Noah’s Ark – A Fresh Look


dreamstime_l_22493289_smallThe account of Noah’s Ark is central to our faith. It shows that God has power and authority over all creation and all life. He used his power and authority in a spectacular way: a global flood. This global flood is explained in detail in the book of Genesis. One point of curiosity is: how did God keep so many animals alive for so long on the Ark? In this blog, we will look at what we know about the Ark and God’s toolbox to see if we can solve this mystery.

If one studies the detailed description of the Ark, with three decks and one window, it first appears that the Ark was best suited for growing mushrooms. However, we know God wanted to deliver more than mushrooms to the new world, and we know that God understands perfectly His creation and He is the author of life. Indeed, He delivered all those on the Ark to the new world without losing one (Genesis 8:18-19 ); and, amazingly, they were on the Ark for over a year. To do this took divine wisdom , but how did God chose to do it?

First of all, the name Noah means quiet, rest, and comfort. This may be a key. Maybe the voyage of Noah’s Ark was quiet, restful, and comforting. Maybe the creatures were put in some sort of trance or sleep. If we check the Bible, we see that God has something in His toolbox that would accomplish this, and that is “Deep Sleep,” in Hebrew, tardemah. We see tardemah used several times: once for alleviating pain, when Adam had his rib removed to form Eve (Genesis 2:21); once for revealing the future to Abraham, as he was entering into a new covenant with God (Genesis 15:12); and, once for protecting prey from the predator, when Saul and his army of 3000 had David surrounded (1 Samuel 26:12). The Ark had all three of these needs: (1) God needed to prepare the creation physically for the new ecosystem which included eating meat, shorter life expectancy, and a different climate; (2) God was initiating a new covenant and needed to brief the creation on what to expect as well as comfort them; and, (3) He needed to protect the prey from the predators. It all fits and make sense. Not only did the deep sleep suit these needs, but also solved all the problems concerning workload, air quality, fresh water and food requirements, light, and space.

Even though the Ark carried many creatures, the Ark would have been quiet, and peaceful, and restful, just like the meaning of Noah’s name. So, here we can see a comforting picture: Noah’s Ark on the ocean with all the creatures asleep, knowing that they would be delivered safely to the new world, the new ecosystem, and the new covenant. When the time was right to disembark from the Ark, they would go their separate ways, and, for the first time, see the rainbow of promise.

For references and technical information, please read  The Genetics of Kinds – Ravens, Owls,and Doves

For Additional reading , please consider: Noah’s Ark Hermetically sealed and Safe

Key words: Deep Sleep; Noah’s Ark; Number of animals on Noah’s Ark; Global Flood; and new post-flood world

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59 thoughts on “Noah’s Ark – A Fresh Look

    1. You can’t argue from silence. Nowhere in Genesis or in the Bible had God put Noah and his family, and all the other passengers into “tardemah” or deep sleep. Noah was specifically told to keep the animals and fowls and insects ALIVE. If God was going to put them into deep sleep, such a command is meaningless.

      Gen 6:19  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. 
      Gen 6:20  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. 

      Furthermore, God told Noah to also gather food for the animals, fowls and insects. If they were all to be in deep sleep, this is again not necessary.
      Gen 6:21  And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

  1. “The Messenger of Allah said: ‘Whoever conceals knowledge which Allah has made beneficial for mankind’s affairs of religion, Allah will bridle him with reins of fire on the Day of Resurrection.” (Da’if)
    noah peace up on him found on judi mountain in turkey theis some photos from ark http://majdah.maktoob.com/vb/majdah21925/and read holy quran
    11:44 and see how quran mention name of mountain before 1400 years http://quran.com/11 happy day

    1. We won’t take any lessons from the false doctrines of the biased manipulations of scripture you call the quran

  2. what a miserable disaster that GOD JEHOVAH made to them because they misfaith to him …………praised jehovah GOD

  3. Why is that people claimed that the name of their savior is JESUS? And it founded by the Romans? Did u all people read the Bible in Matthew 1:1? the Genealogy of the Messiah, to the Son of David… Do you people deeply analyze it? The are all in the royal blood of “HEBREW”. Think people, think.

