ARK OF NOAH, a hollow vessel, fitted for swimming in the water ; and built by Noah, under the divine di rection, for the preservation of himself, his family, and other living creatures, during the universal deluge.
Almost every circumstance connected with the ark, has given rise to immense variety of opinions ; most of which have no better foundation than mere conjecture. There is no room in an article of this nature, and no very certain data at any time, for entering into much dis cussion upon the subject. All that can be done, there fore, and indeed all that is necessary, is simply to state, for the reader's information, the different notions which have been formed upon the principal points of enquiry.
1. Time of its construction. It is generally understood to have been completed in the 1656th year of the world, at the time when the deluge commenced ; but how long Noah was employed in preparing it, is not so apparent. According to the Mahometan writers, it was begun in the year 1604, which allows 52 years ; according to Be rosus, in 1578, which allows 78 ; according to others, in 1556, which allows 100 ;'and, according to most authors, in 1536, which allows 120. The two last are the most probable suppositions, and receive some support from the testimony of sacred scripture. In favour of the first of these, it is alleged, that Noah is stated to have been 500 years old, immediately before the ark is mentioned ; and 600, when the deluge took place. (Gen. v. 32. vii. 6.) While it is urged, on the other hand, that from I Bet. in. 20, compared with Gen. vi. 3, the ark appears to have been preparing during the whole period of the divine forbearance, viz. 120 years.
2. Place where built. On this point also there are ve ry different opinions. One writer fixes upon the plains of Sodom in Palestine ; another, upon Mount Caucasus, on the confines of India ; a third, upon some part of Chi na ; and the greater part, upon the territory of Babylon in Chaldea. In order to determine this matter, several considerations have been proposed ; such as, that Noah cannot be supposed to have removed, far from the neigh bourhood of Eden ; that, as the ark was not fitted for moving to a great distance, it must have been construct ed near the place where it rested, viz. Mount Ararat ;
that, as much timber would be required for so large a vessel, it must have been built where the particular wood of which it was made abounded. But all these points are themselves subjects of dispute ; and it is still to be determined where Eden and Ararat are situated, or what was the tree from which the vessel in question was formed.
3. Its materials. Here the scripture says expressly, that the ark was built of gopher wood ; and covered over with bitumen, or pitch. But there is an amazing diversity of opinion as to the kind of wood denoted by the term gopher. By the LXX. it is rendered square timber, i. e. timber squared by the workmen, or, accord ing to Vossius, the timber of those trees which shoot out quadrangular branches in the same horizontal line, such as fir, pine, cedar, 8ce. ; by Jerome, in the vulgate, it is rendered smoothed or planed timber ; by Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, light floating wood ; by others, wood that does not easily corrupt, such as box and cedar ; by others, pitched wood ; by others, again, it is even ren dered wicker-work, basket-work ; and it is interpreted by Parkhurst, as probably nothing more than a general name for such trees as abound with resinous inflammable juices, as the cedar, cypress, fir, pine, &c. Cedar is the wood which best corresponds with the greater number of these different significations, as it is light and qua drangular in its branches, durable and incorruptible, re sinous and inflammable ; as it is abundant also in Asia, known to have been employed by the Assyrians and Egyptians in the construction of ships, and supported by the interpretations of Onkelos and Jonathan, and most of the old rabbins. Fuller and Bochart, however, maintain it to have been the cypress ; because its Greek name bears a near resemblance to the Hebrew of gopher ; be cause it was considered by the ancients as the most dur able wood against rot and worms ; because it abounded in Assyria, where the ark was probably built ; and be cause it was well calculated, and was frequently used, for ship-building, especially by Alexander the Great, who built a whole fleet from the Cypress groves, in the neighbourhood of Babylon.