Комментарий к Берешит 7:13

בעצם היום הזה IN THE SELFSAME DAY — Scripture teaches you that the people of his generation said: “If we see him enter the Ark we will smash it up and kill him”. The Holy One, blessed be He, thereupon said, ‘‘I will let him enter before the eyes of everyone and we shall see whose word prevails” (Genesis Rabbah 32:8).

בעצם היום הזה, on this very date, the 17th day of the second month, after Noach had entered the ark. How do we reconcile this statement with the verses 4-6 from which we deduced that Noach entered the ark already 7 days before the onset of the deluge? We must conclude that whereas the animals entered the ark at the beginning of the seven day period, Noach, who entered with them and made things comfortable for them, still commuted between the ark and his regular home. It is possible that even the animals and the birds still grazed in the vicinity of the ark, knowing that as soon as the rains would start their place was only inside the ark. They did not look forward to having to spend any more time than absolutely necessary for their survival inside the ark. On the seventh day, i.e. the 17th of the month, they all entered the ark for the last time prior to the earth having dried sufficiently after the deluge to enable them to disembark. As soon as everybody was inside, Noach locked the exit door, as well as the window which he had built into the roof of the ark, seeing the waters of the deluge would commence to descend on this very day.

בא נח ושם וחם ויפת בני נח ואשת נח וגו' , “Noach, Shem, Cham, and Yaphet, Noach’s sons and his wife entered, etc.” By rights the Torah should have written: בא נח ושם וחם ויפת בניו ואשתו ושלשת נשי בניו, in that order.[Had the Torah written the verse in that way it could have avoided mentioning the name Noach three times in that verse. Ed.] However, Noach was so beloved of G-d that G-d wanted to mention his name repeatedly in order to convey this to us. It is a common practice amongst people that when they are especially fond of someone they look for opportunities to refer to such a person by his name.

Scripture teaches... For if not, it should say just ביום הזה, as it says earlier (v. 11).