THE ARK

Primary Bible Passages: Genesis 6:14-22

Key Verse: Genesis 6:14

Memory Verses: Genesis 6:22

Lesson Aim: to enhance the student's understanding that the ark was very real and fully capable of all which the biblical account claims.

Preparatory Daily Bible Readings:

Monday: Genesis 6:1-22
Tuesday: Genesis 7:1-24
Wednesday: Genesis 8:1-22
Thursday: Leviticus 16:6-34
Friday: Exodus 29:36-37, Romans 5:11
Saturday: Colossians 3:3, Ephesians 1:13-14
Sunday: Hebrews 11:6-7, Psalm 119:89,128,160

LESSON OUTLINE

I. THE ARK. (Genesis 6:14-16, Hebrews 11:6-7)

A. In view of God’s plans to destroy the world with a great Flood, He commanded Noah to build an Ark. (Genesis 6:14)

1.The Ark was to be constructed primarily of "gopher" wood, much of it apparently laminated. (Genesis 6:14) This gopher wood seems to have been a variety of cypress,¹ a wood of great durability and strength. This Ark was prophetic of Christ, the true Ark of safety for all who believe.

2. The whole Ark was to be sealed "within and without" with "pitch," which is kopher (ko’-fer). The word was used commonly to refer to a tar-like by-product of bitumen used for water-tight coating. The word was also used to refer to the dye made from the henna plant.

The word kopher² was later used figuratively in reference to the price of redemption. (Exodus 29:36-37, Leviticus 16:6-34, etc.) The "pitch" covering the Ark is a great picture and prophecy of the blood of Jesus Christ which covers all who are "hid with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:3, Ephesians 1:13-14) Believers are as one with God because of Jesus Christ and His work on their behalf. (Romans 5:11)

3. The Ark consisted of three floors. (Genesis 6:16) Scale models constructed by Eddie Atkinson, a well known authority on the Ark who has conducted extensive studies related to it, reflect a shallow bottom for refuse, a large center floor for a great percentage of the animals, especially the larger ones, and an upper floor for the remaining animals and the people.³

The three floors or decks of the Ark are symbolic of the trinitarian nature of God.

B. The Ark was very large in size and capacity, and it was well designed.

1. The dimensions of the Ark are given in cubits. (Genesis 6:15) It was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. With a cubit generally regarded as the distance from the inside of one’s elbow to the tip of the longest finger,⁴ obviously a cubit’s length would vary depending upon the stature of the individual used for the measurement. The need for a standardized cubit is obvious. Various ancient cultures had cubits varying from 17.5 inches to 24 inches. Most writers believe the Biblical cubit to be 18 inches.

Calculating the capacity by using the shortest of all cubits (17.5 inches), the Ark would have been 438 feet long, 72.9 feet wide and 43.8 feet high giving it a volumetric capacity of approximately 1,400,000 cubic feet. This is the equivalent capacity of 522 standard American railroad livestock cars.⁵ It was almost one and one-half times as long as a football field and as tall as a four-story building.

2. Until the late nineteenth century Noah’s Ark was the largest sea-going vessel ever built. It was built on a length to width ratio of six to one making it extremely stable and not given to pitching and rolling.⁶ The Ark was not a ship built for speed; it was a barge. It was very seaworthy and almost impossible to capsize.⁷ The lower its center of gravity sank into the water, the more difficult it became to capsize. ⁸

The U.S.S. New Mexico was built to almost the same dimensions as the Ark.

3. A large "window" for light and ventilation stretched across the top of the Ark from one end to the other. (Genesis 6:16) A sufficient overhanging roof and its capacity to be "opened" and closed (Genesis 8:6) prevented the entry of water.

II. THE CAPACITY OF THE ARK TO HOUSE TWO OF EACH ANIMAL ON EARTH, ALONG WITH SUFFICIENT FOOD FOR THE DURATION OF THE FLOOD.

A. Most objections to the Biblical claims regarding the Ark stem from ignorance of its capacity and of the size of its cargo during the Flood.⁹

1. As previously shown, the Ark was a very large and seaworthy vessel. Assuming it was built using the shortest of all cubits, its capacity was almost one and one-half the length of a football field and the Ark was as wide as a large warship.

