Noah's Ark

In the days of Noah, men had become completely wicked. The Bible says “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9b KJV) Noah must have had a hard time following God with all of the evil around him, but instead of feeling sorry for himself, he continued to walk with him. Walking with God is more than just following him. It means that Noah had a relationship with God. Noah depended upon him for his every need, obeyed him, worshiped him as his creator and spent time with Him every day.

God warned Noah that “The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.God then gave instructions to Noah about how he was to build the ark. The ark was so large, that it is hard for us to imagine something of this size. It must have taken Noah a long time to build the ark and gather so many animals. He also had to gather food to feed all of these creatures. Noah had to be a man of great faith and patience to complete this task.

He could have gotten angry at all the taunting he received and said I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm just giving up, but no, his faith in God got him through the job. I'm sure he turned to God many times in prayer asking for help.

1. The ark is estimated to have been 1 ½ football fields long and about 1/6 that wide. A boat of this size would have to have weighed about 14,000 tons.

2. Modern estimates are that it would have the capacity to carry as much as 522 railroad cars.

3. The ark was as high as a 4 story building. Each story was divided into individual rooms for the people and animals.

4. The ark was built out of gopher wood. Gopher wood is now believed to be cypress or cedar wood.

5. Pitch was used to seal the ark.

6. The ark was to have a door and windows.

After God told Noah how to build the ark, he then told him, “And behold, I even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.” (Genesis 6:18 KJV)

God then tells Noah who is to inhabit the ark.

1. There were 2 of each animal, a male and a female of each. It is estimated that there are 17,600 species of animals today, making 45,000 animals likely.

2. The animals that were used for offerings included 7 of each.

3. He was to include 7 of each fowl of the air.

4. The ark had to have enough food for each of these animals.

5. 8 people would inhabit the ark, Noah, his wife, and his 3 sons and their wives. Noah’s sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Food was to be stored up for the people also.

Even though the Bible doesn’t say so, I’m sure everyone was questioning Noah about his ark and thought he was crazy. Noah told them what would happen, but no one would listen. Obviously no one believed what God told Noah, because no one else was included when Noah and his family entered the ark. It had to take Noah many days to build the ark and many more days to collect all of the animals and food. Noah stayed strong in his faith, even when no one else did.

Genesis 6:22 says: "Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he."

Chapter 7 of Genesis tells us “And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for only thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” God also told Noah that in 7 days he would cause it to rain for forty days and forty nights. Now remember, Noah had to take all of the animals into the ark. That is probably why God told him 7 days ahead of time.

On the 7th day that Noah entered the ark, the rain began. I wonder if the people started to worry then if Noah was right about God destroying the earth. If they did, it was too late.

Where did all this water come from? The Bible says it rained 40 days and 40 nights. In Genesis 1:7 it says “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.” It is believed that this meant that there was a body of vapor above the earth making a canopy that made the earth much like a greenhouse. Not only could this account for the waters of the flood, but possibly why people before that time were able to live so many years. Subterranean waters also added to the water.

The Bible says the water stayed on the earth for 150 days. Everything on the entire earth that had the breath of life died. God then made great winds so that the water would dry up. The ark then rested on Mount Ararat. On the tenth month the tops of the mountains could be seen.

We know the story about how Noah sent out a raven and a dove and then the dove returned because it couldn't find a place to rest. The next time he sent out the dove, it returned with an olive branch. The last dove didn't return and Noah then it was soon time to leave the ark.

God promised Noah he would never destroy the earth again with a flood.