Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #18 of Genesis, chapter 6 and we are going to read Genesis 6:14-16:

Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

I will stop reading there. We are continuing to look at verse 14 and in our last study we saw that the “gopher wood” that the ark was to be made of is identified with “brimstone.” The Hebrew word translated as “gopher” is only found in this verse and it is Strong’s #1613, but it is related to #1614, the word translated as “brimstone.” It is the feminine form of our word. We talked about how this meaning ties in with the ark being a vessel that will provide deliverance and safety for God’s chosen people. Therefore, the ark is a type and figure of the salvation that Christ wrought for His elect from the point of the world’s foundation.

Then we saw that the Hebrew word translated as “rooms” was a word that actually is translated as “nests” and God commanded that “nests” be made in the ark and it also identifies with language that points to the kingdom of heaven because birds make their nests on high. Eagles, especially, make their nests high in the rocks. If you are going to have something that is “high above” and represents the kingdom of God, then a bird’s nest would picture that the chosen people that are brought into the ark have a dwelling or place in the kingdom of God above.

Then it goes on to say at the end of Genesis 6:14:

… and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

The ark was to be “pitched” inside and outside with “pitch,” so the “gopher wood” had to be treated with a substance because the wood would be in contact with deep water, so it had to be waterproof, so God commanded Noah to pitch it with pitch. We picture some slimy substance that would coat the ark and hold the wood together and seal any crevices in order that there would be no leaks, and so forth. Historically, that is what had to happen, but, again, God is also painting a picture. The ark is an historical parable and the construction of the ark is a parable that illustrates God’s salvation program. We have already seen this with the word “gopher” and the word “rooms.”

In regard to the word “pitch,” the first time it is mentioned in this verse is Strong’s #3722 and the second word “pitch” in this verse is Strong’s #3724. It is a related word to the first word. The first Hebrew word translated as “pitch,” Strong’s #3722, is only used here, but it is a fairly common word in the Old Testament. It is the Hebrew word “kaw-far” and this word is found several times in Leviticus. It says in Leviticus 4:20:

And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

The word “kaw-far” is translated here as “atonement.” It is also translated that way in Leviticus 4:26:

And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.

It is also used in Leviticus 4:31:

… and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.

It is used in the last part of Leviticus 4:35:

… and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

Repeatedly, this word “kaw-far” that the King James translators translated as “pitch” is translated over sixty times as “atonement.” Several other times it is also translated as “reconcile” or “reconciliation” and a few times as “purge.” I found it used once as “merciful” and once as “forgive.” And this is our word and in all these other places it is not any kind of substance like “pitch.” When you make an atonement, it was what the sacrifice represented in appeasing an angry God. Or, the word “reconciliation” is also not a substance you would apply to wood to waterproof it, so you can see the problem the Kings James translators had in Genesis 6, verse 14. As God is commanding Noah to build an ark of gopher wood with rooms and to “atone” it within and without with “atonement.” Actually, we will discuss that second word translated as “pitch” in our next Bible study, but it is also translated only as “pitch” in this verse, so we see that the translators had a problem: what does atonement have to do with building the ark, a vessel to float in? So, they probably thought that God was speaking of applying “something” within and without, so they decided to translate it as “pitch.”

Perhaps, the translators were thinking about the ark itself. We did not talk about the word “ark,” but it is Strong’s #8392 and it is translated as “ark” several times in Genesis, chapters six and seven. The only other time that the same Hebrew word is found is in Exodus, chapter 2 when Moses’ mother was trying to deliver him from a death sentence that Pharaoh had imposed upon the Hebrew male children – he wanted them all killed. She hid him for three months, but then it says in Exodus 2:3:

And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

The word “ark” is the same word. Of course it was a much smaller “ark,” just big enough for a baby, but perhaps the translators saw that it was daubed with slime and “pitch,” so they got the idea to translate the word “kaw-far” as “pitch.” However, the word “pitch” in Exodus 2, verse 3 is Strong’s #2203, so it is a completely different word. It also lets us know that if God wanted to use a word to indicate the substance of “pitch” in order to waterproof the wood of the ark to be sea-worthy, He could have used that word. He did not use that word, but He used the word “kaw-far,” which means “atonement.”

You know, the Jews celebrate Yom Kippur. It means “Day of Atonement” and that is the word that God chose to describe the ark. It would read, “Atone it within.” Again, this word “atonement” is found in Leviticus 16:6:

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.

It says in Leviticus 16:11:

And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself:

Then it says in Leviticus 16:16-18:

And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. And he shall go out unto the altar that is before JEHOVAH, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about.

It is used many more times in this same chapter. The word is “kaw-far.” There is no question how the word should have been translated.

