Proverbs 4:5-7
Proverbs 4:5-7
Was there an ark
If so when did building start
how long did it take to finish
& how many animals aboard ?
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There is geological evidence regarding floods that occurred after the last ice age ended that caused ocean levels to rise. (as they still are today.)
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The area that was one of the first & most seriously affected, from a northern hemisphere ice cap thawing, would have certainly been the Mesopotamia region also known as the Fertile Crescent where Noah lived.
The area was, & still is, surrounded by water.
Some people would have been forewarned by not only those travellers relocating away from rising oceans in the north but "folk - history" describing the signs seen before the end of previous little ice age flooding.
With extra water unlocked from the ice melting it would cause an increase in rain.
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A simple calculation for a higher intelligence to accurately forecast when flooding would occur & what areas would be the first & most severely affected.
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That higher intelligence may or may not have been able to stop the flooding.
However they may have decided, it seems, not to do anything about it as according to the Bible, it would cause a cleansing of all the corruption in the world to take place.
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With the extra knowledge of additional water from under the earth, as mentioned in Genesis 7:11, that was also to take place, worsening the flood especially in the Mesopotamian area.
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Knowing this they warned some people in various parts of the world.
With Noah not only was he given an early warning about the flood he was given instructions & help as to how to build an ark to save Noah, his family & many animals living in that area.
Trying to establish when Noah started construction of his ark is difficult to ascertain from just the information found in today's modern versions of the Bible with statements like...
"And it came to pass."
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Genesis 6:1... And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them.
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Genesis 6:2... That the Sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Genesis 6:3... Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120."
As an elite class of powerful angels were sent to help humanity it could be the Ark was built in a few months should one of those giant angels helped.
As an elite class of powerful angels were sent to help humanity it could be the Ark was built in a few months assuming one of those giants helped.
Genesis 5:32...After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
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Genesis 7:6... And Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
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Genesis 7:12...And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
Noah Building the Ark by Vittorio Bianchini. Getty Images
Many assume the 120 years that Lord God was referring to was the time when all mankind on the earth would die because of the flood. However the statement does not actually say that & considering it was made directly after Genesis 5 for which is an account of Adam's family line & the great length of time they had lived it may have been referring to life span.
There were good "Sons of God" & there were bad Sons of God that had become like men. Fallen angels or embodied angels (of flesh) that succumb to the desires of the flesh as a result they lost their angelic qualities & abilities.
In Genesis 6:2 the phrase "took them wives of all which they chose " implies rape & as such the reference to 120 years may have been the age the bad sons (who had become flesh) might be able to live unlike those 'good sons' who lived extremely long lives.
Not until verse 13 does Lord God say "The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth".
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Note: Here again another ambiguous statement...Destroy men along with destroying the earth ? or destroy them using the earth. Not with water ?
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Genesis 7:13...On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.
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With 100 years between Noah having sons and the flood starting we can righty assume all three sons growing up and getting married took between 20 & 50 years.
Then Noah would have had between 50 to 80 years to built the Ark.
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This fact would negate the 120 years was referring to the time for killing all mankind or the time remaining to build the Ark.
Some religious texts state that Noah had help from an angel to build the Ark and maybe it was a Grigori angel or Nephilim both are referred to as giants.
Sefer Hayashar, written as early as the 9th century, states that it took 5 years for Noah to build the ark.
Cassuto stated it could have been just 40 days.
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According to a 9th Jewish commentary from Italy, God used a “finger” in providing instructions for Noah to build the ark ( Pirke De - Rabbi Eliezer 23 ). This source states that it took 52 years for Noah to build the ark, with...
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According to Bible chronology the flood started 4370 years ago however as pointed out dates, along with other information from the Bible, have been proving to be wrong.
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The archaeological evidence, although still controversial, points to a Northern hemisphere flood dating around 7,500 years ago when a deluge caused the Black Sea to turn the fresh water to salty water.
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One study's findings show the change from fresh water to salty was over a period of time however local folk legends tells there was a deluge.
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Of course there could have been both. First a gradual change then a deluge of sea water leaving the Black Sea less salty than the ocean.
