How Big Was Noah's Ark?

How big was Noah's Ark?

Many children know the story of Noah's Ark. There are countless picture books of the animals going on the ark, two by two, and sometimes we may even see pictures of certain animals going toward the ark in sevens. Many children can tell you it rained and rained for forty days and forty nights. They know that Noah and his family were the only people saved after the floods came, and that God put a rainbow in the sky as a promise that He would never again destroy the earth by flood. But I think most people don't really know how big the ark was. I wanted to give the children an idea of the size in comparison to a building today so we measured our fellowship hall and put it on graph paper. Then we looked up verses that describe the size of the ark, and also the Temple built by King Solomon, and graphed those. We were all surprised by the comparison. This was fun for the kids, and the older ones, who had to help with the math and graphing concepts.

"And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it." Genesis 6:13-16

"And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD. And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house." I Kings 6:1-3

How big was the Temple Solomon built?