SPSA Church Giving (opens in a new tab)

Questions & Answers

Noah / Noah's Ark

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Holy Scripture › Noah / Noah's Ark

The question

It seems that Noah had not followed completely God’s instructions regarding the number of animals he should take into the arc. What does your Grace think?

The answer

Noah did not ignore God's command  but followed it exactly. God's command to Noah was "Two of every sort ... to keep them alive" (Gen 6:19-20). Those are the minimum of each species to go in the ark and be kept alive afterwards. Then God gave Noah more specific instructions, to take seven pairs of the clean beasts and of the clean birds. The purpose of this became clear after the flood. The birds were needed to explore the earth (Gen 8:7-12) and the clean animals to be used as sacrifice to the Lord. Noah did not ignore this commandment. The Holy Bible says "There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female" If you read this carefully it does not say one pair of each species but that they went in as pairs males and females. If Noah had taken only one pair of each and then offered each of these pairs in sacrifice, these species would have become completely extinct.

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

Related questions

Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 740 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.