Phillip Medhurst

Today is October 5th 2012, August 20th in the Chinese lunar calendar, an ordinary day.

Look up and observe the sky where it is clear with light wind and clouds. Look down and examine the earth where an autumnal vast expanse runs its due course.

Sit quietly in front of the window and close the eyes reflecting inwardly, where it is tranquil deep down, and all phenomena are still.

Clearly realise that all is one in the same.
Perfectly harmonize the void without coming or going.

Hit by a sudden impulse, a sorrow arising from the heart, I wanted to say something, but ended with a sigh!

Well, today Osifu is free and at leisure, and suddenly hit by a phrase “Noah’s Ark”, thereupon got online thereupon to browse for it, and excerpted a chunk of data online, as follows:

“Noah’s Ark (Hebrew: תיבת נח, English: Noah’s Ark), was a huge ship constructed according to the instructions of God in Genesis of the Christian Bible. It was said in original records to be a square boat, but there are also many images of paintings depicting it as an approximately boat-shaped vessel. The purpose of constructing it was to allow Noah and his family as well as a variety of land creatures in the world to evade a big flood-disaster created by God. The records say that it took 120 years to complete the construction. The story was recorded respectively in the Genesis (in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible) and in chapters 6-9 of the Islamic Koran.

God said to Noah: ‘You shall build an ark out of gopher wood and the vessel cabins of the ark should be built one by one and painted with pitch within and without. The specifications of the ark should be as follows: 300 cubits long (an ancient unit of length, with 1 cubit = 0.44 m), 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. . . . You and your family shall enter the ark; of every clean beast you shall take seven pairs of males and females; of every unclean beast you shall take one pair of male and female; and of the birds of the air you shall take seven pairs of males and females; because in seven days’ time I shall cause it to rain for forty days and nights on the earth to destroy all living beings that I have made.’

Noah then followed God’s command and acted on them.

Seven days after every living creature entered the ark, the earth was flooded. All the fountains of the great deep broke up and the windows of heaven were opened. The flow of water on the ground was so extremely vast that all the high mountains under heaven were submerged. On February 17, the ark docked by the mountain of Ararat.” (Genesis in the Bible)

Noah’s Ark is a fascinating legend. Through eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Adam had lived for 930 years. He and Eve had many children; as their children and grandchildren continued the family line, more and more of their descendents were disseminated throughout the earth. Thereafter, Cain killing his brother unveiled the prelude to humans killing each other. Humans were marked with the stigma of original sin and God cursed the land; therefore, people had to work hard in order to feed themselves, and their resentment and evil thoughts were gradually increased because of their fallen nature. People endlessly fought each other, and quarrelling, looting, violence and the sin of the world reached the point of extremity.

Upon seeing this, God was very sorry he had created humans and felt very saddened by the sins committed by them. God said: ‘I shall eliminate all humans, beasts, insects and fowls of the air that I’ve created on the earth.’ Among the sinful humans, only Noah found favour in God’s sight. God thought he was a righteous man who was very dutiful. His three sons also didn’t go astray under their father’s strict education. Noah also often warned people round about that they should stop committing crimes to get out of their sinful life. However, people did not listen to his words but continued their own way of life and blindly indulged in evil pleasures.

God chose Noah and his family as the seeds of a new generation of humans to be preserved. They were Noah and his wife, his three sons and his daughters-in-law. God told them that He would implement a great destruction by flood, and asked them to build an ark out of gopher wood. They did so immediately.

On February 17, the birthday of Noah, the fountains of the oceans cracked and huge columns of water spouted from the underground; the windows of heaven were opened and heavy rain poured down all day long for an entirety of forty days. There was nowhere for the water flow and quickly it rose to be 15 cubits higher than the highest mountaintop. All animals with pulmonary respiration on the dry land were dead, leaving only those seeds of humans and animals safe and sound. The ark carrying the high expectations of God drifted on the boundless ocean.

Caring for Noah and the birds and beasts in the Ark, God ordered the rain to stop and the wind to rise up; from the blowing of the wind, the water gradually subsided. Noah’s Ark docked by the mountain of Ararat. After dozens of days, Noah opened the windows of the ark and released a raven out to fish for information, but the raven never came back. Again Noah freed a dove and let it out to see whether the water had subsided or not. As the ground was covered with water, the dove could not find a place to stay and it flew back to the ark. Another seven days later, Noah again let out a dove and at dusk it flew back with an olive leaf in its mouth, which was obviously plucked from a tree. Another seven days later, Noah sent out the dove again, but it didn’t come back that time.

On January 1, the day when Noah was 601 years old, the water on the ground subsided completely. Noah opened the door seeing that the water on the ground had completely retreated. On February 27, the earth was dried up completely. Thereupon, God told Noah: “You and your families can get out of the ark; you need to take out all the fowls, beasts and all crawling animals and let them reproduce and develop.” Thereupon, Noah and his family and all other creatures in the ark came out of the ark by categories. From then on, later generations symbolised peace with a dove and olive branch.

This is the origin of the story of Noah’s Ark.

Although it is a legend, a lot of stories recorded in the Bible were proven to be true. For example, there was a time in a war when an army officer, according to the records in the Bible, successfully found a secret path in a mountain and through that path suddenly appeared in front of the enemy and achieved a great victory. If “Noah’s Ark” could be proven to be true, then this discovery would certainly cause a sensation in the world. So, Biblical archaeologists in many countries hope to uncover the mystery from many years ago.

“Noah’s Ark!” Hit by a sudden inspiration, these words suddenly popped up from deep within the heart when Osifu was free and at leisure today. Therefore, Osifu would like to recall the myth with you all.

If you are interested, you can all learn about this legend, which is intriguing, thought-provoking and sets people thinking.

Kind regards for you all, always!

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