The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 187

to obtain cC1vcring for thorn (eh. xuii. 20;roof (Knobel) ; or, what appears moro pro, Dan. ix. 24) ; whenoo copher is used for a ba.ble, a light opening in tho upper dock, ransom (Exod. xxi. 30 ; xxx. 12), nnd cap- stretching along tho entire length, and con- 7101·eth, the covering of the ark (Exod. xxv.tinued down through tho dilTercnt storioa l i), for the mercy-seat (i).aa,~p101,, LXX, ; (Ilnumgarten, Lango); or, if the roof sloped, propitimorium, Vulgnte). ns is most likely, an nperturo along the Yer. 15.-And this is the fashion which ridge, which would admit the clenr light of thou shalt make it of. The shape of it heaven (tsohar), and servo ns a meridional is not described, but only its dimensions lino enabling Noah and tho inmates of tho .~ivcn. The length of the ark sho.11 be three ark to ascertain the hour of noon (Tayler hundred cubits,-a cubit= tho length from Lewis). Keil and Murphy think wo can form the elbow to the middle finger (Deut. iii. 11); no proper conception of tho light nrrnnge- nearly twenty- two inches, if the sacred ment of tho ark. The conjccturo of Schultens, cubit: if the common, eighteen inches,-the which is followed by Dnthius, Michaelis, breadth of it fifty cubits, aud the height of Rosenmiiller, and others, that the tsiihar it thirty cubit.a. With a cubit of twenty- moant the covering (tectum, d01·sum), "quo one inches, the length would be 525 feet, sane hoe redi.ficiu.m carero non potuit, propter the breadth 87 feet 6 inches, dimensions pluviam tot dierum continunm," is obviously not dissimilar to those of the Great Ea,stern mcorrect-shalt thou make to the ark, and which is 680 feet long, 83 feet broad, and in a cubit-to a. cubit, i. e. all but a cubit 58 feet deep. The cubic contents of the ark (T. Lewis) ; into a cubit, i. e. to the extent with these dimensions would be 2,411,718·75 of a. cubit (Ainsworth); by the cubit, i. e. feet, which, allowing forty cubic feet per ton, by n just measure (Kalisch)-sha.lt thou finish would give a carrying capacity equal to it-not the window (Gesenius, Ewa.Id, Tuch), 32,800 tons. P. Jansen of Holland, in the feminine suffix agreeing with tebah, 1609, proved by actual experiment that a which is feminine, and not with tsiihar, which ship constructed after the pattern of the ark, is masculine; but the ark~above. Literally, though not adapted for sailing, would in from above to above,· i e., according to the reality carry a cargo greater by one-third above interpretations of the preposition, than any other form of like cubical content. either the roof, after the construction of the The diffi.cul ty of building a vessel of suchwindows, should be regularly finished "by enormous magnitude, T. Lewis thinks, may the just measure " (Kalisch) ; or the roof be got over by remembering the extreme should be arched but a cubit, that it might simplicity of its structure, the length of be almost fiat (Ainsworth); or from the time allowed for its erection, the physical eaves up toward the ridge it should be com- constitution of the builders, and the facilities :eleted, leaving a cubit open or unfinished for obtaining materials which may have (T. Lewis). And the door of the ark-the existed in abundance in their vicinity. opening which should admit its inmates- Bishop Wilkins (' Essay towards a Philoso- shalt thou set in the side thereof; with phical Character and Language'), Dr. A. lower, second, and third stories. Tho word Clarke, and Bush are satisfied that the ark stories is not in the original, but some such was large enough to contain all the animals word must be supplied. Lango thinks that directed to be taken into it, along with pro- each fiat or story had an entrance or door vision for a twelvemonth ; but computations in the side. founded on the number of the species pre- Ver. 17.-And, behold, I, even I. More sently existing mlllit of necessity be precari- correctly, "And I, behold, I," an emphatic ous ; and besides, it is at least doubtful assertion that what was coming was o. Divine whether the Deluge was universal, or only visitation, and not s~mply a na~ura_l occur- partial and local, in which case the difficulty rence. Do bring. Literally, brvnging, the (so called) completely vanishes. participle standing in place of the finite Ver. 16.-A window-iti:V, from iti¼', to verb to indicate the certainty of the future shine, hence light (C!JQ¼', double light, or action (V'ide Gesenius, 'Gram.,' § 134). • A light of midday-eh. xliii 16; Jer. vi. 4). 1 4ood of waters upon the e.a.rth. m1r:,; pr~- Not the window which Noah afterwards opened to let out the dove, which is called nounced. by Bohlen "Jar-fetched," "is an archaic word coined expres~ly for the waters !i~ti (eh. viii 6), bnt obviously a lighting of Noah (Isa. xliv. 9),. and is used nowhere apparatus, which may have been a series of clso except Psalm xxix. 10 - waters upon windows (Gesenius), scarcely one (Theodotion, tho earth''. (Keil}. The first intimation fliipav; Symmach1111, ouz~n11•!:; Vulgate, of the mea.ns to be employed in inflicting fenutram,· Kimchi, Luther, Calvin); or an judgment on the more.Uy corrupted world. opening running along the top of the sides •To deatroy all flesh, wherein is· the breath of the ark, occupied by some translucent of life, from under heaven ; and every thing 1ubstance, and sheltered by the eaves of the that is in the ea.rth shall die. The fishes oe. v1. 9-22.] 'fHE BOOK OF GENESIS. 111