Four items appear below:1 Noah's Ark: Insects Not Invited On Board Anonymous
2 Absurd Noah's Ark Article Laurie Eddie
3 Error in article Anonymous
4 Not Absurd Anonymous
NOAH’S ARK
INSECTS NOT INVITED ON BOARDAnonymous
(Investigator 49, 1996 July)
My investigations into the accuracy of statements in the Bible have not touched in detail on Noah’s Ark and Noah’s Flood.
In this article I will make a start by showing that in the Bible account the creatures taken on board the Ark excluded insects.
Much of the criticism of the Noah’s Ark story is based on the Ark supposedly needing to carry "30 million pairs of organisms." This would include:
300,000 species of beetles;
140,000 species of moths and butterflies;
100,000 species of ants, bees, sawflies;
65,000 species of flies and mosquitoes!Most species of life including insects live in specialised environments including complex ecological relationships with other insects and with plants. Soil type and texture, temperature, moisture content, acidity, interactions with other forms of life are among relevant variables determining which insects can exist where. This is why you haven’t come across many species of beetles although there are 300,000 species because of the precise conditions under which most species survive.
To survive on Noah’s Ark many of the insect species would have required their environments with them — sections of rainforest, deserts, savanna, tundra., etc. And have you ever tried catching ten flies or mosquitoes keeping you awake at night? Imagine 65,000 species!
Many sectarian religions do claim that Noah took samples of all insects into the Ark! Such religions argue for a flood of such size it literally covered the entire planet. And from a flood of such assumed size it follows that insects had to be taken into the Ark in order to survive the Flood and exist afterwards.
The Bible Flood account in Genesis does not mention any sort of insect invited into Noah’s Ark.
The Bible does say that "creeping things" (Hebrew = "Remes") were taken into the Ark. (Genesis 6:7, 20; 7:14, 21, 23; 8:17, 19)
What were these "creeping things"?
TABLE: HEBREW WORDS REFERRING TO LIVING CREATURES
(In the Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament the nine Hebrew words are on pages 418, 278, 188, 597, 911, 829, 1176, 1176, 1327.)
HEBREW WORD OCCURENCES IN BIBLE MEANING WHETHER TAKEN ONTO THE ARK Ghahy c. 480 living creatures; living things;
beasts; life; beingYes, but limited to "living things of all flesh". 6:17, 19; 7:11, 14, 15, 21, 22; 8:17, 19, 21. Basahr c. 260 flesh Yes.
6:13, 17, 19;
7:15, 16, 21; 8:17.Behemah c. 180 beasts; cattle Yes.
6:7, 20; 7:2, 8, 14, 21, 23; 8:1, 17, 20.Kohl everything;
everyone;
whatsoever"everything shall die" 6:17; 7:4.
Creatures on Ark limited to "everything" of beasts, creeping things, birds, flesh.Oph c. 70 birds & bats Yes.
6:7, 20; 7:3, 8, 14, 21, 23; 8:17, 19, 20.Nephesh c. 750 creatures; souls.
= living things with blood Genesis 9:4.Yes
9:10-12Rahmas 17 move; creep Yes.
7:14, 21; 8:17, 19.Remes 17 creeping things (Probably mammals & reptiles that move with stomach close to the ground) Yes. 6:7, 20; 7:14, 23; 8:17, 19
Sheretz 15 swarming/creeping things:
a. with many feet
b. insects
c. reptiles & mammals that creep
No
NoYes. 7:21
The animals on the Ark represented all "flesh". (Genesis 6:19; 7:15-21) Insects were not considered "flesh". Living flesh has blood whereas insects do not. (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11, 14)Insects, also, are not "souls". (The Hebrew word translated "soul" is nephesh). Genesis 9:5 translated literally says: "The blood of your souls." Souls, therefore, have blood whereas insects do not. The creatures in the Ark were "souls". (Genesis 9:9-10) Again, therefore, the conclusion is that the Bible excludes insects from creatures deliberately taken on board the Ark!
