How Long Did it Take Noah to Build the Ark?

How long was the Ark in the building? The answer,approximate five hundred year age of Noah, less time
which is arrived at inductively, is around 98 years;is not argued for, though it would not have mattered
possibly a few years less. In verse 32 of chapter 5insofar as whether or not there was enough time to
Noah was said to be five hundred years old. It alsobuild the Ark.
says that Shem was already born. We have pointedMan's Years Shall Be 120
out that this statement is not to be taken as a part ofArguments have been made that verse 3 of chapter
the iteration of the genealogies, because of the literary6 means the antediluvian race would only continue for
change in the narrative. The end of the precise defininganother 120 years. The argument goes that from the
of the genealogies was reached with Lamech, Noah'scommandment to build the Ark until the flood came
father. Lamech lived 777 years and died 4 yearswas 120 years. They say that it could not have been
before the Flood. With Lamech, the genealogy ceasestalking about men after the Flood, because Noah and
for a while, as we give attention to Noah, the Ark, andhis sons lived longer than that.
the Flood. The scene in verse 32 of chapter 5 wasThere are a number of problems with that argument.
not exactly in Noah's 500th year. The literary style isFirst of all, the normal sense of the genealogies of
that of generalization, so it is neither critical norSeth and Cain would tell us that both Japheth and
inconsistent.Ham were already older than 120 when God spoke to
It is not clear from the record whether or not GodNoah. And of course Noah himself was around 500.
spoke to Noah at that time. Verses 1 through 13 ofThe limitation of years was not on these men or on
chapter 6 intervene before we hear God sayingthose immediately after the Flood, but on the human
anything to Noah. He may have talked to Noah beforerace in general. It took a few generations for the lives
this, but there is no way of knowing for certain. Butof men to shorten to 120 years, but we see steady
there can be no speculation as to how old Noah wasdecline. Arphaxad lived to be 438. Salah lived to be
when the Flood came. This is spelled out in verse 11 of433, Eber lived to be 464, Peleg lived to be 239, as did
chapter 7: "In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the 2ndReu, Serug lived to be 230, and Nahor lived to be 148.
month, and the 17th day." If verse 32 of chapter 5Abraham lived to be 175, but it is indicated that he lived
does not intend to be specific, this verse does.an exceptionally long life. By the time of Moses, the
Shem's Age and the Ark's Buildingage of man was down to 120. If this is not the meaning
In verse 10 of chapter 11 we read that Shem was aof God's words in verse 6, it is strange that this is just
hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two yearshow it worked out with the race by the end of
after the Flood. This age is to be taken as exact also,Genesis. And if this is not what God meant to say,
because it is a part of a genealogy, and it is telling us,then why did Lamech prophesy that God was going
along with verse 11, how long Shem lived. He lived toto bless the race by greatly shortening their years? It is
be exactly 600 years. So we know that there couldalways a little frightening to be at odds with imposing
have been no more than 98 years between the 32ndpeople. Even so, it is my duty to point out that it could
verse of the 5th chapter and the Flood. 98 yearsnot have taken 120 years to build the Ark, since the
would assume that Shem was born that year, which isage of Shem, when his son was born two years after
reasonable, since he was the youngest of the three,the Flood, simply will not allow that exegesis.
according to chapter 10. If he was born earlier, lessCould the Ark Have Been Built in 98 Years?
time would have intervened. Because of the