John Calvin Commentary Genesis 7:3

"of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth." — Genesis 7:3 (ASV)

To keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. That is, so that offspring could be born. But this is referred to Noah; for although, properly speaking, God alone gives life, God here refers to those duties which He had commanded His servant. And it is with respect to his appointed role that God commands him to collect animals so that he might keep seed alive.

Nor is this extraordinary, since the ministers of the gospel are said, in a sense, to confer spiritual life. In the following clause, 'upon the face of all the earth,' there is a twofold consolation: first, that the waters, after they had covered the earth for a time, would subside, so that the dry surface of the earth would appear; and second, that not only would Noah himself survive, but, by the blessing of God, the number of animals would be so increased that they would spread far and wide throughout the whole world.

Thus, in the midst of ruin, future restoration is promised to him. Moses is very careful to show that God took care, by every means, to keep Noah obedient to His word, and that the holy man entirely submitted.

This teaching is very useful, especially when God either promises or threatens anything incredible, since people do not willingly accept what seems improbable to them. For nothing was less consistent with the judgment of the flesh than that the world would be destroyed by its Creator, because this was to subvert the whole order of nature which He had established.

Therefore, unless Noah had been well warned about this terrible judgment of God, he never would have ventured to believe it, lest he conceive of God as acting in contradiction to Himself. The word היקום (hayekom), which Moses here uses, originates from a word meaning 'to stand,' but it properly means whatever lives and flourishes.