Commentary on Genesis Part 30

1. The kind of wood used in building the ark 243.

2. Its various rooms 244.

3. The pitch by which it was protected 245.

4. Why G.o.d instructed Noah so particularly how each part was to be constructed 246.

5. The form of the ark, and how teachers differ on this point 247.

6. The place Noah occupied in the ark, and that of the animals 248.

7. Whether the ark had the proportions of a human body 249.

8. How the ark was a type of the body of Christ--of the Church 250.

9. The windows of the ark:

a. Whether it had more than one window 251.

* The Latin version is not clear here 252.

b. What kind of a window it was, and how it could stand the rain 253.

c. Luther's opinion of the Jews' ideas about the window 253.

10. The door of the ark 254.

11. How to meet the various questions about the ark 255-256.

* The deluge was a new method of punishment, hence the non incredible 257-258.

* G.o.d was in earnest in the threatening of this flood 259.

B. G.o.d COMMANDS NOAH TO BUILD AN ARK.

V. 14. _Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch (bitumen)._

242. G.o.d's first thought was to save a remnant through that tiny seed, the three sons of Noah, for Noah ceased henceforth to beget children.

This strongly attests the mercy of G.o.d toward those who walk in his ways.

243. _Gopher_ some make out to be pine, others hemlock, still others cedar; hence, a guess is rather difficult. The choice appears to have been made owing to its lightness or its resinous quality, so that it might float more easily upon the water and be impervious to it.

244. _Kinnim_ signifies "nests" or "chambers"; that is separate s.p.a.ces for the various animals. Bears, sheep, deer and horses did not dwell in one and the same place, but the several species had their respective quarters.

245. But what is meant by _bitumen_, I do not know. With us vessels are made water tight with pitch and tow. Pitch, it is true, withstands water, but it also invites the flame. There is no bitumen with us which resists water, hence we raise no objection to "bitumen" being rendered "pitch."

246. You may ask: Why does G.o.d prescribe everything so accurately? The injunction to build the ark should have been sufficient. Reason could determine for itself the rules concerning dimensions and mode of construction. Why, then, does G.o.d give such careful instruction with reference to dimensions and materials? Certainly that Noah, after undertaking all things according to the Lord's direction (as Moses built the tabernacle according to the model received on the mount), should with the greater faith trust that he and his people were to be saved, nor entertain any doubt concerning a work ordered by the Lord himself, even how it should be made. This is the reason the Lord gives his directions with such attention to detail.

V. 15. _And this is how thou shalt make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits._

247. A nice geometrical and mathematical exercise concerning the form and dimensions of the ark is here presented. The views of writers vary. Some claim it was four-cornered, others that it was gabled like nearly all our structures in Europe. As for myself, I hold it was four-cornered. Eastern people's were not acquainted with gabled buildings. Theirs were evidently of four-cornered form, as the Bible mentions people walking on roofs. Similar was the shape of the temple.

248. There is a difference of opinion also concerning the arrangement of the animals in their quarters, which occupied the upper, which the central and which the lower places, this being the distinction warranted by the text. No certainty, however, can be arrived at. It is likely that Noah himself and the birds occupied the upper part, the clean animals the central and the unclean animals the lower one. The rabbis a.s.sert the lower part served the purpose of storing dung. But I think the dung was thrown out of the window, for its removal was necessitated by such a mult.i.tude of beasts abiding in the ark for over a year.

249. Augustine quotes Philo against Faustus in stating that on geometrical principles, the ark had the proportions of the human body, for when a man lies on the ground his body is ten times as long as it is high and six times as long as broad. So three hundred cubits are six times fifty and ten times thirty.

250. An application is made of this to the body of Christ, the Church, which has baptism as the door, through which clean and unclean enter without distinction. Although the Church is small, she rules the earth notwithstanding, and it is due to her that the world is preserved, just as the unclean animals were preserved in the ark. Others stretch the application so far as to point to the wound in the side of Jesus'

body as prefigured by the windows in the ark. These are allegories which are not exactly profound, but still harmless because they harbor no error and serve a purpose other than that of wrangling, namely, that of rhetorical ornamentation.

V. 16. _A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it._

251. Behold, how diligent an architect G.o.d is! With what care he interests himself in all the parts of the structure and their arrangement. Furthermore, the word _Zohar_ does not properly signify window, but southern light. The question may be raised here whether the ark had only one window or several. For the Hebrew language permits the use of the singular for the plural, or of the collective for the distributive term, as for instance: "I will destroy man from the face of the ground." Here evidently not one man but many are spoken of. But to me it seems there was only one window that shed light upon man's domicile.

252. The Latin interpreter is so strangely obscure as to fail to make himself understood. My unqualified opinion is that he was unable to divest himself of the image of a modern s.h.i.+p, in which men are commonly carried in the lower part. Nor is it quite intelligible what he says about the door, inasmuch as it is certain that the ell-long window was in the upper part, and the door in the center of the side or in the navel of the ark. Thus, also, Eve was framed from the middle portion of man's body. The whole structure was divided into three part.i.tions, a higher, a central and a lower one, and it was the upper one which, according to my view, was illuminated by the light of day through the window.

253. You may say, however: What kind of a window was it, or how could it exist in those frequent and violent rains? For rain did not fall then as it does ordinarily, since the water in forty days rose to such proportions as to submerge the highest mountains by fifteen arm-lengths. The Jews claim that the window was closed by a crystal which transmitted the light. But too curious a research into these matters appears to me useless, since neither G.o.dliness nor Christ's kingdom are put in jeopardy from the fact of our remaining in ignorance concerning some features of this structure of which G.o.d was the architect. It seems to me sufficiently satisfactory to a.s.sume that the window was on the side of the upper part.i.tion.

254. As to the door, it is certain that it was about thirteen or fourteen cubits from the earth. The ark, when it floated, sank about ten feet into the water with its great weight of animals of every kind and provender for more than a year. This may suffice as a crude conception of the ark; for, besides height and length, Moses merely indicates that it had three part.i.tions, a door and a window.

255. We will dismiss innumerable other questions such as: What kind of air was used in the ark? for such a stupendous ma.s.s of water, particularly falling water, must have produced a violent and pestilential stench; whence did they draw their drinking-water? for water cannot be preserved a whole year, hence mariners often call at ports in their vicinity for the purpose of drawing water; again, how could the bilge-water with its obnoxious odor be drawn up?

256. Such questions and other subordinate points related to the experience of the mariner we may pa.s.s by. Otherwise there will be no end of questions. We will be content with the simple supposition that the lower part probably served the purpose of securing the bears, lions, tigers and other savage animals; the middle part, that of housing the gentle and tractable animals, together with the provender, which cannot be kept in a place devoid of all air-currents; the upper that of accommodating human beings themselves, together with the domestic animals and the birds. This should be enough for us.

V. 17. _And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is in the earth shall die._

257. Above G.o.d has threatened in general the human race with destruction. Here he points out the method; namely, that he intends to destroy everything by a new disaster, a flood. Such a punishment the world hitherto had not known. The customary punishments, as we see from the prophets, are pestilence, famine, the sword and fierce beasts. Men and beasts perish of pestilence. The earth is laid waste by war, for it is deprived of those who till it. The sufferings of famine, though they seem to be less cruel, are by far the most terrible. With the fourth cla.s.s of penalties, our regions have almost no experience at all. Although these are severally sufficient for the chastis.e.m.e.nt of the human race, the Lord desired to employ a novel kind of punishment against the primeval world, through which all flesh having the breath of life was to perish.

258. Because this punishment was unheard of in former ages, the wicked were slower to believe it. They reasoned thus: If G.o.d is at all angry, can he not correct the disobedient by the sword, by pestilence? A flood would destroy also the other creatures which are without sin; surely G.o.d will not plan anything like this for the world.

259. But in order to remove such unbelief from the mind of Noah and the righteous, he repeats with stress the p.r.o.noun, "And I, behold, I do bring." Afterward he clearly adds that he will destroy all flesh that is under heaven and in the earth; for he excludes here the fishes whose realm is widened by the waters. This pa.s.sage tends to show the magnitude of the wrath of G.o.d, through which men lose, not only body and life, but also universal dominion over the earth.

C. G.o.d'S COVENANT WITH NOAH.

* The way G.o.d comforted Noah in announcing the flood, and why such comfort was needed 260.

1. The nature of this covenant.

a. The views of Lyra, Burgensis and others 261.

b. Luther's views 262-263.

2. Whether the giants or tyrants were embraced in this covenant and how received by them 262-263.

3. Why it was made only with Noah 264.

4. How this covenant was made clearer from time to time, and why it was needed at this time 265.