There is a Difference in the Number of Animals Noah Took

Supposed contradiction and verses:

The number of the beasts is different in the Genesis account of Noah gathering the animals.

Genesis 6:19-20

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

Genesis 7:2-3

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.

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 7:8-9

Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,

There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

 

Answer:

In Genesis 6:19-20, God is telling Noah that he has to preserve two of every kind of animal. In the first part of Genesis 7, it is an account showing additional instruction where he is told to have seven of the clean animals, and two of every other kind. The reason for these extra animals was because Noah would use them to make sacrifice. Notice below…

Genesis 8:20

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

   Now if Noah had only taken two, and then made a sacrifice from all the clean animals, there would be no way for the remaining animals to reproduce. Since God is not the author of confusion, He had Noah do this so that those animals could still survive. In Genesis 7:8-9 we are simply being told that the animals not only came, but HOW they came. Two by two. This is not funny math here folks. If you heard someone say, "I answered the problems one by one." You know exactly what that means. The "two by two" here does not mean more than what Noah was told to take, but rather, they came aboard the ark side by side, male and female, as God had commanded. No contradiction!