Session 3 - Noah and the Ark

In this session we will look at Noah and the Ark, understanding the size and structure of the ark, what it’s purpose was, and if it

could accomplish it’s purpose

We will look/answer at many objections people have to the ark and reasons why

they don’t think it’s possible

“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the

fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred

cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt

thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.”

- Genesis 6:14-16

Is there a favored family? 88%Were they forewarned? 66%

Is flood due to wickedness of man? 66%Is catastrophe only a flood? 95%

Was flood global? 95%Is survival due to a boat? 70%Were animals also saved? 67%

Were birds sent out? 35%

Legends match the Bible (survey of 250)

This is what the ark would look like

Let’s make a comparison to other objects

The total cubic volume would have been 1,518,000 cubic feet [462,686.4 cubic meters] --that would be equal to the

capacity of 569 modern railroad stock cars.

Some more ways to think of it

Is there enough room for all the animals?

People often claim that there are over one million different species of animals on the

planet, and that they could not all fit inside the ark

You may be surprised to learn, that this is completely true

But the Bible doesn’t talk about brining two of every species… which would be atleast 2

million animals on the ark

“And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be

male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every

creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to

keep them alive.” - Genesis 6:19-20

The Bible says that Noah brought two of each kind of animal on the ark

There is much questioning of creationists as to what a “Kind” is

One idea says that a “Kind” would be two animals who's ancestors were able to mate

and bring forth in the original creation

How did Noah get them all? Let’s remember that God is the one who

brought the animals to the ark, Noah did not have to go around the world

looking for them

The vast majority of these are capable of surviving in water and would not need to be brought aboard the ark. Noah need make no provision for the 21,000 species of fish or the

1,700 tunicates (marine chordates like sea squirts) found throughout the seas of the

world, or the 600 echinoderms including star fish and sea urchins, or the 107,000 mollusks

such as mussels, clams and oysters,…

The one million species number also doesn’t take many things into account

All Noah had to do was bring the land animals! This would not include bugs

(Mosquitoes, flies, etc.)

or the 10,000 coelenterates like corals and sea anemones, jelly fish and hydroids or

the 5,000 species of sponges, or the 30,000 protozoan's, the microscopic

single-celled creatures.

What does that leave us with?

Doctors Morris and Whitcomb in their classic book, The Genesis Flood state that no more than 35,000 individual animals

needed to go on the ark.

In his well documented book, Noah’s Ark: A Feasibility Study, John Woodmorappe

suggests that far fewer animals would have been transported upon the ark.

Woodmorappe demonstrates that as few as 2,000 animals may have been required on

the ark. (but we’ll assume a higher number)

Let’s assume 50,000 animals, far more animals than required, were on

board the ark

Could they all fit? First off let’s agree that Noah is smart enough to not bring large

adults, and would bring children (well God actually brought them, so we know he’s

smart enough even if Noah isn’t)

The average size animal in that case would be the size of a sheep at most

A railroad car comparison will be helpful

The average double-deck stock car can accommodate 240 sheep

three trains hauling 69 cars (207 cars) each would have ample space to carry the 50,000

animals (remember, we have 569 cars to work with on the ark)

That would only fill around 37% of the ark! There is plenty of room

This would leave an additional 361 cars or enough to make 5 trains of 72 cars each to

carry all of the food and baggage plus Noah’s family of eight people.

Some have also suggested the idea of a hibernation of the animals during the flood

(caused by God) which would make the amount of food needed much less

It would also be room for those who had the chance to repent

There have been other objects though to the ark and the possibility of the

Biblical account

Objection - Wouldn’t the by products of the animals cause a methane build up that

would cause the ark to explode when a torch was lit?

Answer – If God designed the Ark really poorly that might be a problem, but I think

he knew what he was doing

There are many ways you can

create a ventilation system inside a barge (the Ark)

called a moon pool

This would also create an easy and effective way to dispose of trash

Also if they were hibernating, this problem would go away

Objection – Wouldn’t that size boat break or capsize when hit by a major wave?

Answer – There are many ways to avoid

this problem, first off, the moon pool would help release pressure when a wave hits it.

Another thing that could have helped is drogue stones for stabilization

Also keep in mind that the ark was not built to sail around, it’s a big barge meant to hold

things and float, that’s all.

Often people will compare the ark to many mast ships today that are made to sail around and point to how unsuccessful

those ships were

The ark has a completely different purpose, it’s not a direct comparison

Objection: Ark is too long

Objection: “How was the ark made seaworthy? The longest wooden ships in

modern seas are about 300 feet, and these require reinforcing with iron straps and leak so badly they must be constantly pumped.

