Make thyself an ark of gopher wood [with] cells shalt thou make the ark; and pitch it inside and outside with pitch.
God tells Noah how to survive the judgment He has just announced. The answer is a wooden ark with rooms inside, sealed with pitch — and that word for pitch is the word used elsewhere for atonement.
The judgment and the way out came from the same mouth. Noah's part was to believe both.
The Lord, in this way, provided Noah with an answer to His own righteous and purposed judgment that was coming on the world before the Flood. "Make yourself an ark of gopher wood," said God to him. Noah did so, believing the word both of judgment and of deliverance, and he was safe.
God spelled out the design, down to the rooms and the single door.
Yet the grace of God would provide a refuge for those who realized their need of His grace. God instructed Noah to make a large ark of gopher wood. It was six times as long as it was wide, with three decks and rooms built in, not only for people but for animals too, and covered with pitch inside and out (v. 14). One door is mentioned, which may seem inadequate for so large a ship, but it pictures the truth that Christ alone is the door of salvation for mankind.
No one can say for sure which tree gopher wood came from. But its name stands close to the name of the pitch.
The ark is built of gopher wood. We do not know this "gopher," but the name is very close to the "copher" or "pitch" named afterward... Because of this, the gopher has long been thought to be the cypress, which could well have supplied the "pitch" for the ark's seams. The picture would then fit even better. There is no doubt that the gopher, like the acacia wood of the tabernacle ark, refers to Christ, and "copher" is the word used elsewhere for "atonement." It was not enough that the tree be cut down to provide a refuge from the waters of judgment. The seams also had to be sealed with the pitch the tree supplied. And so death by itself, even Christ's death, would not have been enough to make safe the soul that fled to Him for refuge.
The pitch did more than keep the water out.
Now there was one very interesting feature in that ark. It was covered "inside and out with pitch." That was not only to make it watertight. It would do that, of course. But it was also to teach us a great truth, even if Noah did not understand. The word "pitch" in our translation is the same word translated "atonement" seventy times in the Old Testament. Only in this one place is it translated "pitch." It means a covering — a covering God ordained and provided for the man who had found grace in His eyes. Wherever Noah looked inside the ark, he saw this covering. Wherever God looked outside the ark, He saw the covering. Atonement within, atonement without.
Everyone in that generation ended up covered by something. What differed was the covering itself.
The waters of judgment fell upon the ark, but because it was covered, not one drop touched those inside... It is significant that the waters of judgment also covered the unbelievers, but there was no atonement in that covering.
God ordered the ark sealed. He also took charge of its one door.
Remember, the Lord's own hand shut Noah and his family in the ark (Gen. 7:16), which was made judgment-proof outside and inside (Gen. 6:14). God Himself secured the door. None could enter, and none could get out. "The Lord shut him in." God took charge of the door — safety — while Noah looked out of the window above — communion.
God gave this instruction to one man for one flood. What it pictures is already finished.
As a sinner there is nothing before you but judgment... But you may find a place of safety. You say, Where is it? You do not have to prepare an ark, because God has prepared one. Christ is the place of safety now. He bore all the judgment and the wrath, rose from the dead, and is now at God's right hand.
- Word — God announced the judgment and the remedy in one breath; Noah believed both and was safe.
- Wood — the tree had to be cut down to make the refuge, a picture of Christ; but timber alone would not hold back the waters.
- Pitch — the sealing word is the word for "atonement" seventy times elsewhere. Death alone was not enough. Atonement was needed.
- Within and without — Noah saw the covering inside, and God saw it outside. The same flood that covered the unbelievers left no drop on those in the ark.
- Door — one entrance, shut by God's own hand. It pictures the one place of safety already prepared, so no one today has an ark to build.
And thus shalt thou make it let the length of the ark be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
Here God gives Noah the exact size of the ark, a huge ship to build on dry land long before the flood came. Two questions follow: was it a real vessel of real size, and why did God draw up the plan Himself?
God gave the plan; Noah supplied the labour and the faith.
So Noah started his great work of preparing an ark to save his household. God was the Architect, so he had no need to worry about its design. His only concern must have been to carry out properly what God had designed. A single man receives a commission to build a gigantic ship, and apparently in the middle of dry land! It was an extraordinary command, and it must have called out faith of no ordinary kind in Noah.
A cubit means little today until you turn it into feet.
Its proportions were to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high. If the cubit is taken at 18 inches, its length would have been 450 feet, its breadth 75 feet and its height 45 feet. If the cubit used was 21 inches, the dimensions would be one-sixth larger.
Now compare the ark with the ships built since.
In the whole history of the world up to about a century ago, every other ship ever constructed was a mere shell compared with this. Only in quite recent years have these dimensions been surpassed. But what God said, Noah did, and he proved that God's command was his enabling.
One common objection says the ark was too small to hold the animals. The figures in this verse answer it.
The objection is that the ark was not big enough to "take in all the creatures" — more exactly, the animal races belonging to the dry land. It has been proved, over and over again, that it was. It has been calculated that it was a vessel of more than forty-two thousand tons. That is eighteen times as much as the largest warship. One warship can stow, say, a thousand men, with provisions, for a much longer time than the flood lasted, besides an immense weight of guns, shot and so on. So it is clear the ark could easily have received the animals that could not live in the water.
The ark's shape is unlike a ship built for speed. That is not a flaw.
The shape of the ark was not meant for sailing through storms and waves. But it suited exactly the purpose it was made for. Someone once built a freight ship in the same proportions, for use in quiet waters, and people declared it a great success.
Some treat the flood account as poetry or legend. This verse reads like a builder's brief.
