Seforno - Parshas Noach

(12) And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. . (13) And God said unto Noah: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (14) Make thee an ark of gopher wood; with rooms shalt thou make the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. (15) And this is how thou shalt make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. (16) A light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. (17) And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; every thing that is in the earth shall perish. (18) But I will establish My covenant with thee; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’wives with thee. (19) And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. (20) Of the fowl after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. (21) And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.’ (22) Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Make for yourself an ark. Many ways to bring relief and rescue are available to Him; why, then, did He burden him with this construction? In order that the people of the Generation of the Flood should see him occupying himself with it for one hundred twenty years and ask him, “For what do you need this?” And he would say to them, “The Holy One, blessed be He, is destined to bring a flood upon the world.” Perhaps they would repent. - [Aggadath Bereishith 1:2, Tan. Noach 5, Tan. Buber Bereishith 37, Gen. Rabbah 30:7]

And Noah did. This is the construction of the ark.

"Make an ark of gopher wood." Rav Huna said in the name of Rebi Yosi: The Holy One Blessed be He warned the generation of the flood for one hundred twenty years so they should repent, and once they did not repent, [Hashem] commanded him (Noah) "make for yourself an ark of gopher wood." Noah stood up and planted cedars, and those around him asked "why are you planting cedars?" He responded "the Holy One Blessed be He is planning to bring a flood to the world and told me to make an ark so my family and I will survive." And they laughed and teased him. And he watered the trees and the trees grew. And people asked him what he was doing and he answered like before, and they teased him. After a while, he cut the trees and made boards and they asked "what are you doing?" and he said such (again) and warned them, since they did not repent, Gd brought upon them a flood, as it says "and he blotted out every living thing.

(1) And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, (2) that the sons of nobles saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives, whomsoever they chose. (3) And the LORD said: ‘My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.’ (4) The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of nobles came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. (5) And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (6) And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. (7) And the LORD said: ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.’ (8) But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

And the reason for why Noah found grace in Hashem's eyes was that all of his actions in front of Him were nice and pleasant...and this is mentioned in distinction from those of Noah's generation because all of their actions were saddening before Him (may He be blessed)...

And Noah found grace to save his sons and daughters because he was worthy; however, by virtue of grace did Gd give this to Him, as it is written (Ezekiel 14): "and three of these men, among them Noah, Daniel, and Job...though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Gd, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered" since they did not teach their generation to know Gd like Abraham, Moses, and Samuel and others, as it is said (Pesachim 87a): "Ilam, and they are Daniel and his friends, merited to learn but did not merit to teach." Similarly for Noah, eve though he rebuked others for societal impropriety, he did not teach others to know Gd (may He be blessed) and to walk in his ways, even though he was a "pure tzaddik" in thought and action, because a tzaddik who completes only himself it is suitable for him alone to be rescued, but if he helps complete someone else then that person is also worthy of being rescued, because through this perhaps they will return, as it says (Brachos 19) "if you see a scholar that sinned, do not think about him by night, since by then he will have repented."

(14) though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD. (15) If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they bereave it, and it be desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts; (16) though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. (17) Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say: Let the sword go through the land, so that I cut off from it man and beast; (18) though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. (19) Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast; (20) though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

Our Rabbis learned: seven laws were commanded to the children of Noah: (i) a justice system, (ii) blasphemy, (iii) idolatry, (iv) sexual immorality, (v) murder, (vi) theft, and (vii) eating a live animal.

Anyone who accepts upon oneself the seven Noachide commandments and is careful to follow them is of the righteous gentiles and has a share in the World to Come, and this refers to someone who follows the laws because the Holy One Blessed be He commanded him to follow the Torah and told us through Moshe our teacher that the children of Noah were previously commanded. However, if someone follows these laws without any theological intent, this is not a resident alien and is not a righteous gentile and is not one of their wise ones either.