On Genesis

The Logos as Creator and the Formation of the Earth§1

Divine Vision and the Nature of Light§2

2Having considered so much, it was necessary for the animals... in such a way it could not remain... not even... the 'was' signifies the ungenerated... God made the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1), whence the earth is not ungenerated. For not always 'was' signifies the eternal, but often... it happens in such a way that 'and there was a man of noble...' gap... invisible through the... constructed, since the things capable... came to this.

These things, indeed, gap he proposes to understand by word... we consider the invisible and unconstructed... by its own word, without and formless... of forms and shaped things... this is constructed from all... with its own matter and... in Wisdom it says: 'For the hand of your Almighty did not fail and create the cosmos out of formless matter...' gap... we only propose by word... And darkness was upon the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:2). Darkness, indeed, someone might take as the sensible... having been light, it was darkness not existing... light subsisting, which was over the deep. The deep, however, is deep water, of which there is no measure to be taken, the depth being made manifest by length and breadth. He says the Spirit hovers over the water; and if the simplest understanding were to fall gap... lying upon the immeasurable water and especially... since the Spirit gap with the senses...

With such discourses, he sows spiritual things many times, he who even now performs the movement. Therefore, it is preserved, for they did not make something of waters according to nature, but something else.

The abyss would be the darkness of ignorance. A holy thing is brought over the powers, spirits, principalities, thrones, lordships. 'God saw the waters, and they saw and were afraid' (Psalm 77:16). It is evident, however, that it is not about sensible waters, for he neither fears nor sees, for they are inanimate; for God sees not with eyes but understands with unmixed and pure intellect.

Evil exists in things according to nature, but virtue exists part by part from knowledge. 'And God said, Let there be light, and there was light' (Genesis 1:3). What light is there with the luminaries, as in 'Praise him, sun, and moon, praise him, all you stars and light' (Psalm 148:3)? They think another light exists from this, apart from the sun and the rest of the stars. Perhaps it is not entirely irreconcilable to have the notion that before the sun there was some radiance, thinking that another light was to be. For they say that it was not yet defining something for us, but it appeared. Some radiance leaps forward, an external radiance of the sun, the form of sensible lights, as if rays of light.

The Divine Vision of Light§3

3And of the heaven... gaps...our gaps to be composed... gaps...in them this is shown... gaps Just as on the earth... gaps...plants later themselves... gaps...a certain light previously existing... provided the generation of these gaps toward the allegory many gaps door, shepherd, way... gaps relation and philanthropy... gaps so also from the Father it is said to him: 'I have given you to be a light to the nations, to be salvation unto the ends of the earth' (Isa 49:6). This teaches not that he generated the Son out of non-being, but that, being light in essence, he set light to be for those dwelling with him from him.

For not when the light of this intelligible world was set, did it become light existing by itself; for 'was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world' (John 1:9). So also the Son, being wisdom eternally, becomes a teacher to be wise and to all as wisdom to those desiring to learn, not receiving wisdom as a beginning of being, but being eternally, for those of us being made wise; for she says about herself: 'Whenever he prepared the heavens, I was with him' (Proverbs 8:27), making it manifest to the Father: 'Wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification and redemption became ours' gaps...opening gaps...teaches the Psalmist... gaps...God according to nature and... gaps...himself divine... gaps...creation... gaps so God is begotten... gaps according to allegory...

...following... the light that fits... because we shall be deprived... we received... at the same time as the generation... as they were foreknown... of their essence, which was enlightened by God... and to maintain the light unclouded... by the will of God. For he says, 'And God saw the light that it was good' (Genesis 1:4), that is, to take the naturally existing lights.

To see the light, it is necessary to hear in a manner befitting God, not concerning God through human passions or in human-like speech. For as 'he himself said and was born' allusion to John 1:1, the one who spoke according to providence, so that we receive instead of saying his word... he wills... and concerning the... as previously stated... it is not equal to me... men indeed speak, but God speaks through the intellect... thus He speaks, not with a voice of God since He is not... but entering into... and the one hearing it... God speaks these things to the intellects; we say 'to say what God said'...

Demonstrating Divinity and the Distinction of Good and Evil§4

4By the greatness of the light that has come, God would see the whole analogy and the harmony it has with other things. We say of the painter that he sees differently through art, even though he also receives it through sensory perception. For the one practicing art, seeing the analogy, perceives the beauty of this member in relation to that and this in relation to that, whereas the non-artist does not reach this appearance, which comes through calculation and technical intellect.

It has been said that the Savior is day; allegorically, 'the night has passed, and the day has approached' (Romans 13:12). For He Himself is day and light; light indeed according to essence, but light through intellect illuminates. For 'the sun of righteousness shall rise' (Malachi 4:2) 'upon you who fear my name.' Nor is it about a sensory light, but it rises as a sun to those who fear. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night (Gen 1:5).

One must take all things according to the law of allegory. For the day is the shining of the law of allegory and illumination, and ignorance is darkness. The word 'called' signifies 'demonstrated'—for this is what the Scriptures constantly mean. For 'made' sometimes also signifies 'demonstrated'; for the Jews say to the Savior, 'You, being a man, make yourself God' (John 10:33) instead of...

You demonstrate what you do by saying missing no one. And again it has been said that 'for this reason they sought to kill Jesus, not only because he broke the Sabbath, but because he also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God' (cf. John 5:18), which signifies equality with the unbegotten God. And John, in the epistle following him, writes: 'If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar' (1 John 1:10), making it clear that God missing—here is where the 'making' is the 'demonstrating' of the sign. But also concerning the priest who took missing, it is said that 'the priest defiles him,' clearly meaning that the one 'defiling him' demonstrates that he has been defiled, not himself missing missing.

God from the beginning had a concept, by which he distinguishes the good and the evil, which exists in the incorruptible missing; but others, having gone astray and using things in various ways, missing that the good is chosen and the evil is missing as is mostly missing; the word says that he weighs down those who are distracted by these missing things: 'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness' (Isaiah 5:20), which regarding history they do not do—for they do not think darkness is light—but regarding the ways missing the weighing brings upon them missing they treat the love of beauty and knowledge as an excessive thing missing.

In what preceded this it has been said missing seeing creation missing many times in the narration missing having ascended above missing missing is a ditch missing the luminaries became missing who is other missing.

The Pattern of the Ages§5

The Creator revealed through the heavens§6

The Water and the Just§7

7the truth is different

The inner man is a gift from heaven, and it is fitting to seek God.

Regarding the things which are said, 'Many waters cannot quench love' (Song of Songs 8:7), being used as a symbol, one is not able to be overcome once by the opposing power, about which the saint cries, 'Save me from many waters' (Psalm 144:7), which leads to 'from the hand of strange sons' (Psalm 144:7), water meaning the strange sons. And again, 'If you pass through fire, flame shall not burn you, if through water, rivers shall not overwhelm you' (Isaiah 43:2), which is an athletic prize given to the just. And if someone took these things from the rivers of the sensible, it would not be a great thing not to be overwhelmed by the rivers of the sensible, with many and other evil things being expected of this; but it is a great thing not to be carried away by the streams of the opposing energies nor by the immeasurable wickedness of these, which is a reward becoming the just and a proper end.

Since, being presented through water, the rational animals show that by their own impulse and will the things in wickedness and the things in virtue have happened. For all things happened so that one might have virtue, but some did not preserve the given thing by their own slight deviation. Since God also made man good, but they themselves turned away from the goodness.

The Unity of the Father and Son in Creation§8

8It is not useless, nor are the bad things useless essences; for if it were so, the economy of salvation would have been in vain, but it has become a correction, for the good things exist by their own impulse, while the bad things exist by co-existing logical principles.

the firmament in the midst of the water is a word making a pre-existing difference manifest, which, being within the ruling faculty, separates the inferior from the good, so that it might save in this way. Separation to be bodily, having seen how it was said by Abraham to the rich man asking to be sent to Lazarus: 'A great chasm has been set up between us' (Luke 16:26), declaring that the distinction of evil stands not in a place, but in a change of difference and opposition.

Since justice is not co-existing with injustice, the righteous and the wicked cannot be in the same thing; and I do not say in the same place, but they will have different dispositions. Just as there, the chasm of the difference of virtue and evil has been said to divide the evil from the good, so also now God has made a firmament in the midst of the water, that is, the ruling faculty, so that a distinction of good and evil might come to be.

And since by nature the good is upward-tending and the bad pulls downward those who use it voluntarily—'for the feet of folly bring down those who use it after death into Hades' (Proverbs 5:5)—the bad is indeed below, but those using virtue attain to the things above—'for the Lord takes up' (Psalm 147:6) 'the gentle' (Psalm 147:6)—making the firmament useful, which is the word of faith and virtue, dividing the use of the serious minded, so that they neither be lost nor be destroyed... but the firmament, according to nature, is not a different solid body, but it exists having a standing, and it also surpasses the essence of every body. God said to become a firmament in the midst of the water.

For it is one water taken by law of affinity, the rational essence being one according to the underlying subject, and the differing opinion made the separation. ι, 6. And it happened thus. For it was necessary that the will of the God of all things should be shown through the work, standing at once by the word and the will. And the Son is the will of Him, through whom all things consist, being the Wisdom of the One Begetting, saying: 'Whenever I was preparing the heavens, I was co-partner with Him' (Proverbs 8:27). Therefore, if we hear God say and it happened thus, understanding the Son as the one hearing and fulfilling the will, we do not grasp it visually, but rather so that we may have a union with the Father and the Son through these words, believing in the Creator of all things, the Father and the Son, not as something other than the Father and something other than His own Son being at work; for it was said by this Son: 'For whatever He does, the Son likewise does' (John 5:19).

ι, 7. And God made the firmament and God separated the middle of the water which was under the firmament and the middle of the water of the above firmament. Gapped text... of the water, as it was previously said,... and under the firmament it happened... all things... following. ι, 8. And God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good. Gapped text... God saw that it was good, so much praise must be spoken, because what is seen immediately shows beauty, Gapped text... having the acceptance of... and of the analogy, one praises seeing that it is good, Gapped text... for virtue is the judgment of... to test the needs and the causes and the... because a friend of beauty is very beautiful in construction... for it is worthless to be constructed... it is to see.

Signifying vs Doing and the Gathering of Waters§9

9Other parts are dishonorable, such as hairs and the like, and one would not reproach the builder by comparing them to the honored and beautified places and temples and other buildings in a city, knowing no analogy. For each thing is taken according to its own nature, and it is not so wonderful as when, seeing them all at once as in the arrangement of a city, one tests their utility; so also regarding the creation, and it is much more wonderful. For it is not possible to say 'for this or for that,' since all things are created for their utility.

And there was evening and there was morning, the second day (Genesis 1:8). Observe how some, those outside of godliness, say: 'When, according to you, were days foretold to be before the setting of the sun?' It must be said to them that you view all these things by analogy; for teaching through symbols is not forbidden to them. Since they follow the moving things and are joined to the spoken word, let us take a little regarding this. The day is understood in two ways: according to the chronological interval and according to the illumination of the air around us. For when it is said, 'And on the third day' (Genesis 1:8), the extent of the day is indicated, not whether the day is bright or dark; but when someone says that today is a gloomy day, he does not say this looking at its extent. Therefore, if the divine word says that a first, second, and third day existed before the creation of the sun and the other luminaries, one must look to the extent of the chronological interval, and say to the one questioning the divine writing that seventy-two, as if hours, have come to pass after the creation of the firmament, before the luminaries had come to be, and this is nothing wonderful. For the sun of the day is not a maker of the day but exists as a sign, since even those things constructed mechanically, some would call the measures of the hours not makers but signs. Thus the sun signifies the times...

The sun and the moon do not perform the action. However, to signify is different from to do, so that such an incongruous interval was not established from the creation of the sun and the other luminaries; for if there were a significance, it became a distance of three days.

And God said, 'Let the water under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear' (Gen 1:9). To say 'God said' we take similarly with those who have passed, when it was said, 'And God said, Let there be light' (Gen 1:3) and 'Let there be a firmament' (Gen 1:6). And let the explicit exposition of the present heading be this: not all water, but the water under the heaven, God commands to be gathered into one gathering; for it has been said that the firmament became in the midst of the waters, so that the part of the water remained above, and the part below. And the utility of the command is shown by saying, 'and let the dry land appear' (Gen 1:9); for the land lies hidden by the waters, and thus having existed unsuitably, it was positioned for the generation of plants and animals. He says, 'And the water was gathered into its gatherings' (Gen 1:10). And one thing, as someone might say, is that which is in the command, but another is that which is in the completion of the work; for it is stated into one gathering that all the water be gathered, and the counter-part says that the water was gathered into its gatherings and thus the dry land appeared.

And the seemingly contradictory thing is restored by the one presiding over the history in this way: the ocean is one sea enclosing the whole inhabited world; for so say those who have reasoned about places, that an island which has a relation to the whole sea—for it is surrounded and enclosed from every side—this, he says, the whole earth and the whole inhabited world has a relation to the ocean. And there are some parts of the ocean as if being cast out into deep places, and thus the other seas were formed. If therefore he says, 'into one gathering' (Gen 1:9), he speaks of the universal gathering, which is called...

The distinction between dry land and the dry element§10

10They have become like an ocean; this element has been gathered into one, and the others, as we say, have been gathered into parts. And 'and so the dry land appeared', and observe that it does not say 'all the dry land'. For under the waters there is land; for it is impossible to sustain water without having land or a corresponding body underlying it. But pay attention if there is a difference between saying 'dry land' and 'land' from what was said in the prophet: 'Once again I will shake the heaven and the earth, the sea and the dry land' (Haggai 2:6).

Another says that the same thing is being indicated; yet by another thought, 'dry' and 'land' are named, as regarding the land as that which lies under the heaven, but regarding the dry element as being called so. For it is said, 'This is the sea of God and he himself made it, and his hands formed the dry land' (Ps 95:5), and concerning Jonah being cast from the belly of the sea-monster that 'the sea-monster approached and cast Jonah out onto the dry land' (Jon 2:10) from the liquid substance. These things indeed regarding the literal sense, but regarding the thought which follows the patterns, we say that the waters remaining above the firmament are not perceptible, nor are they part of these perceptible waters; for neither plants nor animals subject to this need of water find themselves there, and whatever was said before as indicative of nothing being water there is stated sufficiently as perceptible water.

We say, therefore, that what remains at hand will establish by its own logic that these are waters held in various and diverse collections under the firmament. For it is impossible for those in a state of discord to ever be of one mind; for discord is alien to both confusion and unity. For virtue is unifying, having a certain continuity. For indeed the temperate man is brave and wise and just, and he who has one virtue has the others, just as in the beatitudes in the Gospel (Matt 5); for he who has the one making-virtue has the others. And there often occurs a deviation regarding the same virtue, such as one being called merciful from the excess, and the just and other temperate man, and thus they are able to be different virtues. He who perfectly has one has the others, and I say 'perfectly' because of the frequent introduction...

That the virtues follow one another will be clear from this. The rational animal, set before itself to live according to virtue, uses prudence to judge what is to be done and not done, what is to be chosen and avoided, what brings blame and praise, since we have utter need of a science discriminating good and evil, that we may choose the one and flee the other. The one so disposed, having prudence and having divided the evil from the good, knowing altogether that the good is to be chosen and done, chooses it; and flees the opposite, knowing that it is both to be avoided and harmful and […] and damaging. And such a one needs justice too, so that he may assign to each what is fitting — to the good what is to be chosen, to the evil what is to be avoided. Having learned which things are blameworthy and which praiseworthy, he needs courage, that he may become despising of wiles, not being subject to the heretics. Hence such a one is also temperate; for temperance is fitting to the rational animal. And you see that the one who has one has them all, and these have one end as in the case of the beatitudes, though they are diverse.

For as, in a city where the entrances are diverse, the one entering through one is yet in the city, so also with the virtues. Unifying, then, is virtue, as Paul also says to those so living: “that you may be perfected in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor 1:10). But vice is not so: for excesses cannot agree with deficiencies. For the one who has rashness does not have cowardice. Again, piety lies in the middle between impiety and superstition: piety is what accepts and reveres what must be, superstition is revering everything even what is not venerable, impiety is in no way revering anything nor holding anything sacred, which is the mark of atheists. Superstition and impiety could not run together, then. Since, then, the rational things under the firmament were held in vice and in inclination toward evil, and vice is disordered and confused, it is not possible for all to be in one mind or purpose. For as those voting, when they speak truth, bring forth the things of truth in one vote, while those who err either toward the less or toward the more, […] differently even in these, so also in the case of the […].

The Gathering of Waters and the Dry Land§11

11Every person, having been cut off from the truth, is drawn into various kinds of wickedness. And regarding those traveling, many are the upward paths, but one is the straight one.

Thus the waters were scattered, which we have set down to be the rational judgments being diverse and being carried by disposition. Therefore, the one who benefits from them by knowing them wants them to become one, since he is also their creator. For it is said that he is the maker of their essence, but each is his own according to the diversity of his judgment.

Therefore God himself protects so that these things might be gathered into one assembly, so that they might become such a water, which is that above the heavens, being one not by number but by harmony. Immediately also, a single soul and heart of all the believers becomes one, not by number but by harmony and by the same purpose and by striving for a single end.

Therefore the God of all things protects so that the divided things might be brought into harmony; for this is the intention of the beneficent God. Since they were poured together and were moving irregularly according to judgment, they are first gathered into assemblies. And it is not contrary to the one protecting to say that they were gathered into their assemblies, God saying: 'Let the water be gathered into one assembly' (Genesis 1:9); for they will not yet have reached the limit of the utmost virtue, the gathering before this being fitting.

And just as if someone, wanting to train his child in perfect matters, entrusts him to a teacher, if he were to first lay these characters before him, then, having grasped them, he would proceed not contrary to the one who entrusted him; for in this way he will reach the perfect things from these. And again, if a king, protecting a city under himself, commands to prepare those by which the construction of the city might happen, he does nothing other than what is the command; for from these and through these the construction will be fulfilled.

So also the rational judgments, being in wickedness, were not able to reach the final desired end, unless various progresses became, which are the systems of the waters; for after the progress, he protects them to come into one assembly. Therefore that which happens does not fight against the command, but...

But this command, as it is at the perfection of the order, is a kind of economy pre-arranging the logical things in which they were able, so that they might thus reach the end. And it happened thus, and the water was gathered into its assemblies. The intention of God is to gather the scattered into one—for he says this—but they, remaining until the end in their own assemblies, were gathered, which are progress.

And God called the dry land, and the collections of the waters he called seas (Gen 1:10). Just as we were saying that the earth, existing after heaven in the beginning, had this name and the heaven had this name, but after the heaven and the earth existing in the beginning, the expanse is primarily called so, but by appellation heaven; so also the earth existing after the heaven existing in the beginning is called this, but concerning which it is now said, this is called by name dry, but by appellation land: 'God called the dry land' (Gen 1:10), as it has been said; 'He called the expanse heaven' (Gen 1:8).

Regarding the allegory, God calls the dry land not by granting it a new name, but because he commanded that the waters lying upon it, which were kin to the abyss, be separated, he calls it dry—for it has been said: 'And let the dry appear' (Gen 1:9)—so that it might truly be called land, having remained as its own underlying soul, and being set free by God for the reception of seeds, it might bring forth a hundred, sixty, thirty of divine, perfect fruit. For the kind of fruit which, upon the being-cultivated earth, the more ready one brings forth... or the later one, contrary to the care of the farmer or the nature of the earth, so also regarding souls: some, having received the seed, stifled it by anxieties and cares, but those having used the agriculture most excellently, having been trained to such an extent, as to benefit themselves and to stand as a source of benefit to others. For the difference of plants is manifold and varied, and the hand that works is irregular, being used such that it will more clearly demonstrate the dryness of the evil earth.

The Nature of Species and the Sowing of Thorns§12

12For something to be destroyed is held back until the bad planting. And God saw that it was good. The stripping bare of the underlying things of the dryness, so that land might become, God saw as good; as to the spoken word again this is evident. The land, therefore, having been hidden under the waters, was not dry and was not such as to feed animals or bear fruits.

And even after the establishment of the world and the being of animals, from which the successions come, to this it is good to be plants and trees and delicious fruits, from which the animals took sustenance. Since, therefore, as also previously was said, God seeing the analogy accepted and approved it, for this reason it is said: 'God saw that it was good' (Gen 1:10), the seeing being understood in the words to follow as meaning that not [the...]. Just as the craftsmen see the artificial things, and much more the God sees by a superabundance, He does not perceive sensually.

And God said: 'Let the earth bring forth grass.' The underlying earth, having separated itself from the moisture, was named dry, being called land, and it has power to bear fruit. It must be observed that throughout the whole cosmopoeia what God said is intended and God made it, which shows the creative power; for especially through this precedence the creative is shown, but the name Lord shows the meaning of ruler and king. And 'In the beginning' (Gen 1:1) therefore 'God made' (Gen 1:1) is said, not the King or Lord, not that He is another, but that the name God presents the creative more emphatically. When therefore a command is given to Adam, it is said: 'The Lord God commanded Adam' (Gen 2:16), and rightly; for it is the work of a lord and king to give laws and commands.

And God therefore said: 'Let the earth bring forth grass, bearing seed according to its kind and according to likeness.' For of those growing from the earth, some are trees and some are vegetable plants. And Moses, wishing to call the trees in Deuteronomy, says simply 'the woody ones' for trees, the wooden ones, saying the vine, the fig, the olive, but it is evident also as many herbs as to the many people...

Regarding the medical treatments of bodies, Solomon shows that he has received from God the useful knowledge of these things, saying: 'For He himself gave to me the knowledge of what exists, to know the constitution of the world and the operation of the elements' (Wisdom 7:17) and, with a little 'difference of plants and the powers of roots' and the nearby things, not yet calling them wood, but there he calls the herb or grass all things leafy, which also is called field-grass, just as in the Gospel it is called a plant in general, showing it through the similarity of the species.

For since even the Scripture knows the meaning of the species, it says: 'Abstain from every kind of evil' (1 Thessalonians 5:22), using the word species specifically, and often instead of form it says: 'And we saw him, and he had neither species nor beauty' (Isa 53:2), and: 'For we walk by faith, not by sight' (2 Cor 5:7), meaning that the one who does not know through form walks by faith, but the one who walks by sight. Having spoken thus about the weeds or wild plants, 'sowing seed according to its kind' (Gen 1:11), he proceeds to the trees, 'wood that produces fruit' (Gen 1:11); for in every plant is the nature of its seed, whether they are edible, or for some other use, being known to men, or known only to God.

These things are regarding the literal sense, but regarding the allegorical, I think he has this manner: God, having created man, intended for him to bear the fruits of virtues and to make much progress in the knowledge of truth, so He gave him good concepts; but through the ascent, the earth was drawn away from its own purpose, and the man sowed thorns through transgression. As for those who, having received divine instruction, did not attend to the sowing of the word, hearing: 'Sow fire and reap thorns' (Hos 10:12). For he did not plow so that thorns might be reaped; this is not having farmed them well, nor to miss the blessing which Jacob blessed his son saying:

The Goodness of Creation and Divine Activity§13

13“Behold, the fragrance of my son is as the fragrance of a full field which the Lord blessed” (Genesis 27:27). He who conducts his cultivation well will hear, just as the bride: “A garden enclosed, my sister, a garden enclosed.” And “and it was so” and the following things are said for the sake of reciprocity. Genesis 1:12. And God saw that it was good. It is to be noted that, when two things have been commanded and have come to be, it is said as if they were one: “God saw that it was good.” For “God saw that it was good” is said toward the end and the purpose of the sequence; for the sake of men the vegetation sprouted and the other things. I say that what has the analogy in sensible things is good, how much more that which is in virtues and the harmony of a soul living well and choosing the excellent things according to reason and hastening toward the end of virtue. Genesis 1:14–19. And God said: “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven for the shining of the earth and for dividing between the day and between the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years, and let them be for shining in the expanse of the heaven so as to shine upon the earth”; and it was so, until it became the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19).

Beginning the book, we say that God, being an active essence, simultaneously wills and is what he wills to be; for it is not possible for his activities to be prior to his existence, as is the case with human arts. For after the work is performed, the house is, and after the building, the house; for the house is not in the building, nor the ship in the shipbuilding; for these activities are measured by time. But God acts without time, leading toward the being which he wills; so therefore activity will not be following something. As soon as it was willed that the lights be, they are, and as soon as he willed the water to be gathered into one collection, the command was fulfilled, and in saying “Let there be an expanse”...

Hence, following this thought, […] concerning the six days we must understand as not taken for the sake of temporal extension, but of a logic proper to the creation of God and of the power of number. For six is the first of the perfect numbers: and they call perfect numbers those completed from their own parts — and there are only four from one to ten thousand. Six, then, is first: its half is three, its third two, its sixth one, which added together make six. Likewise with twenty-eight: its half is fourteen, its fourth seven, its seventh four, its fourteenth two, its twenty-eighth one, which again added together make twenty-eight. And besides these there are two others; but if you add others besides the perfect ones, they fall short or exceed, as must be observed in the case of eight: half four, fourth two, eighth one, which again added together bring a lesser number. And twelve added together exceeds: its half six, its third four, its fourth three, its sixth two, its twelfth one. Those concerned with these things call the deficient ones “defective,” the excessive ones “overfull,” and the ones completed from themselves “perfect.”

It was fitting, then, for God, making a perfect creation, to bring it into being in the first perfect number — not that we should altogether say that six days elapsed while the sun circled six times (for the sun had not yet come to be in the first three), but that the number six was taken for the sake of logic and harmony. Moses himself sets forth this thought exactly, making the recapitulation of what happened, saying: “This is the book of the generation of heaven and earth, when it came to be, in the day God made heaven and earth” (Gen 2:4). For altogether neither did heaven and earth come to be in a day, but “in the beginning,” nor did all things come into being in one day, but it is clear that, at once […].

The Purpose of the Luminaries§14

14Because all things have come to be, this number is taken up for the sake of order and for the sake of harmony, as has been said; and because of this, due to our weakness and our inability to perceive otherwise in any suitable way. Let what is said be clear from an example. Our body possesses color and size together with its substance, and it did not come into being as separate things divided in time, but rather, except by thought, the one is before and the other is after.

In the same way, the world, having come into being in order, is completed not by time but by harmony. For no part of the world will be able to be conceived in relation to the others unless the rest exists. And the luminaries, having come into being on the fourth day, show by their preciousness that they were spoken into existence in this way because of the reason concerning them. For the tetrad, being in power, exists as a ten in honor; for through all Scripture, the ten is praised.

But that a certain number, if it is signified in the divine letters, does not always declare a multitude, but a reason, it is to be understood from what has been said concerning God: 'I have left behind seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal' (1 Kings 19:18). For if such a number was the case, the prophet would not have said, 'I am left alone' (1 Kings 19:10), nor did they have the pure relationship toward one another; for they were not fleeing themselves.

A precious reason concerning the seven—for this is both without seed and without fruit—submits the thought that the saints are of the same power, even if they exist as humans, having established something divine and being considered superhuman through contemplation and life. But also in the Apocalypse, John, saying that twelve thousand men fall to the Lamb, who is the Savior, and these virgins with women not defiled, shows that there is a certain precious reason concerning this number; for no one would have said such a great multitude of virgins were gathered from those who believed while John was still alive, perhaps even if there were not so many of them.

We say therefore that the world has come to be in six because of the previously mentioned reason, and the luminaries on the fourth because of the previously mentioned reason, that the tetrad, being a ten in power, possesses the honor. For Moses gave ten words and ten are provided; and one finds other privileges of the ten. 'Let there be' (Genesis 1:14) therefore 'luminaries in the expanse of the...'

of the heaven. And this instructs them toward not being their own gods, just as it seemed to the deceived Egyptians. And it is well placed in the firmament and not beyond the firmament; for those seeing these things.

And he says their work is both that which shines upon the earth and to divide between the day and between the night; for the rising makes the day, and the setting makes the night. Another of their work is to be for signs; for the stars and the sun himself signify many things; but they signify not as making, but as revealing. And those proposing fate set them as poets, saying that if this does to that, but not so, but so that they might signify seasons, months, years; it is not the signifying that is poetic.

For he says, 'And let them be for signs and for seasons and for years' (Genesis 1:14), which signifies the annual seasons, the spring, the winter, and the others; for being in this climate the sun does this or that. And if those concerning the sciences were to say, rushing to conclude that these are for signs, that in this way the argument of fate is introduced, it would not have probability for them; but otherwise it is not even possible for human nature to grasp such signs, because of the pole being moved most sharply by them, through which it is impossible to grasp the hour of the setting.

And the 'and it happened thus,' being reciprocal, shows that the Son did this which the Father willed to establish. For indeed, since it was not said how many lights would become, it was brought forth: 'And God made the two lights' (Genesis 1:16); thus it is the same will and energy of Father and Son. And in part also the beginnings of the lights came to be, of the sun the leader of the day, and of the moon and the other stars the leaders of the night.

Whom He set, not declaring that He set them the same as He made them, nor that having first come to be they were later set, but that the concept submits to the word that the coming-into-being is first to be the placement; for to establish is one thing, and to fit to the other parts of the world is another. And let this be appropriate to those who have said, that He rightly said six days and not six hours or months or years; for to say months or years seemed a slowness, and to say hours seemed unthinkable; for he who does not...

The Sun of Righteousness and the Seasons of Progress§15

15Knowing not what day or what hour, he recalls a complete number, both days and accordingly. Just as 'God saw' (Gen 1:4) meant that it was good, so 'God saw' means as it is understood in the fading. We say these things to clarify the word, but these things could be for an ascent.

It was said before that 'let there be light' (Gen 1:3) must be raised to the Savior, not as emerging from non-existence, but as becoming fitting for those being enlightened. Among those being enlightened, some receive a lesser illumination and others a greater; and from these come those who experience a nocturnal state. Thus there are now luminaries of the Son's perception, following the will of the present matter: it fits each person's measure, becoming a sun of righteousness for those being raised, and for the lesser, being proportioned and providing a Spirit-illumination analogous to the moon.

And there were also those being enlightened in the night who, being perfect, necessarily provided for the body's need. For the perfect one, even if he is so, all at once, because he has a body, is nourished and undergoes the other needs of the body, which he himself makes perfect as a perfect one; for this reason he also has light, and such a light is a nocturnal light, since the intensity is so much relative to the body's needs, even if it is not lost, but experiences relaxation. And just as the moon itself receives rays from the sun and becomes a second light provided by the greater, so also the church is the light of the world.

For the Lord said to his own disciples, 'You are the light of the world' (Matt 5:14), not solar—for he himself was the sun of righteousness—but lesser and provided by him. But also the apostle, saying, 'In which you are as luminaries in the world' (Phil 2:15), shows that having participated in the true light, they are the light of the world; for he leads on: 'holding the word of life' (Philippians 2:16). And the relationship to this light of his might be a moon; for he did not say 'you are the lights,' but the light; for all having unity toward themselves, they are thus one light, being the church. And the stars of these would be subject to the Word, having ascended far above the others according to the allegory, whom...

And they shine. Those who were prophets, sending forth the dawn of the pre-proclamation before the rising of the sun. For He, having risen, guided the whole, and showed all things as one light, because those participating are shown to be perfect light.

For it has been said that the righteous will shine 'as the sun in the kingdom of their own Father' (Matthew 13:43), not 'sun,' but as the sun, just as it is also said in the Song concerning her sharing in the light: 'Who is this that rises like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, dazzling as the sun?' (Song of Solomon 6:10). And observe that some progress are revealed through these: first, one becomes like the dawn, then like the chosen moon instead of the full and uninterrupted moon according to the new moon—for even it is the same, being divided and not moon-like and oscillating, but its perfect state is according to the new moon, which he likens to the bride—and after which, although it is like the sun, it is a dazzling wonder because of much progress and union.

Those becoming such are not light by construction of this kind, but by participation in the true light. They also divide 'in the midst of the day' and 'in the midst of the darkness,' dividing evil from virtue, and thus illuminating those upon the earth, who are not yet heavenly through works. They also signify seasons and days and months and years, knowing the measure of each and how this one stands regarding instruction, just as we say of a physician that it is a time of nourishment based on how the one being fed stands, for even the one using medical art feeds at night.

Therefore, the sun of righteousness and the moon spoken of with it and the stars signify such a time as a time of lessons, a time of progress, a time of introduction; and they signify even the things themselves—for when someone is enlightened, the underlying things themselves are clear—not then under the sun of righteousness when it signifies, but being eternally present, signifying when those advancing need guidance. Therefore they are also said to have come on the fourth day, signifying through allegory the relation toward logical matters. For as it was previously stated, being in potentiality of virtue, we need those who lead into the energy of virtues, which comes from...

