Genesis 6:18 – 7:7
18 Now I will build my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every type into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every type shall come in to you in order to keep them alive.
21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them.”
22 Noah did so; he did all that God commanded him.
7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your house, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate,
3 and seven pairs of the birds of the sky also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the land.
4 For in seven days I will send rain on the land forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.”
5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the land.
7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
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Rescue Requires a Clean Sacrifice
Which was it – two of each kind or seven pairs? It was seven pairs of all the animals that were clean – that is, fit to eat or sacrifice. There was already an understanding of what animals are considered clean. This was long before the distinction was codified in the Law of Moses. Perhaps the distinction can be traced back to Abel, who gave from among his flock. Either way, the new earth was going to require sacrifice. The destruction of sinners alone is not enough for an atonement. In the same way, the hope of a new relationship with God for eternity is based not on the eradication of evil alone. Saving Noah’s house meant more than protecting them from the raging waters. It mean establishing a relationship through a covenant based on the blood sacrifice of the innocent.
LORD, thank you for the sacrifice of your Son, the only innocent one, for our sakes.
