Bede

The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. The length of the ark signifies the long-suffering patience by which adversities are bravely endured; the width signifies the breadth of charity, which embraces even those who inflict adversities; the height signifies the sublimity of hope, by which the eternal reward in heaven is insinuated. Hence the length of the ark is commanded to be three hundred cubits, as this number, as we have previously noted, is represented by the letter T in Greek. This letter is written in the shape of a cross, because the holy Church, while remaining invincible and steadfast amid adversities, follows the footsteps of the Lord’s passion, remembering His word where He said: And he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:38). The width extends to fifty cubits, in which number the Holy Spirit is sent, and under the law universal rest and remission are bestowed upon God’s people because the love of God is poured into our hearts, not by the merit of our actions but by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And this is rest and remission of our debts, when we love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and our neighbor in God as ourselves, and our adversary for the sake of God. The height is thirty cubits, because this is the only and unique hope of the elect, that through the observation of the Decalogue, which is perfected in the love of God and neighbor, they ascend to the contemplation of the Holy Trinity. For three times ten makes thirty.

There is, however, another memorable mystery in the shape of the ark, which is found to be formed according to the measure of the human body. For the length of the human body from the top of the head to the feet is six times the height from one side to the other, and ten times the height measured from the back to the abdomen, as if you measure a lying man supine or prone; the length from head to feet is six times as long as the width from right to left or left to right, and ten times as high from the ground. Therefore, the ark was made three hundred cubits in length, fifty in width, and thirty in height; and because the Apostle says of the Church that it is one body and one spirit in Christ, rightly the ark, which bore the figure of this, was formed in the likeness of the human body, because Christ Himself, God, and our Lord willed to be incarnated for us and to wash us from sins and consecrate us through the sacraments of His humanity. Rightly, He commanded that the ark, in which He decreed to save the remnants of the human race while the wicked perished, be made in the manner of the human body, just as the temple which Solomon made for the Lord not only prefigured His Church, but also His flesh itself, which He took from the Virgin, as He Himself testified when He said to the Jews, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The evangelist said this, meaning the temple of His body (John 2:19). Thus also, the ark, which Noah made in the form of the human body, held our type, of whom the Apostle said, “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood” (Ephesians 4:13); and of the Lord Himself, who deigned to gather us into the unity of faith through the mystery of His Incarnation and to cleanse us from sins by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which the dove bringing the olive branch to the ark symbolized, and to save us from the destruction of the perishing world.

You shall make a window in the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above. A window is commanded to be made in the ark so that, after the rains ceased and the ark rested, Noah might release a bird through it to ascertain whether the waters had ceased, or whether the earth had dried or sprouted, so that he also, having opened it, might see the light of the sky; hence in Hebrew it is aptly translated as having the noon, because windows are usually illuminated more clearly by the midday sun; which also aptly accords with spiritual sacraments. For the window, which illuminated the inhabitants of the ark with the splendor of the midday sun only after the flood had passed, suggests that knowledge of heavenly mysteries which is more fully revealed to the baptized faithful. Moreover, the fact that the top of the ark is said to be finished in a cubit indicates that it had three hundred cubits of length and fifty cubits of width at the bottom; gradually narrowed at the corners, it was collected into the space of one cubit at the top, thus becoming shorter and narrower as it rose higher. And indeed, as far as the necessity of rains and the flood is concerned, no form could have been given to the ark more appropriate than that the downpour of rains should be dispersed from the narrow summit of the roof when, the floodgates of heaven having been opened, the rain fell for such a long time; but this form of the ark also mystically suits the state of the holy Church. For just as the ark was broader in the lower parts, where it is believed to have contained animals; it was narrower in the upper parts, where it contained men and birds until it reached the measure of one cubit at the top; thus the Church has more carnal than spiritual members, more who are inclined like quadrupeds by the whole gaze of their mind to desire earthly things than those who, like birds, seek heavenly things with the wings of virtues; and as the holier each person in it is, the fewer they are found to be, until they reach the Mediator between God and men, who appeared as a man among men, yet is above all, God blessed forever.

