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Summary
- The Bible has two arks: Noah’s ark, a tebah in Hebrew (the same word as the basket of the infant Moses), and the ark of the covenant, an aron, a chest; in both words, and in the Greek kibotos, an ark is a chest.
- Noah’s ark is a picture of salvation: God promised his covenant before the rain (Genesis 6:18), “the LORD shut him in” (Genesis 7:16), and the same waters that destroyed bore the ark up.
- Hebrews 11:7 reads the ark as faith: Noah “prepared an ark to the saving of his house” for a flood not yet seen.
- 1 Peter 3:20–21 links the eight saved “by water” with baptism; Justin Martyr, the Catholic Easter Vigil blessing and Luther’s Flood Prayer all carry the link on, though Christians differ over what baptism does.
- Cyprian and Augustine read the ark as the Church, Augustine seeing the door in its side as the wound in Christ’s side; Catholic, Orthodox and Lutheran teaching keep the image, and Matthew Henry calls Christ himself the ark.
- From at least the 3rd century Christians painted Noah alone in a small chest, greeting the dove with the olive branch.
- The ark of the covenant held the tables of the covenant under the mercy seat and stood for God’s presence; Christians read the mercy seat as a sign of Christ (Romans 3:25), and Catholic and Orthodox Christians also see Mary as the ark.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- King James Version, quoted throughout: Genesis 6:14–18, 6:22; 7:16–17; 8:1; 9:15; Exodus 2:3; 25:11, 25:16, 25:22; John 19:34; Romans 3:25; Hebrews 9:4; 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20–21; 2 Peter 2:5; Revelation 11:19, BibleGateway.
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon and Bible Hub topical lexicon, tebah (Strong’s 8392) and aron (Strong’s 727), Bible Hub.
- Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, kibotos (Strong’s 2787) and hilasterion (Strong’s 2435), Bible Hub.
- Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 138, tr. Marcus Dods and George Reith, New Advent; Jules Lebreton, “St. Justin Martyr”, Catholic Encyclopedia (1910).
- Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Church, section 6, tr. Robert Ernest Wallis, New Advent; John Chapman, “St. Cyprian of Carthage”, Catholic Encyclopedia (1908).
- Augustine, City of God 15.26–27, tr. Marcus Dods, New Advent.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 845–847, 1217–1219 and 2676, vatican.va.
- Zachary Purvis, “Baptism and the Great Flood Prayer”, Modern Reformation, July/August 2024 (Luther’s 1523 prayer as translated in Luther’s Works, vol. 53).
- Mark Birkholz, “Reflections on Luther’s Flood Prayer”, Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, 3 January 2016 (the Lutheran Service Book wording of the Flood Prayer).
- Martin Luther, Small Catechism, Part IV: The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, BookOfConcord.org.
- Thomas Hopko, “Baptism”, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, Worship, Orthodox Church in America.
- Southern Baptist Convention, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, article VII.
- Orthodox Church in America, Department of Christian Education, “Session 6: My Church, My Lifeboat”.
- Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on Genesis 7, Bible Hub.
- Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Matthew Henry (author page).
- Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, ikos 12, English text on the site of a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.
- Richard Stracke, “Noah & the Flood in Christian Art”, Christian Iconography, 2016.
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