Genesis 6:15

Hebrew Bible

14 Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you should make it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 16 Make a roof for the ark and finish it, leaving 18 inches from the top. Put a door in the side of the ark, and make lower, middle, and upper decks. 17 I am about to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. Everything that is on the earth will die, 18 but I will confirm my covenant with you. You will enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

1 Kings 6:2

Hebrew Bible

1 In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, during the month Ziv (the second month), he began building the Lord’s temple. 2 The temple King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. 3 The porch in front of the main hall of the temple was 30 feet long, corresponding to the width of the temple. It was 15 feet wide, extending out from the front of the temple. 4 He made framed windows for the temple. 5 He built an extension all around the walls of the temple’s main hall and Holy Place and constructed side rooms in it.

 Notes and References

"... Genesis 6–9 preserves every constituent unit of the myth bundle present in its Mesopotamian antecedents: theophany, hero, flood, boat and primal mound, with the obvious exception of the reed-hut Urheiligtum. This is not to say, however, that the temple is absent per se. On the contrary, the ark in itself functions repeatedly as a type of the temple. At the divine instruction to build an ark, other than echoing the earlier Gilgamesh and Atraḫasīs versions, the biblical details pertaining to its construction (Genesis 6:15–16) create an immediate parallel with the description of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6:2-10). Exact measurements in cubits are specified for the length, width and height of both structures. Both structures conform to the tripartite structure typical of Late Bronze and Iron Age temples of the region, a three part division evinced even in the tent of meeting (Exodus 26:33–27:19) which, along with the ark of Genesis 6:14–16, is the only other construction commanded by Yahweh. Further, it is at the moment of leaving the ark, after the retreat of the waters, that the ark becomes the place of ritual sacrifice (Genesis 8:20–21). (In sacrificing the clean animals Noah is presented as a priest of Yahweh. This priestly function is a characteristic of the flood-hero in the Mesopotamian traditions. Atraḫasīs intercedes on behalf of the peopleduring periods of draught and famine and at an outbreak of šuruppu-disease (Atraḫasīs I.7–8). He carries the “maššakku-offering along the river pasture” and performs evening sacrifices (Atraḫasīs II.3). Similarly Gilgamesh slaughters oxen and offers daily ovine sacrifice; Gilgamesh XI.2) Taken as a whole, these points leave little doubt that the ark was intended to be understood as a type of the temple ..."

McCann, Jason Michael "'Woven Of Reeds': Genesis 6:14b As Evidence For The Preservation Of The Reed-Hut Urheiligtum In The Biblical Flood Narrative" in Silverman, Jason M. (ed.) Opening Heaven’s Floodgates: The Genesis Flood Narrative, Its Context, and Reception (pp. 113-139) Gorgias Press, 2013

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