03-20-2019, 06:25 AM
It's a courtesy to the readership to quote the verse in Hebrew when you're asking about it. In this case, and with your question in red, Genesis 6:16 is:
The first word in question is, in the lexical form, תַּחְתִּי taḥtî, which means "the lowest part." In Holladay's A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (CHALOT), the author says specifically with regard to Genesis 6:16 that it means "lowest storey" (in a house/building). Here is the entry for this word:
It seems to me that the tachtiyim are the "lower parts" of the ark, while the shniyim are the second floor up ("secondary places") and the shlishim are the third floor up ("third places"). The words shniyim and shlishim simply mean "second" and "third," respectively, and they should be taken in contrast to tachtiyim, which surely refers to the lowest floor. The plural is inconsequential. It is plural because it is the parts that are lower of the ship.
צֹ֣הַר ׀ תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֣ה לַתֵּבָ֗ה וְאֶל־אַמָּה֙ תְּכַלֶּ֣נָּה מִלְמַ֔עְלָה וּפֶ֥תַח הַתֵּבָ֖ה בְּצִדָּ֣הּ תָּשִׂ֑ים
תַּחְתִּיִּ֛ם שְׁנִיִּ֥ם וּשְׁלִשִׁ֖ים תַּֽעֲשֶֽׂהָ׃
The first word in question is, in the lexical form, תַּחְתִּי taḥtî, which means "the lowest part." In Holladay's A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (CHALOT), the author says specifically with regard to Genesis 6:16 that it means "lowest storey" (in a house/building). Here is the entry for this word:
תַּחְתִּי: f. תַּחַתִּית, תַּחְתִּיָּה; pl. תַּחְתִּיּוֹת: the lower, lowest: storey Gn 6:16, millstone Jb 41:16; taḥtiyyôt hāʾāreṣ the depths of the earth Is 44:23, = ereṣ taḥtît Ez 31:14 & ereṣ taḥtiyyôt 26:20; taḥtiyyôt lᵉ lowest parts of Ne 4:7.
I'd take the words to indicate that there were to be three floors. I'm not aware that there was a specific biblical word for "floor" or "storey." We use the word קוֹמָה qômâ in modern Hebrew as spoken in Israel. Biblically, this word meant "height," for which we use גּ֫וֹבַהּ gốḇah (also a biblical word) exclusively today. Thus, while both of these terms meant "height" in the Bible, in modern Hebrew the former became "floor" (of a building) and the latter became "height" exclusively, whether of a building or of a person or of anything else.It seems to me that the tachtiyim are the "lower parts" of the ark, while the shniyim are the second floor up ("secondary places") and the shlishim are the third floor up ("third places"). The words shniyim and shlishim simply mean "second" and "third," respectively, and they should be taken in contrast to tachtiyim, which surely refers to the lowest floor. The plural is inconsequential. It is plural because it is the parts that are lower of the ship.