You shall make upper rooms and lower rooms in it. Lower rooms denote a triple roof. For "stege" in Greek means "roof"; hence ancient interpreters for this word used "tricamerata." Finally, in the Acts of the Apostles, where a young man, whom Paul the Apostle revived from death, is said to have fallen from the third roof or upper room, in Greek it is written that he fell from the "tristego." But upper rooms and lower rooms, as early translators said, were made two-chambered and three-chambered in the ark, such that in distinct seats they would house animals of various kinds. Beasts, indeed, as it is believable, in the lowest parts; clean animals in the higher parts; humans and birds in the highest. For it is certain that where man sat, there too were the raven and dove, and consequently other birds too, located near the window, which is believed to have been made in the highest parts of the ark. For through this window he sent out the aforementioned birds, to see how the land's face fared; in these roofs as well, various little chambers were made, as stated above, for the distinction of the same animals or birds, so that some might not harm others, the more violent not harming the gentler. It is not in vain that Scripture states upper rooms and lower rooms were made in the ark, or that it was made two-chambered and three-chambered, when it could have said in one word that it was arranged in five upper rooms or roofs; but it said it was two-chambered, to signify that in the Church the circumcised and the uncircumcised, Jews and Greeks, will be saved. And three-chambered to signify the triple yield of the evangelical seed, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold; so that in the lowest resides marital chastity, above it widowhood, and above that virginity. Moreover, Origen says that in the lower parts the ark was made two-chambered, so that the lowest region would receive dung, the second would be assigned to storing feed; but in the higher parts three-chambered, so that in the first of these parts would be quarters for beasts, in the second stalls for gentler animals, in the highest the seat for humans.

You shall place the door of the ark on the lower side. This door, through which men and all the animals to be saved in the ark entered, signifies the unity of faith, without which no one can enter the Church; for there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God, which is aptly commanded to be placed on the side of the ark, because it clearly designates that door, which was opened in the side of the Crucified Lord Savior by the soldier's lance, from which immediately flowed blood and water: through these sacraments, each of the faithful is received into the communion of the holy Church as into the insides of the ark. Moreover, the door of the ark is commanded to be made not only on the side but also below, so that the humility of either the Lord himself by which he died for us or ours, without which we cannot be saved, is signified. Also, the door of the ark was made below and near the ground, so that men or animals to be saved could enter it, and having entered, immediately ascended to the higher places to their respective seats, because the Lord, appearing in the depths of this mortality, was wounded for our iniquities, so that through the sacraments of his wounds, we being redeemed might be led to the heavenly mansions of virtues in the present and to the heavenly rewards with an invisible ascension. This is also well expressed in Solomon's temple, the door by which it was ascended to the upper parts, concerning which it is thus written: "The entrance of the middle side was on the right side of the house;" which some interpret as stating that the temple had an entrance from the southern part, which is far from the truth. For if it wanted to be understood this way, Scripture could briefly say: “And it had an entrance to the South or to the South.” But the temple itself actually had an entrance from the rising of the sun. What is said: “The entrance of the middle side was on the right part of the house,” the right part of the house is called the southern part, in whose middle side was the door by which it was ascended to the upper parts, with the entrance beginning from the eastern part of the same side, that is, from the very corner, and gradually proceeding to the upper rooms through the interior of the middle wall; hence it is subsequently added: "And they ascended by winding stairs to the middle chamber, and from the middle to the third." Therefore, because the Lord, when he said to the Jews, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19), was speaking of the temple of his body, the door in the right side of this temple, is it not evident that it is the very door which was opened in his right side after the passion, as we said above, through the opening of which we transition from the present life of the holy Church to the eternal rest of souls in the future life, in the example of those who entered the right side of the temple and ascended to the middle chamber by winding stairs. But even after the most blessed rest of souls, we may ascend to the reception of spiritual bodies, as if from the middle chamber to the third, from which we may rejoice with God in the perpetual immortality of both, that is, the soul and the body.

Therefore, you shall take with you of all food that can be eaten, and gather it to yourself, and it shall be food both for you and for them. And the Lord has abundantly filled His Church with the nourishment of spiritual life in many ways, so that He might invite the multitudes of the faithful to the reception of heavenly rewards by the general precepts of His commandments, and call whomever is more perfect to the higher gifts of the same everlasting kingdom through the disciplines of stricter observance. But it is usually asked whether the ark, with the capacity described, could have carried all the animals said to have entered it along with their food? Origen tries to solve this question with the geometric cubit, asserting that it was not for nothing that Scripture mentioned that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who loved geometry. He states that the geometric cubit is equivalent to the value of six of our cubits. If, therefore, we understand such large cubits, there is no question that the ark had such a capacity as to contain all these things. But it should be noted that although Moses had learned geometric cubits, the people for whom he wrote the book were ignorant of such arts, nor did he wish to deceive them by writing things that they would not understand in truth but that he alone, with the most skilled Egyptians, could comprehend. It must also be considered that Moses, when writing about the construction of the tabernacle, noted cubits of the same kind as those he used for the ark, not of a different mode. For neither could he place something different in the same work for the same readers or listeners. If, however, he was also following geometric cubits there, then the tabernacle was not made thirty cubits long, ten cubits high, and wide, as read, but by multiplying this number by one and a half, it had one hundred and eighty cubits in length and sixty in both height and width, thus being much longer and wider than Solomon's temple, which was only forty cubits in length and twenty cubits in width. And the boards of the tabernacle itself, which are said to be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide, would have been sixty cubits long and nine cubits wide, larger than would generally be produced by wood or suited for such a building or easily carried by human hands. The coverings, which are said to have been thirty cubits long each and four cubits wide, would have been one hundred and eighty cubits long and twenty-four wide. But Josephus, writing about the construction of the same tabernacle, also prohibits understanding it in this way. He says, "The ark was made, five palms in length, three in width," while Moses in Exodus wrote that the length of the ark was two and a half cubits and the width a cubit and a half, which, according to Josephus's testimony, are understood not as geometric but as ordinary cubits. Thus, regarding Noah's ark, it should be observed that all that happened within it or in relation to it was full of divine miracles. For if everything were done in the usual manner of men, how could eight people daily provide food and drink and other necessities to such a multitude of birds, beasts, and reptiles? Especially when Scripture does not recount any command from God regarding bringing drink into the ark? How could the waste and urine of so many creatures not render the place intolerable with stench for the animals themselves or corrode the floor of the ark, no matter how well it was pitch-sealed? How could they, remaining in one place for a whole year, neither the birds lose their ability to fly, nor the quadrupeds their ability to walk? The Lord Himself, who preserved the ark with all it contained, keeping it incorrupt, and who guided it so that it did not sink into the sea, but placed it in a location in the mountains where there was an easy and prompt exit to the land for all the animals within it from the door it had, also provided how they might be fed and kept safe within the ark. Nor is it unreasonable to believe, as some assert, that Noah prepared for the animals about to enter the ark food that would suffice for their daily use, and, having refreshed each one, they, to signify a mystery—that in the Church all are fed with the food of life according to the capacity of their nature—remained quiet or even in slumber by divine command until the day of their exit.

