בראשית, פרק ז׳, פסוק ז׳

The moment of entering the Ark marks the seam between a world about to be destroyed and the sole remaining refuge for humanity. The gathering of the surviving family members into this sanctuary reveals much about their mindset and the underlying motives that finally drove them inside.

As the family gathered to enter, the men and women separated. The primary approach among commentators [רש״י, דעת זקנים, גור אריה, מלבי״ם] is that this division indicates a strict prohibition against marital relations during their time inside. Because the world was plunged into deep sorrow while God was actively destroying His creation, it was considered entirely inappropriate for humanity to focus on building families and procreation. They maintained this state of mourning despite being the only people left on earth to fulfill the commandment to procreate [פרדס יוסף, ברכת אשר]. Conversely, another perspective [מזרחי] suggests that this separation is simply a standard storytelling method. According to this view, the prohibition against marital relations is not derived from their manner of entry, but rather from earlier divine instructions.

The immediate trigger for their final entry reveals a deep divide among scholars. On a basic level [אבן עזרא, רד״ק, ביאור יש״ר, קאסוטו], the family went inside out of a natural fear of the rising waters. They entered at the very last moment once the rain began to fall. This is presented as a simple fact that does not diminish the righteousness of a man who had faithfully done everything God commanded.

However, other scholars [רש״י, חזקוני] view this last-minute entry as a subtle criticism. They suggest he possessed a flawed faith, simultaneously believing and doubting that the disaster would actually occur. Instead of entering purely out of obedience to the command of God, he lingered outside until the rising water physically forced him in. To reconcile this hesitation with his known righteousness, some explain [ברטנורא, נחלת יעקב] that his delay did not stem from a lack of reverence for God, but from a profound hope for divine mercy. When he saw the rain begin to fall gently, he hoped his generation might finally repent at the last possible moment, causing the decree to be canceled. Others [פרדס יוסף] propose he believed his own merit would protect the entire generation, saving everyone together. Alternatively, he might have feared that absolute belief in the impending disaster would actually bring it into reality, leading him to withhold full belief until the very end.

A harmonizing approach [הכתב והקבלה] suggests that entering the sanctuary was a gradual process rather than a single event. Initially, he went inside simply to obey the command of God. Yet, over the course of seven days, he continually went in and out to gather supplies and food, and perhaps to make one final attempt to urge his generation to repent. Only at the very end, driven by the actual floodwaters, did his entry become final and absolute, leaving no way back to the world he once knew.