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The City of God Against the Pagans
Book XV |
Book XVII
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CHAPTER 19
OF THE DIVINE PRESERVATION OF SARAH'S CHASTITY
IN EGYPT, WHEN ABRAHAM HAD CALLED HER NOT HIS
WIFE BUT HIS SISTER
Having built an altar there, and called upon God, Abraham proceeded
thence and dwelt in the desert, and was compelled by pressure of famine
to go on into Egypt. There he called his wife his sister, and told no lie. For
she was this also, because she was near of blood; just as Lot, on account of
the same nearness, being his brother's son, is called his brother. Now he
did not deny that she was his wife, but held his peace about it, committing
to God the defense of his wife's chastity, and providing as a man against
human wiles; because if he had not provided against the danger as much as
he could, he would have been tempting God rather than trusting in Him.
We have said enough about this matter against the calumnies of Faustus
the Manichaean. At last what Abraham had expected the Lord to do took
place. For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who had taken her to him as his wife,
restored her to her husband on being severely plagued. And far be it from
us to believe that she was defiled by lying with another; because it is much
more credible that, by these great afflictions, Pharaoh was not permitted to
do this.
CHAPTER 20
OF THE PARTING OF LOT AND ABRAHAM, WHICH THEY
AGREED TO WITHOUT BREACH OF CHARITY
On Abraham's return out of Egypt to the place he had left, Lot, his
brother's son, departed from him into the land of Sodom, without breach
of charity. For they had grown rich, and began to have many herdmen of
cattle, and when these strove together, they avoided in this way the
pugnacious discord of, their families. Indeed, as human affairs go, this
cause might even have given rise to some strife between themselves.
Consequently these are the words of Abraham to Lot, when taking
precaution against this evil, "Let there be no strife between me and thee,
and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Behold, is
not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself from me: if thou wilt go
to the left hand, I will go to the right; or if thou wilt go to the right hand, I
will go to the left." From this, perhaps, has arisen a pacific custom among
men, that when there is any partition of earthly things, the greater should
make the division, the less the choice.
CHAPTER 21
OF THE THIRD PROMISE OF GOD, BY WHICH HE ASSURED
THE LAND OF CANAAN TO ABRAHAM AND HIS SEED IN
PERPETUITY
Now, when Abraham and Lot had separated, and dwelt apart, owing to the
necessity of supporting their families, and not to vile discord, and
Abraham was in the land of Canaan, but Lot in Sodom, the Lord said to
Abraham in a third oracle, "Lift up thine eyes, and look from the place
where thou now art, to the north, and to Africa, and to the east, and to the
sea; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed
for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any one can
number the dust of the earth, thy seed shall also be numbered. Arise, and
walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for unto
thee will I give it." It does not clearly appear whether in this promise that
also is contained by which he is made the father of all nations. For the
clause, "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth," may seem to
refer to this, being spoken by that figure the Greeks call hyperbole, which
indeed is figurative, not literal. But no person of understanding can doubt
in what manner the Scripture uses this and other figures. For that figure
(that is, way of speaking) is used when what is said is far larger than what
is meant by it; for who does not see how incomparably larger the number
of the dust must be than that of all men can be from Adam himself down
to the end of the world? How much greater, then, must it be than the seed
of Abraham, — not only that pertaining to the nation of Israel, but also
that which is and shall be according to the imitation of faith in all nations
of the whole wide world! For that seed is indeed very small in comparison
with the multitude of the wicked, although even those few of themselves
make an innumerable multitude, which by a hyperbole is compared to the
dust of the earth. Truly that multitude which was promised to Abraham is
not innumerable to God, although to man; but to God not even the dust of
the earth is so. Further, the promise here made may be understood not
only of the nation of Israel, but of the whole seed of Abraham, which may
be fitly compared to the dust for multitude, because regarding it also there
is the promise of many children, not according to the flesh, but according
to the spirit. But we have therefore said that this does not clearly appear,
because the multitude even of that one nation, which was born according to
the flesh of Abraham through his grandson Jacob, has increased so much as
to fill almost all parts of the world. Consequently, even it might by
hyperbole be compared to the dust for multitude, because even it alone is
innumerable by man. Certainly no one questions that only that land is
meant which is called Canaan. But that saying, "To thee will I give it, and
to thy seed for ever," may move some, if by "for ever" they understand
"to eternity." But if in this passage they take "for ever" thus, as we firmly
hold it means that the beginning of the world to come is to be ordered from
the end of the present, there is still no difficulty, because, although the
Israelites are expelled from Jerusalem, they still remain in other cities in the
land of Canaan, and shall remain even to the end; and when that whole land
is inhabited by Christians, they also are the very seed of Abraham.