    1. The genealogical records given in the bible are not complete, the only people recorded are the main people in the story. The geological records are only about 45..50 % complete so no accurate analysis can be drawn from them

    1. Yes the almighty Allah, which let’s not forget is arabic for God, so don’t try to claim you worship another creator, the only difference is islam has twisted and manipulated the holy text to fit their unholy stance, mohammed if fake, his night journey is some kind of twisted fable, Gabriel never appeared to this fictitious character, so if we are handing out peace and forgiveness, then islam will drink the biggest portion

  4. In ALMIGHTY ALLAH’S LAST BOOK QURAN MAJEED WHICH CAME THROUGH THE LAST PROPHET HAZRAT MOHAMMAD SALALLAHO ALAIHE WASLIM ABOUT 1400+ YEARS AGO IT IS CLEARLY ADDRESSED BY ALLAH TAALA IN SURAH HOOD THAT THE NOHA’S BOAT RESTED AT MOUNTAIN JOODIE AND IT WAS ORDERED TO EARTH BY ALMIGHTY ALLAH TO ABSORBED THE WATER.

    AFTER THAT CULTIVATION STARTED.

  5. our lord god is elshaadai his name is only one name YAWEH or jehovah(ABBA)his jesus and after resurrection holy spirit thats all elshaadai is a mighty god his words for ever and ever amen

    1. Yes Jehovah is the Jesus Christ and the name of the other God is unkown and He was never seen by anyone except Jesus who is also the Eternal God.

      1. Here is an excerpt from another blog “Whom did Cain marry?” that should answer your question:

        The scriptures are clear, Eve was the mother of both Cain and Cain’s wife, his sister.
        This state of affairs poses several questions that must be addressed:
        (1) What about birth defects due to the close relationship of Cain and his wife?
        (2) What about the Biblical and social morality laws prohibiting close relationship marriages? and,
        (3) Is there any scientific evidence that either supports or contradicts the Bible concerning Eve being the mother of us all?
        First, let’s start with the birth defects issue (question 1). It is a fact that when close relatives marry, their children have an increased probability of having cause birth defects, disease, and even early death. The theme of the Bible is that in the beginning, everything was “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and due to sin, there has been a deterioration of everything (Genesis 3:17). In the beginning, there were no genetic problems, then, after the original sin, genetic mutations started to appear and have continued to increase. So, when Adam and Eve’s children married one another, these mutations were not yet a significant problem. Actually even at the time of Abraham, some 2000 years after the creation, marrying a close relative was not a problem, and sometimes even encouraged by God (Genesis 17:19; Genesis 24; Genesis 28:10-15). Abraham married his half sister (Genesis 20:12); Isaac married his second cousin (Genesis 24:15); and Jacob married two of his first cousins (Genesis 28:1-7). It wasn’t until the time of Moses (about 2500 years after the creation) that God prohibited marrying close relatives (Leviticus 18:8-18). This was necessary to protect humanity from genetic mutations which had reached levels of concern. This notion that genetic mutations are increasing can be substantiated by the decline in lifespan from Adam who lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5), the lifespan of Moses who lived 120 years (Deuteronomy 34:7), and the present day lifespan which is approximately 67 years world-wide. Also, modern science has accepted the fact that genetic mutations are on the increase.
        The next issue (question 2) concerns incest and the laws associated with it. Did God force the offspring of Adam and Eve to break the laws concerning incest? No, when Adam and Eve’s children married one another, there were no laws, Biblical or social, concerning incest. Also, remember, Adam and Eve were closer than siblings, they were identical twins (Genesis 2:21-23) except that Adam was a male (X and Y chromosome) and Eve was a female (two copies of the X chromosome). So, Adam and Eve’s children had no knowledge of or concerns about incest.
        And lastly (question 3), concerning the existence of scientific evidence that either supports or contradicts Genesis 3:20, actually, there is much DNA evidence that strongly supports Genesis 3:20. DNA has been collected from humans around the globe over the past couple of decades: tens of thousands of DNA sequences. Geneticists, both secular and creationist, have used these sequences to compile a human genetic tree. This tree clearly shows that we all came from one woman. So, if any other, unrelated group of humans existed during, before or after Eve, there would necessarily be two or more family trees; but, there are not two or more, there is just one.
        In conclusion, based on both Genesis and genetics, Cain married his sister.

