During devotions with my children the other night, my four-year-old son asked if I would read about Noah and the Flood since they had discussed this during a recent Vacation Bible School. I turned to the Genesis 7 paraphrase in his illustrated children’s Bible story book. To my surprise and concern, it said: “Then the animals had to be collected. Noah’s family had to work very hard.” But the Scriptures clearly and plainly tell the reader that Noah and his family didn’t have to “collect” any of the animals! Genesis 6:20 says: “Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind; two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.”
Then I got my daughter’s children’s Bible (a different version) and read, “We don’t know how Noah found all the different animals and birds. . . .” Again, Noah didn’t have to “find” the animals according to verse 20!
It’s no wonder many Christians don’t have a ready answer to those who mockingly portray Noah as some overworked hunter who had to painstakingly trap two of every kind of animal throughout the world. Let’s be especially careful when reading Christian books and Bibles for children to our little ones.
