Ark of Bulrushes

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Ark of Bulrushes

ARK OF BULRUSHES

ark, bool'-rush-iz (tebhah; Egyptian tebt; Septuagint thibis, "a chest," "a vessel to float").

1. Definitions:

The Hebrew word here translated "ark" is used in the Old Testament only of the ark of Noah (Genesis 6:14) and of the ark of bulrushes (Exodus 2:3), and always in the secondary meaning, a vessel to float. The Septuagint translates it of Noah's ark by kibotos, "a casket," and of the ark of bulrushes by thibis, a little basket made of osiers or flags. For the Ark of the Covenant, the Hebrew employed a different word ('aron, "a chest"). Bulrushes (gome', "papyrus"): This species of reed was used by the Egyptians for many different vessels, some of which were intended to float or even to be used as a skiff. Slime (chemar, "bitumen"), pitch (zepheth, "pitch") was probably the sticky mud of the Nile with which to this day so many things in Egypt are plastered. In this case it was mixed with bitumen. Flags (cuph, "sedge") were reeds of every kind and tall grass growing in the shallow water at the edge of the river.

2. History:

Thus the ark of bulrushes was a vessel made of papyrus stalks and rendered fit to float by being covered with a mixture of bitumen and mud. Into this floating vessel the mother of Moses placed the boy when he was three months old, and put the vessel in the water among the sedge along the banks of the Nile at the place where the ladies from the palace were likely to come to bathe. The act was a pathetic imitation of obedience to the king's command to throw boy babies into the river, a command which she had for three months braved and which now she so obeyed as probably to bring the cruelty of the king to the notice of the royal ladies in such way as to arouse a womanly sympathy, A similar story is related of Sargon I of Babylonia (Records of the Past, 1st series, V, 1-4; Rogers, Hist. Babylonian and Assyrian, I, 362).

The one story in no wise discredits the other. That method of abandoning children, either willingly or by necessity, is as natural along the Nile and the Euphrates, where the river is the great artery of the land and where the floating basket had been used from time immemorial, as is the custom in our modern cities of placing abandoned infants in the streets or on door-steps where they are likely to be found, and such events probably occurred then as often as now.

M. G. Kyle

Library

The Ark among the Flags
... she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.3. And when she
could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/the ark among the flags.htm

Concerning the Afflictions that Befell the Hebrews in Egypt ...
... When they had thus determined, they made an ark of bulrushes, after the manner of
a cradle, and of a bigness sufficient for an infant to be laid in, without ...
/.../josephus/the antiquities of the jews/chapter 9 concerning the afflictions.htm

Moses
... And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and
daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein: and she laid ...
/.../kingsley/the gospel of the pentateuch/sermon ix moses.htm

Adoption
... From a state of sin and misery. Pharaoh's daughter took Moses out of the
ark of bulrushes in the water, and adopted him for her son. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/watson/a body of divinity/4 adoption.htm

The Finding of Moses
... Inside the cradle she made a soft bed, and laid the baby there while he was fast
asleep, and set the ark afloat in the water where the bulrushes were growing. ...
/.../steedman/the babe in the bulrushes/the finding of moses.htm

The Sovereignty of God in Operation
... mother. No longer able to conceal the infant Moses she placed him in an
ark of bulrushes and laid him by the river's brink. The ...
/.../pink/the sovereignty of god/chapter six the sovereignty of.htm

The Faith of Moses.
... was nourishing the child for Pharaoh's daughter, of the wonderful story of their
hiding him by faith and afterwards putting him in an ark of bulrushes by the ...
/.../the expositors bible the epistle to the hebrews/chapter xii the faith of.htm

Marks of a True Conversion
... What great condescension was it for Pharaoh's daughter to take up Moses, a poor
child exposed in an ark of bulrushes, and bred him up for her child? ...
/.../whitefield/selected sermons of george whitefield/marks of a true conversion.htm

The Finding of Moses.
... In this ark she placed her infant son, and hid the ark among the flags and bulrushes
on the river-bank, and set the child's sister to watch it. ...
/.../anonymous/mother stories from the old testament/the finding of moses.htm

Chapter vi
... Since the same word is used only in reference to Moses' ark of bulrushes besides,
it appears quite likely to be akin to an Egyptian word, teb (t), although it ...
//christianbookshelf.org/leupold/exposition of genesis volume 1/chapter vi.htm

Subtopics

Ark of the Covenant was Called The: Ark of God

Ark of the Covenant was Called The: Ark of God's Strength

Ark of the Covenant was Called The: Ark of the Covenant of the Lord

Ark of the Covenant was Called The: Ark of the Testimony

Ark of the Covenant was Carried by Priests of Levites Alone