CHAPTER 22
OF ABRAHAM'S OVERCOMING THE ENEMIES OF SODOM,
WHEN HE DELIVERED LOT FROM CAPTIVITY AND WAS
BLESSED BY MELCHIZEDEK THE PRIEST
Having received this oracle of promise, Abraham migrated, and remained in
another place of the same land, that is, beside the oak of Mature, which
was Hebron. Then on the invasion of Sodom, when five kings carried on
war against four, and Lot was taken captive with the conquered Sodomites,
Abraham delivered him from the enemy, leading with him to battle three
hundred and eighteen of his home-born servants, and won the victory for
the kings of Sodom, but would take nothing of the spoils when offered by
the king for whom he had won them. He was then openly blessed by
Melchizedek, who was priest of God Most High, about whom many and
great things are written in the epistle which is inscribed to the Hebrews,
which most say is by the Apostle Paul, though some deny this. For then
first appeared the sacrifice which is now offered to God by Christians in
the whole wide world, and that is fulfilled which long after the event was
said by the prophet to Christ, who was yet to come in the fresh, "Thou
art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek," — that is to say, not
after the order of Aaron, for that order was to be taken away when the
things shone forth which were intimated beforehand by these shadows.
CHAPTER 23
OF THE WORD OF THE LORD TO ABRAHAM, BY WHICH IT
WAS PROMISED TO HIM THAT HIS POSTERITY SHOULD BE
MULTIPLIED ACCORDING TO THE MULTITUDE OF THE
STARS; ON BELIEVING WHICH HE WAS DECLARED JUSTIFIED
WHILE YET IN UNCIRCUMCISION
The word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision also. For when God
promised him protection and exceeding great reward, he, being solicitous
about posterity, said that a certain Eliezer of Damascus, born in his house,
would be his heir. Immediately he was promised an heir, not that house-born
servant, but one who was to come forth of Abraham himself; and
again a seed innumerable, not as the dust of the earth, but as the stars of
heaven, — which rather seems to me a promise of a posterity exalted in
celestial felicity. For, so far as multitude is concerned, what are the stars of
heaven to the dust of the earth, unless one should say the comparison is
like inasmuch as the stars also cannot be numbered? For it is not to be
believed that all of them can be seen. For the more keenly one observes
them, the more does he see. So that it is to be supposed some remain
concealed from the keenest observers, to say nothing of those stars which
are said to rise and set in another part of the world most remote from us.
Finally, the authority of this book condemns those like Aratus or Eudoxus,
or any others who boast that they have found out and written down the
complete number of the stars. Here, indeed, is set down that sentence
which the apostle quotes in order to commend the grace of God, "Abraham
believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness;" lest the
circumcision should glory, and be unwilling to receive the uncircumcised
nations to the faith of Christ. For at the time when he believed, and his
faith was counted to him for righteousness, Abraham had not yet been
circumcised.
CHAPTER 24
OF THE MEANING OF THE SACRIFICE ABRAHAM WAS
COMMANDED TO OFFER WHEN HE SUPPLICATED TO BE
TAUGHT ABOUT THOSE THINGS HE HAD BELIEVED
In the same vision, God in speaking to him also says, "I am God that
brought thee out of the region of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to
inherit it." And when Abram asked whereby he might know that he
should inherit it, God said to him, "Take me an heifer of three years old,
and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove,
and a pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in
the midst, and laid each piece one against another; but the birds divided he
not. And the fowls came down," as it is written, "on the carcasses, and
Abram sat down by them. But about the going down of the sun, great fear
fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And
He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in
a land not theirs, and they shall reduce them to servitude and shall afflict
them four hundred years: but the nation whom they shall serve will I
judge; and afterward shall they come out hither with great substance. And
thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; kept in a good old age. But in the
fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the
Amorites is not yet full. And when the sun was setting, there was a flame,
and a smoking furnace, and lamps of fire, that passed through between
those pieces. In that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
Unto thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great
river Euphrates: the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and
the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and
the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
All these things were said and done in a vision from God; but it would take
long, and would exceed the scope of this work, to treat of them exactly in
detail. It is enough that we should know that, after it was said Abram
believed in God, and it was counted to him for righteousness, he did not
fail in faith in saying, "Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit
it?" for the inheritance of that land was promised to him. Now he does not
say, How shall I know, as if he did not yet believe; but he says, "Whereby
shall I know," meaning that some sign might be given by which he might
know the manner of those things which he had believed, just as it is not for
lack of faith the Virgin Mary says, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a
man ?" for she inquired as to the way in which that should take place
which she was certain would come to pass. And when she asked this, she
was told, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee." Here also, in fine, a symbol was given,
consisting of three animals, a heifer, a she-goat, and a ram and two birds, a
turtle-dove and pigeon, that he might know that the things which he had
not doubted should come to pass were to happen in accordance with this
symbol. Whether, therefore, the heifer was a sign that the people should be
put under the law, the she-goat that the same people was to become sinful,
the ram that they should reign (and these animals are said to be of three
years old for this reason, that there are three remarkable divisions of time,
from Adam to Noah, and from him to Abraham, and from him to David,
who, on the rejection of Saul, was first established by the will of the Lord
in the kingdom of the Israelite nation: in this third division, which extends
from Abraham to David, that people grew up as if passing through the
third age of life), or whether they had some other more suitable meaning,
still I have no doubt whatever that spiritual things were prefigured by
them as well as by the turtle-dove and pigeon. And it is said, "But the
birds divided he not," because carnal men are divided among themselves,
but the spiritual not at all, whether they seclude themselves from the busy
conversation of men, like the turtle-dove, or dwell among them, like the
pigeon; for both birds are simple and harmless, signifying that even in the
Israelite people, to which that land was to be given, there would be
individuals who were children of the promise, and heirs of the kingdom
that is to remain in eternal felicity. But the fowls coming down on the
divided carcasses represent nothing good, but the spirits of this air, seeking
some food for themselves in the division of carnal men. But that Abraham
sat down with them, signifies that even amid these divisions of the carnal,
true believers shall persevere to the end. And that about the going down of
the sun great fear fell upon Abraham and a horror of great darkness,
signifies that about the end of this world believers shall be in great
perturbation and tribulation, of which the Lord said in the gospel, "For
then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning."
