Genesis 6:19

two of every sort

Cf Gen 7:2.

In addition to two animals, etc., commanded (Gen 6:19) to be preserved for future increase ("they shall be male and female"), the further command was given more than 100 years later to take of clean beasts, i.e, acceptable for sacrifice, seven each. Exodus gives ten such beasts, or but seventy in all. Modern ships carry hundreds of live beasts, with their food, besides scores of human beings.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:19-20 God’s instructions to Noah repeat the language of creation (every kind, cp. 1:24). • a male and a female: These animals would procreate and repopulate the earth after the flood.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. To keep them alive] God might have destroyed all the animal creation, and created others to occupy the new world, but he chose rather to preserve those already created. The Creator and Preserver of the universe does nothing but what is essentially necessary to be done. Nothing should be wantonly wasted; nor should power or skill be lavished where no necessity exists; and yet it required more means and economy to preserve the old than to have created new ones. Such respect has God to the work of his hands, that nothing but what is essential to the credit of his justice and holiness shall ever induce him to destroy any thing he has made.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. And of every living thing of all flesh. “All flesh” is the name he gives to animals of whatsoever kind they may be. He says they went in two and two; not that a single pair of each kind was received into the ark, (for we shall soon see that there were three pairs of the clean kinds, and one animal over, which Noah afterwards offered in sacrifice;) but whereas here mention is made only of offspring, he does not expressly state the number, but simply couples males with females, that Noah might hence perceive how the world was to be replenished.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(19-22) of every living thing of all flesh, two . . . —The vast size of the ark and the wide terms used of the animals to be collected into it, make it evident that Noah was to save not merely his domestic cattle, but many wild species of beasts, birds, and creeping things. But the terms are conditioned by the usual rules for the interpretation of the language of Holy Scripture, and by the internal necessities of the event itself. Thus the animals in the ark could not have been more in number than four men and four women could attend to Next, the terms exclude the carnivora (see also Note on Gen_9:5). Not only was there no supply of animals taken on board to feed them, but half-tamed as they would have been by a year’s sojourn in the ark, they would have remained in Noah’s neighbourhood, and very soon have destroyed all the cattle which had been saved, especially as far and wide no other living creatures would have existed for their food. But if miracles are to be invoked to obviate these and similar difficulties. not only would it have been easier to save Noah and the denizens of the ark by one display of supernatural power, but the ark was the means provided by God for this purpose; and if He wrought thus far by human instrumentality, in accordance with the usual law of the Divine working on earth, to help out the human means employed by repeated acts of omnipotence would have been to proclaim it as insufficient. It does not follow from this that no special providence watched over and guided the ark; such providence is often exercised now, but it works through and in accordance with the ordinary laws by which God governs the world.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. two of every sort] Observe that here one pair of every kind of living creature is to be brought into the ark.

“Male and female,” as in Gen_1:27 (P). A different phrase is used in Gen_7:2 (J), where see note.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten,.... By man and beast; of which see Gen 1:29.

and thou shall gather it to thee; to lay up in the ark:

and it shall be for food for thee, and for them: during the flood, a quantity sufficient for them: and according to the calculation of learned men (n), well versed in mathematics, there was room enough in the ark, and to spare, to put food for them all during the time the flood was on the earth.

(n) Buteo de Area Noe, Wilkins's Essay towards a real Character, Bedford's Chronology, &c.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Two, intended for the propagation of their kind. God afterwards specifies what more Noe should preserve for food, chap. vii. 2. (Calmet). --- Wild beasts forgot their savage nature, and became subject to the just Noe; and all came readily at his beck, in the same manner as domestic animals come when we offer them food. Yet, in all this we must acknowledge the work of God, and a sort of miracle. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Of all flesh two; i.e. either,

1. By couples, or male and female; but this is mentioned as a distinct thing in the close of the verse. Or rather,

2. Two at least of every sort, even of the unclean; but of the clean more, as is noted Gen 7:2.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19. Two of every sort — From this statement, repeated in the next verse, as well as from that made in Gen_7:15-16, it would be understood that only a pair of the animals were to be preserved; but from Gen_7:2-3, we see that the clean beasts and fowls went into the ark by seven pairs. Animals instinctively foresee great natural convulsions or earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tornadoes, and often, on such occasions, quite subdued by fear, seek human protection. It is natural to suppose that there would have been in the earth, atmosphere, and clouds fearful premonitions of this unparalleled convulsion, which lasted through forty days, and which is described as opening the windows of heaven and breaking up “the fountains of the great deep.” Beasts and birds of all kinds, that is, of all the species in that region, affrighted by these signs of the coming tempest, and tamed by their fears, may be reasonably believed to have gathered around or settled on the vast ark, during the few days before the deluge actually began. From these Noah selected twos or sevens of each kind. Instinct was thus providentially (we need not say miraculously) made the means of their preservation.

Shalt thou bring — They came unto Noah, (Gen_5:20,) and he caused them to come (for this is the true idea of the word rendered bring) into the ark.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 19-21. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort (literally, by twos, i.e. in pairs) shalt thou bring into or cause to enter, i.e. receive them when they come (ver. 20) the ark, to keep them alive literally, to cause to live; ina trefhv (LXX); in order to preserve alive (sc. the animals)with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind (literally, of the fowl after its kind), and of cattle after their kind (literally, of the cattle after its kind), of every creeping thing of the earth after its bind, two of every sort shall come unto thee. "Non hominis actu, sed Dei nutu" (Augustine). Perhaps through an instinctive presentment of the impending calamity (Lange, "Speaker"s Commentary").

And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee (collecting sufficient for a twelvemonths sustenance); and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ומכל החי AND OF EVERY LIVING THING — Even of demons (Genesis Rabbah 31:13).

שנים מכל TWO OF EVERY SORT — Even of the least numerous amongst them there were not less than two—one male, the other female.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

OF ALL FLESH. It is known that there are a great many beasts, and some of them — such as elephants, rams and others — are very large; likewise, the creeping things upon the earth are very many. Of the fowl of the heaven there are also innumerably many kinds, just as our Rabbis have said: “There are one hundred and twenty kinds of unclean birds in the east, and all of them belong to the species of ayah (kite).” Clean fowl are innumerable. Noah was thus obligated to bring all of them into the ark in order that they may beget their like. If you would gather a full year’s supply of food for all of them, [you would find] that this ark and ten others like it could not hold it! But this was a miracle of a small space containing a great quantity. And in case you suppose that he should have made it [the ark] very small and rely on this miracle, the answer is that the Holy One, blessed be He, saw fit to make it large so that the people of his generation should see it, wonder at it, converse about it, and speak of the subject of the flood and the gathering of the cattle, beast, and fowl into it so that perhaps they would repent. Furthermore, he made it large in order to reduce the miracle for such is the way with all miracles in the Torah or in the Prophets: whatever is humanly possible is done, with the balance left to Heaven. Now be not persuaded to say as Ibn Ezra that the three hundred cubits [of the length of the ark were measured] in cubits of a man like Noah, who was unusually tall. If so, the other people were also tall, and the beasts and fowl of those generations were also tall until the world was struck by the flood! Moreover, the cubits here are the standard cubits of the Torah.

THOU SHALT BRING INTO THE ARK, TO KEEP THEM ALIVE WITH THEE. G-d thus commanded Noah that he concern himself with and help them in their entering the ark and that he strive on behalf of their existence even as he would for his own life.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ומכל החי מכל בשר, a reference to the living creatures on the dry land only.

שנים מכל, Noach was told that these animals were to be admitted in pairs. G’d specified further, זכר ונקבה יהיו.. תביא אל התבה, after the animals which came of their own accord had been accommodated in the ark. What prompted some of these animals to come to Noach’s ark on their own? They were inspired by the same kind of imagination which unerringly enables them to find grazing land etc. G’d, no doubt, aided their imagination in this instance.

להחיות אתך, to keep them alive with you by feeding them on a daily basis.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.