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[[File:Noahs Ark.jpg|thumb|250px|A painting by the American [[Edward Hicks]] (1780 - 1849), showing the animals boarding Noah's Ark two by two.]] |
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{{Short description|Vessel in the Genesis flood narrative}}<!--Before modifying, check the discussion in the talk page titled, "Fictional? [https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk:Noah%27s_Ark&oldid=1171572183]--> |
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[[File:Edward Hicks, American - Noah's Ark - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Noah's Ark'' (1846), by the American folk painter [[Edward Hicks]]]] |
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'''Noah's Ark''' ({{langx|he|תיבת נח}}; [[Biblical Hebrew]]: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')<ref group="Notes" name="Ark">The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in the [[Torah]], in the flood narrative ([[Book of Genesis]] 6–9) and in the [[Book of Exodus]], where it refers to the basket in which [[Jochebed]] places the infant [[Moses]]. (The word for the [[Ark of the Covenant]], ''aron'', is quite different.) The Ark is built to save Noah, his family, and representatives of all animals from a divinely-sent flood intended to wipe out all life, and in both cases, the ''teva'' has a connection with [[salvation]] from waters. (See Levenson 2014, p.21)</ref> is the boat in the [[Genesis flood narrative]] through which [[God in Abrahamic religions|God]] spares [[Noah]], his family, and examples of all the world's animals from a global deluge.{{sfn|Bailey|1990|p=63}} The story in Genesis is based on earlier [[flood myth]]s originating in [[Mesopotamia]], and is repeated, with variations, in the [[Quran]], where the Ark appears as ''Safinat [[Noah in Islam|Nūḥ]]'' ({{langx|ar|سَفِينَةُ نُوحٍ}} "Noah's ship") and ''al-fulk'' (Arabic: الفُلْك). The myth of the global flood that destroys all life begins to appear in the [[Old Babylonian Empire]] period (20th–16th centuries BCE).<ref name="t984">{{cite book | last=Chen | first=Y. S. | title=The Primeval Flood Catastrophe | publisher=Oxford University Press, USA | publication-place=Oxford, United Kingdom | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-19-967620-0 | oclc=839396707 | page=2}}</ref> The version closest to the biblical story of Noah, as well as its most likely source, is that of [[Utnapishtim]] in the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]].{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=40}} |
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'''Noah's Ark''' ({{lang-he|תֵּבַת נֹחַ}}, ''Tebhath Noaḥ'' in Classical Hebrew; Tevat Noakh in Modern Hebrew) is the vessel which, according to the [[Book of Genesis]] (chapters 6-9) and the [[Quran]] (surah hud), was built by [[Noah]] at [[God]]'s command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from a worldwide deluge. As a [[flood myth]], the story of Noah and the Ark may be derived from older [[Mesopotamian mythology|Mesopotamian stories]].<ref>"Noah" ''A Dictionary of World Mythology''. Arthur Cotterell. Oxford University Press, 1997. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 6 December 2010 http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t73.e47</ref> As a [[religious text]], it features in the traditions of a number of [[Abrahamic religions]]. It is part of the [[biblical canons]] of [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]] but it is also an important story in other Abrahamic traditions like [[Islam]]. |
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Early Christian and Jewish writers, such as [[Flavius Josephus]], believed that Noah's Ark existed. Unsuccessful [[searches for Noah's Ark]] have been made from at least the time of [[Eusebius]] (c. 275–339 CE). Believers in the Ark continue to search for it in modern times, but no scientific evidence that the Ark existed has ever been found,<ref name="Cline 2009" /> nor is there scientific evidence for a global flood.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Lorence G. Collins |date=2009 |title=Yes, Noah's Flood May Have Happened, But Not Over the Whole Earth |language=en |work=NCSE |url=https://ncse.com/library-resource/yes-noahs-flood-may-have-happened-not-over-whole-earth |url-status=live |access-date=22 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626054743/https://ncse.com/library-resource/yes-noahs-flood-may-have-happened-not-over-whole-earth |archive-date=26 June 2018}}</ref> The boat and the natural disaster as described in the Bible would have been contingent upon physical impossibilities and extraordinary anachronisms.<ref name="Moore1983">{{cite journal |last=Moore |first=Robert A. |year=1983 |title=The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark |url=https://ncse.com/cej/4/1/impossible-voyage-noahs-ark |url-status=live |journal=Creation Evolution Journal |volume=4 |pages=1–43 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717074346/https://ncse.com/cej/4/1/impossible-voyage-noahs-ark |archive-date=17 July 2016 |access-date=10 July 2016 |number=1}}</ref> Some researchers believe that a real (though localized) flood event in the [[Middle East]] could potentially have inspired the oral and later written narratives; a Persian Gulf flood, or a [[Black Sea deluge hypothesis|Black Sea Deluge]] 7,500 years ago has been proposed as such a historical candidate.<ref name="RyanOthers1997a">{{Cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=W. B. F. |last2=Pitman|first2=W. C.|last3=Major|first3=C. O. |last4=Shimkus |first4=K. |last5=Moskalenko |first5=V. |last6=Jones|first6=G. A. |last7=Dimitrov |first7=P. |last8=Gorür |first8=N. |last9=Sakinç |first9=M. |date=1997 |title=An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf |url=http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~billr/BlackSea/Ryan_et_al_MG_1997.pdf |journal=Marine Geology |volume=138|issue=1–2|pages=119–126|doi=10.1016/s0025-3227(97)00007-8|access-date=23 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104301/http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~billr/BlackSea/Ryan_et_al_MG_1997.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead|citeseerx=10.1.1.598.2866 |bibcode=1997MGeol.138..119R |s2cid=129316719 | issn=0025-3227 }}</ref><ref name="RyanOthers2003a">{{cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=W. B. |last2=Major |first2=C. O. |last3=Lericolais |first3=G. |last4=Goldstein |first4=S. L. |year=2003 |title=Catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea |journal=Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=525–554 |doi= 10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.141249|bibcode=2003AREPS..31..525R }}</ref> |
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God, seeing the wickedness of man, is grieved by his creation and resolves to send a [[Flood myth|great flood]]. He sees that Noah is a man "righteous in his generation," and gives him detailed instructions for the Ark. When the animals are safe on board God sends the Flood, which rises until all the mountains are covered and all life is destroyed. At the height of the flood the Ark rests on the mountains, the waters abate, and dry land reappears. Noah, his family, and the animals leave the Ark, and God vows to never again send a flood to destroy the Earth. |
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==Description== |
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The narrative has been subject to extensive elaborations in [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]], ranging from hypothetical solutions to practical problems (e.g., waste disposal and the problem of lighting the interior), through to theological interpretations (e.g., the Ark as the precursor of the church in offering salvation to mankind).<ref name = "Schaff, P 1890">{{cite book |
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The structure of the Ark (and the chronology of the flood) is homologous with the Jewish Temple and with Temple worship.{{sfn|Blenkinsopp|2011|p=139}} Accordingly, Noah's instructions are given to him by God (Genesis 6:14–16): the ark is to be 300 [[cubit]]s long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high (approximately {{convert|134|*|22|*|13|m|ft|abbr=on|disp=or}}).{{sfn|Hamilton|1990|pp=280–281}} These dimensions are based on a numerological preoccupation with the number 60, the same number characterizing the vessel of the Babylonian flood hero.{{sfn|Bailey|1990|p=63}} |
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|last=St. Augustin |
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|editor-last=Schaff |
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|editor-first=Philip |
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|title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers |
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|trans_title=St. Augustin's City of God and Christian Doctrine |
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|accessdate=2010-07-10 |
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|series=1 |
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|volume=2 |
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|origyear=c. 400 |
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|year=1890 |
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|publisher=The Christian Literature Publishing Company |
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|chapter=Chapter 26:That the Ark Which Noah Was Ordered to Make Figures In Every Respect Christ and the Church |
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|chapterurl=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.XV.26.html |
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|ref=harv |
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}}</ref> Although traditionally accepted as historical, by the 19th century growing impact of science and biblical scholarship had led most people to abandon a literal interpretation of the Ark story.<ref>{{harvnb|Plimer|1994|p=}}</ref><ref name = "Browne"/><ref name = "young">{{harvnb|Young|1995|p=}} Chapter: [http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/p82.htm History of the Collapse of "Flood Geology" and a Young Earth] |
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</ref> Nevertheless, biblical literalists continue to explore the [[mountains of Ararat]], where the Bible says the Ark came to rest.<ref name = "Morris, John 2007">{{cite web |
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| url = http://www.icr.org/article/4987/ |
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| title = Noah's Ark: The Search Goes On |
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| author = John D. Morris, Ph.D. |
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| year = 2009 |
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| publisher = [[Institute for Creation Research]] |
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| accessdate = 2010-07-11 |
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}} |
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</ref> |
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Its three internal divisions reflect the three-part universe imagined by the ancient Israelites: heaven, the earth, and the underworld.{{sfn|Kessler|Deurloo|2004|p=81}} Each deck is the same height as the Temple in Jerusalem, itself a microcosmic model of the universe, and each is three times the area of the court of the tabernacle, leading to the suggestion that the author saw both Ark and [[tabernacle]] as serving for the preservation of human life.{{sfn|Wenham|2003|p=44}}{{sfn|Batto|1992|p=95}} It has a door in the side, and a ''tsohar'', which may be either a roof or a [[skylight]].{{sfn|Hamilton|1990|pp=280–281}} It is to be made of [[gopher wood]] "''goper''", a word which appears nowhere else in the Bible, but thought to be a loan word from the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''gupru''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Longman |first=Tremper |title=The lost world of the flood: mythology, theology, and the deluge debate |last2=Walton |first2=John H. |date=2018 |publisher=IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-8782-8 |location=Downers Grove, IL}}</ref> – and divided into ''qinnim'', a word which always refers to birds' nests elsewhere in the Bible, leading some scholars to emend this to ''qanim'', reeds.{{sfn|Hamilton|1990|pp=281}} The finished vessel is to be smeared with ''koper'', meaning [[pitch (resin)|pitch]] or [[bitumen]]; in Hebrew the two words are closely related, ''kaparta'' ("smeared") ... ''bakopper''.{{sfn|Hamilton|1990|pp=281}} Bitumen is more likely option as ''"koper"'' is thought to be a loanword from the Akkadian "''kupru''", meaning bitumen.<ref name=":0" /> |
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==Biblical narrative== |
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[[File:Cole Thomas The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge 1829.jpg|thumb|left|320px|''The Subsiding of the Waters'' by [[Thomas Cole]].]] |
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(Quotations from the [[English Standard Version]]) |
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==Origins== |
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God observes that the earth is corrupted with violence and decides to destroy all life. But Noah "was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, [and] Noah walked with God," and God gives him instructions for the ark, into which he is told 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.<ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=6&version=47 Genesis 6 and 7, ESV]</ref> |
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===Mesopotamian precursors=== |
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{{Main|Flood myth}} |
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For well over a century, scholars have said that the Bible's story of Noah's Ark is based on older Mesopotamian models.{{sfn|Kvanvig|2011|p=210}} Because all these flood stories deal with events that allegedly happened at the dawn of history, they give the impression that the myths themselves must come from very primitive origins, but the myth of the global flood that destroys all life only begins to appear in the [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian period]] (20th–16th centuries BCE).{{sfn|Chen|2013|pp=3–4}} The reasons for this emergence of the typical Mesopotamian flood myth may have been bound up with the specific circumstances of the end of the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]] around 2004 BCE and the restoration of order by the [[First Dynasty of Isin]].{{sfn|Chen|2013|p=253}} |
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Nine versions of the Mesopotamian flood story are known, each more or less adapted from an earlier version. In the oldest version, inscribed in the Sumerian city of [[Nippur]] around 1600 BCE, the hero is King [[Ziusudra]]. This story, the [[Ziusudra#Sumerian flood myth|Sumerian flood myth]], probably derives from an earlier version. The Ziusudra version tells how he builds a boat and rescues life when the gods decide to destroy it. This basic plot is common in several subsequent flood stories and heroes, including Noah. Ziusudra's Sumerian name means "he of long life." In Babylonian versions, his name is [[Atra-Hasis|Atrahasis]], but the meaning is the same. In the Atrahasis version, the flood is a river flood.<ref name="Cline">{{cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |year=2007 |title=From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible |publisher=National Geographic |isbn=978-1-4262-0084-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJW-zhffwk4C&q=From+Eden+to+Exile%3A+Unraveling+Mysteries+of+the+Bible}}</ref>{{rp|20–27}} |
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God instructs Noah to board the Ark with his family, seven pairs of the birds and the clean animals, and one pair of the unclean animals. "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," and God closes up the door of the Ark. The flood begins, and the waters prevail until all the high mountains are covered fifteen [[cubit]]s deep, and all the people and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens are blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the Ark remain.<ref name="chp7">[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=7&version=47 Genesis 7, ESV]</ref> |
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The version closest to the biblical story of Noah is that of [[Utnapishtim]] in the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]''.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=40}} A complete text of Utnapishtim's story is contained on a clay tablet dating from the seventh century BCE, but fragments of the story have been found from as far back as the 19th century BCE.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=40}} The last known version of the Mesopotamian flood story was written in [[Greek language|Greek]] in the third century BCE by a Babylonian priest named [[Berossus]]. From the fragments that survive, it seems little changed from the versions of 2,000 years before.{{sfn|Finkel|2014|pp=89–101}} |
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Then "God remembered Noah," and causes his wind to blow, and the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens are closed, and the rain is restrained, and the waters abate, and in the seventh month the Ark rests on the [[mountains of Ararat]]. In the tenth month the tops of the mountains are seen, and Noah sends out a [[raven]] and a [[dove]] to see if the waters have subsided; the raven flies "to and fro" and the dove returns with a fresh [[olive]] leaf in her beak. Noah waits seven days more and sends out the dove again, and this time it does not return.<ref name = "Genesis 8, ESV">[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=8&version=47 Genesis 8, ESV]</ref> |
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The parallels between Noah's Ark and the arks of Babylonian flood heroes Atrahasis and Utnapishtim have often been noted. Atrahasis's Ark was circular, resembling an enormous ''[[Kuphar|quffa]]'', with one or two decks.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nova: Secrets of Noah's Ark|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/secrets-of-noahs-ark/|date=7 October 2015|website=www.pbs.org|language=en-US|access-date=17 May 2020}}</ref> Utnapishtim's ark was a [[cube]] with six decks of seven compartments, each divided into nine subcompartments (63 subcompartments per deck, 378 total). Noah's Ark was rectangular with three decks. A progression is believed to exist from a circular to a cubic or square to rectangular. The most striking similarity is the near-identical deck areas of the three arks: 14,400 cubits<sup>2</sup>, 14,400 cubits<sup>2</sup>, and 15,000 cubits<sup>2</sup> for Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah, only 4% different. [[Irving Finkel]] concluded, "the iconic story of the Flood, Noah, and the Ark as we know it today certainly originated in the landscape of ancient Mesopotamia, modern Iraq."{{sfn|Finkel|2014|loc=chpt.14}} |
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When the land is dry God tells Noah to leave the ark, Noah offers a sacrifice to God, and God resolves never again to curse the earth, "for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth."<ref name = "Genesis 8, ESV"/> God grants to Noah and his sons the right to kill animals and eat their meat, but forbids meat which has not been drained of its blood. Blood is proclaimed sacred, and the unauthorised taking of life is prohibited: "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 established his covenant with Noah and his sons and with all living things, and places the [[rainbow]] in the clouds, "the sign of the [[Covenant (biblical)#Noahic covenant|covenant]] that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."<ref>[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=9&version=47 Genesis 9, ESV]</ref> |
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Linguistic parallels between Noah's and Atrahasis' arks have also been noted. The word used for "pitch" (sealing tar or resin) in Genesis is not the normal Hebrew word, but is closely related to the word used in the Babylonian story.{{sfn|McKeown|2008|p=55}} Likewise, the Hebrew word for "ark" (''tēvāh'') is nearly identical to the Babylonian word for an oblong boat (''ṭubbû''), especially given that "v" and "b" are the same letter in Hebrew: [[bet (letter)|bet]] (ב).{{sfn|Finkel|2014|loc=chpt.14}} |
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==Noah's Ark in later traditions== |
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===In Rabbinic tradition=== |
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[[File:Noah Ayvazovsky.jpg|thumb|290px|''Noah descending from Ararat''. Painting by [[Ivan Aivazovsky]].]] |
