Genesis 6:21

"You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and them."  Genesis 6:21

Well, they would have had, at least, a lot of choices of what to eat when it came time to get into that store.  Not only did they have to feed themselves, but Noah and his family were going to have to feed all of the animals on the ark.  How much space would just the food storage itself take on that vessel? 

What about creatures like cats and snakes and other carnivorous animals?  Did they have to bring on extra rats or other prey animals to feed these?  Or did all of these predators only eat plants also?  In Genesis 1:30 God only mentioned giving green plants as food.  It certainly sounds as if up to this point all the animals and people were vegetarian.

The Institute for Creation Research argues that animal flesh became a food after man sinned in Genesis 3 by eating of the forbidden fruit.  I don't see any thing in that chapter that seems to indicate animals began to eat other animals sometime after this.  There may have been animals killed when God made the garments of skin for the first man and his wife (Genesis 3:21) or he could have created the skin from nothing.  He is God.

Tyler Francke argues from the stand point that the creation story is not a literal history.  He points out that just because someone gives you salt to eat on your food, it doesn't mean you can't use the pepper too.  While he does have a valid point, how many parents would be disappointed in their children when instead of eating the supper laid out for them on the table, that child went and opened a box of cookies and ate those instead?

Like Francke, Bodie Hodge points out that there are several creatures today that are only carnivores.  Bodie goes on to talk about several modern animals that you would think would be carnivores, but are, in fact, vegetarians.  He tells of a small jumping spider that feeds on the acacia trees instead of the other insects living in the trees and of two lions that were known vegetarians.  He points to the preserved stomach contents of many animals left in the rock layers deposited by the flood to verify that animals had been eating other animals before the flood.

I agree with Francke's belief that carnivorous behavior is not (and was not) a sin, but I do believe that the creation story is literal.  I understand that people live healthier lives if they go completely vegetarian.  Perhaps God created all animals the same way.  Vegetarian is the healthiest life style.  That's not to say it's wrong to eat that steak or chicken leg, only that it is healthier.  The same thing could be said about exercise.  It's not wrong to have a sedentary lifestyle, it's just not healthy.

Genesis 6:20

"Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive."  Genesis 6:20

It's interesting that in verse 19 God tells Noah to bring two of every creature and to the ark, but in his very next breath, God says these animals will come to him.  It's almost as if he's reassuring Noah, "I know I gave you a big task, but don't worry, you don't have to go out and look for all of these animals, they'll come to you.  You just have to get them in the ark." 

How many times does God do the same thing for us - give us a seemingly huge, impossible task, but then bring all the materials, everything we will need to do it, right to our finger tips?  The real question is how do we respond? 

Genesis 6:19

"You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you."  Genesis 6:19

Noah is to also bring 2 of all of the animals into the ark.  That's a lot of animals.  I wonder if that includes wolves and dogs or black bears and polar bears or if these were considered the same type of animal.