Часть 1. Сотворение мира и история первого мира

In interpretative works on Holy Scripture, it is usually assumed that the reader will have it before his eyes when reading the interpretation. This was also assumed in this book when it was first published. But now it is decided to include in it the very text of the book of Genesis in the Russian dialect, both to facilitate the reading, and so that the ongoing transition of Holy Scripture from the ancient, not understandable to everyone, to a new intelligible dialect, if possible, prepare the way further. Only the passages of Holy Scripture that serve to confirm interpretations are for the most part not written out, but indicated by the numbers of chapters and verses, for including their text in this book would increase it excessively. Analysis of some Hebrew words can be left to those who have the need and means to engage in research of this kind. The rest, such as it is, is brought before everyone's judgment. All the expressions of the text found here that do not agree word for word with the Slavic text, as well as the indications according to which the Slavic text does not represent the desired word or thought, correspond to the Hebrew text, and in the sayings cited from the New Testament - to the Greek. The pronunciation of proper names, as far as possible, is retained as used in the Slavic translation, as already familiar. It was deviated from in those cases where, in order to prevent errors or misunderstandings, it was necessary to strictly follow the Hebrew pronunciation. There is no doubt that all present experience, and especially that part of it where the spirit of writing is sought and cases of antiquity are considered as pre-determined images (1 Cor. 10:11) of the future, have a need for readers' condescension to the shortcomings of the writer. If, however, this experience gives some an opportunity for reflection and an incentive to more successfully test the Scriptures, then this will already be a great reward for the one who worked. Publisher's Notice The publication of the Holy Books of the Old Testament in Russian translation attracted special attention to them from zealots of piety. But we have very little experience in interpreting books of Holy Scripture in Russian, and, moreover, only on individual books of Holy Scripture 1 . Among these experiments, the first place in dignity is occupied by Notes on the Book of Genesis, compiled by the rector of the St. Petersburg Academy, Archimandrite, now Metropolitan of Moscow Philaret, but they, published in the second printing forty-eight years ago, have now become an extremely rare book. Taking into account the urgent need of the children of the Orthodox Church for help in understanding the most important of the books of Scripture, which tells about the origin of the world and man, the Society of Lovers of Spiritual Enlightenment petitioned the author of the Notes on the Book of Genesis for permission to print them in a new edition. Permission was given with love and readiness to serve the good of the Church, and a new edition of the Notes is offered to the attention of pious readers. May it serve the children of the Orthodox Church as a guide to understanding the true history of the beginning of the world and man! And if it is permissible to desire some kind of reward for the work of publishing, then the publishers ask readers to combine their prayers with their prayers for the preservation of the precious life of the writer. Preparing to Read the Book of Genesis The title of the book of Genesis was not always its title. The sacred writers cite this and other books of Moses under the same name, the Law of Moses or Moses (Luke 24:27, 44). Nowadays, Jews call each of the five books of Moses by the word with which its text begins: why is the book of Genesis inscribed with them בראשית Bereshif, which means In the Beginning. Its Greek name γένεσις, which means being, birth, origin, is borrowed from itself (Gen. 2:4, 5:1) and befits its content. Even such people as Celsus, Porphyry and Julian did not express doubts about Moses, as the writer of the book of Genesis and with it the four following books of the Holy Scriptures, which in this respect constituted one with it for three thousand years from the time of Moses. The bold judgment of some of the newest examiners, who either completely take away his writings from him, or consider them to be damaged, already quite weak in its news, is refuted by examining these very writings and the indisputable testimony about them of subsequent sacred writers and Jesus Christ Himself. Three kinds of objects are found in the Pentateuch: a) what happened before Moses. And this, without contradiction, could be described by Moses; b) what happened in his time and before his eyes. That this was really written by Moses can be clearly seen from many places in the Pentateuch. He wrote the commandments received from God on the mountain (Exodus 24:4), and read this book of the Covenant before the people (Exodus 24:7). Talking with the people before their entry into the Promised Land, he pointed to the already existing book of the Law (Deut. 28:58, 61, 29:20, 27) and then, having completed it, gave it for storage with the Ark of the Covenant (Deut. 31:9, 24–26). God especially commanded him to write his judgment against Amalek (Ex. 17:14), an accusatory and prophetic song about the fate of the people of Israel (Deut. 31:19), and even the order of the camps, or places where he stopped during his journey (Num. 33:2). From this it is not difficult to draw a conclusion about the writer of the entire Pentateuch, in which the events contemporary with Moses are described in such a way that they show the writer as a self-witness. Yet in general they are in such a close mutual connection that they show one writer, for example. Gen.11:3. Exodus 16:23. Gen.7:2, 3. Lev.1:2, 14, Lev.11; c) what belongs to the times after Moses. Few passages of this kind, not in necessary connection with the integrity of the books of Moses, by the hands of Joshua, Ezra, or other successors and guardians of the Holy Scripture chosen by the Holy Spirit, could be introduced with the intention of explanation or replenishment appropriate to their times. Gen.13:18 (see Joshua 14:15,15:13). Gen. 36:31–43 (see 1 Chron. 