Keep Seed Alive
OK. Show of hands, because I know you are out there.
Did Noah take two of every kind of animal on the ark or did he take seven? How many say two? How many say seven. You are all right, and you are all wrong.
Genesis 6:19-20 says,
And of all that lives, of all flesh, you shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you; they shall be male and female. From birds of every kind, cattle of every kind, every kind of creeping thing on earth, two of each shall come to you to stay alive.
Genesis 7:2-3 says,
Of every clean animal you shall take seven pairs, males and their mates, and of every animal that is not clean, two, a male and its mate; of the birds of the sky also, seven pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive upon all the earth.
Finally, Genesis 7:7-9 says,
Noah, with his sons, his wife, and sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the Flood. Of the clean animals, of the animals that are not clean, of the birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, two of each, male and female, came to Noah into the ark, as God had commanded Noah.
So one of the first of many discrepancies in the Bible appears. How many of each did Noah take on the ark? Even though it says two in two different places, that probably is not quite right. I mean, after the flood, Noah builds an altar to the LORD and takes every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Would Noah have gone through so much trouble to keep seed alive and then turn right around and sacrifice it? It is possible they all could have reproduced an offspring during the time in the ark, but the Bible doesn’t record that.
Does it matter? Not to me. To those who testify in the inerrant word of God it might make one uncomfortable.
The general explanation is that Flood story, like the creation story, has two authors, and the story has been woven together.
Also, after the flood, God lifts the vegan requirements and now states man can now eat every creature that lives, as long as it doesn’t have its life-blood in it. (And as long as it doesn’t eat man first!)
For someone that doesn’t care if he believes or not, you’re going to a lot of trouble to tell everyone! LOL! No offense… just an observation.
Like your observation about the animals mating while in the ark. You suppose that they did, right? It’s only logical, right? Just like it’s logical to ASSUME that Adam squatted down for a crap every now and then, being human and all. That isn’t recorded, either, is it? We know that he had to do it, though. Many facts are left out for obvious reasons, doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.
Some things are repeated in scripture, due to the different authors, and being different entities, naturally they emphasised points that maybe the others didn’t or wouldn’t or couldn’t. Generally, though, they were all in context. We don’t even know what the original language was at the time of Noah. Hebrew? Perhaps, but maybe not… who knows? Does it matter?
As I stated on your other page, the attendant hostility toward the scriptures was the guttural proof I needed to verify their authenticity. No other ‘fad’ engenders the opposition that Christianity does, even Islam. I know about all the hermeneutical mumbo-jumbo regarding the so-called dual creation stories… you know that intellectuals just LOVE dissecting and analyzing stuff to death! Trouble is, if the common man can’t understand what’s written without a scholar present to interpret for him, what the hell good is the Bible in the first place? It’s not as complicated as vain people like to make it out to be.
As for the vegan diet, well, how many plants do you think were on the Earth after that deluge? Ever seen a field after a flood? It’s a wasteland! It was eat flesh or starve. Later, many flesh foods were condemned for their unhealthy influence upon the body. Even today, a vegan diet is healthier than a carnivorous one.
I see no inconsistencies, my friend. Hope that helps!
Rocky –
I’m not an atheist in the traditionally meaning of the word. I’m in the process of killing off the God I’ve ‘served’ all of my life: the version that has been handed down to me. I don’t know what, if anything, will be left.
It is telling that in all my years of going to church, I’ve never read the Bible all the way through. Until now it has been just bits and pieces. So, part of this blog is my journey through the scriptures to discover more closely what was written. A bible study, if you will. I may totally dismiss stories as divine or question their message, or I may find comfort and inspiration that was not known of before.
I appreciate you dropping by and taking the time to share what you think with me. One of the reasons why I am taking the “trouble to tell everyone” is to see what I might be missing. I want to know what I haven’t thought of. Thank you for your comments.