Genesis 7:2-3

Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens the male and his female: and of beasts that are not Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens. The distinction of beasts as clean and unclean subsisted at a very early period, having originated at first from the circumstance that certain classes of animals only were suitable for sacrifice, the regulations pertaining to which, made in the patriarchal age, were, as is probable, republished in the Levitical law (cf. Genesis 15:9 with Leviticus 1:2; Leviticus 1:10; Leviticus 1:14), and having been afterward extended to those which were fit to be used as the food of man (Leviticus 11:3-4). Whether it sprang from divine authority, or was dictated by the innate feelings of men in the first ages, who discerned in certain animals types of sin and corruption, which were on that account avoided, the distinction was sanctioned by divine approbation. The various species of "clean" beasts were to be taken into the ark by sevens. The old commentators, such as Calvin, with Gesenius, Tuch, and Delitzsch in later times, maintain that seven individuals were meant; the general rule of admission with regard to those animals which are called "clean" being that three pairs, whether of beasts or birds, were to be taken for preservation and for perpetuating the species, while the seventh was reserved for sacrifice.

But modern scholars generally reject this view, and founding, as Knobel does, on the repetition of the word "sevens" [Hebrew, shib`aah (H7651) shib`aah (H7651) - the distributive number in Hebrew being expressed by a repetition of the cardinals; while shªnayim (H8147), two, at the end of the verse, is mentioned only once], suppose it to denote seven pairs. This interpretation they consider indicated by the additional words "male and his female," and confirmed by the fact afterward recorded (Genesis 7:9), that the animals went into the ark by "two and two." Of course, "the fowls of the air "must on the same principle be understood as brought into the ark in seven pairs; and in accordance with this view the Septuagint version inserts as a safeguard, the limiting clause, which is not in our Hebrew text, 'and of fowls that are not clean by two, the male and his female.'

The reason of so great a number of "clean" animals being ordered to be taken into the ark was, in all probability, that their rapid multiplication was a matter of the highest importance when the earth should be renovated, from their utility either as articles of food, or as employed in the service of man, and also as necessary for sacrifice. Hence, although "creeping things" were specified among the creatures to be taken into the ark (Genesis 6:20), there is no mention of them here; because reptiles were reckoned unclean animals, no species of them being deemed fit for sacrifice. Some consider this and the preceding chapter, from different names being used for the Divine Being, as derived from different original documents, and maintain that there is a glaring discrepancy in their statements regarding the animals that were to be taken into the ark, the former (Genesis 6:19) specifying "two" of every sort, while this one (Genesis 7:2-3) mentions that they were to be taken "by sevens." But the consistency of the narrative is unimpeachable, the difficulty being at once removed, by considering the first portion of the present chapter supplementary to the preceding one, as Genesis 2:1-25 is to Genesis 1:1-31, and containing several particulars of a minute description which were not embraced in the general directions first given to Noah. The one passage commands Noah to take of the beasts and fowls by two's or pairs, male and female, while the other specifies the number of pairs to be taken. There is thus no contradiction between the two chapters.