| Genesis 6:14
| Make thee an ark of timber planks: thou shalt make little rooms in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without.
| Timber planks. Hebrew, "gopher wood," which is no where else mentioned in Scripture. It was probably a sort of wood full of rosin, and being besmeared with something like our pitch, was capable of resisting the fury of the ensuing tremendous storm, for a length of time. (Calmet; Haydock) --- Rooms to separate the birds, various animals, provisions, etc. --- Pitch, literally: "besmear it with bitumen," which has a very strong smell, able to counteract the disagreeable odours arising from beasts confined. (Menochius) --- It might be mixed with some other ingredients, naphtha, pitch, etc. (Calmet)
|