But what is said to Abraham, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a
stranger in a land not theirs, and they shall reduce them to servitude, and
shall afflict them 400 years," is most clearly a prophecy about the people
325 of Israel which was to be in servitude in Egypt. Not that this people
was to be in that servitude under the oppressive Egyptians for 400 years,
but it is foretold that this should take place in the course of those 400
years. For as it is written of Terah the father of Abraham, "And the days
of Terah in Haran were 205 years," not because they were all spent there,
but because they were completed there, so it is said here also, "And they
shall reduce them to servitude, and shall afflict them 400 years," for this
reason, because that number was completed, not because it was all spent in
that affliction. The years are said to be 400 in round numbers, although
they were a little more, — whether you reckon from this time, when these
things were promised to Abraham, or from the birth of Isaac, as the seed of
Abraham, of which these things are predicted. For, as we have already said
above, from the seventy-fifth year of Abraham, when the first promise
was made to him, down to the exodus of Israel from Egypt, there are
reckoned 430 years, which the apostle thus mentions: "And this I say,
that the covenant confirmed by God, the law, which was made 430 years
after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect." So
then these 430 years might be called 400, because they are not much more,
especially since part even of that number had already gone by when these
things were shown and said to Abraham in vision, or when Isaac was born
in his father's 100th year, twenty-five years after the first promise, when
of these 430 years there now remained 405, which God was pleased to call
400. No one will doubt that the other things which follow in the prophetic
words of God pertain to the people of Israel.
When it is added, "And when the sun was now setting there was a flame,
and lo, a smoking furnace, and lamps of fire, which passed through
between those pieces," this signifies that at the end of the world the carnal
shall be judged by fire. For just as the affliction of the city of God, such as
never was before, which is expected to take place under Antichrist, was
signified by Abraham's horror of great darkness about the going down of
the sun, that is, when the end of the world draws nigh, — so at the going
down of the sun, that is, at the very end of the world, there is signified by
that fire the day of judgment, which separates the carnal who are to be
saved by fire from those who are to be condemned in the fire. And then the
covenant made with Abraham particularly sets forth the land of Canaan,
and names eleven tribes in it from the river of Egypt even to the great river
Euphrates. It is not then from the great river of Egypt, that is, the Nile, but
from a small one which separates Egypt from Palestine, where the city of
Rhinocorura is.
CHAPTER 25
OF SARAH'S HANDMAID, HAGAR, WHOM SHE HERSELF
WISHED TO BE ABRAHAM'S CONCUBINE
And here follow the times of Abraham's sons, the one by Hagar the bond
maid, the other by Sarah the free woman, about whom we have already
spoken in the previous book. As regards this transaction, Abraham is in no
way to be branded as guilty concerning this concubine, for he used her for
the begetting of progeny, not for the gratification of lust; and not to insult,
but rather to obey his wife, who supposed it would be solace of her
barrenness if she could make use of the fruitful womb of her handmaid to
supply the defect of her own nature, and by that law of which the apostle
says, "Likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the
wife," could, as a wife, make use of him for childbearing by another, when
she could not do so in her own person. Here there is no wanton lust, no
filthy lewdness. The handmaid is delivered to the husband by the wife for
the sake of progeny, and is received by the husband for the sake of
progeny, each seeking, not guilty excess, but natural fruit. And when the
pregnant bond woman despised her barren mistress, and Sarah, with
womanly jealousy, rather laid the blame of this on her husband, even then
Abraham showed that he was not a slavish lover, but a free begetter of
children, and that in using Hagar he had guarded the chastity of Sarah his
wife, and had gratified her will and not his own, — had received her
without seeking, had gone in to her without being attached, had
impregnated without loving her, — for he says, "Behold thy maid is in thy
hands: do to her as it pleaseth thee;" a man able to use women as a man
should, — his wife temperately, his handmaid compliantly, neither
intemperately!
CHAPTER 26
OF GOD'S ATTESTATION TO ABRAHAM, BY WHICH HE
ASSURES HIM, WHEN NOW OLD, OF A SON BY THE
BARREN SARAH, AND APPOINTS HIM THE FATHER OF
THE NATIONS, AND SEALS HIS FAITH IN THE PROMISE
BY THE SACRAMENT OF CIRCUMCISION
After these things Ishmael was born of Hagar; and Abraham might think
that in him was fulfilled what God had promised him, saying, when he
wished to adopt his home-born servant, "This shall not be thine heir: but
he that shall come forth of thee, he shall be thine heir." Therefore, lest he
should think that what was promised was fulfilled in the handmaid's son,
"when Abram was ninety years old and nine, God appeared to him, and
said unto him, I am God; be well-pleasing in my sight, and be without
complaint, and I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will fill
thee exceedingly."
