I heard from a radio broadcast that the popular depiction of all the animals and birds entering Noah’s ark two at a time is untrue. The speaker said they also entered by sevens as ordered by God. I don’t agree with that.

There was a distinction among the creatures. God told Noah to take two of every kind of unclean animal; seven of every kind of clean animal; and seven of every kind of bird into the ark. Each kind of creature was to be represented by male and female (Genesis 7: 2, 3).

Two at a time, as a pair, is an equal number. So because seven is an unequal number is probably why the radio speaker suggested that a two-at-a-time entrance wasn’t the only order. He said the creatures of sevens entered seven at a time. For example, the speaker said one kind would have consisted of one bull and six cows.

However, I think the thing to key on is that God said for every kind, there must be a male and female. In the case of the creatures of sevens, that says to me that there were seven males and seven females of each kind; for example, a seven-bull and seven-cow pairing.

In that case, even the “sevens” would’ve been able to enter the ark in a two by two fashion.

Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah ( Genesis 7: 6-9. underlining mine).