Creatures wiped out in the Flood, according to the Bible, were those "in whose nostrils was the breath of life." (Genesis 7:22) This phrase may be a figure of speech but would appropriately exclude insects since insects do not have nostrils.
Insects are "living things". Genesis 7:23 says that "every living thing outside the Ark was blotted out. If insects were not in Noah’s Ark and were "blotted out" why do so many exist now? In this instance, Genesis 7:23, the phrase "every living thing" is restricted to "every living thing" among "man, animals, and creeping things and birds."
Creeping things "Remes", once we have excluded insects as meant, could refer to animals that creep in the sense that lizards, mice, rats and at times cats creep — animals with their belly close to the ground or touching the ground.
Another Hebrew word in the Old Testament is "Sheretz". Insects are included under the word "Sheretz" as well as creatures with many legs. "Sheretz" refers to the same animal groups as "Remes" but in addition is also used of insects whereas "Remes" is not. "Sheretz" refers to "creeping things" or "swarming creatures".
"Sheretz" is not used of animals that entered the Ark. In the Flood story "Sheretz" is used only in Genesis 7:21 where "All swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth...died." The Flood, therefore, killed insects. [This paragraph and the next may be erroneous—see letter by Anon below.—ED]
Consider: Insects were not taken onto the Ark but the Flood killed them outside the Ark. Yet insects existed afterwards. This could be a hint that the Biblical Flood story is a story of the biggest flood ever experienced by humans but is not a story of a truly global flood.
Unless, therefore, someone proves that the word "Remes" in the Bible includes insects it is clear that insects were not, according to the Flood story invited into Noah’s Ark.
The only word which might be misconstrued to refer to insects on the Ark refers instead to creatures which creep in the sense that lizards, mice and rats creep.
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ABSURD NOAH’S ARK ARTICLE
Laurie Eddie
(Investigator 50, 1996 September)
I consider there is far too much irrelevant religious material being published in the Investigator. The article on whether or not insects were included in the Ark, is really immaterial. It has about as much relevance as those questions in the Middle Ages, when religious authorities considered how many angels could fit on the head of a pin.
The answer is obvious, no angels fit on the head of a pin for the simple reason that there are no such things as angels! Similarly, the question concerning insects on the Ark can be answered in similar fashion.
The absurdity of the article is perhaps well summed up in the attached letter which was originally published in The Advertiser.
[INVESTIGATOR tried to find the author of the letter to get permission to reprint but without success. Ed.]
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INSECTS NOT ON NOAH’S ARK
Anonymous
(Investigator 50, 1996 September)
The published version of my article NOAH’S ARK: INSECTS NOT INVITED (INVESTIGATOR 49) had an error in reasoning.
The fourth to last paragraph (p. 31) said:
"In the Flood story "sheretz" is used only in Genesis 7:21 where "all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth …died."From "all" I then presumed all categories of life to which the Hebrew word "Sheretz" refers are meant. Therefore the "all" that died included reptiles, creeping mammals, insects and creatures with many legs such as millipedes and spiders.This reasoning is erroneous since Genesis 7:21 specifies that "all" meant "all flesh" and the article shows that land creatures with six or more legs were not included under the label "flesh".
The result of this is that the Bible does not state whether insects died in the Flood or not. (I presume, however, that any large flood would destroy many insects in its area.)
The article also used three different spellings for the Hebrew word for "flesh". Young’s Concordance uses "basar" and the Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance "bahsahr".
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NOT ABSURD
Anonymous
(Investigator 51, 1996 November)
A comment concerning "the absurdity" of my Noah’s Ark article. (No, 50 p. 4)
I did not actually say there was a Noah’s Ark or Noah’s Flood. I presented a report on the meanings of various Hebrew words used in the story to find out whether or not the Bible says anything about arthropods, including insects, being preserved on the Ark.
The answer was it does not. We need to settle such incidental details before investigating the plausibility of the rest of the story.
This website has hundreds of articles about the Bible
www.adam.com.au/bstett/