אֲרָרָֽט Ararat (H780). Ararat means “the curse reversed” and comes from the word אָרַר arar (H779) which literally means “to spit upon”. In the Bible, spitting on someone caused shame, dishonor, or reproach (cf. Numbers 12:14; Deuteronomy 25:9; Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67; Mark 10:34). The fact that Genesis 5:29 tells us Lamech named his son Noaḥ, saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, caused by the ground which YHWH has cursed” (cf. Genesis 3:17-18) may reveal that the name “Ararat” given to this mountain region where the ark rested may focus more upon the reversal of the curse placed upon the land and may not be the same geographical area as the reign of Urartu and or the Ararat mentioned in 2 Kings 19:37, Isaiah 37:38 or Jeremiah 51:27.
1st century Jewish historian Josephus said the ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in Armenia and that the Armenians called this place, “The Place of Descent” as translated from Greek; “for the ark being saved in that place, its remains are shown there by the inhabitants to this day.” (Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus 1.3.5) Armenia is officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south. Easton’s Bible Dictionary says, “Ararat was properly the name of a part of ancient Armenia. Three provinces of Armenia are mentioned in Jeremiah 51:27, Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz. Some, however, think Minni a contraction for Armenia.”
The modern Mount Ararat (or Mount Ağrı) is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in Eastern Turkey. Some researchers say the petrified remains of Noah’s ark can still be seen on Takhte Soleyman in the Alborz mountain range in Iran. In June 2006, the BASE Institute announced the discovery of a large object resembling petrified wood on Mount Takht-e Suleyman in the Alborz. The object, located 13,000 feet (4,000 m) above sea level, was reported to be similar in size to estimates for the Ark. The BASE website asserted that this object was the same one Ed Davis claimed to have seen, but stopped short of proclaiming it Noah’s Ark, instead calling it “a candidate.” “I think we’ve found something that deserves a lot more research,” Cornuke said. “It has a distinct possibility that it could be something like the ark.”
« Back to Glossary Index