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111 Ark of the Law Ark of Noah

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Ill

The Ark is always surmounted by a representation two tables of the Law, while a perpetual lamp hangs in front silver and bronze lamps of rich workmanship are often placed at the sides. The

of the



ARK OF NOAH.— Biblical occupied by (Gen.

Noah and

Data

his family



The

vessel

during the Deluge

vi. 14, vii., viii.).

The English name should not be confounded with the Ark of the Covenant. The Hebrew name, nan, the same as that of the chest in which the infant Moses was placed on the banks of the Nile. It was a is

box-like structure made of gopher-wood, a species of pine-tree not found in Babylonia, but brought, as

was frequently done, from the Mediterranean

coast

had three stories and a roof. In the parallel Babylonian flood-story no mention is made of the material; but in the main the descriptions agree. land.

It

In either case the vessel was made water-tight with cells or rooms. The proportions, as given in Genesis, show regard for safety

bitumen and provided with

and rapid movement under

—

steering.

The huge

dimensions of the Ark 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high were never reached in the construction of ancient vessels, but would have been necessary for the accommodation of all the animals that survived the Deluge. It was really a great house set afloat, and was so called in the Babylonian version ("Flood Story," line 91). Its purpose, according to both accounts, was to accommodate Noah and his family and the animals of every kind that were to populate the earth after the waters subsided. In the Babylonian account the Ark rested on Mount Nisir, east of the Lower Zab river, therefore not far from the starting-point; and the high water lasted but a week. Noah's Ark, after tossing about for a year, rested in the highlands of Ararat or Armenia, and stories have been current at various times to the effect that remains of it had been found in that region, as, for example, in Josephus, "Ant." i. 3, § 6 See Schrader, "Cunei(see An a rat and Flood). form Inscriptions and the Old Testament," i. 46-60.

—

J. F. McC. jh. In Rabbinical Literature One hundred and twenty years before the Deluge, Noah planted cedars from which he afterward made the Ark (Gen. R. j.



xxx. 7; compare Christian "Monatsschrift," xliii. 411).

Ark

of the

Law from

the Synagogue at Modena, Dated A.M. 5365 = 1505 C.E.

Ginzberg, This lengthy period was requisite, partly in order to urge the sinful people to amend their ways, and partly to allow sufficient time for the erection of the Ark, which was of very large proportions. According to one view the parallels;

(From the Muaee de Cluny.)

doors, except in the Sephardic synagogues, are covered by curtains, and the walls of the interior are

adorned with rich hangings. is approached always by at least three as steps, but sometimes many more are used, and in the case of the Paris synagogues a tine effect is obtained by marble steps and balustrades. A. W. B. a. also

The Ark

—

—

ARK

OF MOSES ("tebah"): For three months Moses was kept hidden by his mother, and when she could no longer conceal him, she made a box and launched it on the Nile river (Ex. ii. 2-3). The box was made of rushes, and was lined with slime and pitch to make it water-tight. Midr. R. to Ex. i. 21 says that the pitch was placed on the outside of the box, so that its odor should not be offensive to the infant. j. jh.

G. B. L.

Coin of Apamea, with Supposed Eepresentatlon of Noah's Ark. (From Maspero, "

Dawn

of Civilization.")

consisted of three hundred and sixty cells, each ten yards long by ten yards wide according to another it consisted of nine hundred cells, each six yards long by six yards wide (Gen. R. xxxi. 11 compare commentaries on the passage for the exact mathematical computations). The lowest of these

Ark