Importantly both agree shell fossils to be 7,500 years old.
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Note : With extra water unlocked from the ice it would cause an increase in rain. A simple calculation for a higher intelligence to accurately forecast when a world wide flood would occur & what areas would be the first & most severely effected.
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The archaeological evidence, although still controversial, points to a Northern hemisphere flood dated around 7,500 years ago.
Ballard said. "Some 12, 000 years ago, much of the world was covered in ice.
​The water from the melting glaciers began to rush toward the world's oceans causing floods all around the world.
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​​The questions is, was there a mother of all floods," Ballard said.
In 1997 a controversial theory was put forward by two Columbia Universities that stated there really was a flood in the Black Sea region about 9, 500 years ago. That was 2,500 years before Ballard's timing.
They also said it was 'not so big' despite describing it as an enormous wall of water from the rising Mediterranean Sea that washed away farmlands turning the Black Sea from freshwater to the now salty water. They stated the force of the water was two hundred times that of Niagara Falls, sweeping away everything in its path.​
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"Ballard does not think he will ever find Noah's Ark, but he does think he may find evidence of a people whose entire world was washed away about 7,000 years ago".​
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Most Noah's ark sceptics mention high waves, strong currents & high gale force winds as reasons why not only the ark would have sunk the conditions on the earth resulting from the devastation would have left the survivors with such adversity all the animals & the people would have died.
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Gen. 7:11...States the waters from the great springs 'under' the earth burst forth before it started to rain therefore as the waters were gradually increasing, as indeed the Pawnees described...
"the water crept up the hills", & as there would have been total cloud cover long before the rain started; with little variations of temperatures, with no heat from the sun, results in no great changes in atmospheric pressure thereby limiting severe winds.
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As the vast majority of water was 'at the start' rising from underground there would NOT have been strong currents or high winds at the start in that area.
The Bible does not make any reference to any great waves or strong winds before or during the flood.
The only reference to wind was after the rain stopped. "A strong wind sent by Lord God to enable the waters to abate". Genesis 8:1.
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Keep in mind the Ark was not designed to be steered or driven by wind with sails.
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No one knows for sure where Noah built the Ark but he was born in Shulon, East of Eden & in all likelihood he built it in or near that area however there is also controversy as to exactly where Eden was located​
"Robert Ballard, one of the world's best - known underwater archaeologists found evidence in the depths of the Black Sea off the coast of Turkey of an ancient civilization hidden underwater since the time of Noah.
Ballard by using an advanced robotic technology travelled further back in time. He was on a marine archaeological mission that might support the story of Noah".
The scholars that think Eden was a real place believe its location was in southern Mesopotamia (now Iraq) where the Tigris & Euphrates rivers run into the sea.
Modified Commons, the free media repository modified
James3:7..."All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures
are being tamed & have been tamed by mankind"
The Ark, as specified in the Bible, spaned 3 levels was 95 feet wide, 410 feet long, 75 feet tall weighing around 22,000 tons & has been estimated to be able to hold as many as 30 to 50,000 animals.
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Would such a large size of vessel even be needed ?
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Was this a case of the transcribers / translators & the authorities trying to make the Ark fit their perceived size of what they thought should have been enough space based on their misunderstanding (deliberate or not) that the vessel should hold all types of animals from the entire world instead of just those in the general area ?
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Could it have been the case that they multiplied all the dimensions given by say a factor of ten because there were not so many wild animals at that time in that area to justify such a large vessel if all the animals from the entire world would be on the ark ?
If every "kind" of animal in the world was given a spot on the Ark how would only 8 people tend to their every needs ?
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We know that there were no kangaroos hopping to the Ark from Australia or orangutans swinging from tree to tree to get to the Ark & certainly not any sloths creeping all the way from the other end of Africa also there is no evidence of the Great Flood wiping all of them out.
To be realistic & truthful the animals Noah would have taken were only those from the immediate area.
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Noah would have counted the animals in the area & he would have made a suitable sized vessel to accommodate only them & eight humans.