Now it is of the greatest importance to stand firm and unbending in the faith. We are not dealing with poetry and its figures of speech. This is the language of sober history. It deals with facts, and with God's declaration about them… It is the plain and unvarnished statement of fact. The question is: are believers to accept the word of God without hesitation?
Noah's neighbours had every reason to think the plan absurd.
I do not suppose the men of the world thought it was built on the right lines. But he did not care one bit about that. God had given him the lines to build on (verses 14-16), so he did not care how they criticised his ark.
Notice also what the plan left out.
Noah's ship had no pump in it. Indeed it could not. Such a thing would have been a witness against it. It would mean that God's provision was not enough by itself. That could never be. He rested in the seaworthiness of his vessel because of God's appointment and approval of it — indeed, I may say, because of God's building of it. Faith kept his heart quiet about the judgment; hope filled it about the coming glory.
Commentators read the ark as a picture of Christ. The plan came from God, not from man.
It was entirely of God. He devised the ark, and gave Noah its specifications. The storm might rage, both above it and around it, but the ark was never submerged. "The ark floated on the face of the waters." A type of Him who bore the storm of divine wrath on behalf of all His people. The greatness of His person made Him equal to so mighty a work.
- Designed. God was the Architect and Noah the builder; the measurements came down as a command, not a suggestion.
- Measured. At an 18-inch cubit the ark was about 450 feet long, 75 broad and 45 high — unmatched by any ship until modern times.
- Ample. At over forty-two thousand tons, the ark had room to spare for every land animal.
- Factual. The passage reads as sober history, not poetry or legend, and asks whether we will take God's word as it stands.
- Trusted. Noah built on the lines God gave him and ignored the critics. He rested in a vessel God Himself designed — a picture of Christ, who bore the storm and was never submerged.
A light shalt thou make to the ark; and to a cubit high shalt thou finish it above. And the door of the ark shalt thou set in its side [with] a lower, second, and third [story] shalt thou make it.
God's last instructions for the ark sound purely practical: an opening for light, a door in the side, and three decks. Commentators read each detail two ways — as a building plan, and as a picture of how God saves.
The plan came from God; the work came from Noah. One writer explains why each feature sat where it did.
Noah was the builder but God was the Designer of the ark. The door was in the side, so people could get in easily. The window was above, to let in light from heaven and to shut out any view of the flood waters soon to come. Its dimensions were large. The cubit is reckoned to have been 18 to 22 inches long. The ark was made only to float, not shaped like a ship for travel, so its capacity must have been very great.
Another writer reads these instructions as plain fact, not as a story.
This is not poetry with its figures of speech. It is the language of sober history, dealing with facts and with God's declaration about them. It is the plain, unvarnished statement of fact.
One dictionary explains the Hebrew word here, and the question the cubit raises.
A window was to be made to the ark. Gen. 6:16. The word tsohar means "a place of light." It was probably set in the roof, and may have served for ventilation as well as for giving light. In Gen. 6:16, after speaking of the window, it says, "and finish it to a cubit above." Does this refer to the size of the window, or does the word "it" refer to the ark? It has been said that the word rendered "it" is feminine and cannot refer to "window," which is masculine. So the cubit may refer to the roof: the middle of the roof raised a cubit to give it a pitch.
Commentators differ on the exact form of the opening. One suggests a continuous gap running around the vessel:
It may be that the window "finished — to a cubit from the top" was an opening that encircled the whole ark, giving full ventilation, but able to be closed.
The window sat at the top, and that fixed where those inside could look.
The Lord secured the door with His own all-powerful hand. He left Noah the window. From it Noah could look upward to the place from which all the judgement had come, and see that no judgement remained for him. The saved family could only look upward, because the window was "above." They could not see the waters of judgement, nor the death and desolation which those waters had caused.
God carried them; they did not steer.
The passengers in that wonderfully guided and protected vessel did not need their eyes for steering. They were not to look out on the solemn scenes of the judgment taking effect around them. Meanwhile the waters, which were the grave of the world, floated them above its mountain-tops up to the blue heavens, growing calmer as they rose. What a time for them — shut in by God, with God! And what a preparation for the new life they were to begin in the world beyond the flood!
A ship that size might be expected to have several ways in.
One door is mentioned, which may seem too little for so large a ship, but it pictures the fact that Christ alone is the door of salvation for mankind.
Noah did not fasten himself in.
Remember the Lord's own hand shut Noah and his family in the ark, which was made judgment-proof outside and inside. God Himself secured the door. None could enter, and none could get out. "The Lord shut him in." God took charge of the door — safety — while Noah looked out of the window above — communion.
Commentators have seen growth in the three levels, though the shelter is equal on every floor.
It had rooms — varied ages, orders and families of salvation, but one Christ. It had three floors: that is, there is development in Christ — progress to higher and still higher levels. But clearly all who are "in Christ" have perfect salvation. That is no matter of degree or attainment. Salvation is as complete for the small timid animal creeping for refuge onto its lowest deck as for Noah on its topmost floor — no more and no less.
- Designed — God gave the plan; Noah gave the work. Every feature was God's choice, and the record reads as sober history, not poetry.
- Door — one entrance only, set in the side for easy access. It points to a single way of rescue. God shut it, and no one could open it.
- Light — the word means "a place of light," probably set in the roof. Commentators differ on whether the cubit measures the window or the pitch of the roof.
- Above — the opening faced upward, so those inside saw heaven, not the flood. The door was God's work; the window was theirs.
- Decks — three floors suggest growth in Christ. But the shelter is equal: the timid creature on the lowest deck is as safe as Noah on the top.