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However, the causes for God or the gods sending the flood differ in the various stories. In the Hebrew myth, the flood inflicts God's judgment on wicked humanity. The Babylonian ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' gives no reasons, and the flood appears the result of divine caprice.<ref name="May Metzger">May, Herbert G., and Bruce M. Metzger. ''The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha''. 1977.</ref> In the Babylonian [[Atra-Hasis|Atrahasis]] version, the flood is sent to reduce human overpopulation, and after the flood, other measures were introduced to limit humanity.<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Stephanie Dalley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YHfiCz4BRwC&q=flood|title=Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others| date=2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424054145/https://books.google.com/books?id=0YHfiCz4BRwC#v=onepage&q=flood&f=false |archive-date=24 April 2016 |pages= 5–8| publisher=OUP Oxford | isbn=978-0-19-953836-2 }}</ref><ref>Alan Dundes, ed., [https://books.google.com/books?id=E__dnnQwGDwC&q=Gilgamesh%2C+flood&pg=PA62 ''The Flood Myth''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514162849/https://books.google.com/books?id=E__dnnQwGDwC&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q=Gilgamesh%2C%20flood&f=false |date=14 May 2016 }}, pp. 61–71.</ref><ref>J. David Pleins, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PX0fIE5IU8gC&q=ziusudra+flood+story&pg=PA102 ''When the Great Abyss Opened: Classic and Contemporary Readings of Noah's Flood''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624184753/https://books.google.com/books?id=PX0fIE5IU8gC&pg=PA102#v=onepage&q=ziusudra%20flood%20story&f=false |date=24 June 2016 }}, pp. 102–103.</ref> |
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The story of Noah and the Ark was subject to much discussion in later Judaism. While Noah was building an ark he preached to his neighbors but no one listened, mocking him instead. In order to protect Noah and his family, God placed lions and other ferocious animals to guard them from the wicked who tried to stop them from entering the Ark. According to one [[Midrash]], it was God, or the [[angel]]s, who gathered the animals to the Ark, together with their food. As there had been no need to distinguish between clean and unclean animals before this time, the clean animals made themselves known by kneeling before Noah as they entered the Ark. A differing opinion said that the Ark itself distinguished clean animals from unclean, admitting seven each of the former and two each of the latter. |
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===Composition=== |
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Noah was engaged both day and night in feeding and caring for the animals, and did not sleep for the entire year aboard the Ark. The animals were the best of their species, and so behaved with utmost goodness. They abstained from procreation, so that the number of creatures that disembarked was exactly equal to the number that embarked. The raven created problems, refusing to go out of the Ark when Noah sent it forth and accusing the patriarch of wishing to destroy its race, but as the commentators pointed out, God wished to save the raven, for its descendants were destined to feed the prophet [[Elijah]]. |
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{{main|Genesis flood narrative#Composition}} |
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A consensus among scholars indicates that the [[Torah]] (the first five books of the Bible, beginning with Genesis) was the product of a long and complicated process that was not completed until after the [[Babylonian exile]].{{sfn|Enns|2012|p=23}} Since the 18th century, the flood narrative has been analysed as a paradigm example of the combination of two different versions of a story into a single text, with one marker for the different versions being a consistent preference for different names "Elohim" and "Yahweh" to denote God.<ref>Richard Elliot Friedman (1997 ed.), ''Who Wrote the Bible'', p. 51.</ref> |
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==Religious views== |
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Refuse was stored on the lowest of the Ark's three decks, humans and clean beasts on the second, and the unclean animals and birds on the top. A differing opinion placed the refuse in the utmost story, from where it was shoveled into the sea through a trapdoor. Precious stones, bright as midday, provided light, and God ensured that food was kept fresh.<ref name = "JE Noah"/><ref name = "Ark of Noah"/><ref>{{cite book |
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===Rabbinic Judaism=== |
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|editor-last=Hirsch |
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{{Main|Noah in rabbinic literature}} |
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|editor-first=E.G. |
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The [[Talmud]]ic [[Mishnah|tractates]] [[Sanhedrin (tractate)|Sanhedrin]], [[Avodah Zarah]], and [[Zevahim]] relate that, while Noah was building the Ark, he attempted to warn his neighbors of the coming deluge, but was ignored or mocked. God placed lions and other ferocious animals to protect Noah and his family from the wicked who tried to keep them from the Ark. According to one [[Midrash]], it was God, or the [[angel]]s, who gathered the animals and their food to the Ark. As no need existed to distinguish between clean and unclean animals before this time, the clean animals made themselves known by kneeling before Noah as they entered the Ark.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}} A differing opinion is that the Ark itself distinguished clean animals from unclean, admitting seven pairs each of the former and one pair each of the latter.<ref name="Sefaria.org">{{Cite web|title=Sanhedrin 108b:7–16|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.108b.7|access-date=13 October 2021|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=October 2021}} |
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|editor2-last=Muss-Arnolt |
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|editor2-first=W. |
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|editor3-last=Hirschfeld |
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|editor3-first=H |
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|title=Jewish Encyclopedia |
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|accessdate=2010-07-13 |
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|year=2002 |
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|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com |
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|chapter=The Flood |
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|chapterurl=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=218&letter=F |
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|ref=harv |
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}}</ref> |
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According to Sanhedrin 108b, Noah was engaged both day and night in feeding and caring for the animals, and did not sleep for the entire year aboard the Ark.<ref>Avigdor Nebenzahl, ''Tiku Bachodesh Shofer: Thoughts for [[Rosh Hashanah]]'', Feldheim Publishers, 1997, p. 208.</ref> The animals were the best of their kind and behaved with utmost goodness. They did not procreate, so the number of creatures that disembarked was exactly equal to the number that embarked. The raven created problems, refusing to leave the Ark when Noah sent it forth, and accusing the patriarch of wishing to destroy its race, but as the commentators pointed out, God wished to save the raven, for its descendants were destined to feed the prophet [[Elijah]].<ref name="Sefaria.org" />{{Primary source inline|date=October 2021}} |
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===In Christian tradition=== |
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[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 11r 1.png|thumb|200px|left|Construction of the Ark. ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493).]] |
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According to one tradition, refuse was stored on the lowest of the Ark's three decks, humans and clean beasts on the second, and the unclean animals and birds on the top. A differing interpretation described the refuse as being stored on the topmost deck, from where it was shoveled into the sea through a trapdoor. Precious stones, as bright as the noon sun, provided light, and God ensured the food remained fresh.<ref name="JE Noah"/><ref name="Ark of Noah"/><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Hirsch |editor-first=E. G. |editor2-last=Muss-Arnolt |editor2-first=W. |editor3-last=Hirschfeld |editor3-first=H. |editor-link3=Hartwig Hirschfeld|editor-link1=Emil G. Hirsch |editor-link2=William Muss-Arnolt |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |year=1906 |publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com |chapter=The Flood |chapter-url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=218&letter=F }}</ref> In an unorthodox interpretation, the 12th-century Jewish commentator [[Abraham ibn Ezra]] interpreted the ark as a vessel that remained underwater for 40 days, after which it floated to the surface.<ref>[http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9597&st=&pgnum=123 Ibn Ezra's Commentary to Genesis 7:16] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524092028/http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9597&st=&pgnum=123 |date=24 May 2013 }}. HebrewBooks.org.</ref> |
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St. [[Hippolytus of Rome]], (d. 235), seeking to demonstrate that "the ark was a symbol of the Christ who was expected", stated that the vessel had its door on the east side - the direction from which Christ would appear at the Second Coming - that the bones of Adam were brought aboard together with gold, frankincense and myrrh - symbols of the Nativity of Christ - and that the Ark floated to and fro in the four directions on the waters, making the sign of the cross, before eventually landing on Mount Kardu "''in the east, in the land of the sons of Raban, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash; the Armenians call it Ararat''".<ref name = "Knight, K 2007">{{cite web |
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|author = Hippolytus |
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|title = Fragments from the Scriptural Commentaries of Hippolytus |
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|url = http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0502.htm |
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|publisher = [http://www.newadvent.org/ New Advent] |
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|accessdate = 2007-06-27 |
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}}</ref> On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that the ark was built in three stories, the lowest for wild beasts, the middle for birds and domestic animals, and the top level for humans, and that the male animals were separated from the females by sharp stakes so that there would be no cohabitation aboard the vessel.<ref name = "Knight, K 2007"/> |
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===Christianity=== |
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rom the same period the early church Father [[Origen]] (c. 182 - 251), responding to a critic who doubted that the Ark could contain all the animals in the world, countered with a learned argument about cubits, holding that Moses, the traditional author of the book of Genesis, had been brought up in [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and would therefore have used the larger Egyptian cubit. He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncated pyramid, square at its base, and tapering to a square peak one cubit on a side; it was not until the 12th century that it came to be thought of as a rectangular box with a sloping roof.<ref name = "Cohn"/> |
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[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 11r 1.png|thumb|An artist's depiction of the construction of the Ark, from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493)]] |
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[[File:Woodcut of Noah's Ark from Anton Koberger's "German Bible".jpg|thumb|A woodcut of Noah's Ark from [[Anton Koberger]]'s German Bible]] |
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The [[First Epistle of Peter]] (composed around the end of the first century AD<ref>''The Early Christian World,'' Volume 1, p.148, [[Philip Esler]]</ref>) compared Noah's salvation through water to Christian salvation through baptism.<ref>{{bibleverse|1Pt|3:20–21}}</ref> [[Hippolytus of Rome]] (died 235) sought to demonstrate that "the Ark was a symbol of the [[Christ]] who was expected", stating that the vessel had its door on the east side—the direction from which Christ would appear at the [[Second Coming]]—and that the bones of [[Adam]] were brought aboard, together with gold, [[frankincense]], and [[myrrh]] (the symbols of the [[Nativity of Christ]]). Hippolytus furthermore stated that the Ark floated to and fro in the four directions on the waters, making the sign of the cross, before eventually landing on Mount Kardu "in the east, in the land of the sons of Raban, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash; the [[Armenians]] call it Ararat".<ref name="Knight, K 2007">{{cite web |author = Hippolytus |title = Fragments from the Scriptural Commentaries of Hippolytus |url = http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0502.htm |publisher = New Advent |access-date = 27 June 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070417130437/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0502.htm |archive-date = 17 April 2007 |url-status = live |df = dmy-all}}</ref> On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that the lowest of the three decks was for wild beasts, the middle for birds and domestic animals, and the top for humans. He says male animals were separated from females by sharp stakes to prevent breeding.<ref name="Knight, K 2007"/> |
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The early [[Church Father]] and theologian [[Origen]] (''circa'' 182–251), in response to a critic who doubted that the Ark could contain all the animals in the world, argued that Moses, the traditional author of the book of Genesis, had been brought up in [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and would therefore have used the larger Egyptian cubit. He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncated [[pyramid]], square at its base, and tapering to a square peak one cubit on a side; only in the 12th century did it come to be thought of as a rectangular box with a sloping roof.{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=38}} |
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Early Christian artists depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves, symbolizing God saving the church as it persevered through turmoil, and St. [[Augustine of Hippo]] (354 - 430), in ''[[City of God (book)|City of God]]'', demonstrated that the dimensions of the Ark corresponded to the dimensions of the human body, which is the body of Christ, which is the Church.<ref name="Schaff, P 1890"/> St. [[Jerome]] (c. 347 - 420) called the raven, which was sent forth and did not return, the "foul bird of wickedness" expelled by baptism;<ref>{{cite book |
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|last=Jerome |
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|editor=Schaff, P |
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|title=Niocene and Post-Niocene Fathers: The Principal Works of St. Jerome |
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|accessdate=2010-07-30 |
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|series=2 |
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|volume=6 |
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|origyear=c. 347-420 |
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|year=1892 |
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|publisher=The Christian Literature Publishing Company |
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|chapter=Letter LXIX. To Oceanus. |
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|chapterurl=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.v.LXIX.html |
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|ref=harv |
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}}</ref> more enduringly, the dove and olive branch came to symbolize the [[Holy Spirit]] and the hope of [[salvation]] and, eventually, peace.<ref name = "Cohn"/> |
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Early Christian artists depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves, symbolizing God saving the Christian Church in its turbulent early years. [[Augustine of Hippo]] (354–430), in his work ''[[City of God (book)|City of God]]'', demonstrated that the dimensions of the Ark corresponded to the dimensions of the human body, which according to Christian doctrine is the body of Christ and in turn the body of the Church.<ref name="Schaff, P 1890">{{cite book |last=St. Augustin |editor-last=Schaff |editor-first=Philip |title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers |trans-title=St. Augustin's City of God and Christian Doctrine |series=1 |volume=2 |orig-year=c. 400 |year=1890 |publisher=The Christian Literature Publishing Company |chapter=Chapter 26:That the Ark Which Noah Was Ordered to Make Figures In Every Respect Christ and the Church |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.XV.26.html }}</ref> [[Jerome]] ({{Circa|347–420|lk=no}}) identified the raven, which was sent forth and did not return, as the "foul bird of wickedness" expelled by [[baptism]];<ref>{{cite book |last=Jerome |editor=Schaff, P |title=Niocene and Post-Niocene Fathers: The Principal Works of St. Jerome |series=2 |volume=6 |orig-year=c. 347–420 |year=1892 |publisher=The Christian Literature Publishing Company |chapter=Letter LXIX. To Oceanus. |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.v.LXIX.html }}</ref> more enduringly, the dove and olive branch came to symbolize the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] and the hope of [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] and eventually, peace.<ref name="Cohn"/> The olive branch remains a secular and religious [[peace symbols|symbol of peace]] today. |
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===In Islam=== |
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{{main|Islamic view of Noah}} |
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Noah (Nuh in Arabic) is one of the five principal [[prophets of Islam]]. References are scattered through the [[Qur'an]], with the fullest account in [[Hud (sura)|surah Hud]] (11:27–51). As a prophet, Noah preached to his people, but with little success; only "a few"{{Cite quran|11|40|expand=no}} of them converted (traditionally thought to be seventy). Noah prayed for deliverance, and God told him to build a ship in preparation for the flood. A [[Sons of Noah#Extrabiblical sons of Noah|son]] (named either 'Kan'an' or 'Yam' depending on the source) was among those drowned, despite Noah pleading with him to leave the disbelievers and join him (Surah Hud, 42-43). |
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===Gnosticism=== |
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In contrast to the Jewish tradition, which uses a term which can be translated as a "box" or "chest" to describe the Ark, surah 29:14 refers to it as a ''safina'', an ordinary ship, and surah 54:13 as "a thing of boards and nails". [[`Abd Allah ibn `Abbas]], a contemporary of Muhammad, wrote that Noah was in doubt as to what shape to make the Ark, and that Allah revealed to him that it was to be shaped like a bird's belly and fashioned of [[teak]] wood.<ref>{{harvnb|Baring-Gould|1884|p=113}}</ref> |
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According to the ''[[Hypostasis of the Archons]]'', a 3rd-century [[Gnostic]] text, Noah is chosen to be spared by the evil [[Archon (Gnosticism)|Archons]] when they try to destroy the other inhabitants of the Earth with the great flood. He is told to create the ark then board it at a location called Mount Sir, but when his wife [[Norea]] wants to board it as well, Noah attempts to not let her. So she decides to use her divine power to blow upon the ark and set it ablaze, therefore Noah is forced to rebuild it.<ref>{{cite book|author1=[[Marvin Meyer]]|author2=[[Willis Barnstone]]|title=The Gnostic Bible|publisher=[[Shambhala Publications|Shambhala]]|chapter=The Reality of the Rulers (The Hypostasis of the Archons)|url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/Hypostas-Barnstone.html|date=30 June 2009|access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref> |
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===Mandaeism=== |