      2. Yes your right, god the father has no name, or we don’t know it. Jesus is the god of the old testament, god the father gave ALL authority to the son (jesus ),it is jesus who did the creating, spoke to moses,parted the red sea etc.
        The father and son are the godhead, right now jesus calls all of us to his godhead, many are called few are chosen,

    2. what metters is ‘ who died for us in Calvary, we are free indeed, and who rose up on the third day. we thank God by sending his son so that to day we can testify that he cleanses our sins by his blood

      1. So why do we have to fight each other when it is clear that we came from one woman. Everyone should read this article on Adam and Eve.We abused our freedom of choice to believe on something with pride leading to nothing at the end of the day. If we can give love for others and about anything we see around us, then we can probably start building something in harmony with God’s plan for man kind. Who knows the Ark of Noah could be concealed in Mt. Apo, Philippine.That is a 1 million dollar question.

  6. Noah’s ark is believed to have landed at the Great Zimbabwe ruins including the Jewish relics e.g. Moses’ ark of convenant

    1. Its a lie and a generic nonsense, fortunately you know it, Noah’s ark landed in TURKEY on the mountain of ararat. Zimbabwe was populated around the 14 century. People who alighted from the ark were people who made all the nations of the world. Asians, caucasian, and all black people and their variants as they occupy the world and its expanse they came from Ham one of Noah’s son

  7. Adam who is also called by the Zimbabwean Karanga people “Sororezhou” is believed to have been created in Zimbabwe at a place called “Guruuswa” before he was taken to the “Garden of Eden”.

  8. Allah, Yahweh or Jehovah is one God of al mankind, he loves his creation so much . For this reason, he absolutely sends whatever surprises to mankind for as long as it can continue the good purpose of his image and likeness.

    1. I have read such paragraph about Noah Ark. I belong to a Christian family and love our Lord Jesus Christ.

  9. I am a catholic by faith and I love my religion very much . No one can change the concept of my faith. Today where I am is because I have my trust in God, and His Son Jesus Christ. I am always in the chapel praying and from my inner most I feel that I am actually talking to Jesus present in the tabanacle. I am a devotee of the Divine Mercy and have great faith . It starts on Good Friday and gets over on the 1st Sunday of after Easter every one should pray to the Divine Mercy for special favours. Thanks

    1. I’m sorry to hear that, the catholics are the cause of all this,you might want to study the history of the catholic or univesal church, it is as far from God as you can get, with the exception of Islam.
      So no lessons from the catholic faith will I take heed of.

    1. How does that scripture relate to Noah’s Ark? Please say more. We value all opinions and all criticisms.
      Thank you for your interest in God.
      Admin

  10. I’ve read very interested hypothesis about deep sleep involved ark’s inhabitants.
    Genesis {6:21} “And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather [it] to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them”
    This versicle, if doesn’t exclude deep sleep’s hypothesis, clearly marked a more
    active life or need of energy through food.
    What is your opinion?
    Maranatha!

  11. It is true that Noah took food with him on the voyage. In our opinion, this food would be used mainly to feed the passengers at the time of disembarkation. It takes months to plant and harvest crops and the world had been flooded for a year making gathering of mushrooms, berries, and other edibles impossible until they established.

    Thank you for your interest in the things of God.

    Admin

  12. I’m sorry to hear that, the catholics are the cause of all this,you might want to study the history of the catholic or univesal church, it is as far from God as you can get, with the exception of Islam.
    So no lessons from the catholic faith will I take heed of.

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