Steve Carrell in Evan Almighty: A Noah's Ark Tale Comedy

Steve Carrell is appearing in a Noah's Ark type tale in June, 2007 entitled Evan Almighty, a sequel to Jim Carrey's Bruce Almighty with another appearance from Morgan Freeman as God.The movie sheds some light on the aspects of this well known Biblical story, namely - how much time and effort would it take to build something this large? How did he get all the animals inside? How many kinds of animals were there?

Some people feel it is a nice allegory, others believe Noah's Ark to be a literal account of a Biblical historic event. Questions arise about the probability of gathering the animals, how many species were found within the ark, and what size ark would hold them. According to the Genesis account of Noah and the building of the ark, God gave Noah some very precise instructions for building and from this we can see details that

Like the character that Steve Carrell reprises from his role from Bruce Almighty, Evan Baxter, but now he plays the one that is selected for a work of Biblical Proportions. His character was not a professional boat builder, but rather a Professional Newscaster who has been newly elected to Congress. The real Noah was not a carpenter or ship maker. His family was untrained and had to gather all the wood and materials for the large ark. Evan Almighty depicts Steve Carrell's character trying to get his family, including wife played by Gilmore Girls Lauren Graham, to help him build the ark, none of which seem too amused and wonder if Evan is having the biggest mid-life crisis ever. If the movie plays true to the Biblical account, we can see why since Genesis chapter six verse 15 gives the following details about the ark specifications: its dimensions were to be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. A cubit is defined as about 17 inches, so this means the size would have to be at least 430 feet long by 73 feet wide by 44 feet high. It had three decks that made for a total of 96,000 square feet, built of a water resistant wood and sealed inside and outside with tar according to verses 14 - 16. The ark had sectioned compartments and a door, perhaps a pitched roof, but no sails or oars. The shape is more of a rectangle box like shape than the traditional boat like shape often depicted in child storybooks. If these size estimates are an accurate estimate of a cubit, it would mean the Ark was about the size of the Titanic. Wikipedia defines a cubit as closer to 24 inches, so that could mean the ark was even bigger. While filled with equipment the ark did not have, it took an entire company of men from 1909 to 1911 to build a ship the size of the Titanic, which was so large that they had to make alterations to their shipyard to accommodate the giant liner.

The depth ratio proportions of the ark were 10 to 1 so that it could withstand waves hitting the side and middle without breaking under the pressure. This ration is used by many modern ships, which made it more buoyant and able to withstand the wind and rain and stay afloat. To stay afloat, the weight would have to be even, which means the compartments in which the animals and food were stored would have to balance.

Another issue Ark issue is the gathering of the animals. There are reported to be over a million species of animals. Of this a large number are water inhabitants, such as fish, leaving a mainly the potential of birds, reptiles, and mammals to be the types of animals to be on the ark. Depending on how one interprets the Biblical phrase "kinds" of animals, this could make for a very reasonable number to a large one. In the Biblical account, it took Noah a week to gather the animals. This would seem to require that God brought the animals to Noah, or that he actually did not have to get that many animals and that the animals may have mutated into what we have today from classifications or kinds, or that it just takes a week to round up animals.

For some individuals, the time and effort to gather the animals and build the ark makes the story seem too improbable. For those of religious faith, the story of Noah is an example of faith and of God's blessing Noah and helping him build and gather animals.

Evan Almighty opens June 22^nd and also stars Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, Molly Shannon, John Michael Higgins, Jimmy Higgins, Wandy Sikes, and Ed Helms.