wood of frankin

applied to the ark of bulrushes in which Moses was laid, is different from the term used for the 'ark of the covenant' (177 aron) Ex. 25. 10. But in the Greek the same term («ßwros kibotos) signifying a hollow chest is applied to both. Comp. Heb. 11. 7, with 9. 4. As to the form of the ark, there is much difference of opinion among commentators. As it was not constructed so much with a view to progressive motion, as to float for a given time upon the water, it is not necessary to suppose it to have been modelled like the hull of a modern ship, or placed in a sort of boat, as in the common figures. We may be content with the simple idea given in the text, which is that of an enormous oblong box or flat bottomed wooden house, divided into three stories, and apparently with a sloping roof. Had it been built from a keel, with a curving bottom like a ship, it could not well have rested on the dry land after the flood without falling over upon one side or other to the imminent peril of all its inmates. Moreover, it is clear that it was not furnished with either mast, rudder, or sails; so that in all these particulars the work was a still greater trial of Noah's faith. The most moderate statement of its dimensions makes the ark by far the largest vessel ever made to float upon the water, as will appear from the statements below. Of gopher-wood. Heb. atze gopher, probably trees or rather woods of pitch, i. e. such as the pine, fir, cypress, turpentine, cedar, and other trees of a pitchy kind adapted to the purpose of ship-building. It is doubtful whether gopher is the name of any particular species of tree; if it were, usual analogy would seem to require that it should be in the plural, like wood of cedar trees, wood of fir-trees, kapharta bakkopher, thou wood of almug-trees. shalt coat it with a coating. The Heb.

we find cense, i. e. odoriferous wood, wood of oil, i. e. wood producing oil; and in like manner, we take to signify wood of pitch, or in other words as a general term for any kind of resinous wood suitable for the purpose. If any particular species of tree of this description be intended more than another, it is probably the cypress Gr. (KVяpicoos kuprissos), as the radical consonants (KUаp and 3) in the Greek and Hebrew words are the same, and as the cypress is eminently distinguished for its durability and the power of resisting the injuries incident to other kinds of wood, while its resinous properties would tend to render it impenetrable to water. Being a very compact and heavy kind of wood, and not liable to rot or become worm-eaten, it was much used in the construction of coffins among the Athenians, and of mummy-cases among the Egyptians. It is said too that the gates of St. Peter's church at Rome, which lasted from the time of Constantine to that of Eugene the fourth, that is to say, eleven hundred years, had in that period suffered no decay. This tree, therefore, if any, would seem to have the best title to the credit of having furnished the material for the ark, though it is highly probable that different kinds of pitchy or resinous wood would be employed in different parts of the structure.¶ Rooms shalt thou make in the ark, Heb. p nests; metaphorically applied to the numerous cells, cabins, or small apartments into which the interior of the ark was laid out. Chal 'mansions.' Comp. Job 29. 18. Obad. 4, where the word occurs in the sense of dwelling-places.- -T Pitch it withHeb. in and without with pitch.

This is the common and almost uni- kopher, closely related in sound form phraseology.

On the other hand

and sense to gopher above, as well

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.

as to

posed to denote some kind of bituminous substance which from its soft and pliable qualities was well adapted to smearing over the ark and closing every chink and crevice. A coat of it spread over the inside and outside of the ark besides producing a wholesome smell would make it perfectly water-proof, and the more so as the substance itself would probably be continually acquiring greater tenacity and hardness. The original word kopher is worthy of notice as the parent of our English word cover, and from its root 5 kaphar being often used in the sense of expiating, atoning, i. e. covering, sin; whence the noun itself in almost every other instance in the Scriptures is rendered atonement.' From the peculiar use of the term in this connection, some have supposed that we are to recognise in the ark thus covered a designed emblem of the church, the ark of salvation, the inmates of which are secured by the effects of Christ's atonement from the overflowing waters of God's wrath.

16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof: with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

As all the various

gophrith, sulphur, is sup-ships of the line of the largest class,
which upon a very moderate computa-
tion are capable of carrying 20,000 men,
with stores and provisions for six
month's consumption, besides 1800
pieces of cannon.
distinct species of four-footed animals
may be reduced to two hundred or two
hundred and fifty, it cannot for a mo-
ment be doubted, that the ark would
contain the specified proportion of
these, of birds, insects, and eight hu-
man beings, with the requisite supplies
of food for a year. Indeed the truth is,
as Bp. Wilkins has observed, 'that of
the two, it is much more difficult to
assign a number and bulk of creatures
necessary to answer the capacity of
the ark, than to find sufficient room
for the several species of animals al-
ready known to have been there.' The
objection therefore sometimes urged,
that the ark was incapable of affording
accommodation to its alleged inmates,
falls to the ground.-According to the
measurements given, the ark, being six
times as long as it was broad, and ten
times as long as it was high, had near-
ly the proportions of a perfect human
body.

15. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, &c. The ark, therefore, was by far the largest floating edifice ever borne upon the waters. There is some doubt as to the kind of cubit here alluded to; whether it were the common cubit of eighteen inches or the sacred cubit of about three inches longer. But taking the shortest of the two, it is capable of demonstration, that it must have been been of the burden of 43,413 tons. Now a first-rate manof-war is between 2200 and 2300 tons; the ark consequently possessed a capacity of storage equal to that of eighteen |

16. A window shalt thou make to the ark. Heb. tzohar. The true import of this word it is difficult to fix, as it occurs nowhere else but here. If taken to signify but a single window for so immense a building, it exhibits a sense which we may well hesitate to admit. It is a wholly different word from that used for the window (1 halon) which Noah is said ch. 8. 6, to have opened at the end of forty days, and unquestionably denotes an entirely different object. But what that object was precisely we

17 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.

r ver. 13. ch. 7. 4, 21, 22, 23. 2 Pet. 2. 5.

have not the means of ascertaining. That it was someway connected with the transmission of light, appears plain both from testimony of the ancient versions and from the etymological relations of the word. Its cognate roots

18 But with thee will I establish my covenant: and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

s ch. 7. 1, 7, 13. 1 Pet. 3. 20. 2 Pet. 2.5.

height. Door. Heb. n aperture, the open space in which a door is hung; for the door itself the language has another term. See note on Gen. 19. 10. The word is here doubtless to be taken in a collective sense, implying a number of openings in the different stories of the ark, designed for entrances for the animals, and afterwards probably for the admission of air and the discharge of ordure. As the ark, by its peculiar house-like construction, was adapted to float on a smooth sea, rather than to ride on a tempestuous one, we perceive no difficulty attending this mode of ventilation. The apertures might ordinarily be closed by lattice-work.

zahar, tahar, by tzahal all convey the idea of light, shining, splendour, and we find yitzhor, oil, so called from its shining. Moreover we meet with tzahorayim signifying noon, noon-day light, and occurring in the dual form, probably as intensive, denoting the strongest, brightest, i. e. the meridian, light. On the whole, we take it as a collective term for sky-lights constructed in some way in the roof of the ark, and perhaps of some 17. Behold 1, even I, do bring a flood transparent substance now unknown. To sonie contrivance of this nature may of waters. Heb. am bringing, probably be traced the conceits of the i. e. about to bring. See on v. 13. The ancient Rabbins relative to the tzohar. announcement of the fearful resolve is Thus in the 'Pirke Eliezer,' ch. 23, it is repeated to give it more emphasis. said, 'A certain precious stone was susThus when Joseph was called to interpended in the ark, which gave light to pret the dream of Pharaoh, he observed all the creatures therein, like a brightly concerning its being doubled, that was shining candle.' And the Targum of 'because the thing was established by Jonathan represents God as saying to God, and God would shortly bring it to Noah, 'Go thou to the Pison, and take pass.' Such strong language would thence a precious stone, and place it in convey moreover the impression, which the ark for the dispensation of light.' was probably designed, that the threat-¶In a cubit shalt thou finish it ened flood should not be owing to natabove. That is, the ark, not the win-ural causes, but to the immediate agendow. The roof was to be raised in the cy of omnipotence; and it is somewhat middle like that of a house so as admit remarkable that the original word here of a gentle slope on each side. The used for flood ( mabbul, Gr. kataelevation was to be one cubit above the Avopos cataclysm) is limited, in its aphorizontal plane; or in other words, plication, to the general deluge, not bewhat are technically termed the king-ing employed in reference to any other posts supporting the ridge of the roof kind of inundation; as if the spirit at either end, were to be one cubit in would intimate by this appropriate

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee: they shall be male and feinale.

20 Of fowls after their kind

t ch. 7. 8, 9, 15, 16.

term that the present judgment was to be unique in its character; that however many partial inundations might happen in particular countries, there was never to be but one general deluge.

and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind; two of every sort "shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

u cb. 7. 9, 15. See ch. 2. 19.

them alive with thee. Heb. 1^mn)

to cause to live. Gr. va rpens that thou mayest nourish. The precise shade of meaning conveyed by the original of this word is often lost sight of in our translation. The verb to live in what are termed the Piel and Hiphil conjugations, which have a causative import, for the most part denotes not so much the continued preservation as the revival or restoration of life from a pre

18. With thee will 1 establish my covenant. That is, do enter with thee into a solemn engagement, pledging myself to thy preservation by bringing thee and thine into the ark. As the work in which Noah was now to engage was in itself arduous and likely to be vious state of actual or virtual death. attended with many trials arising from the unbelief and malice of an ungodly The English word quicken is perhaps its world, such a gracious assurance was best representative in such cases. Thus peculiarly seasonable, and calculated 1 Sam. 2. 6, 'The Lord killeth and greatly to animate him in the under- maketh alive (-).' Ps. 30. 3, 'Thou taking. The original term rendered hast brought up my soul from the covenant' ( berith), for the most grave: thou hast kept me alive (~70777) part though not always, implies a that I should not go down to the pit;' mutual compact between two parties, i. e. thou hast quickened me when virand in this instance not only involves tually by my imminent exposure I had the idea of a pledge, promise, or assur- descended to the pit. 2 Kings, 8. 1, ance on the part of God, but a re-stipu- 'Then spake Elisha unto the woman, lation also on that of Noah, that he whose son he had restored to life would in faith and obedience construct().' See my notes on Josh. 6.25 and enter the ark, and commit himself and 14. 10, where this sense of the term in simple trust to the keeping of a faith- is still more fully illustrated. Here the ful providence. The matter and condi- word is in the Hiphil or causative form, tions of the covenant appear to be con- and doubtless carries with it the implitained in the ensuing verses to the 21st. cation, that the creatures to be kept These comprise the things covenanted, alive in the ark were virtually extinct and as the performance of them sup- by means of the general judgment of poses the agency both of God and the deluge, and that their preservation Noah, hence the reciprocal character of was no other than a kind of revival or the compact is manifest. resuscitation of life to them. 'A life remarkably protracted is, as it were, a new life.' Henry. For a strikingly similar phraseology, see Ex. 7. 14-15. and what is there said of Pharaoh's being raised up, i. e. quickened, from virtual destruction. Shall come unto

19. Of every living thing. Excepting of course the tenants of the deep. - Two of every sort. Or, Heb. 'by twos,' i. e. by pairs. There were to be at least two, but of the clean beasts more. Gen. 7. 2.- -¶ To keep