23/04/2018
🔎THE TELESCOPE
👉 POLEMIC QUESTION 9.
How many pairs of clean animals did God tell Noah to take into the Ark?
😊Two (Genesis 6:19, 20)
You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
😊Seven (Genesis 7:2-3)
Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.
💡
The question like many others was framed by polemics to deceive believers but glory be to God that we have an unction from the Holy one to know all things. Looking at the Scriptures it is easy to notice the wide difference between the them.
👉 Noah was to bring pairs of animals(male and female) into the ark, but the number of pairs was not given in Genesis 6:19-20
👉To bring a pair as in Genesis 6, the emphasis is on the need for the animals to be male and female in a pair.
👉Now Noah is given the detail of the number of pairs for specific animals with regards to their cleanliness and uncleanliness; as in Genesis 7:2-3.
👉 7 pairs of clean and 1 pair of unclean animals is the detailed intruction about the pairs he is supposed to allow in.
👉This does not contradict God's command for Noah to send pairs into the ark but rather gives a detailed command as to the number of pairs.
👉In Genesis 7:8-9 we actually see that pairs of animals both clean and unclean entered the ark.
👉Pairs here didn't mean only two, but rather, Noah was sure to allow into the ark; of both the clean and unclean their respective pairs as commanded by God
🔥NOTE: The reason for including seven pairs of the clean species is perfectly evident:
🌟They were to be used for sacrificial worship after the flood had receded (as indeed they were, according to Genesis 8:20).
🌟Obviously if there had not been more than one pair of each of these clean animals, they would have been rendered extinct by their being sacrificed on the altar.
🌟But in the case of the unclean animals and birds, a single pair would suffice, since they would not be needed for blood sacrifice.
😊Conclusion:
Noah was told to make sure every male animal he took into the ark had a female counterpart as a pair.
He was then given details of how many of these pairs for a particular breed in terms of holiness that he could allow into the ark.
💥This is because God in His infinite wisdom knew Noah would need some of the clean animals to sacrifice and so just a pair would make then extinct. This is therefore not a contradiction at all.
💭FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? (Job 15:2-3 KJV)
😊To be continued.......
✍Iddrisu Mumuni
