Commentary on the Six Days of Creation · §30 · Eustathius of Antioch

The Conquest of the Land

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[...], the sand of the sea, and he set himself against Jesus. But Jesus, falling upon them suddenly, slaughtered him and all his allies with all the force of an army, and he cut down their horses, and he divided all their land among the Israelites.

To the tribe of Reuben he allotted the land of the Amorites and the Rapha; and to Gad the same land of the Amorites, and he divided half to the tribe of Manasseh; and to the tribe of Judah the land of the Hebrews, and of the Hittites, and of the Anakim.

For Judah, a tribe having taken the tribe of Simeon as an ally, drove out the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and seizing the fleeing Adoni-Bezek, they maimed his feet and his hands; and [...]

Greek

θαλάσσης ψάμμῳ, καὶ ἀντιπαρετάξατο τῷ Ἰησοῦ. Ὁ δὲ αὐτοῖς ἄφνω ἐπιπεσὼν Ἰησοῦς αὐτόν τε καὶ πάντας τοὺς συμμάχους πανστρατὶ κατέσφαξε, καὶ τοὺς ἵππους αὐτῶν ἐνευροκόπησε, καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῶν τὴν γῆν τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις διένειμε· τῇ μὲν φυλῇ τοῦ Ῥουβὶν τὴν τῶν Ἀμοῤῥαίων γῆν ἀπεκλήρωσε καὶ τὴν Ῥαφασὴν, τὴν δὲ Γὰδ τὴν αὐτὴν γῆν τῶν Ἀμοῤῥαίων, καὶ τὸ ἥμισυ φυλῇ Μανασσῆ ἀπένειμε, καὶ τῇ φυλῇ Ἰούδα τὴν τῶν Ἑβραίων, καὶ Χετταίων, καὶ τὴν Ἐνακείμ. Ἤγουν Ἰούδα φυλὴ, σύμμαχον λαβοῦσα τὴν φυλὴν Συμεὼν, τοὺς Χαναναίους καὶ Φερεζαίους ἐπόρθησε, καὶ φεύγοντα τὸν Ἀδωνιβεζὲκ χειρωσάμενοι, τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἠκρωτηρίασαν· καὶ

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About this text

A commentary on the six days of creation, credited to Eustathius of Antioch but printed among works not by him.

This commentary was written in Greek under the name of Eustathius of Antioch (fl. c. 320–337), the bishop of Antioch in the early fourth century. The text as it survives was composed later, between the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and draws on Basil the Great's Homilies on the Hexameron, Josephus, and other sources. It was written to defend the biblical account of creation against Greek philosophical and mythological alternatives and to show God's order and providence in the world.

The work is a verse-by-verse exposition of the six days of creation in Genesis, followed by a long retelling of biblical history from Cain and Abel through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses to the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. Along the way the author argues that Moses is older than all Greek sages, so his account is the most ancient and divinely inspired truth. A reader will meet the patriarchs, Pharaoh, Mary and her parents Joachim and Anna, Herod, Zechariah, John the Baptist, and many others, with direct quotations from figures such as Abraham, Isaac, Tamar, Judah, Zechariah, and Herod.

The translation uses 'providence' for God's ordering care of creation, 'creator' for God as maker, 'firmament' for the structure made on the second day, 'light' for the great lights of sun and moon, 'flood' for Noah's deluge, 'ark' for Noah's vessel, 'covenant' for God's binding promise, 'circumcision' for the sign of that covenant, 'genealogy' for the line from Abraham to Christ, 'virgin' for Mary, 'resurrection' for the rising of the dead, 'authority' for the power given to sun and moon, 'sign' for heavenly and divine markers, 'first-fruits' for offerings like Abel's, and 'blessing' for Jacob's words to his sons. The author uses Septuagint book names and Psalm numbering, so where the Hebrew numbering differs, the notes will indicate it. Some unexplained names and terms from Greek myth and ancient science appear in the text, such as Inachus, Cecrops, the rape of Kore, Sesostris, Darius the Mede, the Wain, counter-suns, Aspidochelone, forty stadia, eutokion, peridexion, seleucis bird, and charadrius; readers can pass over these without losing the main argument.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 18 (Greek)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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