2. Furthermore, its barge-like design not only significantly increased its capacity, it also made the Ark very stable.

3. Since the Ark had three decks, it had a total deck capacity of approximately 95,000 square feet which is slightly more than the combined area of twenty standard college basketball courts. Its height of almost 44 feet included three floors of varying heights. The bottom floor was shallow, apparently there for refuse and the upper deck was designed for human needs. These two relatively shallow decks made possible a large center deck of almost 32,000 square feet with plenty of head room for large animals such as dinosaurs and elephants. Its tonnage capacity was very near 13,960 tons.¹⁰

B. Some question the validity of the Genesis account of the Ark and the survival of breathing creatures in it for the duration of the Flood because of their ignorance of the size of the cargo.

1. The Ark would not have required nearly as much cargo space as many have assumed.

2. Two of each air-breathing animal on earth were to come into the Ark, one a male and the other a female. (Genesis 6:19-20) In the case of the "clean" animals, a total of seven were to come into the Ark. (Genesis 7:2-3) These "clean" animals were for repopulation after the Flood and for sacrifice.

3. A large percentage of all animals live in water. It was not necessary for any of these marine creatures to come into the Ark. ¹¹

4. To accomplish God’s purpose of preservation, only two of each specie of air-breathing animals were to come aboard the Ark. (Genesis 6:19) Sub-species were eliminated. Thus, only two of each bird specie, two dogs, two horses and two of each other specie were on board the Ark.

Many people are not aware of the proliferation of sub-species within the animal kingdom. Since the beginning, there is no verifiable evidence of vertical change from one specie to another, although there has been enormous change within each specie. For example, it is known that every variety of pigeon originated from one common stock, yet there are multitudes of varieties of pigeons. ¹²  It was necessary for Noah to have only seven pigeons in the Ark. They were "clean" fowls. In the case of buzzards, hawks, lions and other unclean animals, Noah needed only one male and one female of each specie regardless of how many varieties or sub-species existed at the time.

5. Authorities on biological taxonomy estimate that there are less than eighteen thousand species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians living in the world today. If that number is doubled to account for all extinct animals which are known from the fossil record to have existed, the total number of species known to exist, both currently and in the past, comes to 36,000. Allowing for a male and a female of every unclean specie plus seven individuals of every clean specie, the total number of animals on the Ark would not have exceeded 75,000 individuals. ¹³

6. When each animal specie is examined, it is found that the average size is smaller than that of a sheep, of which the Ark had a carrying capacity of 125,000. Seventy percent of all land animals are insects, all of which could have lived through the Flood on the backs of the two elephants.¹⁴ There were a few large animals on board the Ark, such as dinosaurs, elephants, giraffes, water buffalos and tigers; although multitudes of the animals, not considering insects, were very small. For example, mice, monkeys, snakes, raccoons, foxes and other such animals would require minimal space. The full cargo of one pair of every specie of animal on earth would have required only about 60% of the space of the Ark.¹⁵ There was plenty of room for food. Furthermore, it is quite likely that young specimen of these animals were directed by God into the Ark, particularly of the larger animals. These would have required even less space.

There was plenty of room on the Ark for it to accomplish the claims of the Bible. (Psalm 119:89,128,160)

 

FOOTNOTES

1. Strong, James, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, New York: Abingdon Press, 1958, reference 1613.

2. Ibid., page 3724.

3. Atkinson, Eddie, P.O. Box 1103, Latexo, Texas 75849.

4. Rimmer, Harry, The Harmony of Science and Scripture, Berne, Indiana: The Berne Witness Company, 1943, page 209.

5. Morris, Henry, The Genesis Record, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976, page 181.

6. Whitcomb, John C., Jr., The World That Perished, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978, page 20.

7. Whitcomb, John C., Jr., and Morris, Henry, The Genesis Flood, Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1992, page 103.

8. Rimmer, pages 220-221.

9. Rimmer, page 201.

10. Whitcomb and Morris, page 10.

11. Ibid., pages 68-69.

12. Ibid., pages 66-67.

13. Morris, page 185.

14. Rimmer, page 205.

15. Morris, page 185.

SUMMARY

At God’s command Noah built a very large Ark. Based on the shortest of all recognized cubits, the Ark was 438 feet long, 72.9 feet wide and 43.8 feet high. Even based on this very conservative length of a cubit (most writers consider a Biblical cubit to be 18 inches), the Ark would have been almost one and one-half times the length of a football field and as tall as a four-story building. It would have had the freight capacity of 522 standard American railroad livestock cars and a volumetric capacity of approximately 1,400,000 cubic feet. Until the late 19th century, the Ark was the largest vessel to ever float.

