Ask Your Preacher - Archives
“A Well-Driven Nail”
Categories: OLD TESTAMENTDid Noah have authority to use metal in the construction of the ark?Sincerely,
Builder
Dear Builder,
Every command that you find in the Bible has specific and general qualities to it. For example, when God told Noah to build the ark, He told Noah to use a specific kind of wood (gopher wood – Gen 6:14) and build the ark to specific dimensions (Gen 6:15-16), but He left the details of how to cut, fasten, and construct the ark up to Noah. It would have been wrong for Noah to use oak or birch, and it would have been wrong for Noah to change the dimensions of the ark, but aside from that, Noah had freedom to use his own wisdom in the engineering of the ark. The things that God was specific on, Noah had to be specific on to… but the things God was general about, Noah had freedom to decide for himself.
Our understanding of God’s command to build the ark out of gopher wood is that gopher wood was to be the primary construction material. If Noah had needed metal to fasten the gopher wood, there wouldn’t have been anything wrong with that. However, if Noah had decided to replace the gopher wood with a metal construction, that would have been wrong because it would have gone against God’s command.
