was noah under the law of moses? huh?

by sowhatnow 16 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Apognophos

  Btw, prologos, you got that backwards. It was seven of the clean kinds of animals, so not seven elephants, but two.

  Crazyguy, there's nothing wrong with saying that speciation occurred naturally among kinds of animals. The problem is that the Flood was, what, 4800 years ago? So the rate of evolution would have to speed up tremendously from normal in order to give us all the species we have by now. It's yet another miracle that God would have to perform in addition to smoothing over the other problems with the account, which begs the question of why he would do things that way in the first place.
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  garyneal

  Your questions do raise some interesting points, sowhatnow. How could Noah know the laws concerning unclean animals if that wasn't available until Moses.

  Perhaps you heard of the Noahide laws that the Jews declare are binding to the people of the nations (Gentiles). It won't answer your specific questions though.
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  Apognophos

  Here's the Society's answer:

  *** it-1 p. 111 Animals ***
  Clean and Unclean Animals. A classification of animals is to be noted in God’s instructions to Noah to take with him into the ark seven of each clean animal and two of each unclean animal. (Ge 7:2, 3, 8, 9) Since a flesh diet had not yet been authorized, this distinction between clean and unclean was probably determined on the basis of what was acceptable to Jehovah as a sacrifice. Hence, on emerging from the ark, Noah knew which creatures were clean and suitable for offering upon the altar. (Ge 8:20) At that time no restriction existed with respect to the type of animals that Noah and his family could eat, as is indicated by Jehovah’s words: “Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for you.”—Ge 9:3.

  God’s law to the Israelites, therefore, introduced a new distinction when it classified certain animals as clean and fit for food and others as unclean and prohibited as food. The scripture specifies: “Every creature that splits the hoof and forms a cleft in the hoofs and chews the cud among the beasts, that is what you may eat.”

  So, in a nutshell, the Society is actually saying that the clean/unclean distinction of Noah's time was different from the distinction given to the Israelites; the former was for the purpose of designating sacrificial animals and the latter, of course, was a dietary restriction. Ah, the tangled web we weave when we try to reconcile the seams in the Bible....
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  prologos

  Apognophos; no, you mis-understood my elementary writing. I questioned what it would have been like to have 7 clean elephants, (not splitting their toes) to clean, or prepare their manure as food for the lions, storks, whatever. but these are good fun discussions I did not know elephants or horses do not ruminate! They are not apostates, having a long memory and gnashing their teeth! LOL.and

  yeah, Abel could offered the soon- to- be- rotting Mutton that he could noy eat, but sacrifice. Of course later, all that good protein was a welcome contribution to the tribe of Levi. clean. both for sacrifice and food.
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  bruh2012

  the more I read Genesis I get the feeling that Moses wrote it with the "law code" flavor. He had time on his hand to write since he was not going into the promise land. I also don't think we should doubt the books Moses wrote because of ALL the bible writers he was the closest to YHWH.
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  notsurewheretogo

  I love the explaination the society gives in the Insight book that Apognophos posted.

  *** it-1 pp. 164-165 Ark ***
  The “kinds” of animals selected had reference to the clear-cut and unalterable boundaries or limits set by the Creator, within which boundaries creatures are capable of breeding “according to their kinds.” It has been estimated by some that the hundreds of thousands of species of animals today could be reduced to a comparatively few family “kinds”—the horse kind and the cow kind, to mention but two. The breeding boundaries according to “kind” established by Jehovah were not and could not be crossed. With this in mind some investigators have said that, had there been as few as 43 “kinds” of mammals, 74 “kinds” of birds, and 10 “kinds” of reptiles in the ark, they could have produced the variety of species known today. Others have been more liberal in estimating that 72 “kinds” of quadrupeds and less than 200 bird “kinds” were all that were required. That the great variety of animal life known today could have come from inbreeding within so few “kinds” following the Flood is proved by the endless variety of humankind—short, tall, fat, thin, with countless variations in the color of hair, eyes, and skin—all of whom sprang from the one family of Noah.

  *******

  As many have mentioned in the past, who are these investigators? I have written to the society asking for that info and had no reply...I can find no proof on the internet to back this claim up from any scientist or report, the only mentions I get are from creationist websites...which ain't proof!
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  sir82

  Another editing error.

  God needs proofreaders & continuity experts!