Genesis 7:8 Commentary and Bible Study

It was God who decided what animals would be on the ark and he who brought them to Noah. The Lord knew what kinds he had originally made and which specimens to bring in order to preserve the various kinds. Some may have altered outwardly by natural selection, but God knew from which kinds they originally came. It would have been beyond Noah’s capability to round up all these creatures and so we see the gathering of them together as a supernatural work of God. The flood would not last forever – Noah had only a limited supply of food – but it was long enough to have the effect that God intended: that no air breathing species would survive outside of the ark. This was to be a new beginning for the animal world as well. According to the Bible record, like mankind, every living animal today must trace itself back to that pair, or in the case of clean animals to those seven which were kept alive.