The three-story Ark was not built for speed; it was built for capacity and stability. It was really a barge-like vessel built on a length to width ratio of six to one. Its capacity to withstand waves and violent water currents was enormous. The deeper its center of gravity sank into the water, the more stable the craft became. The battleship U.S.S. New Mexico was built to almost the same dimensions as Noah’s Ark.

The Ark was full of spiritual symbolism. It was a foreshadow of Christ. As Noah was delivered from the Flood by the Ark, even so Christ is "the ark of safety" which will deliver believers from the wrath of God that is to come in the form of fire upon this current world which rejects Him. The Ark consisted of three floors which depicted the triune nature of God. The Ark was covered completely, within and without, with "pitch." The verb form of pitch, which means "to cover," is the Hebrew word for atonement. The pitch covering the Ark represents the blood of Christ, the only adequate covering for sinners. Along the length of the Ark, across the top, was a "window." The window not only served for ventilation, it also provided light in the Ark. It represents Christ as the light of life.

The Ark was fully capable of surviving the tempestuous events of the Flood and of housing Noah and his family plus all of the animals as claimed by the book of Genesis.

Skeptics of the Bible have long attacked the story of the Ark. They argue that the Ark could not possibly have housed a pair of each animal on earth for more than a year. Many of these objections to the Biblical account given in Genesis are based on the ignorance of the antagonist, who seldom knows how large the Ark was or how many species of animals were on board. Obviously one who would argue that an unknown number of animals could not be housed in a vessel of unknown size betrays his ignorance.

The Ark was a very large marine vessel. It was very wide and contained three decks with a deck space of almost 96,000 square feet, which is equivalent to the size of twenty combined standard college basketball courts. The three decks were not equally spaced within the height of the barge-like boat. The bottom deck was very shallow and appears to have been used for refuse. The upper deck was built to accommodate Noah and his family along with the birds and smaller animals. This made the center deck very deep and suitable for the relatively small number of large animals such as giraffes, elephants and dinosaurs.

The Ark needed only to accommodate a male and a female of each animal specie, plus five additional individuals of each "clean" animal. Two dogs, two ducks, two horses and so on were sufficient to accord with the Biblical claim. One pair from each sub-specie was not required. A large percentage of all animals live in water. None of these was to be in the Ark. Modern authorities on biological taxonomy estimate that there are fewer than 18,000 species of air-breathing animals on earth today. The fossil record shows that about that same number has become extinct. Considering that the Ark housed a male and a female of each specie that is known to have existed, plus seven individuals of every "clean" specie, the total number of individuals on the Ark would not have exceeded 75,000.

It is also a fact that the average size of the animals on earth is less than that of a sheep. The Ark had the capacity to house 125,000 sheep. It is also a fact that 70% of all land animals are insects. A pair of every insect on earth could have lived the entire year in the Ark on the backs of the elephant pair. The fact is that there were relatively few pairs of really large animals on the Ark. These had more than adequate space to live on the middle deck of the Ark, which had close to 32,000 square feet plus plenty of head room.

Considering the number of animals on the Ark and its great size plus a year’s supply of food, the Ark was not crowded. Only about 60% of its space was required. There was plenty of room to maneuver.

QUESTIONS

1. Of whom is the Ark prophetic and in what sense?

2. Explain the symbolism of the "pitch" which covered the Ark.

3. How is the trinitarian nature of God seen in the Ark?

4. Discuss the cubit.

5. Based on the shortest of cubits, what were the dimensions of the Ark in feet and inches?

6. Compare the Ark to something of similar size of which you have personal knowledge.

7. Discuss the carrying capacity of the Ark.

8. Discuss the stability of the Ark and its ability to withstand turbulent waters.

9. Describe the "window" in the Ark.

10. Enumerate some of the spiritual symbolisms of the Ark.

11. Explain the three decks of the Ark and how they perfectly accommodated the needs of all passengers.

12. Which animals were not on board the Ark?

13. How did the number of "clean" animals on the Ark differ from the number of "unclean" animals?

14. Which common animal represents the average size of animals?

15. What does the fossil record testify about extinct species?

16. Discuss the difference between a specie and a sub-specie.

17. Allowing for two individuals of all species known to have ever existed on earth plus seven individuals of all "clean" species, what would have been the maximum number of animals on the Ark?

18. How much space would be needed to house one pair of each insect specie?

19. Discuss the space on the Ark in light of the animals which were on board during the Flood.