ARK OF NOAH (תֵּבָה, H9310; LXX κιβωτον, meaning chest, box, or boat, or a vessel to float). A vessel that God ordered Noah to build, for the purpose of preserving a remnant of the human race, together with two each of all animals, through the Flood (Gen 6:14-16).

It was built of gopher wood, sometimes rendered “pine,” but usually “cypress,” a material resistant to decay. The specifications called for a size of 300 cubits in length, 50 in width, and 30 in height. It was to have rooms (or “nests”) and was to be caulked with bitumen or asphalt. The length of a cubit is unknown, but is commonly believed to be eighteen inches. If the short cubit of 17.5 inches is used, the displacement can be shown as 19,940 tons, and if the 22.5 inch cubit is used, as much as 43,000 tons. The dimensions are entirely practical for good capacity and stability. Nothing is said concerning its shape, but it must be visualized as only a floating craft, with no propulsion or control. The door had to be sufficiently large for embarking animals, and the window description is somewhat ambiguous, but is usually taken to be a continuous feature, running around the vessel, under the roof. A parallel description is found in the Sumerian-Babylonian story of Utnapishtim. At the conclusion of the Flood, the Ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat (Gen 8:4).

Warning of the Flood was given 120 years beforehand, with directions to construct the Ark (Gen 6:3, 13, 14; 2 Pet 2:5—in which it was shown as an example of God’s long-suffering and final judgment). Christ used the Ark and Flood as examples of coming judgment and salvation of a remnant (Matt 24:38, 39; Luke 17:27), while Hebrews 11:7 uses it as an example of faith.