Who was the first businessman?
Noach. He floated the company while the rest of the world went into liquidation!
Daily Mail 2 May 2016 (Mail Online)
- Ken Ham (b. 1951 Australia), who came up with the idea, Ken is president and chief executive of Answers in Genesis, the Christian organisation behind the Noah's Ark-themed amusement park in Kentucky. He wanted the ark to be the focal point for the park. Took 6 years to build
- Full-sized wooden replica of the ship - main attraction at a US amusement park opened in July 2016 - 510 ft long and 80 ft high (7 stories). The huge structure, is the largest timber-framed building in the world ,cost $100 million to build (although the ground is made of concrete) - rainbow coloured at night
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The ark is able to encounter 16,000 guests per day.
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To build the full replica, 3.3 million feet of wooden boards were used, not counting exhibits inside.
- Inside the ark - several exhibits featuring Noah and his family, along with information to help people understand the Bible. Includes a restaurant and lifts.
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He said: 'We want to challenge people that Noah wasn't some primitive brute. He was very intelligent." 'One of the big questions is how could he fit all the animals on board?' (he's included dinosaurs too)
(ב) בדרותיו. יֵשׁ מֵרַבּוֹתֵינוּ דּוֹרְשִׁים אוֹתוֹ לְשֶׁבַח, כָּל שֶׁכֵּן אִלּוּ הָיָה בְדוֹר צַדִּיקִים הָיָה צַדִּיק יוֹתֵר; וְיֵשׁ שֶׁדּוֹרְשִׁים אוֹתוֹ לִגְנַאי, לְפִי דוֹרוֹ הָיָה צַדִּיק וְאִלּוּ הָיָה בְדוֹרוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם לֹא הָיָה נֶחְשָׁב לִכְלוּם (סנה' ק"ח):
(2) בדורותיו IN HIS GENERATIONS — Some of our Rabbis explain it (this word) to his credit: he was righteous even in his generation; it follows that had he lived in a generation of righteous people he would have been even more righteous owing to the force of good example. Others, however, explain it to his discredit: in comparison with his own generation he was accounted righteous, but had he lived in the generation of Abraham he would have been accounted as of no importance (cf. Sanhedrin 108a).
Rabbi Sacks - Covenant and Conversation Noach 2013
Noah is in fact the only individual in Tanakh described as righteous (tzaddik).
Yet the man we see at the end of his life is not the person we saw at the beginning.
After the flood: Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.
When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked. (Gen. 9: 20-23)
The man of God has become a man of the soil
The upright man has become a drunkard
The man clothed in virtue now lies naked and unashamed
The man who saved his family from the flood is now so undignified that two of his sons are ashamed to look at him.
Noah is the classic case of someone who is righteous but not a leader.
Noah was a good man in a bad age. But his influence on the life of his contemporaries was
apparently zero.
A second Ark
(א) וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃ (ב) וַתַּ֥הַר הָאִשָּׁ֖ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֹתוֹ֙ כִּי־ט֣וֹב ה֔וּא וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה יְרָחִֽים׃ (ג) וְלֹא־יָכְלָ֣ה עוֹד֮ הַצְּפִינוֹ֒ וַתִּֽקַּֽח־לוֹ֙ תֵּ֣בַת גֹּ֔מֶא וַתַּחְמְרָ֥ה בַחֵמָ֖ר וּבַזָּ֑פֶת וַתָּ֤שֶׂם בָּהּ֙ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וַתָּ֥שֶׂם בַּסּ֖וּף עַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיְאֹֽר׃ (ד) וַתֵּתַצַּ֥ב אֲחֹת֖וֹ מֵרָחֹ֑ק לְדֵעָ֕ה מַה־יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה לֽוֹ׃
(1) A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. (2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. (3) When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
In both cases, an ark was used to save human/s from being killed.
In Noah's case, he protected himself but not anyone else - in Moses's case, he was protected by the Ark and then he used his life to help others.
To really learn from the Bible, we often need to look at the smaller picture, to understand the real lessons that we are being taught.
Conclusion:
The story of the flood was never really about the Ark. It was about the failure of man to live up to the role he was created for. No sooner is the flood over than we read about the Tower of Babel.
It takes the birth of Avram to bring some balance to the world and a moral compass to humanity. Without this, even an Ark can't save humanity from itself.
You can build the greatest, most beautiful monuments, but if you don't have a society that is moral and just, they are just buildings. Arks that drift, without an anchor to secure them in one place.