Noach (Part 2) - Genesis 6:9-11:32

There is a story about Noah, and that he built an ark.

He built a really big ark to house 2 of every animal across the land.

So how long did it take him to build this ark (which, most likely, had very little resemblance to the design that Ken Ham used, which was based on artistic renderings)?

Many apologists want Noah to have taken a very, very, long time. The reason for this is that Genesis 6:3 has YHVH saying that he was going to limit man’s days to 120 years. And we know that the stories that came later have people who lived a lot longer than that. This is an example of how a group of authors don’t really care what another author said. But since the Bible needs to be perfect, the apologist will say, “Well, God meant that he was going to flood the world in 120 years!”

It doesn’t say that. Not only that, but 3 verses earlier it says that Noah was 500 years old, and later, it will tell us that Noah was 600 years old when he entered the ark.

And that brings us to a different type of a “God of the gaps”.

Genesis doesn’t really say how old Noah was when God spoke to him and gave him the command in 6:13. All we have is verse 5:32 (the last verse of chapter 5) saying that Noah was 500 years old when he had 3 sons. It doesn’t say if they were triplets (unlikely) or not, but most commentators treat them as if they were.

The next time we have a date/age indicated is in verse 7:11, where is says that Noah was 600 years old when he entered the ark. So the sons were 100 years old (using the idea that they were triplets) when they entered the ark with their spouses.

And that’s it.

But we do have language where God is telling Noah what He is going to do. And there is immediacy in it. Once there is this exchange between God and Noah, the name YHVH is dropped, and Elohim is used.

Verse 6:13 – “I am going to wipe out mankind”

Verses 6:14-6:16 are the few instructions about the dimensions and a light “Oh, and make a door!”

Verse 6:17 “And I, BEHOLD!, am bringing (present tense) flood waters upon the land…”

Verses 6:18-21 is where God says He’s going to kill everyone else, so bring in the family, animals, and food for everyone, including the animals. (He never tells Noah that he needs a year’s worth!)

Verse 6:22 – “And Noah did all that Elohim commanded him”

And the very next verse, YHVH tells Noah, “Get into the ark”.

And that’s all there is to it.

There is no length of time indicated. In fact, there is an immediacy “Look, I am bringing flood waters to the land!”

Look, Genesis is a book of supernaturalism. So why do apologists have a problem with an ark being built in a few days or weeks. Just because Ken Ham couldn’t do it doesn’t mean anything. Noah had YHVH (or Elohim) by his side!

Noah didn’t associate with anyone but family. There is no town indicated, no neighbors. And as far as we can tell, he didn’t really care what happened to anyone else.

So there was no really, really, long time to build the boat to let people know that a flood was coming.

God was on a short schedule.

One final note about the use of Elohim and YHVH, which is a classic use of Illeism, is that verse 7:16 uses both names, but doing different things. It’s an oddity worth noting.