Skeptics (including the mainstream media) scoff at the account of the Genesis Flood and Noah’s Ark, and would sooner believe pagan legends about it than the Bible. But Christians have every reason to fully accept the Bible record as factual and historical. What Noah built was truly an amazing ship, equivalent to modern wooden ships such as 20th century schooners. According to chronologer Martin Anstey, the date of the Flood was AH (Anno Homini or the Year of Man) 1,656, which would be 2,348 years before Christ, or about 4,367 years ago.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8) which means that Noah was justified by grace through faith. But he was also a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), which means that he was calling on all the wicked to repent and turn to the LORD while God was longsuffering for 120 years. However, his preaching fell on deaf ears, and only he and his family (a total of eight souls) were saved out of the worldwide catastrophic Flood, which destroyed everything on earth other than the occupants of the Ark, which God commanded him to build.
God gave Noah the following instructions in order to build his amazing ship, and that was a long time ago: Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (Genesis 6:14-16)
Many have tried to determine the meaning of gopher (Heb גֹ֔פֶר (go·fer) wood, but no one really knows. Some have suggested cypress, but that is only conjecture. Whatever it was, since God selected that wood for Noah, it must have been the perfect wood to build a huge wooden ship which would be subject to tremendous forces and would remain on water for about one year.
God also told Noah to coat the Ark with pitch, both inside and outside. The Hebrew word is בַּכֹּֽפֶר (bak·ko·fer) which means “pitch”. Pitch is a very viscous resin which resembles coal tar, bitumen, or asphalt, and can be derived from plants (such as pine trees). It was a sealant meant to make the Ark watertight, and that is exactly how it functioned for Noah and all the occupants of the Ark. We need to bear in mind that God was overseeing this project, therefore there could not be any mistakes.
The dimensions of the Ark are given in cubits, and according to the information available on ancient measurements, the Hebrew long cubit of 20.4 inches must have been used by Noah. This is confirmed by Ark Encounter, where a replica of Noah’s Ark has been built in Kentucky according to that cubit. How Long Is a Cubit?.
Which means that the Ark was 510 feet long (nearly 1 ½ football fields long), 85 feet wide (slightly over half the width of a football field), and 51 feet high (higher than a five-storey house), or to round off the dimensions 500 x 85 x 50. This was bigger than the longest known wooden ship (or schooner) -- the Wyoming (1909-1924). While we do not know the shape of the ark, it had the dimensions of a true cargo ship (Noah’s Ark). Then we are told that a window of a cubit height (1.84 feet) was to be built as a skylight on the roof of the ark (presumably extending right across the roof), with a door on the side, and three storeys or levels within the Ark. The volume of the Ark was about 2.2 million cubit feet. We do not know if Noah hired any workers, or whether it was just him and his sons who did the work (which is more likely, since Noah was surrounded by evil men who would be scoffing at his supposedly fanciful project and his preaching).
Noah’s job was to save only air-breathing land animals, reptiles, and flying creatures (no fish, marine animals, or amphibians), as well as take in all the food suitable for his family and all the living creatures, in sufficient quantities to last for about 370 days: And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls [birds or flying creatures] after their kind, and of cattle [ הַבְּהֵמָה֙ (hab·be·he·mah) = animals] after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind [reptiles and other creeping things], two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
Estimates for the number of creatures within the Ark vary considerably from less than 1,000 to over 100, 000. The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris gives an estimate of 35,000. No one really knows. Some say “every sort” (each kind) means genus, others say it means family, others believe it means species. What we do know is that all the creatures survived after spending a whole year on the Ark.
Noah’s Ark came to eventually rest on Mount Ararat (which is presently at the extreme eastern border of Turkey, and called Agri Dagh). There is a picture of a geological formation which was supposedly identified as Noah’s Ark by Turkish army captain Lihan Durupinar in 1959. Most scholars have dismissed it as simply a natural rock formation. And Ararat is about 10,000 feet above this site. Other reports of the discovery of Noah’s Ark have not been widely accepted either.
