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Noah's Ark and the Ark of the Covenant in Spanish

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Noah's Ark and the Ark of the Covenant in Spanish NOAH’S ARK AND THE ARK OF THE COVENANT IN SPANISH AND SEPHARDIC MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS Andreina Contessa This essay presents the results of a short investigation into the relation- ship between the ark of Noah and the Ark of the Covenant whose shapes and significance are interrelated in the Bible as well as in its exegetical and visual interpretations. The ark of Noah is the only biblical wooden receptacle that, like the Ark of Covenant, was built by the command of God, following precise instructions and measurements. An interrela- tion between these sacred vessels is attested to in early Jewish sources. Assimilation of the ark of Noah to the meaning of the Ark of Covenant was known in the Christian world, although Christian interpretations of the Flood differ greatly from those of the Jews. Visual links between the two objects are present in several early Christian and Jewish depictions, where the representation of Noah’s ark as a wooden box standing on feet, while inconsistent with the biblical description, is similar to that of the Ark of Covenant. The shape and iconographical features attributed to Noah’s ark in Western medieval Christian representations, especially in Spain and Catalonia, throw into relief the similitude between the two vessels. Textual aspects are extremely relevant to the definition of the external form of the ark, and it is for this reason that this investigation begins with a short analysis of some aspects of the biblical account and its Greek and Latin translations. The form and size of Noah’s ark are derived mainly from the descrip- tion in the Bible that says very little about the external shape of the vessel. According to Genesis 6:9–22, Noah’s ark was a large receptacle covered in pitch, with a door at the side and an opening on the upper level. This generic description of the exterior contrasts with God’s precise instructions concerning the building materials, the measurements, and the interior arrangements: the ark was to be of gopher wood (probably cedar beams), 300 cubits in length, 50 cubits in breadth, and 30 cubits in height, and was to have three decks divided into compartments (Hebrew qinnim). The most problematic passage is Genesis 6:16, which deals with the external shape of the top of the ark. It is not clear in fact if the “light” (Hebrew tsohar) mentioned there was a window or 172 andreina contessa an opening in the roof. In the Greek and Old Latin translations, the word was taken as referring to the order to finish the ark in one cubit, implying that the ark had straight sides topped by a sloping roof.1 Various ambiguities in its description in the biblical Hebrew text as well as in the Greek and Latin translations possibly caused the ark to be variously imagined by the exegetes and represented in disparate ways in Jewish and Christian art since an early period.2 In fact, the Noah’s ark as described in the Bible had an oblong boxlike shape that did not bode well for its staying afloat for the duration of the Flood, until it came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:4). Its huge size—dismissed as “fanciful exaggeration” by modern scholars of ancient seafaring—greater than any seagoing ship ever built by the Greeks or the Romans at the most advanced stage of their technical accomplishments, was symbolically necessary for a ship that played a crucial role in the history of the world.3 Size and measurements, of course, depend on the interpretation of the cubits. As we will see, mea- surement played a very important part in determining the shape and meaning of Noah’s ark, as it does for any object implying a construction ordered by God and linked to the divine presence. Sacred Constructions As He did for Noah’s ark, God gave precise instructions and measure- ments for the construction of different parts of the Temple and some of its implements (I Kings 6:1–26, 7:23–37). God had similarly issued orders concerning the Temple’s antecedent, the Sanctuary in the wilder- ness described in Exodus, where meticulous measurements are given not only for the Sanctuary, its curtains, and its court (26; 27:9–18), but also for the Ark of the Covenant (25:10–21), the table for the shewbread (25:23–30), and the golden altar of shittim wood (27:1–2). 1 The word tsohar was translated “make compact,” implying that the ark was to be made compact and narrowed at the top. The Old Latin rendered the verse: “et in cubito consummabis summitatem.” Vetus Latina, 2 Genesis 109–110. Jerome translated it as “fenestra” in the Vulgate, a rendering shared with some Jewish sources, such as Targum Neophiti and R. Abba bar Kahana in Genesis Rabbah, 31:11; Midrash Rabbah. Genesis, Freedman and Simon (1983), 1, 244–245. 2 On the different types of arks, see Lezzi (1994), 301–324; Friedman (1997), 123–143; Contessa (2004), 257–270. 3 Patai (1998), 4–6..
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