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[[Baidawi|Abdallah ibn 'Umar al-Baidawi]], writing in the 13th century, gives the length of the Ark as 300 [[cubit]]s (157 m, 515 ft) by 50 (26.2 m, 86 ft) in width, 30 (15.7 m, 52 ft) in height, and explains that in the first of the three levels wild and domesticated animals were lodged, in the second the human beings, and in the third the birds. On every plank was the name of a prophet. Three missing planks, symbolizing three prophets, were brought from Egypt by Og, son of Anak, the only one of the giants permitted to survive the Flood. The body of [[Adam (Bible)|Adam]] was carried in the middle to divide the men from the women. ''Sura'' 11:41 says: "And he said, 'Ride ye in it; in the Name of God it moves and stays!'" takes this to mean that Noah said, "In the Name of God!" when he wished the Ark to move, and the same when he wished it to stand still. |
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In Book 18 of the [[Right Ginza]], a [[Mandaean text]], Noah and his family are saved from the Great Flood because they were able to build an ark or ''kawila'' (or ''kauila'', a [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]] term; it is cognate with Syriac ''kēʾwilā'', which is attested in the [[Peshitta]] New Testament, such as [[Matthew 24]]:38 and [[Luke 17]]:27).<ref name="Häberl 2022">{{cite book | last=Häberl | first=Charles | url=https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781800856271 | title=The Book of Kings and the Explanations of This World: A Universal History from the Late Sasanian Empire | location=Liverpool | publisher=Liverpool University Press | date=2022 | isbn=978-1-80085-627-1 | page=215| doi=10.3828/9781800856271 | doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}</ref> |
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===Islam=== |
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Noah spent five or six months aboard the Ark, at the end of which he sent out a raven. But the raven stopped to feast on [[carrion]], and so Noah cursed it and sent out the dove, which has been known ever since as the friend of mankind. The medieval scholar [[Al-Masudi|Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi]] (died 956) writes that God commanded the earth to absorb the water, and certain portions which were slow in obeying received salt water in punishment and so became dry and arid. The water which was not absorbed formed the seas, so that the waters of the flood still exist. Masudi says that the Ark began its voyage at [[Kufa]] in central Iraq and sailed to [[Mecca]], circling the [[Kaaba]] before finally traveling to [[Mount Judi]] (in Arabic also referred to as "high place, hill), which surah 11:44 states was its final resting place. This mountain is identified by tradition with a hill near the town of Jazirat ibn Umar on the east bank of the [[Tigris]] in the province of [[Mosul]] in northern [[Iraq]], and Masudi says that the spot where it came to rest could be seen in his time. |
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{{Main|Noah in Islam}} |
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[[File:16 2-8-2005-Noahs-ark-Hafis-Abru-2.jpg|thumb|Persian Miniature from Hafiz-i Abru's Majma al-tawarikh. ''Noah's Ark'' Iran (Afghanistan), Herat; Timur's son Shah Rukh (1405–1447) ordered the historian [[Hafiz-i Abru]] to write a continuation of [[Rashid-al-Din Hamadani|Rashid al-Din's]] famous history of the world, [[Jami al-tawarikh]]. Like the [[Il-Khanids]], the [[Timurids]] were concerned with legitimizing their right to rule, and Hafiz-i Abru's ''A Collection of Histories'' covers a period that included the time of [[Shahrukh Mirza|Shah Rukh]] himself.]] |
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[[File:Noah's ark and the deluge.JPG|thumb|Noah's Ark and the deluge from Zubdat-al Tawarikh]] |
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In contrast to the Jewish tradition, which uses a term that can be translated as a "box" or "[[chest (furniture)|chest]]" to describe the Ark, surah 29:15 of the Quran refers to it as a {{lang|ar-Latn|safina}}, an ordinary ship; surah 7:64 uses ''fulk,''<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Christys |first1=Ann |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1053611250 |title=Die Interaktion von Herrschern und Eliten in imperialen Ordnungen des Mittelalters |date=2018 |others=Wolfram Drews |isbn=978-3-11-057267-4 |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] GmbH |location=Berlin |pages=114–124 |chapter=Educating the Christian Elite in Umayyad Córdoba |oclc=1053611250}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freidenreich |first=David M. |date=2003 |title=The Use of Islamic Sources in Saadiah Gaon's Tafsīr of the Torah |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/390127 |journal=Jewish Quarterly Review |volume=93 |issue=3 |pages=353–395 |doi=10.1353/jqr.2003.0009 |s2cid=170764204 |issn=1553-0604}}</ref> and surah 54:13 describes the Ark as "a thing of boards and nails". [[Abd Allah ibn Abbas]], a contemporary of [[Muhammad]], wrote that Noah was in doubt as to what shape to make the Ark and that Allah revealed to him that it was to be shaped like a bird's belly and fashioned of [[teak]] wood.<ref>{{cite book|last=Baring-Gould|first=Sabine|title=Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets and Other Old Testament Characters from Various Sources|publisher=James B. Millar and Co., New York|year=1884|chapter=Noah|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05BuCM6U4DgC&q=eutychius+noah&pg=PA113|page=113}}</ref> |
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The medieval scholar [[Al-Masudi|Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi]] (died 956) wrote that Allah commanded the Earth to absorb the water, and certain portions which were slow in obeying received [[seawater|salt water]] in punishment and so became [[desert|dry and arid]]. The water which was not absorbed formed the seas, so that the waters of the flood still exist. Masudi says the ark began its voyage at [[Kufa]] in central [[Iraq]] and sailed to [[Mecca]], circling the [[Kaaba]] before finally traveling to [[Mount Judi]], which surah 11:44 gives as its final resting place. This mountain is identified by tradition with a hill near the town of [[Jazirat ibn Umar]] on the east bank of the [[Tigris]] in the province of [[Mosul]] in northern Iraq, and Masudi says that the spot could be seen in his time.<ref name="JE Noah">{{cite book|editor-last=McCurdy|editor-first=J. F.|editor-link=J. Frederic McCurdy|editor2-last=Bacher|editor2-first=W.|editor3-last=Seligsohn|editor3-first=M.|display-editors=3 |editor4-last=Hirsch|editor4-first=E. G.|title=Jewish Encyclopedia|year=1906|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com|chapter=Noah|chapter-url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=318&letter=N&search=noah}}</ref><ref name="Ark of Noah">{{cite book|editor-last=McCurdy|editor-first=J. F.|editor2-last=Jastrow|editor2-first=M. W.|editor3-last=Ginzberg|editor3-first=L.|display-editors=3 |editor4-last=McDonald|editor4-first=D.B.|editor-link2=Marcus Jastrow|title=Jewish Encyclopedia|year=1906|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com|chapter=Ark of Noah|chapter-url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1780&letter=A}}</ref>{{bsn|date=April 2023}} |
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Noah left the Ark on the tenth day of ''[[Muharram]]'', and he and his family and companions built a town at the foot of Mount Judi named ''Thamanin'' ("eighty"), from their number. Noah then locked the Ark and entrusted the keys to Shem. [[Yaqut al-Hamawi]] (1179–1229) mentions a [[mosque]] built by Noah which could be seen in his day. Modern Muslims, although not generally active in searching for the Ark, believe that it still exists on the high slopes of the mountain.<ref name = "JE Noah">{{cite book |
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|editor4-first=E.G. |
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|title=Jewish Encyclopedia |
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|accessdate=2010-07-11 |
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|year=2002 |
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|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com |
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|chapter=Noah |
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|chapterurl=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=318&letter=N&search=noah |
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}}</ref> |
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<ref name = "Ark of Noah">{{cite book |
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|title=Jewish Encyclopedia |
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|accessdate=2010-07-12 |
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|year=2002 |
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|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com |
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|chapterurl=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1780&letter=A |
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}}</ref> |
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[[File:Thomas Cole - Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge - Smithsonian.jpg|thumb|''The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge'' (1829), a painting by the American painter [[Thomas Cole]]]] |
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===In other traditions=== |
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The [[Mandaeism|Mandaeans]] of the southern Iraqi marshes practice a religion that was possibly influenced in part by early followers of [[John the Baptist]]. They regard Noah as a prophet, while rejecting Abraham (and Jesus) as false prophets. In the version given in their scriptures, the ark was built of [[sandalwood]] from [[Mount Hor|Jebel Harun]] and was cubic in shape, with a length, width and height of 30 ''amma'' (the length of an arm); its final resting place is said to be [[Egypt]]. |
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===Baháʼí Faith=== |
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The religion of the [[Yazidi]] of the [[Sinjar]] mountains of northern Iraq blends indigenous and Islamic beliefs. According to their ''[[Yazidi Black Book|Mishefa Reş]]'', the Deluge occurred not once, but twice. The original Deluge is said to have been survived by a certain Na'umi, father of Ham, whose ark landed at a place called Ain Sifni, in the region of [[Mosul]]. Some time after this came the second flood, upon the Yezidis only, which was survived by Noah, whose ship was pierced by a rock as it floated above Mount [[Sinjar]], then went on to land on Mount Judi as described in Islamic tradition. |
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The [[Baháʼí Faith]] regards the Ark and the Flood as symbolic.<ref>From a letter written on behalf of [[Shoghi Effendi]], 28 October 1949: ''Baháʼí News'', No. 228, February 1950, p. 4. Republished in {{harvnb|Compilation|1983|p=508}}</ref> In Baháʼí belief, only Noah's followers were spiritually alive, preserved in the "ark" of his teachings, as others were spiritually dead.<ref name=BahaiArk>{{cite web|first= Brent|last= Poirier|title= The Kitab-i-Iqan: The key to unsealing the mysteries of the Holy Bible|url= http://bahai-library.com/poirier_iqan_unsealing_bible|access-date= 25 June 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110707205604/http://bahai-library.com/poirier_iqan_unsealing_bible|archive-date= 7 July 2011|url-status= live|df= dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Shoghi Effendi|author-link= Shoghi Effendi|year= 1971|title= Messages to the Baháʼí World, 1950–1957|publisher= Baháʼí Publishing Trust|location= Wilmette, Illinois, USA|isbn= 978-0-87743-036-0|url= http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/MBW/|page= 104|access-date= 10 August 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081023220446/http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/MBW/|archive-date= 23 October 2008|url-status= live}}</ref> The Baháʼí scripture ''[[Kitáb-i-Íqán]]'' endorses the Islamic belief that Noah had numerous companions on the ark, either 40 or 72, as well as his family, and that he taught for 950 (symbolic) years before the flood.<ref>From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 25 November 1950. Published in {{harvnb|Compilation|1983|p=494}}</ref> The Baháʼí Faith was founded in 19th century Persia, and it recognizes divine messengers from both the Abrahamic and the Indian traditions. |
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===Ancient accounts=== |
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The [[Bahá'í Faith]] regards the Ark and the Flood as symbolic.<ref>From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, October 28, 1949: Bahá'í News, No. 228, February 1950, p. 4. Republished in {{harvnb|Compilation|1983|p=508}}</ref> In Bahá'í belief, only Noah's followers were spiritually alive, preserved in the ark of his teachings, as others were spiritually dead.<ref>{{cite web|first = Brent|last = Poirier|title = The Kitab-i-Iqan: The key to unsealing the mysteries of the Holy Bible|url = http://bahai-library.com/poirier_iqan_unsealing_bible|accessdate = 2007-06-25}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Shoghi Effendi|1971|p=104}}</ref> The Bahá'í scripture ''[[Kitáb-i-Íqán]]'' endorses the [[Islam]]ic belief that Noah had a large number of companions, either 40 or 72, besides his family on the Ark, and that he taught for 950 (symbolic) years before the flood.<ref>From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, November 25, 1950. Published in {{harvnb|Compilation|1983|p=494}}</ref> |
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Multiple Jewish and Christian writers in the ancient world wrote about the ark. The first-century historian [[Josephus]] reports that the Armenians believed that the remains of the Ark lay "in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans", in a location they called the Place of Descent ({{langx|grc|αποβατηριον}}). He goes on to say that many other writers of "barbarian histories", including [[Nicolaus of Damascus]], [[Berossus]], and [[Mnaseas]] mention the flood and the Ark.<ref>{{cite wikisource |last1=Josephus |first1=Flavius |author-[[Josephus]] |wslink=The Antiquities of the Jews/Book I#Chapter 3|title=The Antiquities of the Jews, Book I |orig-year=94 AD |chapter=3|quote=Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood, and of this ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean. For when he is describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: "It is said there is still some part of this ark in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans; and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen, which they take away, and use chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischiefs." Hieronymus the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicolaus of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them; where he speaks thus: "There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an ark came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved. This might be the man about whom Moses the legislator of the Jews wrote.}}</ref> |
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==History: The Ark and science== |
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[[File:Paradisaea apoda.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Greater Bird of Paradise|Paradisaea apoda]]'', literally "the Bird of Paradise Without Feet", so named by early European naturalists because the first specimens to reach Europe were prepared as skins without the feet; scholars decided that the bird was native to Paradise, and that it had flown endlessly inside the Ark without roosting.]] |
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In the fourth century, [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] wrote about Noah's Ark in his ''[[Panarion]]'', saying "Thus even today the remains of Noah's ark are still shown in Cardyaei."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Frank |title=The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis |date=2009 |isbn=978-90-04-17017-9 |page=48|publisher=BRILL }}</ref> Other translations render "Cardyaei" as "the country of the Kurds".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Montgomery |first1=John Warwick |title=The Quest For Noahs Ark |date=1974 |isbn=0-87123-477-7 |page=77}}</ref> |
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Various editions of the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' reflect the collapse of belief in the historicity of the Ark in the face of advancing scientific knowledge. Its 1771 edition offered the following as scientific evidence for the ark's size and capacity: "...Buteo and [[Athanasius Kircher|Kircher]] have proved geometrically, that, taking the common [[cubit]] as a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged in it..., the number of species of animals will be found much less than is generally imagined, not amounting to a hundred species of [[quadrupeds]]...". By the eighth edition (1853–1860) the encyclopedia says of the Noah story, "The insuperable difficulties connected with the belief that all other existing species of animals were provided for in the ark are obviated by adopting the suggestion of [[Edward Stillingfleet|Bishop Stillingfleet]], approved by [[Matthew Poole]]...and others, that the Deluge did not extend beyond the region of the earth then inhabited..." By the ninth edition, in 1875, there is no attempt to reconcile the Noah story with scientific fact, and it is presented without comment. In the 1960 edition, in the article Ark, we find the following, "Before the days of "[[higher criticism]]" and the rise of the [[evolution|modern scientific views as to the origin of the species]], there was much discussion among the learned, and many ingenious and curious theories were advanced, as to the number of animals on the ark..."<ref>All quotations from the article "Ark" in the 1960 Encyclopedia Britannica</ref> |
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[[John Chrysostom]] mentioned Noah's Ark in one of his sermons in the fourth century, saying ""Do not the mountains of Armenia testify to it, where the Ark rested? And are not the remains of the Ark preserved there to this very day for our admonition?<ref>{{cite book |last1=Montgomery |first1=John Warwick |title=The Quest For Noahs Ark |date=1974 |isbn=0-87123-477-7 |page=78 }}</ref> |
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===16th - 18th centuries=== |
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The [[Renaissance]] saw a continued speculation that might have seemed familiar to Origen and Augustine. Yet at the same time, a new class of scholarship arose, one which, while never questioning the literal truth of the Ark story, began to speculate on the practical workings of Noah's vessel from within a purely naturalistic framework. Thus in the 15th century, [[Alfonso Tostada]] gave a detailed account of the logistics of the Ark, down to arrangements for the disposal of dung and the circulation of fresh air, and the noted 16th-century [[geometry|geometrician]] [[Johannes Buteo]] calculated the ship's internal dimensions, allowing room for Noah's grinding mills and smokeless ovens, a model widely adopted by other commentators.<ref name = "Cohn">{{harvnb|Cohn|1996|p=}}</ref> |
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==Historicity== |
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By the 17th century, it was becoming necessary to reconcile the exploration of the [[New World]] and increased awareness of the global distribution of [[species]] with the older belief that all life had sprung from a single point of origin on the slopes of [[Mount Ararat]]. The obvious answer was that man had spread over the continents following the destruction of the [[Tower of Babel]] and taken animals with him, yet some of the results seemed peculiar: why had the natives of [[North America]] taken [[rattlesnake]]s, but not [[horse]]s, wondered Sir [[Thomas Browne]] in 1646? "How America abounded with Beasts of prey and noxious Animals, yet contained not in that necessary Creature, a Horse, is very strange".<ref name = "Cohn"/> |
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[[Encyclopædia Britannica First Edition|The first edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']] from 1771 describes the Ark as factual. It also attempts to explain how the Ark could house all living animal types: "... Buteo and [[Athanasius Kircher|Kircher]] have proved geometrically, that, taking the common [[cubit]] as a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged in it ... the number of species of animals will be found much less than is generally imagined, not amounting to a hundred species of [[quadrupeds]]."<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Ark |volume= 02 |last= Cook |first= Stanley Arthur |author-link= Stanley Arthur Cook | pages = 548–550; see page 549 | quote= Noah's Ark... }}</ref> It also endorses a supernatural explanation for the flood, stating that "many attempts have been made to account for the deluge by means of natural causes: but these attempts have only tended to discredit philosophy, and to render their authors ridiculous".<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Deluge, The |volume= 07 |last=Cheyne |first= Thomas Kelly |author-link= Thomas Kelly Cheyne | pages = 976–979 }}</ref> |
