One of these is that the ark was made from cedarwood. However, there are several possibilities of what it could mean. One thing we can know for sure is that gopher wood doesn’t have anything to do with the little mammals we call gophers. The CSB Bible uses ‘gofer’ with an explanation in the footnotes: “Unknown species of tree perhaps pine or Cypress”. The other translations such as KJV and ESV have chosen to keep the pronunciation of ‘gopher wood’, and in doing so have simply decided to not attempt a guess and just leave the word as it is. So in relation to our unique ark building wood, translations such as NIV and NLT have translated the Hebrew word pronounced as ‘go-fer’ into an understandable modern wood, taking an educated guess that Noah’s gopher wood may actually be what we know as cypress. Instead of being translated as "Praise God," this word has been left for us to sound out as it would be in the original Hebrew and continues to be a powerful expression of praise. Hallelujah is a transliteration of a Hebrew word that literally means, Praise God (Hallel=praise, Jah =God). Another example of this is the word Hallelujah. This means that the word does not translate a Hebrew word into an English word, but it is an English word created to sound like the original Hebrew word. The word gopher is unique in that it is not a translation, but a transliteration. Other less common translations avoid the word completely and go with generic phrases like cedar (ISV), lumber (CEV), or timber (GNB). In fact, it is not even a word that is used anywhere else in the Hebrew language! Because of this, there is much dispute as to what the word means, and even if it is the correct word! Different translations use different words for it, primarily gopher wood (KJV, ESV), or Cypress wood (NIV, NLT). This unique word is not found anywhere else in the Bible. As stated by Tony Evans, “obedience in the midst of evil should be the supreme goal and desire of God’s people” ( The Tony Evans Bible commentary, p. The primary and most important thing to keep in mind is that even when we don’t understand, we can always see examples set by faithful people such as Noah, and respond when God calls us to follow him. Some things are simply unknowable this side of eternity. This doesn’t help us in determining exactly what gopher wood is, but it does remind us that as we study Scripture, we will not understand every detail. What an amazing bio! I can only hope that people would say that about me! Noah’s story is without question one of the most amazing ever told.Īs we seek to know why Noah used gopher wood to build the ark, the simple, and perhaps very obvious answer is this: God told him to. It is here that we are first introduced to Noah as “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God” ( Genesis 6:9). The narrative of ‘ Noah and the Ark’ begins in Genesis 6 and continues through Genesis 9. It turns out that the identity of the wood itself, not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, remains a puzzle to be answered. Yet one peculiar part of the passage is the material that Noah used to build the ark – gopher wood. Everything about this passage is simply amazing: the flood, the animals, and the faithfulness of one man and his family amongst all the peoples of the earth. When considering the wonders of the Bible, the account of Noah and the Ark is always among the first that people think of. St Luke’s goes all out for VBS in decorating, costumes,(provided but not a must), traditional foods, and many times there are as many adults as children.As the written documentation of God’s interaction with humanity, the Bible is filled with miraculous and amazing events. As no VBS would be complete without music, tribes gather everyday to sing and dance to lively music especially created for each program, whether it be Galilee, Bethlehem, Babylon, or Athens. During tribe time, tribal families explore Jewish customs, meet Jesus and his friends, visit the marketplace, and might even participate in chariot races on the playground, periodically having their attention drawn to exciting dramas. Every day kids and adults join a Tribe of ISRAEL. Instead of trying to compete with children their own age, older children help younger children and younger children spark older children’s imagination social skills improve, self-esteem rises, cooperation increases, and discipline problems diminish. Because elementary-age kids and teens travel in intergenerational Tribes, big kids and little kids learn to work together. God’s word comes alive as families explore traditional Bible-times customs, occupations, food, and even games! We have said goodbye to traditional classrooms and practice multi-age learning. Each year, the third week of July, St Luke’s holds a week long Vacation Bible School using Group’s Holy Land Adventures.
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