Now let us examine why, at the moment of entering the ark, the order of entry was that Noah entered first with his sons, then his wife and the wives of his sons, but when they got out, the order of exit was changed. In fact it is written, “Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.” According to the literal meaning the Scripture wants to emphasize the abstinence from the faculty of generation at the moment of the boarding on the ark and the use of this faculty at the moment of disembarking. At the beginning of the deluge the father entered first with his sons and the sons with the father, secondly his wife and the wives of his sons. There is no mixing of the sexes at the boarding, but there is at the disembarking. In a plain way, through the order of the people boarding, it is being made clear to the righteous that the time when death loomed over everybody was not suitable to concubinage and erotic pleasures…. With good reason, later, after t...
Let us fix our gaze on those who have perfectly served his magnificent glory. Let us take Enoch, who was found righteous in obedience and was taken up without there being a trace of his death. Noah was found faithful by reason of his service; he proclaimed a new birth to the world, and through him the Lord saved the living creatures who entered in harmony into the ark.
Those whom he had brought in “one by one” in order to maintain chastity on the ark, he now brought out “two by two” so that they might “be fruitful and multiply in creation.” Even with respect to the animals that had preserved their chastity in the ark God said, “Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth.” .
Then all creation was cleansed as if of some blemish, removing all defilement caused in it by human wickedness. Its countenance was made resplendent; God then finally commanded the just man to disembark from the ark, freeing him from that awful prison with these words, “Then the Lord God said to Noah, ‘Disembark, you and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives with you, as well as all flesh, from birds to cattle; take off with you every reptile that crawls upon the earth, and increase and multiply on the earth.’ ” Notice God’s goodness, how in everything he encourages the good man. After ordering him to disembark from the ark along with his sons, his wife, his sons’ wives and all the wild animals, then lest great discouragement should gradually overtake him by this further development and he become anxious at the thought that he would be on his own, dwelling alone in such a vast expanse of earth, with no one else existing, God first said, “Disembark from the ark, and take off everyth...
When Noah was ordered to enter the ark and was entrusted with the safeguarding of the seed of the earth, he was given this command, which reads, “Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.” He had separated them from their wives, so that with the help of chastity they might escape the deep and that worldwide destruction. However, after the cessation of the flood, the command was “Go forth from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.” Here, see how marriage was again permitted for the sake of increase.
For as Noah’s ark preserved alive everyone whom it had taken in when the world was going under, so also Peter’s church will bring back unhurt everyone whom it embraces when the world goes up in flames. And as a dove brought the sign of peace to Noah’s ark when the flood was over, so also Christ will bring the joy of peace to Peter’s church when the judgment is over, since he himself is dove and peace, as he promised when he said, “I shall see you again and your heart will rejoice.”
