Introduction
In the previous article in this series, we began to consider some of the lessons we can learn from the Bible’s record of the ark’s construction. One of the details worth noting is that God told Noah to make “rooms” in the ark. The Hebrew word translated “rooms” is kane, and it means “nests.” In fact, that is how that word is translated every other time that it appears in the Bible. So, God commanded Noah to build “nests” in the ark. That is, He told him to create homes that were suitable for the animals. This command offers wonderful insight into the kindness and compassion of God. He knows the needs of all of His creatures and makes provision for them. And if He takes such good care of mice, doves, and other animals that have no awareness of His existence, imagine how gracious He will be to us if we put our trust in Him.
The dimensions of the ark are given in Genesis 6:15. It was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Lots of suggestions could be made about the spiritual significance of these numbers. I think it is interesting to note that they are all divisible by five. Five represents grace, so it could be said that there was grace all over the ark.
A cubit was about 18 inches. So, the ark was around 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It consisted of three stories (Gen 6: 16). Therefore, it had over 100,000 square feet of floor area. It was huge. It has been estimated that its carrying capacity was greater than 500 railroad cars.
As a symbol of salvation in Christ, it is fitting that the ark had one door. The Lord Jesus identifies himself as the door: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9).
And the ark also had only one window (Gen 6: 16). It seems unlikely that it was in the side of the ark. Then Noah could have looked out and seen the Flood waters receding. But subsequent chapters indicate that he was not able to do that. After the Flood, he had to send birds out of the ark to get a sense of what was happening outside. So, the window was probably in the roof of the ark. It was more like a skylight. If that was the case, then Noah and his family would only have been able to look up to the heavens from inside the ark. That certainly seems fitting as far as the symbol is concerned. As believers, we are supposed to lift up our eyes, as it were, instead of focusing our attention on the world around us: “Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens” (Psa 123:1).
So, the ark had one source of light, one way in, and plenty of room for all who wished to avail themselves of the safety that it afforded. It is a wonderful depiction of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the Flood waters came, it lifted righteous Noah and his family above the tumult and destruction that engulfed the world around them.
“With thee will I establish my covenant”
There are times when disregard for God seems to be everywhere. That was the way it was in Noah’s day. People acted without care for what God thought. The same thing is increasingly true today. But God did not allow people’s attitude towards Him to defeat His purpose in Noah’s day, and He certainly will not allow that to happen now.
God created the world to fill it with His glory. When the antediluvians became corrupt, God did not destroy them all and start over. Then His original plan would have failed. Instead, God saved Noah and his family so that His purpose would be achieved through them. They would live, and many righteous men and women would descend from them as a result.
Perhaps that is why the word “covenant” appears in this context: “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” (Gen 6:18). This passage is the first place where the word “covenant” is used in the Bible. And there is probably a reason for that.
Before the Flood took place, God told Noah that He was going to make a covenant with him. But He did not actually make that covenant with him until after the Flood occurred (Gen 9: 9). Therefore, God’s statement in Genesis 6: 18 amounted to an assurance to Noah that he was going to live through the Flood. And through Noah’s survival, God was going to preserve His plan to fill the earth with His glory.
The promise of a covenant also gave Noah hope in a dark and challenging time. It would have made it easier for him to stand out by building the ark, and to endure the discouragement of preaching to a people whose hearts were callous towards spiritual things.
We should likewise look to the hope that has been offered to us in the Bible, and we can rest assured that the promises God has made will be fulfilled. So, when we see wickedness all around us, we should not lose heart. When temptations seem to press upon us, we must not give into them. We must be steadfast in our commitment to God, knowing that His purpose will prevail, and He will reward those who have been faithful, just as He always has.
“Every living thing of all flesh”
When God made His covenant with Noah after the Flood, He included the animals in it as well: “And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth” (Gen 9:9-10). Those animals had also been preserved by being brought into the ark: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female” (Gen 7:2).
It is interesting to note that there was a distinction between clean and unclean animals in Noah’s day, even though the Law of Moses was not in effect at that time. (The Law of Moses later made distinguishing between clean and unclean animals a significant part of the religious life for the children of Israel.) God must have told Noah which animals He regarded as clean and which were unclean, and He probably did so as a way of reinforcing the spiritual lessons that were conveyed by grouping the animals that way.
Leviticus 11 gives the characteristics of clean animals: “Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted , and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat” (Lev 11:3). Clean animals had a cloven foot, which is a hoof divided into two parts. That made them sure-footed in their walk, which is a characteristic that God wants to see in us. “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places… Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip” (Psa 18:33,36). Clean animals also “chewed the cud.” Animals that chew the cud are called “ruminants.” They chew their food, swallow it, and it is partially digested in their first stomach. Then they regurgitate it into their mouths where they chew it a second time before swallowing it again. The image of animals chewing the cud reminded people of the process of thinking something over. In fact, the English word “ruminate,” which means “to think,” is derived from the word “ruminant” that characterizes these animals. The importance of ruminating on spiritual things is the lesson that is conveyed by the clean, cud-chewing animals. God does not merely want us to run our eyes over the words in the Bible. He wants us to actively think about them, chew on them, and ponder their meaning: “Thy words were found , and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts” (Jer 15:16).
It is interesting to note where the Bible puts the emphasis in its discussion of clean and unclean animals in Leviticus 11. The section on clean and unclean beasts runs from verse 2 to verse 8. Only one verse in that section (verse 3) is dedicated to describing the characteristics of clean and unclean animals. Most of the text — verses 4 to 7 — is dedicated to identifying the imposters, which are those animals that had one of the two characteristics of clean animals, but not both. God gave the laws concerning clean and unclean animals so that the people could learn to distinguish between the holy and the profane: “Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine” (Lev 20:25-26).
The most important lesson for us in this section — at least as far as emphasis in the text is concerned — is that we need to make sure our close associates are going to be good spiritual influences on us. We need them to be mindful of the Word of God and also to reflect its requirements in their walk. God warns us about contact with individuals who only have one of those traits. (Notice how contact with the imposters is explicitly warned against: “Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you”(Lev 11:8).)
We also need to make sure that we are not taking on the characteristics of the imposters by either
- devoting time to the Word of God but not living as it commands or
- by trying to lead generous and kind lives without the guidance of our Heavenly Father’s counsel.
Noah was to take a male and female of each kind of unclean animal and fourteen of each kind of clean animal into the ark. The margin of the King James Version correctly notes that the Hebrew for “by sevens” in the passage about the clean animals in Genesis 7: 2 literally means “seven seven.” That means that there were to be seven male-female pairs of each of the clean animals brought into the ark. More clean animals were saved because they would later be used for food and for sacrifice. In the next article in the series, God willing, we will consider some of the objections that have been raised by skeptics concerning the Bible’s record of the animals being brought into the ark.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One