Section 1 Chapter 5 – The Mount Ararat Myth
Though we have mentioned a few reasons why Agri-dagi is not the final resting place of Noah’s Ark, it is important to recognize why so many still believe that it is; I consider them innocent victims. We will reinsert into this chapter a few things worth mentioning again. One of the main reasons individuals believe the ship landed on Mount Ararat is that preachers promoted it as coming from the Scriptures. Like many other misunderstandings promoted from folks with their own agenda, the bible does not place the ship on Mount Ararat. Like many other misunderstandings derived from Scripture, if a concept is promoted long enough and often enough, it is typically accepted by an unsuspecting public as being the truth. In this case nothing could be further from it. The mountain has been explored extensively, not only by sponsored expeditions from groups around the world (looking for Noah’s Ark), but by the Turkish Military most often running anti-terrorists exercises. The mountain has been extensively photographed and surveyed for over 100 years. Absolutely zero legitimate evidence has come from the mountain validating it to be the final landing site of Noah’s Ark. The bible simple places the boat in a particular region, NOT a particular mountain peak, especially one that didn’t exist at the time of its landfall.
There have been numerous fraudulent attempts over several decades to scam the general public and particularly the religious world, that Mount Ararat held the remains of the fabled ship. The searching had become a revenue generating industry. Locals realized this was a way to earn thousands from entranced foreigners, it was somewhat a natural human development aspect.
Notice these headlines – Apr 30, 2010 … (Mount Ararat) Near the top of Mount Ararat (seen from Armenia in a file photo) in Turkey, explorers claim to have found Noah’s ark. PHOTOGRAPH BY MARTIN GRAY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC… The NatGeo article (similar to many others), goes on state that others have questions about the supposed finding. However, this is the kind of headlines that adds credence to the tradition. Back at the turn of the 20th century certain individuals found that they could cash in on the multiple centuries of traditional theory, that the ship was somewhere on the mountain buried in the snow.
The tradition most likely originated with the Persians as their name for Ararat is, Koh-i-nuh meaning Noah’s Mountain. The biblical location is derived from a much earlier connection to the kingdom of Urartu, 1300-600 BC. It was the Septuagint (70 Greek scholars) that translated the Hebrew consonants RRT’s as Ararat.
The Targum is a distinctive designation of Aramaic translations or paraphrases of the Old Testament. It reveals the Ark landed on the Quardu Mountains (Kurdish mountains). The Targum was the written version of what had been orally passed down during the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews. It translated the RRT’s from the Hebrew as the Quardu mountains. The first Syriac Christians also had their version of the bible – the Pershitta, the accepted Bible of Syrian Christian churches from the end of the 3rd century CE. This version also translates Gen.8:4 as the Ark resting on the mountains of Quardu – the Kurdish mountains. So you can see the seeds of this theory were planted long, long ago.
The top 1/3 of Ararat is usually snow covered year-round. It had become obvious that the motivation in a number of cases was fame and fortune, however, ego and pride also played an unfortunate role in the deception. I know of some Christian leaders and organizations that have so much invested in the deception, even though there is no physical evidence, that they find it difficult, near impossible to change their perspective. Certainly, humility needs to play a role in this situation, it is clear that the remains of the boat are not on Agri-dagi.
The relatively young strata-volcano last erupted on June 2nd, 1840. On the slopes an Armenian village and monastery had been built to commemorate St. Jacob, who is said to have tried repeatedly but failed to reach the summit of Great Ararat in search of the Ark. The 1840 eruption and landslide destroyed the village, the monastery of St. Jacob, and a nearby chapel of St. James, and it also killed hundreds of villagers. So, you see, a ready supply of construction wood pieces was littered on the mountain, where scrupulous locals used the fragments to entice foreigners to make the trek up the slops looking for the rest of the ship.
Stories abounded that the ship had been broken up in the 1840 eruption and the glacial motion (Ararat is Turkey” 2nd largest glacier) in subsequent years added to the fracturing of the ship, this was the reasoning for all the pieces of wood, that supposedly had been found. Ed Davis’s claim that he saw the Ark broken in at least two distinct sections back in the 1940’s has as well never been corroborated. There were numerous supposed eye-witness accounts, with none of them being verified. All the components were there, both human and material to fuel the tradition for centuries.
Sir John Mandeville (possibly his pen name) summed up the general thinking on Ararat centuries ago in his travel guide writings between 1322-1356 AD: “That Mountain is full seven miles high; and some men say that they have seen and touched the ship and put their fingers in the parts where the devil went out, when Noah said “Benedicte”. He continued; “But those that say such things are speaking without understanding, for none can forge the mountain due to the masses of snow, always covering the mountain summer and winter”. The real reason none have seen or touched is simple; the boat is not there!! (Authors note)
After Fernand Navarra’s supposed discovery of wood on the mountain in the 1950’s, the search fever really heated up. After the SEARCH expedition (a team from the US-1969), numerous expeditions, organizations, local guides and individuals followed, all looking for the allusive ship. All would be denied, even Colonel James Irwin who nearly died on the mountain in 1982 but ventured back 4 more times after, each time coming up empty handed in his attempt to discover the ship.
Even to this day numerous treks up Ararat’s slops have denied its climbers any satisfaction in discovering the remains of the boat. I must say though, all the centuries of activity focused on that specific mountain has yielded a very positive result. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it was God’s providence that played out in an incredible way. Any who had been inspired to search for the remains, despite their personal motives, due to tradition were pulled in a direction that was not biblical or even reasonable. God’s word states that all things work together for good…(Rom. 8:28), and this was surely confirmed over the centuries with the search for Noah’s Ark. With all the focus several miles from the actual resting place, God in His providence preserved the remains for examination and display at the appropriate time in human history. The very same boat that sparred the lives of Noah and his family and provided the backdrop for Noah’s warning message to that generation, would once again play the same role in sounding an end-time warning message and extending an invitation to come into the Ark of safety and be saved. A very heartfelt thank you, to all those that played the role God had them play in the preservation of that same ship that was so instrumental in the salvation of humanity.