1:43–54). Exodus 16:35 (see Joshua 5:12). Deut.34:2 (Josh.1:8; 2Kings.22:8; Dan.9:11; Neh.8:1; John1:17, 45, 5:46). From these few indications of the books of Moses, one can already see that the same ones that exist today under this name also existed, were used and were recognized during the earthly life of Jesus Christ, after the Babylonian captivity, during the captivity itself, during the time of the kingdom of Judah, and in the first days after the death of Moses. The Samaritan text and the Greek translation, so long ago separated by a special fate from the Hebrew text, are also unsuspicious witnesses to the authenticity of their entire composition. III. The authenticity of the writings of Moses from his perspective The indisputable dignity of the chronicle of Moses is given by its inspiration, invariably evidenced by both the everlasting name and the events of the Old Testament and New Testament Church. To distrustful testers, the following special attributes of his person may be indicated as evidence of reliability: 1) education at the court of Pharaoh in all the wisdom of Egypt (Acts 7:22), of which, however, he was not captivated by the benefits; 2) repeated, lengthy revelations and conversations with God mouth to mouth (Num. 12:7, 8); 3) an abundant gift of miracles; 4) leading the people of God and serving the Divine legislation; 5) impartiality with which he narrates humiliating incidents without shyness (Num. 12:1), speaks of good qualities and does not hide his sin and punishment (Num. 20:12); 6) selflessness with which he refused the blessing of God and his own salvation for the salvation of the people (Exodus 32:10, 32), and died without leaving his children any dignity (1 Chronicles 23:14). IV. Origin of Genesis The time in which the book of Genesis was written can be viewed generally in relation to the human race and the Church, and especially in relation to the state of the Jewish people and the life of Moses. Sacred books begin to appear when oral tradition becomes an insufficient means of preserving the purity of the truths of faith and the history of the Church. as the limits of human life were reduced, the concept of God and natural law became eclipsed in the greater part of the human race. The tribe chosen by God grew into a people, but in which only a few were capable of direct enlightenment from God and who were also in danger of losing their faith and their very being. Josephus and Philo claim that the book of Genesis was written by Moses in the land of Midian, when the Jews were suffering in Egypt. Christian writers are more willing to believe this after the discovery of the name of God in Horeb (Exodus 3:14) and after the establishment of the law in the wilderness, for both of them are accepted as known in the book of Genesis (Genesis 2:4, 7:2). It is impossible to read the book of Genesis as a world chronicle, for its legends up to the time of Abraham are brief and relate primarily to certain peoples; Below is the complete Hebrew chronicle, for it omits some incidents mentioned by subsequent Prophets. The subject of the book is: the origin of the world, the human race, faith, the Jewish people; the fate of ancient tribes and the history of the patriarchal Church. This story covers 3799 years according to the most extensive Greek calendar, and 2369 years according to the shortest Hebrew calendar. The abridgement of the book of Genesis and its spirit are depicted in the book of Hebrews (Heb. 11:1–22). From a consideration of the contents of this book with the circumstances of its origin, its purpose is revealed: 1) Universal - to show God the Creator and Provider in spite of pagan errors and to elevate the concept of natural law, humiliated by customs. 2) Special and essential - to set forth for the preservation, approval and dissemination of the teaching about the Messiah in the promises about Him (Gen. 3:15,18) in his genealogy, in prophecies (Gen. 9:26, 27, 49:10), in historical transformations (Gen. 22) and ritual (Gen. 17: 10-14). 3) Particular and random - to console the distressed Jews with gracious promises and show from the first days of the world the established foundations of the laws given through Moses (Gen. 1:14, 2:3, 4:3, 4, 7:2, 3). VII. Location of its parts The main order that is noted in the narrative of the book of Genesis is the simple order of time. The arrangement of the parts that make it up can be represented in the following outlines. The creation of the world (Gen.1–2:3) and man (Gen.2:4–25). History of the first world. It contains: – the story of the fall and the promise of the restoration of man – the story of fallen man; the life of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:1–16); the spread of the rejected tribe (Gen. 4:17–24); the spread of the blessed tribe (Gen. 4:25, 26); genealogy and chronology of the blessed tribe (Gen. 5); the end of the first world (Gen. 6–8:19). History of the Patriarchal Church after the