Hi St.Roymond,
The truth of the matter is that the Bible clearly tells us that Noah had three sons Shem, Ham and Japeth before God commanded Noah to build the ark.
I find it difficult to imagine that Noah could have built the ark in around about 12 years or even 25 years.
The Bible makes no mention whatsoever of any external assistance, the only people mentioned in the text are Noah, his three sons, and Noah’s wife, and his sons’ wives, a grand total of eight people.
Of course that doesn’t mean there weren’t any external helpers but in the absence of anything in the text, to apply the standard that you vehemently apply to others, using your own words, it doesn’t say that in the text. That is just a construct that you have put upon the text.
Now I don’t want to be nit picky, but clearly you need to realise that you cannot dish out over and over again that we just can’t assume what we want. If it isn’t in the text, then it isn’t admissible by your own standards. You chide me for making a reasonable assumption, your own words,"*… that’s an assumption – the text doesn’t tell us how long,…" then, and even though you protest when others make reasonable assumptions,you make them yourself here as shown in bold type the words, "reasonable assumption" and other words also that transgress your own standards, in the quote from your post at the top of this post… … …
Now that’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black, or put another way what’s good for the goose is good for the gander as the old sayings go.
We simply can’t assume that it was a quick construction job of about 12 years to build the ark as though it was being built as we build timber boats today. It was enormous at three hundred cubits long, (about
450 feet long) by 50 cubits wide, (about 75 feet wide) by 30 cubits high (about 45 feet high), a massive vessel. Interestingly, the hull design has been modeled according to Biblical dimensions and tested in a maritime seaway test tank and found to have optimum stability in rough sea conditions. See Safety investigation of Noah's Ark in a seaway
Firstly, Noah couldn’t just ring the local timber yard and have the wood already cut, milled, shaped, dressed timber delivered by semi-trailer to the ark build site.
He would have had to travel into the forest, select suitable trees, then manually fell them, by axe or a hand saw, then cut them into manageable logs again by hand, then either drag the logs using strong animals or cut them up where they fell by hand, then laboriously transport the cut lumber back to the ark build site piece by piece, before he could even begin to start building the enormous ark.
I don’t know how many trees he had to fell, but it would have to be many thousands, of course the final number would depend on the girth of each tree and how much usable timber was extracted from each one. That work alone would have taken decades just to amass the necessary timber for the build.
We are told that the timber he used was gopher wood; now we don’t know what that timber actually is in present day tree names, or even if gopher wood trees still exist, they may have become extinct at the flood,we just don’t know.
Noah was told to pitch the ark wood on both sides, I presume to protect it from damage, insect attack and to make the wood and ultimately the seaworthy vessel watertight. Here in Australia we have many hardwood species of timber that are very strong and able to withstand rot and insect attack for periods ranging from many decades to many centuries mainly dependent upon how well they are protected from water. A few typical species in eastern Australia include Tallowood, White Mahogany, Ironbark and Grey Gum.
Anyway, Noah would also have had to find a suitable reliable source or sources of good quality pitch and then also transport it to the ark build site.
Remember, they didn’t have any mechanised timber processing equipment, no chainsaws, circular saws, electric planers or thicknessers. It all had to be done by hand. They probably only had adzes, axes, chisels, hammers, hand saws and string lines and not a great deal else.
Genesis 6
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
God Bless,
jon