True and False Arks

True and False Arks June 22, 2004

When the men of Babel organize to build a tower reaching to heaven, they decide to use “tar for mortar” (Gen 11:3; NASB). The Hebrew phrase repeats two different forms of the same root word (CHMR): The word for “tar” is CHEMAR and the word for “mortar” is CHOMER. They make bricks and say the “CHEMAR shall be to them as CHOMAR.” Holladay suggests the translations “bitumen, asphalt” for CHEMAR, and the word is used elsewhere only in Gen 14:10 (referring to “tar pits”) and Ex 2:3 (referring to the “ark” made for the baby Moses).

Earlier in Gen, Yahweh instructed Noah to build an ark and to cover it inside and out with “pitch” (Gen 6:14). The Hebrew word in Gen 6:14 is KOFER, related to the verb for “cover,” which is also used in the sense of “atone” in Lev 16’s description of the rites of the day of atonement. Like Gen 11:3, Gen 6:14 doubles the word: “you shall KAFAR it inside and out with KOFER.” Holladay suggests “bitumen, asphalt” as a translation of KOFER in Gen 6:14, which is the only place in the OT where the word is used in this sense.

Though the wording of the two passages is different, Holladay’s translations show that in these contexts CHEMAR and KOFER are closely related terms. The ark is covered with pitch/asphalt, and the men of Babel use tar/asphalt as mortar in building their tower. The use of CHEMAR in Ex 2:3 supports this. Moses’ “ark” is clearly paralleled to Noah’s (the same word for “ark” is used), yet the word for the “pitch” that covers Moses’ ark is the word used for “tar” in Gen 11:3. In other words, Moses’ ark is described with wording that draws on both the flood story and the Babel story.

This link invites us to see other connections between the passages, and appears to indicate that the men of Babel see their tower as something of an ark of safety. They build the tower and city out of fear of being scattered (11:4), as Noah builds his ark under the threat of the flood. The city and tower are going to house all the peoples of the world, as Noah’s ark houses the one family that will survive the flood. More broadly, this connection seems reasonable and even obvious: Babel is the symbol of the false church as the ark is historically a symbol of the true church or, as Luther had it in his great baptismal prayer, of Christendom. Thus, Gen presents two contrasting building projects for the salvation of the nations and of creation.

This also illumines the structure of Genesis. The three falls in Gen 1-6 (Adam, Cain, the sons of God) culminate in the flood and the ark; the narratives of the patriarchs who reverse the three falls (Abraham, Jacob, Joseph) begin with the “flood” of judgment that scatters the nations and with a false ark.

Finally, the use of these words in the story of Moses shows that Moses is not only a new Noah, who will rescue Israel through water in the Exodus. His ark is also the reversal of the tower of Babel, for the Israel that Moses rescues through water is the seed of Abraham, which will bring blessing to the nations.


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