Making of The Ark
On being informed of the end of the world, Noah exhorted his contemporaries to repentance, foretelling them that a flood would destroy the earth on account of the wickedness of its people. According to a tradition, Noah planted cedar-trees and felled them, continuing to do so for the space of one hundred and twenty years. When the people asked him for what purpose he prepared so many trees, he told them that he was going to make an ark to save himself from the Flood which was about to come upon the earth. But the people heeded not his words, they mocked at him, and used vile language; and Noah suffered violent persecution at their hands (Sanhedrin 108a, b; Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer xxii.; Genesis Rabba 30.7; Leviticus Rabba 27.5; "Sefer haYashar," l.c.; see also Flood in Rabbinical Literature).
According to one legend, God showed Noah with His finger how to make the ark (Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer xxiii.); but according to the Sefer Noah (Adolf Jellinek, "B. H." iii. 155-160), Noah learned how to build it, and mastered as well the various sciences, from the Sefer Razi'el (the book from which the angel Raziel taught Adam all the sciences), which had been brought to him by the angel Raphael.
The construction of the ark lasted fifty-two years; Noah purposely working slowly, in the hope that the people would take warning therefrom and would repent (Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer l.c.). The Sefer haYashar (l.c.), however, assigns only five years for the construction of the ark.
Noah could distinguish between clean and unclean animals inasmuch as the ark of itself gave admittance to seven of the clean animals, while of the unclean ones it admitted two only (Sanh. 108b). The Sefer haYashar describes another method for distinguishing them: the clean animals and fowls crouched before Noah, while the unclean ones remained standing.
A difference of opinion concerning Noah prevails also with regard to his entering into the ark. According to some rabbis, Noah's faith was so small that he did not enter the ark until he stood ankle deep in water (Genesis Rabba xxxii. 9); others declare, on the contrary, that Noah waited for God's directions to enter the ark, just as he awaited His permission to leave it (ib. 34.4; Midrash Agadat Bereshit, in Jellinek, "B. H." iv. 11).
Read more about this topic: Noah In Rabbinic Literature
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