Story 6: The Ship That Saved Mankind ll

Self-denial and whole-hearted obedience, enormous expense and long hours of hard labor were involved in this Divine assignment, but No'ah faithfully met every requirement, and the crude carpenter's name graces the roster of the heroes of faith in Sacred history.
   Presently the Ark was completed, and the prophesies of the noble patriarch began to be fulfilled. Two animals of every kind, male and female, and a larger number of the domestic animals which were used for food, together with large supplies of grain and other food were placed in the Ark by No'ah. He and his wife, his sons and their wives, entered the Ark and closed the doors. The rains came with ever increasing violence, day by day the waters poured out of the overcast clouds until it seemed as though great oceans had been lifted into the sky, pouring their contents down upon the earth. Forty days and forty nights passed without cessation of the downpour; in every valley and on every plain the torrents swept into ruin everything before them until all the land was submerged. The waters rose higher and higher, covering the hills and the mountains. While millions of human beings joined every living creature of the earth in a watery grave, the great boat in which No'ah and his family abode in perfect security glided over the waters.
   For one hundred and fifty days the waters covered the entire face of the earth. Then the rains ceased, the winds began to blow, and the waters gradually receded toward the rivers, and lakes, and oceans. God's judgments had been accomplished: the human race had been destroyed, with the exception of No'ah and his family, and animal life had been exterminated.
   For many months after the waters began to go down, No'ah and his family remained in the Ark. One day No'ah opened the window which he had made in the Ark and sent out a raven. This bird, being capable of long flights without stopping, flew round and round until the waters had gone down from some high point, and never returned. No'ah then sent out a dove, but it failed to find a place to rest, and soon flew back to the Ark. After another week the dove was sent out again, and this time it returned with a leaf from an olive tree, indicating that the waters had sufficiently abated to permit vegetation to grow upon the land. After waiting another seven days No'ah sent forth the dove for the third time, and this time it did not return.
   It was evident that much of the land near the Ark was dry, and on investigation No'ah discovered that the land all around was dry. God then directed that he and his family leave the Ark, liberating all the animals which they had preserved. It is said that the mountain on which the Ark rested was Mt. Ar'a-rat, in the heart of the elevated plateau between the Black and Caspian Sea where the Ti'gris and Eu-phra'tes rivers. The mean elevation of this district is 5000 feet above sea level, and Mt. Ar'a-rat reaches a height of 17,750 feet. South of this mountainous region lies the land of ancient Bab-y-lo'ni-a and Mes-o-po-ta'mia, where the descendants of No'ah later settled.