Noah and the Great Ark
A Man Who Loved God
Long ago, there was a man named Noah. In a world where many people had forgotten about God, Noah listened to Him, talked to Him, and followed His ways. This made God very happy.
A Very Big Job
God saw that the world needed a fresh start, like washing a muddy drawing clean. He told Noah, "I am going to send a great flood. But I want you, your family, and the animals to be safe. Build a huge boat—an ark!" God gave Noah the exact plans, telling him to use strong gopher wood and to cover it with pitch to make it waterproof.
All Aboard!
Noah and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—got to work. It was a massive job! As they built, animals started to arrive, traveling in pairs. There were two lions, two elephants, two little ladybugs, and every other kind of animal you can imagine. They all walked peacefully up the big ramp and into the ark.
The Rains Came Down
Once everyone was safely inside, God closed the door. Then, the rain began. It wasn't just a little shower; it rained and rained for forty days and forty nights until the whole world was covered in water. But inside the ark, Noah's family and all the animals were safe and dry, floating on the water.
A Promise in the Sky
Finally, the rain stopped, and the water slowly went down. The ark came to rest on a mountain. To see if there was dry land, Noah sent out a dove. The second time he sent it, the dove came back with an olive leaf in its beak—a sign of new life! When they all left the ark, the world was fresh and clean. God put a beautiful rainbow in the sky and made a promise: "I will never again cover the whole earth with a flood. This rainbow is my promise to you."
Diving Deeper
Art as a Story: Why a Crown on the Ark on picture above? What is the artist implying?
Noah's real ark was a simple, strong wooden boat. So why would an artist add a crown? Art often tells a deeper story! The crown isn't meant to be literal; it's a symbol. It shows us that the ark wasn't just any boat—it was part of God's royal plan. It represents the importance of God's promise and the majesty of His rescue mission.
The Ark's Blueprint: What Was the Design?
God gave Noah very specific instructions! The Bible says in Genesis 6 that the ark was to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. A cubit was a measurement from a man's elbow to the tip of his fingers. This made the ark very long and wide, like a modern cargo ship—not a small, tubby boat. It had three decks inside and only one window near the top.
Could it Float? A University Puts it to the Test!
This is amazing! A few years ago, physics students at a university in the United Kingdom (the University of Leicester) did the math. They used the exact measurements from the Bible to see if the ark could really float with all those animals. Their conclusion? Yes! The design was incredibly stable and would have floated, even with thousands of animal pairs on board. Science can be a cool tool to explore the details of Bible stories!
The Science of the Flood: Big Questions
People have lots of big questions about the flood, and that's okay! Some wonder where all the water came from and where it went. Some Christians believe the flood covered the entire globe, while others think it was a massive, local flood in the part of the world where people lived back then. Exploring these questions helps us understand the story and our faith even more.
Imagine This: What Was it Like for Noah?
Try to imagine being on the ark for all that time—over a year! What would it sound like with all those animals? What would it smell like? It must have been noisy and required a lot of hard work. For Noah and his family, it was a huge test of patience and trust in God's plan while they waited for the water to go down and for a new beginning.
Code the Story!
Did you know you can tell stories with code? It's like giving step-by-step instructions to a computer. Let's see what the story of Noah's Ark might look like as simple code.
let animalsOnArk = [
"Lion", "Lion",
"Elephant", "Elephant",
"Ladybug", "Ladybug"
];
Next, we need to make it rain. In coding, we can use a "loop" to do something over and over again. Let's make it rain for 40 days!
for (let day = 1; day <= 40; day++) {
startRaining();
}
What other parts of the story could you turn into code? How would you create the rainbow?