Here there are more distinct promises about the calling of the nations in
Isaac, that is, in the son of the promise, by which grace is signified, and not
nature; for the son is promised from an old man and a barren old woman.
For although God effects even the natural course of procreation, yet where
the agency of God is manifest, through the decay or failure of nature, grace
is more plainly discerned. And because this was to be brought about, not
by generation, but by regeneration, circumcision was enjoined now, when a
son was promised of Sarah. And by ordering all, not only sons, but also
home-born and purchased servants to be circumcised, he testifies that this
grace pertains to all. For what else does circumcision signify than a nature
renewed on the putting off of the old? And what else does the eighth day
mean than Christ, who rose again when the week was completed, that is,
after the Sabbath? The very names of the parents are changed: all things
proclaim newness, and the new covenant is shadowed forth in the old. For
what does the term old covenant imply but the concealing of the new? And
what does the term new covenant imply but the revealing of the old? The
laughter of Abraham is the exultation of one who rejoices, not the scornful
laughter of one who mistrusts. And those words of his in his heart, "Shall
a son be born to me that am an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is
ninety years old, bear?" are not the words of doubt, but of wonder. And
when it is said, "And I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land
in which thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting
possession," if it troubles any one whether this is to be held as fulfilled, or
whether its fulfillment may still be looked for, since no kind of earthly
possession can be everlasting for any nation whatever, let him know that
the word translated everlasting, by our writers is what the Greeks term
aijw>nion, which is derived from aijw<n, the Greek for soeculum, an age. But
the Latins have not ventured to translate this by secular, test they should
change the meaning into something widely different. For many things are
called secular which so happen in this world as to pass away even in a
short time; but what is termed aijwnion either has no end, or lasts to the
very end of this world.
CHAPTER 27
OF THE MALE, WHO WAS TO LOSE HIS SOUL IF HE WAS
NOT CIRCUMCISED ON THE EIGHTH DAY, BECAUSE HE
HAD BROKEN GOD'S COVENANT
When it is said, "The male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his
foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people, because he hath broken
my covenant," some may be troubled how that ought to be understood,
since it can be no fault of the infant whose life it is said must perish; nor
has the covenant of God been broken by him, but by his parents, who
have not taken care to circumcise him. But even the infants, not personally
in their own life, but according to the common origin of the human race,
have all broken God's covenant in that one in whom all have sinned. Now
there are many things called God' s covenants besides those two great
ones, the old and the new, which any one who pleases may read and know.
For the first covenant, which was made with the first man, is just this: "In
the day ye eat thereof, ye shall surely die." Whence it is written in the
book called Ecclesiasticus, "All flesh waxeth old as doth a garment. For the
covenant from the beginning is, Thou shall die the death." Now, as the law
was more plainly given afterward, and the apostle says, "Where no law is,
there is no prevarication," on what supposition is what is said in the psalm
true," accounted all the sinners of the earth prevaricators," except that all
who are held liable for any sin are accused of dealing deceitfully
(prevaricating) with some law? If on this account, then, even the infants
are, according to the true belief, born in sin, not actual but original, so that
we confess they have need of grace for the remission of sins, certainly it
must be acknowledged that in the same sense in which they are sinners
they are also prevaricators of that law which was given in Paradise,
according to the truth of both scriptures, "I accounted all the sinners of the
earth prevaricators," and "Where no law is, there is no prevarication." And
thus, because circumcision was the sign of regeneration, and the infant, on
account of the original sin by which God's covenant was first broken, was
not undeservedly to lose his generation unless delivered by regeneration,
these divine words are to be understood as if it had been said, Whoever is
not born again, that soul shall perish from his people, because he hath
broken my covenant, since he also has sinned in Adam with all others. For
had He said, Because he hath broken this my covenant, He would have
compelled us to understand by it only this of circumcision; but since He
has not expressly said what covenant the infant has broken, we are free to
understand Him as speaking of that covenant of which the breach can be
ascribed to an infant. Yet if any one contends that it is said of nothing else
than circumcision, that in it the infant has broken the covenant of God
because, he is not circumcised, he must seek some method of explanation
by which it may be understood without absurdity (such as this) that he
has broken the covenant, because it has been broken in him although not
by him. Yet in this case also it is to be observed that the soul of the infant,
being guilty of no sin of neglect against itself, would perish unjustly,
unless original sin rendered it obnoxious to punishment.
