Noah's Ark
2V2
Cho, Eunhae
2004-10-20
Looking Closer into the Bible: the Noah¡¯s Ark
The story of Noah¡¯s Ark is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. God who saw the world that he had created, the abominable practices of mankind and their wickedness, decided to extinguish all living things on earth. He told Noah, the only man that God found uncorrupted, that he was going to bring a huge deluge to the earth. Only Noah and his family shall survive through this flood by building an ark that would last for the period of flood. After listening to God¡¯s instructions about the ark, Noah built a huge ark, prepared an ark that could contain 8 people and a pair of every animal species. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights as God had told Noah, and after the flood, Noah settled down on earth again, and spread life on earth which eventually is the whole population today.
The story of Noah¡¯s ark is well-known throughout the globe, but it is fair to say that is not looked at closely enough into details, especially the design of it.
Prof. Cho of Hongik University, a noted marine engineer in Korea, published a book this fall, entitled From Noah¡¯s Ark to the Deep Sea. In the book, there are some descriptions of the design of the Noah¡¯s Ark. According to Cho, the Ark¡¯s design is extremely suitable for enduring the waves for a long period of time-, and the science of dimensions of the Ark is are comparable to those supplied by today¡¯s most updated science of shipbuilding.
Nowadays, a ship¡¯s balance between the stability and mobility, in other words, whether the boat is suitable for sailing is measured by calculating the ratios of the ship¡¯s Length to the Breadth (L/B), Length to the Height (L/D), and Breadth to the Height (B/D). The optimum of these measures are 6.0~7.5 (L/B), 11.0~12.0 (L/D), and 1.6~1.8 (B/D). Surprisingly, the measures of the Noah¡¯s Ark are L/B = 6.0, L/D = 10.0, B/D = 1.7, which are within or very close to the optimum measures. The B/D measurement especially, which is crucial in terms of stability, explains how the Ark could have survived through the turmoil of water from the rain.
Also, according to Cho, the Ark¡¯s 3 floor decks could also be interpreted as the bulkheads that are used currently in shipbuilding. Together, the dimensions and the inside designs are the factors that make the Ark truly amazing, Cho claims.
Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and finish the ark a cubit above it. Put an entrance in the side of the ark, which you shall make with bottom, second and third decks. (Genesis 6:17)
Whether this claim is really true should be considered carefully. The dimensions and the measurements of stability could be striking if Noah¡¯s Ark, which people usually think of as a huge boat made without any specific scientific knowledge, actually embodies the most advanced technology of shipbuilding. However, the Ark¡¯s bulkheads¡¯ contribution to stability is dubious.
The ¡°Bulkhead¡± structure of a boat is what professionals call ¡°Plank-on-Bulkhead¡± design. It uses cross-wise slices of hull to shape ¡°bulkheads¡± which are fastened to a ¡°backbone¡± with the profile of the hull .
However, the ¡°bulkheads¡± of Noah¡¯s Ark described in the Bible do not resemble those of the Plank-on-Bulkhead model at all. They are clearly to be interpreted as ¡°decks.¡±
Dividing the Ark into three floors does not fulfill the purpose of real bulkheads. The bulkheads are built into ships in order to slow down the rate at which water comes into the boat when the hull is breached. The function of bulkheads is well shown in the movie Titanic.
Besides the dimensions and the floors of the Ark that Cho has explained, God gave many detailed instructions how to build the Ark. Some of them sound scientific, while others sound outrageous.
Make yourself an ark of Gopherwood. Put various compartments in it, and cover inside and outside with pitch. This is how you shall build it: the length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and finish the ark a cubit above it. Put an entrance in the side of the ark, which you shall make with bottom, second, and third decks.(Genesis 6:14~16)
The mentioned materials the Ark should be made out of are ¡°gopherwood¡± and ¡°pitch.¡±
First, the gopherwood mentioned generates a problem. There is no wood called ¡°gopherwood.¡± Various dictionaries such as Oxford Dictionary and the World Book Dictionary simply say ¡°the wood the Noah¡¯s Ark was made out of,¡± with no further mentioning about the identity of this wood.
There are diverse opinions about what Gopherwood actually is; the most popular among them are claims that it is cypress or cedar. These two trees, with outstanding durability and abundance in the Armenian mountains and would fit the Bible description. However, both of these trees are mentioned in other parts of the bible with other names. Cypress is Tirzah, and Cedar is Erez in a Hebrew version of the Bible. Again, the identity of Gopherwood remains mysterious.
Another implication could be that the word ¡°gopherwood¡± is not related to any specific kind of wood. The Hebrew word go-fir means ¡°to build.¡± Therefore, there is a high possibility that ¡°go-fir wood¡± is actually just ¡°lumber¡±; plain wood for building.
Second, ¡°Pitch¡± is mentioned in the Bible to be used on the inside and outside of the Ark. Pitch is a black or dark viscous substance obtained as a residue in the distillation of organic materials and especially tars or resin obtained from various conifers and often used medicinally. It is still used today on the surface of houses or boats. God¡¯s advice to use pitch is most likely to prevent water from seeping into the boat. This usage is very clever and scientific.
To sum up, although the specific materials that were used in building the Ark is unknown, the instructions given by God are reasonable and relatively advanced.
The dimensions of the ark mentioned are 300 cubits x 50 cubits x 30 cubits. The cubit is a measurement used by the ancient Egyptians, which is the length from the tip of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. The average cubit is said to be about 18 inches. When converted assuming that a cubit is 18 inches, the ark¡¯s dimensions are 440 ft. x 73 ft. x 44 ft., or 138 m x 23 m x 13.8m. Considering the volume of this boat which is 43801.2 m^3, it is truly a huge boat, even by modern standards, approximately half of the well-known Titanic. Also, not considering the height, the bottom is approximately half of American College football field dimensions, which are 395 ft. x 245 ft.
In the Bible, God gives Noah specific directions two times, with slightly altered details; once in Genesis 6:14 and later in Genesis 7:01~05
Then the Lord said to Noah: ¡°Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just¡¦(descriptions about the animals that Noah should bring along)¡¦ Seven days from now I will bring down rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth every moving creature that I have made. (Genesis 7:01~7:04)
The descriptions made in 6:14 have no indication as to when God is saying this to Noah, and therefore nothing that might suggest the number of days to prepare for the ark and all the animals. In the second description, God specifically says that he will bring down the rain in 7 days. Then it would be more reliable to say that Noah had 7 days for preparation than 120 years, as the latter claim is not corroborated by any part of the Bible.
The collection of animals also is interesting. In Genesis 6:19~20, God tells Noah that he shall ¡°bring,¡± of all animals in the earth, two into the ark, one male and one female that he may keep alive with him. However, God tells Noah in Chapter 7 of Genesis to bring 7 pairs of the ¡°clean¡± animals, and one pair of ¡°unclean¡± animals.
The definition of ¡°clean¡± and ¡°unclean¡± animals is mentioned in chapter 11 of Leviticus in the Old Testament. The summary of Leviticus 11 is:
1. Animals that are cloven-footed and chew the cud are ¡°clean¡± animals.
2. Anything that lives in water that has fins and scales is ¡°clean¡± and edible.
3. All the birds are edible and ¡°clean¡± except common birds of prey and scavengers such as eagle, owl, and hawk.
All insects of usual features are ¡°clean¡± and edible; abnormal ones that go on all fours are abominable.
These words require Noah to bring a pair of every animal, and 6 additional pairs of ¡°clean¡± animals. As the definition of ¡°clean¡± animals is not confined to region, if Noah has to go ¡°bring¡± those animals, he has to travel all over the earth to find a pair of every species of every animal. It currently requires minimum 30 hours of boarding on an airplane to travel around the globe without resting, given the assumption that the airplane has enough fuel for such travel. In the time of Noah when no airplane was invented, and sailing was the only route to travel from one continent to another, it seems preposterous to visit each continent in 7 days. At this rate, picking up 6 pairs of additional ¡°clean¡± animals of every species from every continent is obviously impossible.
The duration of actual stay of Noah¡¯s family in the ark is worth examining. The period of time the Noah family and the animals stayed in the ark is specifically mentioned in the bible.
A brief timeline of Noah¡¯s journey in the ark would be,
- 2/17 They went into the ark.
- It rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
- The waters maintained their crest over the earth for 150 days.
- 7/17 The boat rested on Mt. Ararat.
- 10/1 The tops of the mountains appeared.
- 11/10 Noah sends out a raven, which returns as there¡¯s no place to rest.
- 11/17 Noah sends out a second dove, which brings back him an olive leaf.
- 02/17 Noah and his animals come out of the Ark.
In the evening the dove came back to him, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! (180 days after the start of the rain)(Genesis 8:11)
In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. (Genesis 8:14)
In 2/27 of the next year, Noah and the family finally came out of the ark. This means that Noah and his family lived in the ark for exactly a year.
In conclusion, the passage of Noah¡¯s Ark (Genesis chapters 7 and 8) reveals many scientific descriptions about the event, and of Noah¡¯s Ark. The design has certain elements that are far beyond the age of Noah; actually, of the current age, which makes it distinguished and surprising. However, there are many parts of the passage that seem impossible or vague to the common knowledge, such as the collection of ¡°clean¡± and ¡°unclean¡± animals in 7 days, and the obscurity of the materials that the ark was made out of.
The descriptions about the Flood and the construction of the ark may have some factual errors or loopholes in them, if they are considered literally. However, one should always remember that the real intention of this part was to say that God, with his tremendous power on all creatures, purified the earth using water and created the environment for the descendents of Noah the flawless man, to become what is now.