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The 1860 edition attempts to solve the problem of the Ark being unable to house all animal types by suggesting a local flood, which is described in the 1910 edition as part of a "gradual surrender of attempts to square scientific facts with a literal interpretation of the Bible" that resulted in "the '[[higher criticism]]' and the rise of the modern scientific views as to the origin of species" leading to "scientific comparative mythology" as the frame in which Noah's Ark was interpreted by 1875.<ref name="EB1911"/> |
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Browne, who was among the first to question the notion of [[spontaneous generation]], was a medical doctor and amateur scientist making this observation in passing. Biblical scholars of the time such as [[Justus Lipsius]] (1547–1606) and [[Athanasius Kircher]] (c.1601–80) were also beginning to subject the Ark story to rigorous scrutiny as they attempted to harmonize the biblical account with [[natural history|natural historical]] knowledge. The resulting hypotheses were an important impetus to the study of the geographical distribution of plants and animals, and indirectly spurred the emergence of [[biogeography]] in the 18th century. Natural historians began to draw connections between climates and the animals and plants adapted to them. One influential theory held that the biblical Ararat was striped with varying climatic zones, and as climate changed, the associated animals moved as well, eventually spreading to repopulate the globe. There was also the problem of an ever-expanding number of known species: for Kircher and earlier natural historians, there was little problem finding room for all known animal species in the Ark, but by the time [[John Ray]] (1627–1705) was working, just several decades after Kircher, their number had expanded beyond biblical proportions. Incorporating the full range of animal diversity into the Ark story was becoming increasingly difficult,<ref name = "Browne">{{harvnb|Browne|1983|p=}}</ref> and by the middle of the 18th century few natural historians could justify a literal interpretation of the Noah's Ark narrative.<ref name = "young" /> An uneasy rapprochement was reached by thinkers such as [[Edward Stillingfleet]], a late 17th century English theologian and scholar who suggested that mankind at the time of Noah had inhabited only a small portion of the world, so that a purely local Flood would square the Bible with science; the idea gained popularity in intellectual circles in the 18th century, but was increasingly abandoned as the century wore on and the scientific evidence mounted. |
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=== |
===Ark's geometry=== |
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[[File:Allessandro Masnago - Cameo with Noah's Ark - Walters 421447.jpg|left|175px|thumb|This engraving features a line of animals on the gangway to Noah's ark. It is based on a woodcut by the French illustrator [[Bernard Salomon]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher = [[The Walters Art Museum]] |url = http://art.thewalters.org/detail/23266 |title = Cameo with Noah's Ark |access-date = 10 December 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131213133855/http://art.thewalters.org/detail/23266 |archive-date = 13 December 2013 |url-status = dead }}</ref> From the [[Walters Art Museum]].]] |
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====Geology==== |
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In Europe, the [[Renaissance]] saw much speculation on the nature of the Ark that might have seemed familiar to early theologians such as [[Origen]] and [[Augustine]]. At the same time, however, a new class of scholarship arose, one which, while never questioning the literal truth of the ark story, began to speculate on the practical workings of Noah's vessel from within a purely naturalistic framework. In the 15th century, Alfonso Tostada gave a detailed account of the logistics of the Ark, down to arrangements for the disposal of dung and the circulation of fresh air. The 16th-century [[geometry|geometer]] [[Johannes Buteo]] calculated the Ark's internal dimensions, allowing room for Noah's grinding mills and smokeless ovens, a model widely adopted by other commentators.<ref name=Cohn>{{harvnb|Cohn|1996|p=}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=August 2024}} |
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{{See also|Scriptural geologists}} |
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[[File:Torah.jpg|thumb|Torah scroll, open to the [[Song of the sea]] in [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 15: British Library Add. MS. 4,707.]] |
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[[Irving Finkel]], a curator at the British Museum, came into the possession of a [[cuneiform]] tablet. He translated it and discovered an hitherto unknown Babylonian version of the story of the great flood. This version gave specific measurements for an unusually large [[coracle]] (a type of rounded boat). His discovery lead to the production of a television documentary and a book summarizing the finding. A scale replica of the boat described by the tablet was built and floated in Kerala, India.{{sfn|Finkel|2014|}}{{Page needed|date=August 2024}} |
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The development of scientific [[geology]] had a profound impact on attitudes towards the biblical Flood and Ark story, as without the support of the [[Biblical chronology]], which placed the Creation and the Flood in a history which stretched back no more than a few thousand years, the historicity of the Ark itself was undermined. In 1823 [[William Buckland]] interpreted [[geology|geological]] phenomena as ''Reliquiae Diluvianae''; relics of the flood ''Attesting the Action of a Universal Deluge''. His views were supported by other English clergymen naturalists at the time including the influential [[Adam Sedgwick]], but by 1830 Sedgwick considered that the evidence only showed local floods. The deposits were subsequently explained by [[Louis Agassiz]] as the results of [[glaciation]].<ref>{{Cite news|last = Herbert|first = Sandra|publication-date = 1991|title = Charles Darwin as a prospective geological author|periodical = British Journal for the History of Science|issue = 24|pages = 171–174|url = http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=text&itemID=A342&pageseq=13|accessdate = 2009-07-24}}</ref> In 1862 William Thompson, later [[William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|Lord Kelvin]], calculated the [[age of the Earth]] at between 24 and 400 million years, and for the remainder of the 19th century, discussion was not about whether Kelvin was right or wrong, but about just how many millions were involved.<ref>{{harvnb|Dalrymple|1991|pp=14–17}}</ref> The influential 1889 volume of theological essays ''[[Lux Mundi]]'', which is usually held to mark a stage in the acceptance of a more critical approach to scripture, took the stance that the gospels could be relied on as completely historical, but the earlier chapters of Genesis should not be taken literally.<ref>{{cite web |
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| url = http://asa3.org/asa/topics/AboutScience/chronology_barr.pdf |
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| title = Biblical Chronology, Fact or Fiction? |
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| author = James Barr |
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| date = 4 March 1987 |
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| work = The Ethel M. Wood Lecture 1987 |
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| publisher = University of London |
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| location = London: University of London |
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| page = 17 |
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| format = pdf |
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| accessdate = 2010-08-08 |
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| isbn = 7187088644 |
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}}</ref> |
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=== |
===Searches for Noah's Ark=== |
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[[File:The Durupinar site in July 2019.jpg|thumb|The Durupinar site in July 2019]] |
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{{See also|Documentary hypothesis}} |
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{{Main|Searches for Noah's Ark}} |
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In the 19th century [[Biblical studies|Biblical scholars]] were beginning to examine the origins of the Bible itself. The Noah's Ark story played a central role in the new theories, largely because, using the newly developed tools of [[source criticism]], scholars discovered in the Ark narrative two complete, coherent, parallel stories. It is stated twice over, for example, that God was angered with his creation, but the reasons given in each telling are slightly different; we are told that there was a single pair of each animal aboard, but also that there were seven pairs of the clean animals; that the source of the water was rain, but also that it came from the "windows of Heaven" and the "fountains of the Deep"; that the rains lasted forty days, but that the waters rose for 150. This, they decided, was how the entire Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) had been written: the work of many authors over many centuries, combining separate sources into a single whole.<ref> |
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[[Searches for Noah's Ark]] have been made from at least the time of [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]] (c. 275 – 339 CE) to the present day.<ref name="Oxford University Press"/> In the 1st century, Jewish historian [[Flavius Josephus]] claimed the remaining pieces of Noah's Ark had been found in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans, which is understood to be Mount Ararat in [[Turkey]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Landing-Place of Noah's Ark: Testimonial, Geological and Historical Considerations: Part Four – Associates for Biblical Research |url=https://biblearchaeology.org/research/contemporary-issues/4112-the-landingplace-of-noahs-ark-testimonial-geological-and-historical-considerations-part-four |access-date=27 April 2023 |website=biblearchaeology.org}}</ref> Today, the practice of seeking the remains of the Ark is widely regarded as [[pseudoarchaeology]].<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA582|title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology|last1=Fagan|first1=Brian M.|last2=Beck|first2=Charlotte|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1996|isbn=978-0195076189|location=[[Oxford]]|author1-link=Brian M. Fagan|access-date=17 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208073258/https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA582|archive-date=8 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cline 2009">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwNIDHSPsSMC&pg=PA72|title=Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction|last=Cline|first=Eric H.|pages=71–75|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0199741076}}</ref><ref name="Feder 2010">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlRz2symkAsC&pg=PA195|title=Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum|last=Feder|first=Kenneth L.|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2010|isbn=978-0313379192|location=[[Santa Barbara, California]]|author1-link=Kenneth Feder|access-date=17 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208073258/https://books.google.com/books?id=RlRz2symkAsC&pg=PA195|archive-date=8 February 2016|url-status=live|page=195}}</ref> Various locations for the ark have been suggested but have never been confirmed.<ref name="Mayell-2004">{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html|title=Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer|last=Mayell|first=Hillary|date=27 April 2004|publisher=National Geographic Society|access-date=29 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414031733/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html|archive-date=14 April 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Lovgren-2004">Stefan Lovgren (2004). [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0920_040920_noahs_ark.html Noah's Ark Quest Dead in Water] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125030621/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0920_040920_noahs_ark.html |date=25 January 2012 }} – National Geographic</ref> Search sites have included the [[Durupınar site]], a site on [[Mount Tendürek]], and [[Mount Ararat]], both in [[Eastern Anatolia Region|eastern Turkey]], but geological investigation of possible remains of the ark has only shown natural sedimentary formations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/Sutton%20Hoo%2014.pdf|last=Collins|first=Lorence G.|title=A supposed cast of Noah's ark in eastern Turkey|year=2011|access-date=26 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305191940/http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/Sutton%20Hoo%2014.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> While biblical literalists often maintain the Ark's existence in archaeological history, its scientific feasibility, along with that of the deluge, has been contested.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Review of John Woodmorappe's "Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study"|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/woodmorappe-review.html|access-date=6 April 2021|website=www.talkorigins.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark {{!}} National Center for Science Education|url=https://ncse.ngo/impossible-voyage-noahs-ark|access-date=6 April 2021|website=ncse.ngo|language=en}}</ref> |
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{{harvnb|Speiser|1964|p=XXI}}</ref> |
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== Var in Zoroastrianism == |
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====Archeology==== |
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In [[Vendidad|Videvdad]] 29 and 37,<ref>{{Cite web |title=AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 2: Yima (Jamshed) and the deluge. |url=https://www.avesta.org/vendidad/vd2sbe.htm |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=www.avesta.org}}</ref> mythical Iranian king Yīmā, was ordered by [[Ahura Mazda|Ahura Mazdā]] to build a subterranean enclosure known as Var, which had a function similar to Noah’s Ark, he was instructed to gather plants, animals, and humans with some exceptions,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wolff |first=Fritz |title=Avesta: the sacred books of the Parsen |publisher=[[K.J.Trübner]]}}</ref> |
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{{See also|Flood myth}} |
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The 19th century also saw the growth of [[Middle Eastern archaeology]] and the first translations into English of ancient [[Mesopotamia]]n records. The [[Assyriology|Assyriologist]] [[George Smith (assyriologist)|George Smith]] achieved world-wide fame with his translation of the Babylonian account of the Great Flood, which he read before the [[Society of Biblical Archaeology]] on December 3, 1872. Further exploration and discoveries brought to light several versions of the Mesopotamian flood-myth, with the closest to Genesis 6-9 in a 7th century BC Babylonian copy of the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'': the hero Gilgamesh meets the immortal man [[Utnapishtim]], who tells how the god [[Enki|Ea]] warned him to build a huge vessel in which to save himself, his family, and his friends and animals, from a great flood by which the gods intended to destroy the world. |
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==Cultural legacy: Noah's Ark replicas == |
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==Modern views== |
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[[File:Reverse Noah's Ark silver bullion coin.jpg|thumb|200px|Noah's Ark depicted on a [[Noah's Ark silver coins|silver bullion coin]] of [[Armenia]].]] |
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===The chronology of the flood=== |
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In the modern era, individuals and organizations have sought to reconstruct Noah's ark using the dimensions specified in the Bible, [[Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives]]<ref name="Antonson">{{cite book |last1=Antonson |first1=Rick |title=Full Moon over Noah's Ark: An Odyssey to Mount Ararat and Beyond |date=12 April 2016 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn=978-1-5107-0567-8 |language=English}}</ref> [[Johan's Ark]] was completed in 2012 to this end, while the [[Ark Encounter]] was finished in 2016.<ref name="Thomas">{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Paul |title=Storytelling the Bible at the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and Museum of the Bible |date=16 April 2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-68714-2 |page=23 |language=en}}</ref> |
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The elaborate chronology of the flood has attracted a great deal of attention from scholars. The following table, abridged from [[Gordon J. Wenham]], illustrates some of the more interesting discoveries. For example, the Ark respects the Sabbath: actions take place either on Friday, before the Sabbath, or on Sunday, the day after, or on Wednesday, midway through the week, but never on Saturday. (The left column lists dates by day, month and year of Noah's life, the middle column lists the time-periods involved for each incident, and the right column gives the day of the week):<ref>{{harvnb|Wenham|1994|pp=442–45}}</ref> |
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{| class="wikitable" style="align: center;" |
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!width="25%"|Date (in Noah's life) |
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!width="65%"|Event |
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!width="20%"|Day of the week<br /> |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|d.10, mth.2, year 600 (Gen.7:10) |
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|align="left"|God announces that the flood will come in seven days |
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|align="left"|Sunday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|d.17, mth.2, year 600 (Gen.7:11-24) |
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|align="left"|Flood begins. (Rain continues 40 days, waters rise for 150 days) |
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|align="left"|Sunday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|d.17, mth.7, year 600 (Gen.8:4) |
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|align="left"|Ark rests on Ararat, waters begin to retreat |
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|align="left"|Friday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|d.1, mth.10, year 600 (Gen.8:5) |
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|align="left"|Mountain-tops become visible |
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|align="left"|Wednesday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"| |
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|align="left"|After 40 days Noah sends out the raven |
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|align="left"|Sunday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"| |
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|align="left"|After 7 days Noah sends the dove again (2nd time); dove returns with olive twig |
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|align="left"|Sunday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"| |
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|align="left"|After 7 days Noah sends the dove again (3rd time); dove does not return |
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|align="left"|Sunday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|d.1, mth.1, year 601 (Gen.8:13) |
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|align="left"|Waters dried up |
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|align="left"|Wednesday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|d.27, mth.2, year 601 (Gen.8:14) |
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|align="left"|Earth dry, Noah emerges |
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|align="left"|Wednesday |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|} |
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==See also== |
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===The Ark and Genesis 1=== |
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{{Portal|Religion|Christianity|Islam|Judaism|Mythology}} |
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{{div col}} |
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* [[Biblical literalism]] |
