<b>And the sons of Noah left the ark (Gen. 9:18).</b> May it please our master to instruct us whether man or woman is enjoined to fulfill the commandment to <i>Increase and multiply</i> (Gen. 1:28)? Our masters instruct us that the man is commanded to fulfill this decree and not the woman.
R. Yohanan contended that it was enjoined upon both sexes, since it is said: <i>And God blessed them and said to them: And fill the land and subdue it</i> (ibid.). However, the singular form of <i>subdue</i> is written in this verse, thus indicating that man and not woman subdues the earth. Therefore, it follows that man is commanded to <i>increase and multiply</i> and not the woman.
You know this to be so from the fact that Abraham sought a wife for his son Isaac: <i>And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his household,</i> etc. (Gen. 24:2), and it is written also: <i>I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven … that thou shalt go unto my country</i> (ibid., vv. 3–4). Hence, it is apparent that Abraham was concerned with the observance of the law of <i>Increase and multiply.</i> Similarly, Isaac told Jacob: <i>Arise! Go to Padan-aram</i> (Gen. 28:2), to seek a wife proper for him. He did not wish him to be like the men of the generation of the flood, who wallowed in unchastity and indulged in sexual intercourse with species other than their own. Observe what is written concerning them: <i>The sons of God saw the daughters of men … and took them wives, whomsoever they chose</i> (Gen. 6:2). That was the reason they were obliterated from the earth.
The animals, likewise, copulated with species other than their own: the horse with the ass, the ass with the horse, and the serpent with the bird, as it is said: <i>And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth</i> (Gen. 6:12). Notice that Scripture does not say in this verse “all man” but <i>all flesh.</i> Therefore, <i>He blotted out every living substance which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle</i> (ibid. 7:23). No being that had copulated with a species other than its own entered the ark, as it is said: <i>From all the pure cattle</i> (ibid., v. 2). Because the ark could harbor only pure beings, they came from among those alone, as it is said: <i>Two and two unto Noah</i> (ibid., v. 9).
Observe, however, that it is written in reference to their departure from the ark: <i>Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their families went forth from the ark</i> (Gen. 8:19). Do animals actually have families? The word <i>families</i> applies to the various breeds of animals that cleave only to their own kind. Therefore, Scripture records them with the sons of Noah.
<i>And they were the sons of Noah that went forth from the ark</i> (Gen. 9:18). <i>And they were</i> indicates that the Holy One, blessed be He, would cause them (their descendants) to exist permanently in the world. In reference to idolaters it is written, however: <i>I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more; though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again</i> (Ezek. 26:21).
<i>I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more</i> refers to the present time; <i>thou shalt be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again</i> refers to the Messianic Age. But Israel existed in the past, and will live in the future. Whence do we know this? It is written: <i>Remember thy congregation which Thou has acquired of old</i> (Ps. 74:2). <i>Of old</i> alludes to the time before the world was created. And they exist now, for it is said: <i>Ye are standing this day</i> (Deut. 29:9), <i>But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive, every one of you this day</i> (ibid. 4:4); that they will exist in the future is indicated in the verse <i>And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I do make, even Mine own treasure; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him</i> (Mal. 3:17).
<i>And the sons of Noah, that went forth from the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth</i> (Gen. 9:18). Was Shem the eldest of Noah’s sons, that his name is mentioned first? Is it not written that Japheth was the eldest? Why then was Shem mentioned first? Because he was considered to be more righteous and perfect by his Creator.
Ham, the progenitor of the Canaanites, was one of the three beings who indulged in intercourse while in the ark. Those who did so were Ham, the dog, and the raven. All three were punished for their sin; Ham was afflicted with a dark skin, the male dog remains attached (to the body of the female after copulation), and the raven emits his semen from his mouth. These are the three sons of Noah.