Flood; renewal of the world (Gen. 8:20–22); renewal of the Church (Gen.9:1–17); the story of Noah and his sons (Gen.9:18–29); the descendants of the sons of Noah (Gen. 10); the dispersion of the nations (Gen. 11:1–9). Genealogy and chronology of the descendants of Shem (Gen. 11:10–26); the life of Terah (Gen. 11:27–32); the origin and education of the chosen people of God and their patriarchs. Abraham. His migration to the promised land (Gen. 12:1–9); journey to Egypt (Gen. 12:10–20); separation from Lot (Gen. 13); the captivity and deliverance of Lot (Gen. 14); revelation to Abraham about the fate of his descendants (Gen. 15); birth of Ishmael (Gen. 16); covenant (Gen. 17). Divine visitation with the prediction of the birth of Isaac (Gen. 18:1–15). The destruction of Sodom and the strange adventures of Lot (Gen.19:16). Temptation of Abraham at Gerar (Gen. 20). Birth and inheritance of Isaac (Gen. 21:1–21). Abraham's union with Abimelech (Gen. 21:22–34). Great temptation and promise (Gen. 22:1-19). Death of Sarah and marriage of Isaac (Gen. 23–24). The Last Adventures of Abraham (Gen. 25:1–10). Isaac. The birth and properties of his two sons (Gen. 25:19–34). Isaac's temptations and divine consolations (Gen. 26). The blessing of the sons and the consequences of this (Gen. 27–28:9). Jacob. Journey to Mesopotamia (Gen.28:10 - Gen.33). Dinah's misfortune and vengeance (Gen. 34). Worship and Epiphany at Bethel (Gen. 35:1–15). Some incidents are family (Gen. 35:16–29). The race of Esau (Gen.36). Joseph. His misfortune is domestic (Gen. 37). The Adventure of Judah and Tamar (Gen.38). Temptation and rise of Joseph in Egypt (Gen.39 - Gen.41). The resettlement of the Jews to Egypt (Gen.42 - Gen.47). Jacob's testament to Joseph (Gen.47:28–31). Blessing of the children of Joseph (Gen.49). The last prophecy and the death of Jacob (Gen.49). Burial of Jacob (Gen. 50:1–14). The last days of Joseph (Gen. 50:15–26). Describing the creation of the world, Moses shows: the beginning of the world in general (Gen. 1:1), the six-day continuation of creation (Gen. 1:2–31), the solemn end of creation (Gen. 2:1–3). I. 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The concept of the beginning of the world in general necessarily includes, and in the brief tale of Moses, the following concepts are expounded: a) the limit from which the existence of the world begins, b) the action by which it receives being, c) the cause that produces being, d) the object that receives being. a) The limit from which the existence of the world begins is indicated by the word: At the beginning. Solomon in describing wisdom (Proverbs 8:22) and John in describing God the Word (John 1:1) use the same word, no doubt pointing to the legend of Moses. Here it makes it clear that the world is not co-eternal with God and how much, apparently, is indefinite, so much is suitable for signifying an inexplicable limit, which, on the one hand, concerns immeasurable eternity, and on the other, limits measurable time. b) The action through which the world came into existence is called creation. They notice that the word used here is St. by the writer the word ברא means more than יצר formed or עשה made and shows the creation of a new and extraordinary thing (Jer. 31:22). Therefore, creation must be understood as an action that does not presuppose any eternal substance from which the creature was made, and no force outside the creator. c) The cause of creation is God. In this place of the Hebrew text, the word אלהים Elohim, actually Gods, expresses a certain plurality, while the saying ברא created shows the unity of the Creator. To explain this unusual composition of words, some people add the word אלה before the word אלהים, but this guess is refuted by the fact that these words are used in the aggregate in the plural: כי יהוה אלהיכם הוא אלהי האלהים for Jehovah your Gods are Gods of Gods (Deut. 10:17). Others derive this image of expression from the pagans, but this opinion is based on the unproven assumption that the Hebrew language is not the original language of the patriarchs, but borrowed by them from the pagans. Others take this as an expression of reverence or attribute it simply to the property of the Hebrew language, but in both of these cases the question can again be asked: where does this kind of respectful expression or this special property of the language come from? So, the guess that this expression refers to the sacrament of the Holy Trinity deserves respect. And why would Moses, in depicting such a majestic action as the creation of the world, prefer the word אלהים, which can mean gods, angels and nobles, to other names of deity used by the Jews, if he did not find in this word the advantage that under its cover he could show the clairvoyant the highest secret of the Divinity, without blinding the light of its times and peoples infected with polytheism? d) Moses calls the object or consequence of the creative power of God heaven and earth. These names, taken together, usually signify the whole creation. Especially in this place, the heavens are neither an airy nor a starry sky, for the firmament was created on the second and adorned with luminaries on the fourth day. Here we can mean the heaven of heavens (1 Kings 8:21), or the invisible world (Col.1:16). For the heavens are not ascribed here to the disorder in which the newly created earth appears, and God himself says in Job (Job 38:4-7) that when He founded the earth, then the sons of God were already shouting. Basil the Great, in the first conversation of the six days about the beginning of the world of the highest spirits, argues as follows: it was probably before this world that, however, although it can be contemplated by the mind, it was difficult to express (to Moses) as inappropriate for the state of those who were initially only guided and infants - there was a certain state that preceded the existence of the world, characteristic of supermundane forces, transcending time, eternal, prisnoe. The Creator of all things and the Creator made these creations in him: intelligent light, characteristic of the bliss of those who love the Lord, mental and invisible natures, and all the decoration of intelligent beings that exceed our minds and for which it is impossible to even find names. These fill the essence of the invisible world, as Paul teaches us, saying: for by this all things were created, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones, whether powers, whether powers, whether angels of host, or archangels of authority. When was it finally necessary to introduce this world into the midst of beings, and so on. The earth, in contrast to the heavens, signifying the invisible world, means the original substance and, as it were, the seeds of the entire visible world. Six-day continuation of creation The six days of creation do not actually mean the same number of degrees of understanding by which the Angels ascend to the knowledge of the nature of things, as Augustine guessed (de Genes. Ad lit. L. IV, p. 28), for creation cannot be confused with knowledge, nor such a continuation of time in which things, according to the laws of nature alone, would have been formed and revealed from those created at the beginning of heaven and earth. In this case, the days of creation would not be distinguished from the days of Providence, and it would not be possible to say that God finished his work on the seventh day and rested (Gen. 3). So, the days of creation show the true order of the direct actions of the Creative force that took place at a certain time. The origin of the sixfold or sevenfold number is hidden in the wisdom of God. In our understanding, the gradual formation of the world has the advantage that it shows us the freedom with which the Creator reveals his goodness in creatures, as and when he wants; the complete dependence of creatures, which owe to Him not only all their existence, but also each one’s education and perfection; and, finally, the holiness of the order of nature, which in all its parts comes from God and in the origin of creatures merges with the direct action of the Creator. The description of the six-day creation in the proper sense does not apply to the spiritual world, for Moses, having spoken about the creation of the heavens and earth, leaves them and is engaged in sowing. On the contrary, it is not limited to one globe, because among other things it is mentioned about the creation of the luminaries (Gen. 1:14). So, the specific subject of this description is the visible world. Moses describes the six-day creation not as a natural theology, for the wise alone, but as a theologian, for the wise and simple together. Therefore, he explains about the high actions of the Divine, if possible, in accordance with their dignity and, however, sensually and humanly. The point of view from which he views and describes them is that in the universe there is earth, and on earth there is the place of residence of the first people, that is, paradise, planted in the east (Gen. 2:8), in that part of the earth on which the newly created morning light shone first (Gen. 1:3-4). In this place the viewer of creation must place himself in order to enter into the contemplation of the divine writer; and then let him imagine that there are still no animals, no plants, no elements, no light, that being is only taking the place of nothingness. Now Moses will spend the six days of creation before him. 2. But the earth was uneducated and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. 3. And God said: Let there be light; and there was light. 4. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. 5. And God called the light day, and called the darkness night. And there was evening and there was morning: one day. The description of the first day depicts the initial state of the visible world, the image of creative action, the first type of created things, the approval of this part of creation, the first action of the first type of created things, that is, light, the time of sowing parts of creation. The original earth, unformed and empty, does not mean the globe, since it was not formed before the separation of the waters that are under the firmament from the waters that are above the firmament, and since the earth in this state is contrary to the structure of the entire visible world. So, here the substance of this world in general is called earth, because earth is the closest object of contemplation in the creation of the world, because it is opposed to heaven or the spiritual world, and finally, because in this state it cannot yet have a definitive name. The quality of the original earth, or universal substance, is depicted by the words: ובהו תהו according to the translation of seventy interpreters: αοϱαιος ϰαι αϰατασϰευαστος 2 - invisible and unsettled; according to Akila: ϰενωμα ϰαι ουδεν - emptiness and nothingness; according to Theodotion: ϰενον ϰαι ουδεν - something empty and insignificant; according to Simachus: αϱγον ϰαι αδιαϰϱτιον - something idle and indifferent. Hebrew words in their production and use (Isa. 34:11; Jer. 4:23) signify an astonishing emptiness. This signifies a substance that is not qualified in a positive and definitive way and does not have those types and