Commentary for Genesis 8:16

’אתה ואשתך וגו THOU AND THY WIFE etc. — Husband and wife are mentioned together— now He allowed them to resume family life (Genesis Rabbah 34:8).

צא מן התבה אתה ואשתך. Leave the ark, you and your wife, etc. The wording was intended to permit Noach what had been forbidden to him while he was in the ark, namely normal relations with his wife. G'd also commanded all the other species to resume multiplying. G'd made this resumption of sexual relations dependent on Noach and the other species having left the ark. Even though the deluge was over, normalcy returned only after they all left the ark. All of this is indicated again by the report in the next verse that the males and the females exited from the ark separately. There was no point in telling us this except to teach us that the ark was not a home, but only a refuge.

וידבר ...צא מן התבה אתה ואשתך, in this verse, as opposed to the phraseology used when he was bidden to enter the ark, Noach and his wife were mentioned together, i.e. an indication that henceforth the mating of man and wife was once again permitted.

צא מן התבה, “leave the ark!” Noach was not willing to leave the ark without specific instructions from G’d.

צא מן התיבה אתה ואשתך, “leave the ark, you and your wife, etc;” when you check the text you will find that Noach did not follow G-d’s instructions precisely, as in verse 18 the Torah reports that Noach did not leave the ark at the same time as his wife, but he left in the company of his sons. According to an argument between Rabbi Nechemyah and Rabbi Yehudah, according to one Noach was punished for not taking advantage of living with his wife again immediately and siring more children by being debased and castrated in his wife’s tent. (B’reshit Rabbah 35,1) The other Rabbi disagrees, claiming that he was rewarded, seeing that he proved more chaste than even commanded, by not immediately indulging in sex with his wife so that G-d spoke to both him and his children in 9,1.