7:3 keep seed alive. God’s purpose for the ark was to “keep seed alive” in the earth, a statement meaningful only in the context of a universal flood. The ark was far too large to accommodate merely a local or regional fauna. In fact, if the Flood were only local, the ark would not have been needed at all. Noah’s family, as well as the birds and beasts, could far more easily have simply migrated away from the region to be flooded.