(hi, the Form of the 'Ark of Noc{h. 3^ 



noon or noon*da^i expressing the arrival of the sun at the ridge 

 of'tiie heavens, as we now say that he cuhiiinates \vhen at noon. 



There is, indeed, if we confine our attention solely to the 

 Btebrew text, a difficulty remaining in llie position of the ser- 

 vile letter A^, which, in the practice of the Hebrew tongue, is 

 not interposed between th^ letters of a root to vary ;t,, t,hough 

 often added to theni. But surely this difficulty is not of suffi- 

 cient importance to hinder pur adoption of the consistent mean- 

 ing of the word, to which the early Greek translators have di- 

 rected us, when we reflect what advantages they possessed for 

 karning the true meaning. 



^aJn fact, even independendy of the result of this criticism^ we 

 should find it the most consistent, intelligible and simple ex- 

 planation, to deduce the form of the ark, now indicated, from 

 that sentence in the passage, in which there is no obscurity^ "^f m 

 a cubit shalt thou fmish it above ;'' for the verbal affix, trans- 

 lated it, obviously refers to the ark itself, and not to ' tzohar ;' 

 and so sensible of this have the commentators been, that, while 

 they have conceived the ark itself to be a parallelopiped, they 

 have at the same time felt it necessary to suppose that there was 

 a sloping covering superadded to it, to meet the condition ex- 

 pressed in this sentence. 



The result of our inquiry is, that the ark of Noah was formed 

 pf a rectangular base, having sides springing up from its edges, 

 and inclining inwards, till they met over its middle ; the cover- 

 ings at the ends inclining inwards and upwards hkewise. A 

 cross section of the ark would thus form an isosceles triangle, 

 resting on its longest side, and the two equal sides forming each 

 an angle of about fifty degrees with the base. 



A vessel constructed in this form would be altogether unfit 

 for carrying sail. But this was not the purpose of the ark. It 

 was intended only for floating on the surface ; and, bearing tliis 

 in mind, let us enquire what advantages the form secured. 



It was obviously possessed of great strength. In the triangu- 

 lar form, every beam, hke those of an anchor roof, formed a 

 brace, longitudinally directed to resist any tendency to change 

 of form. The partitions dividing the rooms within, running not 

 only a(!ross, but lengthwise also, as the large dimensions of the 

 structure evidently admit and imply, and the internal horizontal 



JANUARY MAIU H 1831. X 



