powered vessel. (Pavel Andreievich Chekov
pronounces it wessel in Star Trek IV; but what the hay; he's Russian so I'll
let him slide.)
†. Gen 6:14a . . Make yourself an ark
The Hebrew word for ark is tebah (tay-baw') and just simply indicates, not a
ship, but a nondescript box. The only other place tebah is used again in the
Old Testament is of the little watertight container Moses' mom constructed
to hide him from Pharaoh's assassins. (Ex 2:1-10)
†. Gen 6:14b . . of gopher wood;
Nobody really knows for sure exactly what kind of trees Noah used to make
the ark. The word for "gopher" has nothing to do with little subterranean
rodents. It's a transliteration of the Hebrew word gopher (go'-fer) which only
suggests a kind of tree suitable for building structures out of wood. Some
think it was cypress because the wood of those trees is so resinous that it
resists rotting even after prolonged submersion in water. Others think it may
have been cedar or spruce; which are good too. Unfortunately, this is the
one and only occurrence of gopher in the entire Old Testament so there's no
other passages that might help identify a specific kind of tree.
†. Gen 6:14c . . make it an ark with compartments,
The word for "compartments" is from qen (kane) which means: a nest (as
fixed), sometimes including the nestlings; figuratively, a chamber or
dwelling. The construction of nests (and stalls) indicates the animals weren't
just herded or jammed together like the crowds attending an outdoor
Metallica rock concert. They were neatly stowed aboard in their own areas
and apparently made to feel quite comfortable.
†. Gen 6:14d . . and cover it inside and out with pitch.
The word for "pitch" is kopher (ko'-fer) which means: a cover. It can also
mean a village (as covered in); and also bitumen (as used for coating) and
the henna plant (as used for dye).
Kopher is a common word in the Old testament for "atonement" which is like
pitch as a coating, or a covering, which is not only a sealing compound like
the stuff people apply to weatherproof their patio decks, but also a
concealment coating like paint and/or tar and feathers.
Coating the ark with bitumen not only served to waterproof it; but also
preserved the wood for future uses after the Flood subsided and Noah no
longer had need of a titanic water craft.
†. Gen 6:15a . .This is how you shall make it:
Some object that since paper and writing were not yet invented in Noah's
day, then God couldn't possible have provided him with plans for the ark.
But any pictograph, even one on a clay tablet or a rock face, qualifies as a
drawing. That objection infers that 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.
Other skeptics object that a wooden vessel the size of Noah's ark couldn't be
built because the timbers required for its structural strength would have
been so massive that Noah would never have managed to construct it. But
ancient craftsmen were far more ingenious than most people living today
realize.
For example, nobody yet has really figured out how the Egyptians built the
pyramids nor how the people of Easter Island cut, carved , and moved all
those big stone heads around. And the Egyptians aren't the only ones to
mystify us. There are ancient stone structures around the world that seem
impossible to be erected by human hands prior to the age of heavy
machinery; but nevertheless, there they are.
And not to forget that Noah's God was in the project. Since that's the case,
it's not unreasonable to assume God also provided Noah the tools necessary
to complete the task He assigned; and very, very possibly chipped in to help
out with the construction too. When people fail to factor in God, they
invariably end up mystified.
There's another possibility; though I wouldn't stick my neck out to defend it.
Gen 1:26 and Gen 3:22 suggest that God didn't do all the work of creation
by Himself; but possibly supervised a crew of angels during the cosmos'
construction. That same celestial construction crew may have assisted Noah
with the ark's construction-- but of course I'm only speculating.
So; how did Noah cut the logs that went into constructing the ark? Well;
according to the Bible, Cain's people were proficient with metals. If nothing
else; it's probably pretty certain that Noah had at least a metal hammer and
an axe; maybe several metal hammers and axes; and quite possibly saws
too.
†. Gen 4:2 . . And Zillah she too bore Tubal-cain, who sharpened all tools
that cut copper and iron
How did Noah join the logs and other wooden pieces that went into
constructing the ark? Well; you know, a good cabinet maker can assemble a
very nice armoire without using nuts and bolts by the strategic use of dowels
and clever joinery like grooves, rabbets, dovetails, mortises, and tenons.
Others object that a wooden vessel the size of the ark would never hold up
on the open sea without steel reinforcement; especially when the super
storm of Gen 8:1 began blowing to mop up the water. But again; those
objectors typically fail to factor in God's involvement in the Flood. You really
think He left the only surviving humans and the only surviving beasts on the
whole planet to the mercy of the elements? No; with God's oversight, even a
house of cards would have survived the Flood had He wished it to.
†. 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. This 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 the ark didn't have to navigate; then it didn't require a
means of propulsion nor was there any practical use 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 it didn't need 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 big. 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.
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. thus he would have taken advantage of not just the ark's square feet;
but also its cubic feet.
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.
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, many
of 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.
Some folk insist that Noah took dinosaurs aboard the ark; but
paleontologists are pretty sure the Jurassic era was over, done, and long
gone by means of a mysterious mass extinction event millennia before the
entrance of homo sapiens on the earth.
Others refuse to listen to paleontologists because according to Gen 1:24-31
God created all terra life, including homo sapiens, on the sixth day. But their
hang-up stems from assuming that the terms "evening and morning"
indicate a 24-hour event. In reality, the sun didn't become a time keeper
until the fourth day so that "evening and morning" prior to the fourth day
couldn't possibly indicate a 24-hour day. No; it makes far and away more
sense to understand the days of creation as epochs of undeterminable length
with evening and morning simply indicating the end of one epoch and the
beginning of another. Thus T-Rex got his piece of the sixth day, and Man
got his piece of it.
Some folk regard science an enemy of the Bible; but Galileo believed that
science and religion are allies rather than enemies-- two different languages
telling the same story. In other words: science and religion are not at odds;
no, in reality, science is simply too young to understand, and religion simply
too old; but each is being gradually updated by sharing the unique knowledge
that each brings to the table.
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.
Buen Camino
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