“Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood, and cover with pitch inside and out.”
The flood means “evil water.” When the “Who” question comes to a person, which is Pharaoh’s question, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?” and also the wicked one’s question, “What is this work for you?” The Mayim [water], which is the flood, is made of those two—the Mi [Who] and the Ma [What]. By this, the whole world that a person has in Kedusha [holiness] was obliterated.
The advice for this is to go into the ark, for the Teiva [ark] has the letters of Bait [home] (as it is written in the Sulam [Ladder commentary on The Zohar]), since “home” means wisdom, as it is written, “In wisdom shall a house be built.” The opposite of “home” is an “ark,” which is Hassadim [mercies], which is faith above reason, as in “for he desires mercy.”
This is the meaning of “Cover with pitch inside and out,” since there must be the light of faith there. Hence, it must be covered with pitch from inside and out, and then it is a place in which to install the light of faith, since then he needs the light of faith. When one is on the path of faith, there is no room for the “Who” and “What” questions. Hence, precisely through the ark we are saved from the waters of the flood.