Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 6:14 - 6:16

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 6:14 - 6:16


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The Command to Build and Equip the Ark

v. 14. Make thee an ark of gopher-wood.
Noah and his family alone were exempted from the general destruction. For his preservation he was to build an ark, or ship of refuge, not so much for purposes of navigation, but for the carrying of a very great load. of gopher-wood the ark was to be built, which seems to have been a cypress-wood, very strong and able to withstand the influence of moisture very well. Rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. These compartments were not large rooms, but small cells, little cabins, intended for the housing of men and beasts. To make the vessel absolutely water-tight, all the seams, both inside and outside, were calked with pitch.

v. 15. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
Figuring a cubit at a foot and a half, the dimensions of the ark were 450 feet in length, 75 feet in width, and 45 feet in height. The cubic contents of the vessel thus exceeded 1,800,000 cubic feet, and afforded ample room for the purpose which the ark was to serve, being able, as has been demonstrated, to carry a cargo greater by one-third than any other form of like cubical content.

v. 16. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above.
The Hebrew text here indicates that an arrangement was made by which light and air could enter the ark, a light-opening, either under the ridge of the roof on one side, extending the entire length of the vessel a cubit in height, or in the upper deck, thus affording the opportunity for various light-openings in the interior. And the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. This was the entrance which the Lord afterwards closed, opening it again only at the end of the Flood. With lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. There were no individual openings for all these, but they were connected on the inside, probably by stairways, thus affording access to all the cells.