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 | Why was the ark and flood necessary? The Bible, starting in Genesis 6:6, records that God was concerned about the level of wickedness, violence, and other evil behavior among humans. God apparently assumed that when he created Adam and Eve that the human race would turn out to be acceptable in his sight. God apparently was unable to foretell the future and realize that humans would turn out to behave so badly. He repented that he had created Adam and Eve. God decided to destroy all humans and other land animals, in the largest and most thorough act of genocide in history. All of the men, women, youth, children, infants and newborns, as well as birds and land-dwelling animals, were to be drowned in a great, world-wide flood. Because Noah was a decent man -- alone as such among the human race -- , the lives of Noah, his three sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth), and their four wives were to be spared. They were to escape drowning by entering an ark. | ||||||
| What did/does the ark look like? According to Genesis 6:14-16,
the vessel was
to be made with planks of gopher wood sealed with a material called "chemar" in
Hebrew.
This has variously been translated
as bitumen, slime and tar. The ark was to be 300 cubits (138 meters,
453 ft.) long, 50 (23 meters, 75.4 ft.) wide and 30 (14 meters, 45.9 ft) deep.
This is based on the standard 46 cm. long regular cubit, which is an ancient unit of
distance. It was the typical distance from an adult's elbow to the tip of their
longest finger. The ark was to have one door, built into its side, and a window. The inside of the ark was to be divided into three floors. It would house the 8 people, and the animals. | ||||||
| What animals
were to be loaded on board?
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| The flood itself:
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References:
- Bert Thompson, "In defense of...The Genesis flood, Part 1," Reason & Revelation, 1998-AUG, 18[8]: Pages 57-63. See: http://www.apologeticspress.org/rr/rr1998/r&r9808a.htm
- Wilfred Elders, "Problems with 'Flood' Geology," at: http://home.attbi.com/
Copyright © 2000 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-AUG-27
Latest update: 2007-OCT-27
Author: B.A. Robinson
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