The Creation of Creeping and Flying Creatures§16

16A tetrad leads to a decad. For the tetrad is a power of ten, as has already been shown;. The foundation, in which the lights are made, must receive faith and perfect virtue, which the psalmist, possessing it, said: 'The Lord became my support' (Ps 18:2). And concerning the church it is said: 'Who is this that ascends, leaning upon her brother?' (Song of Solomon 8:5). For without the Word it is not possible for the church to be; for this is its support and foundation.

These same lights are signs; according to the literal sense, they sometimes signify a kingdom, or torches, or lightning, or something else of the great things according to their use; but according to anagogical sense, as has been said, they signify progress, and often the desert of the soul; for the lights indicate this allegorically. And these also enlighten those on earth; for those who are not able to share in the perfect light are enlightened through the light of the saints.

And Moses, teaching this, says: 'I stand in the midst of the Lord and you' (Deuteronomy 5:5), offering your supplications to God and ministering the graces from him to you. So also the Savior, having become man, is a mediator of God and men; for being God, he joins us to the Father, and having become man, in a certain way as a lover of mankind, he speaks to us those things which he heard from the Father. The law might be among the lights inferior to the sun, about which the psalmist said: 'Your law is a lamp to my feet' (Ps 119:105), showing that the law enlightens the progress and the passages of the soul.

Thus also Paul, having been enlightened, says: 'That we may walk decently as in the day' (Rom 13:13); for being in Christ, such people are his, each saying: 'It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me' (Gal 2:20), and: 'I know a man in Christ' (2 Corinthians 12:2). For thus they become light from light, so as to enlighten others through teaching. And it is necessary to take the 'set' as a sign to 'show', as if it is said concerning the Savior that the Father set him as heir of all instead of 'he demonstrated'; for he did not make him heir later, but made manifest him being already so. 'And God saw that it was good' (Gen 1:4). For it is good also that which is being enlightened by sensible light.

Which is even more evident by intellect. (Gen 1:20–23). And God said: 'Let the waters bring forth creeping living souls and flying things flying upon the earth according to the expanse of the heaven.' And it happened thus. And God made the great sea creatures and every living soul of creeping things, which the waters brought forth according to their kind, and every winged flying thing according to kind. And God saw that it was good. And he blessed them, until the fifth day.

Since the preceding creation is the mortal animals upon the earth which happen to be for the sake of man, following this, the other animals and plants were made because of his need; for some he takes for food, and others for his healing; and there are others, some having become for the sake of labor, and others for some need of his; for nothing stood in being without purpose. Therefore God says: 'Let the waters bring forth creeping living souls and flying things flying upon the earth.' (Gen 1:20). For it was necessary even these to stand in being for the sake of man. Having said 'creeping' regarding their bodies, he says 'all living souls'; for even if it be irrational, it provides a life-giving power joined to the body, which stands for the man even after the dissolution of the body.

Regarding the flying things, those being high-flying, but the majority having low flight, especially those allotted to men for food, it is said from the abundance: 'and flying things flying upon the earth.' (Gen 1:20). For it is probable that because of this they do not fly even to the height of the eagle and the like, so that it might be easy for men, for whom they have come to be. It is said 'according to the expanse' of the 'heaven,' not that they approach this while flying, but that they are under it, even if they do not reach it.

Likewise, the Scripture calls the clouds that carry the rain 'heavens,' and says the rain comes from heaven, even though the clouds are composed within the air, from which the rain is carried; whereas clouds are said to be no more than ten stadia above the earth, yet they are often found seen far above the clouds and lying upon them. This is therefore explained by the air and heaven being often called expanse. And the 'and it happened thus' is similarly to be understood by those who have perished. And what is meant by 'and God made the great sea creatures'?

The Allegory of Water and Senses§17

17It is to be noted that he does not speak concerning the sea monsters as 'let the waters bring forth sea monsters' (Gen 1:21), but that he himself has made them. And these things are found to be of immense size, just as those who have recorded history marvel, as he says they are appropriate to be called islands, into which men often say they have gone out as if into a desert, only then knowing that they are sea monsters, when they provide the sensation of being moved.

Pay attention also to 'God made the great sea monsters and every living soul of creeping animals' (Gen 1:21), because the waters bring forth their bodies—I say, of those composed from the waters—but God makes the sea monsters along with the other animals, providing for them the power of life, not perhaps of the bodies being pre-existent and thus being called souls—for the soul of the irrational does not have life apart from the body—but that, as they subsist together with the will of God, the Scripture says the bodies have come forth from the waters, but that God has made the souls, which is the animation and the movement, not from the waters but from such a purpose of God. And clear also is 'according to their kind' (Gen 1:25), meaning here the species instead of the genus. 'And God saw' (Genesis 1:21) he says, 'that it was good.' For regarding the former things it was said 'that it was good' (Genesis 1:21) because either the thing becoming was one, or it was composed in one part of the world; but since now it has possessed diverse regions, some of them being airy and others watery, consequently 'God saw that they were good' (Genesis 1:21) is said. 'And God blessed them' (Gen 1:22). Why is this, that in the others before these, no blessing is appropriate, whereas here it is said: 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places' (Eph 1:3)? But these are spiritual.

They touch the mind and the inner man, which do not approach the irrational. For the spiritual was added, making it clear that bodily blessings are also, such as health, the well-being of the body, and various other things. Therefore, the growth which He commanded to happen in the living things and the multitude, He called a blessing.

But 'in the seas' is a simpler expression, and concerning lakes and rivers it is said, from the greater one desiring to declare all water. Consequently, concerning the winged ones, 'upon the earth' is said because these approach the earth; for they were not able to have their habitation in the ether because of its heat. 'And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day' Gen 1:5, and appropriately; for it was fitting that the many irrational animals, having senses, should be shown to come into being in the pentad, denoting the senses. For even if men participate in sense, they have the greater of sense, the mind and reason, whereas the irrational have sense alone.

These things, then, are regarding the literal; but for an ascent, water is said in those who have received the law of allegory, especially when we are being set alongside. 'Many waters will not be able to quench the love' Song of Songs 8:7; but this does not happen from the sensible, but from that from which a little virtue is said to be, from 'because the lawlessness has been multiplied, the love of many will be cooled' Matt 24:12. Is not the water that attempts to quench the loving disposition lawlessness? For this stirs up hatred and shuts out the things of love, which has been composed from the communal and the day, which by nature exists in men.

God therefore wills from the waters, having been interpreted, for the creeping things and the winged ones to come forth, which hints at a difference of manners: of those who are low, having reached the depths of wickedness and for this reason having despised the high—for an impious man falling into a depth of evils despises—the manner of creeping things, having been defiled and beset by the multitude of this water.

Progress toward perfection and the symbols of the Spirit§18

18Regarding what is said: 'So our soul has passed through the unsubstantial water' (Psalm 124:5), which the Benefactor intends to free us from, such a great evil; those who have erroneous thoughts are called winged because they are said to possess meteors, and they seem to think excessively compared to other men, which the Philanthropic God intends to happen outside of this state, so that they might harmonize the understanding, which they undermined regarding things not necessary, into what is fitting and proper according to rational nature, so that they might recover the proper place of the divine fall, from which the deviation occurred.

The evil powers, the devil and his angels, were great sea-monsters according to the rules of allegory, who are called dragons according to the Scripture, meaning that the devil himself is called by this designation much more so. Toward the Savior, indeed, it is said in the manner of a hymn: 'You crushed the heads of the dragon, you crushed the heads of the dragons upon the water' (Ps 74:13). It is clear that these things happened from God, not as they turn out to be trivial, but according to their essential underlying nature. For God did not make a devil or demons as such they are, but they themselves embraced their own destruction; for the Scripture says of the angels who did not keep their own rank (Jude 1:6).

That the devil is called a sea-monster is said in Job concerning him: 'He who is about to seize the great sea-monster' (Job 41:1), and by him sea-monsters under heaven were burned. And the phrase 'God made them' is able to signify 'He demonstrated'; for often the Scripture signifies to do instead of to demonstrate, as in 'If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar' (1 John 1:10), not that we become creators of God, but we demonstrate him to be a liar to the extent concerning us. The same is shown also by what was said to the Jews: 'You, being a man, make yourself God' (John 10:33), instead of 'you demonstrate.'

God does this and demonstrates the evil powers and makes them manifest, so that they might not harm immeasurably while remaining hidden, and so that those having the struggle against them might know them; for thus it happens to despise them. God intends these to be outside the waters, just a little away from them, as one wishing to turn away evil in an introduction to virtue—for he who is in evil...

In this way one receives the transition to perfection not all at once, but by taking on progress and advancement, always possessing something of virtue, so that from standing upon the earth one might become flying things of heaven according to those who hear: 'If you should sleep among the lot-lines, wings of a dove hovering and its transport in the greenness of gold' (Psalm 68:13). The 'lot-lines' are the passages of the waters, as in 'Isaac the good desired to rest among the lot-lines' (Genesis 49:14), which are the Old and New Testaments flying over him who rests among them, and matching what was said previously to their outcome as having the wings of a dove, by which the Holy Spirit is likened to having come upon Jesus.

These wings are thoughts having a heavenly dimension and magnitude, and from this they are called doves, just as the one who betrothed her calls the bride thus: 'My dove, my perfect one' (Song 5:2). And concerning the saints it is said: 'Who are these that fly like clouds and like doves with their younglings?' (Isaiah 60:8). The 'younglings of doves' are those being discipled by the perfect ones, such as Paul becoming a dove and having the young Timothy, and Peter having the evangelist Mark. And concerning the old times it was written that some were sons of prophets, whom if I call younglings of the prophets' doves, I would not be erring.

These same are called by one name younglings and by another clouds; for because they carry a divine and spiritual rain, passing this to others for benefit, they are clouds, but because they are modeled according to the transformation of the Holy Spirit, they exist as doves, which are hovering, adorned by the divine word, having been instructed from the divine writings. For just as silver signifies the word, it is clear from 'the tongue of the righteous, refined silver' (Proverbs 10:20). It is not because of sensible silver, but since the tongue is an instrument of the word, it has taken this as a symbol. This has been refined not concerning chance matters, but by partaking of the heavenly light, which Jesus came to earth to cast, desiring it already to be revealed. But also the tongues appearing to the apostles as if of fire, which sat upon each one of them, signify the divine word and a teaching sign.

The distinction between irrational and human souls§19

19And the decorations of these, or of the doves, are adorned in the greenness of gold, the gold signifying the mind, and the greenness symbolizing life and incorruptibility.

Therefore, those who are adorned by wisdom—by which God wills that the creeping things to be removed from the waters (Gen 1:20)—these are doves having another mind, being raised up by the wings of truth and always having the life-giving Spirit within themselves. God likewise blesses these very things, so that they may receive multitude and increase; multitude so that they may imitate others, and increase so that they may always have love for the perfection of the good.

And the command 'and fill the waters' (Gen 1:22) would signify that you are no longer being submerged by the bonds of sin, but you continue to dwell, holding yourselves above yourselves. Or perhaps, since water has its own fullness and use for cleansing and watering, both to soak and to sustain, it advises that, turning away from those things which happen under it by intention or by aim—where I say being constricted and submerged by the chains of sins—you move toward those activities: the being watered from pure water and not being constricted, and being cleansed, being freed from all filth, fulfilling these activities of the water, being watered from the immortal water and being cleansed, but not being constricted.

And 'there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day' (Gen 1:23) signifies thus how the day of the sensible reaches its end upon the intelligible; for the end of the passing day becomes the beginning of the one that follows. Therefore, having left the sensible, they move toward the perfect, which is signified by the number six; for the progress of the five leads toward the six. Yet these things are not to be observed by number alone, but according to the meanings within the numbers: the five signifying the sensible, and the six signifying the perfection of the present.

And God said: 'Let the earth bring forth a living soul according to its kind, four-footed and creeping and beasts' (Gen 1:24). Likewise, what God said before must be observed; He said so that the earth might bring forth living souls, which serves as a demonstration...

The souls of irrational animals are not joined to their bodies as they are being corrupted, unlike the souls of humans; for these irrational souls remain even after dissolution. Many, including those outside the faith, agree to this, thinking it is a light matter, though they have only a dim conception of the whole; they say it is a fading thing, but that there is a certain place where souls rub themselves after their departure from there.

Indeed, the command regarding irrational animals is that the earth should bring forth a living soul according to kind—quadrupeds and creeping things and beasts—as the command subjects it; for the earth has the power of the irrational animals coming out of it, a kind of logos-seed existing in it, but rather in the seeds of the animals, this being closer, since the irrational souls provide the imaginative and impulsive motion to the bodies, being themselves corporeal, but rather being in the body and in its composition. For they say, 'The soul is the blood of every living thing' (Leviticus 17:14). The common things to them are feeding, watching, sleeping, and tiring. But the command is not about every soul, but only about irrational ones; for the human soul is created according to the image and likeness of God, as will be known more precisely in the following.

Furthermore, since the animals brought forth from the earth are not all alike but are submitted to different forms according to kind, he said 'according to kind' (Gen 1:24), signifying the form. Thus, kind is common to them; for all living things have departed from non-living by slight differences in essence; for the essence of a horse is different from that of an ox, and of others likewise. And the command is made for three kinds: quadrupeds and beasts and creeping things, not all quadrupeds and beasts being present. So perhaps one would call the quadrupeds that are useful to men today 'quadrupeds,' but the beasts are those quadrupeds that are countless, and the creeping things are whatever is serpent-like, and the differences of these are not unknown to those who have studied history. And it happened thus (Gen 1:24). For it was necessary that the reality should follow the command. And if anyone were to be surprised by the 'and it happened'...

The transition from earthly to heavenly§20

20Thus the phrase 'and God made' is brought in. Immediately, for since according to the succession of living things, the successors in this generation cast the seed, but God forms and fashions it, this is to say, it happens to be the first command, and then the bringing forth of the seed is the perfection of God.

Gaps in text... in the distinction of time according to the first creation... but I consider them as supporting the argument that the casting of the seed is by the power of God and the fashioning of it... God says concerning man, according to Jeremiah: 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you' (Jeremiah 1:5). The diversity of the existence of living things is varied; some having their generation from the beginning out of earth and waters, while the succession occurs differently. For some are oviparous, from which the eggs will be, and others are viviparous, God's will having provided a diverse manner for the existence of these. Concerning these, it is said, 'God saw that it was good' (Genesis 1:25), but it was not singularly good; for it was not one work, but diverse works. To the one who might object, saying that regarding the light and the firmament and the sun and the like, 'it was good' was said, but how 'it was good' is said regarding beasts and creeping reptiles, for clearly that which is in them is lowly. To which he replies first, that being God's work, it is good and praiseworthy, even if the precise reason concerning it exists hidden from us; later, if anyone were to search, finding the utility of their existence, if he were to understand the natural aspect in each living thing: the one contributing to men's daily needs and restraining the wild and angry, the other stimulating the negligent with the careful and attentive, just as the divine writing of Proverbs, rebuking the lazy regarding the undertaking of virtue, shows the exhortation from the irrational: 'Go to the ant, you sluggard, and become wiser than it' (Proverbs 6:6); one would also find irrational animals contributing to temperance and to the honor of parents and entirely to virtue, being corrected from the lesser one having become according to the image, by encountering those who write about their nature.

Therefore let the delivery of the literal sense be thus; but the spiritual vision must be spoken. The sinning soul, under the influence of earthly passions, happens to bear the image of the swine and, being entirely earthly in its thinking, is described as such; for it is said concerning the wicked, 'They shall enter into the lowest parts of the earth' (Psalm 63:9), not of this earth, but of that which is understood tropologically, according to which it is said concerning certain things, 'And you have sunk down into the seat', and, 'You stretched out your right hand and the earth devoured them' (Exodus 15:12), and not having been placed under the earth.

Therefore, these who are under the earth, the word of repentance leads out, becoming through the command of God and making them outside of sin, so that the one casting off the image of the swine may receive the image of the heavenly. Concerning those having this thus, the blessed Paul says, 'He raised us up and seated us with Him in the heavenly places' (Ephesians 2:6), so that those from thence, bearing the image of the heavenly and being made worthy by the training of these things, may be tested according to the manner of those living contrary, being suitable to the place.

Therefore he leads out every 'living soul according to its kind' (Genesis 1:24), of those hearing us 'according to order' (1 Corinthians 14:40). For no one simultaneously departs from wickedness and reaches the end, but it is necessary for each to progress according to his rank toward perfection, advancing from diverse wickedness toward virtue, so that those being horses in manner, concerning whom it was said, 'Male horses were made; each one mated with the wife of his neighbor' (Jeremiah 5:8), casting off being such, might become noble horses, being deemed worthy to bear the word by the participation of virtue, so that it might be said in them and through them, 'And your horsemen are salvation' (Habakkuk 3:8).

And the oxen are those concerning whom it is said, 'Does God not care for the oxen? Or is He speaking through us that the plowman must plow in hope and the sower in hope of participating?' 1 Corinthians 9:10. As many therefore as have from that which is upon the earth the zeal toward the divine migration, these are the aforementioned oxen. Others, being dull and slow, are like donkeys and bearing the burden of wickedness, and because of this being dull, according to those saying, 'A lion in the roads, in the streets...'

Divine Cooperation and the Sign of Animals§21

21Those being murdered are released from such sluggishness by the Lord's command, which is symbolized by the donkey being loosed by the disciples toward the opposite village so that the Lord, sitting upon it, might release from bonds, irrationality, and sluggishness the beast-like men shown through it.

But camels are also in a human way men, who find it difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven, and they themselves are released by being freed from the harmful burdens of evil, which they happen to carry, according to the prophet Isaiah saying: 'There shields and flying aspides which carried upon donkeys and camels their wealth' (Isaiah 30:6). For it is clear that a shield or a lion has not possessed a perceptible wealth, but the evil powers, which are symbolically named shields and lions through tropology, have possessed that which is signified by tropology, which they do not deposit upon a rational animal or an ox capable of performing noble and useful work, but upon donkeys and camels, which happen to be crested and unclean. These therefore are led out from the master's hand by way of repentance, as it is said, with God presiding over this: for He does not desire the death of the sinner as His repentance (Ezekiel 18:23).

And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:25). For it is good a transition from evil into virtue. And God has done these things, it must be said, training them so that the once wild beasts of ferocity might be transformed into gentleness. And just as, if I say that the potter makes the clay, I do not signify that he labors so that the clay might remain just as it is, but that, having taken the clay, an earthen vessel might become and no longer exist being broken, so did He make the beasts according to the allegory, not so that they might remain beasts, but so that they might be transformed from the ferocity of evil into the most gentle virtue. And since the characters of men are diverse, through the...

It is said in the plural, 'And God saw that it was good' (Genesis 1:25). Since the character of men is signified through irrational animals, this is shown from the book of the Acts of the apostles, when certain foreigners came to the foremost of the apostles, calling him to preach the gospel to them, being foreigners. For when he had gone up to the rooftop to pray, there appeared a vessel like a veil set down with four corners from heaven to earth, in which were all the quadrupeds and the creeping things and the beasts of the earth, and a voice came from heaven to him saying, 'Rise, Peter, slaughter and eat' (Acts 10:13). But he said, 'By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean' (Acts 10:14). And a voice a second time came to him, saying, 'What God has cleansed, do not call common' (Acts 10:15). This is the vision of the animals appearing in the veil, which Peter himself explains when he came to those calling him, saying, 'God also showed me not to call any man common or unclean' (Acts 10:28), lifting up the appearing quadrupeds and beasts to men, having been cleansed by the casting away of impurity.

And this must be stated, that having said 'Bring it out,' he was not satisfied with the command but performed it; for God is not only inciting toward virtue but is already also joined together; for when the good is chosen by one, God also cooperates toward the good, so that, having resolved to obey the command, they may be able to bring the striving thing to its end. For even if someone uses a private impulse toward virtue, he happens to be aware of God, who grants the outcome and the good end of it. This indeed is also shown regarding the paradoxical cases of the Savior, requiring the will from those suffering, where in one place he says, 'What do you want that I should do to you?'; and where, hearing from the leper being ready for faith, he says: 'If you are willing, you are able to cleanse me' (Matthew 8:2). And God said: 'Let us make man according to our image and likeness,' and let them rule over the...

The Distinction of Soul and Spirit§22

22[...of] the fish of the sea and the winged ones of the heaven and the beasts and all the earth and all the creeping things creeping upon the earth. And God made the man; according to the image of God He made him, male and female He made them. And God blessed them, saying: 'Increase and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the winged ones of the heaven and all the beasts and all the earth and all the creeping things creeping upon the earth' (Gen 1:28).

The word 'man' signifies also the composite living thing which is composed of soul and body, and especially the soul. Therefore, the wise Peter the apostle calls the hidden part of the heart 'man', and the blessed Paul: 'For I consent according to the law of God according to the inner man' (Rom 7:22), that is, according to the mind, according to the soul. But when it is said: 'There was a certain man in the land of Assyria' (Job 1:1), and: 'It happened when many men began to become' (Genesis 6:1), it signifies the common meaning. If therefore we take the explicit meaning, the composite man signifies the 'And God said: Let us make man' (Gen 1:26).

And not only regarding the composite, but even regarding the visible and perceptible, that is, the body, the blessed Paul intends to extend the name of man, saying: 'Even if our outward man is being destroyed, but the inward is being renewed day by day' (2 Cor 4:16). And according to a first imposition, each of us was composed of soul and body, but there are those who say that man is composed of three, of soul and body and spirit, which they construct by joining themselves to the apostolic saying which says: 'And the God of peace sanctify you completely, and your whole spirit and soul and body' (1 Thess 5:23), not following the idea that it must be said concerning the Holy Spirit in order to be whole, which is not even destined to come into weakness. Therefore, they produce another proof from a different saying having this: 'The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit' (Rom 8:16); for they say our spirit is a different spirit from the Holy Spirit, being witnessed by the Holy Spirit when it is well. And that from Daniel: 'Spirits and souls of the righteous, bless the Lord' (Prayer of Azariah 1:64).

They think it is a mere assistant. But those who do not want there to be anything other than the spirit besides the soul say that it signifies the will through the spirit, or that he has shown even the soul by the designation of the spirit. But those renewing this argument say that, having used a connective conjunction, even in 'spirits and souls of the righteous' (cf. Heb 11:35), he shows the soul to be something other than the spirit.

And as a constructive argument for the composition of man from soul and body, they produce that which is said in the Gospel, broken out: 'Do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; but fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell' (Matthew 10:28). And if it is the case that men kill one thing and not the other, then the body and the soul are two. We say, therefore, man and the body only, but not simply, but man with an addition; and the soul alone is man not simply, but man within; and the composite is man simply, without anything added.

Let it therefore be sought here concerning what is said regarding God of all things: 'Let us make man according to an image and in our likeness' (Gen 1:26). The man has not become according to an image of God in the composite sense; for God is not man-shaped. And the divine teaching confirms this; for it is said that God is spirit and light (1 John 1:5), and light and spirit do not have the form of man.

But the Scripture also discusses God having seven eyes, seeing all the earth (Zechariah 4:10), while man has two; so therefore the man will not be found to be according to the image of God in this way of our seeing. But these things we say not as if God has seven sensible eyes, but we are investigating how man is according to the image and likeness of God; for the Word has shown his perfect contemplative power through the seven, and through the virtues which the number seven has, as has already been foretold.

Again, God is said to have wings, just as the holy one says: 'In the shelter of your wings you will protect me' (Ps 17:8); but man is a wingless animal, and the wingless is not able to have the image and likeness of God, not through sensible things received by us, but through intuitions surpassing and carrying those who desire this upward. It must therefore be investigated how man is according to the image and likeness of God.

Image and Likeness§23

Allegorical Interpretation of Animals§24

24The image-nature is already active within him. Let the saying be clear by way of an example. Man is a rational being; and this essential capacity exists also in the infant, though the rationality does not. Thus the infant also has this power; for when the logos is fulfilled, these things are demonstrated, if he responds to instruction.

So also the image, until it is encroached upon, maintains the value of the first creation; but when evil and hardship are attached, it is necessary to receive the flesh according to what has been said in the Gospel, which is the word of repentance, so that having developed the lying-in-waitness lying upon him, we might make manifest the forms of the image.

And 'and let them rule the fish of the sea and the birds of the heaven and the cattle and all the earth and all the creeping things that creep upon the earth' (Genesis 1:26), according to the previous discourse, would show the beginning dominion of man over the animals subjected to him. For one would marvel how all things, being beyond his power and being wild and having a nature to harm, are simultaneously caught by great fires and nets; yet this would not happen in this way, unless he had a beginning dominion over them from God. For even when large herds of various animals are driven by the gathering of a child or otherwise by a weak man, they clearly demonstrate that there must be a divine power in the rational animal, by which these things are subjected to him. And a beginning dominion is nothing other than a lawful standing. Nothing of the others rules the same-kind; and even if the so-called firstling of a flock is a sheep, it begins the herds according to the preceding way, not by reasoning according to men the shepherds, but it does this by nature. And man became according to the image and likeness of God, in order to rule the things mentioned.

And since we say that the mind of man is man according to another understanding, having been commanded to become according to the image and likeness of God, we appropriately receive that he rules those beasts about which the saint says he sends up a prayer, 'Do not deliver to the beasts a soul confessing to you' (Psalm 74:19), which were the opposing energies, outside of which he prays for the confessing soul to be, or evil thoughts being subjected by them. Again, to the I...

Regarding Job, it is said: 'Behold, beasts eat grass beside you like oxen' (Job 40:15), not that the immediate beasts were driven wild in nature by Job, but that the disorder of opposing powers was being made manifest because they lacked strength against the greatness of the saint's virtue. And many things are found in the Scripture where animals are mystically led.

For indeed, some are called fishes symbolically among men, whom the cast kingdom of the heavens draws into the sea. For from every kind, that is, from every character of men and nation, the proclamation of the Word draws. So it begins also with these fishes. And the winged ones are intellectual, some being slandered and others praised: 'Young vultures flying on high' is said, and concerning a father or mother being spoken ill of, it has been said: 'Ravens tore him from the cliffs and young eagles devoured him' (Proverbs 30:17), which would not be according to history, since slandering parents is found everywhere, while ravens are not found everywhere; but it is clear that, being held by this error under dark energies, he is in some way subdued and devoured, those which, being lowly, are accustomed to wear away a crevice.

And regarding the others, the lover of beauty will find animals taken both praiseworthily and slanderously. Thus the man has been set as ruler over all these, having been born in the image of God. The apostles, having come to this state so that they might be like God according to the image, were the rulers of the fishes of the intellectual sea, having become fishermen by Christ saying to them: 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men' (Matthew 4:19), as also to Peter: 'From now on you will be catching men' (Luke 5:10), those dwelling in the aforementioned sea.

And because they were also rulers of beasts, they received authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. But it is also shown in the Psalm how authority is given by God to the righteous against such things, the Holy Spirit saying to the virtuous one: 'He shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk; he shall trample the lion and the dragon' (Psalm 91:13). And He gave them also authority over the winged ones who snatch up the one being sent by the Word.

The Intellectual Female and the Seed of the Logos§25

25A seed, so that having nourished them they might send them far away, and also of the most beast-like men, concerning whom it has been said: 'Become not like the horse and the mule, to whom there is no understanding' (Psalm 32:9), and: 'You have become female horses.' But the holy ones begin all these things, having transferred them from the hands to better things through the Word. But man has also received authority over the creeping things, which, when he carries them toward pleasures and passions, he would not sin, by abstaining from fleshly desires in the overcoming of them and killing 'the members upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, desire, evil' (Colossians 3:5).

And rightly, according to the reciprocity, it is said: 'And God made the man, according to the image of God He made him' (Genesis 1:27). For the command containing, at the 'according to the image,' the making of him 'also according to likeness,' the text states that 'according to the image He made him,' without adding the 'according to likeness,' concerning which we discussed briefly before. And the 'male and female He made them' (Genesis 1:27) is to be examined: how, concerning one man commanded by God, the reciprocity says: 'He made them.' And this might be a demonstration according to the literal sense of the woman being consubstantial with the man, being categorized under one kind of them, and because of this the saying 'let us make man' (Genesis 1:26) was uttered; but the 'male and female' is a representation of the parts for the sake of the succession which God established, showing at once also that the woman is 'according to the image of God' (Genesis 1:27), both of them being recipients of the same, both of the imitation and of the participation in God and the taking up of virtue of the Holy Spirit.

And since we were saying that the approach of man is made manifest also in the intellect and soul, let us consider by anagogical ascent thus the 'male and female': just as the one, being able to be a capable teacher, as being able to receive the seed of the Word into the souls capable of receiving it, so if he were male,

They symbolically possess the place of the female, being unable to conceive anything of their own, but receiving instruction from others like the manner of sowing. In the sensible realm, the female and male are made by God; but in the intelligible realm, one possesses a place for himself through his own choice or a teacher, who is male and a sower of good things, or a disciple receiving the seed of another and thus becoming female.

Thus anyone might perceive the greater things through the lesser of the rational. If one wished to take it regarding the Word of God, every rational nature would have a female rank toward Him. This is a bridegroom of the rational essence; for 'he who has' is 'the bridegroom of the bride' (John 3:29). And in the Song of Songs, a bridal song is sung of a bride to a bridegroom, the church being understood as the bride, or the perfect soul already able to be joined to the Word, who is the sower of every rational essence, this essence receiving the benefit from Him both in moral and in the doctrines of truth.

Regarding the sensible, a change of nature is impossible; but regarding the intelligible, a man currently receiving lessons and therefore being in a female rank might at any time, through progress, become as others become a teacher, just as one might again, from sloth, fall away so that he is barely able to receive from another what he himself formerly instructed others. And a testimony of those receiving the seeds of the Word would be, 'From the fear of you we conceived in the womb and labored and brought forth a spirit of salvation upon the earth.' For fear works a holy apprehension concerning God; it has been said: 'The fear of the Lord is pure, remaining for an age of ages' (Psalm 19:9), and: 'The fear of the Lord surpassed all things' (Psalm 19:9), so that whoever possesses it and progresses in it, as a man becomes a rational woman and because of this...

The Fruitfulness of Wisdom and Faith§26

26To be called blessed, as the Psalmist says: 'Blessed are you, and good shall it be to you; your wife as a vine growing straight in the trellises of your house, your sons as young olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall be blessed the man who fears the Lord' (Psalm 128:1-4). This, according to history, is not without contradiction, for many who feared God remained childless, or remained so until old age, according to Abraham and the father of John, Zechariah. Therefore, what he says is this: the opinion and the faith which the blessed one received, a wife is living with him, able to give birth to works, words, and divine thoughts. For it is said: 'Wisdom gives understanding to a man' (Proverbs 10:23), and the wise man says concerning her: 'I became a lover of her beauty' (Wisdom 8:2), making the wisdom evident, and 'I led her to a union with myself' (Wisdom 8:9).

The one fearing the Lord therefore has this wisdom living with him, the faith, the virtue, from which he produces nothing female but all male; for he does not produce an action recognized as [weak/effeminate] or a shallow or reproached thought, but all things well-proportioned and strong. For it says, 'Your sons' (Psalm 128:3) 'as young olive shoots' (Psalm 128:3), which brings forth oil, the nourisher of light and the reliever of labors. For the spiritual person always progressing has an action like oil, poured out upon his own light, which also contributes to manliness and to the struggles against the opposing energy.

'Male' (Genesis 1:27) therefore 'and female' (Genesis 1:27), taking according to the aforementioned understanding, is the one teaching things male, and the one receiving from a teacher or from the Word of God, conceiving them and shaping them and bringing them to completion as female, giving birth to the divine virtues, from which he also shall be led to a perfect man. And God blessed them, saying: 'Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and rule over it, and rule the fish of the sea and the birds of the heaven and all the cattle and all the earth and all the creeping things that creep upon the earth' (Genesis 1:28). And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb-bearing seed-bearing plant upon all the earth, and every tree which has in itself the fruit of a seed-bearing plant shall be for your food and for all the beasts of the earth and for all the birds of the heaven' (Genesis 1:29-30).

As for “and he made them,” said concerning man and woman, it should not be thought strange if it has been brought forth in the masculine character; for the naming of both had to be made from the more honorable. For never does someone discoursing about males and females prefer to make the signification from the females. “He blessed them” as completing the living-together and beginning the succession. For this he also added, saying: “Increase and multiply,” signifying childbearing and that the fitness for this is unhindered and unimpeded, by which they were going to become parents of those from them, who according to the divine command were going to fill the earth.

For it is said: “And fill the earth,” which must be understood more wisely; but if not, the proverb’s saying fights with what is said here: “The Lord made regions and uninhabited ones.” For there are uninhabited regions and places. “Fill the earth” must be heard of the earth taken for dwelling, according to the supplying to “fill the earth” the earth having fitness for this. “And have dominion over it,” which signifies the stretched-out authority. For one ruling a part is not said to have dominion.

