Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowl, and of everything that creeps on the ground,
Here the ark's passengers are named in four groups, and the next verse says they went in two by two. Two questions follow. Why pairs, when verse 2 asked for seven of every clean kind? And why are animals called clean or unclean here, when no rule has yet been given to explain the difference?
No rule here tells Noah how to tell one class from the other. What he did after the flood shows what the sorting was for.
The first time we read of clean and unclean animals is when Noah went into the ark. God told him to take seven pairs of each of the clean beasts and clean birds, and only two of the unclean. We are told nothing about how Noah told them apart, but it shows that in early days there was a distinction between the clean and the unclean. Those called "clean" were surely clean for sacrifice, and not for food, since Scripture says nothing of man eating animal food until after the flood... When Noah came out of the ark, he offered some of every clean beast and every clean bird as burnt offerings.
Verse 2 asked for seven of each clean kind. The next verse says they went in two and two. Commentators see no clash here: the twos describe male and female pairing, while the clean came in greater numbers. Two names for God appear in what follows — Elohim and Jehovah.
In the accounts of Elohim's directions for saving the different kinds of creatures, the order is to take two of every sort, the male and the female, to keep them alive. Nothing could be simpler than the meaning of this. When Jehovah states His thoughts about Noah, and gives His directions about His relationship with man and the earth, He tells Noah to take the clean beasts by sevens — still two and two, male and female. And they all go in two and two, just as Elohim had commanded.
Commentators read the switch between the two names as deliberate. Where He acts as Creator, pairs are enough. Where He deals with Noah in relationship, He asks for more.
In relation to His place as Creator, God preserved two of every sort. In relation to His own moral government, He would have seven taken into the ark — seven animals of each clean sort. Of the unclean, just enough would be there to preserve what He had made. So in the one case we have what was generally necessary. In the other we have what was special, and due to the relationship in which man stood with Jehovah.
This verse belongs to a paragraph where God is named as God rather than by His covenant name, and the wording matches that.
Clean beasts are named as well as unclean, and birds, and reptiles, as all going in. Yet only two and two, male and female, are spoken of, "as God commanded Noah," because the point here is simply to keep each race alive, high or low.
Commentators differ on whether verse 2 means seven animals of each clean kind or seven pairs. Read as seven, the number leaves three pairs and one over — and that one had a purpose waiting on dry ground.
Why the odd one in the seven? Because they were to be offered in sacrifice as a burnt offering at the very start of the renewed earth. The Lord knew that the flood had made no change in human nature. Even in Noah and his family it was the same after the flood as before it... and so from the outset the new world could only continue on the basis of sacrifice.
Noah did not have to hunt these animals down. They came — and their coming preached to the people watching.
From east, west, north, and south, the hand of God gathered the animals that cannot speak. The people must have thought it strange when those beasts went in. They were wiser than men. They obeyed the call of God... These animals knew the call of their Creator, and they passed in safely, but man paid no attention. Oh, sinner, what a state you are in! Just think — the very creatures stand as a testimony against you. They all came to a place of safety. Have you?
The ark held more than one family. Its passenger list points beyond the rescue of people.
The beasts, 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. Later prophetic words, and Romans 8:19-23, tell us of a coming deliverance for groaning creation.
- Commanded. Every passenger came in at God's word, not by instinct alone. That command covers the whole list, clean and unclean alike.
- Counted. Seven of each clean kind, two of the unclean, and all of them still male and female. Commentators see design here, not contradiction.
- Clean. Scripture first draws the clean and unclean line at the ark. It points forward to the altar, not back to an earlier rule.
- Consumed. The spare clean animal was for the burnt offering. Human nature came out of the flood unchanged, so the new world would rest on sacrifice.
- Carried. Beasts, birds and creeping things all rode out the judgment. That hints that creation itself will share in God's salvation.
there came two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
The animals go into the ark in pairs, and the verse ties the whole scene to one fact: God had commanded it. That raises two questions — why "God" here and not "the LORD", and how the pairs fit with the sevens of clean animals Noah was told to take.
Genesis 7 uses two names for God within a few verses. Commentators read the change as deliberate. In the five verses before, the name is Jehovah — the personal name printed as "the LORD". From verse 6 the account uses "God", which is Elohim in Hebrew.
The general statement that follows in verses 6-10 confirms the special force of these five verses. There "God" appears rather than Jehovah, and so nothing about moral relationship in particular. And this is so true that the account names clean beasts as well as unclean, and birds, and reptiles, as going in too. Yet it speaks of only two and two, male and female, "as God commanded Noah," because the point is simply to keep each kind alive, high or low.
"Male and female" belongs to the same thought. It is about keeping the kinds going, not about how anyone stands with God. That is why the name "God" fits here.
Some read verse 9 as clashing with the earlier instruction about sevens of clean animals. Both are true at once: the sevens were themselves counted in pairs.
When Jehovah states His thoughts about Noah, and gives His directions about His relationship with man and the earth, He tells Noah to take clean beasts by sevens — still two and two, male and female. And they all go in two and two, as Elohim had commanded. So the text itself ties the two names together. The reason for treating the clean beasts differently — still two and two, male and female — is too obvious to raise the smallest difficulty.
The clean animals were counted differently, and not only so that they would survive.
Here God provides not merely for keeping the creature alive, but with marked completeness for sacrifice. So we see His perfect care to keep His own rights and place as the One who governed morally.
The verse does not say Noah rounded the animals up. It says they went in. One writer draws a warning out of that.
From east, west, north, and south, the hand of God gathered the animals. It must have looked strange to the people when those animals went in. They were wiser than men. They obeyed the call of God. Men would not obey then, and many still do not. These animals knew the call of the Creator, and they passed in safely, but man paid no attention. Oh, sinner, what a case yours is. Imagine — the very creatures being a testimony against you.
Every detail of the ark and its passengers came by instruction — the numbers, the kinds, the food. That is the point of the closing clause of the verse.
God also gave instructions about all that the ark was to hold: seven of the clean creatures and two of the rest, male and female, with enough food for all. Nothing was left to arrangement or imagination; God ordered it all from first to last. This is worth noting, for here we have the first illustration of salvation that the Bible gives us.
Commentators read the ark itself as a picture of Christ:
The ark had a window above — looking towards Heaven and not on the earth and its judgment beneath. It had one door and only one, in the side. All of this applies to Christ and salvation... He passed through death and judgment for us and has made Himself our perfect ark, our hiding place. In Him we are lifted above the judgment waters.
The ark held more than one family. The pairs of animals and birds point past their own survival.
The beasts, clean and unclean, taken into the ark, as well as 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.
- Commanded. Every number came from God's word, not Noah's planning: "nothing was left to arrangement or imagination."
- Gathered. Noah did not hunt the animals down; they came, obeying a call that the people around them ignored.
- Counted. Pairs and sevens do not conflict: the sevens were themselves male and female, the extras kept back for sacrifice.
- Preserved. The name "God" fits verse 9. Here the Creator keeps every kind alive through judgment.
- Restored. The animals saved with Noah hint that creation itself will share in God's deliverance.