forms that we associate with the concept of created things. The same substance is called an abyss to signify a space not delimited by a variety of things. The finer parts of this substance and, in general, the lack of permanent images, according to which it, among the known types of bodies, should most closely approach the property of liquid, is also depicted by the name water. For water, in the ordinary sense taken, was separated from the general mixture on the second and third days of creation. Darkness appears above the abyss of matter. This is not a shadow, such as the darkness of the night was after the creation of the sun, but a complete absence of light, which had not yet been created. The writer of everyday life places it above the abyss or on the face of the abyss, not because he relates it to only some part of substances, but by applying this concept to the ordinary concept of light, which comes from above and especially appears on the surface of things. Explaining the image of creative action, Moses represents the Spirit of God hovering over the waters, and God speaking to non-existent creatures in order to give them existence. By the name of the Spirit of God one cannot understand an Angel, since it is not used in such a sign, nor wind, as in the Psalmist (Ps. 147:7), for what wind is before the division of the elements? It is not enough to understand with Chrysostom simply the life-giving power of the Divine - in depicting the actions of the Divine, the Spirit of God, according to the usual use of this word in Holy Scripture, marks the third hypostasis of the Holy Trinity (Gen.6:3; Ps.33:6; Job.33:4; Acts4:25, 7:51). The action of the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit is depicted by the word מרחפת, which in another place (Deut. 32:11) Moses expresses the action of a bird nesting or sitting with outstretched wings over the chicks and warming them. When applied to creation, this symbol depicts the action by which the Creator most closely imparts life force to the created, without, however, imparting His very essence to it and without mixing with it. The transition from the general preparatory action of the Creative Force to the actual formation of special types of creatures is depicted by the words: God said. To say, according to the property of the Hebrew language, sometimes means to think, to intend (Ex. 2:14; 2 Sam. 21:16). So, the speaking of God is the decisive will of God. The way of acting through the word is attributed to God in commemoration of His majesty, just as between people the way of acting through the word is the most sublime and subtlest. His omnipotence, just as in human things, acting with a word presupposes greater power than acting with bodily strength; especially His wisdom, just as the external human word is the organ of wisdom. In the word said one can also find the mystery of the hypostatic Word, which here, like the Holy Spirit, is supplied by the Creator of the world. This fortune telling is explained by David (Ps. 33:6), Solomon (Prov. 8:22–29) and John (John 1:1–3), who obviously adapt their expressions to Moses. This Word and Wisdom, pre-eternally born in God, speaks from the endless eternity of God into the circle of time to creatures, when the Wisdom of God should be revealed in them. Under the name of the first-created light, Origen and Augustine mean Angels, but this light constitutes the day (Gen. 1:5), therefore, it is sensual. Light is produced before all things, in order, as Ambrose noted, so that the beauties of the world that are about to be revealed are visible. According to the reasoning of natural scientists, for the fact that there is an essence that is subtlest, strongest and most necessary for the existence and formation of other things. Finally, before the sun and luminaries, let us see God’s power, which manifests the power of light before its organs, and let us not be overly surprised at the greatness of these organs. From eternity God sees and finds His creations consistent with His wisdom and goodness. Moses, introducing God in human form, after the completion of each part of creation, approving it, certifies to us the perfection of each creature in its kind and for its purpose, even if we do not know it, and secretly reproaches us for violating the perfection of creatures (Rom. 8:20). The separation of light from darkness was accomplished either through the very creation of it and the separation of dark bodies from the substance, or through a special movement, with which it, occupying part of space, laid the foundation in nature for those circulations that, through the alternating action of light on different sides of the earth, form light and darkness, day and night on it. When God appears to give light the name of day and darkness the name of night, then this shows God’s dominion over the created light and the power to destroy its name and being again, for the naming of a name is a sign of dominion (Gen. 19–20; Dan. 1:7; 2 Chron. 36:4) and the similarity of the first day with all subsequent ones, to which the mind of the first man, illuminated by the Divine light, gave the names of day, night, morning, evenings. In the description of the first day, evening comes first and then morning. In order to understand the possibility of this order of time, let the viewer of the creation of the world place himself mentally on the line that, according to the formation of the earth, should constitute its outline, and in the place where paradise should be planted. Then let him imagine that the newly created light, penetrating through unstructured matter to this point, appears from this point of view in the East. The time that elapsed from the beginning of creation until the appearance of light is Moses' first evening, twilight or night; the appearance of the newly created light - morning; the time at which he must leave the horizon of Eden is the end of the first day. Moses calls the first day one or simply, putting the name of quantity instead of the name of order; or with a special intention to mean that, despite its unprecedented night, it was no more than one ordinary day; or, finally, for the fact that until this initial night he was the only one 3. 6. Then God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters; and let it separate waters from waters. 7. And God created the firmament; and he separated the waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament: and it was so. 8. And God called the firmament heaven (and God saw that it was good). And there was evening and there was morning: the second day. In the description of the second day of creation, one should note the created object, its action in the formation of the whole, naming, approval, and the time of this creation. The object of creation on the second day is the firmament רקיע. Some of the newest interpreters propose: prostration, or space, deducing this concept from the use of the word רקע (Isa. 40:19), but seventy interpreters, in accordance with both the sign and use of the word רקע (Ps. 136:6; Is. 42:5, 44:24), and with the ancient concepts of heaven 4, constantly translate: στεϱεωμα - firmament, which, as if by the power of its being, gives hardness and strength to the formations of heavenly and earthly bodies. Moses calls the firmament not only the air surrounding the earth (Gen. 1:20), but also the starry sky (Gen. 1:14). The creation of the firmament established a division between the waters that are under the firmament and between the waters that are above the firmament. The waters above the firmament, according to some, should be clouds (Ps. 103:3; Job 26:8). But the collection of vapors into clouds is not typically called the separation of water from water. One might think that the writer of everyday life here calls water what he previously called an abyss, with the difference that this unstructured substance, after the creation of light, partially became transparent. According to this concept, in order to imagine the division of the waters in accordance with the description of Moses, let the viewer of the universe imagine himself on the forming earth at the moment of God’s command about the existence of the firmament. Previously, light passed through the unstructured substance that was between it and the earth, as if through water. Now, when the pure firmament is about to appear, the coarsest parts of this water-like substance partly strive towards the earth and, connecting with it, open its outline, and partly, by the same action, ascend upward, that is, to other opaque bodies located in the heavenly space, for which the firmament was also supposed to open. However, many of the Fathers of the Church, such as Justin, Basil, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Ambrose, Augustine, believe that there are certain special waters, located, according to the psalm (Ps. 147:4) and the song of the three youths (Dan. 3:60), above the heavens. Instead of fruitlessly exploring this opinion, it is enough to admit with Augustine that the reliability of Holy Scripture extends beyond the limits of our understanding. The divine naming of the firmament as heaven shows that at its very beginning it appeared exactly in the state in which it became known to man and received from him the name of heaven; and that its such state is not accidental and unstable, but constant and abiding. The creation and naming of the firmament in the text of the seventy is followed by the usual approval: ϰαι ειδεν o θεος οτι ϰαλον. But this is not found in the Jewish and Samaritan texts. Those who attribute this omission to the intention of the writer, believe that the reason for it is that the division of the waters, the creation of the second day, continues and reaches completion on the third day, which is why on this day, according to the different types of creation, approval is pronounced twice. The second, like the third day of creation, is not similar to the subsequent ones in that the actions that the sun now performs were then performed by the first-created unstructured light, which occupied part of the heavenly space. 9. Then God said: Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place; and let the dry land appear: and it was so; (and the waters under the heavens were gathered into their places, and dry land appeared). 10. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters he called the sea: and God saw that it was good. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth greenery, grass yielding seed, and fruitful trees, bearing fruit after their kind, in which is their seed upon the earth: and it was so. 12. And the earth brought forth grass, grass yielding seed after its kind, and trees bearing fruit with its seed according to its kind: and God saw that it was good. 13. And there was evening, and there was morning: the third day. In the creation of the third day, Moses represents the formation and improvement of our planet itself. Considering that in the description of the second and fourth days the action of the Creator in the whole universe is shown and that the earth constitutes the smallest part of this whole, it is difficult to be sure that the creative action on the third day was limited to it alone. It can be assumed that on this day other similar bodies, that is, the dark bodies of celestial space, have received a more definite formation, characteristic of them. But since we do not know their current state in detail, it would be inappropriate to talk about its beginning. So, the writer of everyday life is content to show on our planet the division of water and the origin of the plant kingdom. Water, in its density and gravity, occupies the middle between air and earth, which is why it should naturally hug the surface of the globe. But the creative word collects it in one place (which mainly constitutes the ocean, which has visible or secret communication with all the waters of the globe) and, based on the diverse combination of solid parts of the earth’s substance, brings land to the surface. Holy Scripture often glorifies this action as a miracle of creative power (Job.38:8-11; Ps.37:7). God commands the earth to produce plants, because the beginnings of their origin were contained in its maternal depths, and because subsequently they had to be especially tied to it by the place of their existence by the need for nutrition. Moses names three kinds of plants here: small greens; עשב grass in which the seed can be seen; A tree, which also includes shrubs. There is no doubt that this means the entire plant kingdom. By its closest affinity, the fossil kingdom can also be attributed to this part of creation: for all types of creatures must owe their existence to the Creator. But the writer of everyday life limits himself to what is more known and visible. Considering the creations of the third day in relation to the general order of the six-day creation, we can notice that the formation of creatures proceeds from uniform to varied and from the coarsest to the finest. That plants are produced before the sun, which is only necessary for their existence, so that the omnipotence of the Creator may appear, and before animals, because they are prepared by this latter for food. When God pronounces his approval on the entire plant kingdom, man should not rebel against this, finding some of them harmful and poisonous. If the fall of man had not corrupted the entire earth, then we would have seen in them only benefit and good. Now, Augustine says about animals, but his thought can be extended to other creatures, if you find them useful, praise God; if useless, leave them to God, their artist; if harmful, marvel, sinner, at God’s goodness, since it makes punishment an opportunity for you to achieve heroic deeds. 14. Then God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to separate the day from the night, and signs, and seasons, and days, and years; 15. And let them be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light on the earth: and it was so. 16. And God created two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars; 17. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light on the earth; 18. And to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19. And there was evening, and there was morning: the fourth day. The description of the fourth day of creation describes the creation of the luminaries, their purpose, and their differences. God's command about the existence of the luminaries is depicted by the words: יהי מארות be the luminaries. The property of language here happily approaches the property of the depicted concept and shows that the existence of so many, so great and majestic celestial bodies was worth no more to the omnipotence of God than the creation of one small creature on a small earthly planet. The action by which the luminaries are produced, in all likelihood, is the concentration in certain places and the most perfect formation of the primordial light, with the establishment of its constant laws and circle of activity for these bodies. The luminaries are appointed for signs not only of understanding, together with other creatures, revealing the Divinity (Rom. 1:19-20), but also of prophetic signs about natural actions (Matt. 16:2-3) and indicating the actions of Providence in the human race (Matt. 24:29; Luke 23:45; Acts 2:20). Only in this last respect should the luminaries be signs in the hand of the Almighty, and not in arbitrary human fortune-telling. Also for constant tenses: מועדים. Such times are natural, such as: the four seasons, the time of sowing, the time of harvest, communal, civil and sacred, which are, in particular, according to Moses’ adaptation to the customs of the Jews, holidays. The same is true for days and years: let the number and measure be assigned to the existence of the world and everything contained in it, and to the event of God’s predestinations and promises that must take place in it. They are also appointed as lamps, so that not only the day, but also partly the night, has the required measure of light. The writer of everyday life does not reveal here the strong effect of the luminaries on the natural state of other corporeal beings, but presents it as serving creatures for the earth and earthly creatures, partly because he did not have in mind deep explorers of nature, but adapts to the general meaning; partly in order to contrast his story about the origin and purpose of the luminaries with the opinion about their divinity, to which antiquity was only inclined (Deut. 4:19). Moses does not speak about fixed stars and planets or about celestial bodies that are actually bright and shining with a borrowed light, according to the concept of modern naturalists, but, considering creation from the earth, he posits a difference between the luminaries in their apparent size and in the degree of their influence on earthly things. Therefore he calls the sun the greater luminary, and the moon the lesser luminary. The other celestial bodies are grouped into one category of stars. The origin of the luminaries, which have borrowed light, can be imagined in such a way that they, being acceptable as dark bodies, received, like the earth, their characteristic formation in the previous days of creation. Being considered in the state of the luminaries, they accepted this image of being through the formation of the celestial bodies themselves. This conjecture is derived from the fact that from the substance of the primordial light it is possible to produce only light bodies proper; and is justified by the fact that through it the proportionality of the parts of creation with the days of creation becomes more perceptible. 