And this God has granted to man, as we have shown, that the arable and the mineable things, in diverse and many materials, […] may be under him. For man receives bronze and iron and silver and gold and many other things from the earth, which is also assigned to him for food and shelter. And man received the lordship of the earth to such an extent as even to transform it through art, when it is changed into glass and pottery and the like. For this very thing signifies man’s ruling also over all the earth. “Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven and all the cattle” is added. For indeed, as already also […].

Divine Providence and Cosmic Harmony§27

27It was said previously regarding certain cages, machines, and hooks for men. These things happen such that even the most fearsome, like the lion and the leopard, whose nature is most wild, are often subjected to the hand of man. And thus the rule over them exists, God having provided this to them.

But it is necessary to know that the manner of rule exists in different ways. One rule is a legal supervision of both the ruler and the ruled; for the law gives authority and rule to the ruler and to the subject, so that in the same way the ruler rules and the subject is subjected, the law directing that it should be done thus. Otherwise, a teacher rules over students, and differently, a master over slaves, and a general over an army. Thus, man rules over irrational animals in different ways, as has been said: in some ways as domestic, in others according to their wild nature; for not all are edible, but some are already for medicinal use and for another contributing need, which the physiologist will find.

Furthermore, to these belongs the word: 'And God said, Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant spreading seed, which is upon the face of all the earth' (Gen 1:29). For God gave authority and knowledge, so that man might know which of those upon the earth is useful for food, and which for medicine, and which for another need. But there is a different nature to these: some are trees, some are vegetables, and some are grasses, and above all, some are edible and some are good for another use.

The need of these should not be ignored according to the command before this—when God said, 'Let the earth sprout herb-bearing seed-bearing plant according to its kind' (Gen 1:11), He adds, 'and a fruitful tree producing fruit' (Genesis 1:11), because the trees differ from the herb, calling them 'fruitful trees'—not only does man exercise authority over those resulting from agriculture, but also over their materials which he neither sows nor cultivates, as he has different needs from these; for He does not make these things portable throughout the inhabited places, but it is evident that for the necessity of men, every plant has become a sprout; for all things are made for their use.

The providential character of God over all things is signaled by His declaration: "It shall be for food to you, and to all the beasts of the earth, and to all the fowls of the heaven" (Genesis 1:29-30). For it is fitting that He who cares for men should also provide for the animals that have become necessary and useful to them, and for other things useful to them; for indeed, not according to the prior logic of irrational things, but indeed through man, He has fashioned His providence. God saw all things again to be good, for they bring forth fruit: "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). Before this, however, the word had praised each of the things coming into being by saying, "And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:25, 1:31) or "good"; but now it is stated with certainty, "very good," because of the harmony and concord of all things.

Let what is said be clear through an example. One who wishes to assemble a dance selects the best dancers for each part, so that nothing is lacking for their specific task; if, moreover, these are brought together for that which has prepared them, he will find the work resulting from their concord to be exceedingly and superlatively beautiful, which is not possible to result from a single person alone. One might also find this in a military camp: for it is necessary that there be a best spearman, a best archer, a best general, and a best counselor, so that when the time comes, the work of all being joined together may show the magnitude of praise, being referred to a single purpose. The word teaches that all things are "very good" (Genesis 1:31) by showing their interconnectedness, their proportion, their harmony, and their ordered state, and even the unshakable stability of opposites; which, as was said before, is not perceived by the senses, but is judged by the Word. "And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day" (Genesis 1:31); for it was necessary that such a vast and far-reaching cosmos should come into being in this number, the order of which is stated in the seasons, and even more so will be stated in the following sections. This is the explicit statement; since we have already spoken regarding the preceding words and the induction, now this must be done. Men are blessed as they increase and multiply by the manner of gathering together; and it is already foretold how the...

The Rule of Reason over Passions§28

28the structure

He has understanding, whereas the irrational animals have been brought into likeness with them; and 'do not become like the horse and the ass, which have no understanding' (Psalm 32:9), and other beautiful things are scattered in the divine Scriptures. Thus one would say that he who, through training, has ascended far above the others, preserves them from the irrationality mentioned. And this is possible even in this way: the various passions and movements of the soul, though many and diverse, are steered by the soul, not being dragged under by the wave of these passions, but holding them and ruling them according to the authority given; for 'let them rule' (Genesis 1:26) the fish of the sea and the following.

Or does not the one who is being tossed by the waves of this life from the depths, being moved according to Peter by the word of divine training, and having scattered the others who are loftily puffed up by conceit, being placed in the salvation of humility—upon which the Lord says, 'Learn from me that I am gentle and humble in heart' (Matt 11:29), so that thus, being lifted up from this into divine height, they might grow wings like eagles, having taken wings like doves and having flown to the appropriate rest? But also the one who leads those being driven out into daylight demonstrates the greatness of the rule. And the one who, lifting up his own movements according to the mind and marveling at them in thought, overcomes the struggles, demonstrates the rule given by God, ruling 'and all the earth' (Genesis 1:26), which is all the bodily passions, dead 'the members upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire' (Colossians 3:5), speaking of those that creep.

It is also said that they rule by the Giver, 'all the herb to be eaten' (Gen 1:29) and the other food, which would reasonably be understood as the teachings of the divine Scripture, the heavenly one becoming food. For 'man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word proceeding from the mouth of God' (Matt 4:4). God has also given another kind of food placed upon the earth; for having created the good concepts in the Word from the beginning, He sent them forth, which the one preserving as life always...

…keeping the nourishment, he will have perseverance in virtue, not burying the goods given to us by God…§29

Laws, Fate, and the Seventh Day§30

30It has been completed, rather than being filled; it lies there. For it is not their existence that has been completed, but their making, just as we say also concerning the poetic arts, which bring the end through their activities, saying that the ship or the house has been completed.

Thus the heaven has been completed, having received its proper harmony, which received its fullness from both the firmament and the luminaries and also from the stars, and the earth from both the animals and the various plants. And when each of them had become, the 'has been completed' did not fit; but now, having received the concord and the harmony of all things, the 'The heaven and the earth and all their world were completed' follows.

And it is said that the world of the earth and its fullness according to what is said: 'The earth is the Lord's and its fullness' (Ps 24:1). Because even the variety of the heaven is called a world, Moses himself says concerning them in his words: 'Not looking up to the heaven and seeing the sun and the moon and the stars, all the world of the heaven, being led astray, you shall worship them' (Deut 4:19), who through the position which was set by God, demonstrate beauty, some by moving in these circulations, others to be with these, some making their motion in a straight line, and others in an arc.

An army of heaven, therefore, because of the arrangement, has been said according to what has been said: 'Whose hands made all the host of heaven'. Concerning which, those who have not understood well have erred, introducing fate and setting all things by necessity, defining the stars to be determining the poetic lives of men and the things happening to others, who, for a sign, if not for the doing, have been set according to also... concerning those having happened on the fourth day, we demonstrated the 'Let them be for signs and for seasons and for months and for years' (Gen 1:14), setting forth as if human life has not been compelled by the stars. For those escaping life through war and universal accidents are not under one formation. And moreover, the argument of fate is more strongly overturned.

From the laws: all Jews, having reached the eighth day from birth, are circumcised, and they receive the trial of iron even from the sprouts infants, and no one could say how all at once they cast the foreskin off within a single hour, almost everywhere on earth and every day as Jews are born; but they say that even certain Ethiopians have the membranes of the genitals removed at the same time as birth, and even these do not all have their birth at once; and altogether the various customs and laws according to the nations negate fate. If this does not fit according to fate, much more do the things of choice. For if fate leads the happening by necessity, and choice has power over the possible things, fate will not be about these things. For virtue and vice have benefited or harmed the one possessing them, and each of those doing actions is blamed because of the bad habits, or praised for acting rightly; but the things happening by necessity omitted... no one accepts or blames the one doing something by necessity. Furthermore, if the laws are from fate, and those not obeying these are not from fate, it seems to negate and overturn fate itself. Significant, then, are the stars, not as makers, but signifying the weather or pestilential occurrences or something else that seems to the one foreseeing, and these things are about this.

Let us return to the thing set forth from the beginning: 'And God finished on the sixth day his works, which he made' (Gen 2:2), which indicates as if the completion is about the only ones which he has made. For there are works which have not yet happened, which were foretold as being to come, such as the resurrection of the dead and entirely those things which are to be according to providence, which happen in their own sequence from God. So the addition 'of the works which he made' is appropriately placed. It is also necessary to contemplate this, that God did not 'rest' (Gen 2:2) in the seventh without having acted, for already all things were completed; but he 'blessed' (Gen 2:3) only the seventh day and sanctified it, and the saying leads to this: 'That in it he rested from all his works, which God began to make' (Gen 2:2). 'Which he began'—for it is not the beginning of all the works...

Perception and Deception§31

31During one of the six days, angels and archangels and all the spiritual essence did not receive a beginning. And because this is so, God himself says in Job: 'When the stars were created, all my angels shouted to me with a great voice' (Job 38:7). Therefore, having been created. Because of this, the saying is confirmed, saying: 'If the spirit of the ruler rises upon you, do not leave your place' (Ecclesiastes 10:4). For this pretext becomes the cause of many evils, with the devil having cast down something even greater, which now works by introducing a slander against God, as if because of the command not to take hold of only the known good and evil, but also to prevent them from becoming gods, as if he saw them about to become gods.

Indeed, from this deception, the whole heresy called Ophite was established, which exalts the serpent greatly concerning him, as they think, saying: in whom, they say, God intended man to be in wickedness, calling wickedness to be the not-knowing of good and evil; thus they say this craftily: He, they say, made man in good things; and they mythologize other things about the serpent, slandering him whom they have raised up as a god to themselves. However, the serpent performs his deception well, persuading them only to have an opening not for good, just as the apostle said: 'I wish you to be wise unto good, blameless unto evil' (Romans 16:19).

But the serpent, wanting them to be wise unto evil, wished to open those eyes running toward this, who, while virtue is at work, are not opened but happen to be closed, remaining blind, which Jesus says he works in the Gospel, saying: 'I came that those who do not see might see, and those who see might become blind' (John 9:39). But Jesus, according to history, has made no one blind, but has granted sight to the blind. It is therefore evident that he makes those who see badly blind, and makes those who are useful to see again with the useful eyes, who, being the inner man, saving the ability to see clearly not sensually but intellectually, before knowing and imposing reason upon the sense, they hide...

Regarding what was said in the 82nd section: 'The wise will hide perception.' And so that what is said may become clear through an example: perception is the tactile sense of hot and cold, hard and soft, rough and smooth; and to the irrational and the child, these things are manifest through touch. But when the physician comes to feel the pulse, he hides the perception, providing a reason through the movement of the throbbing vessels. In the same way, the laypeople perceive images by sense alone, but the scribes contemplate them with the logic of the eye.

Thus the man, before the transgression, was looking at things with a mind that was scientifically applying understanding to things, as is necessary. As long as he had these eyes directing themselves toward appropriate spectacles, he did not know evil; instead of testing it, he did not accept it. But when these eyes grew dim, and those leaning toward evil were opened, then he also became cast out.

The devil, having this will, seeks to make the woman wise, introducing envy to conceive of God, and promising great things, so that by these things he might entice, saying: 'You shall become like gods, knowing good and evil' (Gen 3:5), while also subverting her intention with more views, lest the idolatry through images be joined, all while flattering the angels who are with him.

3, 6–7. And she saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasing to the eyes and beautiful for understanding, and having taken of its fruit she ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and they ate, and the eyes of the two were opened and they knew that they were naked. Holding fast to the deception of the serpent, she made for him a trial that was the opposite of it; for that which lies out for food is not tested by sight, except that once the deception has begun, it works a certain pleasure and enjoyment, even if it thus rouses the deceived to action.

After having perceived according to the deceptions of the serpent spoken of, she took it through consent and ate, performing the act of a finished work, and she receives the man as a partner, doing and distributing the things toward deception; for such is perception, of which we thought the woman possessed a reason.

The Deception of the Senses§32

32Once the eyes were opened, they knew that they were naked (Genesis 3:7). For this happens to those being deceived. For after the activity of their wickedness is made manifest, they come to realize that they were stripped of virtue; this is granted again by the pitiless God, so that he who works wickedness might not remain entirely insensate and stay completely outside of virtue.

This is the deception of the devil: that he makes the things seen according to the true logic by the eye of the pure soul to be seen conversely, supposing the pleasant instead of the good, and showing the good as something harmful. Thus also eyes are opened which previously were usefully closed. For there is in the soul an eye which imposes itself upon the intelligible through itself, but there is that which follows from instruction by another, which the serpent having perverted, filled the things of deception, so that both sensation and the mind would undergo harm; for when sensation suffers perversion, then also the opinions of the mind become diverted.

It has been said concerning those who have used things contrary: 'Woe to those saying the evil is good and the good is evil' (Isaiah 5:20). Thus, pleasures were raised up as the cause of errors; for even those in wisdom say they prefer the pleasant. For many prefer the easy way over virtue, not accepting the strenuous, and they are stripped because of it. Therefore, the pleasant things must be despised, since they become a hypothesis for sins.

There are some who say that 'Adam ate with it' (Gen 3:6) indicates his consent, so that he might not be utterly destroyed, agreeing with what was said by Paul: 'Adam was not deceived, but the woman, having been deceived, came into transgression' (1 Tim 2:14), as if he were able to turn away from the wickedness through her also. And they sewed fig leaves and made themselves girdles. And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden, the cowardly ones, and both Adam and his wife fled from the face of God amidst the tree of the paradise (Gen 3:8). Remaining with the things previously viewed concerning the paradise and Adam and the woman, we connect these things. Since they knew that they were naked, having sewn fig leaves, they made themselves girdles; and having heard the voice of the Lord walking in paradise at evening, they hid from the face of God in the midst of the tree of paradise. For it is fitting to say, not speaking ill of those following the history, how they sewed themselves girdles from fig leaves, and how those who had done things unworthy of it hear the voice of the Lord walking, and why he walks at evening, and further how they hid — what they thought concerning God — under the tree. For I think that in all these things they do not have a worthy saving of the sequence of the history, worthy of the narration from the Holy Spirit. We, then, as we have done in what went before, shall also in these perceive the divine element of what is written.

The word introduces two conditions of nakedness: one before the transgression, the other after it — the one shameless, the other known and producing shame. But it was also said in the things said before that, doing nothing worthy of shame but freed from every stain, they had their mind with boldness toward God — for such is virtue; but when they had become transgressors of God’s command, then stripped of the beauty of virtue, remaining naked of it, they were ashamed, reckoning from what goods into what evils they had fallen. Feeling still exposed, next they also hide from the God of all walking.

For the one sinning and not yet having cut out perception, but still cherishing the sin, is refuted by the common notions sown by God — the Maker ever crying out through them — but in still being held by the deception of the error, he often stitches together defenses of his sins. Or is this not clear in many? For often the one who has used anger procures plausible defenses, from which he will present the reasonableness of anger, sometimes even using the demonstration from the scriptures to establish his own will — which is the work of one stitching together from leaves and not from fruit some covering, not a perfect one; for this the girdle represents. For it is possible to hear the angry saying that even a saint in anger […].

Metaphorical Names and the Presence of God§33

33Having used the fifty-fold, he rose up and spoke of other things, but they did not understand that they had achieved such a thing not by using sword or any defense, but having called upon God himself and having received him leaning toward help through prayer; to whom, if they had made the prayer from anger, God would not have attended through his own exhortation, as it is fitting for the one praying to lift up holy hands without anger or disputations.

Therefore, from the virtue of the saints, the pretenders, desiring to hide their own faults by scattering leaves, think they are making a defense, just as it happened even regarding the first humans. To those using such a purpose, the Lord symbolically rebukes through the fig tree in the Gospels, having come to it and finding nothing but leaves, saying, 'No more shall fruit come from you for an age' (Matthew 21:19). And we do not say that the rebuke was spoken to the fig tree itself; for the sensible fig tree did not bear fruit not because of its own cause. But it is also said regarding Israel having fallen into impiety: 'There is no cluster in the vines, nor figs in the fig trees.' They therefore scattered fig leaves as a plausible defense, as has been said, providing it, but the word is not following the form of the history.

For since paradise was introduced and nakedness and, after this persuasion, knowledge, the word, using the cover from leaves, says it is being made for the subject of the narration according to the custom of the God-breathed Scripture. For often the soul is called at times a vine, at times a sheep, at times a bride in the divine instruction, and the word proceeds accordingly to each one after the other. For when he posits her as a vine, saying, 'A vine flourishing in Israel' (Hosea 10:1), then he calls the teacher-farmers and the attackers foxes; for 'catch for us foxes, even the little foxes that spoil the vineyards' (Song of Solomon 2:15); but when she is a sheep...

He names the teachers shepherds and those who turn away wolves and lions; it has been said: 'Israel, a wandering sheep, lions drove him away' (cf. Ps 54:1/55:23). But also when he calls her a bride, he names the one leading into the truth a bridegroom and the one harming an adulterer; and all these things, even if they are different names, regarding the soul, are considered appropriate and fitting to the Divine Spirit in thought, not because this is a sheep or a bride or a vine.

Consequently, therefore, a memory of paradise having occurred, through the form of the word, he mentioned leaves, which those having fallen from virtue scattered according to the aforementioned understanding. And these themselves also heard the Lord God walking in the paradise. And before the transgression, he was not walking around them outside of them, but was with them.

For of the one guarding virtue and being in it, this is appropriate, as to say: 'I have set the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand, so that I may not be shaken' (Ps 16:8), and 'But I am with you always' (Mt 28:20). And of the man being with God, and God being with him: it has been said: 'Draw near to God and he will draw near to you' (Jas 4:8); but when some turn away from him, they hear: 'They went astray from me, and I will go to them in angry wrath' (Leviticus 26:28).

And just as the one leaving the sun and closing his eyes does not do anything to make the sun less—for it remains as it was, shining—so the one leaving God works harm upon himself; and he leaves him not as if in a place, but turning away from virtue, as those about whom it has been said: 'God will cast them off, because they did not listen to him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations' (Dt 32:19); for because they themselves did not listen, he cast them off. Since therefore even these through the transgression turned away from him, and he himself has become distant from them, yet because he walks through his own goodness, providing perception...

The Face of God and the Choice of Adam§34

34As it has been said, according to common understandings, so that they might turn back. This fearful thing happens appropriately to those who have approached. For the light of truth flourishes in one existing in virtue, never occurring in a dark state—for indeed it is possible to hear the holy one saying: 'Out of the night my spirit breaks toward you, O God' (Isaiah 26:9), and 'God, my God, toward you I break toward the dawn' (Psalm 63:1), and 'In the morning I will come to you and will see you' (Psalm 5:3)—but then the hour becomes fearful and dark during the passing evening, when someone establishes himself outside the light, becoming in ignorance and wickedness, as the God says toward the sinning soul: 'I have made your mother like the night' (cf. Hosea 4:5). And some become children of the night and of darkness, so that to the one sinning, the darkness from ignorance, impiety, and wickedness is present.

And it is shown how the light has not continuously abandoned them, in the saying that they heard the fearful voice of God walking. For those having the sense of perception receive a somewhat dim state, not having entered into complete ignorance, but being awakened by the philanthropy of God while the hidden thing still strikes them, so that from this they might come into knowledge, as to learn that 'weeping may tarry for the evening, but joy comes in the morning' (Ps 30:5), so that thus it might also be said concerning such people as if one were perceiving some evils: 'Late her voice cried out' (cf. Lam 2:19); for from this it will happen that the repentant come to the light, as if to say: 'This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it' (Ps 118:24)24)24).

Having heard, therefore, the voice of the Lord walking, as it has been said, they fled from the face of the Lord God. But the face of the Lord God is not said to be anthropomorphic; for it has been said: 'God is Spirit' (John 4:24); and spirit is not composed of parts, such that one of them is called a face or something else of human members. For it is not proper to perceive the voices concerning God in a human way, because of our useful having said it thus. And it is nothing wonderful if these things are said concerning God, when we are thus taught even concerning sensible things. For in Proverbs it has been written: 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue' (Prov 18:21), and we do not understand it as the tongue having a hand, but as an energy, which was named its hand; and since it has been said: '...

Some of his own words justify him, and by his own words he is condemned; therefore he says that it is as if in the hand of the tongue—that is, by the word—'death and life' is, when one uses it well or badly. Thus they hid from the face of God, turning away from the pure thought concerning God, not as Cain did; for he went out from the face of God having prepared himself unseen, according to that which is said: 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God' (Ps 14:1). And all those entering into this thoughtlessness are of that concept.

But those hiding are not uncomprehending of the divine knowledge, yet because of the filthiness of sin they do not have boldness; some are being despised, but the holy, having a free conscience before the Lord, are as to say: 'The Lord lives, before whom he stood' (1 Kings 17:1); but concerning those sinning it is said: 'They turned their heads toward me and not their faces' (Jeremiah 2:27), which it was necessary that they might happen to stand as priests and as angels, always seeing the face of the Father in the heavens. And it is possible by another sense to take 'And they hid from the face of God,' that our face is the Only-begotten Son, being his icon and character of the substance. For he having seen this one saw the Father. It is necessary therefore for them all to do things upon keeping the image according to the icon, according to which he was created. Wishing to transgress the commandment, they turned away from being enlightened from the icon of God. And rightly they flee under the tree, they who are in the midst of the paradise, which was the known good and evil. For he hiding the face of God, as to not work virtue but to be shaped, hides under hypocrisy. For he knowing good and evil, as to not distinguish and to choose the good, thus having a mind of indecision, hides God, shaping virtue.

And the Lord God called Adam and said to him: 'Where are you?' And he said to him: 'I heard the sound of you walking in the paradise and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid.' And he said to him: 'Who told you that you are naked, if not from the tree, of which I commanded you alone not to eat, from it you ate?' And Adam said: The...

Repentance through Divine Discipline and Recognition§35

35Woman, whom you gave with me, this one gave to me from the tree and I ate. God, being a source of goodness, calls us again after the mistakes, not omitting the perfect knowledge of the good from our reasoning, even if through sin we turn away from virtue. This God also does to Adam in the present, calling him while he is hiding, saying to him, 'Where are you?' (Genesis 3:9). For he himself had been appointed by God to work and to guard the paradise, having received this place as his own; but having turned away from this because of disobedience, he subsequently hears from God, 'Where are you?' (Genesis 3:9).

Because it is to be learned from the Acts of the Apostles that whenever someone is appointed to a rank, it is called a place—just as when the apostles, desiring to raise up a disciple to stand in the place of Judas the traitor who had put forward Jesus, were lifting up a prayer to God, they were saying, 'You, Lord, know the hearts of all, reveal one to take the place of this ministry' (Acts 1:24). And it followed for Adam, having stepped out, the divine order that the suitable place of the rank would fall away; for he had been cast out from the paradise. And the 'Where are you?' (Genesis 3:9) might even be embarrassing; for God says 'I indeed placed you in virtue, but now where are you?' understanding this, he is ashamed.

And those who, understanding the incorporeal essence as the primary underlying substrate of the soul, and because of this, ought to consider her to be outside of every place, hear it embarrassingly, as if God says 'Where are you?' You exist in a place; you, who because of incorporeality are free from every place, but having not guarded that and having been joined to a body, have become in a place? But also the one having citizenship in heaven and having the heart in heaven because it has been stored up there and is there, is not in a place, having become supra-cosmic. Since Adam also had it thus, he passed over, and thus he hears 'Where are you?' (Genesis 3:9).

And you, the approaching of the Lord here is God; for it is said: 'And God the Lord said.' For when it was concerning creation, it went before: 'In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth' (Genesis 1:1); but when transgression followed, then also the name of the Lord approaches; for it follows the Lord to come against those who are negligent of His commands. For it was necessary for a rebuke, which naturally from...

It becomes a benefit, combining discipline with mercy; for this reason it is said, 'And the Lord God called' (Gen 3:8). David also sings this, saying, 'I will sing to you of mercy and judgment, Lord' (Psalm 101:1); for by joining the act of showing mercy with the act of judging, he shows a pattern of philanthropy. For even while rebuking, He shows mercy; for He leads the chastisements toward what is profitable.

Let us also see the response: 'I heard your voice walking in the paradise' (Genesis 3:10). For when someone, having become a sinner, prays for a brief perception to merely receive the understanding of God through creation—in which He walks, providing order to each of the existing things—then he turns back and recognizes that He surveys all things and governs them; thus, even through external observation, it happens. For when one beholds the sun's ordered course, the heavens' movement, the moon's changes, the stars' seasonal intervals, and reasons that the driver and commander of all this is the Creator of all things, walking among all, he hears the voice of God, not occurring by chance, but being impressed upon the intellect, that nothing escapes God, but all things are under His economy. And thus, being ashamed, he hides; for the one sinning, not having God before his eyes, sins.

Regarding perception, it is said: 'I heard your voice walking in the paradise and I was afraid, because I am naked' (Gen 3:10). For that very fear still holds a flash of how shameful and chastening vice is. He says that the cause of the fear is the nakedness, which comes from having lost virtue, which was a covering; for virtue is a divine garment. Thus also Paul exhorts: 'Put on the Lord Jesus' (Rom 13:14) and 'Put on the bowels of compassion' (Col 3:12), which is: be adorned in a merciful manner and in the Christ-like way of life; and again: 'Let us put on the armor of light' (Rom 13:12) to prepare ourselves to fight against the adversaries. Since, therefore, he was deprived of these garments because of the transgression, and was being reproved by his conscience, he did not have the boldness to gaze upon God; for this reason he says: 'I was afraid, because I am naked' (Gen 3:10); for just as one who has done absurd things, if he were to seek to face a ruler regarding what has been done, hides himself, so also Adam, who did not...

Allegorical Defense of Adam and the Serpent§36

36A person who is conscious of their own sin maintains boldness. Regarding what happens after correction, the Master of all says he shakes his understanding again: 'Who told you that you were naked, if not from the tree from which I commanded you alone not to eat, from it you ate?' (Gen 3:11). The word is philanthropic; for God again holds to the one who sinned, indicating the thought of the commandment. For it was necessary, after all things, to partake of both the known good and the evil, and not only.

For, as previously stated, the human nature entering in without the energy of virtue is most harmful, but with all things it is useful; which God also commanded like the manner of a good physician, providing a most useful drink for health, which when held together is effective, but when divided harms, just as it is previously stated regarding the so-called 'beast-like' diet. Such is what the Lord says he is teaching in the Gospels: 'Become wise as serpents and innocent as doves' (Matt 10:16).

But regarding these things, Adam says he blames the woman: 'The woman whom you gave with me, she gave to me from the tree and we ate' (Gen 3:12). Envy is a friend to malice, and it is the property of those who sin not to quickly confess the sin, but to divert the blame of the slip. For some think that men give their lives to fate from that source and are compelled toward sin, while others say that all things happen by chance and think that these things happen just so. But the first-formed man, having heard the commandment, says: 'The woman whom you gave with me' (Gen 3:12).

It was necessary for him to understand that first, having received her from God, he also properly received her and that which is advantageous; then, he did not receive her as a teacher, but as one following him. And this we perceived in the fallen ones from the response of the Eve toward the serpent, speaking to him: 'We eat from the fruit of the tree of paradise, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the paradise God said: Do not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die' (Genesis 3:3); for God had not commanded concerning touching, but she, having learned this as if from Adam, was being taught to be more reverent, since, being weak, she heard from him not even to touch it. How then can the teacher and guide [be...] from the one being led into deception...

Those defending Adam argue from what was said to him: 'The woman whom you gave me with me' (Gen 3:12), for since he said she was given to him with him, knowing that she would be cast out due to disobedience, he accompanied her not to participate in transgression, but for her benefit; for often teachers sympathize with the weaker, so that through this they might work out a repentance for them.

And these things they hold from what is said by Paul, which leads to Christ and the Church: 'Adam was not deceived, but the woman, having been deceived, came into transgression' (1 Tim 2:14). It is understood, being referred to the woman's church and to Adam's Christ, to preserve the chain of allegory and to avoid the possibility that the human race, from which the church is fulfilled, might have used the transgression as a cause for the descent of the Savior, so that he might use the economy, through which curse and sin came, not being these things, but having received them through us.

And the Lord God said to the woman: 'What is this that you have done?' and the woman said: 'The serpent deceived me and I ate' (Gen 3:13). Three persons are introduced by blame here: the man, the woman, and the serpent. And the man had an apology that the woman had become a hindrance to him in eating from the forbidden tree, from which he knew he was naked; but the woman blames the serpent, saying: 'The serpent deceived me and I ate'; for God also sought the cause of the slip from them; but such a question is not borne toward the serpent. For he did not have the cause of the evil to lay upon another, being himself her progenitor.

This also the Lord teaches in the Gospels, saying concerning him: 'When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own, for he is a liar and his father is the father of lies' (John 8:44); that is, the father of lies; for the devil does not have a father according to those who act mythically. But all those using evil, except him, do not do so from their own, but come to this from his wickedness, when he hears toward the word: 'And you say in your mind: I shall ascend into heaven' (Isaiah 14:13) and the following. For no one else cast pride upon him, but he himself upon himself; therefore also no word...

The Serpent as a Deceitful Power§37

The distinction between simplicity and prudence regarding evil§38

38All these things, possessing the ferocity of malice, the devil, called a serpent, is condemned following after all things. And the sentence approaches: 'You shall go upon your belly and upon your dust' (Genesis 3:14). For because he thought he had been influenced in his intellect and was deceived into thinking he would have great foods, the word interprets his fall by saying that the earth shall be food to him, having nothing divine or elevated, but being darkened around earthly things, his ruling faculty having fallen, which the breast signifies; he no longer produces something divine or heavenly because of the generative power, which is signified by the belly, having his care around matter and earthly things.

That the belly is thus understood is learned from the opposite, from the singing of the blessed David: 'And your law within my belly' (Psalm 40:8), which signifies not the sensible member but the power of the soul. For those who have become men in repentance do not neglect, saying that their intellect, which ought to take divine foods, has been cast down into the earth: 'Our belly has stuck to the earth,' according to all earthly things having happened, to be fed by earth and to give birth to earth. For just as the belly is a vessel of foods, so also it is a workshop of those being formed.

Those producing vile things go crawling upon the earth, but those producing the divine say: 'From the fear of you in the belly we took and labored and brought forth' (alluding to Ps 126:6/Gen 3:16 context); the same offspring of the intellect is also its food. And it is well that it approaches: 'And you shall eat earth all the days of your life' (Genesis 3:14); for he did not simply say 'life,' but 'your life,' which I have seized from your own portion, as someone might say to one living not dutifully: 'All the days which I have seized shall be a vile life, sin shall be food to you in all the sinful days you have chosen.' For each thing, in its own way, turning away from the life that is necessary, acquires life for itself.

Similar to this is what was said regarding the rich man: 'You have received your good things in your life' (Luke 16:25), and Lazarus likewise the bad. And observe that regarding the vile one he spoke of his indifferent good things, because he himself considered those very things as good and hoped in them, and for this reason also said 'your good things'; but regarding Lazarus, his own bad things were not spoken of; for not from his own...

You suffered, even if you bore it bravely. And Job, being deprived of pleasant things, since he did not reckon them as his own good, but knowing their nature, as they were given by God, they were used for him, did not say, 'If we had received my goods' (Job 2:10), but 'If we have received goods from the hand of the Lord' (Job 2:10). For he himself considered them goods, the virtues happened to be his, but for those following, by the judgment of God, indifferent, as it was fitting to be used, sufficient for those in need; so indeed he said: 'My door is open to everyone coming.'

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15). When the simpler one understands the evil, he does not have a small harm; for the evil one approaches and subverts the harm, and the simpler soul receives it into useful things. It is therefore necessary that a division occur among these, and that it come to enmity and the non-communion, so as to make the simpler one prudent according to the salutary exhortation regarding the devil: 'For we do not ignore his schemes' (2 Cor 2:11).

Often indeed, seeing a woman's friendship toward a man occurring with simplicity, from which deception follows, making such people act shamefully, we strive not for a peace of hatred, which is the fruit of the Spirit, but for a turning away of peace, by which the Savior comes to bring a sword, saying: 'I did not come to cast peace, but a sword' (Matt 10:34), dividing and cutting off those desiring to be helped from those attempting to harm. God being good, therefore, plants enmity in those for whom peace and harmony are hostile. For when someone, through ignorance of the evil, falls into it and learns that it is disastrous and harmful, he reaps no small benefit.