Of all clean animals, take seven and seven, male and female; but of animals that are not clean, two and two, male and female; of the birds of the heaven also, seven and seven, male and female, so that seed might be saved upon the face of all the earth. When he said seven and seven, he does not mean twice seven in each species, but he wants seven only to be taken, of which one, which exceeded the pairs, could be offered to God after the flood. He says seven and seven, because of the many kinds of animals which were to be included in this number. Similarly, when he said two and two, he does not mean two pairs in any species of unclean animals, but only two, indicating the male and female. He says two and two, because in many kinds of animals the same pairs were to be taken; it is easily clear to everyone that if the matter were only for saving the kind and not for some higher mystery, a smaller number of animals would suffice to preserve the progeny; now, however, because not all who undergo the baptismal cleansing in the Church also maintain the purity of good works, unclean animals enter the ark along with the clean ones. And rightly are the clean animals contained by the number seven, because the grace of the Spirit is sevenfold, by which the hearts of the faithful are cleansed and sanctified. The unclean are contained by the number two, because false Catholics receive the sacraments of the faith with a double heart, wishing to rejoice here with the world, and to reign in the future with Christ; of whom James says: That man should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord, a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:7).

Noah did everything the Lord had commanded him, and he was six hundred years old when the waters of the flood overflowed the earth. And Noah entered the ark, and his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, and so on. The age of Noah signifies the perfection of those who enter the Church and, through faith and actions worthy of faith, reach eternal joys. For six times a hundred makes six hundred; and the number six, in which the world was made or formed, not undeservingly signifies the perfection of good action. The number one hundred, moreover, as we mentioned above, is transferred in digital computation from the left to the right, and is especially appropriate for those who in the final judgment will stand on the Judge’s right hand and will hear: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom (Matthew 25:34). Therefore, the number one hundred multiplied by six signifies that perfection of spiritual virtues which is not shown externally for the favor of men, but fulfilled for the glory of the Creator in the hope of heavenly reward; and justly, the leader of the ark, in which the state of the Church is expressed, in the time of his age also signifies the devotion of those who enter thus, that through the merits of good action they may also deserve to pass to eternal salvation. Although it can also be properly understood that since the waters of the flood designate the wave of baptism, the age of Noah then insinuates the perfection to which those who are baptized ought to strive. When it prefigures the time of the final judgment, the same number of his years figuratively announces what kind of people will enter everlasting rest with the Lord, which the name Noah means, that is, those worthy of heavenly entry by the effect of good work and purity of heart intention.

But the Lord sealed the ark from the outside, because He always protects His Church, which rejoices in the washing of sacred baptism, with heavenly defense, so that none of those whom He has predestined to life may perish in any way, and He protects it, struggling amid the waves of the world, so that it may not be overwhelmed or submerged by the pressures or delights of the world. For the Lord sends an angel encamping around those who fear Him, and He will rescue them. But on the day of judgment, the Lord encloses Noah with the inhabitants of the ark from the outside, when, with His elect gathered with Him in the house of His Father, He shuts the door of the kingdom against the entry of the lost, although late repentant, perpetually, according to that parable in the Gospel of the ten virgins, where it is said that those who were ready went in with Him to the marriage, and the door was shut, and so forth. Moreover, it is well said that it rained upon the earth for forty days and forty nights; for ten taken four times makes forty, because all guilt of sins, which is committed against the ten precepts of the law, throughout the whole world, which is contained in four parts, is washed away by the sacrament of heavenly baptism, whether that guilt pertains to days from the prosperity of things, or to nights from the adversity of things contracted.

