Interesting Facts About Noah and His Ark

The story of Noah and his ark is one of the most well-known tales from the Bible. Found in the Book of Genesis, it recounts the story of Noah, a righteous man chosen by God to build an ark and save a pair of every animal species from a great flood. Here are some interesting facts about Noah and his ark:

Noahs ark facts

1. Biblical Account: The story of Noah’s Ark can be found in the Book of Genesis, chapters 6-9.
2. Ark Dimensions: According to Genesis 6:15, the Ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. A cubit traditionally represented the distance from the elbow to the tip of the fingers, which can vary but is often considered to be about 18 inches.
3. Gopher Wood: The Ark was said to be made of ‘gopher wood’, but the exact type of wood this refers to is uncertain.
4. Rooms in the Ark: Genesis 6:14 mentions that the Ark had rooms inside.
5. Duration of the Flood: The floodwaters prevailed on the earth for 150 days (Genesis 7:24).
6. Rain Duration: It rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
7. Two of Every Kind: Noah was instructed to bring two of every kind of unclean animal and bird, male and female, into the Ark (Genesis 6:19-20).
8. Seven Pairs: For clean animals and birds, Noah was instructed to take seven pairs (Genesis 7:2-3).
9. Age of Noah: Noah was 600 years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth (Genesis 7:6).
10. Mount Ararat: The Ark eventually came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4).
11. Dove and Olive Branch: Noah sent out a dove to see if the waters had receded. The dove returned with an olive branch, signifying that dry land was near (Genesis 8:10-11).
12. Raven Sent First: Before the dove, Noah sent out a raven, which kept flying back and forth until the waters dried up (Genesis 8:7).
13. Time on the Ark: Noah and his family spent over a year on the Ark.
14. Rainbow Covenant: After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah, signifying it with a rainbow, that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:13).
15. Clean and Unclean: The concept of “clean” and “unclean” animals predates the Levitical laws, as it is mentioned in the story of the Ark.
16. Only Eight People: Only eight people survived the flood: Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives.
17. First Vineyard: After the flood, Noah became a farmer and planted the first vineyard (Genesis 9:20).
18. Modern Searches: Over the years, many people have claimed to have found or searched for the remains of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat.
19. Cultural Variations: Variations of the flood story exist in many cultures worldwide, not just in the Bible.
20. Ark Encounter: In Kentucky, USA, there’s a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark, known as the “Ark Encounter,” which serves as a theme park and museum.
21. Ark’s Design: The Ark’s design is considered by some to be very advanced for its time, emphasizing stability over speed, as it didn’t need to go anywhere – just float.
22. Seeds and Plants: It’s speculated that Noah might have also taken seeds and plants aboard the Ark to replant the earth after the floodwaters receded.
23. Noah’s Sacrifice: After exiting the Ark, one of Noah’s first actions was to build an altar and offer sacrifices to God (Genesis 8:20).
24. Animals’ Behavior: Some believe that God may have put the animals into a state of hibernation or reduced activity while on the Ark.
25. End of a World: The story of Noah’s Ark is seen by many as a tale of the end of an old world and the rebirth of a new one.

Noah’s Ark Fun Facts

A Noah’s Ark toy is a simple and wholesome toy. It’s a toy representation of Noah and his ark. The toy usually comes with a set of animals and Mr and Mrs Noah. You children can line them up and load noah and the ark up. Some Noah’s Ark toys can also double as a sorter toy. So aside from using the ark as transportation for the animals, your children can also use the ark as a sorter to fit the animals in.

The biblical flood story behind the toy is pretty popular and to some extent, very well commercialized. Many of us know about what happened to Noah and his ark. Here are a few things that we need to know or maybe we just forgot about this biblical story.

People appear to have lived for more than hundreds of years before the flood. Noah’s grandpa, Methuselah, is the oldest person in the Bible at 969 years old.

Noah’s father was Lamech.

Noah built the first vineyard and drank the first wine. He is considered the world’s first drunk.