You know, it is not easy to do a literal translation of the Bible because man’s mind tends to “correct” the Word of God. It is a failing we have – it is not a good thing. Even the best of men that were excellent translators tended to want to “help God” because something does not sound right, but in translating it the way they did it served God’s purpose to “hide truth.” God certainly hid truth when He commanded Noah to “pitch it within and without with pitch.”

Now that we are looking at this as an historical parable and we are looking for the deeper spiritual meaning, we can see clearly why God said this. He told Noah to make an atonement for it within because it was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and in order for it to be a place of refuge and a place where souls could be delivered from the wrath of God in the flood the atonement by the Lord Jesus Christ had to be performed. The atonement is what has saved the people of God. The atonement is what permitted Noah to find grace in God’s sight and to be considered “just” and “perfect in his generations.” On one hand, God is giving instructions for the building of the historical ark but, on the other hand, He is painting a picture of the safety the people of God find in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is interesting that there has been so much spiritual emphasis in this verse on the word “gopher wood,” the word “rooms” and the word “pitch,” so we should not be surprised that there is more spiritual meaning in the Hebrew word translated as “within.” It is Strong’s #1004 and it often translated as “house,” again, and again. It is a word that could easily have been translated that way here: “You shall make atonement for house.” Let us go back to Leviticus, chapter 16 where God discusses the Day of Atonement. It says in Leviticus 16:6:

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house.

The word “house” is the word translated as “within” in our verse. Aaron was to make an atonement for himself and those “within,” or those within the spiritual house of God (not the corporate, external body). It is the eternal church or eternal house of God that is in view, which we read about in Hebrews 3:6: “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we…” We are the house within the kingdom of heaven that the Lord has made atonement for, as He made atonement for Himself (as He bore the sins of His people) and His house. It is the house of God that is built of “living stones,” a “spiritual temple.” God has given many different pictures of this truth.

Aaron made an atonement for himself and his house and that leads us to the end of our verse in Genesis 6:14:

… and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

Noah was told to make atonement for that which was within and without with “pitch.” This second word translated as “pitch” is Strong’s #3724 and it is translated as “ransom” or “satisfaction.” It has to do with payment for sin, just as “atonement” involved payment for sin. The atonement was made through the sacrifice of various animals that all pointed to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ who was the payment for sin at the foundation of the world. Again, in Genesis 6, verse 14, we know that when God is saying that Noah will make “atonement” within the house, it is something we can understand, but why does God say, “atonement” without?

When we look at this historically, we know that “within” were eight souls – Noah, his wife, their sons and their sons’ wives – and “without” were all the rest of the people of the world, perhaps a handful of millions. However, everyone that was “without” was unsaved and subject to the wrath of God. We know that everyone “without” died in the flood, without exception. Every single person on the face of the earth (man, woman and child) perished in the flood. Not only did they die, but all the animals with the breath of life died because of the flood. Yet, God is commanding for the construction of the ark, “Make atonement within and make atonement without.” It reminds us, again, of something in Leviticus, chapter 16. There were two goats in regard to the Day of Atonement and it says in Leviticus 16:8-10:

And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for JEHOVAH, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the JEHOVAH'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before JEHOVAH, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

Historically, on the Day of Atonement Aaron, the high priest of Israel, was to go into the Holy of Holies and make an atonement “within,” but there was also the scapegoat upon which the sins of Israel were laid and he was let go into the wilderness “without.” There was no blood shed of that goat and, therefore, no slaying an animal sacrifice. He escaped into the wilderness. The scapegoat typifies unsaved mankind that must make payment for their own sins because no blood has been shed on his behalf. The atonement “within” covered Aaron and his “house.” The atonement “without” is one in which the unsaved must atone for their own iniquities. This is what God is saying in Leviticus 16:20-22:

And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

The scapegoat is “driven away,” just like Cain. He is separated from the presence of God and he is “without” the kingdom of heaven and once the door of the ark was shut, it was “without” the ark where God poured out His wrath upon the wicked unsaved people of the earth. During the process of the outpouring of the wrath of God, atonement is made for sin.

Historically, the people “without” the ark died under the wrath of God. Why did they die? They died for their own sins because they had rebelled against God and the Bible declares, “The wages of sin is death.” Their lives were ended as God brought judgment upon them. He brought His heavy hand down upon them and He took their lives because the Law of God demanded satisfaction. That is what the second word “pitch” means in our verse. It was to be pitched “within” for the house of God and pitched “without” for satisfaction.

What an incredible Book the Bible is and how wonderfully God has hidden this kind of information in plain view, but it is hidden in the deeper, spiritual meaning of the Scriptures. And it is just wonderful when we can see these hidden things coming to light.