Besides Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives, living creatures “of every sort of flesh, two of each,” were to be taken aboard. The passenger list of the ark was quite impressive. In addition, Noah was told not merely to caulk the seams but to “cover inside and outside with tar.”-See BITUMEN.Īmple Carrying Capacity. Doors and posts made of cypress are reported to have lasted 1,100 years. In that part of the world what today is called cypress was in abundant supply it was particularly favored for shipbuilding by the Phoenicians and by Alexander the Great, as it is even down to the present time and it is especially resistant to water and decay. ” ( Ge 6:14) This resinous wood here prescribed is thought by some to be cypress or a similar tree. Of what this huge ark was to be built was made plain by Jehovah: “Make for yourself an ark out of wood of a resinous tree. According to the argument that has been presented, the roof of Noah’s ark was conceived as having a four per-cent pitch (1 cubit elevation - 25 cubits from wall to ridge), quite adequate to permit the water of the rains to flow off.” In modern architectural terms, the ‘one cubit’ would be the height of the kingposts between which the ridgepiece is laid. . . If, however, a gable-type roof be postulated, the ‘one cubit upward’ can refer to the elevation of the crease of the roof above the level of the tops of the walls. Regarding this possibility James F. Armstrong wrote in Vetus Testamentum (Leiden, 1960, p. 333): “‘Unto a cubit upward you shall finish it’ is difficult to understand when sohar is translated either ‘light (= window)’ or even ‘(flat) roof’. On the other hand, while still allowing an ample opening for ventilation under the roof or elsewhere, the roof could have had slightly angled sides. It could be, therefore, that the tsoʹhar provided for adequate light and ventilation, not just a single cubit-square “peephole,” but an opening a cubit in height near the roof and extending around the four sides to give an opening of nearly 140 sq m (1,500 sq ft).
Others, however, associate tsoʹhar with a later Arabic root meaning “back (of the hand),” “back (of a beast),” “deck (of a ship),” that is, the part away from the ground or water, and for this reason translate it “roof.” ( AT, RS, JB) This tsoʹhar, Noah was told, was to be completed “to the extent of a cubit upward.”- Ge 6:16. Some scholars think tsoʹhar is related to light and so they translate it “window” ( KJ, Mo), “light” ( AS, JP), “a place for light” ( Ro). ( Ge 6:16) Just what this was or how it was constructed is not altogether clear. “You will make a tsoʹhar for the ark,” Noah was told. Internally strengthened by adding two floors, the three decks thus provided gave a total of about 8,900 sq m (96,000 sq ft) of space. No known cargo vessel of ancient times even slightly resembled the ark in its colossal size. This gave the ark approximately 40,000 cu m (1,400,000 cu ft) in gross volume.
This proportion of length to width (6 to 1) is used by modern naval architects. × 43 ft 9 in.), less than half the length of the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2. Conservatively calculating the cubit as 44.5 cm (17.5 in.) (some think the ancient cubit was nearer 56 or 61 cm), the ark measured 133.5 m by 22.3 m by 13.4 m (437 ft 6 in. In size the ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. There was a door provided in the side of the ark for loading and unloading the cargo. A vessel so shaped is very stable, cannot be easily capsized, and contains about one third more storage space than ships of conventional design. It needed no rounded bottom or sharp bow to cut rapidly through the water it required no steering its only functions were to be watertight and to stay afloat. tosʹ) was a rectangular chestlike vessel presumably having square corners and a flat bottom.(See DELUGE NOAH No. 1.) Detailed instructions were given to Noah by Jehovah as to its size, shape, design for light and ventilation, and materials to be used for its construction.- Ge 6:14-16.ĭesign and Size. Noah’s ark was the provision by which forefathers of all mankind survived the global Deluge of 2370-2369 B.C.E.