"The construction of the ark (of which the holy narrator expresses himself so simply, conveying this purely calm, obedient fulfillment of the will of God) was, however, for Noah a profound test of his faith in God. All around was a world depraved and completely calm about its future (Matthew XXIV:37-38 [406]), a world that reproached Noah and mocked him during the many years of building the ark. Therefore, Noah's whole thought and soul had to be transported into the future, and this faith, which saved him from destruction, was the highest merit of his spiritual life and prefigured that state of the human soul when it is saved from eternal perdition by faith, accepting holy baptism" (Vlastov).

Chapter 7.

1. Noah's entry into the ark.

1. And the Lord said to Noah, "Enter you and all your family into the ark, for I have seen you righteous before me in this generation;

"Enter thou and all thy family into the ark..." This is God's positive command about the preliminary placement of Noah in the ark, which was the last warning to everyone and the last call of the sinful world to repentance.

2. And you shall take every clean cattle by seven, male and female, and of unclean cattle two by two, male and female; 3. also of the birds of the air, seven by seven, male and female, (and of all the unclean birds by two, male and female), to preserve the seed for the whole earth,

"And you shall take every clean cattle by seven... and two of the unclean cattle..." In these words we have the first instance of the division of animals into clean and unclean; the former included all those animals and birds which were either only eaten (Lev XI), or were also sacrificed (Lev I:2, 10, 14 and Genesis VIII:20). Although the exact distinction of all these species belongs to a later epoch, given in the law of Moses, yet in practice it existed much earlier, going back, as we see from here, to the time of the flood, although Noah's separation of animals and birds clean for sacrifice (Genesis VIII:20) did not coincide with the decrees of the law of Moses about the sacrifice of only three kinds of cattle and two kinds of birds. Later, in this case, as in others similar to it, the law confirmed, precisely formulated and legitimized what had previously been only an established custom. It was commanded to take as much pure as possible, firstly, in order to ensure their better preservation and greater distribution after the flood, and secondly, perhaps, for the food of the people imprisoned in the ark.

4. for in seven days I will pour rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy all that exists that I have created from off the face of the earth. 5. Noah did all that the Lord (God) commanded him.

"For after seven days..." The last week was appointed, obviously, for the final placement of all humans and animals in the ark. In itself, this is an indication of the week, in connection with others in the same story of the Flood (VII:10; VIII:12), can speak for the great antiquity of the weekly cycle and for the primitive origin of the seven-day week and then the Sabbath.

"Forty days and forty nights..." Exactly the same period was later appointed for the penitential preaching of the prophet Jonah to the inhabitants of Nineveh (Jonah III:4 [419]), the same period of time Moses spent on Mount Sinai (Exodus XXIV:18), the prophet Elijah fasted in the wilderness of Beersheba on the road to Mount Horeb (1 Kings XIX:8 [420]), the Lord Jesus Christ fasted in the wilderness and prepared for His messianic ministry (appearance to the world) (Matthew IV:2 [421]). and, finally, he was pleased to dwell on earth and appear to His disciples after His resurrection until He ascended into heaven (Acts I:3 [422]). From this we can conclude that the number forty represents one of the important, sacred numbers in the Bible.

6. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth. 7. And Noah, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, entered into the ark from the waters of the flood. 8. And (of the clean birds and of the unclean birds, and) of the clean cattle and of the unclean cattle (and of the beasts) and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth

The words of this verse in parentheses do not have a modern Hebrew text; But the fact that they have been preserved in almost all ancient translations and stand in full accordance with the context gives them every right to exist.

9. Two by two, male and female, went into the ark to Noah, as God had commanded Noah.

"In pairs..." This does not mean one pair at a time, but in general, in pairs, and the number itself has also already been determined above (v. 2).