The Mystery of the Light in Noach’s Ark
The whole narrative in Genesis 6 concerning the building of the ark seems quite simple and easy to understand, when we read only at what has been revealed to us on the surface. But the Hebrew text draws attention with its peculiarities and raises questions for whose answers we need to resort to the writings of the Sages to make better sense of what is meant in the narrative. We will show that the question of the design of the ark Noach built is far from being trivial and hope to show that the Hebrew text of Genesis 6 is far more interesting than thought. It all began with the downfall of the mankind on the very onset of the world, to which we now turn.
“There is no place devoid of Him”. (Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 57)
After the sons of Elohim came down to the earth and corrupted the human flesh, Elohim said to Noach,
The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And see, I am going to destroy them with the earth. (Gen 6:13)
Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak (1040 – 1105 CE), “Rashi”, explains the translation of the Hebrew phrase אֶת־הָאָרֶץ et ha’arets to mean “together with the earth”. He builds his argument on the plain meaning of the Hebrew word אֵת et, which means “together with”. Thus, et ha’arets suggests that “the earth” will be destroyed too along with mankind except for eight humans, Noach and his family. There is another noteworthy comment by Rabbi Mosheh ben Nachman (1194 – 1270 CE), also known as Ramban, a leading Torah scholar of the Middle Ages. In his commentary to Genesis 6:13, Ramban while agreeing with Rashi that et ha’arets means “together with the earth”, suggests an alternative interpretation that the phrase is similar to saying “from the earth” as it so appears in Exodus 9:29, “When I go forth et the city”, meaning “from the city”; in 1 King 15:23, “he suffered et his feet, meaning “from his feet”. Both commentators agree that if the phrase et ha’arets is to be interpreted “with the earth” the land was blotted out to the depth of three handbreadths, as the term arets suggests that. This in turn opens the phrase “together with the earth” for a discussion whether the cataclysm that wiped out the mankind was a universal Deluge of a local Flood, as some Jewish commentators suggest. According to them, a partial flood took place in what is now known as the Persian Gulf, which once was a dry land.
Make yourself an ark of gopher[wood]. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and outside with a covering. And this is how you are to make it: The length of the ark is three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. (Gen 6:14-15)
Some translations read “cypress wood” suggesting that the word גֹּפֶר gopher means “cypress wood”, but in actuality we do not know what gopher was, and therefore we do not know what the ark was made of, since this word is used only here in Genesis 6:14.
Note: The ambiguity comes from the expression in a statement whose meaning cannot be determined from its context, and its unclearness comes by virtue of having more than one meaning. When a word has been used in only one place, it is difficult to derive its meaning from a single use of it, as opposed to when a word is used in many different contexts. The use of dictionaries does not help much, since we would face the same problem. In such a case, its rendering is a pure speculation and a matter of personal opinion, since the word’s meaning has been lost. We now return to the text.
But what we do know is that gopher may be related to the word for “sulfur” גָּפְרִית gophrit, which is somehow related to the boiling water that busted out of the chambers of the deep might have been sulfurous.
According to the blueprint Noach received, the length of the ark was 300 cubits (about 140 meters, or 450 feet), its width 50 cubits (23 meters, or 75 feet), and its height 30 cubits (14 meters, or 45 feet). Hence, the ark had area of about 3,200 square meters, and volume of about 45,000 cubic meters.
Note: A cubit is defined “after the cubit (elbow) of a man” (see Deu 3:11) and measured from the elbow to the end of the middle finger (about 1.5 foot).
The sages in Bereshit Rabbah 31:10 approached the verse from this angle when they said that the reason that the Torah gave these dimensions is precisely that shipbuilders are advised to stick to the relative measurements of width, length and height recorded here. The given description of the ark and specifically the Hebrew word for it, תֵּבָה teivah, suggest that it was shaped like a box or chest, not like a ship as we know it today, since the ancient people could not have known what “ship” was. Thus, it will be clear to the reader that the perception of a box is expressed by the word the use of the word teivah, which literally means a box. Except for Genesis, this word is used in one more place (Exodus 2), where we are told Miriam took an ark (teivah) of wicker, coated it with tar and pitch, like Noach had done, put the child (Mosheh) in it, and laid it in the river.
“A little light dispels a lot of darkness”. (Hasidic saying)
Make a window for the ark and finish it to a cubit from above. And set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. (Gen 6:16)
This verse calls for deeper research, because according to its simple reading, the ark had one window, one door, and three stories. If that were correct, we are hard pressed to understand how one window would provide sufficient light and proper ventilation. It is only with difficulty that we can obtain such a translation of the verse.
