Another matter, “go out of the ark.” – it is written: “Wisdom fortifies the wise more than ten rulers who were in a city” (Ecclesiastes 7:19). “Wisdom fortifies the wise” – this refers to Noah. “More than ten rulers” – more than the ten generations from Adam until Noah; out of all of them, I did not speak to any one of them, but only with you: “God spoke to Noah.”
Another interpretation, it is written: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose beneath the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) – there was a time for Noah to enter the ark, as it is stated: “Come, you and your entire household, into the ark” (Genesis 7:1), and there was a time for him to go out of it, as it is stated: “Go out of the ark” (Genesis 8:16). This is analogous to a leader who left his locale and installed another to take his place [while he was gone].7God ceded to Noah the care of all living beings for the duration of the Flood. Now his time was up, and God came to take back control. When he returned, he said to him: ‘Get out of the place where you are now.’8Now that I am back, you must leave the leader’s seat. This is analogous to a scribe who went to another place and installed another in his stead. When he returned, he said to him: ‘Get out of the place where you are now.’ So it was with Noah. [God told him:] “Go out of the ark,” but he did not accept upon himself [the command] to go out. He said: ‘Shall I go out [and resume normal life,] and procreate, [only to bring my children] into a curse?’9Noah thought that eventually mankind would be destroyed in another flood. [He maintained this attitude] until the Omnipresent swore to him that He will never again bring a flood, as it is stated: “For, this is for Me like the waters of Noah; as I took an oath that the waters of Noah would no longer pass [over the earth]” (Isaiah 54:9).