Pitched Without and Within

“Make thee an ark of gopher wood: rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”

(Genesis 6:14)

The word pitch appears only two times in the entire Bible; both of those appearances are in the same verse, Genesis 6:14. The ark is a type of Christ but what is the significance of the pitch and why is it used twice in the same verse? In fact there are two different words that have been translated as pitch. They both come from the same root but they have distinctly different meanings. The first time it is used it is the Hebrew verb kaphar which means to cover or make atonement. This is a blessing, those on the ark were in Christ and the application of the pitch was making atonement or a covering for their lives. But what was this pitch that was to be applied? When the word pitch appears for the second time it is the Hebrew noun kopher which means the price of life or ransom. In the Old Testament the atonement was made with the blood of the sacrifice of an animal without blemish but was only a covering until the LORD Jesus Christ would come and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself once and for all. His death was not atonement but rather the complete satisfaction of God’s law and justice, which the blood of animals could never do, Hebrews 10:4. Those on the ark were protected by this covering and were to look ahead to the day when the LORD Jesus Christ would make the last sacrifice on the cross and justify those that His Father had given Him, Hebrews 10:10-14.