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112 Ark of Noah

112

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Arkansas

was used as a depositary for refuse in the human beings and the " clean " beasts were lodged, and the uppermost was reserved for the

stories



second the

"unclean" beasts.

A

differing opinion reverses the order, so that the refuse was deposited in the third

(Sanh. 96a). Another beam of the Ark was used as the gallows for Haman, according to Midrash Abba Gorion, iv. ed. Buber, 19« (see Deluge in Rab;

binical Literature). j.

L. G.

sn.

In

Mohammedan

Literature



Mohammed's

conception of the Ark of Noah was of an ordinary ship. He refers to it frequently in speaking of

Noah, and in all but two cases uses the word " fulk," which is elsewhere his usual word for a ship. In one passage (sura liv. 14) he calls it " a thing of boards and nails " in another (xxix. 14), "saflnah," which he also uses elsewhere of a ship. There is, therefore, little Koranic material that need be considered under this rubric. A curious

expression in the Koran (xi, 43), "And he said, Ride ye in it in the Name of God it moves and sta}rs, " probably means only that at all times it was But some commentators under the care of God. (Baidawi, ad loc.) have thought the meaning to be that Noah said, " In the Name of God " when he wished it to move, and the same when he wished it to stand still. It is mentioned (xi. 46) that it settled on al-Judi. This name must go back to a flood-legend current among the Syrians of the east Tigris, in which the Ark settled on the mountains of Gordyoea. But in Moslem tradition this has become a specific mountain, lofty and long in shape, near the town called Jazirat ibn 'Umar, on the east bank of the Tigris, So Yakut (s.v. ii. 144), in the province of Mosul. and Ibn Batuta passed it on his travels (ii. 139). Mas'udi ("Golden Meadows," i. 74) states that the place where the Ark grounded could be seen to his day, but there do not seem to be current among Moslems any of those tales so common in Jewish and Christian legend of remains found by adventurous travelers. Probably the Moslem al-Judi was much too accessible. According to Yakut a mosque built by Noah was still to be found there. '



'

!

The Ark

ot

Noah

Afloat.

(From the Sarajevo Hajrgadah.)

from which it was shoveled into the sea through a sortof trap-door (xarapiKTr/g Gen. R. I.e.). For purposes of illumination, Noah used precious stones, bright as the sun at noonday (Sanh. 108S; Yer. Pes. i. 27b; Gen. It. I.e.), which shone by night and were dull by day. The stones were the sole light in the Ark, since the stars and planets did not fulfil their functions during the Deluge (Gen. R. xxxiv. 11). Another miracle witnessed by the occustory,



pants of the Ark was the entrance of the animals. They were not led in by Noah, a task which would have been impossible for any human being but God caused them, as well as the spirits of those whose bodies were yet uncreated, to gather there from all sides (Gen. R. xxxi. 13, xxxii. 8; Zeb. 116«; for Christian parallels see Ginzberg, "Monatsschrift," Another Midrash says that the anxliii. 414). gels appointed over the various species of animals brought each his allotted animal with its necessary fodder (Pirke R. El. xxiii.). In regard to the feeding of the animals, the greater number of Haggadot say that each received suitable food at the usual time (Tan.,ed. Buber, Noah ii. Gen. R. xxxi. 14); and since Noah was constantly employed in feeding them, he did not sleep for a moment during the year As Noah was an exception among his in the Ark. contemporaries, so also were the animals that were They were the best of their destined to be saved. species, and, unlike the other animals of the time, they remained true to their proper natures, without overstepping the limitations which nature had. Gen. R. prescribed for them (Tanhuma, I.e. v. Besides the regular occuxxviii. 8; Sanh. 108r«). pants, the Ark supported Og, king of Bashan, and the immense animal "Regm," neither of whom, owing to their enormous size, could get into the Ark, but held fast to it, remaining alongside (Pirke R. El. xxiii. Gen. R. xxxi. 13). In order that Noah on his entrance into the Ark might not be molested by the wicked people, lions and other wild animals beam of the Ark was were placed to guard it. found by Sennacherib, and he made an idol of it







A

The Ark Resting on Mt.

Ararat.

(From the Saraje'

On the dimensions and plan of the Ark there was much difference of opinion. It is evident that Mohammed's conception of a simple ship had been changed by outside influence. Baidawi (I.e.) gives the Biblical dimensions of 300 cubits by 50 by 30, and expands only

in explaining that in the first of