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* [[Book of Noah]] |
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* [[Dwyfan and Dwyfach]] |
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* [[Gilgamesh flood myth]] |
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* [[İlandağ]] of the [[Lesser Caucasus]] in [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]], [[Azerbaijan]] |
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* [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience]] |
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* [[Manu (Hinduism)]] |
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* [[Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives]] |
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* The [[Sinjar Mountains]] in [[Nineveh Governorate]], Iraq |
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* [[Sons of Noah]] |
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* [[Wives aboard Noah's Ark]] |
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* [[Ziusudra]] |
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{{div col end}} |
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==Notes== |
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As the Flood rises it wipes out the work of [[Genesis creation myth|Creation]], each month of the Flood corresponding to the matching day of Creation. Just as God on the second day of the world placed the [[firmament]] to separate the Earth from waters above and below, so in the second month of Noah's 600th year God opens the floodgates of Heaven and the fountains of the Deep and allows the waters to return; just as the work of Creation was completed on the sixth day when all living things were ready for man, so the Flood rises for a further five months (the 150 days of Genesis 7:24) until the sixth month, when "everything that had the breath of life in its nostrils, everything that was on the earth, died"; and as God rested on the seventh day, so the Ark rests on the mountaintops on the seventh month. The "wind from God" which passed over the waters of Chaos at the very beginning of Creation (in Genesis 1:2) passes over the waters again, and the world is re-created as the waters dry from the land, until in the fourteenth month men and creatures exit the Ark, and Noah enters into the first Covenant with God.<ref>{{harvnb|Paulien|2004|pp=35–38}}</ref> |
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{{reflist |group="Notes"}} |
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{| class="wikitable" style="align: center;" |
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!width="33%"|Creation |
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!width="33%"|Rising flood |
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!width="33%"|Falling flood<br /> |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|Day 1: The wind of God moves over the waters; light separated from dark |
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|align="left"|Month 1, year 600: subsumed into the 40 days prior to God's warning of the coming flood |
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|align="left"|Month 8, year 600: first month of falling waters |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|Day 2: the solid dome of the "firmament" separates the waters of heaven from the waters of the deep, creating the space of the habitable earth |
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|align="left"|Month 2, year 600: windows of heaven and fountains of the deep opened, allowing the waters to flood in; first of 5 months of rising waters |
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|align="left"|Month 9, year 600: second month of falling waters |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|Day 3: dry ground separated from seas; earth brings forth vegetation |
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|align="left"|Month 3, year 600: second month of rising waters |
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|align="left"|Month 10, year 600: third month of falling waters; mountain tops become visible |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|Day 4: "lights" (sun and moon) and stars set in the sky |
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|align="left"|Month 4, year 600: third month of rising waters |
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|align="left"|Month 11, year 600: fourth month of falling waters |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|Day 5: "creatures of the sea" and birds created |
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|align="left"|Month 5, year 600: fourth month of rising waters |
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|align="left"|Month 12, year 600: fifth and final month of falling waters |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|Day 6: creatures of the land and mankind created |
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|align="left"|Month 6, year 600: fifth and final month of rising waters |
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|align="left"|Month 1, year 601: waters dried from the earth |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|align="left"|Day 7: creation complete, God rests and sanctifies the seventh (sabbath) day |
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|align="left"|Month 7, year 600: wind from God moves over the waters, fountains of deep and floodgates of heaven closed, flood stops rising; ark rests on the mountain peaks, flood recedes for the next 5 months |
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|align="left"|Month 2, year 601: earth dry; Noah and the creatures exit the ark; God and Noah enter into the first Covenant |
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|- bgcolor="#ffffec" align="left" valign=top |
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|} |
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==References== |
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===Numerology and Tabernacle=== |
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The Ark is 300 [[cubit]]s long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, and it had three decks; it is therefore three times the height of the [[Tabernacle]] and three times the area of the Tabernacle forecourt, suggesting that the biblical authors saw both structures serving the same purpose, the preservation of humankind for God's plan.<ref>[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&dq=Eerdmans+commentary+on+the+bible&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=VJA1TN3oCIzJcZjCzM4E&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false James D. G. Dunn and John William Rogerson, "Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible" (Eerdmans, 2003), p.44]</ref> The dimensions betray a numerological preoccupation with the number sixty, one which it shares with the Babylonian Ark: 60x5=300 cubits long and 60÷2=30 cubits high.<ref>[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Ark%2C%20tabernacle%20and%20second%20temple%20-%20sizes&source=gbs_slider_thumb#v=onepage&q=Noah%27s%20ark&f=false "Mercer Dictionary of the Bible", art. ''Ark'', p.63]</ref> |
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===Citations=== |
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===Structure: The chiasmus in the Ark story=== |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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[[Gordon Wenham]]’s description of an elaborate [[chiasmus]] within the Ark story with "And God remembered Noah" at its centre has attracted numerous followers, especially among more conservative scholars.<ref>{{harvnb|McKeown|2008|p=62}}</ref> The analysis has been criticized by J. A. Emerton and others on the grounds as being essentially subjective and inclined to arbitrary results,<ref>{{harvnb|Emerton|1988|pp=1–21}}</ref> but some variant of the chiastic structure of the story continues to be widely quoted in scholarly literature, even by scholars who are not inclined to a historicising reading. |
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===Bibliography=== |
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===Literalism and the search for Noah's ark=== |
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{{Refbegin}} |
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{{Main|Searches for Noah's Ark|Ararat anomaly|Durupınar site}} |
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*{{cite book|last = Bailey|first = Lloyd R.|chapter = Ark|title = Mercer Dictionary of the Bible|publisher = Mercer University Press|year = 1990|isbn = 9780865543737|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Mercer+Dictionary+of+the+Bible+Cosmology&pg=PA176|pages=63–64}} |
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[[Biblical literalism|Biblical literalists]] believe in a literal Ark, advancing arguments not so different from those in the earliest editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica.<ref>See, for example, [[Answers in Genesis]]</ref> They feel that finding the Ark would validate their views on a whole range of matters, from geology to [[evolution]]: "If the flood of Noah indeed wiped out the entire human race and its civilization, as the Bible teaches, then the Ark constitutes the one remaining major link to the pre-flood World. No significant artifact could ever be of greater antiquity or importance... [with] tremendous potential impact on the creation-evolution (including [[theistic evolution]]) controversy."<ref name="Morris, John 2007"/> [[Searches for Noah's Ark]] continue on and around [[Mount Ararat]] in [[Turkey]]. |
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*{{cite book |last=Batto |first=Bernard Frank |title=Slaying the Dragon: Mythmaking in the Biblical Tradition |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1992 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eWrDOxHQ7-oC&q=ark&pg=PA68|isbn=9780664253530 }} |
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*{{citation |last=Blenkinsopp |first=Joseph |title=Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation: A Discursive Commentary on Genesis 1–11 |year= 2011|publisher= A&C Black |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B12qwOSMD20C |isbn=9780567372871}} |
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*{{cite book|first=Norman|last=Cohn|author-link=Norman Cohn|title=Noah's Flood: The Genesis Story in Western Thought|location=New Haven & London|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|year=1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ7g-BIfXu0C&q=Noah%27s+Flood%3A+The+Genesis+Story+in+Western+Thought|isbn=978-0-300-06823-8}} |
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*{{cite book|author=Compilation|editor-last=Hornby|editor-first=Helen|year= 1983|title= Lights of Guidance: A Baháʼí Reference File |publisher= Baháʼí Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India|isbn= 978-81-85091-46-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ7g-BIfXu0C&q=Noah%27s+Flood%3A+The+Genesis+Story+in+Western+Thought}} |
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*{{citation |last=Enns |first=Peter |title=The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say about Human Origins |year=2012 |publisher=Baker Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNxeoqoTg-YC |isbn=9781587433153}} |
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*{{citation |last=Finkel |first=Irving L. |author-link= Irving Finkel|title=The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood |year=2014 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lScWAwAAQBAJ&q=tablet&pg=PT274|isbn=9781444757071 }} |
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*{{cite book|last=Hamilton|first=Victor P.|title=The book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17|publisher=Eerdmans|year=1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WW31E9Zt5-wC&q=Genesis&pg=PR3|isbn=9780802825216}} |
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*{{cite book|last1=Kessler|first1=Martin|last2=Deurloo|first2=Karel Adriaan|title=A commentary on Genesis: The Book of Beginnings|publisher=Paulist Press|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBWeLCTgT0QC&q=A+commentary+on+Genesis:+the+book+of+beginnings+Martin+Kessler,+Karel+Adriaan+Deurloo|isbn=9780809142057}} |
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*{{citation |last1=Kvanvig |first1=Helge |title=Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic: An Intertextual Reading |year=2011 |publisher=BRILL |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e1hnJYbShWMC|isbn=978-9004163805}} |
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*{{cite book |last=McKeown |first=James |title=Genesis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gqTTl1iPr8C&q=westermann+tabernacle+ark&pg=PA65 |series=Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary |year=2008 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-8028-2705-0 |page=398 }} |
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*{{citation |last=Nigosian |first=S.A. |title=From Ancient Writings to Sacred Texts: The Old Testament and Apocrypha |year=2004 |publisher=JHU Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpAAKpmMHYoC|isbn=9780801879883}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Wenham|first=Gordon|chapter=Genesis|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&q=Eerdmans+Genesis+his+rise+to+be+ruler+of+all+Egypt&pg=PA34|editor=James D. G. Dunn |editor2=John William Rogerson|title=Eerdmans Bible Commentary|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2003|isbn=9780802837110 }} |
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{{Refend}} |
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== |
===Further reading=== |
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{{Further reading cleanup|date=August 2024}} |
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{{Portal box|Religion|History|Mythology}} |
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'''Commentaries on Genesis''' |
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{{Commons category|Noah's Ark}} |
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{{Refbegin}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Towner|first=Wayne Sibley|title=Genesis|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ONdsoa7MHUC&q=Genesis+Wayne+Sibley+Towner|isbn=9780664252564 }} |
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*{{cite book|last=Von Rad|first=Gerhard|title=Genesis: A Commentary|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1972|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbuBa8Qy3AwC&q=Genesis:+A+Commentary+Gerhard+Von+Rad|isbn=9780664227456 }} |
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*{{cite book|last=Whybray|first=R. N.|chapter=Genesis|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3surkLVdw3UC&q=4.+Genesis+Whybray+Genesis+and+the+Pentateuch&pg=PA38|editor=John Barton|title=Oxford Bible Commentary|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2001|isbn=9780198755005|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordbiblecomme0000unse}} |
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{{Refend}} |
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'''General''' |
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*[[Flood myth]] |
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{{Refbegin}} |
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*[[List of world's largest wooden ships]] |
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*{{citation |last=Bandstra |first=Barry L. |title=Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible |year=2008 |publisher=Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning |location=Belmont, CA |isbn=978-0495391050 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY9mTUZKJcC&q=%22not+really+contradictory%22&pg=PA61 |edition=4th |pages=61–63 }} |
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*[[Johan's Ark]] (half-length model of Noah's Ark) |
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*{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Noah |volume= 19 |last= Bennett |first= William Henry |author-link= William Henry Bennett | page = 722}} |
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*[[Noah]] |
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*{{citation |last=Best |first=Robert |title=Noah's Ark And the Ziusudra Epic: Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth|publisher = Eerdmans |year= 1999 |isbn=978-09667840-1-5}} |
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*[[Searches for Noah's Ark]] |
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*{{cite book|first= Janet|last= Browne|author-link= Janet Browne|title= The Secular Ark: Studies in the History of Biogeography|year= 1983|location= New Haven & London|publisher= Yale University Press|isbn= 978-0-300-02460-9|page=276}} |
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*[[Seven Laws of Noah]] |
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*{{cite book|last=Brueggemann|first=Walter|title=Reverberations of Faith: a Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes |
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*[[Wives aboard Noah's Ark]] |
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|publisher=Westminster John Knox|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBJQ71RIpdMC&q=theological+handbook+of+Old+Testament+themes|isbn=9780664222314}} |
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*[[Ziusudra]] |
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*{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Antony F.|last2=O'Brien|first2=Mark A.|title=Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations|publisher=Fortress Press|year=1993|url=https://archive.org/details/sourcesofpentate0000camp|url-access=registration|quote=Sources of the bible.|isbn=9781451413670 }} |
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*[[Creationism]] |
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*{{cite book|last=Carr|first=David M.|title=Reading the Fractures of Genesis|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8UJctZxFHikC&q=Reading+the+fractures+of+Genesis:+historical+and+literary+approaches|isbn=9780664220716}} |
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*[[Flood geology]] |
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*{{cite book|last=Clines|first=David A.|title=The Theme of the Pentateuch|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z45ullcFRG8C&q=Clines+Theme+of+the+Pentateuch|isbn=9780567431967}} |
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*[[Gilgamesh flood myth]] |
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*{{cite book|last=Davies|first=G. I.|chapter=Introduction to the Pentateuch|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3surkLVdw3UC&q=Oxford+Bible+Commentary+Introduction+to+the+Pentateuch&pg=PA12|editor=John Barton|title=Oxford Bible Commentary|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=9780198755005|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordbiblecomme0000unse}} |
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{{Clear}} |
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*{{cite book|title=Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary|editor=Douglas, J. D. |editor2=Tenney, Merrill C.|year=2011|publisher=Zondervan|location=Grand Rapids, Mich.|isbn=978-0310229834|edition=Revised|others=revised by Moisés Silva}} |
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*{{cite book|last1=Kugler|first1=Robert|last2=Hartin|first2=Patrick|title=The Old Testament between theology and history: a critical survey|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8WbXbPjxpoC&q=Robert+Kugler,+Patrick+Hartin|isbn=9780802846365}} |
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==Notes== |
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*{{cite book|last1=Levin|first1=Christoph L.|title=The Old testament: A Brief Introduction|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2005|url=https://archive.org/details/oldtestamentbrie00levi|url-access=registration|quote=The Old testament: a brief introduction Christoph Levin.|isbn=978-0691113944}} |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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*{{cite book|title=The Old Testament: A Brief Introduction|author=Levin, C.|date=2005|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691113944|url=https://archive.org/details/oldtestamentbrie00levi|url-access=registration}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Longman|first=Tremper|title=How to Read Genesis|publisher=InterVarsity Press|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKEJ3kT7S2kC&q=How+to+read+Genesis+Tremper+Longman|isbn=9780830875603}} |
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==References== |
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*{{ |