Consequently, the seed also makes enmity between seed and seed, and him to her. And since what is said is not about a sensible benefit, nor is his seed to be received sensibly, but those stamped and formed and born according to him, who are twisting thoughts away from the truth and its teachings into something foreign; and the seed of the woman similarly refers to those from her—for the church holds the type—or the teachings of divine instruction, toward which the machinations of the opposing evil act.

The Serpent's Strike and the Curse§39

39There is a distinction between seed and offspring, and it is stated in the Gospels: of those Jews saying, 'We are the seed of Abraham' (John 8:33), the Savior, while permitting this to them, forbids them to be found to be children of Abraham by saying, 'If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham' (John 8:33). For one who exists as a child is also seed, but not every seed and child becomes complete by being miscarried or not being brought to full development. This also applies according to the logic of the ascent. For many, having begun according to Hymenaeus and Alexander regarding faith, having shipwrecked, were not completed as children. Everything has its order and its phrasing. For it is not the serpent toward the seed, but toward her; nor is the seed of the serpent toward her, but its seed. For the extremely evil has the battle against the surpassingly good, and the lesser against the equal. For God gives even the outcome of being able to endure without becoming immeasurable according to some temptation: 'If the Lord had not been with us, we would have been swallowed up' (Psalm 124:3). And since the Lord of all is good, He exposes the schemes of the adversary and reveals the attacks against Him; while the devil watches the progress of the man and the crossings upon virtue, which are revealed through the wing, the man's head of evil he watches; for when this is removed, the whole is removed as well. Pay attention to how the word shifted from one genus to another; for regarding the woman all those things were said: 'I will put enmity between you and the woman' (Gen 3:15) and the following, but now he says: 'He shall guard the head and you his wing.' For it was necessary to speak regarding the weaker one, 'I will put enmity,' so that the pure might not have place for deception, but regarding the man, so that, not having been deceived according to the apostolic voice, it should be said: 'He shall guard your head.' For being strong and being able to fight, he is more fit to guard the attacks of the adversary, not allowing him to introduce the beginning of deception to himself as to the Woman, who, as we previously said, accompanied him, since he himself also said: 'The woman whom you gave with me', whom He also did not abandon because of her usefulness. It has been joined together.

For it is not for their own sake; just as the saints who followed those being taken captive in Babylon had done nothing worthy of captivity, but so that they might become physicians of those taken captive, like Daniel and Hezekiah and the three youths in the furnace.

Therefore, what is said to the serpent, 'He shall strike your head' (Gen 3:15), shows that, even if you deceived the woman as a weaker one, the man will fight against the head of your wickedness, which is impiety, which the wise man casts out, so that the devil does not reach the head of the wise man, but rather the wing, which would be the extremities of those contributing to virtue. For often, being unable to fight something of the former, he sits in wait regarding human needs, so that through these he might trip them up.

This same thing is said in the Psalms: 'They shall guard my wing' (Ps 91:4); and this 'to guard' means the same as 'to keep' in the present context; for 'to watch over' shows that we are not ignorant that the words lie toward preservation, and to cover, as in 'You, Lord, will guard us and preserve us' (Ps 121:7), and in 'Holy Father, keep them' (III, 16–19).

And to the woman he said: 'In multiplying I will multiply your sorrows and your groaning; in sorrows you shall bear children, and your turning toward your husband, and he shall rule over you' (Gen 3:16). And to Adam he said: 'Because you heard the voice of your woman and ate from the tree, of which I commanded you alone not to eat, from it you ate, cursed is the earth because of your works; in sorrows you shall eat it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring up for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread, until you turn to the earth from which you were taken, for earth you are and to earth you shall return' (Gen 3:17-19).

It is not unbelievable to take the histories from these words. For it appears as if the woman is heavily and continuously afflicted by sorrows and groans, undergoing not a little toil both in conceptions and in parturition and also in nursing, just as the one of the blessed Job says that 'Your memorial is blotted out from the earth, sons and daughters, the pangs and labors of my womb, which I toiled for in vain...'

The Church's Union with Christ and the Consequences of Disobedience§40

40He is consumed by labors, bringing all things to the man more strongly than a master, awaiting the commands issued from him, while the man himself is exhausted by cares, being constantly occupied with toil and sweat throughout his life. For he is not a partaker of those who grieve the woman, but he himself is gripped by peculiar pains throughout his living, laboring and wearing out both body and soul on various things; for his household matters are not the most foolish, such as the upbringing of children, and the many pains of these, whether pressed by diseases or preempted by death, from all of which a surpassing remedy and sufficient labor are needed, and many things could be said which are most manifest to all.

Let us see also each of the things said. To the one it has been said, 'Cursed are you,' but to Adam not so, but 'Cursed is the ground because of your works' (Gen 3:17), and rightly so; for he, not having been defeated by sin, did not surpass it, but followed the woman according to that which was given to us beforehand, 'The woman whom you gave to me' (Genesis 3:12), when we were presented with the apostolic saying: 'Adam was not deceived, but the woman, having been deceived, came into transgression' (1 Tim 2:14). But even to the woman directly, threats are given: 'I will greatly multiply your sorrows' (Gen 3:16). And the saying 'You are dust and to dust you shall return' (Gen 3:19) also brings forth the characteristic of the bodily substance; for the soul does not have its beginning from the earth, so that it might also be dissolved into it, according to those who falsely claim it is corruptible.

Since, as we have seen before, Paradise was taken by us allegorically to be a divine place of enjoyment for the blessed powers, so too the things concerning the man and the woman must be interpreted. We have, therefore, from the blessed Paul, principles leading toward the upward ascent, him saying, 'This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church' (Eph 5:32). The church, therefore, brings forth children in sorrows, for the labor of virtue precedes and works out unremitting repentance toward salvation; and it brings them forth through the bath of regeneration. For labor follows virtue, while pleasure follows ease. The Savior teaches this, saying, 'Narrow is the gate and compressed is the road leading to life' (Matt 7:14), but 'wide' and 'broad is the road...'

The one leading to destruction, and many are those entering into it. And the sighing has praise through virtue being produced: of those groaning. But it also has a turning toward the man Christ, being ruled by him, so that according to his pledges, the offspring of virtue being obtained from her might have its perfection through him.

For 'I betrothed to you one man a pure virgin to Christ,' says Paul (2 Cor 11:2). For blessed is the church, when it is surrounded by Christ, and each woman is blessed who is under a perfect and diligent one and a savior of the duty of ruling. For let no one, taking the strayed lifestyles, attempt to counterfeit; let him test the word, for they were not provided for in the divine word concerning such things, and Paul, teaching this, exhorts, saying, 'just as also the Christ did to the church,' which is self-evident.

And regarding the commandment containing the rule, as it is not necessary to merely say that the one forbidden to eat in these things was sufficient once having been made clear now, this alone we should pass over, while noting this: that because Adam, having heard the voice of the woman, did not previously sin, but followed her, through which the things said stand; for 'Cursed is the earth in your labors' (Gen 3:17), he says, 'Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you' (Gen 3:18). For what from the following of the body is not painful, pleasures and cares being attached to it from it?

For these thorns the Savior interpreted, which entangle the seed being cast by Jesus, if the receiver does not receive into this depth; but also the one called Earth, who receives much rain upon her and brings forth good vegetation for those whom she also cultivates, receives blessing from God; but bearing thorns and thistles, she is unproven and near to a curse, the end of which is into burning. If therefore anyone, through study, should cause these to sprout but does not forgive, he will have a pasture, which is some food; for first the growing thing will be grass-like, as also the Savior says, 'whether an ear of grain' (Mark 4:28). This, therefore, the spiritual, the diligent one will not find without study nor without toil.

The Curse and the Mother of the Living§41

The Weight of the Body and the Dwelling§42

God's communal sharing and guidance§43

43Has Adam become like one of us, knowing good and evil? And might he not ever stretch out his hand, take the fruit of the tree of life, eat, and live forever? Many take this word spoken to Adam mockingly, saying something unsuitable of God. For it is not fitting for a serious man to stumble over a trifle, much less God.

Since, they say, the serpent promised this to the woman, saying: 'For God knows that on whatever day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil' (Gen 3:5), God said to Adam after he transgressed: 'Behold, Adam has become like us,' mocking him. Therefore, we, driving away such a notion from God in accordance with the will of the divinely inspired scripture, have taken up what is set forth.

The devil is not by nature evil or in essence, but he became good and well, having become devil, satan, and evil through a personal change; but then he was good and well when he held a place in the rank of angels, but he departed from them, cast down to earth because of the pride he conceived for himself. Thus he did not say to Adam: 'Behold, you have become like one of us,' but 'like one of us'; for from the heavenly ones this one fell, just as the psalmist teaches, saying: 'I said, you are gods and all of you are sons of the Most High, but you die like men and fall like one of the rulers' (Ps 82:6). For he too is a ruler and a god, not by essence, but by god-making, and he fell like those about whom it is said: 'I said, I begot sons and raised them, but they rejected me.'

'Behold, Adam has become like one of us,' he led on how? 'To know good and evil.' For only those not using virtue possess this, knowing only what is good and what is evil, without restraining themselves to choose the good and flee the evil. Instead, they use things in a shifting way, according to those who are debated about whom it is said: 'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness' (Isa 5:20). And thus God says 'of us' to his own angels, just as...

He is a bodyguard to his own. But when it is known from the Scriptures that God makes himself common with his own creatures, it is learned from what was said to the disciples by the Savior: 'Rise up, let us go from here' (John 14:31), which also does not have a small significance in its observation; for indeed 'rise up' is toward them, but 'let us go' is with them.

Since the Savior 'did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth' (1 Peter 2:22), therefore he has not become subject to it by a fall, and such a rising is not necessary for him as it is for the disciples, to whom he said, 'Rise up,' 'Arise from the human things,' and he counts in his departure himself. Since human nature alone does not have the power to use virtue without the breath of God, because of this he says, 'Let us go from here'; for he himself is both shepherd and staff, which guides over divine things.

Indeed, he also said to the thief: 'Today you shall be with me in Paradise' (Luke 23:43). But it is also said in the unholy thought directed toward men in the Tower of Babel: 'Come, let us go down and let us pour out their tongue' (Gen 11:7). For even if he does what God wills through subordinate angels—but I say his judgment is happening in the things that occur—it is said that he descends with those sent by him.

'Behold,' he says, 'Adam has become like one of us, knowing good and evil' (Gen 3:22), to whom he goes as a condemnation, yet in a nurturing way, the Philanthropist. For he performs both the threats and the inductions toward the beneficial. And what is it that he says: 'And now, perhaps one day he will stretch out his hand and take of the tree of life and live forever' (Gen 3:22)? Envy has driven him away from the divine dance; if it were this, it would be impossible for him to exist much more and superabundantly in God.

Therefore, he does not prevent them from taking the Tree of Life again out of envy, but he prevents them unsuitably. For just as the Savior commands: 'Do not throw the holy things to the dogs, neither your pearls before the swine' (Matt 7:6), and he also brings forward the reasoning, saying: 'lest they trample them and turning, tear you to pieces' (Matt 7:6), so it is not good for one having become in sins and still being in them to receive the life of the tree; for such a thing is contemptible. If the worthless one were prevented from such a guidance, not...

The Consequences of Sin and the Exile of Adam§44

44Sometimes one perceives the evil that will come by an untimely desire for teaching; and if he does not desire it, he is nonetheless bettered by the habit of despising the divine, which comes to him through his own thoughts. For evil becomes long-lasting once the good has been despised, resulting in an unerasable state toward it.

The phrase 'unto the age' is placed instead of 'through life,' which is similar to what is said by Paul: 'I will not eat meat for an age, so that I may not scandalize my brother' (1 Corinthians 8:13). And the Lord God sent him out from the paradise of luxury to work the earth from which he was taken, and He cast out Adam and settled him opposite the paradise of luxury.

If anyone asks how, since the serpent was the cause of the transgression and the woman was the first to be deceived, it is not said concerning them 'I was cast out,' but concerning Adam, who is said by the wise Paul not to have been deceived. We say that if he who suffered the lesser sin became exiled outside the paradise, how much more those who committed the great sins. For if the serpent was cast out, it is not yet clear whether the matter concerning the woman and Adam was worthy of being cast out from the paradise, since Adam, who is not subject to great errors, has become exiled, it is clear that those who sinned greatly are also subject to it.

It is also possible to presuppose concerning the woman that she was cast out together with Adam; for the name of Adam means 'man,' which the saying having this form confirms: 'And God formed the man male and female and called their name Adam' (Genesis 5:2), which is 'He called their name man.' Concerning the serpent, it might be said that it was in paradise not as one worthy to pass time there, but just as it is said in Job that 'the angels of God came to stand before Him' (Job 1:6), so also it is said concerning the serpent.

Therefore, God sent out Adam—and it is clear that He also sent out the woman—from the paradise; and that which is being sent out has a time to return. For He did not send him out to have him in an irreversible state, but so that, having been settled, he might encounter...

He settled him lawfully, as was said before, putting into him the thought of the laws forbidding evil, which is an introduction to the good, not hiding paradise from him; for he did not take from him the knowledge of the good, nor did he make him forget the virtue in which he lived in paradise. Gen 3:24. And he stationed the cherubim and the flaming turning sword to guard the way of the tree of life. The names of the transcendent powers, as one might say, are not simply like the proper names among us, but significant of polities: principalities and authorities, thrones, dominions — from ruling and exercising authority and reigning (for this the throne signifies, according to what is said in Proverbs: “For with righteousness a throne of rule is prepared”), and dominions are so called from dominating. So the cherubim were called from what belongs to them: for “cherubim” is interpreted “multitude of knowledge.” From this very thing belonging to them the name was said. So too from Abram, Abraham was renamed, and from Sarai, Sarah, and from Jacob, Israel, and Peter […].

The Sword and the Multitude of Cherubim§45

Modes of Human Generation§46

46It is being testified by many: 'By the sword' he says, 'all the people of the sinners shall perish' (Amos 9:10). And not everywhere do all perish by swords, but the name of the sword indicates the punishment that is about to be brought upon those who sin. And the saying 'You Ethiopians are wounded by my sword' (Zephaniah 2:12) presents the same thought; but also that which is said in the Exodus by those being afflicted by Pharaoh against Moses and Aaron: 'Behold, God is judging to give a sword into the hands of Pharaoh' (Exodus 5:21), they show by the name of the sword the tribulation brought upon themselves. To this also is consistent that 'If you do not turn the sword, it will shine' (Psalm 7:12); and this sword, being turned, is said so that, having been turned from evil toward the virtue of the man, it might itself provide the entrance.

The guard, therefore, to which the sword and the cherubim have been placed, as was foretold, might be for benefit, so that, if there should arise any desire for the entrance, through these there might be a guidance: the cherubim signifying the knowledge of the truth, which he who wishes to enter must partake of, and the sword the perilous conduct; for through many tribulations it is possible to attain the kingdom, as it is written. But that the punishment lying from God, being turned and not always being executed, teaches the case of the Ninevites, who checked the wrath through repentance; to them, thus, the threat was turned. But also the saints, knowing the judgment concerning the cherubim and how it is not possible to enter into paradise without the divine economy concerning them, say: 'He who sits upon the cherubim, appear,' just as one holding the reins to them, opening or closing the entrance according to His will, because those outside desire to enter by obeying Your commands. But also others, knowing that He is the one who departs against man, 'You are earth and to earth you shall return' (Genesis 3:19), entreat Him saying: 'O He who sits upon the cherubim, let the earth be shaken,' so that, a change having occurred concerning the earth, He might say to the thief: 'Today you shall be with me in paradise' (Luke 23:43). And Adam knew Eve his wife, and having conceived, she bore Cain and said: 'I have acquired...'

Man was made through God. And it was added that he bore his brother Abel. And Abel became a shepherd of sheep, but Cain was working the earth. Subsequently, after the expulsion from paradise and the making of the skin tunics, it is said: Adam knew Eve his wife, by means of knowledge instead of trial, and the union with a woman being called coitus; for he knew her according to the sense of 'knowing'. Thus also he said, having seen her: 'This is now bone of my bones' (Gen 2:23).

According to the knowledge which Adam knew Eve his wife, it is also said in the Kings: 'Elkanah knew Hannah his wife' (1 Sam 1:20). Thus it is also said concerning Rebekah: 'She was a virgin, a man had not known her' (Genesis 24:16), and nowhere was she known by any man, but it is clear that because she had not yet been joined to a man, it is thus said. And it is good indeed to say: 'She was a virgin, a man had not known her'; unless it be understood properly, it would be a contradiction, but desiring to show the saying as being most ignorant both in body and in mind, he thus spoke.

Even more divinely thus Mary affirmed: 'How shall this be to me, since I do not know a man?' (Luke 1:34). For being a truthful woman of sight, having been troubled upon seeing the angel, unless he himself removed the fear from her, and since she was likely to be a law-abiding woman, it is possible that no one of the appearing angels was to understand her, those having been sent to approach the daughters of men. 'And having conceived, she bore Cain' (Gen 4:1).

Another mode of the generation of humans is inscribed; for Adam was formed from dust, and Eve was built from being taken from the side of the man, but this one now being born from both parents came forth first, unlike the generation according to the Savior which happened from a virgin alone. For it is not unseasonable to note this, so that all the modes of the generation of humans may be numbered, saving us the previously mentioned things concerning the dust, as it signifies the bodily substance, namely the existence of the body in paradise.

'Having conceived' is also said here, and it is clear that these are from seed; subsequently, as not having entirely exhausted the word concerning providence, he said: 'I have begotten a man through God' (Genesis 4:1).

Divine guidance and the types of Cain and Abel§47

47They served as parents to the offspring, but the whole was drawn by the guidance of God. It is necessary to take 'through God' more simply instead of 'from God'; for thus also Joseph said, 'Is not their declaration through God?' (Genesis 40:8) instead of 'from God.' 'And he added the birthing of the brother of Cain, Abel' (Gen 4:2). Philon indeed intends for them to be twins from a single conception; for, he says, it is appropriate to him who begot Cain to have added the birthing of his brother Abel.

Whether it is healthy or not, you will test by knowing, it being possible for them to have come to be even apart in different times; for, if one were to add the Bible of the Testament to a friend, he would find in it and how much later than another he had received it. Whatever Philon has said allegorically to this, the lover of beauty will be, but nonetheless it must be said regarding this according to potentiality.

The soul, therefore, when it falls by impulse and error, produces vile offspring; but if the mind, having risen, makes some return, then immediately it begins to push those away and to give birth to an introduction of virtue, which is acceptable; it will at some time reach perfection, increasing by a little progress, but it is impossible to turn back, having prepared virtue, to add evil by the straying of a frivolous thought.

And it is also good that their occupations are written down; 'Abel' for instance, he says, 'became a shepherd of sheep, but Cain was working the earth' (Gen 4:2), which, as a remark toward history, is not unfavorable, and is observing our order. For in his birth he placed Cain, the necessity of that time demanding it, but in the occupations he puts forward the righteous. For the things of Abel are more frivolous and more precious, which Cain was eager for; for the living things differ from the lifeless things by the reason of their nature. And in this way Philon rightly said that those about to take hold of the beginnings are to be trained in the pastoral way, both of others and of his own. But Cain was not called a farmer, but working the earth; for he was not a farmer according to Noah, who is said to be a farmer, not a laborer. And toward allegory, Abel is a shepherd of living things, which is of the sensible, being led by knowledge...

placing the reasoning as charioteer and commander over the spirited and the appetitive parts. But Cain, concerning the […].

The Face of the Soul and God's Call to Cain§48

48He himself—and what kind of things he brought, the saying indicates, implying their character and value: 'from the firstlings of his sheep and from the fatlings' (Gen 4:4). While regarding Cain as having performed the approach negligently, and Abel with sincerity, 'God looked upon Abel and his gifts, but upon Cain and his sacrifices He did not pay attention' (Gen 4:5). For the sincerity is evident in Abel; for he brought firstlings, judging them to be the most honorable to give to God, which are also the fatlings, as he ought to have done, providing from the firstborn. For it is fitting to offer firstfruits to God beforehand, which the blessed David does spiritually, saying: 'From the night my spirit cries out to You, O God' (Isaiah 26:9), for none of the others is a response for me but refuge toward You; even so to You, God, the duties are offered before all things.

And a gift differs from a sacrifice in that the gift is offered from animals, but the sacrifice is not; and in so far as the animals of the soulless are by nature more precious. And what is this 'God did not pay attention' (Gen 4:5), from which Cain was also disgraced and his face fell, if anyone should ask, or how did Cain know that God was not paying attention, so that he might be grieved? Regarding what someone says about the Bible of the Covenant, in which it is written that fire descending from heaven received the sacrifices properly offered, from which it is likely he knew Cain, because the fire did not come upon his offerings, unlike those of Abel which were consumed by him. This also happened in the Leviticus; for those bringing strange fire upon the altar suffered no small punishment (Lev 10:1), and Elijah the great prophet, contending against the priests of Baal, demonstrated how fire from heaven burns upon his sacrifice, being holy (1 Kings 18:38).

These things, then, the discourse provides; and the mind of upward leading would be such: those who feign virtue, displaying outward appearance not from a sincere intention but for another reason, are some who are hesitant and unapproved, not offering firstfruits to God; but the firstfruit of virtue is that which comes from the will; from there a movement grows upon it. David teaches this, asserting: 'But his will was in the law of the Lord' (Psalm 1:2); those...

Fourthly, hypocrites, not having a desire for virtue, or for the sake of shameful gain, or for glory, pretend to possess virtue. Since this was the portion of Cain, he brought offerings with him during the day, but Abel immediately brings firstborn animals and livestock; for the unrighteous man, in offering his firstfruits, does not think that his action is not pleasing to God, just as the blessed Paul says: 'Not that I, but the grace of God is with me' (1 Corinthians 15:10), and the Psalmist: 'Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it' (Ps 127:1).

Abel therefore, having reasoned about the living and irrational possessions and having made them stable, offered to God those belonging to him and not those belonging to his passions. Sorrow comes to those who use things in a way that is not required, like the fire of the conscience rebuking and demonstrating, even if evil is still held, the impropriety of the actions being performed, from which the countenance of the soul falls, from which also the bodily features receive their decline. Because it is the countenance of the soul, the saying says: 'The wisdom of man brightens his countenance' (Prov 15:13), and 'We reflect the glory of the Lord with a face unveiled' (2 Cor 3:18), the sign of the sensible face being indicated in 'a heart rejoicing, a cheerful countenance, but in sorrows, a gloomy face' (Prov 15:13), which happened to Cain under the rebuke of the conscience (Gen 4:6-7).

And the Lord God said to Cain: 'Why have you become dejected, and why has your countenance fallen? If you had offered rightly, would you not have passed by rightly? You have sinned. Be quiet. The turning is toward you, and you shall rule him.' The philanthropy of God toward all is shown, that He also converses with those who err, not allowing them to be submerged by sins, but awakening them to turn toward virtue through feeling, which even now happens to Cain, God saying to him according to what was echoing in his mind: 'Why have you become dejected?' You have become an excuse for this, and you were not a different thing from the sin itself. And He even suggests the manner of the slip, saying: 'If you had offered rightly, would you not have passed by rightly? You have sinned.' For those who consider providence to be over all things and...

The Correction of False Virtue§49

49They present their offerings as thanksgiving, doing so naturally; but those who use them carelessly, as if keeping the precious things for themselves and offering the cheap ones, have made a poor choice. Since Israel does this very thing, the prophetic word says rebukingly and admonishingly: 'If you bring a blind man for sacrifice, is it not bad? And if you bring a lame or sick man, is it not bad? Bring him to your leader' (Malachi 1:8).

But also Ananias and Sapphira in the Acts of the Apostles, when many were offering for the needs of those in need, they themselves received the price of a field, from which, having decided upon it, they brought the half and the other half making a poor choice, which the apostle's spokesman, inspired by the Spirit, rebuking said: 'Was it not still yours, and was it not under your control when you sold it? Why did you dare to do this in your heart?' (Acts 5:3-4). This also was said to Cain by God: 'Why are you so troubled, and why is your face downcast? If you offer rightly but do not divide rightly, you have sinned' (Genesis 4:6).

For all sin as they bring to God as a needy person, ignoring what was said in the Psalms toward Him, the God: 'Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?' (Psalm 50:13) and also: 'Mine are all the beasts of the field, cattle on the mountains and oxen' (Psalm 50:10). For all that you have in abundance from me, I also have all things, so that one not in need did not command, but rather from these, using them symbolically, it is fitting to use virtue not carelessly, but perfectly and completely.

Furthermore, in order that the evil may not advance, it is exhorted to be at rest from it, so that by rubbing against it one might not work up a worse sorrow. In this way it is also said to Zion, being moved disorderly—for such is the name—'Stand up, you, Zion'. Since the rational animal is active, either working out evil or virtue, in a manner of speaking,

When one does evil, it is appropriate for him to stand against this, so that virtue may find the space that is becoming. This indeed David advises: 'Turn away from evil' (Psalm 34:14), saying, 'and do good' (Psalm 34:14). 'Be still' (Genesis 4:7), therefore, he says, do not progress through evil; do not consider through negligence as if your sacrifice was not properly received. For many, often stumbling themselves and for this reason not having God as a co-worker, are displeased with providence, which God prevents in Cain, saying: 'Be still' (Genesis 4:7).

And also the 'his turning toward you and you shall turn him back' (Genesis 4:7) comes, teaching that whatever is offered to God not according to what is becoming, these things are not offered to him, but belong to the Giver, turning back toward him because of not having found a place in God. So also those providing alms for the sake of being seen by men withhold their own reward, having nothing from God; for they did not do this with a divine purpose. The whole discourse of the word is most useful for character, and thus being taken simply, it teaches sincerely regarding offerings and not to do them carelessly; and since we lead the aforementioned into the modes of the soul in the instances of errors, it is necessary even now to do this.

The word of God, existing according to common concepts and being present to the conscience, paternally reproves those stumbling, which is also presented now. For the hypocrites, insofar as to show virtue for honor, even if they do not choose it, seem to do something right; because they use a bad division, the one moving from the depth of the intention toward their own pleasures, the other shaping themselves to make the gift of outward appearance through God, it is expected they are not acceptable, cleaning the outside of the cup (Matthew 23:25) and surrounding themselves outwardly with the skin of a sheep, but being wolves within, snatching (Matthew 7:15); to such ones, reproving...

The Hypocrisy of Cain and the Divine Visitation§50

Divine Providence and the Guilt of Cain§51

51It signifies this. For the divine providence, existing as a unifying force, does this through all things. Even while the fraternal disposition and the extreme proximity for union are sufficient in the law, it does not permit these to be joined by marriage, but allows others with sisters and near relatives, so that through them they may be gathered together and from others [The text is damaged here.] and a disposition, which Cain suffered. For one must see even his hypocrisy in saying with thoughtlessness: 'I do not know; am I a guardian of my brother?' (Gen 4:9). For through the 'I do not know' the audacity is shown, because he thought he could hide from God; and through the 'Am I a guardian?' the unprincipled, irrational, and therefore senseless thing is revealed; for he ought to have been a guardian of his brother. And God said: 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the earth' (Gen 4:10). And now you are cursed from the earth, which had the stomach of its earth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand, because you work the earth and it will not add its strength to give to you; you shall groan and tremble upon the earth (Gen 4:11-12).

And the Philanthropist teaches while he is shameless, and thinking he can hide from God, he instructs him as this is impossible: 'The voice' he says, 'of your brother's blood cries to me from the earth' (Gen 4:10), do not suppose that the sleepless eye of Providence has escaped the stain. But he reveals it as a voice of blood, just as also elsewhere: 'Behold, the wages of the laborers who laid hold on your fields, who deprived you, cry out' (Jas 5:4). And so it is to be struck, and it is also possible that the blood is said to be there instead of the soul. And if anyone says that he was reminded because of this blood, that the body hid it; he also remembers the pouring out and how the earth had the stomach of its earth to receive the blood of a brother continuously, so that, growing large, the thing done might cause the hot-tempered one to be struck with remorse. And he brings upon him also curses, fittingly for one who worked so much, I say: 'And now you are cursed from the earth, because you work the earth and it will not add its strength to give to you' (Gen 4:12). For often, because of the sin of men, the poverty of the earth happens, not yielding its fruits according to what was said: 'The earth shall mourn because of those who dwell...'

In it. For it has been given to her to bear fruits to those who maintain a right calculation, and to those falling, providing the necessary things through the philanthropy of God; and again, by His command, those fruits which are lacking from her are restored, so that a return may occur. It is for a leading back; if we follow the first principles, God blames the hypocrite because he perverts the life-giving power of the soul, making it like the man outside, as it has been said. Therefore, he will be accursed, no longer providing fruits, but wasting his opportunity on something useless, so that from this he may be cast down into the beginning of virtue. For it is useful even to be perverted by evil, when the results from it are not attained, so that having undergone toil, he may be imbued with the love of virtue according to what was said: 'Egypt has toiled, and the commerce of the Ethiopians and the Sabaeans, tall men, shall pass over you' (Isaiah 45:14). And 'groaning' and 'trembling upon the earth' (Genesis 4:12) shall be, thus being judged, always being reproved by the conscience.

And Cain said to the Lord God: 'My guilt is too great to be forgiven; if you cast me out today from the face of the earth and from your face I will be hidden, I will be a wanderer and a trembler upon the earth, and it shall be that everyone who finds me will kill me' (Genesis 4:13). The word of God remains even for those who are strangers to themselves, through which they take Him to be a philanthropist and good regarding His own; and it is not possible to cut away this good concept, even if they are often dissatisfied through the depth of wickedness. Immediately, therefore, those who are altogether forgetful of God, being surrounded by necessity, flee to supplications and entreaties, as is seen also regarding Cain. For as God was moved to pity regarding the murder of the brother and, after acting with boldness, hypocritically asking him, 'Where is Abel your brother?' (Genesis 4:9), yet, lest more perversion exist in man, having known from the words of God—through which he learned from the reproof of what had happened in his conscience—that the eye of God is unavoidable, he must not turn this eye toward all foreign things, from which it will happen to groan and tremble and to expect refutation from everyone who finds him.

Cain's fear and the perfection of the sevenfold vengeance§52

52Having been struck, as if the protective power of God has departed from him, all other things are considered fearful by him, and he has no confidence in anything done by his own hand. These things are said to us regarding the whole scope of Cain's reply; but let us also see his mixed reply, which is faulty and does not partake of divine grace.

"Greater" he says, "is the cause for me to be forgiven," which would mean, according to a first understanding, that the evil upon me will be greater, if you, O God, do not pass over my injustice; for still, being under guardianship, the not-being-expelled is a state. This same thing is said regarding God in the prophet, concerning those of worthy consideration and those handed over to an unproven mind: "I will not visit their daughters when they play the harlot, nor their virgins when they commit adultery. For when they are sinning, those whom he wishes to train, he says: 'I will visit their lawlessness with a rod and their sins with whips, but my mercy I will not withdraw from them.'" (Hosea 4:14; Ezekiel 20:47).

What he says now, that is, that the reproach from you, Lord, will be greater than me, as previously stated; and since he thinks himself having stumbled and having suffered a perversion, he thinks that having been cast out from the earth, he will be cast out from the face of God. According to another understanding, he might be saying these things, that the evil to me will be greater if I remain in the land, O God, lest you destroy me into non-existence; for if you cast me out from the earth, and from your face I will be hidden, no longer existing, which was possible for him, but since you do not cast me out from the earth—for this must be obeyed—I shall be in it groaning and trembling, from everyone finding me and killing me.

For many, when they know for themselves the immeasurableness of their errors, having some notion that God himself will visit them, they consider non-existence to be preferable, preferring to suffer insensibility to existing; this would be clear from what was said by the prophet concerning the traitors of Jesus: "They will wish it if they were consumed by fire." (Isaiah 9:5). And in another way he might be imposing this meaning to his saying: "If you cast me out," and asking for a place of repentance today so that the present might be surpassed, "today"...

It was said. But he also desired that the one called 'his own' might fall into perfection toward God, so that he would not lie exposed to anyone finding him for destruction.

Cain might have wondered at any time, finding him and killing him, that nothing existed at all besides him and the mothers; to whom one might say that, having first the idea that a succession of men was to come, he feared that having worked such a great defilement, he might be destroyed as an abomination by those coming, the weight of which would pass upon the born ones as well; then, even if not this, he suspected that divine powers would be vengeful for the impious deed, which he was likely to have seen the pouring out of the evil.

But regarding the bringing back: And the Lord God said to him, 'Not thus' (Gen 4:15); everyone who kills Cain, seven avenges he will release. And the Lord God set a sign for Cain, not to kill him, everyone finding him. For a greater punishment, or according to the suspicion of Cain, that everyone finding him kills him, protecting the murderer of his own brother, God says, 'Not thus' (Gen 4:15); that is, this justice of the transgression is not suitable to you, to be destroyed by him. For this one will release seven avenging, which signifies perfect punishment.

For often the number seven in the Scripture is taken to mean perfection; this is shown by what is said: 'Seven eyes are watching over all the earth' (Zechariah 4:10); for God is not a body, so that his eyes might be by the number seven, but it teaches clearly that his watchful power is most complete and great.

Others have said that, just as the man of the Savior had seven resting spirits, 'spirit of wisdom and understanding, spirit of counsel and strength, spirit of knowledge and piety, spirit of the fear of God' (Isa 11:2), so each man, being a perfect man before sin, toward whom we are to arrive, the apostle teaching says, 'until we all arrive at a perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ' (Eph 4:13), having these resting in him, if he should sin, will release them, for which vengeance ought to be most complete and appropriate. It should be noted, however, that

Cain's exile and the nature of God's presence§53

53The phrase 'everyone who killed Cain' is said instead of a vocative, instead of 'O Cain, everyone who killed', or other ways about him, so that it might be 'everyone who killed Cain', which some say would not be a sin for certain powers. To these same things he gave a 'sign' 'not to let him be killed' (Gen 4:15), which was God's command for him; for no such judgments happen without forgiveness.

He set a sign, the momentum of repentance after the falls, by which he will not be easy to take away. For it is a great good not to fall; but to come after the falls into recognition would be a second chance, which God provides through teaching to prevent falling into deception. Such a mind is suggested by what is said in the Psalms: 'Light was signaled in the face of the Son, or the light of your face toward us, O Lord' (Psalm 4:6), which you say properly, speaking of divine thought. For so also the fleeing from the face of the bow would happen, of the face of God in us, as it is said, while it exists; and what follows confirms it: 'So that your beloved ones may be delivered' (Psalm 60:5). Therefore, through philanthropy and goodness, God gives a place of repentance even to those falling greatly, so that a recovery of virtue may happen again.

So Cain went out from the face of God and dwelt in the land of Nod opposite Eden (Gen 4:16). We say that the going out of Cain from the face of God is not to be taken locally, but that everyone sinning becomes outside God, since we also understand entering toward God in this way, the Psalmist saying: 'Enter before Him in gladness' (Ps 100:2); For someone enters before God, leaving all things outside—sins and sensible things—and becoming another in the world, so that he might thus become a partaker of the knowledge concerning God. It is said here therefore: 'Cain went out from the face of God' (Gen 4:16), and we do not say that...

What kind of place is it in which God exists, and from which Cain, while existing, went out? For God is uncircumscribable and is not subject to places, even if a temple has later become a teaching for symbolic worship. Cain went out, having made himself unworthy of the face of God, having become otherwise thoughtless.

Concerning such things it is said, 'God is not before him' (Psalm 10:4), and concerning the sons of Eli it is said, 'The sons of Eli did not know the Lord' (1 Sam 2:12); for if they drew near to the temple, it was in their disposition and works that he was found outside. That Cain went out in this way, the following shows: 'And he dwelt' (Gen 4:16) for he says 'in the land of Nod, opposite Eden.' For 'Nod' is interpreted as 'trembling'; for where was it necessary for the one departing from peaceful virtue to dwell, except in 'trembling,' in an unstable and uncertain thing, which is wickedness? And also 'opposite'; for wickedness is contrary to virtue.

We must remember, therefore, that when we were participating in the account of Adam's expulsion, we noted that He expelled him not as one having gone out of his own accord, but still possessing an impulse of longing for the enjoyment of the luxury of Paradise; therefore, opposite these things, He settled him, just as He himself had managed the dwelling. For to those who do not sin greatly, since virtue does not exist within them deeply, a certain quick opportunity is given, indicating a return, being given toward God, which was not said of Cain.

For neither has he been settled nor expelled, having perished through a willing longing for evil; therefore he dwells in 'trembling,' being incessantly disturbed, since he desired this, of the contrary stable thing, in order to have a strong standing, as if he could stand even with God, according to what was said: 'But you shall stand with me' (Deuteronomy 5:31), and by the Savior regarding those not tasting death: 'There are some standing here' (Matthew 16:28), who were his acquaintances. But even Paul, exhorting not...

Stability in Virtue and the Origin of Incest§54

54It is written for every master of teaching to be carried forward: 'Stand fast therefore, and do not again be held by the yoke of slavery' (Gal 5:1). And the Psalmist says thankfully: 'You have set my feet upon a rock' (Ps 40:2). But concerning evils, as always rubbing against bad things, it has been said: 'The shaking of their feet shall not stand' (Ps 68:6). For it is a great sin to be always moving in evil, which the word says is not to be in Zion, wishing it: 'Set yourself, O Zion' (Jeremiah 31:21).

This is what the blessed David, possessing this, sang so that he might not fall from it: 'And let not the hand of sinners shake me' (Psalm 36:11), which is: the deeds of a sinner, of the devil, may not turn me away from virtue. And Cain knew his wife, and having conceived, she bore Enoch (Gen 4:17). And he was building a city, and he named the city after the name of his son Enoch.

Some seek from where Cain had a wife, since there were none other than Adam and Eve, from whom the evildoers introduce brother-marriage. It was necessary for them to realize that from this brother-marriage is not introduced. For if, while others existed, he used the relation to his sister, the word was probable; but if, of no one existing, it happened for the establishment of succession, where is there room for brother-marriage, such as being of another could be accepted for a yoke-mate? A word is also carried among the Stoics, seeking whether, if the conflagration of the world should happen and the one wise man of the human race should remain with his daughter to watch over the ember, knowing that the world will be decorated again, which is why there is a need for succession, if it is used properly for the daughter; and the word seems to them not unfamiliar regarding there not being another.

This also seems to have happened concerning the daughters of Lot, which the lovers blame, but none of the wise. For they do not suppose there was another man because of the having happened of the burning of those cities, but having also taken them as maidens, that all the land had undergone such things previously, they say: 'Behold, our father has grown old, and there is no man who shall come to us, as it is fitting for all the land; come, and let us give our father wine' (Gen 19:31). And that they did not do this through passion, but having left an ember, one came and turned the other to do this, which she would not have done quickly if she had served through passion, but by the same means.

As the first managed, so also the second did, for the sake of fuller succession. Cain, then, is not to be blamed in these things, even if he erred in many. It must be noted that it did not say: “Cain knew his sister,” but “his wife”; for this is the proper designation of succession. One might ask how, with some five persons named — the parents of Cain and himself and his wife — he is said to build a city, a thing needing a multitude; and the questioner will also demand the reason why they made a city, when one cave or even a very small dwelling sufficed for habitation; to which […] — the rest of the page is blank.

The distinction between hearing and being instructed§55

55Humans are animals of choice, participating in sciences; for they do not live by sensation alone like the irrational, but the virtue of the rational is already shown through being inventors of arts. The first point regarding the literal sense is this; the things regarding the ascent are these.

The cattle-tender is different from the shepherd; for the one grazes with science, but the cattle-tender does not. Abel was the righteous shepherd, governing his irrational powers—the desiring, the appetitive, and the spirited—according to the right reason; but the cattle-tender, lacking science and being a certain pleasure-seeker, is subject to the sensations alone, not ruling them but being ruled by them.

And as a clear example, it would be said in this way: The physician uses touch differently than one looking toward pleasure; this one, then, is a kind of cattle-tender, but the physician is a shepherd, for he uses reason with sensation. In the same way, regarding smell and the other sensations, the one using them with reason is best. For reasoning begins the sensation, and if the reasoning is held in check, the man receives the qualities according to the passions, such as being called a lion through the spirited part, a fox through the cunning, and a serpent through the earthly part, and also being called a horse through the pleasurable part; for they say, 'You have become like mares' (Jeremiah 5:8), and other men are called such because, being entirely of the sensations, they produce nothing divine, like us; for he says, 'Do not become like a horse and a similar creature, which have no understanding' (Psalm 32:9).

The cattle-tender is such, being a certain base person, not dwelling in a house but in tents, a precarious thing, not imitating those who dwell in tents for the sake of entering into the house, who also say as in the Psalm: 'How lovely are your dwellings, O Lord of hosts: my soul longs and even faints for the courts of the Lord' (Psalm 84:1-2); for the one progressing from tents desires the courts, singing: 'I will go in the way of a wonderful habitation until I reach the house of God' (Psalm 42:4). The other brother is 'he who showed the harp and the lyre' (Genesis 4:21), being his brother in righteousness; for he has neighbors for the enjoyment of pleasures and the deception through music being worked upon the ears; for 'woe' to 'those who rise up...'

Chasing the morning and the evening, remaining blind; for wine will intoxicate them; for they drink wine with lyres and psalteries, but they do not look upon the works of the Lord. And the other one crafts war-gear from bronze and iron, the bronze making its sound, just as Paul writes, 'I have become a sounding bronze' (1 Cor 13:1); and he himself is also a worker of iron, being a certain sophist and deceiving through seeming probabilities.

And Lamech said to his wives, Adam and Zillah: 'Hear my voice, women of Lamech; be instructed by my words; for I have killed a man for a wound, and a young man for a bruise' (Gen 4:23-24); for seventy times seven has been avenged from Cain, and from Lamech seventy times seven. I believe that being instructed is brought about only by divine instruction, and it differs from hearing, when it is joined with it; for the one, being instructed, is the hearing of that which is near, but the hearing is the hearing of that which is far off, and the word is not near. And in Isaiah, 'Hear, O heaven, and be instructed, O earth, for the Lord has spoken' (Isaiah 1:2), is not said in parallel, which is also 'Be instructed, O heaven, and I will speak' (Deuteronomy 32:1)—for instead of 'Pay attention,' other interpreters say 'Be instructed'—'and let the earth hear the words from my mouth' (Isaiah 1:2). And they say such an observation exists: when the law was being given by God, since it happened to be near the heavenly works, for this reason the heaven is commanded to be instructed; but when they departed from the upright citizenship, as to become far from the earth, then it is said, 'Hear, O heaven'—for they happened to be far—'and be instructed, O earth,' for this earth was near through its attachments. Therefore Lamech did not say 'Hear' and 'Be instructed' in parallel, but rather we have observed the difference between them in the Scripture not to be untimely; and what is it that we should learn, he says: 'Hear my voice, women of Lamech; be instructed by my words' (Gen 4:23). And someone might say that the voice and the words are in parallel; but he who seeks precision even regarding these would say that regarding the voice he ordered 'Hear,' but regarding the words he ordered the more precise thing, which is to be instructed.

Lineage and the Definition of Man§56

56Observing the difference, someone might say that John was a 'voice crying out' (Matt 3:3), taking the immediate word of the scriptures to mean 'voice', but the mystical mind to mean 'logos'. 'That I killed a man unto my wound and a youth unto my blindness' (Genesis 4:23). It is said in the book of the Testament by Lamech that Cain was killed accidentally; for he was turned back while building some wall, behind which Cain was, who was also killed accidentally. That he was killed, he says, 'unto my wound' happened, but that he did not do it willfully, 'unto my blindness' happened.

Adam knew (Gen 4:1) Eve his wife, and having conceived, she bore a son and named his name Seth, saying: 'God has raised up for me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain killed' (Gen 4:25). Previously, regarding the things signified by 'knew' (Genesis 4:25), we did not say that Adam's knowing Eve his wife meant standing beside her, but rather that they had come together, which also now signifies. She, 'having conceived she bore a son', whom 'and named Seth, saying: God has raised up for me seed instead of Abel, whom Cain killed' (Gen 4:25).

Those bringing forward different natures of the Valentinian heresy, saying that their unsuited virtue is that which they call earthly, and the unsuited evil, which they indeed also call spiritual, saying a third is the psychic, which is considered by them as being a mixture; and they take Cain as a sign of the unsuited virtue, and Abel of the spiritual, referring the remainder to Seth. It is not of the present time to refute this impious heresy, so that the word may not be defiled; but we also consider the word of Eve to be a testimony to the manner of Seth. For instead of the excellent Abel, this is interpreted as 'watering/refreshing'; and this is a symbol of life-giving provision; for this 'bringing forward' one must be interpreted as Abel having a brother, so that being first and more perfect, he might bring forward to God the spiritual sacrifices in the manner of a priest, while Seth brings forward a secondary struggle, through watering and teaching, those being instructed to God, who instead of Cain exists as someone self-willed and throwing blame upon himself; for he is a creature [interpreted as...].

Genesis 4:26. And to Seth there was born a son, and he named his name Enos; he hoped to call upon the name of the Lord God. The holy ones from the holy often possess both a physical descent from them and a descent according to the soul, in the same manner that Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac of Jacob, and Jacob of Joseph; for these exist both by human succession from them and have become imitators of their virtue. But Esau became the son of Isaac according to the flesh alone, becoming a stranger to him through his own will; for he happened to be worthless. Seth, therefore, being placed instead of the righteous, begets Enos the righteous, who instead of the name of the Lord is called man; of such a nature, his soul's virtue declaring the 'according to the image' and the state of a truly existing man; for Enos is a 'man' among the Hebrews.

One must also add what is proper to man: 'He' says, 'hoped to call upon the name of the Lord'; and this is a virtuous practice for such a man. The hope that this truly is, is to become like God as much as possible; and to hope to call upon the name of the Lord God while simultaneously subjecting oneself to authority and to divine teaching is the hope.

Genesis 5:1-2. This is the book of the generations of men. On the day God made Adam, He made him according to the image of God; male and female He made them, and blessed them, and named their name Adam, on the day He made them. Here he called the narrative concerning Adam and his succession down to the present. Before the sixth day, on which man came into being, it was called the 'book of heaven and earth'; for we had finished that whole narrative concerning those before man, setting down another beginning of the generation of men. He calls 'generation' the word describing His making, just as it is said concerning Jesus: 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,' speaking according to the flesh; for the eternal one is unknown to men; for it is said: 'Who shall recount his lineage?' Just as we did not say the six days were a multitude of days, so also not the one...

Longevity and the Lineage of Seth§57

57God creates by time. For humans have their actions distributed by time, but God is not so; for 'He himself said and they were brought into being' (Psalm 33:9), and we do not have the power to divide the willing of Him who wishes to bring into existence that which He wills, and because of order, as it has been said, the first has been grasped in perfection. But likewise it has been said regarding the man having come to be 'according to the image' (Gen 1:26). And the 'and blessed them' (Genesis 5:2) is an explicit sign of them being good; for blessing reaches toward good things; for 'this one shall receive a blessing from the Lord' (Psalm 24:5). It is to be noted that He calls both Adams, and regarding 'male and female He made them' (Gen 1:27) having said in the first chapters, we shall not repeat. And if both Enoch and Adam signify man, it is not to be treated as strange; for among the Hebrews, man is many-named, just as among those speaking in Greek, man is called part, mortal, light; and these things, falling under etymologies, are by nature and not by position, as has been said before.

Adam lived three hundred and thirty years and begat according to his own idea and according to his image, and he named his son Seth. And the days of Adam became seven hundred years after the begetting of Seth, and he begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Adam which he lived were three hundred and thirty years and he died. The life of men now is cut short to a small number; for it shall be said later from the histories that the matter has proceeded by a little, as it was also foretold regarding the one saying by God: 'My spirit shall not abide in these men because they are flesh, but their days shall be one hundred and twenty years' (Gen 6:3), and it is also said by the Psalmist: 'The days of our years are seventy years, if in strength eighty years, and the more of them are labor and sorrow' (Ps 90:10); for the years after the eightieth year...

Life is toil and labor. At that time, one did not even rise quickly; indeed, one hundred and sixty years seemed to be the prime. And it was fitting in the beginning that men were long-lived, so that the human race, being generated from a single origin, would not be cut off by their being short-lived. For thus, since the time of life was greater, more were born, yet there becomes one memory because of the reason of succession, those called the firstborn.

And if someone says: 'And indeed Seth is third, not firstborn,' it must be said that since it was not appropriate from Cain, being of low status, nor from Abel, who departed childless, it is fitting that he is in a certain way a firstborn from Seth. As for 'according to the form' and 'according to the image,' it will seem to be taken more simply as being the same, but the one who loves art would say that 'according to the form' is by the ***, and 'according to the image' is by the ***. These things are now given thus; but if anyone is troubled by the number of years or the interpretation of the names of those being born, Philo would give a mystical account without being cold-hearted. Pay attention, therefore, to this, for it is useful.

And Seth lived five hundred and twenty years and begat Enos (Gen 5:21). And Seth lived, after Enos was begotten, seven hundred and seventy years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth were twelve hundred and ninety years and he died. And this Enos is the same name as the one before him, who was a son of Cain. And this Enos lived eighty and died; and his son was Kenan, who himself lived ninety and eighty and died; and his son was Mahalalel, and of him the time was completed in ninety-five years; and his son was Jared, who lived sixty-two and nine hundred and died, who begat Enoch (Gen 5:24). And Enoch lived one hundred and sixty-five years and begat the...

The Transfer of Election and the Symbolism of Noah's Sons§58

58After Methuselah was born, Enoch found favor with God after two hundred and thirty years, and he fathered sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch found favor with God, and he was not found, because God transferred him.

The Apostle, having received the word concerning Enoch, says in the Epistle to the Hebrews: 'By faith Enoch was transferred so as not to see death' (Heb 11:5). His life is described in a number of days, and having completed a year and a remainder, he was transferred, which one would logically consider to be a translation into better things, since he was promised the virtue which ought to exist in humans according to perfection and fullness. But his translation did not happen like that of other men; for the bodies of the others, remaining here and being dissolved, were separated from the souls; concerning this it is said that he was transferred, about which we understand that either he was taken up like Elijah or by some other way he was snatched into a divine place.

It is proper to observe here how what is said by Paul, 'And just as it is appointed for men to die once' (Heb 9:27), is made true. For if these, I say Elijah and Enoch, having been taken up, are to be with their thickest bodies even now and throughout the whole age, then the word of the wise and holy Paul concerning the necessity of all men dying is false. But it is not false. Therefore, what is set forth requires a theory, even if not in the way accustomed, that although other men have shared in death now, it must be understood that their mortal part is to be set aside according to the secret word of God, so that they might possess the fleshy life. For if the Savior is the 'firstborn from the dead' (Col 1:18), He would be the firstborn of these.

For it is undignified for such a word to be outside of them; furthermore, if they did not lay aside the fleshy life, as we have said, they would not have shared in the divine resurrection, by which from the dishonorable we shall all receive the body as honorable, from the glory as splendid, from the weak as powerful, from the psychic as spiritual. If one also reads the book of the Testament to a friend, he will know that he is said to be snatched into Paradise; and to know this, even if it is not from an irreproachable book, is not absurd. And there are those who speak of the translation by way of way...

They say it is so, according to which the Savior said to the disciples, 'You are no longer of this world, but I have chosen you' (John 15:19), effecting a transfer of election from the worldly things; and they receive another explicit thing constructed by this: 'We know that we have passed from death into life' (1 John 3:14). For those having passed from the death which follows through wickedness, we have been transferred unto the life which is from virtue.

This repayment suits not only Enoch, but all the saints; therefore, examine whether it is fitting to approve the former. And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It is to be observed that he did not say at this point from how many years he began to father, but by chance he had three sons, not born at once. And it is also good that it is written that he had not fathered daughters, but sons, as a symbol showing that the righteous man is not a female-bearer, just as it has been written concerning Moses and Abraham; for these also did not have daughters.

For indeed someone is blessed, according to the Psalm, a father of well-born offspring, hearing: 'Blessed are you, and it shall be well with you. Your children like olive shoots around your table; thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord' (Psalm 128:3-4). But the daughters are perceived as symbols. Immediately also the tyrant Pharaoh, being fond of the males born by the Hebrews, destroys them, taking possession of the females. For those offspring of the soul that are well-born, those turning toward the things below strive to destroy, rejoicing in wealth and human things.

Immediately also the following explicitly teaches this: as a multitude became, daughters were born to them (Genesis 6:1). And it happened when men began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. The 'many' can also be applied to a multitude, over which especially it is most dominant, even regarding the Egyptians. For in the Exodus it is said: 'And the sons of Israel were fruitful and became Egyptians' (Exodus 1:7). But also the 'Many say to my soul' (Psalm 3:2) instead of 'Egyptians'; for words do not bring serious matters. And Paul, saying: 'For we are not as many who corrupt the word of the Lord' (2 Cor 2:17), shows those who are negligent. And also the...

The Two Senses of Flesh§59

59To say these are earthly is appropriate, for thinking of earthly things, they were of little value and more suited to the many; for these are not in heaven, but upon the earth. It is fitting that 'and daughters were born to them' (Genesis 6:1); for the foolish man neglects the female.

Indeed, the angels of God, seeing the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took wives for themselves from all those whom they chose. A wife is joined to a man by the Lord; therefore, he who uses marriage without hope toward God for himself and does not receive it from God—since God also led the woman to Adam—is in error. It is therefore useful even the word to avoid doing anything without God. For he who strives for a marriage of honor does not look toward wealth, nor toward nobility, nor toward beauty, if he be uncontrolled.

So also the holy Abraham sends his own servant for a marriage, commanded to receive the one chosen for Isaac. The written Spirit also says about her, neglecting it: 'She was a virgin; a man knew her not' (Genesis 24:16), because through 'she was a virgin' he shows the purity of the soul, and through 'a man knew her not' this very incorruptibility of the body. And that not every marriage is from God, Paul writes: 'Do not become unequally yoked with unbelievers' (2 Cor 6:14), which he commanded naturally at the beginning of the proclamation, even if Paul seems to say: 'If anyone has an unbelieving wife' (1 Corinthians 7:12); for it is clear that they were joined before faith, whom he did not wish to be separated after the faith, so that the word might not be obstructed.

And toward allegory, God joins a wife to a man for purpose, piety, and wisdom, so that he might beget virtues; for 'Wisdom' (Proverbs 10:23) indeed 'bears prudence to a man,' and Solomon says concerning wisdom: 'I became a lover of her beauty' (Song 1:4) and led her to live with myself. God joins this wife; for 'the Lord gives wisdom' (Prov 2:6). These men, concerning whom the preceding text says they took wives, did not expect this to happen from God. For this reproves their irrational desire, because they looked toward beauty; for this 'beautiful' signifies. It is sought by many whether angels by nature mixed with women...

Regarding what is said: some say that pleasure-seeking demons, having been enamored of the bodies of women, have united with them, but the resulting conception prevents this from being understood, for it is not possible for a human succession to exist in such a way. Others say that angels, desiring the bodies, have been entangled in sensation by God's providence, so that having been satiated with longing, they might return to what they left behind, while warning women toward sensation, and they say this is how they produce thoughts and actions. Others say that demons use pleasure as an instrument for wicked men, through whom they enjoy themselves by means of the sin of those people, as if they could unite with women.

Indeed, the Lord God said: 'My Spirit shall never remain in men for ever because they are flesh' (Genesis 6:3). The Spirit of God remains in those higher beings who have surpassed the material, for those who approach them are called 'flesh' because they are understood as material and subject to passions. For He does not speak of the immediate flesh; otherwise, it would happen that no man could partake of the Spirit of God. But that there is another flesh besides this visible one in which we are surrounded, Paul writes: 'For the mind of the flesh is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: for they that are in the flesh cannot please God' (Romans 8:7); for if someone were to take the visible flesh, many would have pleased God with it, all the saints. And again saying, 'But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit' (Romans 8:9), he signifies the false flesh; for they were still in the flesh, having this life.

Furthermore, it is called flesh that which surrounds us, and the irrational animal, and man: 'For I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh' (Joel 2:28), instead of upon men, 'and all flesh shall see the salvation of God' (Luke 3:6). And the word of scripture is also called flesh: 'For the flesh' he says, 'profits nothing; it is the spirit that gives life' (John 6:63). For the scripture, when taken purely, does not give life sensually, just as we might say that he who makes shapes according to geometry is useful, but he who does this without reason would be less than a painter.

The Significance of the Number Six and One Hundred Twenty§60

60Since therefore many men, having been born, were full of weakness, he says, 'My Spirit shall not abide in them.' For 'a holy spirit of discipline will flee from guile' (Wisdom 1:5); but guile is a more grievous passion, for it harms thoughtlessly. And 'unto the age' (Gen 6:3) signifies how such they are throughout their life. This is equivalent to 'I will not eat meat unto the age' (1 Corinthians 8:13). Whether therefore men are being driven by demons having taken daughters, or, as is previously rendered, the angels of desirable sensations, the Spirit does not remain in these. For whoever has come to this through passions and sins, it is evident that they have no part of the divine Spirit; for even those who have come for the help of the divine Spirit are deprived.

If anyone should be surprised at the saying that angels are souls, he ought not to marvel; for the spiritual is the same for both, even if an angel has a subtle body and the man a thick one; for to please God is common to both, since it is also common to the rational nature. And if anyone brings an objection as to how the pre-existing souls desired bodies, of which they did not know, it must be said to whom that desiring is often said not strictly as desiring that toward which their actions lead. Often indeed, also rebuking those living not well, saying, 'you desire to perish', we do not say that 'you desire this very thing', but 'you do such things which lead you to destruction' (Gal 6:7). If therefore anyone says that the souls desired bodies, it must be understood thus: that they were in such a state that they had need of the intercourse in the body, their being unworthy to be in a place not like this, after such actions.

Yes, 'and their days shall be a hundred and twenty years' (Genesis 6:3). Everything that God does and says, He does and says by a true judgment. Since therefore 'their days shall be a hundred and twenty' is said as a necessity, but this does not appear to be so, it is necessary to interpret the intention of the thing foretold differently. The numbers received in the Scriptures were not received haphazardly, but for the sake of a certain word; often they are not even introduced naturally to the history, being received for the sake of a certain word. For to say, 'I left with myself seven thousand men, who did not do...' (1 Kings 19:18).

Because the history of bowing the knee to Baal is not possessed—for the holy one did not know so much—he was troubled for the sake of showing the thought, that everyone who surpasses the sensible and the world having been made in six days, having been brought forth in the restorative seventh week, is left by God as a goal for others and a benefit.

Thus also the number six was taken in the generation of this world as perfect, just as it has been said in the passages. And 'six times he is delivered from necessities' is not said because of the number or because of being delivered from necessities so many times, but rather, as long as one is in the things of the one having been made in six, he is under necessities, thus it is said; of the cessation, which is shown through the seventh, they do not have purification, as it was said to the disciples by the Savior: 'You are not of this world' (John 15:19) having surpassed the necessities in it.

These things were prepared beforehand to show that the number one hundred twenty is not in vain taken here; and it is necessary also to note this, that the scripture, taking the numbers, connects them with their own properties as of the world having been made in six days (Genesis 1). Let us take an example. For it is not possible to say that God made the world in six angels or in six monads or in six men; for time was being shown. Therefore, being offered in six days, it is said because time falls to the generation, being appropriately synchronized with the day, so as not to be years or months or hours; for the former is worthy of God, but the latter is the name of the incomplete; for not knowing what a day is, we are ignorant of the hour. And there, since it was concerning life, he mentioned years.

And... the many will say that God, as cutting off their life, established it at one hundred twenty, with the former living many years; but this was not fitting; for they seem to have lived more years. Let us therefore see the characteristic of the number. It is said therefore that this number, having been composed of its own parts, is doubled; for if the half is composed, which is sixty, the third is missing, the fourth is missing, the fifth is twenty-four, the sixth is twenty, the eighth is eighty-five, the tenth is missing, the twelfth is missing, the fifteenth is eight, the twentieth is missing, the twenty-fourth is five, the thirtieth is four...

Numerical Symbolism and the Giants§61

61Four hundred sixty-two, one hundred twenty-one, makes the total four hundred forty, being double the one hundred twenty, of which the parts are fifteen, just as fifteen increased by progression makes the one hundred twenty. That the fifteen was received into the most perfect degree is clear; for of that same number six degrees are missing. But also the 'giving a portion to the seven', which signifies the Old Testament, and 'also to the eight', which is a symbol of the Resurrection and the New Testament, joins the fifteen. For the Jews, receiving only the old, give a portion to the seven, not hearing that it also gives to the eight; but also the heretics, setting aside the old, giving a portion to the eight, refuse to have the seven provide; the ecclesiastical, receiving both covenants, gives a portion to both. Since therefore also the one hundred twenty number is doubled, there exists a symbol of teaching being awakened toward the true life according to both practice and contemplation, honored, so that having doubled the life, they may have this life, being made manifest through the number, in order that the said thing—that he who lives not also by practice and contemplation does not live, but just as the profligate has died—may be true.

4. And the giants were upon the earth in those days and after that, as the sons of God were approaching the daughters of men and they became to themselves (Gen 6:4). Those were the giants from of old, the men who are named. Those outside the faith, bringing this in from myths, bring it in; but in the Divine Scripture, instead of strong men, they are named. For in Isaiah, God threatening to take away the useful things of these, since they were worthy of this, joins both giant and strong among those being taken away. And Goliath he thus called, testifying that he was strong and a warrior. But also, when Moses wrote out the spies reporting concerning the hostile land, they said concerning the country: “But we saw sons of giants there” (Numbers 13:33), then interpreting their size they said: “And we were before them as locusts.” Thus it bears witness that they were of great bodies.

And if it has been said aptly that demons used passionate men as instruments, one might say that, to convict them, such great ones were born to them of the most corporeal condition, who were also called “renowned” “from of old,” the “from of old” signifying that the account concerning them as of great bodies is carried for a long time. But if you should also call them giants because of the vileness of their condition, what is said would not be without reason — those who according to wickedness begat those under them, anointing them unto greatness of vileness.

But if the “after that” in the text signifies, besides the time, also the “after the separation from them of the spirit” concerning which God said: “My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh” (Gen 6:3), consider together: for then, alienated from participation in it, whether men or others, they had offspring raised up against the counsel of God — not only thoughts but also men. Gen 6:5–7. And the Lord God saw that the evils of men were multiplied upon the earth, and that everyone devises in his heart diligently upon evil things all the days; and God considered that he made man upon the earth, and he pondered, and God said: “I will blot out the man whom I made from the face of the earth, from man to cattle and from creeping things to the birds of heaven, because I was angered that I made them.” Consequently, even if the irrational things are not something voluntary […].

Anthropomorphism and Divine Attributes§62

62They were acting, and they were being destroyed together with the man, through whom he also came to fulfill his own needs, a life-spark being left behind with Noah and from them.

Likewise, men were also perishing as wickedness increased upon the earth, because they sinned by thinking with the evil, not casually but through careful use of sins. Let us carefully examine what was said from the beginning: 'The Lord God having seen,' he says, 'that the wickednesses of men had been multiplied upon the earth' (Gen 6:5). For did he not previously see their wickednesses? But it is evident that now he has seen them for the purpose of vengeance. For when he does not wish to send punishments to those sinning, it is said he does not see them, which is to say when he is sleeping, while others are watching. It is indeed said by someone: 'I awoke to my impieties,' and after having tested the patience of God through many impieties, after those who reproach had passed by, he says: 'I awoke to my impieties.' And another saint said: 'He arose like one sleeping, like a strong man having roared from wine'; for having been very patient, he comes excessively and unceasingly with punishments to those in such need, which is why the unceasingness and the multitude is called an awakening and a roaring from wine. For it is like a good physician to use the sufferings at the right time, which is made evident by 'The Lord God having seen.'

And if it is about to be that 'everyone thinks in his heart toward evil things' (Genesis 6:5), even though Noah did not have it so, we should not be surprised; for it is said regarding the majority in this way, just as 'every brother betrays and every friend acts deceitfully' (Jeremiah 9:4). And it is possible, since Noah was not at all a man—for he had ascended beyond the human condition—that this was said as not being applicable to him at all among men, but happening to a god, as it is said: 'He called those gods to whom the word of God came.' Similar to this is also 'I said in my ecstasy: every man is a liar' (Psalm 116:11); for he was a god, as we have demonstrated, the one saying these things. For if a man were not thus, if he were a liar, then 'every man' would no longer be true.

Not a liar, but speaking the truth, yet he is not a man himself, who is called a man through excellence beyond human measure, as it is said: 'For where there is strife and jealousy, are you not men, as these also walk?' (1 Corinthians 3:3). For their malice was not practiced by them by chance, but with care and deliberation; for this reveals what is in the heart (Luke 6:45).

Likewise, 'from youth' can be understood in two ways: either being smeared with evil from a small age, or that no one among those described as a man is an elder, even if the nature is so, setting forward the novelties and the instabilities. 'For old age is not an honorable thing measured by long life or by the number of years; for much is wisdom to men, and old age is a life without a cloud' (Sirach 4:10). And it is not unlikely that the 'youth of sin' and 'remember not my ignorance' (Psalm 25:7) carry interpretations saying: 'Remember not whatever evil things I have done.'

Having said these things, it is worthy to consider what is revealed from 'God remembered that he made man upon the earth' (Genesis 6:6) and 'I was grieved that I made them' (Genesis 6:7), which is equivalent to 'I repented that I made Saul king' (1 Samuel 15:11). It must be said, however, that things are said about God in a human manner, and not in the way the words and the thought possess. For if hands, feet, eyes, and ears are transferred in the Scripture, one must not think that God is formed in a human way, but it is clear that we shall call each of these things regarding the active powers of God, such as hands and the unretreating eyes, and likewise his discerning eyes and his practical hands, even if through another understanding.

For indeed, regarding sensible things, each of the named things signifies only one thing, such as wood; but regarding God, they are called by many names, which are to be understood by the word as preceding the various things about him. For so God is called both Spirit and Source, and again hands and feet are said to belong to him; yet nowhere, even if he had something sensible, were his names so many; for neither light nor Spirit nor Source have hands.

Grace, Virtue, and the Increase of Faith§63

63It was thought and regretted as if regarding an unchangeable mind. For just as men, wishing to present a confession to those being taught by themselves that they erred greatly and are unworthy of lessons, say: 'I regretted that I gave so much to you, leading you to the knowledge of the transgression,' so also God is said to not undergo a passion of regret, but rather to speak for the sake of the manifestation of the greatness of the sin. For He did not not know that such things would be, but through goodness He viewed whether perhaps from the laws written according to the intellect they would follow. We use an image toward it not being a passion of God, but of those who change in such a way.

Let someone be wise... gaps... and because of this an heir... gaps... he himself did not change according to the mind among those changed, when the property came to the righteous alone; for this one had the purpose from the beginning. And good is 'I will blot out the man whom I have made from the face of the earth' (Genesis 6:7); for He does not lead him into non-existence, nor does He blot him out according to the soul, but from the earth. And this is not only the work of God, having been deceived by evil, to destroy men, but also through a sign to destroy the one dwelling in the earth being a lowly one; for the lowly one is a resident of the earth, the holy one being not a resident but a sojourner. Thus also it is said in Jeremiah: 'The evils shall be burned upon those dwelling on the earth' (Jeremiah 1:14), those rooting themselves on the earth, which the holy one says he did not suffer, thanking: 'In a short time He has brought me to an end in the land' (Psalm 119:87), and in the Revelation it is said: 'Woe to those dwelling on the earth' (Revelation 8:13), not to those sojourning; but the purpose of God is to snatch the man from the earthlings, even if he himself holds to the earthlings.

'But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord God' (Gen 6:8). It is great and heavenly to find grace in the sight of God, and this is accomplished through pleasing Him, which follows that to please men, the one pleasing to men not always pleasing to God. For see what the blessed Paul says: 'If I were still pleasing men, I would not be a Christ's slave' (Gal 1:10).

Then I would not have been, and the Psalmist says: 'The Lord scatters the bones of those who please men' (Psalm 53:5). But those who have the grace from God say: 'He who has graced us along with the beloved' (Eph 1:6), just as Mary also hears from the angel: 'Rejoice, favored one, the Lord is with you' (Luke 1:28). For this is the grace, to have the Lord with oneself; and one has the Lord with oneself by being distinguished by virtue and good deeds, saying: 'If you seek the testing of the Christ speaking in me' (2 Corinthians 13:3).

For He himself gives grace and peace; for this is what the holy man prays for, saying: 'Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ' (2 Cor 13:13). And God gives this gift, having provided us the occasion to receive it. For it is said in Proverbs: 'Grace and friendship set free, which you have kept for yourself, so that you may not become despised' (Proverbs 25:10); for in the power of one's own choice is the ability to keep these and to succeed.

Thus also Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord God from his own domestic preparation, himself having graced himself through works of virtue and from this having received grace from God; for the God of all, working together with those succeeding and striving on our part, adds to, adorns, and leads into the greatness of good. The disciples of the Savior, knowing this, having already pre-succeeded in the faith toward him, were saying to him, knowing that faith is also God-given: 'Increase our faith' (Luke 17:5).

For just as a word of wisdom is given through the Spirit and a word of knowledge according to the Spirit (1 Cor 12:8), so also faith is in the same Spirit. For it is impossible to receive the faith given from God according to grace without having that which is established from our own part. For this is made clear from 'increase our faith' (Luke 17:5); but even Isaiah says, from the person of the Lord's man, or even from himself: 'He has added to me an ear for hearing, and the instruction of the Lord opens my ears' (Isa 50:4); for the hearing and instruction given toward God opens even these ears to hear the intellect more divinely.

Thus also let us understand 'grace for grace' (John 1:16), understanding the one from God approaching through our own part. And also let us understand the 'found' which was said, so that it might be shown that having sought...

Partial Perfection and Noah's Character§64

64He found it rightly, those who do not seek in the way they ought, not finding; for they say, 'They shall seek me,' yet 'evil men and they shall not find' (Proverbs 1:28). From this it is known that he sought well from the judgment and gift of God, when, as if sealing the grace himself, he gives: 'Not of the one willing nor of the one running, but of the merciful God' (Romans 9:16), and 'If the Lord builds a house, in vain the builders labored for it' (Psalm 127:1).

Yes, 9. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, being perfect in his generation, and he pleased God (Genesis 6:9). The genealogy of the righteous is not so much of men as of virtues; for these are his preceding offspring. This indeed teaches the written Spirit; for it being the case to say the generations of Noah, it brought forward: 'Noah was a righteous man, being perfect in his generation, and he pleased God' (Genesis 6:9).

Let us see what is signified by 'perfect in his generation.' According to a first interpretation, one might say that, compared to the men of his own time who had endowed themselves with immeasurable evil, he was perfect; this is not a great thing, if he were compared to the unknown, for it might perhaps be possible to say that of those entering the ark with him, he was called perfect because he was different; for it is indeed likely that they were such from the holy habit.

It might also be said thus: the generation of the righteous is similarity, and this is signified from 'This is the generation of those seeking him' (Psalm 24:6); for having said, 'Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He who has innocent hands and is pure in heart' (Psalm 24:3-4) and the following, he brought forward: 'This is the generation of those seeking him,' having spoken of one generation of those adorned with the same virtue. By this, in the opposite way, similarly, it is the thing said: 'Sons of this age are wiser than the sons of light in their own generation'; for the generation of such things is the similar state and way of life.

And it is necessary to hear 'perfect' as it is in men, which Paul said to know perfectly in part, saying concerning the perfect: 'When the perfect comes, that which is in part shall be done away' (1 Corinthians 13:10); all the perfection being accomplished in men is as towards that in the future.

An age is complete only in part. Let what is said be clear by way of an example: he who is in the first letters is complete, yet as far as the one listening to grammatical discourse, he is incomplete. And the Apostle himself, saying, 'We know in part and we prophesy in part' (1 Cor 13:9), speaks this concerning himself and those like him: 'As for those who are perfect, we think this,' and 'But we speak wisdom among the perfect' (1 Corinthians 2:6); for just as the citizenship existing there is incomplete, as we have said, as far as the knowledge that is to come, being 'face to face' (1 Cor 13:12), even if it has reached its utmost limit.

And the things said about Noah—that he was righteous, and perfect, and pleasing to God—must be taken all at once, even if the words have an order; for he was 'righteous' and 'being perfect' he had a pleasingness toward God. But the perfect and the righteous are anticipated by the pleasingness; for it is not that because he pleased, he became righteous and perfect, but because he appeared righteous and perfect, he has been shown to be pleasing to God. And if Noah is said to be a man of such a state, it is not necessary to be surprised, since we have often observed that the name 'man' signifies more; for it is not regarding mere dust alone, as it is said: 'For where there is strife and jealousy among you, are you not acting as men and walking according to man?' (1 Corinthians 3:3), and concerning the devil sowing evil thoughts, it is said: 'A man has done this' (Matthew 13:28); here, in addition to declaring the nature, it also signifies the 'man' as the one who saves according to the 'image' (Gen 1:26). And also, that he 'being perfect pleased God' (Genesis 6:9); for he pleased God having already been promised perfection, not pleasing God by pleasing in everything, but by being pleasing to both righteous men and in other ways to men; for he is praised not only for pleasing the righteous, but after that for pleasing God.

10. And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. He fathered three sons, and Noah became a father of such a number; for nothing was said before this of having had another child. The explicit part is clear; but if one looks toward an upward leading, he might say that one fathering two of a certain physical sex would be casting symbols; for the two are kindred in matter, for this is divisible; but the one who fathered three is called perfect, being first to bear a complete image.

The Corruption of the Earth and Human Wickedness§65

65Of the Creator, for He is a support; and still, the removal of a number from Him makes a dyad, as it is evident that the three came by addition. But to humans, those things which are signified by the two, if a calculation were added, no longer remain material or human, partaking of rectitude; for it is not necessary merely to act, but also with right reason, so that it may receive praise.

And one is able, by changing the mode of speech, to take these things toward the perfection of the soul; for first a passion must come to the soul, then thus a disposition must become, and thus to impel toward action. And we say a passion is not the thing being denied, but the impulse of the soul as it would imprint upon the virtuous; and these things also happen from the opposite.

Three, therefore, are these offspring of the diligent; let the pre-passion now be a burden in relation to indifferent matters. And if one, imposing them even upon interpretations, might find something useful, let him observe. Shem, indeed, is interpreted perfect, Japheth breadth or beauty, but Ham is daring or impetuous or heat or excess.

And what other offspring would have been fitting for the righteous, such as perfection, breadth and beauty, which are all the marks of virtue? For beauty, joined with breadth, makes the wide road go outward, which leads to destruction; but if it is that Ham is interpreted daring or impetuous or heat or excess, let these be taken as domestic to his manner, as if toward the worthless son for a reproach, but for the perfect, let them be received with careful use; for the virtuous is most unforced, since even the violent seize the kingdom; but such a one is also daring against the opposing powers, according to Paul the blessed saying, 'Our struggle is not against blood and flesh' (Eph 6:12), and the following: this impetuous one, just as he is daring, is not acquiring impetuousness toward evil, but happening upon virtue, being hot and zealous in the Spirit, from which he also stands apart from human things (Eph 1:11–12).

But the earth was against the Lord, and the earth was filled with injustice. And the Lord God saw the earth, and it was corrupted, because all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

The corruption of the earth does not signify the loss of the so-beautiful element into non-existence, but rather the excess of the sins of men; the earth calls men by a metonymic manner, just as the psalmist says: 'Let all the earth worship you and sing to you' (Ps 66:5), and again 'Sing to the Lord, all the earth' (Ps 96:1); for when it is said 'The heavens and the earth were finished' (Genesis 2:1), this element is signified, and 'Let the earth blossom' (Genesis 1:11). Such has become the wickedness of men, who are called earth, as to see God, that element which incites them through much goodness and the great things of the wings. For it has been said: 'If, Lord, you observe iniquity, Lord, who will stand?' (Psalm 130:3). It does not bring wrath day by day, but when the moderate measures of sins occur, as it was said just as in the prophet Jonah: 'The cry of wickedness ascended to God' (Jon 2:2), and concerning Sodom: 'The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has filled the heavens, and their sins are exceedingly great' (Gen 18:20), just as here the similar is said: 'And the earth was filled with injustice' (Gen 6:11), and the rest.

See that God is not previously ignorant, but is manifesting the watchful power toward vengeance, just as in 'And God saw the earth, and it was corrupted' (Genesis 6:12). And he calls the corruption the wickedness and the punishment upon it, just as the Scripture often declares in that which was said by Paul: 'If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him' (1 Cor 3:17); for he who, sinning through lawlessness, works the corruption of the temple of God, is found under punishment and is destroyed, the punishment being now signified by the corruption. And it is a corruption also to be delivered over to an unproven mind; for this is the most extreme punishment. And it is not necessary, according to the Manichaeans, to suppose that useless matter remaining in the wandering...

The Nature of Opportunity and the Fullness of Sin§66

66He works the corruption of the earth. For this made men blameless, if the inability to be adorned toward God worked a sorrow; but the hardship of ways is shown through the corruption of the earth, just as it was foretold, of men corrupting the way of God, which had taken hold to prosper toward blessedness. Such are those having heard the words of Jesus and not doing them.

And if it also shows the flesh of man, as is often said, one should observe whether 'all flesh corrupted his way' (Genesis 6:12) shows how each man has strayed from his own opinion. But that flesh is said instead of man is clear from 'I will pour out from my spirit upon all flesh' (Joel 2:28), and 'He will judge all flesh' (Isaiah 66:16). Therefore all those of the generation of Noah, having become earthly and fleshy, each strayed from 'his way' (Genesis 6:12) which he had received; for the way is called to be received of him and to be given to God. Thus they corrupted their own way or the way of God; for both are possible.

And God said to Noah: 'The time of every man comes against me, because the earth was filled with injustice from them' (Genesis 6:13). Many of the written things have a more useful history for the many. For these, living by sensation and glory, do not reach the truly great and profitable things. And let the said thing be upon an example.

Jesus healed a blind man from birth, and Lazarus, having had four days in the tomb, he brought out by command alone, and again the one in the cave, remaining in much decay, he raised. These things were for the sensible fulfillment and were symbolic: the one healing the blind from birth showing the sight of a soul that had never seen, because it had been overturned in sin and ignorance from soft nails, and again the one already pathless and having lost hope, having fallen from the blessed life, was shown symbolically coming back to it through Jesus, and the one seized by decay, then having been saved, testified to the return of a soul falling into insensibility. But these are more wonderful and greater than the healing of bodies, since the essence of the soul is more precious than the body, but which the many do not know. He, therefore, explaining the paradoxes thus to them, makes it more useful, and in the things now set forth of the history...

It also has a more useful benefit for the many. For what does he say? 'The opportunity for every man has come upon the earth' (Genesis 6:13). And Peter also says that by the patience of God the deluge was delayed, so that repentance might be given.

For it has been revealed that the construction of the ark took place in a hundred years, so that seeing men and inquiring about the cause might take the opportunity for repentance. But opportunity here must not be thought of as being called by someone a time-keeper; for not fate holds sway over things, but everything happens by the will of God.

Therefore, it should be understood that 'the opportunity for every man has come upon the earth' means the almost-fullness of the sinning men, by which the bringing on of vengeance must be approached, as it is said: 'For the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet full unto this time' (Gen 15:16), instead of saying 'they have not sinned so much that their repentance be known.' For God does not bring wrath upon every single day, even though sins are being committed; rather, He does this by providing a place for repentance and giving the opportunity to recognize their own sinning; but when thus the things concerning them are completed so that they no longer have opportunity to recognize their sin, the time has come for them to suffer.

And once the mention of the filling up of sin has occurred, this is to be noted: that it is not the same to fill up sins in one man and in a whole nation. For among the many, all sins are found to be present, such as one being unmanageable and another being spared, one being bold and another cowardly, and again one being licentious and another being foolish; but for one man, it is impossible to find these opposing vices in excess and deficiency. For it is possible for all virtues to be in a man, for they follow one another, but the vices are not so, because of the things previously mentioned.

And these things being a digression, let us return to the beginning: 'The opportunity for every man has come.' No one has such sins that they might be forgiven him; and just as an excellent physician, even if it happens at night, sets a time for the sick to receive nourishment according to the state of the disease, so also is the present thing being said. For when men have reached the extremity of sin, through which the deluge is brought, this happens.

Divine Will and the Ark§67

67They act without being recognized. It is not necessary to suppose it is a lie that the time of every man has come, even if eight were saved in the ark; for here the general has been taken instead of 'for the most part'.

If, however, the 'every man' says, 'For where are strife and jealousy among you, are you not men?' (1 Corinthians 3:3), Noah is not subject to this by surpassing the human condition; and thus it is true that the time of every man has come, according to that which is called to sin in this way. Nor is 'against me' added in vain; for no mortal possesses the knowing of the time, by which one might have worthily acted so that the rest might have been made known. For this indeed no mortal truly knows; for if he were knowing the hearts, he would not even have helped by quickly turning back those who had come into sin.

For the only thing belonging to the unexceedable goodness, the goodness of essence which is not diminished, is to see the hidden and to know the time. If even someone of mortals participates in goodness from God by disposition, yet he is ignorant of the impositions of sins and the causes, just as God, knowing all, knows the time of the reprimand, therefore it is said 'against me' and 'because the earth was filled with injustice from them'. It is fitting that this too is said; for punishment does not come upon them because of the sins of others. It is also evident from this that such a death did not come upon them by fate; for since he says 'the earth was filled with injustice from them', the time has come, which would not have been established, unless they were sinning.

Yes, and behold, 'I will destroy them and the earth' (Genesis 6:13). The philanthropy and goodness of God are shown through these by foretelling what is to come, so that by the fear of what is expected, he might restrain the evil, which also happened to the Ninevites upon hearing the prophet Jonah: 'In three days Nineveh shall be overthrown' (Jonah 3:4). Consequently, too, to the righteous man he foretells these things and pre-arranges the making of the ark, putting forward this construction more clearly for the sake of every proclamation toward repentance, and he promises to destroy them and the earth, since it was necessary for this. For there are many reprimands given by God for the sake of the recognition of sins occurring; he wants...

For he says that he wished to gather all men into the knowledge of truth, as a bird gathers its young under its wings, but you did not wish to (Matt 23:37). For necessity does not force the good to become so, nor is it possible; for such a thing is no longer good. But when God, knowing all things, after many admonitions finds those whom he admonishes not obeying, he destroys them, according to what is profitable for his judgment. And the earth is also destroyed—that is, the things in the earth—for this is what 'the earth' signifies appropriately; for the things of men perishing, it was necessary for the things standing through them to pass away also. Just as the birds were left behind through Noah and those with him, and likewise the birds of all other animals were left behind.

Make for yourself an ark of squared timber; you shall make an ark for the sick; and you shall make it secure inside and outside with pitch (Gen 6:14). And so you shall make the ark: three hundred cubits the length of the ark, and fifty cubits the breadth, and thirty cubits its height. You shall make the ark by gathering pieces together, and you shall complete it one cubit by one cubit upward; and you shall make the door of the ark on the side. Make for it two or three decks. And I, behold, I bring the flood upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, in which is the spirit of life under heaven; and whatever is on the earth shall perish (Gen 6:17).

The phrase 'of squared timber' has the greater following, being commanded to make Noah's ark, first so that much time would not be consumed in dividing them, and secondly, which is more truthful, so that being made from whole timbers it might be more secure; for it was going to encounter storms and not a small gale, against which it would not have withstood if it had not been constructed from whole timbers. And 'the sick' is also useful, which are divided places, because of these two things: first, so that the habitation of the animals, which he was going to bring with him, would not be mixed, and second, for the joining of the construction; it is weaker...

The Utility of Divine Words vs. Idle Speech§68

68for it was fifty in width, three hundred in length, and thirty cubits in height, and existed as an unconnected thing. It was well-sealed both outside and inside to prevent water from entering toward nothingness.

And indeed, the fact that the length was greater than the width was good; for in this way it was easy to move, since even the boats are in proportion to this shape. And if someone were to say that it became square underneath, this is not without truth; for it was made not for sailing previously, but for guarding, and for this reason it became so; otherwise it would have been quickly worn down, if it were not square. And it was joined together appropriately, so that the influx of the waters might have a sliding effect and not, as if against rock, throw the waves upward everywhere by its height. And the making of the door on the sides was appropriately arranged.

The dwellings were constructed appropriately so as to endure all the animals being brought in, both those and those for food. And the passage, 'But I, even I, bring a flood upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven; whatever is on the earth shall perish' (Genesis 6:17), is indeed awakening, as previously stated, and shows that both those on the earth and those in the air shall perish; for perhaps the aquatic ones were saved. And 'I establish my covenant with you' (Genesis 6:18). The covenant made by God with Noah does not appear to be an alliance, as Symmachus and Aquila interpreted. Perhaps so that He might not despise the words, the future was revealed to Noah, so that he might be hopeful concerning the things to come and might instruct, and his own generation, as 'God brought these things upon them because of sins; and you are being saved through righteousness' (Genesis 6:13), so that the shame of wickedness might be shown and the attraction of virtue; not as virtue exists as a pleasant wage, but because the diligent one, not being subject to the manner of punishment, does not rest from it. And 'I establish' shows the stability here. If you, your sons, your wife, and the wives of your sons enter into the ark (Genesis 7:7). The Savior in the Gospel said—

Regarding every idle word, men will give an account on the day of judgment; but an idle word is useless and having nothing beneficial. If this is not presented as a burden to men, much more do the divine words not contain such a thing, but everything is brought forth usefully in them, and we have seen this from the things set forth.

When entering the ark, Noah arranged the sons, and to the wife the wives of his sons; and when the time for going out into the earth remained, the flooding having ceased, the saying is noted thus: 'And God said to Noah: You and your wife and your sons and the wives of your sons come out of the ark' (Genesis 8:18). For it was proper, since the corruption of men was about to happen, that the righteous should not be without companions, so as to use the married ones. Therefore he separated the wives of the men, saying: 'Let in you and your sons and your wife and the wives of your sons' (Gen 8:18); but when it was received that the succession was about to be restored again, he gave to Noah the wife, saying: 'Come out, you and your wife and your sons and the wives of your sons' (Gen 8:18).

And that because of custom it was not spoken appropriately, but with observation, it is possible to say, and to believe the Gospel, it having been said by the Savior: 'No one is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other; you cannot serve God and mammon' (Matt 6:24). And it is clear that the love of money is the slavery of mammon, and it is upon every evil. For it is in no way possible to serve both evil and virtue; for the one doing sin is a slave of sin, and everyone who does sin hates the evil things. For those who love God hate the evil things. 'For either he will hate the one and love the other'—for the virtuous one loves God and hates evil—'or he will hold to the one and despise the other,' which is precisely said; for he said 'to hold against' the evil, not 'to love' it. For no one with love toward...

Noah's righteousness and the significance of numbers§69

69He does not act, but having slipped, he holds on; and he is not said to hate God, but to despise Him. Therefore, the dwelling place of the word is this: for the diligent, to be loved by God; for wickedness, to be hated; and again, for wickedness, to hold on to the worthless person, and for God, to be despised by such a person.

For no one is ever said to despise someone of sin or to hate God, even if the worthless ones, having leaned toward wickedness for a moment, are said to hate God according to: 'Lord, did I not hate those whom you hate?' (Psalm 139:21). But the Lord does not do this, but, having slipped, as it was said, he is said to hate. And to despise is the most important of such precision and observation, according to what is said again by the Savior: 'Whoever confesses me before men, I will confess him also' (Matthew 10:32)—not 'in me' he said, 'but I will deny him' (Matthew 10:33). For the one confessing God in Christ does this, but the one denying does not do this in Christ. Therefore, the confession must be in Him.

It has been said that confession is to those who are not such, but only to those saying it with words: 'They profess God, but their works deny Him' (Titus 1:16), and 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me' (Isaiah 29:13). For in the one confessing, the one being confessed is present, and the one confessing is in the one being confessed. But let no one think the same regarding 'I am in the Father and the Father is in me' (John 14:10); for the one signifies union, the other signifies being in the one being confessed, as is shown in 'whoever confesses in me,' where 'I will confess him also' is not changed—for God does not partake of man—but it signifies a judgment from God.

Not of the one confessing. Thus also it has been said concerning the sons of Noah and him and his wife and his sons, but as we have well observed: 'Enter, you and your sons with you' (Gen 7:1). For not he through them, but they through him and the benefit from him were saved. And this is confirmed by what is coming in the next, the saying of God to Noah: 'Because I saw you righteous before me in this generation' (Gen 6:9). For the greatness of his soul is shown by the 'righteous,' since it is not simply testified, but before God.

Regarding verse 19: And from all animals and from all flesh, two by two from all (Genesis 6:19). If someone, aiming at the natures of numbers and knowing that the seven in the Scriptures has many prefigurations remembered, and the two is appropriate to the matter, as was said before, will understand how he arranged the number seven among the clean in the following, but the two among the unclean even now; and he will also seek how, even before the law was given concerning clean and unclean, the two is said, lest someone might argue that to the righteous was fore-seen the scientific arrangement of the law. And he also will provide how one man is so powerful over such animals as to even bring them into the ark; let him hear that it is given to the righteous to fulfill the command through God's cooperation, and nothing is improbable regarding what is said by God and the wild animals. And if even to the foremost of the apostles, Peter, in the vessel like a mirror of all animals, the images were made manifest, what is improbable if God brought together them because a world is to be made again, when he commands the righteous the bringing in of these, so that from them also a succession of generations might come after these things.

Regarding verses 19–20: 'You shall enter into the ark, so that you may nourish with you male...'

God as Provider and the Meaning of House and City§70

70And females; there shall be from the winged ones according to their kind, and from the cattle according to kind, and from all creeping things of the earth according to their kinds... Two by two from all shall come in to you to be fed with you, male and female. And let one note that here 'kind' is used instead of 'species', it being said sometimes 'species' and 'kind'. Gap And you shall take to yourself from all the foods that you eat, and you shall gather to yourself, and there shall be for you and for them to eat.

It is to be supposed for the righteous man not only to think of himself and those with him, but also of the speechless, for he rightly pities the souls of his animals. Regarding 'gathering to yourself', it has a remark that in the places where you live, and other animals do not approach, gather the foods; for if they lay in those places, they were working out their need by greedily attacking the foods.

And Noah did all that the Lord God commanded him, so he did. It is praiseworthy when done with understanding, a reliable one capable of judging rightly says, 'that he did thus as the one who commanded had instructed him'; for this is the virtue of the action. For there was once gap not indeed thus as he was commanded; for gap to the showing of the action gap of the disposition, not the manner which is gap. Every action not occurring with the proper calculation is incomplete, even if the result becomes perfect; and the righteous is testified to as having also done gap.

For this also the Savior instructs, saying, 'Have mercy and you shall be shown mercy' (Luke 6:36), but he intends that mercy should not come through pitying, which is not to be a merchant or to play with the needs of the suffering; for they say, 'Become perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect' (Matthew 5:48); for God is giving of Himself and not receiving from another; so also you, zeal for the giving, just as the blessed Paul also leaves it: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive' (Acts 20:35). For the one receiving does not imitate the...

God is not one who receives anything from anyone, but is the provider of all good things. Thus, the imitator of God gives. As it is written, 'And the Lord God said to Noah: Enter, you and all your household, into the ark, because I have seen you righteous before me in this generation' (Gen 7:1).

In this way it appears that the whole house consisted of only the eight; for they did not bring a healer unless it was to prevent men from being lost or because of the being of such people. Therefore, a house is called here the kinship within the eight, for often such a name is shared by those who are of the same kind, especially regarding the one having been built. The same thing you would find regarding a city.

For it is said in the Gospel, 'And he led him' (meaning Jesus), 'to the brow of the mountain, where their city was built' (Luke 4:29), signifying now the name of the city that was constructed and built; and in 'And when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred' (Matt 21:10), the gathering of the people is signified by the city. And again, in 'Jesus began to upbraid the cities in which most of his powers had come to pass, because they did not repent' (Matthew 11:20), this signifies: for repentance does not happen in non-living things or material things; whereas the name of the house signifies the building in 'This is this house...' [The text is damaged here.].

...the assembly, the gathering, if it is said... the royal, and the jailer, and the house. He says the reason for entering the ark was 'because I saw you righteous before me' (Gen 7:1). He did not say simply 'because I saw you'—for Abel was righteous and Enoch, whose hope was 'to call upon the name of the Lord God' (Genesis 4:26)—but 'because I saw you righteous before me in this generation,' making it clear. It is not merely presented that because of his virtue and his children participating in it they were saved, but, as previously foretold, the generation signifies the likeness, just as we have set forth also in the cases of those who perished. It also signifies the generation of the same manner, to say 'all righteous blood shed upon the earth from the...'

Common Notion and Numerical Symbolism§71

71In the generation of the righteous, so that we might take the righteous with him, he himself was found righteous against the world, not being entirely righteous against God being righteous; for only sons and women were found righteous against Noah. But it is great thus to be the opposite of God to be called righteous, as it is said: 'And the stars are not pure before him' (Job 25:5) and the other lights; but also in the psalms it is said: 'No living thing shall be justified before you' (Psalm 143:2), and again another saying he says: 'All our righteousness was as a garment laid aside' (Isaiah 64:6) from the presence of all the righteous.

From the clean animals he brought into the ark seven male and female, and from the animals not being clean two two male and female, and from the birds of the heaven the clean seven seven male and female, and from the birds not being clean two male and female, to breed seed upon all the earth. Consequently, 'seven seven' (Genesis 7:2) he commands to be brought in from the clean. Since they were for food and for religious services for men, and they themselves who remained in the ark had need, therefore more are taken, so that from them and a greater generation might arise a succession suitable for their needs; but concerning the others, having brought in this many, he commanded 'two' (Genesis 7:2) to be brought in.

And if it is necessary also to bring in natural philosophy by the word, one might say, as before, that since the two are divided, and this is characteristic of matter, the number two is characteristic of the unclean. But also, the two being taken away, the Savior calls 'into one new man' (Ephesians 2:15) the two, both the one from circumcision and the one from the Gentiles, bringing them into the unity of the commonwealth according to the Gospel, which the ancient saints had, there being no difference between Hellenism and Judaism. For from the arts of which there are statues, and with them idolatry, and after them the law, Judaism comes to be. The first of the human commonwealths, which was Christianity, though it did not have this name, according to the common...

A common notion exists, which even the Savior proclaimed: 'Whatever you want that men should do to you, do likewise to them' (Matt 7:12). This lies in the common notion; for whatever one does not want to suffer, he ought not to do to his neighbor. Because of this, it lies in the common notion, so that the man being led by God may be without reproach.

Later, when the notion is perverted, the Scripture is given, not to fight against that, but to lead men into it; for it is said: 'The law was given for help' (Isaiah 8:20). So also the Gospel has been proclaimed in the whole world, so that no one might claim to be unreminded of common notions.

These things, then, are treated as regarding the literal sense; but it must also be said that clean animals are introduced seven times seven. For to say what follows the history, that because they are to be used by men both for sacred rites and for food, they must be more numerous, and also because of the logic of numbers, since it is much remembered in the Scripture: I say, in the seventh day, God ceased (Gen 2:2)... many.

For regarding the unbegotten, those around the week refer to the birth; for this is virgin and without a father and without a husband, so that the said thing may be such. All numbers within ten, being doubled or tripled, except the seven, beget and are begotten, such as one begetting two, and two the four, thus having been begotten by the one, and the four the eight having been begotten by the two; and the five the ten; but the six, whenever it begets, does not beget, and the seven is neither begotten by those who preceded it nor does it beget anyone by itself until ten; but also the two the six and the three the nine, being tripled, beget.

And it has another distinction; for if in a doubling logic you multiply the numbers from the unit up to seven, it becomes at once also a square; for one, two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, having been doubled, becomes sixty-four, which is a square, for eight...

Divine Patience and Human Response§72

72Eighty-six and sixty-four, a cube, for four times four is sixty-four. But also, being tripled up to seven from the unit, the seven hundred twenty-nine is formed, and being both a square and a cube: one, three, nine, twenty-seven, eighty-one, two hundred forty-three, seven hundred twenty-nine, as it has been said, completes both a cube and a square; thus the square: seventy-two times twenty-seven is seven hundred twenty-nine; thus the cube: nine times ninety-nine is seven hundred twenty-nine. The square signifies stability, but the cube signifies something else.

Therefore, what has been spoken concerning the numbers would not be unrepresentative, having been proven by not involving the divine letters in nothing. And to those things spoken, it is appropriate to add that a porthole was appropriately left in the ark, so that, lest another origin arise, a heresy concerning two creators be introduced. For if, even with such security made, the heretics find differences, introducing divinities, how much more would they find plausible arguments for their own evil hypothesis.

For, 'And in seven days I will cause rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy all the living things which I have made upon the face of the earth' (Genesis 7:4, 17). And this is foretold by the philanthropy of God for correction, in order to hear about the destruction that shall be after seven days, just as in the disasters we have set aside the preaching according to Jonah, which also happened through the repentance of the Ninevites, as it occurred. And forty days and forty nights of rain from above and below has happened in this way, so that the mountains were overwhelmed by fifty cubits.

If even the number according to which the destruction occurred has a reason, consider how 'I will destroy all the living things which I have made upon the face of the earth.' Some, having taken the matter of the destruction, thought that a previous world had endured a conflagration according to the Stoics, with the same elements existing in the matter which is unchangeable from this world. But this was sketched...

If in the demonstration of dogmas; for it is not possible for the movements of souls to occur without deviation from what has happened and what is to happen, so as to differ in no way.

Genesis 6:22: 'And Noah did all that the Lord God commanded him.' For all the things the Lord God commanded to be done are a testimony for man, and it is said in those things which preceded. The blessed David was also worthy of such an acceptance, concerning whom God said to find 'David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will' (Acts 13:22).

Genesis 6:3: 'And Noah was five hundred years old, and the flood of water came upon the earth.'... regarding the goodness of God, how in a hundred percent of years he allowed the ark to be made; for this is evident from the five hundred years from when Noah began to... it became wise toward the assembling of all things, so that seeing the strangeness of the construction, men might hear, learn the reason, and cease from wickedness. If they had heard and repented, the flood would not have come.

That this happened for the sake of long-suffering and to call men to repentance, Peter, the spokesman of the apostles, in the epistle concerning him, marks out concerning the Savior: 'In which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who indeed in the days of Noah, while the ark was being constructed, were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God was waiting' (1 Peter 3:19). And from this let us observe that he said many sins occur 'upon the earth' (Genesis 6:5); but God does not bring the flood... for some reason of long-suffering, he makes this a place of repentance, giving it. So also, after a transgression, he gave a law that forbids, and after admonitions, he brings reproofs, not casting them away. And in the... you will find this.

Israel, being part of the Lord and a son of God, transgressed his commands, even though God was doing all things for him. For what does he say in Isaiah? 'A horn was raised up for the beloved in a horn in a place of drinking' (Isaiah 5:1), where 'horn' refers to the kingship, and 'place of drinking' signifies the instruction through law and prophets. 'And...'

The Ark and the Flood§73

73He planted a vine, which is the chosen one; for he planted the people to be a kingdom and a chosen priesthood. He built a tower to provide refuge for the approaching enemies (Isa 5:2); the tower is a teaching tool, guarding and at the same time mocking the enemy's onset. Having built, he hears: 'If a spirit of the prevailing one ascends upon you, do not leave your place' (Ecclesiastes 10:4). He also made a hedge and placed a fence around it, which signifies the safety from the angels. And despite all these things having happened, he remained in the same fruitlessness; therefore he says: 'What more shall I do to my vine when I have done nothing for it?' (Isa 5:4).

I have done all things without fail; therefore, since they themselves do not have the power to say what must happen, I will say, 'I will announce to you what I shall do to my vine' (Isa 5:5-6); I will take away what I gave it, 'I will pull down its wall and it shall be a pavement, and I will take away the fence and it shall be a plunder' (Isa 5:5-6). For it is useful to provide this help, which they received from the angels, to those who are useless, so that seeing what evils they are, they may desire to turn back; therefore he also rebukes, saying: 'And I will command the clouds not to rain upon it' (Isa 5:6), which signify the prophets and the messengers of the spiritual rain, concerning which it was said: 'The clouds rained down righteousness' (Isaiah 45:8).

For with this rain, instead of grapes, he would have had to bear thorns; therefore the ruin of Israel has become such a loss by not receiving it. Thus it was; the deluge was brought upon them, with no one among the men desiring to be benefited by their own inclination. There will be a total destruction of the virtue that stands as a whole, just as the Savior says: 'Will the Son of Man, when he comes, find faith upon the earth?' (Luke 18:8). And Noah entered, and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons with...

He entered into the ark because of the water of the flood. And from the winged ones and from the livestock the clean and from the livestock the not clean and from all the creeping things of the earth, two by two, they entered toward Noah into the ark, male and female, according to what God commanded him (Genesis 7:8). It is evident that, since certain signs of the flood existed and were made manifest to Noah, such as the moisture of the earth or the similarities, Noah entered into the ark, not after much time had passed.

And the things concerning the sons after Noah and the wives of the sons having entered, having been observed previously, have been said: for it was not fitting, such a punishment coming upon all, for them to perform the things of weddings; therefore, in order to have leisure from these, he divided the pairs, giving them out at the exit from the ark. And generally also he says that the animals had entered, having mentioned the clean ones first because of their preciousness; and the things previously mentioned—when Noah was being arranged toward God to bring in from the animals into the ark, and you cast them in here, so that we may not always say the same things.

And it happened after the seven days, and the water of the flood became upon the earth in the six hundredth year in the life of Noah, of the second month, the seventh and twentieth of the month (Genesis 7:11). Some observed because the flood happened in such a number, saying that, since for the perfection of a work gaps they emerged, because of this, it was remembered, a perfect inundation occurring, which for the salvation of the world came to be. For the removing of the sinners from the earth and the taking of the human race at the beginning to live with virtue is perfect; and just as it is of an excellent physician not only to excise a corruption having happened in bodies, but also to grow the flesh instead of the corruptions that remained, so is the work of God.

The Significance of the Forty Days§74

The Fifteen Cubits and the Destruction of All Life§75

75The animals entered the ark not in a confused mass, so that the ark would not be damaged by the sudden rushing of the waters through their joining together. The entry occurred in order, first Noah, through whom the others were saved, and then the others following him; thus the animals entered, which should be noted as having happened by divine power, for the numbering and bringing in was not by human endeavor, but had become a cooperation with God. Also, 'according to kind' is well-stated; for it was not possible for them to have the same sustenance, being divided by their natures. And he added 'in which is the spirit of life' for contrast with the dead. If anyone were to note how, then, the pure were not mentioned but the impure: 'two two' they say 'entered into the ark' (Gen 7:9), and it is clear that these were the impure; to which someone says that it is evident that, since the impure entered and the pure also entered, if the lesser entered, it is clear that the greater also entered. Furthermore, the 'two' could also be taken to refer to the pure, the word indicating that all entered in pairs.

And the Lord God closed the ark from the outside, and the deluge happened for forty days and forty nights upon the earth, and the water multiplied and lifted up the ark, and it was raised from the earth, and the water prevailed and multiplied greatly upon the earth, and the ark was carried upon the water (Gen 7:17-20). And following this history, the ark is closed 'from the outside' by the power of God, with no man being outside. Since he succeeded in making it secure both inside and outside, and since it was not possible to secure it from the outside if the door had not been closed, so as not to say that entry was made for the water through the door, he added the security from God; and this is both varied and convenient. And 'lifted up the ark' is also well-stated, uniformly and not suddenly, just as we previously set forth the reason. And the water prevailed greatly, greatly upon the earth and covered all the high mountains which were under the heaven; the water was raised fifteen cubits above. The commentators excessively...

They say men are called to ascend to the high mountains. And indeed he signaled as fifteen cubits the water rose above the high mountains, from which it is clear, as that has been rightly said, especially since it also happens contrary to the will of God; for to Noah, on account of righteousness, God commanded to construct an ark, saying that he would destroy all flesh, so that no one was saved outside of the ark (Gen 6:17).

And concerning the rising of the water above fifteen cubits, if anyone wishes to be expert in the number, he will see that it is taken from many places in the Scripture: the steps of the temple were fifteen, and the word commands to give a portion to the seven and also to the eight, meaning this: that those approaching provide the old covenant along with the new part to the seven and to the eight. One might perhaps say that those who became contemptuous of the mystery signified by the number had become ripe for the wickedness of the flood.

For it is signaled again in the Scriptures by the multitude of the water, as in: 'What do you think against the Lord? A completion...' (Nahum 1:9). For if anyone thought that the fluid things of life, instead of being taken as a flood when they multiply, with the failing of the love of many, would be a completion, he would understand it properly in the word.

And all flesh moved upon the earth, the winged, and the cattle, and the beasts; and every creeping thing moving upon the earth, and every man, and all things that have the breath of life, and everyone who was upon the dry land died (Gen 7:21-23). And everything that stands upright, which was upon the face of all the earth, from man even to cattle and creeping things and the winged of the heaven, was wiped out; and they were wiped out from the earth.

The spoken word is manifest; for it declares the destruction of all living things except those in the ark; but for those reasoning, it implies that even the irrational perished because of having become subject to necessity. Furthermore, everyone perished by the punishing water, the one losing life according to the 'image' and having the image of the swine, as if beasts, creeping things, and other irrational ones were split into different natures, as some hear: 'offspring of hedgehogs,' and others snakes and scorpions, and others...

The Ark as the Church§76

76Dogs, according to what was said: 'Watch out for the dogs'; and having fully received the craftiness of wickedness, they were dissolved in a manner fitting the destruction caused by wickedness, this being a symbolic indication of the water. These themselves are also earthly, as having lost the heavenly image; and they themselves perished 'upon the dry land,' of a wickedness possessing nothing life-giving (Genesis 7:22).

And Noah alone was left remaining, and those with him in the ark, and the water rose upon the earth for one hundred and fifty days. Fittingly Noah is saved without participating in wickedness, along with those who were with him and being instructed by him, having risen above the weight of the water understood allegorically by fifteen cubits, reaching the temple through the steps, and having fulfilled the things foretold through the number: for 'water' 'will not be able to much extinguish love' (Song of Solomon 8:7).

And God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock and all the winged creatures, as many as were with him inside the ark. And God brought a wind upon the earth, and the water subsided; and the fountains of the abyss were covered and the cataracts of the heaven, and the rain was restrained from the heaven. And the water was receding as it went from the earth, the water was receding and retreating after fifty and one hundred days.

And the 'remembered' is to be heard in a God-befitting way, not as from forgetfulness, but just as he says concerning the ungodly: 'I do not know where you are from; depart, workers of iniquity; never did I know you' (Matthew 7:23), the 'never' here indicating knowledge, 'never as having had you as our own'; 'remembered' is not having been overlooked—for the holy is before God always—but rather to make the memory of him a beginning of a race to lead him to the beginning, and similarly for the others. Some seek where the water of the deluge has retreated, through the coming of a wind, by which the water was subsided, whether this be the will of God or a divine power being at work; and in addition to this, it became a co-worker for the subsiding of the abysses and the upper downpour being hindered (Genesis 8:1-2).

And the ark rested in the seventh month, and the following. The spoken is manifest; let us look at the thing toward understanding.

Yes, the ark is the church saving those who are clinging to it through prudence and works of virtue, which also sits in highness. For it never becomes in lowliness, therefore nor do the gates of Hades prevail against it; it stands before Christ glorious, having neither wrinkle nor line or anything of that kind, since even Christ is in highness, which is shown in 'Behold, this one comes leaping upon the mountains' (Song of Solomon 2:8), the prophets and Moses and the invisible powers. It sits, therefore, upon the rock, by the word of the cleavage of piety. For 'the foundations' (Psalm 87:1) of God are 'in the holy mountains' (Psalm 87:1), which also are the city of God; for 'God' (Psalm 48:8) 'established it for all eternity' (Psalm 48:8). 'For they received' (Hebrews 11:10) it says 'the city having the foundations' (Hebrews 11:10), of which God is the craftsman and creator. Let the mountains also have driven away 1380 sheep that did not fall by the plan. And if anyone through the number wishes to speak technically, he might say that the stability of the divine church is shown through it; for this is square, and the same is also a cube; for three times three is twenty-seven. And 'Arariad' is interpreted as a testimony of descent; but God testifies to that which is upon the church through a descending polity, which is unseasonable; for it has been said: 'If you pass through water, rivers shall not overwhelm you' (Isaiah 43:2), and again: 'We passed through fire and water, and you brought us out to refreshment' (Isaiah 43:2). And it is also good that the deluge be fulfilled in a year; for when the true sun shines and illuminates our intellect, then every disturbance of the soul shall be driven away.

[Uncertain/Broken Greek] And Noah opened the door of the ark, and the following. And here the spoken word is not obscure; but if, looking toward edification, you investigate the things concerning opening, that the knowledge of 196 seasons is necessary for the righteous and is for his own benefit and for the benefit of others. For there is a time when it is proper to close and a time when it is proper to open; thus, after the Savior opened, it was said to those regarding Cleopas: 'Did not our heart burn within us when he opened to us the Scriptures?' (Luke 24:32) but also you will observe the 'Open to me the gates of righteousness' (Psalm 118:19) if it coincides with the spoken word, and the thing protected in Isaiah, 'Open, you princes' (Isaiah 13:2), from the same sequence; and the...

The Raven and the Dove§77

The Dove's Return to the Beloved§78

The Ark and the Transition from Trial§79

79He who has departed above through goodness sees evil having reached its end, having passed through the covering that comes from trials and having happened above these things. And the ceasing at the seventh and tenth signifies stability; for the number is square and a cube. Genesis 8:15-16. And the Lord God said: 'Go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and the wives of your sons,' and the following. We noted before that at the beginning of the flood it was said harmoniously, 'Enter into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and the wives of your sons with you' (Gen 7:7), but now, 'Go out from the ark, you and your wife and your sons and the wives of your sons.'

For it was necessary then, while all men were perishing, in a certain way not to let them be occupied with those following marriages, but now he is commanded to go out familiarly with his wife and the sons with their own; for it was going to be the beginning of... to become. And appropriately, while he himself hears the command to go out, he stands as advocate for leading out the animals, as their king and master having been appointed by God. And the saying is observed that 'all' went out,

Noah's Altar and the Sacrifice§80

80No one being harmed. And Noah built an altar. Even if he did indeed act in concert with something for salvation, having constructed the ark and having safely sealed it and having done the other things, he did not set it upon himself; rather, as one giving thanks, he builds an altar.

And previously we said properly that he brought more fittingly clean animals into the ark than unspecified animals; for it was intended to perform sacred rites from them. And even if it was not commanded by law to perform sacred rites, but being righteous—just as Abel from the beginning did and had and was receiving from God (Gen 4:4)—he considered it just to receive from the Giver thankfully.

And the 'from all' must be heard as him having presented to the altar with prudence. For there are three things brought up for sacrifice: among the animals of the livestock, a calf, a sheep, and of these missing text, and a dove. These therefore are the 'all'.

And it is possible to find this from the Scriptures, that, regarding what is said in the general, it is proper to take it according to what follows; for the 'And all flesh shall see the salvation of God' (Isaiah 40:5) must not simply be understood as all, but the livestock are clean except for the living thing, which is the human nature. This was previously spoken because of those things said in the law.

The Earthly Nature of Sin and the Call to the Heavenly§81

81And the Lord said to Abram: 'Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house into the land which I will show you; and I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will magnify your name, and you shall be blessed, and I will bless those blessing you, and those cursing you I will curse; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you' (Gen 12:1-3).

Not as a total exclusion does God command Abraham to depart from his land and his kindred, but seeing in him something worthy to be remaining arranged under his guardianship, which was the faith in him; for the one having faith in God was not bound to remain with the foolish, since his father was an idolater. For often the company of the evil harms the diligent, and especially when they are fresh. Because of this also the Savior preaches: 'If anyone wants to come after me and does not hate his father and his brothers and sisters and also his wife and children, he cannot be my disciple' (Luke 14:26).

It was not hatred of the kin being worked by this that the Lord said, but if something of these things became an obstacle toward virtue, it is to be hated for the sake of virtue, which the disciples, having done, said: 'Behold, we have left all and have followed you' (Matt 19:27).

This therefore also now is commanded to the patriarch, God promising to show him a land so that he may live there, to make him into a great nation, and to bless him and to magnify his name and to show him blessed, so that those blessing him find blessing from him, and those cursing him receive a curse from him. And in addition to these, it is promised to him that all the families of the earth shall be blessed in him, which are not all human, as we are entering from the lifting up, beginning from those above. For the devil is the father of every sinner according to the...

It has been said: 'Everyone who does sin is of the devil' (1 John 3:8). For just as he who does the will of God becomes his offspring—for he says, 'Everyone who does righteousness is born of God' (1 John 2:29)—so 'the one doing sin is of the devil' (1 John 3:8) and of his father. And there is also a kinship through the composition of this father.

Therefore, God exhorts him to explain this, calling it earth, for it is nothing heavenly but all earthly in the opposing devil, so that, casting off the image of the swine, he might take up the image of the heavenly. Such a thing is brought forth in a psalm regarding the Church from among the Gentiles, saying: 'Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house, for the king of your beauty has desired you, and he is your Lord' (Psalm 45:10).

For already, having existed, the word, with a prophetic eye, was awakening the daughter to move away from idolatry, exhorting her to hear and to see, having a pure heart both to hear and to see the Word of God; and for this purpose also to incline the ear, so that from these she might forget 'your people' (Psalm 45:10) of the household 'and your father' (Psalm 45:10) so as to renounce him, adding also the reason, which we also agreed exists in the patriarch: the beauty of the soul; for nothing beautifies the soul like virtue. It is therefore necessary to forget all earthly things, which are divided into the things previously mentioned.

And he says to the earnest one that he has come to an earth which, if God shows it to him, is not visible, even though he followed this also for the sake of a symbol, but is invisible; 'for hope that is seen is not hope' (Romans 8:24). And what is it that he will do 'into a great nation' (Genesis 12:2) after taking it according to the spoken word? For it is clear that this also existed according to history. And it is great in reality to become a nation when one is adorned by virtues. It is evident that, progressing more...

The Motive and Manner of Abraham's Obedience§82

Spiritual Ascent and the Meaning of Sychar§83

83"My beginning" is interpreted opportunistically; for the wise man is with wisdom, either being led by her or having the rule from her, and having her as a spouse according to the Song of Solomon: "I brought her into my life to live with me" (Song of Solomon 1:2, 1:4), making wisdom clear, "and I became a lover of her beauty" (Wisdom 8:2); and she also bears prudence to a man.

This also leads on Lot the brother, concerning whom we would understand thus: Abram is a son of God through righteousness, for "everyone who does righteousness is born of God" (1 John 2:29), and because of this he is a participant in the mysteries of the divine, the invisible, and the superlative; and such a one has a brother who wisely transforms the sensible. For such a thing contributes to the perfect one; and Lot is his son, interpreted as "a turning away, having been liberated"; for since he is not a son of the wise but of one possessing the sensible, he is a turning away, being slightly shaken from the sensible, but since he is under the holy one and follows him, he exists as having been liberated, receiving this beginning of the divine and superlative understanding.

This indeed, Abram was leading both in man and in manner, wisely receiving the sensible things as well; for it is beautiful even for a turning away to flow toward the beautiful and be shaken from the opposites; such also is a prayer sent up, saying by the Psalmist: "Let the whole earth be shaken from before his face" (Psalm 96:9); for this happening, the earth no longer remains earth, because the Face has seized those upon the earth to become heavenly. Of the same thought is also "He who sits upon the cherubim, let the earth be shaken" (Psalm 99:1), so that a change may occur around him.

Thus also those with him, the patriarch, went out, changing toward the better; for they came into Canaan, which is interpreted as "prepared"; for it is proper for the one now being brought in to have begun to leave the sensible things to be turned toward the reception of more divine things. "And Abram traveled through the land as far as the place of Shechem, at the high oak; and the Canaanites were living in the land then" (Genesis 12:6). The word introduces that, having been moved as a newcomer into this land, he necessarily understands its form by traveling its length, and likely its breadth as well, learning its territory; for the saying "as far as the place of Shechem" signifies...

And that the Canaanites dwelt upon the land. Necessarily, therefore, one must move toward the ascent. The holy one, having been transferred from the sensible things, which he also rightly divides, toward a more divine progress, and having passed on, perceived the length, which they say provides as it were the height, and he perceived the height of the divine things. This very thing also the blessed Paul says: 'what breadth and length and depth to know the surpassing grace of God' (Ephesians 3:18). All these things, therefore, he perceived from the greater thing and is testifying concerning the others.

And he comes 'as far as the place of Sychar' (John 4:5), where the spring happened to be, upon which Jesus sat down having labored, because he had a body conformed to our flesh, which it is probable they suggest is because of the greater and theological occupation, which is indicated by the length; he came also to the discourse concerning the incarnation according to that which was said by Jesus: 'Abraham desired to see my day, and he saw and rejoiced' (John 8:56). And he comes to Sychar, being worthy of being interpreted as a 'shoulder' through the diverse actions of all these things; for the shoulder, from which the 'shoulder' support comes, is a symbol of work, as it has been said: 'Give your heart unto your shoulders' (Proverbs 4:23), and concerning one of the patriarchs: 'He set his shoulder to toil' (Genesis 49:15).

So also it is said concerning the man whom the Savior took up: 'His beginning was upon his shoulder' (Isaiah 9:6); having worked, he had the beginning, but the work was not from evil unto virtue—for 'sin he did not do' (1 Peter 2:22)—but the guarding of perfection; so also regarding the man who was king, having the eternal, innate, and essential kingdom of the God Word, not by work or by toil. And he comes 'to the high oak,' and since many of the trees and plants signify something intelligible, as those saying in Isaiah: 'In joy you shall go forth and in gladness you shall be taught; for the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you in joy, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands' (Isaiah 55:13), which signifies nothing sensible, but the exodus of the blessed, who do not depart with weeping, but with joy.

Someone says, 'What a vain thing is this: If death is so bitter' (1 Samuel 15:32), but concerning Abraham it is said that he fell asleep and was joined to his fathers, 'having been nourished in...

Two modes of seeing§84

84Therefore, when the righteous depart from life, the mountains and the hills, the angels and the righteous ones, will receive them with joy, rejoicing because of the one sheep. Along with this, even all the woods of the field will strike rejoicing, which are the intelligible things in paradise.

Then he says: 'Instead of a stack, a cypress shall rise up' (Isaiah 55:13), instead of being fruitless and thorny, useful and fragrant—for this is what the one repenting becomes—'and instead of boxwood, myrtle shall rise up' (Isaiah 55:13), changing from a foul odor to a fragrance. Since we have trees taken up intellectually, it is necessary also to contemplate the oak, to which Abraham comes, upon which sitting he was worthy of a vision when he also received the promise concerning Isaac. Through works and labors, advancing toward the heights, one is presented with the participation in the fragrance and the contemplation of the high and divine notions.

You shall also observe what was signaled, that 'the Canaanites still dwelt in the land' (Genesis 12:6), lest we might think that to the one advancing everything is immediately set free, but he still has some of the old habit—for this is what 'still' signifies—which might be understood concerning those following the saint who have not yet attained perfection.

And the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him: 'To your seed I will give this land' (Gen 28:13). And Abraham built there an altar to the Lord who appeared to him. Accordingly, to the one who has obeyed the commands given by God Himself, He appears, making the good hope of those expecting Him more certain; for He also promises to give the land to his seed. Accordingly also the saint, being thankful, builds an altar to the one who proposed the promise. And let these things be spoken in a manner of interpretation.

It is worthy to contemplate regarding 'God appeared to Abraham,' for the invisible God, as is demonstrated in the Gospel, it being said 'No one has seen God ever' (John 1:18), and 'Not that anyone has seen the Father' (John 6:46), but also Paul saying concerning God: 'Whom no man of men has seen nor is able to see' (1 Tim 6:16), which signifies that which is invisible by nature. For some of the visible things we do not see, but we are able to see, even if this does not follow; such is the nature of the visible things. But the invisible is not such that it cannot be seen...

Not something, but because of being invisible, it is not seen. It is therefore clear that seeing is twofold: one according to sense, the other according to intellect; the one is perceptive of visible things, the other of invisible things, which is a pure mind, through which God appeared to Abraham (Genesis 12:7). The word also has another observation. For it has not been said, 'Abraham saw God,' but 'God appeared to Abraham' (Gen 15:1). Since we are toward created nature and its weakness, the thing is not possible; but as toward the philanthropy of God, it becomes possible, through His goodness granting Himself to His own comprehension.

And if ever 'saw' is placed instead of 'appeared' as in Isaiah (Isa 6:1): 'I saw the Lord sitting,' and the following, let us be instructed from what happened to Abraham: that, God granting Himself, this happens. That seeing is sometimes also applied to the intellect, as Paul writing to the Romans says: 'For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are perceived in the works, being clearly seen' (Rom 1:20). And Moses, regarding God, of whom he had a concept, that He is invisible, was saying: 'Show me yourself; that I may know you clearly' (Exodus 33:13), and again: 'For He appears to those who do not believe in Him' (Wisdom 1:2); for if the thing seen were of a visible nature and it were possible to appear to the unbelieving, now it is said: 'He appears to those who do not believe in Him' (Wisdom 1:2), having had the intellect illumined by divine light. Again the matter applies to the sensible things: for first we see them, then, of the type coming from the sense into the intellect, we perceive them; and the intelligible things provide themselves for being known, not by the intellect preceding beforehand, if not only by turning itself toward comprehension, but also by following that which appeared. And sometimes the thought about God happens also from the comprehension of the creation, according to 'For from the beauty of the things, analogously, the Creator of them is perceived' and just as God appeared to Abraham. For the name 'God' is joined to creation as in 'In the beginning God made the heaven' (Gen 1:1), and: 'God said, Let there be light' (Gen 1:3), the appellation of 'Lord' being spoken then when the law was provided. Thus, having beheld through the all-harmonious order of the all...

Seed vs Child and Abraham's Altar§85

85God turned away from the wandering error he had learned from his father, and then revealed himself to the holy one for understanding, following the instruction from hearing, which occurred in the command, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred' (Gen 12:1). But the hearing of the soul should be considered the persuasive assent of those being brought under, and the eye the result of progress and the most certain grasp of the instructions. For it is to be understood that to know the same things differently is more introductory, progressing, and having progressed closely in the understanding of God.

It is also promised to the seed that he will give the land, that land about which the Savior said, 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth' (Matt 5:5), and in the Psalms, 'Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land' (Ps 37:35), and it is clear that not this land which we plow and sow—of which he was king—but the heavenly one, which is the most perfect knowledge of God; this 'the righteous shall inherit and dwell upon it for an age of ages' (Psalm 37:29), but it shall not be upon the sensible land. This, therefore, God promises to give to the seed of the holy one, and 'seed' in this place he calls the child. For a difference is often found between seed and child; for if someone has become a child of someone, to him he has also become seed, but not, because it is seed, does a child become; for it happens not to be formed or to be completed or to be made like, as the Scripture says. Just as in bodily things there is seed not becoming a child, and a child being and seed, so also in the things according to soul and intellect. The Savior therefore says to those saying, 'We have Abraham as father' (John 8:39): 'If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham' (John 8:39); for from these one becomes a child. These whom he said are not children of Abraham, he says are his seed, claiming: 'I know that seed...'

You are the seed of Abraham, so it is clear that it is not both seed and child, but rather they have received seed according to the succession from Abraham and have borne fruit from his nourishment, but they did not imitate his practice, though it was possible for them, using the appropriate means, to become children. Therefore here, since a promise is given to the seed, we take the seed to mean child. In the Psalms, indeed, it is said: 'The seed of Abraham are his servants, the sons of Jacob his chosen ones' (Psalm 105:6). But as for that which is sometimes declared as not both seed and child, Paul writes: 'not all are children' (Rom 9:7); for not all those of Israel are Israel (Rom 9:6), but rather that one about whom the Savior said: 'Behold a man Israelite in whom there is no deceit' (John 1:47); but not these about whom it has been said: 'See Israel according to the flesh' (1 Corinthians 10:18). These things are regarding the difference between seed and child; let us return to what was explicitly set forth.

Abraham, therefore, builds an altar, moving in a thankful manner, spiritually offering sacrifices, even though he was making the symbol regarding those about whom it has been said: 'offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God' (1 Peter 2:5), and 'sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise' (Heb 13:15), and 'sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness and hope in the Lord' (Psalm 4:5). 'It is necessary, indeed, that the patterns in the heavens be purified by these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves are superior to these sacrifices' (Heb 9:23). Such an altar is built by the one making progress and having followed the one who called him, having become as a remnant outside the land and the kindred and the house of the father, as to be worthy to see God, him having made him worthy to appear to the saint. Genesis 12:8. And he departed from there to the mountain toward the east of Bethel, and he set up his tent there, toward the sea, and the Annaites toward the south. What the explicit word signifies is not unclear; but for instruction, it signifies that he crossed over to a higher progress and state. It is signified through the mountain, and not simply 'into...

The Mountain and the Dwelling of God§86

86Not a mountain, but the house of God; for this is interpreted as Bethel, which is not only a house but also with other things according to what was said in Aisma: 'My brother is like a deer or a young hart upon the mountains of Bethel' (Song of Solomon 2:17). For many mountains and hills are in the house of God, as from 'Behold, this one comes leaping upon the mountains, fleeing upon the hills' (Song of Solomon 2:8); and with each progress there is to ascend to a hill, and from the hill to a mountain, and from lower mountains to higher ones; for this is known both in the introductions of virtues and in the virtues themselves.

But there is one mountain above all, the Savior and Lord of us, concerning whom it is said: 'The mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest at the latter end of the days' (Isaiah 2:2), which is another thing compared to the other mountains, so as to speak for the sake of the holy teaching, so that no one might misunderstand: 'Why do you suppose it is fortified mountains?' Then, teaching the most excellent mountain, he says: 'The mountain of God, a fertile mountain, a fortified mountain, a fertile mountain. Why do you suppose it is fortified mountains, the mountain in which God was pleased to dwell?' which signifies the Lord having become man. For the incarnation is shown through this word, just as also with Job: 'Did you not care for me like milk, and did you not curdle me like cheese?' (Job 10:10). For the Savior alone comes from a virgin; therefore it is said. Is this said concerning others? For no one else had such a constitution. Therefore Job did not say 'I was curdled,' but 'You curdled me like cheese'; for what the Spirit has done, the casting of the seed in others works by the command of God. And the same 'fertile' exists from the presence of the Spirit and from the power of the Most High.

And in the common sense, all and even the temple of the Savior are by creation from God, but the Savior is exceptional through the Lord; for He has used it as an instrument toward the incarnation. And just as all the earth of God is a creation, but the temple had it exceptional because of the God being honored there, so also regarding the things previously mentioned. And since, wherever God honors, that place is called His house, Jacob testifies saying: 'How fearful is this place! This is nothing else but the house of God, and this is a gate of heaven' (Gen 28:17). Therefore one must not pay attention, if he says...

Many will call themselves Christs according to what is said: 'Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ' (Matthew 24:5). For there is a mountain in which God pleased to dwell; for the pleasure of the dwelling was not made by any man. Therefore, Abram, advancing through the intellect, burns toward this mountain.

Indeed, coming without neglect, he testified to him, saying: 'Your father Abraham rejoiced in order to see my day, and he saw and rejoiced' (John 8:56), having been enlightened by the true light being presented to him from the preceding advancements. And it is also good to say that this mountain is 'toward the east'; for it has lights from every side. Whatever conception of this mountain you take, it is luminous; for it is called wisdom, word, life, truth, justice, sanctification, and redemption. All these things, while rising, are lights—not many lights according to their essence, for they have one underlying subject, the Son of God—but diverse according to their energies.

Therefore, 'toward the east' of the house of God, which shines through all, the holy man came, being led by virtues; and it is also possible to call the various doctrines of piety 'eastings,' through which Abraham had arrived at the tent, which he used for the advancements—for this tent signifies the house of God being permanent; for 'I will pass through a place of wondrous habitation until the house of God' (Psalm 42:4). Having passed through the tent, he presses into the house that remains forever, with which there is no other ascent. This is also said in another psalm: 'How beloved are your habitations, Lord of powers! My soul longs and even faints for the courts of the Lord' (Psalm 84:2).

For he who has not yet reached the courts, while in the tents, has love advancing and expects completion in saying: 'My heart and my flesh shall rejoice in a living God' (Psalm 84:2), when it occurs in that establishment, with which there is no other, into which those who have reached are called blessed, the psalmist saying: 'Blessed are all those dwelling in your house' (Psalm 84:4), not as sojourners but as dwellers; for this belongs to those in tents and advancements, but to dwell is to come into the house of God, in which they are blessed, as it were 'unto the ages of ages,' praising him.

The Altar of Virtue and Calling upon the Lord§87

87Above all things the end is evident: that for which the tent has been pitched, having advanced through progress and remaining toward perfection, and for which the one persuaded by the word, despite being dissuaded, will arrive: 'Watch your foot, lest when you go into the house of God and draw near, you hear' (Ecclesiastes 5:1). For thus he will be able to dwell in the house, saying, 'That I may dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days' (Ps 27:4). It must be known that through these things the divine citizenship is symbolically shown, even if the persona of Abraham is not yet fully completed, for he has not yet been called away.

And he pitches the tent 'by the sea,' being firm and unshakeable because of holding fast to virtue perfectly, so as to say: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution?' (Rom 8:35) and the following, regarding which he says 'sea,' would not be sins. For whenever a saint is, even in perfection, he has a dizziness pressing upon him and the instability of created nature, which the perfect man, as a charioteer, prevents from the activity of evil by remaining in its power, which is blessed; for this is good even while existing in virtue, since even the evil man exists in the power of virtue, having turned to this by his own intention, though he did not guard himself as one who has become good.

