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.
God has announced the flood and ordered the ark; now He turns to its cargo — not just eight people, but a living sample of every kind of creature on earth. Why rescue animals from a judgment caused by human sin, and why two of each?
The name used for God in this chapter shapes the instruction. One writer says the order here is about the Maker keeping His creatures alive, not about His moral dealings with anyone.
So in Genesis 6 it says that "the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence." It is not "Jehovah" now but "God." … What does He do then? He directs the ark to be made. For what end? The preservation of the creatures that needed the ark. So He orders that two of every kind should be taken into the ark. We can easily see how fitting this is. It is simply a measure for keeping the creature in being by God the Creator, despite the judgment about to fall. It has nothing to do with moral relationships. … Here, then, we only hear of pairs entering.
Genesis 7 tells Noah to take clean animals by sevens. Some critics call that a second, contradictory account. One writer answers that the twos and the sevens belong together in one text, under the two names for God found there.
When Jehovah is stating His thoughts about Noah, and giving His directions about His relationship with man and the earth, He tells Noah to take clean animals by sevens — still two and two, male and female. And they all go in two and two, as God had commanded. This ties the two names together in the text itself in a way that would make separating them difficult. The reason for distinguishing the clean animals (still two and two, male and female) is too obvious to cause the smallest difficulty. The twos refer, moreover, to male and female on a general principle. A person must be very hard pressed for a difficulty, or for a discovery, to find a contradiction here.
Gathering the pairs was part of a long assignment, with nothing to go on but God's word. Two settled convictions carried Noah through it.
Carrying this out was a fitting and remarkable test of Noah's faith. It involved a long wait, continuous labour, and complete but active submission to God's word. Noah kept two things before his spirit all the time. On the one hand, the world was doomed, and judgment would fall on it from God's hand because of its sins. On the other, he and his family would without doubt be sheltered from it in the ark, with the creatures needed to renew the world that would come after the flood.
The creatures aboard point beyond the flood itself.
The animals, clean and unclean, taken into the ark, along with the birds of the air, give us the hint that creation will share the blessed effects of salvation. The later prophetic word, and Romans 8:19-23, tell us of a coming deliverance of groaning creation.
Another writer goes further and uses the language of redemption.
Some of every sort are carried with Noah from the place of death into the ark of salvation. The "eight souls," as Peter calls them, but with them remnants of the animals of the earth, small and great, winged birds and creeping things — all are housed and redeemed together with Noah.
Critics said no ship could hold them all. One writer answers from the ark's own size.
It has been proved, over and over again, that the ark was big enough. People have calculated that it was a vessel of more than forty-two thousand tons: four hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five broad, and forty-five high. That is eighteen times as much as the largest warship. One warship can stow, say, a thousand men, with provisions, for a far longer time than the flood lasted, besides an immense weight of guns and shot. So it is clear that the ark could easily have received the animals that could not live in the water.
Commentators read the ark as a picture of Christ. It carries its passengers through judgment into what lies beyond.
The ark is Christ, and the flood it saves through is the judgment of the whole world, which perished in it. Those preserved come through to a new world that emerges from the waters. There the sweet savour of accepted sacrifice secures lasting blessing.
- Creator. Here God acts as Maker. The pairs keep every kind alive through a judgment aimed at human sin.
- Command. Two of each, male and female, is the least life needs to continue. The sevens of chapter 7 serve another purpose. They are not a rival account.
- Carried. Two certainties carried Noah through the long wait: the world was doomed, and the ark would hold.
- Creation. The animals sheltered with Noah hint that creation itself will share in the deliverance promised in Romans 8.
- Comes through. Everyone inside comes out into a new world. The ark pictures Christ: in Him you pass through judgment rather than around it.
Of fowl after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of each shall go in to thee, to keep [them] alive.
God's instructions to Noah move from building the ark to filling it. Noah does not hunt the animals down; they come in to him. Two questions sit inside the verse. Why did God save the animals at all? And why do the pairs here become sevens of the clean animals one chapter later?
Here God acts as Maker of the earth, not in moral dealings with a person. One writer ties the pairs to that.
Then what does He do? He directs the ark to be made. For what purpose? The preservation of the creatures that needed the ark. So He orders that two of every kind should be taken into the ark. We can easily see why this is fitting. It is simply a measure by God the Creator to keep the creature going, despite the judgment about to fall. It has nothing to do with moral relationships.
Readers often stumble at the different numbers given in Genesis 6 and Genesis 7. The difference tracks the two names of God used in the two passages, and the animals themselves settle the matter by entering in pairs.
In the accounts where Elohim gives directions for saving the different kinds of creatures, He directs that two of every sort be taken, male and female, to keep them alive. Nothing could be simpler than the meaning of this. Jehovah then states His thoughts about Noah, and gives His directions about His relationship with man and the earth. He tells Noah to take clean animals by sevens, still two and two, male and female. And they all go in two and two, as Elohim had commanded.
The animals move toward Noah. One writer turns that into a warning for people today.
From east, west, north, and south, the hand of God gathered the dumb creatures. The people must have thought it strange when those animals went in. They were wiser than men. They obeyed the call of God. Men would not then, and many will not now, so God says, "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand" (Isa. 1:3). These animals knew the call of their Creator, and they passed in safely, but man paid no attention.
The phrase looks past the flood. What enters the ark will renew the world after the flood. Noah had to hold that in mind through years of building.
Carrying this out was a fitting and remarkable test of Noah's faith. It meant a long wait, continuous labour, and complete but active submission to God's word. Noah kept two things constantly before his spirit. One: the world was doomed, and judgment would fall on it from God's hand because of its sins. The other: he and his family would without doubt be sheltered from it in the ark, with the creatures needed to renew the world that would come after the flood.
The creatures kept alive point past their own survival.
The animals, clean and unclean, taken into the ark, along with the birds of the air, hint that creation will share in the blessed effects of salvation. The later prophetic word, and Romans 8:19-23, tell us of a coming deliverance for groaning creation.
One writer reads the ark that held them all as a picture of something greater.
For plainly, the ark is Christ, and the flood it saves through is the judgment of the whole world, which perished in it. Those preserved come through to a new world which rises out of the waters. There the sweet aroma of accepted sacrifice secures lasting blessing.
- Creator. The pairs are God acting as Maker, keeping every kind alive through the coming judgment.
- Call. The creatures are not captured but come; they answered the call of their Creator when men would not.
- Count. Two here, sevens of the clean later. That is not a contradiction. Elohim, the Creator, orders the pairs; Jehovah, dealing with Noah in relationship, names the sevens.
- Continuity. "To keep them alive" means the ark carried the seed of the world to come. Noah's long labour was faith holding onto that.
- Christ. Writers read the ark as a figure of Christ. The flood falls, the vessel rises, and everything inside — man and creature alike — reaches a new world.