CHAPTER 28
OF THE CHANGE OF NAME IN ABRAHAM AND SARAH,
WHO RECEIVED THE GIFT OF FECUNDITY WHEN THEY
WERE INCAPABLE OF REGENERATION OWING TO THE
BARRENNESS OF ONE, AND THE OLD AGE OF BOTH
Now when a promise so great and clear was made to Abraham, in which it
was so plainly said to him, "I have made thee a father of many nations,
and I will increase thee exceedingly, and I will make nations of thee, and
kings shall go forth of thee. And I will give thee a son of Sarah; and I will
bless him, and he shall become nations, and kings of nations shall be of
him,"— a promise which we now see fulfilled in Christ, — from that time
forward this couple are not called in Scripture, as formerly, Abram and
Sarai, but Abraham and Sarah, as we have called them from the first, for
every one does so now. The reason why the name of Abraham was
changed is given: "For," He says, "I have made thee a father of many
nations." This, then, is to be understood to be the meaning of Abraham;
but Abram, as he was formerly called, means "exalted father." The reason
of the change of Sarah's name is not given; but as those say who have
written interpretations of the Hebrew names contained in these books,
Sarah means "my princess," and Sarai "strength." Whence it is written in
the Epistle to the Hebrews, "Through faith also Sarah herself received
strength to conceive seed." For both were old, as the Scripture testifies; but
she was also barren, and had ceased to menstruate, so that she could no
longer bear children even if she had not been barren. Further, if a woman is
advanced in years, yet still retains the custom of women, she can bear
children to a young man, but not to an old man, although that same old
man can beget, but only of a young woman; as after Sarah's death
Abraham could of Keturah, because he met with her in her lively age. This,
then, is what the apostle mentions as wonderful, saying, besides, that
Abraham's body was now dead; because at that age he was no longer able
to beget children of any woman who retained now only a small part of her
natural vigor. Of course we must understand that his body was dead only
to some purposes, not to all; for if it was so to all, it would no longer be
the aged body of a living man, but the corpse of a dead one. Although that
question, how Abraham begot children of Keturah, is usually solved in this
way, that the gift of begetting which he received from the Lord, remained
even after the death of his wife, yet I think that solution of the question
which I have followed is preferable, because, although in our days an old
man of a hundred years can beget children of no woman, it was not so
then, when men still lived so long that a hundred years did not yet bring on
them the decrepitude of old age.
CHAPTER 29
OF THE THREE MEN OR ANGELS, IN WHOM THE LORD IS
RELATED TO HAVE APPEARED TO ABRAHAM AT THE OAK
OF MAMRE
God appeared again to Abraham at the oak of Mature in three men, who it
is not to be doubted were angels, although some think that one of them
was Christ, and assert that He was visible before He put on flesh. Now it
belongs to the divine power, and invisible, incorporeal, and incommutable
nature, without changing itself at all, to appear even to mortal men, not by
what it is, but by what is subject to it. And what is not subject to it? Yet if
they try to establish that one of these three was Christ by the fact that,
although he saw three, he addressed the Lord in the singular, as it is
written, "And, lo, three men stood by him: and, when he saw them, he ran
to meet them from the tent-door, and worshipped toward the ground, and
said, Lord, if I have found favor before thee," etc.; why do they not advert
to this also, that when two of them came to destroy the Sodomites, while
Abraham still spoke to one, calling him Lord, and interceding that he would
not destroy the righteous along with the wicked in Sodom, Lot received
these two in such a way that he too in his conversation with them
addressed the Lord in the singular? For after saying to them in the plural,
"Behold, my lords, turn aside into your servant's house," etc., yet it is
afterwards said, "And the angels laid hold upon his hand, and the hand of
his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, because the Lord was
merciful unto him. And it came to pass, .whenever they had led him forth
abroad, that they said, Save thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay
thou in all this region: save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be caught.
And Lot said unto them, I pray thee, Lord, since thy servant hath found
grace in thy sight," etc. And then after these words the Lord also answered
him in the singular, although He was in two angels, saying, "See, I have
accepted thy face," etc. This makes it much more credible that both
Abraham in the three men and Lot in the two recognized the Lord,
addressing Him in the singular number, even when they were addressing
men; for they received them as they did for no other reason than that they
might minister human refection to them as men who needed it. Yet there
was about them something so excellent, that those who showed them
hospitality as men could not doubt that God was in them as He was wont
to be in the prophets, and therefore sometimes addressed them in the
plural, and sometimes God in them in the singular. But that they were
angels the Scripture testifies, not only in this book of Genesis, in which
these transactions are related, but also in the Epistle to the Hebrews,
where in praising hospitality it is said, "For thereby some have entertained
angels unawares." By these three men, then, when a son Isaac was again
promised to Abraham by Sarah, such a divine oracle was also given that it
was said, "Abraham shall become a great and numerous nation, and all the
nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." And here these two things, are
promised with the utmost brevity and fullness, — the nation of Israel
according to the flesh, and all nations according to faith.
CHAPTER 30
OF LOT'S DELIVERANCE FROM SODOM, AND ITS
CONSUMPTION BY FIRE FROM HEAVEN; AND OF
ABIMELECH, WHOSE LUST COULD NOT HARM SARAH'S
CHASTITY
After this promise Lot was delivered out of Sodom, and a fiery rain from
heaven turned into ashes that whole region of the impious city, where
custom had made sodomy as prevalent as laws have elsewhere made other
kinds of wickedness. But this punishment of theirs was a specimen of the
divine judgment to come. For what is meant by the angels for-bidding
those who were delivered to look back, but that we are not to look back in
heart to the old life which, being regenerated through grace, we have put
off, if we think to escape the last judgment? Lot's wife, indeed, when she
looked back, remained, and, being turned into salt, furnished to believing
men a condiment by which to savor somewhat the warning to be drawn
from that example. Then Abraham did again at Gerar, with Abimelech the
king of that city, what he had done in Egypt about his wife, and received
her back untouched in the same way. On this occasion, when the king
rebuked Abraham for not saying she was his wife, and calling her his sister,
he explained what he had been afraid of, and added this further, "And yet
indeed she is my sister by the father's site, but not by the mother's; for she
was Abraham's sister by his own father, and so near of kin. But her
beauty was so great, that even at that advanced age she could be fallen in
love with.