*{{cite book|last=McEntire|first=Mark|title=Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch|publisher=Mercer University Press|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VwOs9f1FpmsC&q=william+propp+exodus+1-18&pg=PA87|isbn=9780881461015}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Ska|first=Jean-Louis|title=Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch|publisher=Eisenbrauns|year=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7cdy67ZvzdkC&q=Introduction+to+reading+the+Pentateuch+Jean+Louis+Ska|isbn=9781575061221}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Van Seters|first=John|title=Prologue to History: The Yahwist As Historian in Genesis|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zRl8aj_KiM4C|isbn=9780664221799}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Van Seters|first=John|chapter=The Pentateuch|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owwhpmIVgSAC&q=The+Hebrew+Bible+today:+an+introduction+to+critical+issues|editor=Steven L. McKenzie |editor2=Matt Patrick Graham|title=The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1998|isbn=9780664256524}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Van Seters|first=John|title=The Pentateuch: A Social-science Commentary|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-Vi9eK_vS0C&q=Sources+of+the+bible&pg=PA7|isbn=9780567080882}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Walsh|first=Jerome T.|title=Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative|publisher=Liturgical Press|year=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGeXrcQTZ2kC&q=style+and+structure+in+biblical+hebrew+narrative|isbn=9780814658970}} |
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*{{cite book|first= Lloyd R.|last= Bailey|title= Noah, the Person and the Story|url= https://archive.org/details/noahpersonstoryi0000bail|url-access= registration|year= 1989|location= South Carolina|publisher= [[University of South Carolina Press]]|isbn= 978-0-87249-637-8}} |
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*{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Antony F.|last2=O'Brien|first2=Mark A.|title=Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations|publisher=Fortress Press|year=1993|url=https://archive.org/details/sourcesofpentate0000camp|url-access=registration|quote=Sources of the bible.|isbn=9781451413670}} |
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*{{cite book|title=Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations|author1=Campbell, A. F.|author2=O'Brien, M. A.|date=1993|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=9781451413670|url=https://archive.org/details/sourcesofpentate0000camp|url-access=registration}} |
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*{{cite book |last=Cline|first=Eric H.|title= Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwNIDHSPsSMC&pg=PA72|isbn=9780199741076}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Cotter|first=David W.|title=Genesis|publisher=[[Liturgical Press]]|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6lCVzr4cT9QC&q=Genesis+David+W.+Cotter|isbn=9780814650400}} |
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*{{cite book |
*{{cite book |
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|last= |
|last = Cresswell |
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|first= |
|first = Julia |
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|chapter = Ark |
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|title=Legends of the patriarchs and prophets and other Old Testament characters from various sources |
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|title = Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins |
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|publisher=James B. Millar and Co., New York |
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|publisher = Oxford University Press |
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|year=1884 |
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|year = 2010 |
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|chapter=Noah |
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|isbn = 978-0199547937 |
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|chapterurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=05BuCM6U4DgC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=eutychius+noah&source=web&ots=VZwzX3fiX5&sig=xu-kgZF60hoIZgJa01zWwgyQx6w |
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|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J4i3zV4vnBAC |
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|ref=harv |
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}} |
}} |
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*{{ |
*{{cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=G. Brent |title=The Age of the Earth |year=1991 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-2331-2 }} |
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*{{cite journal |last= Emerton |first= J. A. |editor-last= Joosten |editor-first=J. |year= 1988 |title= An Examination of Some Attempts to Defend the Unity of the Flood Narrative in Genesis: Part II |journal= [[Vetus Testamentum]] |volume= XXXVIII |issue= 1 }} |
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*{{cite book|first = Janet|last = Browne|authorlink = Janet Browne|title = The Secular Ark: Studies in the History of Biogeography|year = 1983|location = New Haven & London|publisher = Yale University Press|isbn = 0-300-02460-6|ref=harv|pages=276}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Gooder|first=Paula|title=The Pentateuch: A Story of Beginnings|publisher=T&T Clark|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49XpvvO-Oq0C&q=The+Pentateuch+Paula+Gooder|isbn=9780567084187}} |
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*{{cite book|first = Norman|last = Cohn|authorlink = Norman Cohn|title = Noah's Flood: The Genesis Story in Western Thought|location = New Haven & London|publisher = [[Yale University Press]]|year = 1996|isbn = 0-300-06823-9|ref = harv}} |
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*{{cite web |url=http://www.news.wisc.edu/16176 |title=Reason or Faith? Darwin Expert Reflects |first=Gwen |last=Evans |date=3 February 2009 |work=UW-Madison News |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison |access-date=18 June 2010}} |
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*{{cite book |last1=Knight |first1=Douglas A. |editor1= Watson E. Mills |title=Mercer Dictionary of the Bible |publisher= Mercer University Press |location=Macon, Georgia |isbn=978-0-86554-402-4 |chapter=Cosmology |year= 1990 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Mercer+Dictionary+of+the+Bible+Cosmology&pg=PA176 }} |
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*{{cite book |
*{{cite book |
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|last1=Levenson |
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|author=Compilation |
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|first1=Jon D. |
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|editor-last=Hornby |
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|chapter=Genesis: introduction and annotations |
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|editor-first=Helen |
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|editor1-last=Berlin |
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|year = 1983|title = Lights of Guidance: A Bahá'í Reference File|publisher = Bahá'í Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India|isbn = 8185091463|url = http://bahai-library.com/hornby_lights_guidance |
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|editor1-first=Adele |
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|ref=harv}} |
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|editor2-last=Brettler |
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*{{cite book |
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|editor2-first=Marc Zvi |
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|last=Dalrymple |
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|title= The Jewish Study Bible |
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|first=G. Brent |
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|publisher= Oxford University Press |
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|title=The Age of the Earth |
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|year= |
|year=2014 |
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|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ |
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|publisher=Stanford University Press |
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|isbn= |
|isbn=9780199393879 |
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|ref=harv |
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}} |
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*{{cite journal |
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| last = Emerton |
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| first = J.A. |
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| editor-last =Joosten |
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| editor-first=J. |
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| year = 1988 |
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| title = An Examination of Some Attempts to Defend the Unity of the Flood Narrative in Genesis: Part II |
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| journal = Vetus Testamentum |
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| volume = XXXVIII |
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| issue = 1 |
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| publisher = International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament |
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| ref = harv |
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}} |
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*{{cite book |
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|last=McKeown |
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|first=James |
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|title=Genesis |
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|url=http://books.google.com.au/books?id=-gqTTl1iPr8C&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=westermann+tabernacle+ark&source=bl&ots=kNtm_MP7JB&sig=hn7cyTiPmZXNxyqsmtlVVN51qN4&hl=en&ei=v9idStCGFdiOkQWO0oXaBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7#v=onepage&q=westermann%20tabernacle%20ark&f=false |
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|series=Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary |
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|year=2008 |
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|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |
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|isbn=0802827055 |
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|pages=398 |
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|ref=harv |
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}} |
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*{{cite book |
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|last=Paulien |
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|first=Jon |
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|title=The Deep Things of God |
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|url=http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Jexx9yVN1jkC&dq=Paulien+Deep&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=G1HoMJ0h5j&sig=rnxSAP487QF2fcZ6flIADUWY2Rk&hl=en&ei=fDSfSouNDMiIkAXvl8DPDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false |
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|year=2004 |
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|format=Google Books |
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|publisher=Review and Herald Publishing |
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|isbn=082801812X |
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|pages=175 |
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|ref=harv |
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}} |
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*{{cite book|last=Plimer|first=Ian|title=Telling Lies for God: Reason vs Creationism|accessdate=2010-07-10|year=1994|publisher=Random House Australia|isbn=009182852X|pages=303|ref=harv}} |
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*{{cite book|last =Shoghi Effendi|authorlink = Shoghi Effendi|year = 1971|title = Messages to the Bahá'í World, 1950–1957|publisher = Bahá'í Publishing Trust|location = Wilmette, Illinois, USA|isbn = 0877430365|url = http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/MBW/|pages = 104|ref=harv}} |
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*{{cite book|last = Speiser|first = E. A.|authorlink = E. A. Speiser|title = Genesis|series = The [[Anchor Bible]]|year = 1964|publisher = Doubleday|isbn = 0-385-00854-6|ref=harv}} |
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*{{Cite book|author = Tigay, Jeffrey H.,|title = The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic|location =|publisher = [[University of Pennsylvania Press]], Philadelphia|year = 1982|isbn = 0-8122-7805-4}} |
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*{{Cite book|first = John|last = Woodmorappe|title = Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study|location = El Cajon, CA|publisher = Institute for Creation Research|year = 1996|isbn = 0-932766-41-2}} |
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*{{cite book |
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|last=Wenham |
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|first=Gordon |
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|editor1-last=Hess |
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|editor1-first=Richard S. |
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|editor2-last=Tsumura |
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|editor2-first=David Toshio |
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|title=I studied inscriptions from before the flood |
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|format=Google Books |
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|series=Sources for Biblical and Theological Study |
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|volume=4 |
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|year=1994 |
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|publisher=Eisenbrauns |
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|isbn=0931464889 |
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|pages=480 |
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|chapter=The Coherence of the Flood Narrative |
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|chapterurl=http://books.google.com.au/books?id=g5MGVP6gAPkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=I+studied+inscriptions+from+before+the+flood&source=bl&ots=Ets3K9BTU6&sig=S46AwWX3Xbtmg2Gm9dKGA3hh7UM&hl=en&ei=ARYnTK2sGILRcYqrjPEC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false |
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*{{cite book |
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|last=Young |
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|first=Davis A. |
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|title=The Biblical Flood: A Case Study of the Church's Response to Extrabiblical Evidence |
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|year=1995 |
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|month=March |
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|publisher=Eerdmans Pub Co |
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|location = Grand Rapids, MI |
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|isbn=0802807194 |
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|pages=340 |
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*{{cite web|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html|title=Problems with a Global Flood|last=Isaak|first=M.|year=1998|publisher=[[TalkOrigins Archive]]|access-date=29 March 2007|quote=Isaak no a geologist}} |
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*{{cite web|url= http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/list.html#CD|title=Index to Creationist Claims, Geology|first=Mark|last=Isaak|publisher=[[TalkOrigins Archive]]|date=5 November 2006|access-date= 2 November 2010 }} |
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* {{Cite web |last=Lippsett |first=Lonny |date=2009 |title=Noah's Not-so-big Flood: New evidence rebuts controversial theory of Black Sea deluge |url=https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/noahs-not-so-big-flood/ |access-date=5 February 2021 |website=Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |language=en-US}} |
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*{{cite web|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/geocolumn/|title=The Geologic Column and its Implications for the Flood|first=Glenn|last=Morton|publisher=[[TalkOrigins Archive]]|access-date= 2 November 2010|date=17 February 2001|quote=Morton Not a Geologist}} |
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*{{cite book |last1=Nicholson |first1=Ernest W. |title=The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: the legacy of Julius Wellhausen |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=opBBTHT13yoC&q=The+Pentateuch+in+the+twentieth+century:+the+legacy+of+Julius+Wellhausen|isbn=9780199257836}} |
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*{{cite book |last= Numbers |first= Ronald L. |author-link= Ronald Numbers |title= The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Expanded Edition |publisher= Harvard University Press |year= 2006 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/creationistsfrom0000numb/page/624 624] |isbn= 978-0-674-02339-0 |title-link= The Creationists }} |
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*{{cite journal |last=Parkinson |first=William|date=January–February 2004|title=Questioning 'Flood Geology': Decisive New Evidence to End an Old Debate|journal=NCSE Reports|volume=24|issue=1|url=http://ncse.com/rncse/24/1/questioning-flood-geology|access-date=2 November 2010}} |
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*{{cite book |last=Plimer |first=Ian |title=Telling Lies for God: Reason vs Creationism |year=1994 |publisher=Random House Australia |isbn=978-0-09-182852-3 |page=303 }} |
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*{{cite journal|last=Schadewald|first=Robert J.|date=Summer 1982 |title= Six Flood Arguments Creationists Can't Answer |journal= Creation/Evolution Journal |volume= 3 |issue= 3 |pages= 12–17 |url= http://ncse.com/cej/3/3/six-flood-arguments-creationists-cant-answer |access-date= 16 November 2010 }} |
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*{{cite journal|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/cre-error.html |last=Schadewald|first=Robert|year=1986|title=Scientific Creationism and Error|journal=Creation/Evolution|volume=6|issue=1|pages=1–9|access-date=29 March 2007}} |
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*{{citation|url=http://ncse.com/rncse/23/1/my-favorite-pseudoscience |first=Eugenie C. |last=Scott|title=My Favorite Pseudoscience|volume= 23|issue= 1|date=January–February 2003}} |
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*{{cite book|last= Speiser|first= E. A.|author-link= E. A. Speiser|title= Genesis|url= https://archive.org/details/genesis00spei|url-access= registration|series= The [[Anchor Bible]]|year= 1964|publisher= Doubleday|isbn= 978-0-385-00854-9 }} |
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*{{cite book |last1= Stewart |first1= Melville Y. |title= Science and Religion in Dialogue |year= 2010 |publisher= Wiley-Blackwell |location= Malden, MA |isbn= 978-1-4051-8921-7 |pages= 123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AaGhngEACAAJ}} |
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*{{cite book|author= Tigay, Jeffrey H. |title= The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic|location=Philadelphia |publisher= [[University of Pennsylvania Press]], Philadelphia|year= 1982|isbn= 0865165467 }} |
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*{{cite book|last=Van Seters|first=John|title=The Pentateuch: A Social-Science commentary|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-Vi9eK_vS0C&pg=PA7|isbn=0567080889 }} |
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*{{cite book |last=Wenham |first=Gordon |editor1-last=Hess |editor1-first=Richard S. |editor2-last=Tsumura |editor2-first=David Toshio |title=I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood |format=Google Books |series=Sources for Biblical and Theological Study |volume=4 |year=1994 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-0-931464-88-1 |page=480 |chapter=The Coherence of the Flood Narrative |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5MGVP6gAPkC }} |
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*{{cite book |last=Young |first=Davis A. |title=The Biblical Flood: A Case Study of the Church's Response to Extrabiblical Evidence |date=March 1995 |publisher=Eerdmans Pub Co |location= Grand Rapids, MI |isbn=978-0-8028-0719-9 |page=340 }} |
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*{{cite book |last1= Young |first1= Davis A. |last2= Stearley |first2= Ralph F. |title= The Bible, Rocks, and Time: Geological Evidence for the Age of the Earth |year= 2008 |publisher= IVP Academic |location= Downers Grove, Ill. |isbn= 978-0-8308-2876-0 }} |
