Two of Each (Gen 6:19)

The Flood

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¹⁹ And from all that lives — in other words, all flesh — וּמִכָּל־הָ֠חַי מִֽכָּל־בָּשָׂ֞ר

We’ve just seen Noah being told that he and his seven immediate family members will be going into the box that will save them when the Flood comes. So it’s clear that “all that lives” and “all flesh” indicate that he is to save the other animal species as well.

As we clearly see from these two phrases …

• חַי ḥai ‘living’ refers to animals and not plants. True, Ḥavvah was “the mother of kol-ḥai,” but (it seems) that was an honorary position.

• בָּשָׂ֞ר basar ‘meat/flesh’ is another way of referring to living things that move of their own volition.

Saying “all flesh” without a conjunction makes clear that it is in apposition to “all that lives.” That is, it is another way of saying the same thing. (Rashi, dissenting from this view, thinks “all that lives” includes demons, which do not have flesh.)

two of each you will bring into the box שְׁנַ֧יִם מִכֹּ֛ל תָּבִ֥יא אֶל־הַתֵּבָ֖ה

Uh … how exactly am I supposed to do that? David Kimhi (citing the lemma from NJPS) thinks it will not be as hard as it sounds:

Take two of each into the ark. After they have “come to you to stay alive” (v. 20), which the Holy One would give them the instinct to do, just as they have an instinct to seek out food and water.

Still, as we’ll also see in v. 20, we are not just talking about domesticated animals but about every living land animal, birds included. Given that God has an inordinate fondness for beetles, that would be a simply overwhelming task. Nahmanides (in my Commentators’ Bible translation) explains what would really happen: