“Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.” (Genesis 8:19 KJV)
Verse 14 indicates that this happened on the 601st year, 2nd month, and 27th day. Going further back to verse 7, somewhere in the 11th month of the previous year, the raven had been released and it didn’t come back. What complicates this is that the ravens were unclean thus only one pair was taken into the ark to begin with as opposed to the clean animals which had 7 pairs (see Genesis 7:2). Clearly, we still have ravens today, so somewhere along the line, the raven released with all the other animals eventually found their mate.
In the first 7 verses of 1 Peter 3, Peter addresses a similar delima. How to find a mate that when turned loose does not come back. The advice centers around conduct. It seems to be something that the lost can see even when they cannot see the grace which makes that conduct possible. The hardest part is that we want an element of control in bringing things back. It turns out that this element of control is found in the surrender to Jesus and waiting for him. In waiting for him we find that he grows our heart toward him and we see his glory no matter if the species is extinct or not. It’s almost funny how centuries later someone hiding in the place that he was told would be fed by a species that could have been extinct except that someway or somehow God made a way.
“And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.” (1 Kings 17:6 KJV)