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Latest revision as of 09:23, 18 December 2024
Noah's Ark (Hebrew: תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: Tevat Noaḥ)[Notes 1] is the boat in the Genesis flood narrative through which God spares Noah, his family, and examples of all the world's animals from a global deluge.[1] The story in Genesis is based on earlier flood myths originating in Mesopotamia, and is repeated, with variations, in the Quran, where the Ark appears as Safinat Nūḥ (Arabic: سَفِينَةُ نُوحٍ "Noah's ship") and al-fulk (Arabic: الفُلْك). The myth of the global flood that destroys all life begins to appear in the Old Babylonian Empire period (20th–16th centuries BCE).[2] The version closest to the biblical story of Noah, as well as its most likely source, is that of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[3]
Early Christian and Jewish writers, such as Flavius Josephus, believed that Noah's Ark existed. Unsuccessful searches for Noah's Ark have been made from at least the time of Eusebius (c. 275–339 CE). Believers in the Ark continue to search for it in modern times, but no scientific evidence that the Ark existed has ever been found,[4] nor is there scientific evidence for a global flood.[5] The boat and the natural disaster as described in the Bible would have been contingent upon physical impossibilities and extraordinary anachronisms.[6] Some researchers believe that a real (though localized) flood event in the Middle East could potentially have inspired the oral and later written narratives; a Persian Gulf flood, or a Black Sea Deluge 7,500 years ago has been proposed as such a historical candidate.[7][8]
Description
[edit]The structure of the Ark (and the chronology of the flood) is homologous with the Jewish Temple and with Temple worship.[9] Accordingly, Noah's instructions are given to him by God (Genesis 6:14–16): the ark is to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high (approximately 134×22×13 m or 440×72×43 ft).[10] These dimensions are based on a numerological preoccupation with the number 60, the same number characterizing the vessel of the Babylonian flood hero.[1]
Its three internal divisions reflect the three-part universe imagined by the ancient Israelites: heaven, the earth, and the underworld.[11] Each deck is the same height as the Temple in Jerusalem, itself a microcosmic model of the universe, and each is three times the area of the court of the tabernacle, leading to the suggestion that the author saw both Ark and tabernacle as serving for the preservation of human life.[12][13] It has a door in the side, and a tsohar, which may be either a roof or a skylight.[10] It is to be made of gopher wood "goper", a word which appears nowhere else in the Bible, but thought to be a loan word from the Akkadian gupru[14] – and divided into qinnim, a word which always refers to birds' nests elsewhere in the Bible, leading some scholars to emend this to qanim, reeds.[15] The finished vessel is to be smeared with koper, meaning pitch or bitumen; in Hebrew the two words are closely related, kaparta ("smeared") ... bakopper.[15] Bitumen is more likely option as "koper" is thought to be a loanword from the Akkadian "kupru", meaning bitumen.[14]
Origins
[edit]Mesopotamian precursors
[edit]For well over a century, scholars have said that the Bible's story of Noah's Ark is based on older Mesopotamian models.[16] Because all these flood stories deal with events that allegedly happened at the dawn of history, they give the impression that the myths themselves must come from very primitive origins, but the myth of the global flood that destroys all life only begins to appear in the Old Babylonian period (20th–16th centuries BCE).[17] The reasons for this emergence of the typical Mesopotamian flood myth may have been bound up with the specific circumstances of the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BCE and the restoration of order by the First Dynasty of Isin.[18]
Nine versions of the Mesopotamian flood story are known, each more or less adapted from an earlier version. In the oldest version, inscribed in the Sumerian city of Nippur around 1600 BCE, the hero is King Ziusudra. This story, the Sumerian flood myth, probably derives from an earlier version. The Ziusudra version tells how he builds a boat and rescues life when the gods decide to destroy it. This basic plot is common in several subsequent flood stories and heroes, including Noah. Ziusudra's Sumerian name means "he of long life." In Babylonian versions, his name is Atrahasis, but the meaning is the same. In the Atrahasis version, the flood is a river flood.[19]: 20–27
The version closest to the biblical story of Noah is that of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh.[3] A complete text of Utnapishtim's story is contained on a clay tablet dating from the seventh century BCE, but fragments of the story have been found from as far back as the 19th century BCE.[3] The last known version of the Mesopotamian flood story was written in Greek in the third century BCE by a Babylonian priest named Berossus. From the fragments that survive, it seems little changed from the versions of 2,000 years before.[20]
The parallels between Noah's Ark and the arks of Babylonian flood heroes Atrahasis and Utnapishtim have often been noted. Atrahasis's Ark was circular, resembling an enormous quffa, with one or two decks.[21] Utnapishtim's ark was a cube with six decks of seven compartments, each divided into nine subcompartments (63 subcompartments per deck, 378 total). Noah's Ark was rectangular with three decks. A progression is believed to exist from a circular to a cubic or square to rectangular. The most striking similarity is the near-identical deck areas of the three arks: 14,400 cubits2, 14,400 cubits2, and 15,000 cubits2 for Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah, only 4% different. Irving Finkel concluded, "the iconic story of the Flood, Noah, and the Ark as we know it today certainly originated in the landscape of ancient Mesopotamia, modern Iraq."[22]
Linguistic parallels between Noah's and Atrahasis' arks have also been noted. The word used for "pitch" (sealing tar or resin) in Genesis is not the normal Hebrew word, but is closely related to the word used in the Babylonian story.[23] Likewise, the Hebrew word for "ark" (tēvāh) is nearly identical to the Babylonian word for an oblong boat (ṭubbû), especially given that "v" and "b" are the same letter in Hebrew: bet (ב).[22]
However, the causes for God or the gods sending the flood differ in the various stories. In the Hebrew myth, the flood inflicts God's judgment on wicked humanity. The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh gives no reasons, and the flood appears the result of divine caprice.[24] In the Babylonian Atrahasis version, the flood is sent to reduce human overpopulation, and after the flood, other measures were introduced to limit humanity.[25][26][27]
Composition
[edit]A consensus among scholars indicates that the Torah (the first five books of the Bible, beginning with Genesis) was the product of a long and complicated process that was not completed until after the Babylonian exile.[28] Since the 18th century, the flood narrative has been analysed as a paradigm example of the combination of two different versions of a story into a single text, with one marker for the different versions being a consistent preference for different names "Elohim" and "Yahweh" to denote God.[29]
Religious views
[edit]Rabbinic Judaism
[edit]The Talmudic tractates Sanhedrin, Avodah Zarah, and Zevahim relate that, while Noah was building the Ark, he attempted to warn his neighbors of the coming deluge, but was ignored or mocked. God placed lions and other ferocious animals to protect Noah and his family from the wicked who tried to keep them from the Ark. According to one Midrash, it was God, or the angels, who gathered the animals and their food to the Ark. As no need existed to distinguish between clean and unclean animals before this time, the clean animals made themselves known by kneeling before Noah as they entered the Ark.[citation needed] A differing opinion is that the Ark itself distinguished clean animals from unclean, admitting seven pairs each of the former and one pair each of the latter.[30][non-primary source needed]
According to Sanhedrin 108b, Noah was engaged both day and night in feeding and caring for the animals, and did not sleep for the entire year aboard the Ark.[31] The animals were the best of their kind and behaved with utmost goodness. They did not procreate, so the number of creatures that disembarked was exactly equal to the number that embarked. The raven created problems, refusing to leave the Ark when Noah sent it forth, and accusing the patriarch of wishing to destroy its race, but as the commentators pointed out, God wished to save the raven, for its descendants were destined to feed the prophet Elijah.[30][non-primary source needed]
According to one tradition, refuse was stored on the lowest of the Ark's three decks, humans and clean beasts on the second, and the unclean animals and birds on the top. A differing interpretation described the refuse as being stored on the topmost deck, from where it was shoveled into the sea through a trapdoor. Precious stones, as bright as the noon sun, provided light, and God ensured the food remained fresh.[32][33][34] In an unorthodox interpretation, the 12th-century Jewish commentator Abraham ibn Ezra interpreted the ark as a vessel that remained underwater for 40 days, after which it floated to the surface.[35]
Christianity
[edit]The First Epistle of Peter (composed around the end of the first century AD[36]) compared Noah's salvation through water to Christian salvation through baptism.[37] Hippolytus of Rome (died 235) sought to demonstrate that "the Ark was a symbol of the Christ who was expected", stating that the vessel had its door on the east side—the direction from which Christ would appear at the Second Coming—and that the bones of Adam were brought aboard, together with gold, frankincense, and myrrh (the symbols of the Nativity of Christ). Hippolytus furthermore stated that the Ark floated to and fro in the four directions on the waters, making the sign of the cross, before eventually landing on Mount Kardu "in the east, in the land of the sons of Raban, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash; the Armenians call it Ararat".[38] On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that the lowest of the three decks was for wild beasts, the middle for birds and domestic animals, and the top for humans. He says male animals were separated from females by sharp stakes to prevent breeding.[38]
The early Church Father and theologian Origen (circa 182–251), in response to a critic who doubted that the Ark could contain all the animals in the world, argued that Moses, the traditional author of the book of Genesis, had been brought up in Egypt and would therefore have used the larger Egyptian cubit. He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncated pyramid, square at its base, and tapering to a square peak one cubit on a side; only in the 12th century did it come to be thought of as a rectangular box with a sloping roof.[39]
Early Christian artists depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves, symbolizing God saving the Christian Church in its turbulent early years. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in his work City of God, demonstrated that the dimensions of the Ark corresponded to the dimensions of the human body, which according to Christian doctrine is the body of Christ and in turn the body of the Church.[40] Jerome (c. 347–420) identified the raven, which was sent forth and did not return, as the "foul bird of wickedness" expelled by baptism;[41] more enduringly, the dove and olive branch came to symbolize the Holy Spirit and the hope of salvation and eventually, peace.[42] The olive branch remains a secular and religious symbol of peace today.
Gnosticism
[edit]According to the Hypostasis of the Archons, a 3rd-century Gnostic text, Noah is chosen to be spared by the evil Archons when they try to destroy the other inhabitants of the Earth with the great flood. He is told to create the ark then board it at a location called Mount Sir, but when his wife Norea wants to board it as well, Noah attempts to not let her. So she decides to use her divine power to blow upon the ark and set it ablaze, therefore Noah is forced to rebuild it.[43]
Mandaeism
[edit]In Book 18 of the Right Ginza, a Mandaean text, Noah and his family are saved from the Great Flood because they were able to build an ark or kawila (or kauila, a Mandaic term; it is cognate with Syriac kēʾwilā, which is attested in the Peshitta New Testament, such as Matthew 24:38 and Luke 17:27).[44]
Islam
[edit]In contrast to the Jewish tradition, which uses a term that can be translated as a "box" or "chest" to describe the Ark, surah 29:15 of the Quran refers to it as a safina, an ordinary ship; surah 7:64 uses fulk,[45][46] and surah 54:13 describes the Ark as "a thing of boards and nails". Abd Allah ibn Abbas, a contemporary of Muhammad, wrote that Noah was in doubt as to what shape to make the Ark and that Allah revealed to him that it was to be shaped like a bird's belly and fashioned of teak wood.[47]
The medieval scholar Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi (died 956) wrote that Allah commanded the Earth to absorb the water, and certain portions which were slow in obeying received salt water in punishment and so became dry and arid. The water which was not absorbed formed the seas, so that the waters of the flood still exist. Masudi says the ark began its voyage at Kufa in central Iraq and sailed to Mecca, circling the Kaaba before finally traveling to Mount Judi, which surah 11:44 gives as its final resting place. This mountain is identified by tradition with a hill near the town of Jazirat ibn Umar on the east bank of the Tigris in the province of Mosul in northern Iraq, and Masudi says that the spot could be seen in his time.[32][33][better source needed]
Baháʼí Faith
[edit]The Baháʼí Faith regards the Ark and the Flood as symbolic.[48] In Baháʼí belief, only Noah's followers were spiritually alive, preserved in the "ark" of his teachings, as others were spiritually dead.[49][50] The Baháʼí scripture Kitáb-i-Íqán endorses the Islamic belief that Noah had numerous companions on the ark, either 40 or 72, as well as his family, and that he taught for 950 (symbolic) years before the flood.[51] The Baháʼí Faith was founded in 19th century Persia, and it recognizes divine messengers from both the Abrahamic and the Indian traditions.
Ancient accounts
[edit]Multiple Jewish and Christian writers in the ancient world wrote about the ark. The first-century historian Josephus reports that the Armenians believed that the remains of the Ark lay "in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans", in a location they called the Place of Descent (Ancient Greek: αποβατηριον). He goes on to say that many other writers of "barbarian histories", including Nicolaus of Damascus, Berossus, and Mnaseas mention the flood and the Ark.[52]
In the fourth century, Epiphanius of Salamis wrote about Noah's Ark in his Panarion, saying "Thus even today the remains of Noah's ark are still shown in Cardyaei."[53] Other translations render "Cardyaei" as "the country of the Kurds".[54]
John Chrysostom mentioned Noah's Ark in one of his sermons in the fourth century, saying ""Do not the mountains of Armenia testify to it, where the Ark rested? And are not the remains of the Ark preserved there to this very day for our admonition?[55]
Historicity
[edit]The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica from 1771 describes the Ark as factual. It also attempts to explain how the Ark could house all living animal types: "... Buteo and Kircher have proved geometrically, that, taking the common cubit as a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged in it ... the number of species of animals will be found much less than is generally imagined, not amounting to a hundred species of quadrupeds."[56] It also endorses a supernatural explanation for the flood, stating that "many attempts have been made to account for the deluge by means of natural causes: but these attempts have only tended to discredit philosophy, and to render their authors ridiculous".[57]
The 1860 edition attempts to solve the problem of the Ark being unable to house all animal types by suggesting a local flood, which is described in the 1910 edition as part of a "gradual surrender of attempts to square scientific facts with a literal interpretation of the Bible" that resulted in "the 'higher criticism' and the rise of the modern scientific views as to the origin of species" leading to "scientific comparative mythology" as the frame in which Noah's Ark was interpreted by 1875.[56]
Ark's geometry
[edit]In Europe, the Renaissance saw much speculation on the nature of the Ark that might have seemed familiar to early theologians such as Origen and Augustine. At the same time, however, a new class of scholarship arose, one which, while never questioning the literal truth of the ark story, began to speculate on the practical workings of Noah's vessel from within a purely naturalistic framework. In the 15th century, Alfonso Tostada gave a detailed account of the logistics of the Ark, down to arrangements for the disposal of dung and the circulation of fresh air. The 16th-century geometer Johannes Buteo calculated the Ark's internal dimensions, allowing room for Noah's grinding mills and smokeless ovens, a model widely adopted by other commentators.[42][page needed]
Irving Finkel, a curator at the British Museum, came into the possession of a cuneiform tablet. He translated it and discovered an hitherto unknown Babylonian version of the story of the great flood. This version gave specific measurements for an unusually large coracle (a type of rounded boat). His discovery lead to the production of a television documentary and a book summarizing the finding. A scale replica of the boat described by the tablet was built and floated in Kerala, India.[59][page needed]
Searches for Noah's Ark
[edit]Searches for Noah's Ark have been made from at least the time of Eusebius (c. 275 – 339 CE) to the present day.[60] In the 1st century, Jewish historian Flavius Josephus claimed the remaining pieces of Noah's Ark had been found in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans, which is understood to be Mount Ararat in Turkey.[61] Today, the practice of seeking the remains of the Ark is widely regarded as pseudoarchaeology.[60][4][62] Various locations for the ark have been suggested but have never been confirmed.[63][64] Search sites have included the Durupınar site, a site on Mount Tendürek, and Mount Ararat, both in eastern Turkey, but geological investigation of possible remains of the ark has only shown natural sedimentary formations.[65] While biblical literalists often maintain the Ark's existence in archaeological history, its scientific feasibility, along with that of the deluge, has been contested.[66][67]
Var in Zoroastrianism
[edit]In Videvdad 29 and 37,[68] mythical Iranian king Yīmā, was ordered by Ahura Mazdā to build a subterranean enclosure known as Var, which had a function similar to Noah’s Ark, he was instructed to gather plants, animals, and humans with some exceptions,[69]
Cultural legacy: Noah's Ark replicas
[edit]In the modern era, individuals and organizations have sought to reconstruct Noah's ark using the dimensions specified in the Bible, Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives[70] Johan's Ark was completed in 2012 to this end, while the Ark Encounter was finished in 2016.[71]
See also
[edit]- Biblical literalism
- Book of Noah
- Dwyfan and Dwyfach
- Gilgamesh flood myth
- İlandağ of the Lesser Caucasus in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan
- List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
- Manu (Hinduism)
- Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives
- The Sinjar Mountains in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq
- Sons of Noah
- Wives aboard Noah's Ark
- Ziusudra
Notes
[edit]- ^ The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English aerca, meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, teva, occurs twice in the Torah, in the flood narrative (Book of Genesis 6–9) and in the Book of Exodus, where it refers to the basket in which Jochebed places the infant Moses. (The word for the Ark of the Covenant, aron, is quite different.) The Ark is built to save Noah, his family, and representatives of all animals from a divinely-sent flood intended to wipe out all life, and in both cases, the teva has a connection with salvation from waters. (See Levenson 2014, p.21)
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b Bailey 1990, p. 63.
- ^ Chen, Y. S. (2013). The Primeval Flood Catastrophe. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, USA. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-19-967620-0. OCLC 839396707.
- ^ a b c Nigosian 2004, p. 40.
- ^ a b Cline, Eric H. (2009). Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. pp. 71–75. ISBN 978-0199741076.
