Or HaChaim on Genesis 6:10/אור החיים על בראשית ו׳:י׳

1 ויולד נח שלשה בנים. Noach fathered three sons. Why did the Torah have to repeat here that Noach fathered three sons when we have been told this already in 5,32? The mention of the number "three" seems quite superfluous in view of the fact that the Torah tells us the name of each son. Surely we can count up to three! Why did Noach's name have to be repeated? No one else is the subject here! The word בנים, sons, also seems superfluous. All the Torah had to write was: "Noach fathered Shem, Cham, and Yephet." Why did the Torah add the word את in front of each of the names?

2In view of our explanation that the Torah considered Noach's good deeds his principal descendants, and that it was on that account that Noach had found favour in the eyes of G'd, our verse is necessary. Had the Torah failed to repeat the information contained in 5,32, we would not have considered his three sons as a positive accomplishment on Noach's part. The Torah does not report anything positive or negative about these sons. We would have thought these three sons as unfit either on account of their own poor characters or because Noach had not fathered them in order to fulfil G'd's commandment. The Torah therefore lists the birth of these three sons immediately after the list of Noach's good deeds so as to include them in that list. I have found in the Midrash that Noach foresaw that his sons would anger G'd and as a result he decided there was no point in siring children during the first five hundred years of his life. At that point G'd commanded Noach to marry and to have children. He had children in order to keep alive the human species. I believe that this Midrash interpreted the words את האלוקים התהלך נח to mean that Noach thought he was approaching death; therefore he sired children before it was too late. Another meaning of these words could be that Noach realised he would soon be judged by the attribute of Justice for failing to have sired children. This is why he hastened to get married and to sire children to rectify his sin of omission. Another reason for Noach's tardiness in marrying and raising a family (according to several Midrashim) is that G'd commanded Noach to build the ark when he was 480 years old. The deluge would occur in another 120 years. In those days children were not held accountable for their sins until they were one hundred years old. Noach wanted to insure that when the deluge came his children deserved to be saved because they had not reached the age when G'd held them responsible for their deeds. Hence he waited until he was 500 years old before he sired any children (Compare Bereshit Rabbah 26,2 based on Isaiah 65,20). Accordingly, Noach's eldest son would be under 100 years old at the beginning of the deluge.

3The reason Noach's name is mentioned once more a) is to demonstrate again that he brought a new-found מנוחה rest or satisfaction to life on earth, b) to remind us that were it not for their father, these sons would not have been saved. Surely there were many youngsters below the age of one hundred at the time the deluge started and none of those were spared. I refer the reader to my comment on the words: "I have seen you to be a righteous person in this generation (7,1)." The three times את which appeared at first glance as superfluous refer to the wives of Noach's sons who were also saved only on account of Noach. If the sons of Noach per se did not warrant saving, why did G'd consider it necessary to repeat the report of the three sons that were born to Noach prior to the deluge?

4We have to fall back on Sanhedrin 69 where the Talmud proves that the list of Noach's sons presented by the Torah is not according to their seniority but is based on the sons' relative intelligence. Shem is mentioned first as he was the most intelligent. If this were not so he could not have been described as one hundred years old when he sired Arpachshad two years after the deluge (11,10). If the Torah had not mentioned the extra word בנים, but had merely given their names, we would have concluded that the list of their names was according to the order of their births.