Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
Genesis 7:1 (NKJV)
Different translations render Genesis 7:1 as “GO into the ark” or “ENTER the ark” as though these all mean the same thing… but the Hebrew word בֹּֽא־ (“bo”) most often means to “come in.”
God didn’t say “GO into THAT boat over there.” He said “COME into MY boat with Me, right HERE.”
You’re going to see yourself cast out of the garden.
Marked for death.
A random name in a list of names.
Left off the boat as the flood rises.
But that’s not the story.
He left the garden with you.
He shielded you from vengeance.
He knows your name.
He carries you in the boat.
It is your story. It is the story of His great love for you.
So I find it amusing that in the Garden, the word “eat” is stated 21 times in the Hebrew in Genesis 1 and 2.
And “eating” is tied to the greenery.
Interestingly, similar to the way the animals in Genesis 1 are described in triplicate (livestock, creeping things, wild animals), we are shown three kinds of plants: grass, herbs, and trees.
In Genesis 6 and 7, the text is specific: God brings all three types of animals. But there’s no mention of the three types of plants. It is only hinted at in this phrase: מִכָּל־מַאֲכָל (mi-kol ma’akhal). This phrase means “of every food.”
You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.
Genesis 6:21 (NIV)
I used to wonder why humans and animals were vegetarian before the flood. Perhaps it’s linked to atonement: the Ark is a grand parable of humanity being preserved.
The three animals are a metaphor for all people, and people should not devour one another. God has provided every food we need.
But on the boat, we see:
Both pure and impure animals.
All three of Noah’s sons, including Ham, the “bad one.”
All three kinds of animals, including the creeping ones, which are the “bad ones.”
Animals and birds.
Males and females.
What do you suppose this is saying? Perhaps the Ark represents God planning to redeem everyone. To make all things new.
People often argue that Noah’s boat wasn’t big enough for all the animals of the world, but perhaps we are meant to think that. We’re meant to be shocked at the absurdity of the story, in the same way we should be surprised by the spiritual equivalance: “Perhaps God’s grace is big enough for everyone.”
For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.
Genesis 7:17-18
If you can see it, it’s so clear.
Forty days is a period of testing.
The flood is a refining force.
The Ark is covered in pitch, which is the same word as atonement.
In our lives, there is a period of testing. This testing refines us. It grows us and raises us above the earth and the waters that would swallow us.
But we are preserved in the ark. In atonement. Held by the very hand of God through it.
And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8:3 (NASB)As for you, take for yourself some of every food that is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and them.
Genesis 6:21 (NASB)
The word “eat” shows up 21 times in Genesis 1 and 2, and it should tell us something. It’s made explicit in Deuteronomy.
When our spiritual hunger for God’s words matches our literal hunger for food, then we will be satisfied. Comforted.
Noah brought food on the Ark for everyone.
So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
Genesis 6:14-16 (NIV)
Everything we know about the construction of the Ark is in Genesis 6:14-16.
Later, God gives very precise measurements for other construction projects.
In Exodus 40, Moses completes construction of the Tabernacle, and God’s glory falls in smoke and fire.
In 2 Chronicles 7, Solomon completes construction of the Temple, and God’s glory falls in smoke and fire.
In Genesis 6, Noah completes construction of the Ark, and I bet there was smoke and fire aboard.
Let there be Light.
I. ark
1. vessel which Noah built
2. basket vessel in which Moses was placed
H8392: תֵּבָה (tēḇâ)
Perhaps you didn’t know this, but the basket that little baby Moses floated in, which was also covered in pitch (but not the atonement kind), was also called an ark in Hebrew.
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Genesis 6:14 (KJV)
I don’t normally quote the KJV, but it’s one of the few translations that follow the Hebrew’s weird phrasing of “pitch it… with pitch.” You might think that is odd, but the Hebrew language has some meaning buried in it that is extremely important.
This word “pitch” is used firstly as a verb and then as a noun here, and while that doesn’t seem to make much difference, look closely at the Hebrew meanings of these words.
to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch
H3722: כָּפַר (kāp̄ar)price of a life, ransom, bribe
H3724: כֹּפֶר (kōp̄er)
These are theological words.
The imagery we see is God’s destructive flood that covers the earth, but the boat, inside and out, is going to be covered with PITCH.
With atonement.
With reconciliation.
With the price of a life.
With a ransom.
Everything we hold dear in our faith lives inside Genesis.
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:8 (NIV)But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
Genesis 6:18 (NIV)
Genesis 6 clearly states that the world was entirely wicked, full of violence, every thought and intent was evil… except for Noah.
But God also saves Noah’s entire family: his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives, despite them falling into the “entirely wicked” category.
What does this tell us?