Gopher wood
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Gopher wood or gopherwood is a term used once in the Bible, for the substance from which Noah's ark was built. Gen 6:14 states that Noah was to build the Ark of גפר, gofer, more commonly gopher wood, a word not otherwise known in the Bible or in Hebrew.
Its identity has not been established with certainty. Older English translations, including the King James Version (17th century), simply leave it untranslated.
[edit] Question over identity
The Greek Septuagint (3rd–1st centuries BC) translated it as xylon tetragonon, "squared timber".[1] Similarly, the Latin Vulgate (5th century AD) rendered it as lignis levigatis (lævigatis, in the Clementine Vulgate), "smoothed (possibly planed) wood".
The Jewish Encyclopedia believes it was most likely a translation of the Babylonian "gushure i÷ erini" (cedar-beams), or the Assyrian "giparu" (reed).[2]
Many modern English translations tend to favour cypress (although otherwise the word for "cypress" in Biblical Hebrew is brosh). This was espoused (among others) by Adam Clarke, a Methodist theologian famous for his commentary on the Bible: Clarke cited the resemblance between Greek word for cypress, kuparisson and the Hebrew word gophar.
Other suggestions include pine, cedar, fir, ebony, wicker, juniper, acacia, boxwood, slimed bulrushes and resinous wood, and even American trees such as Cladrastis kentukea (American yellowwood), although this type of gopherwood has no known relation to the material of Noah's Ark.
Others, noting the physical similarity between the Hebrew letters g and k, suggest that the word may actually be kopher, the Hebrew word meaning "pitch"; thus kopher wood would be pitched wood. Recent suggestions have included a lamination process (to strengthen the Ark), or a now-lost type of tree, but there is no consensus.[3]
[edit] Footnotes and references
- ^ Brenton, Sir Lancelot C.L. (1986) [1851]. The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English (reprint). Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 0-913573-44-2.
- ^ Hirsch, EG & Hyvernat, H (2002). "The Jewish Encyclopedia: Goper-Wood". The Jewish Encyclopedia. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=365&letter=G&search=gopher%20wood. Retrieved 2007-06-27.
- ^ Taylor, Paul (2001). "What is “Gopher Wood”?". Eden Communications. http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/gopherwood.html. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
[edit] External links
- What is "Gopher Wood?"
- Gopherwood and Construction of the Ark
- The Free Dictionary - Gopherwood (giving a definition of Cladrastis kentukea)
- Jewish Encyclopedia (explaining that gopher may be reeds)
- Gopher Wood (A Canadian movie which references the term)
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