And he himself also pitches the tent 'in winds from the south' in a way suitable to reaching the mountain of the house of God and being illuminated through all things from the east, which are the virtues according to their kind, and making no care for any of the opposing things—for even the waves from the sea do not overturn his well-established structure—which transforms the words of Jesus into works by becoming a feast; for this is interpreted as 'winds.' For the great feast is the perfection of virtue. For this is also what the psalmist says: 'Hear the voice of rejoicing and confession of those celebrating' (Psalm 42:4); for he who rejoices at the presence of the Spirit and confesses, not as one sinning and repenting, but as one giving thanks, celebrates—for the name of confession lies in place of thanksgiving, as in 'We confess to You, O Lord Father of the heavens...'

For they say, 'the thought of a man' Eccl 2:2, which makes it clear that of the one rejoicing, 'he shall confess to you and a treasure of thought shall celebrate for you.' And he built there an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Appropriately, the one who crossed over and upon the given mountain built the house of God; and having been illumined by the rising suns and having struck down the opposing things in such a way that no one would stir up indignation, he raised up an altar, upon which he completes the sacrifice of pleasingness and righteousness according to what was said before concerning the spiritual sacrifice, which is the system of virtues. 'And he called upon the name of the Lord,' which someone taking hastily might say means that the altar, which he built, he named 'of the Lord'; but it is possible to say it more mystically and more sublimely, that he called upon the name of the Lord not by a mere word, but truly, the mind making its petition to God, not performing the virtues through something else, but through the good itself. For according to this understanding, even the Savior, while teaching, instructed to pray and to say, 'Our Father,' not to do this by mere utterance, but so that they might present themselves as sons and no longer call upon God the Father in vain; thus we hear: 'No one says Lord Jesus except in the Holy Spirit' 1 Cor 12:3, and this does not apply to those who say this by mere utterance and in vain.

Therefore, Abraham was doing the building of the altar of virtues for the Lord, through it and not through something else. And Abram took it and having gone, he campaigned in the wilderness. Since the spoken word is not manifest, it must be spoken toward the understanding. For even if someone is perfect, he is not released from those who fight, even if he is a child, just as to the Corinthians, to whom Paul writes: 'You have not received a temptation which is not human; but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will make the way of the escape to endure' 1 Cor 10:13. And to the Ephesians, as if already perfect, he writes and counts himself: 'For our struggle is not against blood and flesh' Eph 6:12; he does not say 'not...

The Famine and the Sojourning of Abraham§88

88It has happened, but it is not our battle. For it once happened, when he set himself to be a fleshly thing having been brought under sin, signifying those in such a state, to whom it is also necessary to say as he himself writes: 'I beat my body and make it my slave, lest after preaching to others I myself become disqualified' (1 Cor 9:27). He fights with heavenly weapons against spiritual forces.

It is therefore perfect to fight just as Abraham stood at the house of God according to what was assigned, and by becoming like that himself, as it has been said: 'Those who have trusted in the Lord are like Mount Zion' (Ps 125:1). Having become thus, standing knowing that the opposing forces would not release him, he encamped, just as Jacob, when he was about to encounter Esau, a great war being present and envying him, 'saw the camp of God' (Gen 32:2); for it was necessary for God to be preparing for the athlete's courage to show him that he has allies.

And Elisha, when he was about to go out from the king of Syria, had a divine camp around himself, which the little boy of the prophet had been terrified by, later having become courageous from his eyes being opened. And likewise it is to have encamped 'in the wilderness.' So also the Savior is tested in the wilderness; and in Isaiah you have: 'As a storm through a wilderness, coming out of the wilderness from the earth' (Isaiah 21:1), which signifies a trial.

Therefore Abraham encamped 'in the wilderness'; for mostly the trials happened outside of cities because they were found without help from similar men: 'For brother helped by brother is like a strong city' (Prov 18:19). And the Savior, as foretold, is tested in the wilderness, so that what is called such may be: a soul in trial sees itself as a wilderness without allies, God does this providentially; for if he had pre-revealed to them the outcome and that they would conquer the trial, the effort would not have been great; nor did he send a prayer or do anything else. It is shown to them again that God also allies with them, so that they might not thus become evil. And so indeed for men, but for the Savior after the trial, angels appear, and these are for service, so that the ill-willed, before these angels appeared, might not say...

that victory belongs to angels. What is the service of the angels, or the placement of the souls who are persuaded by God? For they did not come for the sake of helping. And indeed he rebukes Peter because he wanted to fight excessively, saying: 'Do you think that I was not able to entreat my Father, and he would have given to me more than twelve legions of angels?' (Matt 26:53). Thus, an alliance is not necessary.

And there was a famine upon the earth; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, because a famine had grown strong upon the earth (Gen 12:10). The literal sense is clear; but this is the meaning for the intellect. The wise of God are above the earth, not being of it; therefore, in this way, a famine has occurred. For to those who think of earthly things, a famine of hearing the word of the Lord often happens, if they are worthy of it, and later they again receive it. In this way, too, Abram comes to 'sojourn' (not to dwell) in Egypt, descending in sympathy with those suffering the famine, not to live there; for those around Daniel did not come to Babylon because of sins, but so that they might help those deported there because of sins. For God has pity on those sinning to the extent that it is possible for them to repent. And just as doctors are sent where there is much harm or disease, not so that they themselves might share in the disease, but so that they might heal those who are sick, so the saints became present in the confusion and in Babylon, not being residents; for they had possessed nothing worthy of it, which is the property of those dwelling there.

And it happened, as Abram approached entering Egypt, that Abram said to Sarai his wife (Gen 12:11-13): 'I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance; so it will be, when the Egyptians see you, they will say, "She is his wife," and they will kill me, and they will take you to themselves; so say then that you are my sister, so that it may go well for me because of you, and my soul may live because of you.' Regarding the spoken word, it is fitting with prudence, believing that God, having brought him out of his own land, will not neglect his marriage; he suggests to her to say to them that she is his sister, so that, this being said first and alone, they might not receive the notion that she is his wife, deceiving them through this. For there was also in Egypt...

The Gospel Teaching as a Spouse and Abraham's Entry into Egypt§89

89Brotherhood and in his own land, as he later says: 'For truly she is my sister' (Genesis 20:12). Therefore, this alone deceives them with a false wisdom, and he says it first as a subordinate matter. For since it was likely that those according to the laws of adultery among the Egyptians would kill him so that they would not allow it to be known that they were adulterers, Abram was reckoned as such.

These things, then, are for the sake of the spoken word; but regarding the intellect, those coming from virtue into vice are said to descend into Egypt; for it has been said many times: 'Woe to those descending into Egypt' (Isaiah 31:1). Here it is not 'he descended' that is intended, but 'he entered'; for his descent is an entrance. For every diligent person descends with those who stumble, not stumbling himself but leading them along from the stumbling block; and just as one becomes a Jew to the Jews without being a Jew, and lawless to the lawless without being lawless, so one becomes into Egypt without becoming Egyptian. Therefore, let others descend there, but he enters; for it was not their wickedness that brought him there, but a certain economy being carried out.

The virtuous man enters into Egypt often using foreign instruction, so that he may construct something useful from it, just as blessed Paul has done, asserting from Aratus 'For we are also of the same race' (Acts 17:28), in order to do the following: and the 'To an Unknown God' (Acts 17:23) and the 'Cretans are always liars' (Titus 1:12); so also every intellect exhorts to be taken captive into the obedience of Christ.

Having entered, as we have said, into Egypt, he subjects something to virtue, so that he may say that she is his wife; for the diligent and perfect man does not say that his virtue is his own exclusively to those inferior to him, lest he provoke them to envy, but says that she is his sister, giving the secondary things toward a unity toward his own virtue, so that he might descend together with the weak, so that they might desire her as one set forth to be received. For often, when we have learned something desiring to make it common, we make the contemplations common, such as those concerning providence, so that with...

so that he might also receive her to himself. For the evangelical teaching is a celestial spouse of the perfect; yet this is not snatched away, even if it is spoken among the perfect, but it is shared with all, just as Paul says, 'But I desire all men to be as I am myself' (1 Corinthians 7:7). For having become such, they will know that this instruction is a spouse of the perfect. For 'Wisdom' 'bears prudence to a man' (Proverbs 10:23), and I, says the perfect one, 'became a lover of her beauty' (Wisdom 8:2), clearly meaning Wisdom; for the wise man wishes to impart his own to all, so that they will not envy.

And it happened, when Abram entered into Egypt (Gen 12), the Egyptians seeing the woman that she was exceedingly beautiful, and the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and they commended her to Pharaoh, and they brought her into the house of Pharaoh; and they dealt well with Abram because of her, and there came to him sheep and oxen and donkeys and boys and girls and mules and camels. The wise intention of the patriarch did not miss the mark; for he did not plot, but rather a way becomes available so that the marriage of the holy one might not be corrupted; for the Egyptians did not rush upon her as if toward one neglected; but rather the princes, having seen her, presenting her as a favor to the king, brought her, and thus it happened that they dealt well with them because of her.

Abram therefore enters into Egypt according to the allegorical manner as a perfect toward the imperfect, so that he might be benefited, fitting himself, possessing the virtue, as previously foretold, not as one approaching him as an exclusive possession, but showing it to all as a sister to share with, so that they might be able, having seen, to love her. And observe that the princes saw her; for even in the rank of the Egyptians according to allegory, there are certain purer ones who also have much inclination toward seeing the virtue. And these have come to be not only to see, but

The fulfillment of time and the manner of departure§90

90And I have brought her to their ruler, that is, the Word ruling over them, in order to praise her; for this was the purpose of the holy Abraham, to bring them joyfully. [Genesis 12:12: And there fell upon Abram a dark and great fear concerning the suns.]

But Abram, beholding divine sights, was seized by a fear befitting perfection. Note that a dark ecstasy fell upon him concerning the suns, signifying the progress of the Word by the passing of the day of his present state, so that another progress of blessing might be received by him as it comes upon him, according to which it was said: 'I will fulfill him with length of days,' Genesis 25:15 not necessarily promising him long life, but clearly progress in illuminations. Therefore 'ecstasy' falls upon him; and ecstasy is not like madness, but is wonder and the translation from the visible to the invisible. For the apostle says: 'Whether then we are beside ourselves, or whether we are in our right minds' 2 Cor 5:13, not declaring that we have learned from God, but that, even if we become outside of human things through contemplation, we do this through God, just as David says: 'I said in my ecstasy: Every man is a liar' Ps 52:6; for having become ecstatic, he says concerning men that they are liars, he himself no longer being a man because of the communion of the Holy Spirit, but being another of those concerning whom it was said: 'For where there is strife and jealousy among you, are you not humans and walking according to human ways?' 1 Corinthians 3:3. While Abram is in ecstasy, a dark fear falls upon him, not participating in darkness but in uncertainty and not knowing readily; such a great fear does not happen to small men. And since instead of uncertainty darkness is often taken, it is said: 'And he set darkness in his hiding place' Ps 18:11; and in truth, the contemplation and comprehension of super-abundant dogmas instills a gloom upon the great, and falls upon such people a divine fear with reverence.

And it was said to Abram: 'Knowing you shall know that your seed shall be a stranger in a land not its own, and they shall enslave them and afflict them for four hundred years; and the nation, which they shall serve, I will judge; and after these things they shall come out this way with much spoil.' Genesis 15:13-14 The sojourning into Egypt...

The word foretells it; for they did not dwell as strangers being their own, having served Pharaoh and having been much ill-treated by him and the Egyptians. It does not contend with what is written there in Exodus; for there it is said: 'After four hundred and thirty years the power of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt' (Exodus 12:40), here it says 'after forty'; but it must be understood that it was not said that they went out upon the completion of the four hundred years, but after four hundred years, which the thirty years make manifest. And the 'I will judge the nation whom they shall serve' (Genesis 15:14) has reached its outcome according to what is written in Exodus; for He brought upon them ten-fold plagues, and they sank at last like lead in much water. But also 'with much baggage' (Exodus 12:36) they have gone out, as history shows, from which we are instructed that, even if God ill-treats someone in time, He does not do this differently, but for a good end.

If the word also alludes to the sojourning of the saints, consider this. 'And you shall go to your fathers in peace, having been nourished in a good old age; but in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full' (Genesis 15:15-16). It is apparent from the immediate text that he is foretelling to him the departure from life. And for edification, these things might be said. The wise man departs from life in peace, but the one sinning has confused thoughts and has a troubled soul; and just as one is received in death, so he will be judged. The one having prepared peace for himself from this place, he departs in peace, but the one having trouble and confused thoughts toward this, he will be judged. This is shown from what is in Ecclesiastes: 'Wherever the wood falls, there it remains' (Ecclesiastes 11:3). This does not have this meaning in history; for it is not always that wherever wood falls, there it remains; for often it is moved; but it is clear that the man is what is signified in enigma through the wood, so he will be judged as he is found.

Therefore, fittingly, Abraham will depart to the fathers being pleasing to God, sharing the same promise; for 'the firstfruits' are 'Christ, then those of Christ.' And even for the righteous, the promise and the dwelling are different; for there are many dwellings with the Father. Thus, he will depart to the fathers according to the Spirit, being diligent in the...

The Fire of the Covenant and the Divided Pieces§91

The Pedagogy of Ascent§92

92Through succession to all. For 'the children of the flesh are not these children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as seed' (Romans 9:8). For he who does the works of it is his child. And also well is 'from river to river'; for the virtue which is the due promise to the seed is that which is in the middle of flowing things, not being parts of the flowing things, but their boundaries; for if any virtue should become external to it, these things immediately encounter it. And if this has been said to the virtuous one because of the lying in wait of trials, you will understand, it being in the middle of those distressing things and overcoming them.

But Sarah the wife of Abram did not bear him children. And she had an Egyptian handmaid, whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said to Abram: 'Behold, the Lord has closed my womb; go in therefore to my maid, so that I may make children from her.' And Abram obeyed the voice of Sarah. The apostle led these to the two covenants by the law of allegory; and since the literal has also come to pass, it is also worthy to be seen. The holy ones lived together thus, not to hunt pleasures but for the sake of children. For such a tradition is brought about concerning them, that they only had intercourse with women when they had a time of conception; neither while nursing nor while feeding the infant, nor while pregnant, did they have intercourse; for in none of these times did they consider union to be appropriate.

And Jacob also confirms the tradition; for having tested in much time that Rachel did not accept to bear children, he no longer approached her; and she, thinking that if he approached her, she would bear, was saying: 'Give me children, or if not, kill me.' For he did not know that Jacob was not a potter, but was seeking union as if the holy one had ceased for the said reason, so that he might not labor in vain. And he said to her: 'Am I instead God to you, who has deprived you of the fruit of the womb?' (Genesis 30:2). And Sarah, being wise and holy, knowing for much time that through intercourse she had not received according to the belly, abstained from the fellowship with him, and since she knew that he would have children following him, she gave her handmaid to him as a wife concubine. The temperance and also the abundance of Sarah and of Abram are shown.

The lack of passion comes not from one's own impulse, but through offspring produced by a woman. The explicit teaching is indeed useful, as we have explained.

The logic of ascent is smoothed out by using the pattern of the blessed Paul, who led the two women toward the two covenants; using this method in other matters, he led Sarah toward perfect virtue and philosophy, she being a married woman, free and noble, and living according to the laws; and virtue lives with the wise according to the laws, so that she may bring forth divine offspring from herself. For 'Wisdom' 'bears prudence to a man' (Proverbs 10:23), and it is said toward the pious and holy: 'Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, your children like olive shoots around your table' (Ps 128:3). Thus the man who fears the Lord shall be blessed toward perfect virtue.

Sarah is led toward the spiritual, while Hagar the handmaid, the Egypt, is signified by Philo as the preliminary exercises and by Paul as the shadow. For it is impossible to grasp any of the spiritual or high notions without the shadow according to the letter or the introductory training; for one must first produce offspring from the lesser things. According to the shadow, they were immersing themselves, performing Pascha sensuously and circumcising themselves physically, being led by these things toward 'offering a sacrifice of praise to God' (Heb 13:15), which is the property of the free.

Since it is a matter of diligence for the wise to make room for the greater things, virtue proposes to use the introductory things first with a divine aim and to bring forth offspring from them. For since he who is now approaching virtue is not able to grasp perfection and thus bring forth from it, it is assumed that he first clothes himself in the preliminary trainings, so that he may also make room for it perfectly, if he is able.

And having taken Sarah, the wife of Abram, Hagar the Egyptian, his own handmaid, after ten years of living with Abram in the land of Canaan, she gave her to Abram her husband as a wife, and went in to Hagar, and conceived (Gen 16:3). As previously stated, Sarah offers the most precise example of temperance, having abundantly presented her own handmaid to Abram, observing that after...

The Nature of Virtue and its Fruits§93

93Ten years have not passed, and the impassibility of the wise man is because he aims to prepare the soul as it is suitable for the marriage. The matters of the upbringing have already been spoken of, that according to the aim of virtue, it is necessary to have first used the introductory things, so that through them he might first become a parent; and the children from the preliminary training are no less children of virtue because of the aim having done the same toward it. Having used this, therefore, he accomplished a better acquisition; for progress is most ready for the wise man.

"And he saw that she had conceived in the womb, and the lady was dishonored in her presence" (Genesis 16:4). The aim, as has been spoken, is for the wise man to be trained in the preliminary training and in the shadow, so that having been trained in these things, he may proceed to the greater things; for as such a sequence is proper, so there is not a following return from the knowledge of the perfects into the smaller things. For the apostle neglects, writing to the Galatians, those who wish to live with the shadow of the law after the gospel (Gal 4:25). For the Jews, having the shadow as a companion, are one thing, and the Galatians, after believing the gospel, wished to Judaize (Galatians 4:21), having been deceived by a certain Ebion, who wished to Judaize after Christianizing and was persuading the others thus, since he had the epithet of this name among the apostles because of his making poverty manifest; for Ebion is interpreted as poor, because of his shallow and poor intellect, being called Ebion the poor; for that the Galatians were Greeks, Paul writes: "But at that time you did not know God, but served those which are by nature not gods; but now having known God, or rather having been known by God" (Gal 4:8). He therefore blames them, as has been said; for it is necessary to repay the promise of the Scriptures: "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh?" (Gal 3:3); for having once been cast into a divine beginning, they were not appropriately seeking the types, for they were seeking them at an unseasonable time. For it is necessary to understand for what reason the sensory circumcision is given and until when...

For what period must he live as a citizen? If someone perceives this, he has fathered a child from a concubine, and after this he is able to perceive the circumcision being made in the heart by the Spirit (Rom 2:29). And this holy man, following the guidance of virtue, entered toward her to whom a maidservant had been handed to him, as we have shown, who also conceived, toward whom it is not fitting to remain thereafter exceeding what is necessary.

For many, having used preliminary exercises for the sake of complete instruction, having left behind them such things, are born in a slave-like manner and in a certain way dishonor virtue. But these things must not be referred to the person of Abraham, but to such a manner of those using this kind of way. And if, since we said that virtue... is the thing presupposing the things of the introduction, someone says that the offspring are a kind of part of it and such a person dwells with virtue primarily—for the underlying subject acts according to its postulates—it must be said therefore that of those things happening in time, some are prior to some and others are later, but when they are simultaneous, we take as understood that of those existing at once, one precedes and the other follows, as if regarding natural causes; virtue indeed is the cause of all things happening through it; therefore, even if such things precede it in time, it is by nature prior, just as marriage exists prior to child-rearing; for because of these things marriage... of virtue. And regarding the other sciences, the same...

Therefore, he who prefers other things to virtue dishonors virtue; for if someone were to choose it not for its own sake but for the sake of some other praise or glory, he in a certain way dishonors the good, it not receiving dishonor in itself. And take note that it has not even been said that Abram dishonored it—for this would not be harmonious with him—but since it is possible to happen from...

The distinction between Sarah and Hagar§94

94Noting that the word was becoming certain as something to come to pass, he was implying that it is not proper to remain in the things before it, thereby dishonoring virtue.

Sarah said: 'I am wronged by you; I gave my maidservant of mine into your bosom; but seeing that she has conception in her womb, I have been dishonored in opposition to her; may God judge between me and you.' (Genesis 16:5). The 'from you' is twofold, that is, either 'from you' or 'from whom'; so that regarding the 'from you' it is thus: when anyone, desiring to use the preliminary exercises for the sake of virtue and the perfection of wisdom, remains in these in some way dishonoring the virtue by not using them for what is necessary, and the 'from whom' will receive the same intellect, the only difference being that he truly dishonors the virtue by hastening to give birth from the introduction alone and setting this as the end.

Pay attention also to 'in opposition to her'; for the virtue was not simply dishonored, but 'in opposition to her'; for when anyone, having used the preliminary exercises because of the perfection of wisdom, goes beyond the need, he dishonors the virtue in himself. As for 'may God judge between me and you', one might say it literally as having been spoken because of some movement from a human being in her, but following the intention of those who have understood, it is said toward the one remaining in the introductory character: that you did not bear perfect children from me, but rather allowed them to remain still in those things.

Abram said to Sarah: 'Behold, your maidservant is in your hands; use her as it is pleasing to you.' (Gen 16:6). Regarding the literal sense, the word of the patriarch introduces an indifference, as he receives the maidservant from the woman without desiring pleasure and now being content with her and withdrawing when he wishes; but toward an elevation, the diligent one, even if remaining in the introduction and being alienated from the perfection of virtue, receives the rebuke from her unpleasantly, and then, having moved from the smaller things, as if subjecting himself to her, uses her instructions to restore authority. For whenever he is eager to say, do, and think all things toward the goal of virtue, he most readily receives the corrections from her.

And Sarah mistreated her and drove her away from her presence. This mistreatment of the handmaid, whom we lead into the preliminary exercises, turns out to be a kind of dismissal of them. For those who are pressing toward perfection no longer need them. Because of this, she rightly departs; for she no longer endures the introductory elements of having attained progress and perfection.

And an angel of the Lord of God found her at the water spring in the desert, at the spring on the road to Shur (Gen 16:7). And the angel of the Lord said to her, 'Hagar, handmaid of Sarah, whence do you come and whither are you going?' And she said, 'I am fleeing from the presence of Sarah, my mistress' (Gen 16:8). From these things, one can see and know the virtue of Hagar and that she was not ungrateful, as an angel was conversing with her and placing care for her not as a trivial matter; for it is evident that it was according to the will of God. It was not unlikely that she was diligent, as she was chosen by the holy Sarah for the companionship of Abraham. And her thankfulness is shown by her saying, 'I am fleeing from the presence of Sarah, my mistress'; nothing trivial is said about her. In the things previously mentioned, Sarah's virtue and the spiritual understanding of the divine Scriptures were placed, while Hagar was the introductory and shadowy one.

Therefore, the one approaching the divine instruction ought to attend to her in this way, so as to understand him according to letter and spirit, in a manner and order that fits. Thus it is necessary for the child of Sarah's introduction, so that he may reach the more perfect things, just as it was said concerning the Israelites, 'that they were first entrusted with the words of God' (Rom 3:2), which are given until a time of correction. For no one remaining in the letter or in her introductory wisdom is being made an opponent. Therefore, this lover of wisdom, if he remains using only the introductory things, in a way dishonors virtue; and if he rises up, he will have lost the introductory guidance as having departed from it; once progress has been attained, the former things pass away, just as was the case with the Egyptian Hagar; for the things of the introduction are confirmed by earthly examples.

Spiritual Vision and the Seed of Abraham§95

95So she flees, and while fleeing, an angel finds her; for an angel does not become invisible. For this is what the addition of 'of the Lord' signifies. It has been said that the evil ones are called such, as it is said: 'An apostolate through evil angels... we shall judge angels' (Psalm 78:49). The angel does not find her fleeing, but turns her back because of the greatness of virtue; for the didactic word and the lessons of the introduction turn back toward virtue.

And it is also good that, saying she was found in the desert and at the spring, she is said to be found on Your way, which is interpreted as continuity; for she did not become a fugitive outside the house, nor did she flee quickly. Just as when we began the introductions to virtue, she does not go outside the enclosure but remains in the introduction. Therefore, the didactic word also turns back, showing him the fitness of remaining by saying: 'Where do you come from and where are you going?' For the virtuous person must know both the beginnings and the goal. But he who uses the introduction, often boasting of the greatness of virtue, remains in it in a certain way, fleeing the tone of perfection; for this is shown by: 'I am fleeing from the presence of Sarah, my mistress' (Genesis 16:8).

But even when the beauty of the spiritual law stands present, the shadowy things flee, those luminous sacrifices being handed over and brought in by the shadow; so also the partial is nullified when the perfect stands present. The one hearing toward the Savior fled from the presence, saying: 'You must be born again' (John 3:7), and saying: 'How can a man be born when he is old?' (John 3:4); for the divine thinks in a human way. And it is also good to be found at the spring of water; for the one being led into the pure things is found, which is what the water signifies, and into the desert of evils such a one is, having been removed from wickedness and possessing virtue.

And the angel of the Lord said to her: 'Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hands' (Genesis 16:9). The literal sense is not obscure; but it is shown from the allegory that, even if each one is led by some reasonable action, which he thought to be among those surrounding the shadow of the law, and as if he were fleeing...

The teaching word turns such a spiritual vision back toward the preceding will. For the Lord indeed placed the things in the letters of the shadow to stand away by saying: 'What multitude of your sacrifices to me?' (Isaiah 1:11) and 'Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay to the Most High your vows' (Psalm 50:13-14). Great indeed is that which, being called master under the hands of spiritual teaching, is found and humbled by it, not being humble itself but as toward a master. For that which has been glorified in this part will not be glorified because of the surpassing glory.

And the angel of the Lord said to her: 'I will multiply your seed, and it shall not be numbered from the multitude' (Genesis 16:10). He who lives according to the introduction is not undeservedly worthy of blessing; for his progress, proceeding toward the approaching goal, will reach the perfection. And observe that regarding virtue—for from it is the genuine seed of Abraham—after God had brought him out and said: 'Look now at the heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them' (Genesis 15:5), it was said: 'So shall your seed be,' but regarding this it was not said 'according to the stars shall your seed be,' but only: 'it shall not be numbered from the multitude,' so that perhaps from this difference you might be able to know that the offspring of the perfect are luminous, while those of the introduction are not such.

And the angel of the Lord said to her: 'Behold, you are in the womb and shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction' (Genesis 16:11). Great indeed in that time was childbearing considered [The text is damaged here.]... and even perhaps of virginity and of the teaching concerning virtue prevailing among men; therefore they used to make prayers concerning this and in matters of blessing they counted such things. And these things indeed were said because of the emphasis of the spoken word; but those intended for understanding might be such things. He who is already beginning the Godly training and is in the introductory stages, just as a pregnant woman seeing toward this [The text is damaged here.]...

Angels as Bearers of Divine Words§96

96Nevertheless, the promise of the teaching word happens in this way: it will prescribe; for often, through closeness, those teaching know the burdens of those being discipled and do not ignore their intelligence. But that the state of the stomach is unclear is learned from the Gospel, saying of the Savior: 'Woe to those with full bellies and to those nursing at that time' (Luke 21:23). For such conditions are unstable when a trial stands near. Because of this, the word says that such ones desire to be weaned: 'You who have been weaned from milk, who have been turned away from the breast, expect hope upon hope in tribulation upon tribulation'; for as a remainder, standing in stability, they receive tribulation upon tribulation.

But they are incomplete regarding what Paul says: 'I gave you milk, not food; for you were not able, and even now you are not able' (1 Cor 3:2). It is therefore foretold to her that she will bear a son, saying, 'You will call his name Ishmael' (Gen 16:12). This one will be a rustic man. In many ways, one who is not such is separated from the diligent, the wise, and the civilized. We say, therefore, as toward a citizen, and toward an expert, and toward an unlearned person, and toward a recently learned person, and toward a rustic.

Since, therefore, the offspring of virtue is lawful citizenship, he who is not according to citizenship, against the city of the living God, the heavenly, living the heavenly city, is a rustic, lacking that state, dwelling in a field and not yet in a city. And it is good even to say not only rustic but also a man; for participation in the Word of God does not happen to one just beginning, but after making progress—for regarding those, He said, toward whom the Word of God became—and thus he will be a citizen of the heavenly city; for concerning such things, these things are said by the wise Paul to the Hebrews: 'Zion, mountains and city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, being inscribed in it' (Heb 12:22). The Savior says, therefore: 'Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you, but that your names are inscribed in the heavens' (Luke 10:20). And it is not necessary anywhere to reason thus, that names are inscribed in the heavens by gathering them together, but names according to virtue; these things have the heavens in eternal memory.

Scripture. And these indeed are written in the heavens, but those conversely positioned, thinking of earthly things, called their names upon their own earths, fittingly of Jeremiah concerning them saying: 'Having been set down upon the earth they shall be written' (Jeremiah 17:13). His hand is upon all and the hands of all are upon him, and according to the face of all his brothers he will dwell. And Hagar called the name of the Lord who was speaking to her: 'You are the God who sees me,' because he said: 'For indeed I have seen one who sees me' (Gen 16:13). Because of this she called the well 'The Well of him whom I saw between Kadesh and Beerlahai' (Gen 16:14).

In what was previously read, he was an angel of God speaking to her, but now he is named Lord and God; and he who does not distinguish himself from the matters says that the angel does not convey his own words but the words of God like the prophets; for in a certain way even the angels, when they minister the divine... and foretell the things to come, do the work of prophets... and the name of the angel is one of activity and not of essence, just as the name of the prophet is by designation... the angel spoke the things of God... he named him through the one dwelling, just as Isaiah, prophesying, at times indeed from his own person as one having the spiritual thing in himself speaking, and at times as one bearing the face of God, not beforehand saying 'the Lord says' as when he says: 'I made earth and man upon it' (Isaiah 45:12), but from the Lord he announces... 'Hear, O heaven, and be attentive, O earth, for the Lord has spoken' (Isaiah 1:2). We say this not as all the words are being borne through him, but as a participation is being granted and authority, and because of the indwelling of God, they are called gods, those who partake.

Indeed, it was also said of Moses that an angel was speaking: 'And the angel of the Lord called him and said: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob' (Ex 3:2-6). These are words regarding the ministering of angels, but they are also regarding the power of God. And this is the first explanation...

The Nature of Divine Vision§97

97Another introductory remark: there are many gods and many lords in heaven and on earth, but the gods are not idols or demons, but rather those to whom the maker of them became related. If the Word of God comes to men, men become god-makers... gaps... when the Word of God was seen... gaps... It is said, therefore, of gods... gaps... according to 'The Lord spoke among gods' (Psalm 50:1), clearly meaning those who are gods by participation... gaps... of the makers... gaps... and the one seen... gaps... the Lord was named... gaps... not himself but 'You, the God who grants me'... gaps... god-making... gaps... And that which is the sincere part of the vision brought it forward: 'And indeed it was seen before me' (Job 1:6), and it is clear that not with fleshly eyes but with the intellect, as it has been said: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matthew 5:8); for He is manifested to those not believing in Him. For God provides Himself for contemplation through goodness, the created nature being unable to see Him unless He grants Himself for contemplation according to the proportion of each one's faith.

And also the Scripture says: 'Because of this the vessel called, Vessel before whom I saw' gaps... for a vessel is the understanding of those things which are fitting;: 'Drink waters from your vessels and from your cisterns the springs' (Proverbs 5:15). The beginning of the... gaps... the flowing insights are the cisterns of the spring, which is the correct conception concerning God, the cisterns being the divine words. And also the vision of the teacher's word having been seen 'between Kadish and between Barad' (Genesis 16:14) is well interpreted; for Kadish is interpreted as holy, and Barad as lightning. In the midst, therefore, of this holy one... gaps... and in the midst of lightning, of a luminous state, the instruction is...

The Birth of Ishmael and the Significance of the Text§98

98It becomes divine: 'For your lightnings have appeared to the inhabited world' (Psalm 77:18). Gen 16:15–16. And Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

It may be said that for the sake of solemnity and authenticity, the phrase 'Hagar bore a son to Abram' lies there with observation, but the following is clear regarding the spoken word; let us also consider these matters. The one making progress, when he brings forth toward the goal of the teacher, that which is being brought forth is not easy to misinterpret. Therefore, the appropriate word of the birth applies to the one rightly educating and sowing what is profitable; it said, 'Hagar bore a son to Abram' (Gen 16:15). Since this is so... providing what the Scripture says, it is brought forward: 'And Abram called the name of his son' (Genesis 16:15), and it leads to 'whom she bore to him' (Gen 16:15); for if not for the meaning which he had, the phrase 'And Abram called the name of his son' would have sufficed, without adding 'whom she bore to him.'

And these things are enough for now; let us see also that concerning the numbers of the years of the patriarch; for it is said: 'Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram' (Gen 16:16). Both the numbers are... Gaps... Gen 17:1. And Abram was ninety-nine years old, and the Lord appeared to him.

The Call of Abraham and the Nature of God§99

The Covenant and the Multiplication of Nations§100