Gen 7:1   And the LORD said unto Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.

     Here God is giving Noah credit for his not mixing with the offspring of the fallen angels, as keeping apart and following God were among his most important acts of righteousness of the time. Noah and his family at this time, were the only pure ones left on earth from the lineage of 'eth'Ha'adham' (the Adam), who had not mixed with the fallen angels. All of Noah's ancestry had died, except for Enoch, who 'was not', being taken out by God. Again, this word for generation is 'dowr' in the Hebrew, meaning 'a revolution of time, an age or generation', and it refers back to Noah's and his family's bloodline purity in Gen.6:9 (Strong's no.1755; also see the Chapter 6 study).

Gen 7:2   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.

     In this verse, God is commanding that Noah take seven pairs 'of every clean beast' into the Ark, and only two 'of beasts that are not clean'. Back in Gen.6:19 God mentioned 'two of every sort'. These 'seven', which number means spiritual completion in Biblical numeric’s, refers to the sacrificial purpose of clean beasts, in Covenant relation to our Father.
     You'll find a list of clean meats to be received in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, along with a list of unclean meats which are not to be eaten according to God's Law. That part of God's Law is set in nature for the best health of our flesh body.
     On a deeper note, could these also include two of every race? As I said before, we know the various races of mankind survived this flood. You need to decide this for yourself according to what God has given you.

Gen 7:3   Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.

     Seven pair of 'fowls' also. Based on the previous verse, this seven is for Covenant sacrificial purpose. (If you have a copy of The Companion Bible, see Appendix 4). ¹

Gen 7:4   For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth."

     This number 'forty' is used throughout God's Word to mean a probationary period. Some examples: The children of Israel ate manna forty years in the desert; Moses was forty days and nights upon mount Sinai; certain Israelites were forty days spying out the land of Canaan before the they entered it; for Israel doing evil God delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years; the Angel of The Lord fed Elijah in the wilderness which sustained him forty days and forty nights; our Lord and Saviour fasted forty days and nights before He was tempted by Satan, etc.

 

Exodus 16:35: And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of Canaan.

 

 24:18: And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up unto the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.

 

34:28: And he was there forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water, and he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

 

Numbers 13:25:And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.

 

Judges 13:1: And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.