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THE EARTHLY INHERITANCE SERIES of BIBLE SUBJECTS
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Various Bible study guides in subjects pertaining to
New Earth prophecy, as taught by Paul Phelps.
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD,
they shall inherit the earth. Psalm 37:9
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The MOUNTAIN of NOAH
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Bible quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version
except for my own translations or as otherwise indicated.
The Bible speaks about Noah landing his ship on Mount Ararat
but the identity of the original Mount Ararat remains a mystery.
A Bible study project by Paul Phelps.
After several years of study this writing was completed in 2000.
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The Bible says that Noah left his ship on Mount Ararat but the identity of this
mountain is a mystery. Some say the mountain in eastern Turkey, called Ararat,
is the one; but that may not be true. We have reason to think that Mount Ararat
of Gen. 8:4 is Qomolangma Feng (Mount Everest). Rising to 8850 meters above
sea level, Qomolangma Feng is the tallest mountain on earth.
The trek from the Ark must have begun at a far distance from Babylon; it took
over a century for people to arrive in Shinar, (Babylon's ancient name, Gen. 11).
The Flood survivors arrived in the land of Shinar migrating from the east, and
Qomolangma Feng and the Himalayan Mountain range is directly east of Shinar.Gen. 11:2,
And as they migrated from the east,
they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
The phrase “from the east” is a translation of MI-KČDEM in the Hebrew Text.
MI is ‘from’ or ‘coming from.’ KČDEM is ‘front of the east’ or ‘the orient.’ It means
that the survivors came from someplace in the east before they came to Babylon.
The mountain now called Ararat is directly north of ancient Babylon, so it cannot
fit the Bible account. The tallest mountains including all Tibet and the Himalayas
are eastward from Babylon.
The Bible languages began in Babylon more than four millennia ago but the
name ‘Ararat’ is pre-Flood. ‘Ararat’ is a word better understood for its meaning
than its language form; it is not Hebrew but an adaptation of the Assyrian word
‘Urartu,’ meaning 'highest land.' In Biblical references, 'Ararat' refers to Armenia
(2 Kings 19:37; Is. 37:38; Jer. 51:27) but this name was applied only after the Flood.
Noah’s Flood erased all former place names, but the people in Babylon gave
old names to new places, in memory of the old world. The mountain of Armenia
called Ararat is the tallest mountain close to Babylon, so it is understandable that
it was given the name 'Ararat.' Babylon’s language confusion limited the study
of Noah's old-world records; the memory of place names in the pre-Flood world
would have been confused and lost with the passing of time.
The pre-Flood world was different from this world. There is no reason to think
that Noah’s home was in Babylon, or that pre-Flood humanity began in Babylon.
It is true that people spread outward from Babylon after the Flood—but that is in
this world; we cannot assume that for the old world. And there is no basis to say
that the Garden of Eden was in Babylon. Gen. 2:8 says the Garden of Eden was
eastward (Heb. MI-KČDEM, from the orient); and people later settled in regions
even farther eastward (Gen. 3:23-24; 4:16). We present more on this topic in the
study guide entitled “The Garden of Eden.”
Noah’s Ark is described in Genesis 6:14—9:18; this was a large wooden ship
designed for open seas and strong wind; it had no sail. The Ark was designed to
drift with wind and water, which typically flow westward due to earth’s eastward
rotation; thus the Ark drifted towards the west from places farther east. The drift
was probably swift because the Flood was like a world ocean; there was then no
continent or landmass above water to restrain the waves.
At that time many ships were afloat, more than Noah’s Ark. People always try
to survive life-threatening dangers, and the Flood was a life-threatening danger.
Every available ship, boat and raft was afloat then. Across the world boats are
always being built, and there have always been ships; the brief instruction given
to Noah implies shipbuilding knowledge (Gen. 6:14-16). We know the old world
had rivers because Eden had rivers (Gen. 2:10-14), and oceans (Genesis1:9-10;
Jeremiah 5:22; Psalm 104:5-6; Proverbs 8:26-30). Rivers and oceans have always
required shipbuilding. We may be sure that more ships other than Noah’s were
existing at that time and were afloat in the Flood.
A large wooden ship has been seen on Mt. Ararat of eastern Turkey—at some
distance down from the top, buried in ice. It is difficult of access; its identity has
not been confirmed but if it's not Noah’s Ark it is another ship of that time.
Another ship ruin has been seen in Iran's northwest mountains at an elevation
a thousand metres lower than the one in Turkey. These findings prove the Bible
Flood story, but we are still looking for the true Mount Ararat. Many tall mountains
in the world could have ships near their summits buried under ice. Exploration
in the Himalayan mountains is probably impossible because the glacier is thick;
wooden vessels would be crushed under the ice.
The world Flood melted the ice on mountain peaks for they were submerged
under water. Briny waters melt ice. Any mountain peak that Noah grounded on
would at that time have had a temperate or tropical climate—for it was then an
island in the ocean. But as the water level dropped, the temperature would also
have dropped. The tall mountains afterwards formed ice caps, as now exist; but
while the world-ocean was in Flood rise the exposed summits would have had a
temperate or tropical climate.
Gen. 7:11-12 says that “all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the
windows (ARUBŇT, floodgates) of the heavens were opened. And the rain fell
on the earth forty days and forty nights.” This gives us reason to think that earth
was hit by swarms of ice particles that became rain as they fell to earth.
The excess of floodwater now is found in the oceans and the polar ice regions.
The oceans are deeper now than the pre-Flood oceans because "all the fountains
of the great deep burst forth..." (Gen. 7:11). With broken foundations, the floors
of the ocean soon dropped under the weight of water in response to the sudden
world-wide increase of floodwater. The quantity of water that fell upon the earth
was enormous—enough to cover all the dry land, and all the mountains.Gen. 7:19-20,
The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high
mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters
swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
(about 7 metres)
In Noah’s time, all of earth was one vast ocean with no land visible anywhere;
even the highest land was covered. The Ararat mountain range was the highest
land of earth and was the last mountains covered in the Flood. Before the Flood
all the Himalayan mountains were called Ararat. The fifteen cubits of water that
covered the top is a reference to the tallest mountaintop—Qomolangma Feng.
To insure that no one survived outside the Ark it was needful that this deluge
would overflow all the tallest mountains. In such a life threatening flood, people
will seek refuge in the mountains—but even the highest were covered by water.
Gen. 7:21-23,And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals,
wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth,
and all human beings; everything on dry land in whose nostrils
was the breath of life died. He blotted out every living thing
that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals
and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from
the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.
The Ark was thirty cubits tall (Gen. 6:15). The draught of a loaded cargo ship
is usually the same as the height above water. So Noah’s Ark had fifteen cubits
draught, the same depth below water as the floodwater above the mountain top,
allowing the Ark to rest on top of earth’s tallest peak. Gen. 7:24; 8:3-4,7:24, And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred fifty days.
8:3-4... At the end of one hundred fifty days the waters had abated;
and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month,
the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
The Floodwaters increased one hundred fifty days but later began to subside.
A great wind began to blow on the earth; Gen. 8:1-3,... And God made a wind blow over the earth,
and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the
windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens
was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth.
The Ark landed on the mountain peak after one hundred fifty days, but nearby
mountain peaks were not visible until seventy-four days later. Gen. 8:5,13-14,The waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month,
on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.
In the six hundred first year, the first month, the first day of the month,
the waters were dried up from the earth… In the second month,
on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
The sea horizon is sixteen kilometres, beyond which nothing is visible due to
the curvature of the earth. Therefore the other peaks had to be within sixteen
kilometres of the grounded Ark. But there are no tall mountains anywhere near
Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. The nearest tall mountains are 240 km south, or
325 km north. Mount Ararat of Turkey is one single peak (not part of any range).
But the Himalayan mountain range has several peaks within a sixteen-kilometre
distance from Qomolangma Feng. This confirms Qomolangma Feng of Tibet as
the true mountain of Noah.
Mount Ararat in Turkey is 5137 metres tall, much less than the Himalayas and
also less than Tibet and other central Asian mountains. Noah’s Ark could not be
on a mountain of western Asia nor indeed anyplace except the Himalayas. If the
Ark was in eastern Turkey, it would require Noah to wait for a much longer time
beyond the first hundred and fifty days for the flood to dry, until the Ark could sit
on Mt. Ararat (3713 metres below Mt. Everest). But the Ark landed at flood crest.
All things must be confirmed by two or three witnesses and a raven and dove
were God’s eyewitnesses! Genesis 8:6-7 says that Noah sent a raven to spy the
world. It went out and returned to-and-from the Ark, until it found land. A dove
also was sent, and also went out and returned to-and-from the Ark—and only on
the third flight did not return (vv 8-12). This was intended as evidence to prove
that the Ark was then resting atop the tallest mountaintop in the world, with no
land visible anywhere on earth. This evidence from the birds was also to prove
that all was submerged completely, and that all human life on earth had died.
If the Ark was on Mt. Ararat in Turkey, the birds could have gone to many places
because by then all of central Asia would have been above water and in range.
And in western Asia Mount El’brus in the Caucasus and Mount Damavand in Iran
are taller than Mount Ararat in Turkey (5642 m and 5671 m). But if the Ark was
atop Qomolangma Feng at flood crest, there would be nowhere that birds could
put their feet. To us this is proof that Noah’s mountain was Qomolangma Feng.
The size of the Ark was 300 cubits length, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high;
(Gen. 6:15). If the cubits used then were similar to Moses' time, the Ark's size
would have been 128.5+ metres long, 21.4+ metres wide and 12.8+ metres high.
But if the cubits used were those used by angels (see Ezek. 40.5), then the size of
the Ark would have been 150 metres long, 25 metres wide and 15 metres high;
(see our study guide entitled, "Discovering Israel's Cubits"). And of course it is
possible that the pre-Flood cubit measures were different than we can know.
The ship ruin found in eastern Turkey is probably a pre-Flood ship but it is not
Noah's Ark. The size of it compares to the larger angelic cubit measures, rather
than any of the traditionally smaller cubit measures used by men.
Noah’s Ark was probably near a maximum size limit for wooden ships. God’s
directive was that it be Gopher wood (Gen. 6:14). This name GOPHČR is found
in the Bible only in this instance. No tree of this name was ever identified in the
Bible Lands region. God did not want Noah to use metal. The ship ruin in Turkey
has steel support beams built into it, which to us proves that it is not Noah’s Ark.
Iron cannot have been included in the ark’s construction because Noah was told
to build only from wood.
If the ship ruin in Turkey is not from Noah, then it belonged to someone else.
The Bible says “all flesh died that moved on the earth” (Gen. 7:21-23), but it also
speaks of giants in Canaan that somehow survived (Num. 13:32-33); “the heroes
that were of old, warriors of renown” (Gen. 6:1-4). They somehow, survived from
the old world and in Canaan were called Anakěm, Eměm, Rephaěm, Zamzumměm,
Zuzěm, and Kadmoněm (Genesis 14:5; 15:19; Deut. 2:10-11,20-21; 3:11; Josh. 12:4).
These strange aliens were offspring of rogue angels with earth girls (Gen. 6:1-4;
Jude 1:6; 2 Peter 2:4-5), and God wanted them destroyed; but some reappeared.
God sent a flood to destroy the aliens (Heb. NEPHILIM), but Satan would have
tried to rescue some of them. We think he may have planned their rescue in an
ark of his own (like Noah's) to survive the flood; that is how the giants may have
reappeared on earth after the Flood. Satan always tries to abort God’s plan.
Satan’s plan to rescue Nephilěm into the post-Flood world was an endeavour
to subvert this world as before. Satan wanted a control base in Canaan before
new people arrived. So the first settlers to arrive in Canaan were the Nephilěm.
Thus the Canaanites were captured by the same aliens that God had condemned
earlier. That is how the Canaanites were later condemned along with the aliens.
The world population is not distributed in proportion to the earth’s land area.
Two-thirds of mankind is in Asia. Earth’s population is evenly dispersed —east,
west, north, south, from the Qomolangma Feng region of Tibet. This is realistic
if in the past mankind was scattered outward from a Tibetan starting point.
The correct identity of Noah’s mountain highlights the Asian nature of Biblical
studies, both of history and prophecy. It emphasizes the reality that a majority
of Noah’s descendants are in lands surrounding Tibet: east Asia, southeast Asia,
south, central and west Asia. God chose Noah’s family to perpetuate humanity,
and this renewal of human population has been fulfilled primarily in Asia.
Not all of Noah’s descendants went to Babylon; most Asian nations have other
origins. Many centres of population throughout Asia are as ancient as Babylon.
The Bible is set amidst nations originating from Babylon but that does not mean
that all other nations in the world originated from Babylon.
Israel is from Shem, but other Bible-land people are from Ham such as Hittites,
Canaanites, Babylonians, Ethiopians and Egyptians. All the peoples of west Asia
originated in Babylon but eastern Semitic nations are not Babylonian in origin;
(see our essay entitled “Oriental Origins in the Bible”).
The Bible focuses on the lineage that led to Abraham (Gen. 11) through whom
the Bible narrative came to us. This western branch of Semites was taken for the
Bible narrative. The Bible Land is central in world geography, but this does not
mean that Semitic nations are found only in west Asia. The Semitic majority has
always been east of Babylon. The majority of mankind has always been in Asia.
Jerusalem is a Bible geography centre; “Raise your eyes now, and look from the
place where you are, northwards and southwards and eastwards and westwards”
(Gen. 13:14). But Jerusalem was never a world population centre; it was rather
a western extent of human settlement, the farthest west extent of Semitic people.
The Semitic race extended in Asia all the way to the far east. The later settlement
of western lands was primarily from Japhetic and Hamitic races.
In last-day prophetic symbolism, Noah’s mountain is the new world Kingdom,
the final destination for God’s people. This new world Kingdom is prophetically
called Mount Zion. In typology, Noah’s mountain must be the greatest mountain,
for the kingdom of God is described as a great mountain that will fill the earth.
Daniel 2:35, (see vv 44-45)… became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.