Sunday 23 June 2019

The Gopher tree


                     "Gopher trees" can be seen in Gavi, Kerala, India and believed to be the only such trees in India. The tree, which is identified as gopher, is known as nirampalli. Gopher wood or gopher wood is a term used once in the Bible for the substance from which Noah's
                      ark was built. Genesis 6:14 states that Noah was to build the Ark of gofer.
Gopher is the Hebrew word translated “cypress wood”. This is an unknown type of material, although it undoubtedly refers to some sort of coniferous tree thought to possess great strength and durability. Cypress was often used by shipbuilders in the ancient Near East. Similarly, the cedars of Lebanon were prized by the Egyptians for the construction of their barques for transport on the Nile, for instance in the eleventh century B.C
Many modern scholars consider “gopher wood” to be cypress because cypress wood is extremely durable. Modern English versions of the Bible, such as the New International Version, the New Living Translation, and the New English Translation translate it as “cypress wood.” The Smith Bible Dictionary defines gopher as “any trees of the resinous kind, such as pine, fir, or cypress.”
Gopher wood", far stronger than anything we have today. The strength of seasoned timber is related to density. A dense timber simply has more stuff in it, cellulose, lignin etc, built into heavier-walled cells.
There is a Gopher tree near to my workplace in Gavi, Pathanamthitta, Kerala