- ^ Lorence G. Collins (2009). "Yes, Noah's Flood May Have Happened, But Not Over the Whole Earth". NCSE. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ Moore, Robert A. (1983). "The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark". Creation Evolution Journal. 4 (1): 1–43. Archived from the original on 17 July 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
- ^ Ryan, W. B. F.; Pitman, W. C.; Major, C. O.; Shimkus, K.; Moskalenko, V.; Jones, G. A.; Dimitrov, P.; Gorür, N.; Sakinç, M. (1997). "An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf" (PDF). Marine Geology. 138 (1–2): 119–126. Bibcode:1997MGeol.138..119R. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.598.2866. doi:10.1016/s0025-3227(97)00007-8. ISSN 0025-3227. S2CID 129316719. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ^ Ryan, W. B.; Major, C. O.; Lericolais, G.; Goldstein, S. L. (2003). "Catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 31 (1): 525–554. Bibcode:2003AREPS..31..525R. doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.141249.
- ^ Blenkinsopp 2011, p. 139.
- ^ a b Hamilton 1990, pp. 280–281.
- ^ Kessler & Deurloo 2004, p. 81.
- ^ Wenham 2003, p. 44.
- ^ Batto 1992, p. 95.
- ^ a b Longman, Tremper; Walton, John H. (2018). The lost world of the flood: mythology, theology, and the deluge debate. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0-8308-8782-8.
- ^ a b Hamilton 1990, pp. 281.
- ^ Kvanvig 2011, p. 210.
- ^ Chen 2013, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Chen 2013, p. 253.
- ^ Cline, Eric H. (2007). From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible. National Geographic. ISBN 978-1-4262-0084-7.
- ^ Finkel 2014, pp. 89–101.
- ^ "Nova: Secrets of Noah's Ark". www.pbs.org. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ a b Finkel 2014, chpt.14.
- ^ McKeown 2008, p. 55.
- ^ May, Herbert G., and Bruce M. Metzger. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. 1977.
- ^ Stephanie Dalley, ed. (2000). Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. OUP Oxford. pp. 5–8. ISBN 978-0-19-953836-2. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016.
- ^ Alan Dundes, ed., The Flood Myth Archived 14 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 61–71.
- ^ J. David Pleins, When the Great Abyss Opened: Classic and Contemporary Readings of Noah's Flood Archived 24 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Enns 2012, p. 23.
- ^ Richard Elliot Friedman (1997 ed.), Who Wrote the Bible, p. 51.
- ^ a b "Sanhedrin 108b:7–16". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
- ^ Avigdor Nebenzahl, Tiku Bachodesh Shofer: Thoughts for Rosh Hashanah, Feldheim Publishers, 1997, p. 208.
- ^ a b McCurdy, J. F.; Bacher, W.; Seligsohn, M.; et al., eds. (1906). "Noah". Jewish Encyclopedia. JewishEncyclopedia.com.
- ^ a b McCurdy, J. F.; Jastrow, M. W.; Ginzberg, L.; et al., eds. (1906). "Ark of Noah". Jewish Encyclopedia. JewishEncyclopedia.com.
- ^ Hirsch, E. G.; Muss-Arnolt, W.; Hirschfeld, H., eds. (1906). "The Flood". Jewish Encyclopedia. JewishEncyclopedia.com.
- ^ Ibn Ezra's Commentary to Genesis 7:16 Archived 24 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. HebrewBooks.org.
- ^ The Early Christian World, Volume 1, p.148, Philip Esler
- ^ 1Pt 3:20–21
- ^ a b Hippolytus. "Fragments from the Scriptural Commentaries of Hippolytus". New Advent. Archived from the original on 17 April 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
- ^ Cohn 1996, p. 38.
- ^ St. Augustin (1890) [c. 400]. "Chapter 26:That the Ark Which Noah Was Ordered to Make Figures In Every Respect Christ and the Church". In Schaff, Philip (ed.). Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers [St. Augustin's City of God and Christian Doctrine]. 1. Vol. 2. The Christian Literature Publishing Company.
- ^ Jerome (1892) [c. 347–420]. "Letter LXIX. To Oceanus.". In Schaff, P (ed.). Niocene and Post-Niocene Fathers: The Principal Works of St. Jerome. 2. Vol. 6. The Christian Literature Publishing Company.
- ^ a b Cohn 1996
- ^ Marvin Meyer; Willis Barnstone (30 June 2009). "The Reality of the Rulers (The Hypostasis of the Archons)". The Gnostic Bible. Shambhala. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ Häberl, Charles (2022). The Book of Kings and the Explanations of This World: A Universal History from the Late Sasanian Empire. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p. 215. doi:10.3828/9781800856271 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISBN 978-1-80085-627-1.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - ^ Christys, Ann (2018). "Educating the Christian Elite in Umayyad Córdoba". Die Interaktion von Herrschern und Eliten in imperialen Ordnungen des Mittelalters. Wolfram Drews. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH. pp. 114–124. ISBN 978-3-11-057267-4. OCLC 1053611250.
- ^ Freidenreich, David M. (2003). "The Use of Islamic Sources in Saadiah Gaon's Tafsīr of the Torah". Jewish Quarterly Review. 93 (3): 353–395. doi:10.1353/jqr.2003.0009. ISSN 1553-0604. S2CID 170764204.
- ^ Baring-Gould, Sabine (1884). "Noah". Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets and Other Old Testament Characters from Various Sources. James B. Millar and Co., New York. p. 113.
- ^ From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 28 October 1949: Baháʼí News, No. 228, February 1950, p. 4. Republished in Compilation 1983, p. 508
- ^ Poirier, Brent. "The Kitab-i-Iqan: The key to unsealing the mysteries of the Holy Bible". Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2007.
- ^ Shoghi Effendi (1971). Messages to the Baháʼí World, 1950–1957. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Baháʼí Publishing Trust. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-87743-036-0. Archived from the original on 23 October 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
- ^ From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 25 November 1950. Published in Compilation 1983, p. 494
- ^ Josephus, Flavius. Wikisource.
Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood, and of this ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean. For when he is describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: "It is said there is still some part of this ark in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans; and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen, which they take away, and use chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischiefs." Hieronymus the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicolaus of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them; where he speaks thus: "There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an ark came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved. This might be the man about whom Moses the legislator of the Jews wrote.
. – via - ^ Williams, Frank (2009). The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis. BRILL. p. 48. ISBN 978-90-04-17017-9.
- ^ Montgomery, John Warwick (1974). The Quest For Noahs Ark. p. 77. ISBN 0-87123-477-7.
- ^ Montgomery, John Warwick (1974). The Quest For Noahs Ark. p. 78. ISBN 0-87123-477-7.
- ^ a b Cook, Stanley Arthur (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 02 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 548–550, see page 549.
Noah's Ark...
- ^ Cheyne, Thomas Kelly (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 07 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 976–979.
- ^ "Cameo with Noah's Ark". The Walters Art Museum. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
- ^ Finkel 2014.
- ^ a b Fagan, Brian M.; Beck, Charlotte (1996). The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195076189. Archived from the original on 8 February 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ "The Landing-Place of Noah's Ark: Testimonial, Geological and Historical Considerations: Part Four – Associates for Biblical Research". biblearchaeology.org. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
- ^ Feder, Kenneth L. (2010). Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 195. ISBN 978-0313379192. Archived from the original on 8 February 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ Mayell, Hillary (27 April 2004). "Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer". National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
- ^ Stefan Lovgren (2004). Noah's Ark Quest Dead in Water Archived 25 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine – National Geographic
- ^ Collins, Lorence G. (2011). "A supposed cast of Noah's ark in eastern Turkey" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "Review of John Woodmorappe's "Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study"". www.talkorigins.org. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- ^ "The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark | National Center for Science Education". ncse.ngo. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- ^ "AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 2: Yima (Jamshed) and the deluge". www.avesta.org. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ^ Wolff, Fritz. Avesta: the sacred books of the Parsen. K.J.Trübner.
- ^ Antonson, Rick (12 April 2016). Full Moon over Noah's Ark: An Odyssey to Mount Ararat and Beyond. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-5107-0567-8.
- ^ Thomas, Paul (16 April 2020). Storytelling the Bible at the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and Museum of the Bible. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-567-68714-2.
Bibliography
[edit]- Bailey, Lloyd R. (1990). "Ark". Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Mercer University Press. pp. 63–64. ISBN 9780865543737.
- Batto, Bernard Frank (1992). Slaying the Dragon: Mythmaking in the Biblical Tradition. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664253530.
- Blenkinsopp, Joseph (2011), Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation: A Discursive Commentary on Genesis 1–11, A&C Black, ISBN 9780567372871
- Cohn, Norman (1996). Noah's Flood: The Genesis Story in Western Thought. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-06823-8.
- Compilation (1983). Hornby, Helen (ed.). Lights of Guidance: A Baháʼí Reference File. Baháʼí Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India. ISBN 978-81-85091-46-4.
- Enns, Peter (2012), The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say about Human Origins, Baker Books, ISBN 9781587433153
- Finkel, Irving L. (2014), The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood, Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 9781444757071
- Hamilton, Victor P. (1990). The book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802825216.
- Kessler, Martin; Deurloo, Karel Adriaan (2004). A commentary on Genesis: The Book of Beginnings. Paulist Press. ISBN 9780809142057.
- Kvanvig, Helge (2011), Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic: An Intertextual Reading, BRILL, ISBN 978-9004163805
- McKeown, James (2008). Genesis. Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 398. ISBN 978-0-8028-2705-0.
- Nigosian, S.A. (2004), From Ancient Writings to Sacred Texts: The Old Testament and Apocrypha, JHU Press, ISBN 9780801879883
- Wenham, Gordon (2003). "Genesis". In James D. G. Dunn; John William Rogerson (eds.). Eerdmans Bible Commentary. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802837110.
Further reading
[edit]This "Further reading" section may need cleanup. (August 2024) |
Commentaries on Genesis
- Towner, Wayne Sibley (2001). Genesis. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664252564.
- Von Rad, Gerhard (1972). Genesis: A Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664227456.
- Whybray, R. N. (2001). "Genesis". In John Barton (ed.). Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198755005.
General
- Bandstra, Barry L. (2008), Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (4th ed.), Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning, pp. 61–63, ISBN 978-0495391050
- Bennett, William Henry (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 722.
- Best, Robert (1999), Noah's Ark And the Ziusudra Epic: Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth, Eerdmans, ISBN 978-09667840-1-5
- Browne, Janet (1983). The Secular Ark: Studies in the History of Biogeography. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. 276. ISBN 978-0-300-02460-9.
- Brueggemann, Walter (2002). Reverberations of Faith: a Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes. Westminster John Knox. ISBN 9780664222314.
- Campbell, Antony F.; O'Brien, Mark A. (1993). Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations. Fortress Press. ISBN 9781451413670.
Sources of the bible.
- Carr, David M. (1996). Reading the Fractures of Genesis. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664220716.
- Clines, David A. (1997). The Theme of the Pentateuch. Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 9780567431967.
- Davies, G. I. (1998). "Introduction to the Pentateuch". In John Barton (ed.). Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198755005.
- Douglas, J. D.; Tenney, Merrill C., eds. (2011). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary. revised by Moisés Silva (Revised ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan. ISBN 978-0310229834.
- Kugler, Robert; Hartin, Patrick (2009). The Old Testament between theology and history: a critical survey. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802846365.
- Levin, Christoph L. (2005). The Old testament: A Brief Introduction. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691113944.
The Old testament: a brief introduction Christoph Levin.
- Levin, C. (2005). The Old Testament: A Brief Introduction. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691113944.
- Longman, Tremper (2005). How to Read Genesis. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830875603.
- McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780881461015.
- Ska, Jean-Louis (2006). Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575061221.
- Van Seters, John (1992). Prologue to History: The Yahwist As Historian in Genesis. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664221799.
- Van Seters, John (1998). "The Pentateuch". In Steven L. McKenzie; Matt Patrick Graham (eds.). The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664256524.
- Van Seters, John (2004). The Pentateuch: A Social-science Commentary. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 9780567080882.
- Walsh, Jerome T. (2001). Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative. Liturgical Press. ISBN 9780814658970.
- Bailey, Lloyd R. (1989). Noah, the Person and the Story. South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-87249-637-8.
- Campbell, Antony F.; O'Brien, Mark A. (1993). Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations. Fortress Press. ISBN 9781451413670.
Sources of the bible.
- Campbell, A. F.; O'Brien, M. A. (1993). Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations. Fortress Press. ISBN 9781451413670.
- Cline, Eric H. (2009). Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199741076.
- Cotter, David W. (2003). Genesis. Liturgical Press. ISBN 9780814650400.
- Cresswell, Julia (2010). "Ark". Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199547937.
- Dalrymple, G. Brent (1991). The Age of the Earth. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2331-2.
- Emerton, J. A. (1988). Joosten, J. (ed.). "An Examination of Some Attempts to Defend the Unity of the Flood Narrative in Genesis: Part II". Vetus Testamentum. XXXVIII (1).
- Gooder, Paula (2005). The Pentateuch: A Story of Beginnings. T&T Clark. ISBN 9780567084187.
- Evans, Gwen (3 February 2009). "Reason or Faith? Darwin Expert Reflects". UW-Madison News. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- Knight, Douglas A. (1990). "Cosmology". In Watson E. Mills (ed.). Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press. ISBN 978-0-86554-402-4.
- Levenson, Jon D. (2014). "Genesis: introduction and annotations". In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.). The Jewish Study Bible. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199393879.
- Isaak, M. (1998). "Problems with a Global Flood". TalkOrigins Archive. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
Isaak no a geologist
- Isaak, Mark (5 November 2006). "Index to Creationist Claims, Geology". TalkOrigins Archive. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
- Lippsett, Lonny (2009). "Noah's Not-so-big Flood: New evidence rebuts controversial theory of Black Sea deluge". Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- Morton, Glenn (17 February 2001). "The Geologic Column and its Implications for the Flood". TalkOrigins Archive. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
Morton Not a Geologist
- Nicholson, Ernest W. (2003). The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: the legacy of Julius Wellhausen. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199257836.
- Numbers, Ronald L. (2006). The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Expanded Edition. Harvard University Press. pp. 624. ISBN 978-0-674-02339-0.
- Parkinson, William (January–February 2004). "Questioning 'Flood Geology': Decisive New Evidence to End an Old Debate". NCSE Reports. 24 (1). Retrieved 2 November 2010.
- Plimer, Ian (1994). Telling Lies for God: Reason vs Creationism. Random House Australia. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-09-182852-3.
- Schadewald, Robert J. (Summer 1982). "Six Flood Arguments Creationists Can't Answer". Creation/Evolution Journal. 3 (3): 12–17. Retrieved 16 November 2010.
- Schadewald, Robert (1986). "Scientific Creationism and Error". Creation/Evolution. 6 (1): 1–9. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
- Scott, Eugenie C. (January–February 2003), My Favorite Pseudoscience, vol. 23
- Speiser, E. A. (1964). Genesis. The Anchor Bible. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-00854-9.
- Stewart, Melville Y. (2010). Science and Religion in Dialogue. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-4051-8921-7.
- Tigay, Jeffrey H. (1982). The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. ISBN 0865165467.
- Van Seters, John (2004). The Pentateuch: A Social-Science commentary. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0567080889.
- Wenham, Gordon (1994). "The Coherence of the Flood Narrative". In Hess, Richard S.; Tsumura, David Toshio (eds.). I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood (Google Books). Sources for Biblical and Theological Study. Vol. 4. Eisenbrauns. p. 480. ISBN 978-0-931464-88-1.
- Young, Davis A. (March 1995). The Biblical Flood: A Case Study of the Church's Response to Extrabiblical Evidence. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Pub Co. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-8028-0719-9.
- Young, Davis A.; Stearley, Ralph F. (2008). The Bible, Rocks, and Time: Geological Evidence for the Age of the Earth. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic. ISBN 978-0-8308-2876-0.
External links
[edit]- Media related to Noah's Ark at Wikimedia Commons