Midrash for Sanhedrin 216:6
(בראשית ז, ב) מכל הבהמה הטהורה תקח לך שבעה שבעה איש ואשתו אישות לבהמה מי אית לה א"ר שמואל בר נחמני א"ר יונתן מאותם שלא נעבדה בהם עבירה
What was the nature of these seven days?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That God should have postponed the flood on their account. ');"><sup>11</sup></span> — Rab said: These were the days of mourning for Methuselah, thus teaching that the lamenting for the righteous postpones retribution. Another meaning is: After the seven days during which the Holy One, blessed be He, reversed the order of nature,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'beginning'. ');"><sup>12</sup></span>
Legends of the Jews
After the sacrifice was completed, God blessed Noah and his sons. He made them to be rulers of the world as Adam had been, and He gave them a command, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply upon the earth," for during their sojourn in the ark, the two sexes, of men and animals alike, had lived apart from each other, because while a public calamity rages continence is becoming even to those who are left unscathed. This law of conduct had been violated by none in the ark except by Ham, by the dog, and by the raven. They all received a punishment. Ham's was that his descendants were men of dark-hued skin.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy