What is a Cubit?

The other day I made a snide comment and used the term cubit. I have known what a cubit is, but I thought I would share with everyone what it is and where it came from.

The term predates the bible and was used as a measurement by the Egyptians. Not sure if they used it for the erection of the pyramids, but probably for building at a smaller scale as it is not a large measurement.

The original Royal cubit was the length of the foreman's arm plus the palm of his hand. It was eventually standardized by the Pharaoh (not sure which one) and a black granite block was made and kept. All measuring tools were then calibrated to this instrument. The block measures out to about 20.67 inches in today's standard or 52.5 centimeters in the metric system.

Noah was told to build and ark and god gave Noah the dimensions as 300 cubits (length) by 50 cubits (width) by 30 cubits (height). Translating this out into modern dimensions, it would be 520' 8" long or 158.7m by 86'9.3" or 26.45m wide by 52' .8" or 15.87m high. And Noah had 7 days to build it. Noah was an Israelite and spoke Hebrew, why did god give him measurements in Egyptian? Noah was used to the finger-length, palm, span, ell, mil, and parasang in the measurement system of his time. Not only was the deadline tight, he was required to do some research and conversions, oy vey.

The Sumerians tell a similar flood story with a large boat that predates the bible, and there is no scientific evidence a flood of biblical proportions ever happening....