(November 4, 2019 at 8:18 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Then please explain: [bold mine]I said it before, Noah picked up the animals that were around him. It is impossible for Noah to gather all the terrestrial animals of the earth at a specific point. The number - seven - appears in the Bible more than 700 times, its interpretation can be literal or metaphorical. The number -seven- metaphorically means "some or several or various." The expression of this odd number is also used by God in the Koran (and in the Hadiths of the Prophet). It is an expression that the ancient Semites used at that time.
'You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 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.'
and
'Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark'
Nowhere in Genesis does God say or indicated that Noah is to collect only local creatures, but two (sometimes seven) of ALL creatures.
The Noahic flood is a morality tale, it wasn't ever meant to be taken literally.
Boru
The Genesis 7 does not say at any time that Noah should gather ALL the terrestrial animals on Earth. It is true that God does not order Noah to gather the local creatures but neither does He order to gather all the creatures of the Earth. Noah gathers ALL the creatures around him basically, not the whole Earth.