 | |
| General characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Length | 450 feet |
| Beam | 75 feet |
| Propulsion | None |
| Sail plan | None |
| Armament | None |
| Notes | [1], [2] |
When God created everything, he said it was "very good". Soon, however, Satan became jealous of God and tried to be like him. That, of course, was impossible, and God "declared war" on him. Satan turned his attention to earth and began to do his best to destroy creation. When he convinced Adam & Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, "sin entered into the world, and death by sin,"[1] and people became very wicked.
God saw that the earth was filled with violence and decided to destroy all life. But, because Noah "was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, [and] Noah walked with God," God gave him instructions for the ark, into which God told him to bring "two of every sort [of animal]...male and female ... everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life," and their food.[2]
God told Noah to board the Ark with his family, seven of the birds and the clean animals, and one pair of the unclean animals, after which God closed the door of the Ark. "On the same day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth," For the next 40 days it rained, until all the high mountains were covered fifteen cubits. Everyone, and everything that did not live in the sea, died, except for those in the ark.
Then "God remembered Noah," and made the wind blow, and the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, and the rain was stopped. The floodwaters began to recede, and in the seventh month the Ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat. In the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen, and Noah sent out a raven and a dove to see if the waters had subsided; the raven flew "to and fro" but the dove returned with a fresh olive leaf in her beak. Noah waited seven more days, and sent the dove out again. This time it did not come back. [3]
When the land was dry God told Noah to leave the ark. Noah offered a sacrifice to God, and God promised to never send a flood to destroy the earth again, "for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth."[3] God gave Noah and his sons the right to kill animals and eat their meat, but forbade meat which was not drained of its blood. God declared that blood is sacred, and strictly condemned murder: "For your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man...Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
Then God told Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
- ^ Romans 5:12
- ^ Genesis 6 and 7, ESV
- ^ a b Genesis 8, ESV
Size comparisons edit
- 450 x 75 = 6:1
- 620 x 105 = 124:21 (126:21 = 6:1)
- 562.7 x 92.5 = ~6.0283:1 (555:92.5 = 6:1)
- 555.75 x 90.6 = ~6.134:1 (555.75:92.625 = 6:1)