Old Testament Scholars? The Ark...

Factual Questions
1

There’s The Ark.

Then, there’s The Ark.

And, there are Arks.

( this last one is on the Bima at Congregation Rodeph Shalom on North Broad Street in Philadelphia- the first Ashkenazic congregation in the Western Hemisphere ).

Makes a fellah wonder. Does Ark mean the same thing now, and did it 5,000 years ago? Did it have a specific meaning in one part of Genesis opposed to another? Was it written the same way? I the layman see it as (roughly ) meaning Vessel of Life. The Torah is regarded as the word of G-D, no? Noah’s vessel, an Ark, was the protectorate of all life not scoured from the earth. The modern day Ark found in a temple houses the Torah. The original Ark housed the Ten Commandments.

Are these intended to be regarded as the same idea if not physical item?

2

Well, the “Ark” seen in modern synagogues is fairly obviously named after, and symbolically replicates, the “Ark of the Covenant”.

3

The two uses of ark share a derivation, if that’s what you’re asking.

4

It is. I was hoping for an older derivation / meaning. But this is very interesting !

5

Ancient thread, almost as old as the Ark(s).

6

Ooooooooooooh. Kewl. Not sure if I get demerits for not searching first on this one ! I don’t remember it, but it’s a decade dead Zombie !!

Thanks !

7

Re the origins of the English word, let me point out the name used sequentially by several (English/British) Royal Navy vessels, most notably the WWII aircraft carrier: the Ark Royal.