Originally posted 8/6/24
June 2024 found me checking off a large item from my bucket list. Since it opened in 2016, I have wanted to visit the Ark in Kentucky. It is named “Ark Encounter”. The name did not fail to deliver. It was a true encounter with the first nine chapters of Genesis. Each and every chapter came alive within the Ark Encounter.
The mere size of the ark is overwhelming. The original size of the ark as stated in Genesis was 300 Cubits long (510 ft.), 50 cubits wide (74ft.), and 30 Cubits high (45 ft.). The ark was to have 3 decks and individual rooms. The roof was to be 1 cubit high. There was to be a door on side which God shut before the rain started. A cubit was the measurement from the elbow to the fingertips of the average man. It varied between 18-21 inches depending on the man. The ark used 20.4 inches as their measurement. The ark was a $100 million project taking six years to complete.
Genesis 6:13-16 “And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.”
According to the Macarthur Study Bible, “While the ark was not designed for beauty or speed, these dimensions provided extraordinary stability in the tumultuous floodwaters. … A gigantic box of that size would be very stable in the water, impossible to capsize. The volume of space in the ark was 1.4 million cubic feet, equal to the capacity of 522 standard railroad box cars, which could carry 125,000 sheep.”
The creators of the ark have taken some liberties. The ark gave names to Noah’s wife and his daughters-in-law. A couple of videos were tongue in cheek interviews with Noah prior to the flood. Many of the things in the ark may very well be a guess because it isn’t specifically mentioned in scripture. I was impressed by the way they presented the scientific view and comparing it to the Biblical view.
We have the images from children’s books but they are not at all realistic. Noah and his family spent a year on the ark. I’ve often wondered if I could live in a tiny house or an RV for an extended amount of time. What would I take? What would I leave behind? Somehow I cannot envision my piano or my craft supplies fitting in a tiny house.
Walking through the ark, I was struck by all the things that I have never given any thought to. How were all the animals stored on the ark? Did they roam freely or were they contained? How were they fed? What did they do with the waste? Where did Noah and his family sleep? How was food and water stored? How was their food prepared? Did they grow anything on the ark? If they did, how were they grown? Did any light reach the inside of the ark?
Scripture tells us that Noah was to build rooms. It makes sense to me that there would have been a way to contain the animals and they were not just roaming freely about the ark. It also makes sense that there would have been an easy way to feed and water them. It is also logical to assume that there would have been private quarters for each couple. While Scripture does not fully describe these particular things specifically, it does indicate that it is plausible that they were there.
The walls were lined with jars which would have contained water. Providing fresh water for eight people to last one year would be a rather daunting task.
Packing for a one-year trip under any conditions seems like an unattainable task. What would one need for a year? Noah and his family had to do just that. However, they weren’t planning some exotic trip on a cruise ship. They would not be returning to their home after their trip. Their world would forever be changed. In fact, God had promised that the world would be destroyed.
I am struck by Genesis 6:5-8, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” The Lord was grieved by the behavior of men. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for every thought to have been evil. What would that have looked like?
Genesis 6:11-13, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” I think about our society and the evil that seems to be everywhere. Only eight people were worthy of being saved.
Noah found favor with God. He was a man who believed in God but also obeyed God. His works didn’t save him, but God deemed him righteous. He lived by God’s standards. He was set apart. I have tried to put myself in Noah’s shoes. He spent at least 75 years building the ark. Scholars think it was between 75 and 120 years. We won’t debate that issue here. What would you have done if you had been Noah and God asked you to do the unimaginable? Would you have stepped out in faith and begun to build the ark? What did the others around him say? Obviously, it didn’t matter to Noah because he followed God’s direction.
Do we have enough faith to step out and do what God wants us to do? Could we do it even if it meant ridicule from those around us? Is that what stops us from sharing our faith? We have safety in our Lord. We may not understand His ways, but we do not need to. He is sovereign over all.
Stay tuned for more information from our visit to Ark Encounter.
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