That said, [MENTION=360]prplchknz[/MENTION], if a God was telling the story, wouldn't it be more accurate to say "I shall flood the entire land of Ur"? The boat was too big to be seaworthy if it was made of wood, but too small for the world's animals. Even if only the local species were rescued, it would be a very tight fit.
The beauty of the Old Testament was, in a word, its symbolism. The Hebrew people did not believe in expressing themselves with visual art like all other cultures because they believed (2nd Commandment) making images was a sin. They were nomadic and lived on what God gave them daily (daily bread), at least until they became the Nation of Israel, so they were poor, desert dwellers for the most part. Now consider that their contribution was the Old Testament. They poured every ounce of their expression into their stories of God and passed them down for eons before they were even written down. We can't point to a great sculpture or painting or pyramid and say, "Those were God's people," but we can point to the Bible, the most widely sold book in the world, and say, "That is from God's people."
All that to say that their story, our story if you choose to align yourself thus, was their art form and their poetry. It wasn't to be ONLY taken literally as modern Christians seem to want to do. It is uncannily similar to the historical record we have to go by. And more evidence is forthcoming all the time. I have already blogged about how the 6 days of creation align very well with events surrounding, and after, the Big Bang.
Most people are familiar with the 10 Commandments. As we read the beginning of Genesis, the story of creation, and of the founding fathers of this religion that believes in One God, ALHYM; it goes along and we notice that the longer man lives on the earth, the more his sin spreads. First his sin is just against God, then his sin is against his family, finally his sin is against society and "every thought in man's mind is evil all the day long."
That is the exact time when God decides to flood the earth and start over with Noah and Noah's 3 sons. These sons are super important because they are going to establish the line of the chosen people of God. Before Jesus, genealogy was an especially important thing. God is being Supreme Ruler and Judge. He is fed up that all man can do is evil and He has the right to annihilate the very man he created!
So the flood comes upon the 'land' or 'earth'. It is only about 20 feet deep per Bible description, and this correlates with sedimentary lines in the region of the Holy Land. The ark is 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It is to have 3 elevations or floors, which is meaningful as 3 means circle. It is made of Cypress trees covered with pitch and only had one door and one window.
Our context here is the HOLY LAND and God's Chosen People who lived there, who had begun in the Garden of Eden (which likely originated in Jericho, probably the oldest town on earth). For all intents and purposes, this IS the world. There was no reason to specify that is was Ur or Jericho or any other place because that would limit the story, when the whole point of the Hebrews' story is to show off the magnanimity of their God, to make it larger than life because our God is larger than life!
This IS the area and the people God cared most about. It is therefore unreasonable to believe that it refers to all the world. This size ark would be perfect for donkeys, camels, goats, sheep, fowl, and the other animals inhabiting that region, and establishing a future with the Hebrew people.