CHAPTER 31
OF ISAAC, WHO WAS BORN ACCORDING TO THE
PROMISE, WHOSE NAME WAS GIVEN ON ACCOUNT OF
THE LAUGHTER OF BOTH PARENTS
After these things a son was born to Abraham, according to God's
promise, of Sarah, and was called Isaac:, which means laughter. For his
father had laughed when he was promised to him, in wondering delight, and
his mother, when he was again promised by those three men, had laughed,
doubting for joy; yet she was blamed by the angel because that laughter,
although it was for joy, yet was not full of faith. Afterwards she was
confirmed in faith by the same angel. From this, then, the boy got his
name. For when Isaac was born and called by that name, Sarah showed
that her laughter was not that of scornful reproach, but that of joyful
praise; for she said, "God hath made me to laugh, so that every one who
hears will laugh with me." Then in a little while the bond maid was cast out
of the house with her son; and, according to the apostle, these two women
signify the old and new covenants, — -Sarah representing that of the
Jerusalem which is above, that is, the city of God.
CHAPTER 32
OF ABRAHAM'S OBEDIENCE AND FAITH, WHICH WERE
PROVED BY THE OFFERING UP, OF HIS SON IN
SACRIFICE, AND OF SARAH'S DEATH
Among other things, of which it would take too long time to mention the
whole, Abraham was tempted about the offering up of his well-beloved
son Isaac, to prove his pious obedience, and so make it known to the
world, not to God. Now every temptation is not blame-worthy; it may
even be praise-worthy, because it furnishes probation. And, for the most
part, the human mind cannot attain to self-knowledge otherwise than by
making trial of its powers through temptation, by some kind of
experimental and not merely verbal self-interrogation; when, if it has
acknowledged the gift of God, it is pious, and is consolidated by steadfast
grace and not puffed up by vain boasting. Of course Abraham could never
believe that God delighted in human sacrifices; yet when the divine
commandment thundered, it was to be obeyed, not disputed. Yet Abraham
is worthy of praise, because he all along believed that his son, on being
offered up, would rise again; for God had said to him, when he was
unwilling to fulfill his wife's pleasure by casting out the bond maid and her
son, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." No doubt He then goes on to say,
"And as for the son of this bond woman, I will make him a great nation,
because he is thy seed." How then is it said "In Isaac shall thy seed be
called," when God calls Ishmael also his seed? The apostle, in explaining
this, says, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is, they which are the
children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of
the promise are counted for the seed." In order, then, that the children of
the promise may be the seed of Abraham, they are called in Isaac, that is,
are gathered together in Christ by the call of grace. Therefore the father,
holding fast from the first the promise which behooved to be fulfilled
through this son whom God had ordered him to slay, did not doubt that he
whom he once thought it hopeless he should ever receive would be
restored to him when he had offered him up. It is in this way the passage
in the Epistle to the Hebrews is also to be understood and explained. "By
faith," he says, "Abraham overcame, when tempted about Isaac: and he
who had received the promise offered up his only son, to whom it was
said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called: thinking that God was able to raise
him up, even from the dead;" therefore he has added, "from whence also he
received him in a similitude." In whose similitude but His of whom the
apostle says, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us all?" And on this account Isaac also himself carried to the place of
sacrifice the wood on which he was to be offered up, just as the Lord
Himself carried His own cross. Finally, since Isaac was not to be slain,
after his father was forbidden to smite him, who was that ram by the
offering of which that sacrifice was completed with typical blood? For
when Abraham saw him, he was caught by the horns in a thicket. What,
then, did he represent but Jesus, who, before He was offered up, was
scrowned with thorns by the Jews?
But let us rather hear the divine words spoken through the angel. For the
Scripture says, "And Abraham stretched forth his hand to take the knife,
that he might slay his son. And the Angel of the Lord called unto him from
heaven, and said, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not
thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I
know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy beloved son for my
sake." It is said, "Now I know," that is, Now I have made to be known; for
God was not previously ignorant of this. Then, having offered up that ram
instead of Isaac his son, "Abraham," as we read, "called the name of that
place The Lord seeth: as they say this day, In the mount the Lord hath
appeared." As it is said, "Now I know," for Now I have made to be
known, so here, "The Lord sees," for The Lord hath appeared, that is,
made Himself to be seen. "And the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham
from heaven the second time, saying, By myself have I sworn, saith the
Lord; because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy beloved
son for my sake; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the
seashore; and thy seed shall possess by inheritance the cities of the
adversaries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because thou hast obeyed my voice." In this manner is that promise
concerning the calling of the nations in the seed of Abraham confirmed
even by the oath of God, after that burnt-offering which typified Christ.
