This leads us to consider the difference between a generic or _general_ commandment and a _specific_ one. A generic commandment is one that authorizes or commands a certain action, but does not give the details as to how that commandment shall be carried out. The difference between generic and specific commandments must be recognized in applying the Scriptures that have been mentioned. Let it be remembered that a commandment may be mixed, partly generic and partly specific. It may be generic with respect to certain details which it comprehends, and specific in reference to others. II Examples 1. The best way I know to make these distinctions clear is by giving a number of examples. God told Noah to build an ark. He specified the kind of wood that should be used. He told Noah to use gopher wood. That authorized gopher wood and eliminated every other possible kind of wood. Since God specified that gopher wood should be used, it would have been wrong for Noah to have used any other sort of wood. It would have been a sin for him to have used cedar wood, or oak, or any other kind which might be named. God also told Noah to put a door in this ark, in the side of it. But he did not tell him in _which_ side to put it. Hence, the commandment to build an ark was generic as to the side in which the door should be located. God specified the dimensions of the ark. He told Noah to build the ark 300 cubits long. It would have been a sin, therefore, for Noah to have built it 301 cubits long or 299 cubits long, or any other length except the one which God specified. God also told Noah to build some rooms in this ark, but did not tell him how many to build. This commandment, therefore, was generic as far as the number of rooms was concerned. On that point Noah was free to build the number of rooms which he thought was best. Of course, he had to build some number. The very command to build _rooms_ authorized some number of rooms, but God did not specify the number so Noah was free to exercise his own judgment in that respect. God specified the animals that were to be taken into the ark. He told Noah to take certain ones but he did not tell him which animals to take into the ark first. You see, therefore, that the commandment to build the ark was specific in some respects and was generic in other respects.