The ark was 450 feet long” (Mark Isaak)

The Ark was built for stability, not movement. A flat-bottomed barge like the

Ark wouldn’t have problems with sag

If the lower deck were made of logs, several layers deep, it would have been very sturdy.

“Korean naval architects have confirmed that a barge with the Ark’s dimensions would

have optimal stability. They concluded that if the wood were only 30 cm thick, it could have navigated sea conditions with waves

higher than 30 m” (True Origins) (S.W. Hong et al., “Safety investigation of Noah’s Ark in a Seaway”, CEN Technical

Journal 8(1):26–36, 1994. All the co-authors are on the staff of the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering, Taijon.)

Another question, who says they didn’t have metals before the flood to help support the

wood for the ark?

We can easily get into the mindset that people before the flood were really dumb because they lived a long time ago, that

may be completely wrong

Civilization starts over after the flood, but no one knows how technologically

advanced they were before

Objection: Caring for the Animals

This would be easily explained by hibernation, but we will look at other

possible explanations too

Special diets is one objection when looking at caring for the animals. Many animals only

eat one thing (did Noah bring it?)

Understand, those animals only eat one thing today, not necessarily then

We agree there is evolution within kinds of animals, and one animal (because of

environment) may develop to only eat one kind of food (we’ve seen it happen)

But that by no means is the case before the flood, and actually makes a lot more sense

after the flood once certain areas the animals are spreading to only have specific

resources for food. Before the flood, the pre flood creation world was very different

Food preservation/Pest control is another objection people have raised, without

canning and jars to put things in food does not last very long today

First off, that’s only some kinds of food, there are other kinds that do last for a long

time on their own

Your also assuming they were dumb and didn’t have jars to put food in, which there

is no reason to assume

You also assume that all the pests that we deal with today were around at that point,

which may not have been the case

Manpower to accomplish tasks: Could eight people actually feed and water the

animals and clean up after them?

Again, Hibernation would take care of this, but they easily could have created systems

to make this easier (like watering)

As Christians though we do need to keep in mind, the Bible doesn’t claim this was a

human only event. The Bible says that God was directing them and guiding them

through this, so intervention from Him wouldn’t be a surprise

Would it take a lot of work by Noah and his family? Yes, does that mean it’s

impossible? No, not at all.

Objection: We can’t find the arkThere have been many groups that have claimed to have found the ark, we do not

have time (by any means) to cover them all

Ron Wyatt claimed to find it

Another group has announced they

have found the ark (this was popular a

few years ago)

I actually don’t think the ark has been verifiably found, nor do I think it’s

necessarily out there still

After Noah lands and the flood is over, all the plants are going to be small and new

(under a year old) which means they don’t have much wood to work with

I think it’s likely they used the wood from the ark to build things they needed

Johan Huibers, a Dutch Christian contractor, has his full-size replica of the Ark

But soon there will be another full size ark here in America

The Ark Encounter (Answers in Genesis)

Did Noah and his family build the Ark alone?

Genesis 7:13 states, “On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and

Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark.”

The Bible never says that Noah built the Ark with just his family, it may be the case, but

scripture doesn’t specify

It’s possible Noah could have hired people to assist him in making the Ark, people work all the time on projects they don’t “believe in”

because it’s paying them

He could also have used animals to help move things around, he didn’t have to carry

everything himself

They also could have machinery that we didn’t know about that helped build it

The Ark is a type of Christ

By entering the Ark, Noah ensured the physical survival of

himself and his family. When we enter into saving faith through Jesus (John 10:9), we ensure our spiritual

survival through eternal life with Christ.

The Ark saved man from the first judgment, Christ saves us from the

final judgment

God called out to Noah: “Come . . . into the Ark” (Genesis 7:1). God was with Noah and his family throughout the flood, which I’m

sure helped Noah and his family

Likewise, when we receive Jesus as our Savior, God, in the person of the Holy Spirit,

comforts and protects us.

The Ark had only one door through which Noah had to enter in order to be saved

from the Flood.

Likewise, salvation in Christ has only one door (John 10:9). We enter it by faith in

Jesus' once-and-for-all-time sacrificial death on the Cross and His bodily resurrection

three days later.

Finally, people had the option to enter the ark before the flood came, but once it

happened the door was shut, and if you weren’t on the inside, you missed out

Memory Verse

2 Peter 2:5: “And did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one

of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the

world of the ungodly;”