CONFINED ABOARD

          Our populace is on the brink of going stir crazy.  As with many of the states in our country along with many of the countries in the world, we have been under a form of “house arrest” and it is getting claustrophobic.  Not a few are threatening mutiny unless these restrictions are lightened considerably with the aim of being lifted completely some-time soon.  If our governor's intention holds firm, come the first of next month we will have been “kept in custody” for about forty days or so.  Interestingly, the word quarantine is defined as:  a period of time, originally lasting 40 days, during which a vehicle, a person or goods sus-pected of carrying a contagious disease are detained at their port of entry under enforced isolation to prevent disease from entering a country.  What started out being well-intentioned directives (and for the most part, compliantly received), have quickly grown suffocating.  We are longing to be free again!

          For those of us who are suffering from cabin fever and feel like we are nearing our wit's end, it might be helpful to com-pare our plight with that of Noah and his family.  Remember, they were detained on the ark while it rained for forty days and forty nights (Gen.7:12).  In actuality, they were confined aboard for much longer than forty days.  Using data found in the Genesis record (cf. Gen.7:11, 19 & 24 with Gen.8:5 & 12), Henry Morris calculated that Noah and his wife and their three sons and their wives were on board the ark for over a year.  Without detailing the mathematic computations, another trusted source has attempted to pinpoint the time spent time in the ark as totaling 378 days.    

             Now this boat ride was not at all the equivalent of a modern-day Mediterranean Cruise.  This state-of-the-art craft was quite impressive:  a triple-decker made of gopher wood, 450' long, 75' wide and 45' high.  Nothing like it had ever been con-structed before.  Indeed, until 1844 when Isambard K. Brunnel built the Great Britain, replicating the exact size of  the ark, it remained the world's largest sea-going vessel.   As it turns out, “these dimensions are the perfect ratio for a huge boat built for seaworthiness and not for speed”, as noted by Kyle Butt in an essay published by Apologetics Press, Noah's Ark – A Flawless Floater.  That Noah had the intellectual capacity to build such a fabulous barge is in itself a testament to the omniscience of Jehovah God, who provided the blueprint.  As to who assisted him with this massive ship-building project, we are not told.  Con-sider the many details that would have needed to be woven into the master plan:  hydration (a system for the collection of drinking water) … ventilation … sanitation … nurtition (how to feed all on board) … etc..  We're assuming that God Himself was at the helm taking care of the navigation.  What an undertaking this was!  The magnitude of the ark is enough to make a giraffe faint (have you seen the TV commercial for Kentucky's Ark Encounter?).  It boasted a volumetric capacity of approx-imately 1,400,000 cubic feet.  To put that in terms we can more easily visualize, this would be the equivalent of 522 standard livestock cars such as used on modern American railroads.  Some speculate that Noah's labors spanned the 120 years alluded to in the book of Genesis (Gen.6:3).    

          Let's see if we can capture this event with just a few words.  Eight people on board a huge ship rocking to and fro on a tumultuous sea (with no drammamine in the medicine chest) during a monsoon that lasted for weeks on a trip that ex-tended for a year plus.  In the hull of the ship were thousands of animals (some estimate creatures of all sizes numbering around 16,000).   Think of the loadmaster and quartermaster logistics that would have been needed to load and feed such a wide range of cargo for such a protracted excursion.   Think of the work that would be required from a crew of eight to feed this floating zoo.  Think of the noises and the smells, and the daily clean up that would have been mandatory.  Even on the sunny days, after the rains let up, there would have been no time for sunbathing on the deck (if there was one).   How many of us would have signed up for such a tour of duty?

          These words are penned to remind us all that God's people have often been called upon to undergo hardships.  As we plod through these trying times, let us do what needs to be done with a pleasant demeanor.  Noah and his family entered an ark of salvation (Heb.11:7).  Their world was stricken, not with a pandemic (widespread disease), but rather a pandemonium (literally “all manner of demonic evil" / Gen.6:5).  Let us pray that when our challenging and sometimes quite difficult journey comes to fruition, we, too, might be greeted with a new beginning.  Perhaps our forty days spent hunkering down in our homes or working in a dangerous environment for the benefit of others will have tutored us well, reminding us all that GOD IS IN CON-TROL.  Jehovah God is the only Almighty One  -- our benevolent Creator & Sustainer.   How comforting to rest in knowing that HE IS OUR GOD and we are the sheep of His pasture (Ps.95:7).

                                                                                  Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