Note: More research is required, as to how the proper ventilation and the quality of the air was maintained in the ark. We now return to the text.
However, the Hebrew text raises the question: What did this window look like? If the Torah had only written חַלֹּון chalon, “window”, the text could have been simple and easy to understand. But this word is not in the text. The word צֹהַר tsohar, which appears in all translations as “window”, is used only here in this verse with that meaning. The translators arbitrarily decided to use “window” for tsohar thinking that this is the most natural description of what was intended in the verse. But in all other occurrences, where this Hebrew word is used in its literal meaning unaltered in the translations (Gen 43:16, 2Sa 4:5, 1Ki 18:29, etc., total of 24 occurrences), it is rendered as noon, midday, denoting daylight. The word צֹהַר tsohar is derived from the root צָהַר tsahar, which means to glisten and is similar to the word צָהֳרַיִם, denoting illumination. But what does it mean?
While the traditional translation of the word tsohar fits with the easy reading of the verse, we find it unsatisfying for two reasons.
First, this should immediately awaken the thought that the Designer of the ark must have provided the occupants of the ark with the necessity to sustain the life of all living beings in it. It is a well-known fact that human life cannot be sustained without [sun]light for a period longer than six months. The cell’s mitochondria (organelles containing enzymes responsible for producing energy) need light to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the main energy molecule used by the cell to maintain life. Two thirds of ATP is produced by the sunlight (especially the infra-red spectrum). The other third is supplied by nutrition.
A window could not possibly be intended here, because צֹהַר tsohar is not synonymous with חַלֹּון challon, “window” as seen in Gen 8:6, when Noach opened an actual window to send the raven, but signifies an opening for a light meant in Genesis 6:16,
And it came to be, at the end of forty days, that Noach opened the window (challon) of the ark which he had made, … (Gen 8:6)
In our view, therefore, the word tsohar should be rendered “a light”, instead of “a window”, as we will explain below. Thus, a more literal rendering and a correct interpretation appears to us to be,
Make a [sky]light for the ark and finish it to a cubit from above. And set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. (Gen 6:16)
The language of the verse thus translated fits in well with the explanation that follows.
According to some commentators, this source of light in the ark was a gemstone of some sort, which emitted whatever light was available in all directions. The 14th-century commentary on Genesis 6:16 attests that others believe that the reference is to some kind of window made of transparent material for the purpose of counting the days. But according to the commentary, the Sages question such an interpretation seeing that the sun and moon did not operate during the duration of the flood, and such a transparent window would not have done any good for the people and animals in the ark.
With regard to the tsohar, Rabbi Yochanan says (Sanhedrin 108b) that the Eternal said to Noach: Set precious stones and jewels in the ark so that they will shine for you as the afternoon [tsohorayim, notice the common root] sun. With regard to the verse: “And to a cubit you shall finish it above”, the Gemara explains that in that manner, having been built wide at its base and narrow at its top, the ark would stand upright and would not capsize. Thus, our supposition that the ark Noach built was in the form not of a ship, but of a box, with flat bottom, is very probable. If so, the shape of the ark also suggest that it was not meant for sailing, for that was not the intent, but merely to float on the water and survive. The dimensions of the ark, namely the golden ration of length, with, and height, made it a perfect floater to accomplish that mission. The ark (box) was to be divided into cells or compartments, קִנִּים (literally, “nests”), and pitched inside and outside with kopher (כָּפַר from כֹּפֶר), pitch, tar or asphalt (bitumen). (Refer to the article for the complete explanation of kopher.) With regard to the verse: “With lower, second and third stories shall you make it”, it was taught that the lower story was for manure, the second was for animals, and the top story was for people.
If Rabbi Yochanan is correct in his supposition that Noach had received the instruction to make tsohar, as the meaning “[sky]light” for צֹהַר is established by the word צָהֳרַיִם, “illumination”, the instruction to make “a light” for the ark can only mean that an opening or openings for the light, i.e., the “precious stones”, was to be so made as to reach within a cubit of the edge of the roof. Thus, “make a light” therefore means “make a skylight and use a luminous stone for light in the ark”. Our supposition is that Noach was told to make the opening(s) in the ark, but the luminary that would give light (per the Sages suggest “precious stones”), was provided by Elohim. Most unfortunately, we are not given to know the mysterious nature of tsohar, and we will leave it unexplained. Yet, there is an allusion to this in the other applications of tsohar as being of a supernatural nature close to the sunlight.
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