What an elementary question to ask! Right! We all know the popular sayings from since we were little children that ‘the animals went in two by two‘.
But, is that what we find in the Bible?
And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
Genesis 7:23 KJV
How many were “they” that remained alive?
In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark.
Genesis 7:13 KJV
These were easily numbered, Noah, his wife, Noah’s three sons, the wife of each son, making it a total of 8 human souls on the ark. Great, now that we see the Bible counted just this small number of souls, let’s check the count of the animals who went in with these 8.
And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. [2] Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. [3] Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
Genesis 7:1-3 KJV
[7] And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. [8] Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
Genesis 7-8 KJV
If we list these as the Bible provides, this is what we get:
14 winged beasts, of each kind!
- Seven males each of the fowls of the air (every winged beast)
- Seven females each of the fowls of the air (every winged beast)
14 of the clean beasts, of each kind!
- Seven males each of the clean beasts
- Seven females each of the clean beasts
4 of the unclean beasts, of each kind
- Two males each of the unclean beasts
- Two females each of the unclean beasts
If then, we were to look to any image to describe (as closely as we can imagine it), what the animals entering the ark (by count), would look like, this is the image to come to mind.
What then does it mean when God says “two by two” or “two and two”?
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
Genesis 7:15 KJV
Was God here referring only to the humans on the Ark? Or to all living souls that were to be on the Ark? Let’s read the scripture below to determine… is he speaking of the humans only, or the animals too? What is “all flesh, wherein is the breath of life”?
Everything that creeps on the land from clean and unclean animals and birds [9] came in two by two, male and female, to Noah into the ark, as God had commanded Noah.
Genesis 7:8-9 MEV (Modern English Version)
So we see that the animals (also) went into ark into the pairs, 1 male and 1 female. Not only two (animals) of every kind, but 1 pair entered at a time. 1 pair of everything (male and female) that was instructed by God to enter into the ark with Noah.
Are there any other instances of God instructing multiples ‘two by two’?
And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
Mark 6:7 KJV
Also in Mark, the twelve were instructed to proceed in pairs to accomplish the work set out for them to do.
If this helped clarify a truth which had been hidden from you for a long time, share that epiphany with us in the comments below!
Even more we’d love your support in sharing this with many other persons too, encouraging us all to open our bibles and be instructed from God’s word.
