Gopher Wood

Many ancient earth cultures have flood legends in their oral and written histories.  You can read some of them here:  https://answersingenesis.org/answers/magazine/v11-n4/bible-culture/worldwide-flood-legends/
Scientists tend to dismiss a worldwide flood as causal factor for much of what we observe in the fossil record today.  However, if it did not happen, why would there be so many legends from all parts of the world testifying to its occurrence?
Furthermore, why would there be so much observable evidence for a "young earth"?

As Christians, our authoritative source is neither observable evidence, nor ancient literature.
We are going to look at the Ark as it is described in the Old Testament scriptures, since the Bible is our supreme authority as Christians.  Let's start with Genesis 6:14 NET) - -

Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and out.

The Hebrew word translated "ark" here is "tebah" and is used only 28 times in the Old Testament.  Every time, it is used to refer to either Noah's Ark or the woven basket used by Jochebed to house Moses, when she (his mother) set him afloat in bullrushes along the edge of the Nile River (Exodus 2:3 and Hebrews 11:23).
There's a reason I chose the NET translation of the preceding verse.  Translators of this version have extrapolated to say "cypress wood", whereas most older translators/translations say "gopher wood". (Gopher wood bears no relation to the prairie rodent pictured above, far as I can tell!)

Gopher wood no longer exists today.1  It was apparently so well known in the antediluvian world Noah knew what it was.  The Hebrew word translated "gopher" is used only once in the Bible, and that is here in Genesis 6:14.  The NET translators used "cypress" because it is a very hard, durable wood that could theoretically withstand brutal winds and rain.  But, bottom line, none of us knows beans about the wood used to create the Ark.

There are other speculations.  One is that there was a scribal error made in that word, between the Hebrew letters translated "g" and "k", because both look very similar to a backwards "c".  If the "g" was supposed to be a "k", then the resulting word "kopher" means "pitch", and the passage would read, "Make for yourself an ark of pitched wood."  In that case, it could have been any of several types of wood, as long as they were treated inside and out with pitch.

Still other scholars believe the word refers to the processing of the wood, that the planks were squared off with some sort of lamination process applied, in order for the planks to accommodate the dimensions of the overall structure.  We tend to assume that life before the flood was terribly antiquainted; I think that is a mistake.  It is very likely that antediluvian world was actually more advanced than is ours.

Isn't that something?

Moving on . . .

15This is how you should make it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches from the top. Put a door in the side of the ark, and make lower, middle, and upper decks.

Genesis 6:15-16 (NET)

If you have not visited the Ark Encounter in Williamston, KY, you should really go.  The replica of Noah's Ark they have created really brings to life this part of human history.  No longer must we imagine the scope of the Ark, because we can see a replica of its dimensions, before our very eyes.  As you pull up to the Ark Encounter complex, you can easily spot the massive boat,  perched on a hilltop in the distance.  The unit of measurement in the Hebrew text is "cubit".  No one is totally sure what the length of a cubit was, as there is some discrepancy between the Egyptian royal cubit and the typical OT cubit, which was about 3 inches shorter.  Using the Egyptian measure, the Ark would have been close to 512 feet in length; using the OT cubit, it would have been closer to 437 feet in length.

The dimensions of the Ark were a ratio of 30 x 5 x 3.  (Did you know that, according to ship-builders, this is the optimum ratio for stability of a vessel in rough seas?2  Furthermore, it was not until the late 1800s that a post-Flood sea vessel of this size was attempted.)

Even going with the shorter cubit, the Ark could have held the equivalent of 569 railroad boxcars.  If you use as an average that each animal was the size of a sheep, the Ark could have held over 125,000 animals.  We will examine passengers and cargo in an upcoming post.

Before we leave these verses, however, we will, in the next post, examine the roof vents and the door of the vessel.


Sources:

1    https://www.gotquestions.org/gopher-wood.html

2    http://www.ldolphin.org/cisflood.html