And the Lord shut him in from outside, and the flood was upon the earth forty days. Now this is the eighth day since the whole structure of the ark was completed. From which it is evident that the ark in the great mystery was completed on the tenth day of the same second month. For the first month, indeed, that ancient one which was collected from the Hebrews, can aptly represent the people of God. The second month, however, signifies the people of the New Testament. Hence it is commanded in the law, that whoever either were defiled by a dead body, or on a long journey, or preoccupied by any other necessity, could not celebrate Passover in the first month, should do so in this second month, in the blood of a lamb and with unleavened bread, on the fourteenth day in the evening. By the addition of this month we are marked, who could not previously celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's passion with the former people of God, as we were far distant from the communion of the saints, and defiled, indeed dead in sins; but who, after the sacrament of the Lord's incarnation being accomplished, came to faith, as it were, in the light of the second month we celebrate the Lord's Passover. On the tenth day of this month the ark was completed, for the Lord appearing in the flesh promised us the tenfold reward of the heavenly kingdom, granting us the ability to fulfill the Decalogue of the law, through the grace of the Holy Spirit given to us. This grace can indeed be symbolized by the number of seven days during which, after the ark was made, its entry and the advent of the flood were awaited, because surely, having received the promise of the kingdom, which is expressed by the tenfold reward, grace is given to the faithful by the Spirit, through which they can be united to the members of the holy Church. We can also correctly understand that the ark was flooded on the seventeenth day of the month and not before, because each of the faithful first ought to be marked in the faith with the sealing of true rest and the heavenly tenfold reward, that is, the image of the eternal king, and thus be admitted into the society of the Church through the washing of regeneration. Now because of the flood all the fountains of the great abyss were broken up and the floodgates, that is, the windows of heaven were opened, by the name of the great abyss the Scripture of the Old Testament is designated, which, long closed by the veil of the letter, could not open the veins of spiritual understanding to the world, but now revealed by the Lord, it provides the Church with abundant fountains of saving knowledge. The opening of the floodgates of heaven, however, signifies the outpouring of the evangelical and apostolic preaching, which clearly waters earthly hearts from above. Therefore, because we are confirmed in the faith of regeneration by the revealed words of prophecy, and by the open proclamation of the heralds of the New Testament, it is rightly said that for the making of the flood all the fountains of the great abyss were broken up and the floodgates of heaven were opened.

And the waters increased and lifted the ark high above the earth, the waters increased greatly and filled everything on the surface of the earth. And the waters of baptism and faith, multiplied throughout the whole world, raise the Church from the desire for earthly things to the hope and desire for heavenly life; but also from where the tribulations frequently striking the Church, the more intensely they filled everything, the higher they compelled her to seek the joys of another life: which is well indicated in sacred history, when it is said that the Amorite confined the children of Dan, in the mountain, and did not give them the place to descend to the plains. For the Amorite indeed is interpreted as Bitter, Dan as Judging or Judgment; and who are signified by the sons of Dan, if not those who diligently examine all they do, so that it may be right, in the balance of truth, who, walking by the light of the word of God, swear and decide to keep His judgments of justice; and who are expressed through the Amorite, if not those who attempt to disturb or even overthrow the sweetness of the life of the saints with the bitterness of tribulations? And the Amorite confines the sons of Dan in the mountain, and does not allow them to descend to the plains, as often such a violent storm of persecutions afflicts the elect, that they are not permitted to indulge in any time for weak thoughts; but living in the highest continence, they must devote themselves continually to prayers and fastings and the meditations of the divine Scriptures, so that by greater exercise of virtues they may be able to overcome greater struggles of temptations.

Moreover, the ark was carried above the waters, and the waters prevailed exceedingly, and all the high mountains under the entire heaven were covered. They signify every proud mountain and those lifting themselves up in the glory of this world: the waters cover these mountains, but the ark is carried above them, because the torrent of temptations treads down and sinks the proud and the wicked, but it is overcome by the righteous, who, with a free course of good work and a keen mind, do not cease to strive toward the harbor of eternal salvation: which was well prefigured when Peter walked upon the water to the Lord, for evidently the Church, knocking down the waves of the world, was destined to reach the tranquility of heavenly life. Likewise, the waters of the flood lift the ark on high, covering and hiding the mountains, because the sacrament of baptism, by which the Church is exalted, despises the proud height of the world and shows it to be worthless; and because we are baptized in the hope of the future rest of souls and the resurrection of bodies unto eternal life, which carnal wisdom ignores, it is appropriately added: