The ark must have been an amazing example of pre-civilization engineering.
Large herbivores, like elephants, eat about 350 pounds of vegetation a day. Large carnivores, like lions, eat about 75 pounds of meat a week. Not only must Noah make enough room on his boat to store all of this food, but he must have some way to keep it fresh and consumable for over a year--without refrigeration. (That's about 120 tons of food, for one year, for one pair of elephants. How many "kinds" of elephants where there on the ark? Perhaps five might cover it, that's 600 tons of food.)
Genesis 7:13
"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;
They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort."
All of the animals boarded the ark "in the selfsame day." Since there were several million kinds of species, they would need to board at a rate of at least 100 per second. How did poor Noah and his family make sure that the correct number of each species entered through the door and then get them all settled into their proper living quarters so efficiently?
How could he tell the male and female beetles (there are more than 400,000 species) apart?
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."
Noah kills the "clean beasts" and burns their dead bodies for God. This would have caused the extinction of all "clean" animals since only two of each were taken onto the ark.
Large herbivores, like elephants, eat about 350 pounds of vegetation a day. Large carnivores, like lions, eat about 75 pounds of meat a week. Not only must Noah make enough room on his boat to store all of this food, but he must have some way to keep it fresh and consumable for over a year--without refrigeration. (That's about 120 tons of food, for one year, for one pair of elephants. How many "kinds" of elephants where there on the ark? Perhaps five might cover it, that's 600 tons of food.)
Genesis 7:13
"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;
They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort."
All of the animals boarded the ark "in the selfsame day." Since there were several million kinds of species, they would need to board at a rate of at least 100 per second. How did poor Noah and his family make sure that the correct number of each species entered through the door and then get them all settled into their proper living quarters so efficiently?
How could he tell the male and female beetles (there are more than 400,000 species) apart?
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."
Noah kills the "clean beasts" and burns their dead bodies for God. This would have caused the extinction of all "clean" animals since only two of each were taken onto the ark.