417 – The Ark

SEMESTER 2

417 – The Ark

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

COURSE:  BIBLE SURVEY II LESSON # 17
THE ARK

Read Genesis 6:14 through Gen. 7:16.

INTRODUCTION:

1. Much speculation prevails about the ark today.

i. Is it really preserved in ice on a mountain in Turkey?
ii. If so, why are searchers not allowed free expedition?
iii. If they are, what will we learn by it?

2. Whatever the answers to these questions, they are nonessen­tial.
3. The Bible tells us enough, and yet less than some think.
4. We shall consider what we do and do not know about it.

I. ITS MATERIAL – GOPHER WOOD

1. It is unknown what this wood really was.
2. The word gopher comes from an unused root-word which means to house-in.

i. Thus, it essentially means a tree or wood suitable for housing-in or building.

3. It is thought by many that it probably referred to the cypress.
4. It was covered with pitch, to guard against leakage, seepage and deterioration.

II. ITS DESIGN

1. It was three stories high (not necessarily equal stories).
2. It had rooms, but we are not told how many.
3. We do not know if it was boat-shaped or box-shaped, since flotation, not navigation, was its purpose.
4. It had a window above.

i. This does not necessarily mean in the top, it could be at the top.
ii. We are given only one dimension, thus the window could have been a cubit high and continuous around the ark.

5. It had one door. However, the lower, second and third stories may refer to the door, as well as the ark.

III. THE DIMENSIONS (IN CUBITS)

1. The question of size hinges on the length of a cubit.

i. C. I. Scofield’s Reference Bible gives 1 cubit = 18 inches.
ii. Thompson’s Chain Reference Bible gives 1 cubit = 1 ft. 9.888 inches.
iii. Palms, spans, and cubits were originally less definite measurements, a cubit being the distance from the elbow to the end of the index finger.

Note: My forearm and finger measurement is 21.25 inches. I favor the larger dimension.

2. This figure of 1 cubit = 21.888 inches would make the ark the following size:

i. Length – 547.20 feet
ii. Width – 91.20 feet
iii. Height – 54.72 feet
iv. Square footage per floor – 49,904.64 sq. ft.
v. Total floor space – 149,713.92 sq. ft.
vi. Cubit footage – 2,730,781.90 cubit ft.

IV. CONTENTS – TWO OF EVERY SORT, MALE AND FEMALE (GEN. 6:19)

1. There were to be 8 human beings.
2. There were fowls.

i. By sevens – (Gen. 7:3)
ii. By twos – (Gen. 6:20)

Note: I can only understand this to be 7 pairs.

3. Of the clean beasts, same as above. (Gen. 6:19, Gen. 7:2)
4. Of unclean beasts, two and two (Gen. 7:15). Consider also the possibility of 2 pairs.

Note: This does not have to mean some of every variety within every species, but only the proper number of every species.