14 giraffes entered Noah's ark?
If according to Genesis 7:2-3 God commanded Noah to take seven pairs of the clean animals and only one pair of the unclean, does that mean that 14 giraffes went into the ark? Let me explain.
2 You shall take with you seven pairs of every clean animal, a male and his female; and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and his female; 3 also of the birds of the sky, seven pairs, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. Genesis 7:2-3 NASB
In Leviticus 11 God explains to Moses and Aaron which are the characteristics of the animals that the people of Israel can eat. It is mentioned that of the land animals only those that have cloven hooves and ruminate are allowed to eat.
1 The LORD spoke again to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth. 3 Whatever has a divided hoof, showing split hoofs, and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat. Leviticus 11:1-3 NASB
Technically, all these animals are those found in the taxon Ruminantia, which includes bovids, deer, giraffes and others. Giraffes have cloven hooves and ruminate, so they are clearly clean animals. And in fact, in Judaism giraffes are recognized as kosher, this is explained here for example: Is Giraffe Kosher? - Chabad.org
I do know that Leviticus was written long after the flood, but from a perspective that considers the whole Bible to be true, the Torah has always existed and the laws of Leviticus also applied to Noah and his family.
And to be clear, I do not ask this question with bad intentions such as discrediting the Bible, in fact, I consider myself a creationist.
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I don't know if this should be an answer or a comment, but an awful lot of contention people have with Noah's story hangs on the definition of "kol". It can mean "all" (and it is used this way in the Noah story and many other places) or it can mean "enough" (1 Samuel 2:22) or "everyone present" (1 Samuel 4:5)
It boggles the mind to imagine about 40 thousand species of mammals, birds, reptiles crammed into a 500 foot long boat.
The story of Noah's ark could specify a horrible regional destruction with the same words. The only thing that would change is the numbers of things we assume, but which the Bible doesn't specify.
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