The task that God gave to Noah seemed like an impossible one. In Genesis 6:19 God tells Noah, “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.” There are a lot of problems related to this command. First, how did he get the animals to come? Second, how did he identify males and females? Thirdly, did this include the smallest of insects? Most conservative commentators agree that Noah did not have to go out and collect them. The Handbook for Translators seems to suggest that the command was to “catch” the animals. It says, “In some languages the two actions that are involved in bringing must be expressed separately: ‘Get [Catch] two of every kind … and take them inside.…’”[1] That would indeed be an impossible feat. As Butler says, “The amazing thing is that they came to the ark on their own. God of course put it in the animals to come just as He puts instinct in birds to fly south or north at given times.”[2] Thus as Leupold observes, “Consequently, all thoughts about elaborate trapping expeditions may readily be dismissed.”[3] Now, can’t you imagine Noah’s relief when he found out that God would do the collecting?
In the same vein, we’d understand that Noah didn’t have to make the distinction between “male and female” of all kinds of animals. I often get the image of Noah turning the rabbits upside down to determine their gender. How about the turtles? Or, as Bill Cosby joked back in the ’60s: “Mosquitos, male and female.” It would have been impossible without divine intervention. Augustine dealt with this issue by suggesting that there was no need to gather those insects because they just spawn out of rotting material. Noah didn’t have to collect them. “Augustine follows the Aristotelian theory according to which insects generate spontaneously from putrid matter. This theory, technically defined as abiogenesis, was confuted in the seventeenth century by the Italian scientist and poet Francesco Redi.”[4] No, they didn’t automatically spawn themselves, but neither did Noah collect them. God brought them!
J. Vernon McGhee adds a little story to his commentary on this issue. He writes, “Animals in danger will do that. I remember the first time that we went into Yosemite Valley when our daughter was just a little thing. She had never seen snow before, and when we put her down in the snow, she began to whimper. But she quit when she looked over and saw a little deer. I believe we could have gone over and petted that little deer, but realizing the possible danger, of course, we did not approach him any closer. When I mentioned the deer to the ranger, he laughed and said, ‘Yes, there’s snow up in the High Sierra right now, and when there is snow up there and there’s danger, they come down here and are as tame as any animal could possibly be. But the minute the snows melt in spring, they leave this area, and you couldn’t get within a country mile of any of them.’ Why? Because when an animal is in danger, he will come to man. At the time of the Flood, I do not think Noah had any problem at all, for the animals all came to him.”[5]
[1] Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. 1998. A Handbook on Genesis. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies.
[2] Butler, John G. 2008. Analytical Bible Expositor: Genesis. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.
[3] Leupold, H. C. 1942. Exposition of Genesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
[4] Louth, Andrew, and Marco Conti, eds. 2001. Genesis 1–11. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[5] McGee, J. Vernon. 1991. Thru the Bible Commentary: The Law (Genesis 1-15). Electronic ed. Vol. 1. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.