Gathering the Animals (Genesis 7:1-10)

Noah once again “did all that the Lord had commanded him” (v. 5): he went into the ark, he brought pairs of every unclean animal with him, and he brought seven of every clean animal with him. Furthermore, Peter calls Noah a “herald of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), which seems to indicate that he spent time preaching to his neighbors of the coming flood, and urging them to get into the ark for salvation. This is quite a busy schedule, and verse 10 tells us that all of this happened in a week! Let’s look at this week a little more closely, shall we?

Please read Genesis 7:1-10

To start off, there is a slight confusion about the number of animals that were brought on the ark, but this is easily resolved when one studies the language of Scripture. The Hebrew literally reads of the clean animals that Noah was to bring “seven sevens,” which some have interpreted as “seven pairs” (14 total) but is better interpreted as “by seven” (i.e. 3 pairs and one extra). Why would Noah need an extra animal? It wasn’t for food, as he and his family were still vegetarians until chapter 9. In chapter 8, we are told that he “took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar” (8:20). Presumably, this was the extra.

This means that Noah didn’t take an impossible number of animals on the ark, only that which was needed to repopulate the earth and offer sacrifices to the Lord. Furthermore, he likely did not take a pair of every single species, but rather a pair of every kind of animal. For instance, he did not need to take a pair of lions, a pair of leopards, a pair of jaguars, a pair of tigers, a pair of cheetahs, etc.; he merely needed to take a pair of large cats. And even then, they needn’t be full grown, but could be adolescents who would mature while on the ark or shortly thereafter to repopulate the earth. Answers in Genesis does a phenomenal job of portraying how this would be possible at their Ark Encounter. I would strongly encourage any of you who are planning a trip in the future to visit this wonderful attraction.

While it is completely possible for Noah to have done all that God commanded Him, it is still a monumental task to gather pairs of every kind of animal on the planet! It’s likely that God Himself intervened to bring the animals to Noah. As God has created all creatures and retains Lordship over them. He can direct the animals to come to Noah, and they will obey. He probably started urging some of the animals to migrate to the ark long before he told Noah to go into the ark.

But, can you imagine how crazy this scene must have been when the animals started showing up? Especially for Noah’s neighbors? They’ve watched this old fool build a giant boat on his farm, even though he’s no where near water. He’s been doing this for years, so everyone just thinks he’s crazy. But now he’s taken it to the next level! There’s practically a zoo in his backyard! These animals are coming from all over, and I doubt that they are just walking down the street. This parade is walking all through the neighbors’ yards, leaving torn down trees, half eaten crops, and all kinds of droppings behind them. And remember, all this happened over the course of just one week.

That means that God was giving these neighbors an extra week to repent of their sins and join Noah on the ark. As J Vernon McGee says, ““For seven days the world could have knocked at the door of the ark, and frankly, they could have come in—God would have saved them. All they had to do was to believe God.” But sadly, they didn’t; they wouldn’t; they couldn’t.

Instead of repenting of their sins, I imagine that these neighbors were even angrier at the destruction that the animals left on their property. I imagine that they had even worse names to call Noah and his family. I imagine that, as Noah was preaching righteousness to them, they were hurling curses and blasphemies back at him.

God gave them an extra week to repent, and God is merciful—He is still giving us time to repent; He is still giving our lost friends and loved ones time to repent. But one day, the time of mercy will cease and the time of judgment will come. For Noah’s neighbors, “after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.” For our neighbors, it may be today that Jesus returns again for judgment. Are we doing everything that we can to preach righteousness to them, like Noah did? Furthermore, are we making sure that we and our family are safely inside the ark of faith in Jesus Christ? Noah’s neighbors had one week to get their act together, but no one knows the time that we have left. Let’s do all we can today.