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The following is a list of animals known to have existed in ancient Iran:
Aside from the domestic animals such as pet dogs, cats & birds (birds would occupy little space & relatively easy to look after) there were gazelles, rats, mice, bats, camels, antelopes, deer, onagers, goats, panthers, foxes, boars, wolves, jackals, hyenas, cattle, sheep, bears, elephants, lions, lynx, donkeys, moles, zebu, gerbils, civets, mongoose, rhinoceroses, tigers, okapi, hedge hogs & maybe a couple of meerkat type manuals, horses, two types buffalo & around ten 'kinds' of monkeys but not as many species of monkeys as today (only one kind would have been needed.)
Total number of different animals (not including birds) living in the area at the time was around 60. Some of those would have been of the same "kind".
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A simple definition of a Biblical “kind” is : if two animals can breed together then they are of the same created "kind".
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Genesis 7:2..."Take with you seven pairs of every "kind" of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female."
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Just for a rough estimation, not including birds, lets say all 60 were clean animals meaning 14 times 60 equalling 840.
Noah would not have needed a 22,000 ton vessel said to be able to house up to 50, 000 animals.
Dried smoked fish is another highly nutritious food able to be stored in salted cloth wrappings taking up only a small amount of space hanging from the ceilings for long periods able to be eaten by many animals including reptiles even if it goes bad.
The fact that the Ark landed around 700 hundred miles, as the crow flies, from where it set off would indicate that strong gale force winds & severe currents were not prevalent.
Meaning the Ark travelled about 3 to 4 miles a day.
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The Ark was built & started in an area known today as Iran east of the Euphrates & in all likelihood once started it took between 5 & 55 years to build.
The finishing date seems that it was, although still controversial, between 7 & 7, 500 years ago according to recent dating of the start of The Great Flood.
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Could every type of animal in the world fit & how to feed them all ?
Again we must keep in mind that some of the Bible is incorrect.
Some errors result from translation. Try taking a well known saying in English & then use Google to translate it into Japanese.
Then take that translation & convert it back to English & see how it changes.
"The Old Testament was written in Biblical Hebrew, also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite branch of Semitic languages.
In 405 AD St. Jerome finished translating a Latin version that was based in part on the Septuagint, & this version, the Vulgate, "despite errors" introduced by copyists, became the standard of Western Christianity for a thousand years or more".
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Aside from translation errors there would have been, just like today, reasons why truth in the historic record was lost or changed because it was not politically or religiously desirable.
Then there were times when because of wanting to bolster up belief, in order to increase followers, exaggerations, inflations & outright lies were used as such people today seeking the truth need to learn to discern.
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The Bible does NOT say or even imply all the different "kinds" of animals in the entire world would need to be on the Ark but that is what people believe.
What was said to Noah...
...Genesis 6 : 20 "I will gather to thee all the animals of the earth, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air." ...
'Of' the earth... (meaning the ground)... not of the entire planet Earth.
NOT all the different "kinds" of animals from every country in the world.
Even if some versions of the Bible say the world. The known world was... the known area Genesis 41:57
Just those of the earth... of the ground. Not planet earth... NOT of the water.
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Only those living on the earth...the ground.
Of the fields (grass). Not those of the deserts ... Nor those of the mountains.
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In those days most all people were vegetarians, especially Noah along with his family, & as such the animals in the area knew he & his people would not harm them.
In fact most all of the animals would have been treated like family pets & most all of them would have been born on the Ark as it served as shelter during the 50 years building the Ark before the flood took place. In addition Noah would have encouraged the animals to stay on the Ark even while under construction wanting them to acclimatise.
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Even so 800 plus animals to be looked after by only 8 people seems to be a hard task but Noah had plenty of time to make it easier.
Many pregnant reptiles & their mates would have been selected as their soon to hatch eggs would have been collected & taken on the Ark not only to save them from drowning but to use them as food for others after they hatch. Many egg laying ducks & chickens would also add to a steady on board food source.
There were also birds of prey & scavengers, such as eagles, vultures, owls, crows, and falcons.
