-
†. Gen 8:10-11 . . He waited another seven days, and again sent out
the dove from the ark. The dove came back to him toward evening,
and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew
that the waters had decreased on the earth.
The word for "plucked-off" is from taraph (taw-rawf') which means: recently
torn off; viz: fresh. A taraph leaf is alive; which of course the skeptics are
only too happy to point out is impossible seeing as how olive trees cannot
survive under water very long before they die. But wasn't the Flood itself
impossible? (sigh) Some people are just naturally miracle-challenged; what
can I say?
It is just unbelievable that any trees survived. Even ordinary flooding is very
destructive.
Just southeast of Mount Ste. Helens is an area called the Lahar. It was a
totally denuded region caused, not by the volcano's blast, but by water that
poured down from the mountain's side when glacier and snow pack melted
during the eruption in 1980. In the water's path, whole pine trees were
uprooted and swept away, like hot-waxing a woman's legs; leaving nothing
but bare skin.
However, the Flood wasn't a rush of water, but rather a pounding of water.
But even so the pounding would have been relatively brief, at least in the
low lands. As the water began to rise, its increasing depth would cushion the
impact of the rest that fell.
Old-world olives prefer a Mediterranean climate, which is probably why
olives do so well in southern California. Anyway, that olive leaf is pretty good
empirical evidence that the ark did not come to rest on Turkey's Mt. Ararat.
It's seriously doubtful any kind of trees have ever grown up on that
mountain; which is a snow-capped dormant volcano consisting of two peaks:
Lesser Ararat @ 12,782 feet, and Greater Ararat @ 16,854 feet.
High mountains like Ararat have what's called a timberline; which is an
elevation beyond which no trees grow. The elevation of Mt. Hood's
timberline here in Oregon is right around 6,000 feet.
†. Gen 8:12 . . He waited still another seven days and sent the dove
forth; and it did not return to him any more.
Apparently the dove finally found some dry, bare ground to forage for seeds,
and minute gravel for its craw.
Why didn't Noah just look out the window and see for himself? Well; the
structural location of the ark's window is a bit a mystery. For one thing, it
wasn't cut into the sides like the windows in an airplane, rather, it was
located up on top.
The horizontal dimension of the window is unknown, but its vertical
dimension is known to be only a cubit; roughly 18 inches.
Imagine a structure on top of the ark similar to the windowed portion of the
cab of a large pick-up truck; for example a Ford 350. If a structure like that
were situated in the middle of the top of the ark, whose top deck dimensions
are 450 feet by 75 feet, the angle of Noah's view would be pretty much
limited to the portion of sky that he could see above the horizon.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
†. Gen 8:10-11 . . He waited another seven days, and again sent out
the dove from the ark. The dove came back to him toward evening,
and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew
that the waters had decreased on the earth.
The word for "plucked-off" is from taraph (taw-rawf') which means: recently
torn off; viz: fresh. A taraph leaf is alive; which of course the skeptics are
only too happy to point out is impossible seeing as how olive trees cannot
survive under water very long before they die. But wasn't the Flood itself
impossible? (sigh) Some people are just naturally miracle-challenged; what
can I say?
It is just unbelievable that any trees survived. Even ordinary flooding is very
destructive.
Just southeast of Mount Ste. Helens is an area called the Lahar. It was a
totally denuded region caused, not by the volcano's blast, but by water that
poured down from the mountain's side when glacier and snow pack melted
during the eruption in 1980. In the water's path, whole pine trees were
uprooted and swept away, like hot-waxing a woman's legs; leaving nothing
but bare skin.
However, the Flood wasn't a rush of water, but rather a pounding of water.
But even so the pounding would have been relatively brief, at least in the
low lands. As the water began to rise, its increasing depth would cushion the
impact of the rest that fell.
Old-world olives prefer a Mediterranean climate, which is probably why
olives do so well in southern California. Anyway, that olive leaf is pretty good
empirical evidence that the ark did not come to rest on Turkey's Mt. Ararat.
It's seriously doubtful any kind of trees have ever grown up on that
mountain; which is a snow-capped dormant volcano consisting of two peaks:
Lesser Ararat @ 12,782 feet, and Greater Ararat @ 16,854 feet.
High mountains like Ararat have what's called a timberline; which is an
elevation beyond which no trees grow. The elevation of Mt. Hood's
timberline here in Oregon is right around 6,000 feet.
†. Gen 8:12 . . He waited still another seven days and sent the dove
forth; and it did not return to him any more.
Apparently the dove finally found some dry, bare ground to forage for seeds,
and minute gravel for its craw.
Why didn't Noah just look out the window and see for himself? Well; the
structural location of the ark's window is a bit a mystery. For one thing, it
wasn't cut into the sides like the windows in an airplane, rather, it was
located up on top.
The horizontal dimension of the window is unknown, but its vertical
dimension is known to be only a cubit; roughly 18 inches.
Imagine a structure on top of the ark similar to the windowed portion of the
cab of a large pick-up truck; for example a Ford 350. If a structure like that
were situated in the middle of the top of the ark, whose top deck dimensions
are 450 feet by 75 feet, the angle of Noah's view would be pretty much
limited to the portion of sky that he could see above the horizon.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=