Why God Remembered the Beasts of the Ark Along With Noah

Another interpretation: "And God remembered Noah" (Genesis 8:1). If it was Noah who was remembered, why also the beasts and the cattle? Rather, may the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, be blessed, for He does not withhold the reward of any creature. Even a mouse guarded its own family and did not mingle with another kind, in order to receive its reward. But all the people of the generation of the Flood mingled their families, as it is said, "And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt" (Genesis 6:12). Therefore, just as He exacted punishment from the human beings who sinned, so He exacted punishment from the cattle and the beasts and the birds. And from where do we know that He exacted punishment from them? As it is said, "And the Lord said: I will blot out" (Genesis 6:7). And why all of this? To teach you that they too mingled their families, and were going after a kind that was not their own, each and every kind after a kind that was not its own. And the Holy One, blessed be He, called to Noah and said to him: Choose for yourself cattle and beasts and birds [from those] that did not mingle their families, as it is said, "Of every clean beast" (Genesis 7:2)—clean just as it was created. And once they went out of the ark, the Holy One, blessed be He, testified concerning them that they had not mingled their families, as it is said, "By their families they went out" (Genesis 8:19). Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, remembered them along with Noah, as it is said, "And God remembered Noah" (Genesis 8:1).