For He had often promised, but never sworn. And what is the oath of
God, the true and faithful, but a confirmation of the promise, and a certain
reproof to the unbelieving?
After these things Sarah died, in the 127th year of her life, and the 137th of
her husband for he was ten years older than she, as he himself says, when
a son is promised to him by her: "Shall a son be born to me that am an
hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" Then
Abraham bought a field, in which he buried his wife. And then, according
to Stephen's account, he was settled in that land, entering then on actual
possession of it, — that is, after the death of his father, who is inferred to
have died two years before.
CHAPTER 33
OF REBECCA, THE GRAND-DAUGHTER OF NAHOR,
WHOM ISAAC TOOK TO WIFE
Isaac married Rebecca, the grand-daughter of Nahor, his father's brother,
when he was forty years old, that is, in the 140th year of his father's life,
three years after his mother's death. Now when a servant was sent to
Mesopotamia by his father to fetch her, and when Abraham said to that
servant, "Put thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by the
Lord, the God of heaven, and the Lord of the earth, that thou shalt not take
a wife unto my son Isaac of the daughters of the Canaanites," what else
was pointed out by this, but that the Lord, the God of heaven, and the
Lord of the earth, was to come in the flesh which was to be derived from
that thigh? Are these small tokens of the foretold truth which we see
fulfilled in Christ?
CHAPTER 34
WHAT IS MEANT BY ABRAHAM'S
MARRYING KETURAH AFTER SARAH'S DEATH.
What did Abraham mean by marrying Keturah after Sarah's death? Far be
it from us to suspect him of incontinence, especially when he had reached
such an age and such sanctity of faith. Or was he still seeking to beget
children, though he held fast, with most approved faith, the promise of
God that his children should be multiplied out of Isaac as the stars of
heaven and the dust of the earth? And yet, if Hagar and Ishmael, as the
apostle teaches us, signified the carnal people of the old covenant, why
may not Keturah and her sons also signify the carnal people who think
they belong to the new covenant? For both are called both the wives and
the concubines of Abraham; but Sarah is never called a concubine (but only
a wife). For when Hagar is given to Abraham, it is written. "And Sarai,
Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abraham had
dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram
to be his wife." And of Keturah, whom he took after Sarah's departure, we
read, "Then again Abraham took a wife, whose name was Keturah." Lo!
both are called wives, yet both are found to have been concubines; for the
Scripture afterward says, "And Abraham gave his whole estate unto Isaac
his son. But unto the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent
them away from his son Isaac, (while he yet lived,) eastward, unto the east
country." Therefore the sons of the concubines, that is, the heretics and
the carnal Jews, have some gifts, but do not attain the promised kingdom;
"For they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed, of whom it
was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called." For I do not see why Keturah,
who was married after the wife's death, should be called a concubine,
except on account of this mystery. But if any one is unwilling to put such
meanings on these things, he need not calumniate Abraham. For what if
even this was provided against the heretics who were to be the opponents
of second marriages, so that it might be shown that it was no sin in the
case of the father of many nations himself, when, after his wife's death, he
married again? And Abraham died when he was 175 years old, so that he
left his son Isaac seventy-five years old, having begotten him when 100
years old.
CHAPTER 35
WHAT WAS INDICATED BY THE DIVINE ANSWER ABOUT
THE TWINS STILL SHUT UP IN THE WOMB OF REBECCA
THEIR MOTHER
Let us now see how the times of the city of God run on from this point
among Abraham's descendants. In the time from the first year of Isaac's
life to the seventieth, when his sons were born, the only memorable thing
is, that when he prayed God that his wife, who was barren, might bear,
and the Lord granted what he sought, and she conceived, the twins leapt
while still enclosed in her womb. And when she was troubled by this
struggle, and 331 inquired of the Lord, she received this answer: "Two
nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated
from thy bowels; and the one people shall overcome the other people, and
the elder shall serve the younger." The Apostle Paul would have us
understand this as a great instance of grace; for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, the younger is chosen without
any good desert and the elder is rejected, when beyond doubt, as regards
original sin, both were alike, and as regards actual sin, neither had any. But
the plan of the work on hand does not permit me to speak more fully of
this matter now, and I have said much about it in other works. Only that
saying, "The elder shall serve the younger," is understood by our writers,
almost without exception, to mean that the elder people, the Jews, shall
serve the younger people, the Christians. And truly, although this might
seem to be fulfilled in the Idumean nation, which was born of the elder
(who had two names, being called both Esau and Edom. whence the name
Idumeans), because it was afterwards to be overcome by the people which
sprang from the younger, that is, by the Israelites, and was to become
subject to them; yet it is more suitable to believe that, when it was said,
"The one people shall overcome the other people, and the elder shall serve
the younger," that prophecy meant some greater thing; and what is that
except what is evidently fulfilled in the Jews and Christians?
