Q: Is the Biblical story of Noah's Ark based on fact, or is it mere fiction or folklore?

The Biblical account of Noah's Ark is clearly factual. Some have advanced arguments saying that Noah could never have built the Ark, and that the Ark would not have been big enough to hold all the animals. Both objections are without foundation.

Some of the following material has been published in "The Good News" magazine, February 1980, and in "Exploring Ancient History--The First 2500 Years," Imperial Schools, 1967.

Based on the Holy Scriptures, God spoke directly to Noah, telling him of His decision to destroy wickedness from the earth (Genesis 6:13). He told him to build a great ship through which his family and all birds and land animals would be saved alive, while God covered the earth with a flood (Genesis 6:14-21). The building of a gigantic sea craft presumes a knowledge of workmanship with brass and iron--showing that all the fundamental crafts of culture and society were known in that day. God said that Noah would not have to go looking for the animals, for they would come to him (Genesis 6:20), but he would have to provide quantities of food and grain.

Skeptics have claimed the Ark could not possibly hold all those animals and provisions, but simple fact proves otherwise. The physical dimensions alone, as given in Genesis 6:15, stagger the imagination: "The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits [450 feet-based on an 18-inch cubit, its commonly accepted length, compare the notes in the margin of the New King James Bible], its width fifty cubits [75 feet], and its height thirty cubits [45 feet]." Based on the 18-inch cubit measurement, the figures show that the Ark was ocean-liner size in cubic capacity. It had a volume exceeding 1.5 million cubic feet, and virtually the entire capacity of the Ark could be used for storage, as it had no engine room or fuel tanks. It had three decks totaling more than 2-1/2 acres of surface. The Ark had a capacity equal to more than 500 standard American railroad freight cars! That was equivalent to 175 modern one-bedroom apartments! No ship of such size was again built until the 19th century AD!

Building the Ark, then, was not a simple undertaking. Considering that all the work was done without the help of modern equipment, it must have taken Noah and his sons--undoubtedly with the aid of hired laborers and craftsmen--decades to build and outfit it with supplies. Some suspect it may have taken the full 120 years that God had allotted mankind (compare Genesis 6:3).

Noah also must have possessed considerable resources and wealth, as enormous quantities of timber, building supplies and foodstuffs--plus labor--had to be purchased or obtained by barter. Yet, his wealth shouldn't surprise us. God demonstrates time and again throughout the Bible how He physically blessed those who humbly served Him, like Abraham, Daniel, Job and Joseph whom God raised from prison to wealth and rulership.

In addition to wealth and resources, Noah had to be an engineer and an architect to direct the building of this enormous vessel. He also had to employ thousands of servants--architects, carpenters, craftsmen, contractors and sub-contractors (to use modern terminology)--to fulfill all the details of this fantastic work! And then, there was the task of collecting all the provisions for sustaining them. Noah and his family may haven taken decades of planning and preparation. All the zoological and botanical knowledge necessary to carry this out took highly technical understanding and information.

But could Noah get all those animals into the Ark; that is, was the Ark big enough for all those animals? To quote from a publication of the Worldwide Church of God, dated 1980, titled "In The Beginning--Answers to Questions from Genesis":

"God specifically instructed Noah to select one pair of every 'kind' of unclean animal and seven pairs of every 'kind' of clean animal. The Bible term 'kind' refers generally to a group of creatures, all of which interbreed. The horse kind could be represented, therefore, by one pair of animals having the genetic potential to produce after the flood all varieties we have today. The same would be true also for dogs, cats, etc. Second, only air-breathing, terrestrial animals were included in the Ark... This excludes all sea creatures and simple forms of life which could survive the deluge.
"... Only 40 percent of the animal kingdom lives on land, and 70 percent of all species of land animals are insects. The remaining 30 percent of the terrestrial animal kingdom are on a mean average the size of a rhesus monkey [or a medium-sized dog]. Most animals can be maintained in small confinement for long periods and remain healthy... Estimates of the number of land mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian species on earth today total about 18,000.

"Recognizing that only kinds, not species, were included, it would have been necessary to have far fewer than 18,000 animals on the Ark... But let's be liberal and say 40,000 animals, whose average size is that of a rhesus monkey, were on the Ark. How much room in the Ark would be needed for all these animals? About 40 percent of the Ark's 1.5 million cubic feet would suffice! What about insects? Remember, the Ark had a storage capacity of 500 freight cars. Two hundred cars would be occupied by mammals, birds and reptiles. Giving every pair of known species of insects 16 cubic inches of space, another 21 such freight cars would be required... [When] viewed from the perspective of simple arithmetic, only about half of the space on the three decks would have provided plenty of room to accommodate all those animals. That left the other half of the ship for food and supplies and for Noah and his family."

There are no valid reasons to doubt the accuracy of the Biblical account about Noah's Ark and the Flood. We should take note of the fact that Jesus Christ Himself confirmed its HISTORICAL accuracy. We read, for example, in Matthew 24:37-39: "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days of Noah before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day THAT NOAH ENTERED THE ARK, and did not know until the FLOOD CAME and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."

The early apostles accepted the account of Noah's Ark as HISTORICAL FACT. Paul wrote in Hebrews 11:7: "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith."

Neither did Peter doubt the historical accuracy of Noah's Ark. He spoke about the "days of Noah" in 1 Peter 3:20, "while the ARK was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water."

Today, many who profess to be "Christians," neither believe in the historical accuracy of "Noah's Ark," nor in the return--or Second Coming--of Jesus Christ to this earth. Peter warned of such ignorance and denial of God's Word, which will have serious consequences for those who are guilty of it. He wrote in 2 Peter 3:3-7: "... scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?... for they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

Lead Writers: Norbert Link and Bill Grams