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Ancient Mesopotamian fields also contained a lot of blackbirds, thrushes, sparrows, larks, pheasants, partridges, storks & ostriches.
Insects, once drawn to the Ark, would be followed by many types of birds. They in turn would attract not only other birds of prey but cats, foxes, civets etc. along with scavenger types of reptiles all of whom would have been stalked by larger meat eating predators that would have stayed in the general area.
Most all insects would have naturally been attracted to the Ark not just because of shelter but would have been drawn there while the Ark was being built because of the noises, smells of food & animals gathered there.
Insects, as we know, are constantly breeding & they are indestructible as such they make an excellent supply of protein for many of the birds, reptiles & a few of the mammals.
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Once the larger reptiles have bred they would have been given to carnivores as food if there was nothing else for them to eat.
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Because Lord God created animals to have instinctive motives for survival He was right in saying in Genesis 6:20 ...'every kind of creature that moves along the ground' would come to Noah to be kept alive.
Not from the entire world.
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People wrongly assume Noah would have needed a huge area to store large volumes of food especially for the large vegetarians.
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Noah would have realized before the flood started that after only a few weeks of deep flooding large leafy plants would lose their leaves & would be floating everywhere for months.
Those leaves could be gathered up in fishing nets dragged from off the Ark.
Obviously honey bees would not be able to continue to produce honey as there were no flowers to collect pollen from however only one hive would provide the colony of bees enough honey to live on for an entire year.
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Large amounts of honey taking up little space would have been easily stored by Noah in earthenware vases for which, aside from watered down honey being food for all the pollen feeding birds, it would have also served as extra sustenance for Noah & his family as well as for most all other creatures on the Ark.
Honey needs no refrigeration & has been found in sealed vases from Egyptian tombs 5,000 years old still in perfect condition.
Nuts & seeds would have been gathered by the ton loads way before the flood not just as food but to plant after the flood. They also take up only a little space.
High protein powder or pasted nuts would have been made that even carnivores could eat instead of meat if there were no dead animals to feed them with from time to time.
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Noah would have only taken younger, as such smaller, of the large animals.
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Why take 14 x 1,000 pound older camels when it would be much easier & more practical to take 14 x 100 pound youngsters.
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The amount of food needed would have been far less than the animals would usually consume because of the fact they would have not been very active being confined in a small area that in all likelihood would have been cold, dark & not much fresh air.
Under such conditions many would be producing hibernation chemicals.​
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Noah, like others in the world, were told the flood was coming & knew that saving animals would have been vital for their own survival as such provisions would have been put in place as they had time to prepare.
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​No doubt billions of animals died around the world but many in parts of the world did not.
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People all over the world built boats for river travel & ocean fishing. Those that already had boats took animals, friends & food with them when the land started to get flooded.
​​This warning gave people & animals, that did not have access to a boat, enough time to relocate near mountains.
As the floodwater rose they could first move to mounds above the water level. Then to hill tops. Then to mountain tops.
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During that time of moving they would have collected anything able to float putting them together in order make rafts.
They would have been collecting food & would have taken animals, plants & seeds along with them.
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The fact that the Ark landed around 700 hundred miles, as the crow flies, from where it set off would indicate that strong gale force winds & severe currents were not prevalent. Meaning the Ark travelled about 3 to 4 miles a day.
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The Ark was built & started in an area known today as Iran east of the Euphrates & in all likelihood once started it took between 5 & 55 years to build.
To recap:
The newly born animals on the ark, the eggs, the sprouted seeds, honey and nuts etc. that were all able to sustain the life of those while on board; in the same way would have also been able to sustain life after the flood ( including the ark itself ) as such nullifying the argument by those that suggest life after the flood would not have be possible because of the lack of food & shelter.
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From, not only some of the recent archaeology evidence, for which, as yet, only one has been mentioned, & in accordance to Enoch's prophetic vision along with the subsequent naming of his son...
...we can be confident the reported flood, as stated in the Bible, was not only true it was at the very least, 'in that area', around 7, 500 years ago & that the accounts of the ark were also true with exaggerations regarding its size, the number & the types of animals said to have been on board.