CHAPTER 36
OF THE ORACLE AND BLESSING WHICH ISAAC RECEIVED,
JUST AS HIS FATHER DID, BEING BELOVED FOR HIS SAKE
Isaac also received such an oracle as his father had often received. Of this
oracle it is thus written: "And there was a famine aver the land, beside the
first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto
Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar, And the Lord appeared unto
him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; but dwell in the land which I shall
tell thee of. And abide in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless
thee: unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all this land; and I will
establish mine oath, which I swear unto Abraham thy father: and I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all
this land: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because that Abraham thy father obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts,
my commandments, my righteousness, and my laws." This patriarch
neither had another wife, nor any concubine, but was content with the
twin-children begotten by one act of generation. He also was afraid, when
he lived among strangers, of being brought into danger owing to the beauty
of his wife, and did like his father in calling her his sister, and not telling
that she was his wife; for she was his near blood-relation by the father's
and mother's side. She also remained untouched by the strangers, when it
was known she was his wife. Yet we ought not to prefer him to his father
because he knew no woman besides his one wife. For beyond doubt the
merits of his father's faith and obedience were greater, inasmuch as God
says it is for his sake He does Isaac good: "In thy seed," He says, "shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed, because that Abraham thy father
obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts, my commandments, my statutes,
and my laws." And again in another oracle He says, "I am the God of
Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and
multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." So that we must
understand how chastely Abraham acted, because imprudent men, who
seek some support for their own wickedness in the Holy Scriptures, think
he acted through lust. We may also learn this, not to compare men by
single good things, but to consider everything in each; for it may happen
that one man has something in his life and character in which he excels
another, and it may be far more excellent than that in which the other
excels him. And thus, according to sound and true judgment, while
continence is preferable to marriage, yet a believing married man is better
than a continent unbeliever; for the unbeliever is not only less
praiseworthy, but is even highly detestable. We must conclude, then, that
both are good; yet so as to hold that the married man who is most faithful
and most obedient is certainly better than the continent man whose faith
and obedience are less. But if equal in other things, who would hesitate to.
prefer the continent man to the married?
CHAPTER 37
OF THE THINGS MYSTICALLY PREFIGURED
IN ESAU AND JACOB
Isaac's two sons, Esau and Jacob, grew up together. The primacy of the
elder was transferred to the younger by a bargain and agreement between
them, when the elder immoderately lusted after the lentiles the younger
had prepared for food, and for that price sold his birthright to him,
confirming it with an oath. We learn from this that a person is to be
blamed, not for the kind of food he eats, but for immoderate greed. Isaac
grew old, and old age deprived him of his eyesight. He wished to bless the
elder son, and instead of the elder, who was hairy, unwittingly blessed the
younger, who put himself under his father's hands, having covered himself
with kid-skins, as if bearing the sins of others. Lest we should think this
guile of Jacob's was fraudulent guile, instead of seeking in it the mystery
of a great thing, the Scripture has predicted in the words just before, "Esau
was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a simple man,
dwelling at home." Some of our writers have interpreted this, "without
guile. But whether the Greek a]plastov means without guile," or
"simple," or rather "without reigning," in the receiving of that blessing
what is the guile of the man without guile? What is the guile of the simple,
what the fiction of the man who does not lie, but a profound mystery of
the truth? But what is the blessing itself? "See," he says, "the smell of my
son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord hath blessed: therefore
God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fruitfulness of the earth,
and plenty of corn and wine: let nations serve thee, and princes adore thee:
and be lord of thy brethren, and let thy father's sons adore thee: cursed be
he that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee." The blessing of
Jacob is therefore a proclamation of Christ to all nations. It is this which
has come to pass, and is now being fulfilled. Isaac is the law and the
prophecy: even by the mouth of the Jews Christ is blessed by prophecy
as by one who knows not, because it is itself not understood. The world
like a field is filled with the odor of Christ's name: His is the blessing of
the dew of heaven, that is, of the showers of divine words; and of the
fruitfulness of the earth, that is, of the gathering together of the peoples:
His is the plenty of corn and wine, that is, the multitude that gathers bread
and wine in the sacrament of His body and blood. Him the nations serve,
Him princes adore. He is the Lord of His brethren, because His people
rules over the Jews. Him His Father's sons adore, that is, the sons of
Abraham according to faith; for He Himself is the son of Abraham
according to the flesh. He is cursed that curseth Him, and he that blesseth
Him is blessed. Christ, I say, who is ours is blessed, that is, truly spoken
of out of the mouths of the Jews, when, although erring, they yet sing the
law and the prophets, and think they are blessing another for whom they
erringly hope. So, when the elder son claims the promised blessing, Isaac is
greatly afraid, and wonders when he knows that he has blessed one instead
of the other, and demands who he is; yet he does not complain that he has
been deceived, yea, when the great mystery is revealed to him, in his secret
heart he at once eschews anger, and confirms the blessing. "Who then," he
says, "hath hunted me venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all
before thou camest, and have blessed him, and he shall be blessed?" Who
would not rather have expected the curse of an angry man here, if these
things had been done in an earthly manner, and not by inspiration from
above? O things done, yet done prophetically; on the earth, yet celestially;
by men, yet divinely! If everything that is fertile of so great mysteries
should be examined carefully, many volumes would be filled; but the
moderate compass fixed for this work compels us to hasten to other
things.
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