Interestingly, the Bible does not mention the names of Noah’s wife and mother.

Noah was 500 years old when he had his 3 sons; Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Noah was a farmer as well as ship-builder which is why God chose Noah to build the ark.

The Titanic was about three times bigger than Noah’s Ark.

The wooden materials used to build the Ark still remains a mystery. It might have been lost in translation because different versions of the Bible state different materials.

In the King James version, the Ark was said to be made from gopher wood. However, in the NIV (New International Version) version, the ark was made from cypress wood which was the wood of choice by Phoenician ship-builders.

Noah, his wife, his sons and his sons’s wives and all the animals lived on the Ark for more than a year.

The world was flooded for 150 days and floodwaters only started to recede for another 100 days. Noah found out that the flood had totally receded when he sent out his dove and it came back with an olive branch.

Noah lived for another 350 years after the flood and died at the age of 950 years old.

According to the Bible, Arphaxad was the first post-flood baby. He was Noah’s grandson and the son of Shem. He was born two years after the flood.

There’s no conclusive evidence that the flood even took place but a story about a catastrophic flood or a similar event exists in 300 cultures and is seen as a warning about god’s judgment.

It’s stated in the Bible that the ark landed in the mountains of Ararat which is located in Turkey. Unfortunately, many expeditions failed to uncover and locate the ark’s last known location.

Marco Polo referred to an Armenian’s mountain peak as the Mountain of Noah’s Ark because of its shape.

The actual number of animals on the ark is another mystery. Some estimates say that there were as many as 1.2 million animals on the ark but others have said that only 16,000 animals were on the Ark, but we just don’t know exactly how many animals were on it!

Facts About Noah’s Life

1. Longevity: Noah lived for 950 years (Genesis 9:29). This makes him one of the longest-lived figures in the Bible.
2. Noah’s Fathers: Noah was the son of Lamech and the grandson of Methuselah, another long-lived individual who, according to the Bible, lived for 969 years (Genesis 5:27).
3. Righteous Among His Peers: The Bible describes Noah as “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time” (Genesis 6:9).
4. Noah’s Sons: Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
5. The World’s Corruption: In Noah’s time, the world was described as being filled with violence and corruption, which prompted God to decide to cleanse the Earth with a flood (Genesis 6:11-13).
6. Divine Warning: God told Noah about the impending flood and gave him specific instructions on how to build the Ark to save his family and a selection of animals (Genesis 6:14-22).
7. Noah’s Obedience: Despite what might have seemed like an outrageous command, Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.
8. First Covenant: After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants, promising never to destroy the Earth with water again. The rainbow was given as a sign of this covenant (Genesis 9:8-17).
9. Noah’s Vineyard: After the floodwaters receded, Noah planted a vineyard and became the first to produce wine. He got drunk from his wine, leading to an incident where Ham saw him naked in his tent. This event led Noah to curse Ham’s son Canaan (Genesis 9:20-27).
10. Death: Noah died 350 years after the flood, at the age of 950 (Genesis 9:28-29).
11. Descendants: Noah’s descendants repopulated the earth. The Bible traces various nations back to his sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
12. Tower of Babel: After the flood, as the human population grew, they attempted to build a tower that reached the heavens (the Tower of Babel). This was seen as an act of defiance against God, who then confused their languages and scattered them across the Earth (Genesis 11:1-9). Noah’s descendants played a significant role in these events.
13. Genealogy: The Bible provides a detailed genealogy of Noah, linking him to Adam (the first human) and later to Abraham, a key figure in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions (Genesis 5 & 11).
14. In Other Scriptures: Apart from the Bible, Noah (or Nuh) is also a significant figure in the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. The Qur’an narrates the story of Noah and the flood, emphasizing his role as a prophet and his efforts to warn his people.
15. Symbolism: In Christian theology, Noah’s Ark bible story and the flood are sometimes seen as prefigurations of baptism, symbolizing salvation and a new beginning.