Genesis 6:14

III. AN ARK OF SAFETY.

14. Make thee an ark.

The term here used is not that for an ordinary ship, but rather for. vessel without mast or rudder, being intended only for. floating structure, not for navigation. The word means. chest.

Of gopher wood.

The timbers were to be of the gopher, some kind of resinous or pitchy wood, held by the best authorities to be the cypress,. timber well adapted to ship building. Others think that gopher was. general term, including cedar, juniper, cypress, etc. In Western Asia woods that are not resinous are soon perforated by worms, and the gopher wood would therefore be durable in that section of the earth.

Rooms shalt thou make.

With its vast and varied cargo of animals and food, it would be needful that it be divided into many apartments. The word means, rather, cells, or stalls. In the margin it is rendered lodging-places, and elsewhere in the Scriptures the term is rendered "nests."

Thou shalt pitch it.

Some bituminous substance was to be applied to the wood, within and without, so as to make it impervious to water. Probably asphaltum is intended.