Did Noah fell any trees or did he buy wood from what would have been available? Some accounts consider that he had nearly onehundred years to complete the ark but the bible does not really specify the time God alloted to Noah. God didn’t tell Noah that God was to destroy all living things until sometime after Noah’s three sons were born. Noah was fivehundred years old then as told in Genesis chapter five verse thirtytwo and is repeated in Genesis chapter six and verse ten but does not mention Noah’s age in verse ten.
When the flood came Noah was sixhundred years old as told in Genesis chapter seven verse six. If the time elapsed from the birth of Noah’s three sons till the time God told Noah to build the ark was a short time then the time God allowed Noah to build the ark could well have approached onehundred years.
To what extent did God provide Noah what was needed to build the ark? Think about it if you will. How much lumber was required to construct the ark with all its floors and rooms or “nests”? An early application of Jehovah-jireh “God will provide”, and the first babtism of mankind. In Genesis chapter four in verse twentytwo Tubal-cain was the forger of all implements of bronze and iron. That means Noah and sons could well have had more capable wood working tools available that we might suspect.
Gopher wood is thought to be cypress or cedar and the pitch to be the resin or tree sap from the pine tree. Alternately others believe gopher wood is a laminate made much like modern day plywood, by several layers of boards glued and sealed by pitch or tree sap. Sounds far fetched till you consider the source of amber which acts like glue before it dries and lasts for thousands of years. Gopher wood is in my belief either Cypress or a Cypress laminate but is unproven or not known. Gopher wood seems to be a translation that did not find an understandable meaning in the english language. The New International Version (NIV) reads “Cypress” wood but does have a footnote explaining that the meaning for the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. Enough Gopher wood had to have been available to build the ark and must have not been a rare wood. Cypress seems to be a specific pine tree found in certain areas and Cypress is mentioned in the bible in Isaiah chapter fourtyfour verse fourteen. Of course Gopher wood could also be cedar also mentioned in the same verse and elsewhere in the bible. In verse nineteen we are warned not to fall down to the stock of a tree, or in other words, “don’t be a blockhead” and worship a wooden idol. Yes it says that in the bible. God don’t want your things; he wants you and he won’t settle for less.
That seems to be a lot of tree sap and would have required many more trees to produce that quantity of tree sap, so I suspect it was a petroleum tar like substance like the kind found floating in the dead sea in Israel and also found in Babylon. Speculation and guess work for sure, but it is not guess work to know that Noah’s time and purpose was revisited, revised and foretold by Jesus in his account of how things would be the same at the end time. Jesus saves sinners; he is the only way to heaven; there is no other.
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Another related interest in gathering materials and construction of the ark would be that Noah used some of the animals to help in the construction of the ark. Examples would be Elephants, Oxen, Horses, Donkeys, Mules and any other suitable for the task of transporting and lifting heavy lumber.