The spiritual significance of the Ark is important, since it is a type of Christ. We see this in 1 Peter 3:20,21: Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Some interpret this as though the water of baptism saves us. But since Noah and his family were safe from the waters of the Flood while within the Ark, the meaning is that just as the Ark was immersed in water and the occupants were safe within, Christians are baptized into Christ and are safe within Christ. Only those people who are *in Christ* will be safe from (and saved from) God s wrath, which will be manifested in the near future. And only those who have been justified by grace through faith, and deemed righteous (as Noah was deemed righteous) will be in Christ. So Noah’s Ark is in fact another presentation of the Gospel.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD (Genesis 6:8) which means that Noah was justified by grace through faith. But he was also a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), which means that he was calling on all the wicked to repent and turn to the LORD while God was longsuffering for 120 years. However, his preaching fell on deaf ears, and only he and his family (a total of eight souls) were saved out of the worldwide catastrophic Flood, which destroyed everything on earth other than the occupants of the Ark, which God commanded him to build.
God gave Noah the following instructions in order to build his amazing ship, and that was a long time ago: Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (Genesis 6:14-16)
Many have tried to determine the meaning of gopher (Heb גֹ֔פֶר (go·fer) wood, but no one really knows. Some have suggested cypress, but that is only conjecture. Whatever it was, since God selected that wood for Noah, it must have been the perfect wood to build a huge wooden ship which would be subject to tremendous forces and would remain on water for about one year.
God also told Noah to coat the Ark with pitch, both inside and outside. The Hebrew word is בַּכֹּֽפֶר (bak·ko·fer) which means “pitch”. Pitch is a very viscous resin which resembles coal tar, bitumen, or asphalt, and can be derived from plants (such as pine trees). It was a sealant meant to make the Ark watertight, and that is exactly how it functioned for Noah and all the occupants of the Ark. We need to bear in mind that God was overseeing this project, therefore there could not be any mistakes.
The dimensions of the Ark are given in cubits, and according to the information available on ancient measurements, the Hebrew long cubit of 20.4 inches must have been used by Noah. This is confirmed by Ark Encounter, where a replica of Noah’s Ark has been built in Kentucky according to that cubit. How Long Is a Cubit?.
Which means that the Ark was 510 feet long (nearly 1 ½ football fields long), 85 feet wide (slightly over half the width of a football field), and 51 feet high (higher than a five-storey house), or to round off the dimensions 500 x 85 x 50. This was bigger than the longest known wooden ship (or schooner) -- the Wyoming (1909-1924). While we do not know the shape of the ark, it had the dimensions of a true cargo ship (Noah’s Ark). Then we are told that a window of a cubit height (1.84 feet) was to be built as a skylight on the roof of the ark (presumably extending right across the roof), with a door on the side, and three storeys or levels within the Ark. The volume of the Ark was about 2.2 million cubit feet. We do not know if Noah hired any workers, or whether it was just him and his sons who did the work (which is more likely, since Noah was surrounded by evil men who would be scoffing at his supposedly fanciful project and his preaching).
Noah’s job was to save only air-breathing land animals, reptiles, and flying creatures (no fish, marine animals, or amphibians), as well as take in all the food suitable for his family and all the living creatures, in sufficient quantities to last for about 370 days: And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls [birds or flying creatures] after their kind, and of cattle [ הַבְּהֵמָה֙ (hab·be·he·mah) = animals] after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind [reptiles and other creeping things], two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
Estimates for the number of creatures within the Ark vary considerably from less than 1,000 to over 100, 000. The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris gives an estimate of 35,000. No one really knows. Some say “every sort” (each kind) means genus, others say it means family, others believe it means species. What we do know is that all the creatures survived after spending a whole year on the Ark.
Noah’s Ark came to eventually rest on Mount Ararat (which is presently at the extreme eastern border of Turkey, and called Agri Dagh). There is a picture of a geological formation which was supposedly identified as Noah’s Ark by Turkish army captain Lihan Durupinar in 1959. Most scholars have dismissed it as simply a natural rock formation. And Ararat is about 10,000 feet above this site. Other reports of the discovery of Noah’s Ark have not been widely accepted either.
The spiritual significance of the Ark is important, since it is a type of Christ. We see this in 1 Peter 3:20,21: Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Some interpret this as though the water of baptism saves us. But since Noah and his family were safe from the waters of the Flood while within the Ark, the meaning is that just as the Ark was immersed in water and the occupants were safe within, Christians are baptized into Christ and are safe within Christ. Only those people who are *in Christ* will be safe from (and saved from) God s wrath, which will be manifested in the near future. And only those who have been justified by grace through faith, and deemed righteous (as Noah was deemed righteous) will be in Christ. So Noah’s Ark is in fact another presentation of the Gospel.
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