And the LORD said unto Noah,
Come you and all your house into the ark; for you have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
All Commentaries on Genesis 7:1 Go To Genesis 7
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Let us see now why it was ordered that seven males and seven females of clean animals and two males and two females of unclean ones were received into the ark, so that the seed all over the earth might be nourished. And, as I believe, it is said that a clean week begins, since pure and holy is number seven. In fact it is united to no number and generated by no number. Therefore it is said to be virgin, because it generates nothing from itself, and we may add that this is said with good reason, since it is lacking and immune from maternal childbirth and from intercourse with female. The number two, on the other hand, is not full because it is divided; and what is not full has some void in itself. But the number seven is full, because the week is like the decade and is similar to that principal number, because the alpha is similar to that One who always exists. From him the virtues that are in every species take their origin, and by him they are moved.
