Topic(s): Old Testament, Bible Study, Faith

Bob Prichard

There are many things about the Bible that everyone “knows” that are not true. Everyone “knows” that Noah took two of each animal, a male and a female, onto the ark. We remember God’s instructions to Noah: “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them” (Genesis 6:19-21). But were there just two of each animal, a male and a female? If so, what happened when Noah offered sacrifices, or ate an animal? Would that mean the extinction of an animal line?

As the final week before the flood began, God further instructed Noah concerning the animals he should take into the ark. “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth” (Genesis 7:2-3). This tells us that Noah did not take just one pair of male and female of the clean beasts, but instead took them “by sevens.” It was only the unclean animals that he took “by twos.” Scholars are divided as to whether “by sevens” means that there were to be seven male and seven female of each kind of clean beast and bird, or if “by sevens” means that there were perhaps three pairs of animals plus one left over for sacrifices and other needs (such as food for Noah and his family). Either way, whether Noah took seven or fourteen of the clean animals, there would have been enough of the clean animals for sacrifices or other needs.

Genesis 7:5 tells us that “Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.” Noah was a righteous man who fulfilled every requirement that God laid out for him. This was important, because God’s purpose in the flood was to preserve as well as to destroy. The world had become so wicked that God decided to destroy it, because “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). In the midst of the destruction of the evil of the earth, God also wanted to preserve human and animal life, so He made provision for the animals to enter the ark.

Notice the contrast between the selfish, jealous world before the flood, and Noah, a righteous man. After the flood, when Noah went forth from the ark with his family and the animals preserved to repopulate the earth, the first thing that Noah did was to worship and offer sacrifice to God. “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (Genesis 8:20). Noah sacrificed of all the clean beasts and fowl, suggesting that devotion and sacrifice, lost in the pre-flood world, were regained.