20. Then God said: Let the waters give birth to reptiles and living souls; and let the birds fly across the earth, under the firmament of heaven. 21. And God created the great fish, and every living thing that creeps, which begat the waters after their kinds, and every winged bird after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 22. And God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. 23. And there was evening, and there was morning: the fifth day. With the fifth day of creation, the origin in the visible world of beings with life and feeling is revealed. Since such creatures are known to us only on the globe, the viewer of creation now keeps his eyes on it alone. In the order in which creatures of this kind receive existence from the Creator, there is not only a gradual ascent from the less perfect to the most perfect, but also some correspondence with the order in which the physical world was formed in previous days. In the first three days after the creation of light, the firmament was created, the waters were separated, and dry land appeared. On the other three days, the formation of the luminaries was followed by the origin of animals, the way of being corresponding to water, firmament and dry land. In the description of the fifth day of creation, the creative action, the objects of this action, and the blessing of new types of creatures are presented to reflection. In order to produce the first types of animals, God turns his creative word to the waters: let the waters give birth. This command does not impart life-giving power to the waters, for in this very place the action of creation is attributed to God (Gen. 1:21), water is not supposed to be the only substance from which the first species of animals should arise, for it is known from experience that the composition of each membered body includes all the elements, but it is shown that the bodily composition of fish and similar creatures must be adapted to the nature of the waters, as their home, and to the substances found in waters as their food. Finally, a certain beginning is indicated, or, as it were, a seed, from which, according to the creative word, this kind of creatures should have arisen, placed in the part of the universal nature predetermined for them by the action of the Spirit of God, hovering over the waters. The appeal to the waters about the production of animals, as it is read in the translation of seventy interpreters and in the Slavic, conveys the idea that birds also come from water. Elsewhere Moses appears to bring forth birds from the earth (Gen. 2:19), where earth can mean not only dry land, but earth in general. But there is no need to attribute the origin of birds either to the waters or to the land, but must assume that, as a result of the will of God, they appeared flying on the earth under the firmament of heaven. For this concept alone is indisputably contained in God’s proclamation according to the closest translation of the words of Moses, and by it the concept is especially favorable to the correspondence noted in creation between animals and the elements. The types of creatures on the fifth day are: reptiles, or according to the exact sign of the word that Moses uses here, multiparous. This name primarily befits fish and insects; for use it is given not only to aquatic animals, but also to some land animals (Lev.11:20, 29). In this place, of course, it marks those living in the waters and amphibians; birds flying on the ground, under the firmament. These words, being understood separately, indicate in some way the different genera of birds; especially: תנינים. This word means snakes and great fish. Blessing is an expression of good will, but in the story about God, without a doubt, it also marks beneficence. In particular, the multiplication of a tribe is often depicted in sacred books as a blessing (Gen. 24:60; Ps. 127:3–5). Therefore, in the creation of animals, blessing signifies that action of the Creator, by which he, as it were, gave them the ability to propagate their race. 24. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living animals according to their kinds, cattle, and creeping things, and wild beasts of the earth, according to their kinds: and it was so.” 25. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kinds, and the cattle after their kinds, and every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth after their kind: and God saw that it was good. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let him rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth. 27. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. 28. And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 29. God also said: I give you every herb yielding seed that is on all the earth, and every tree from which there is fruit of a tree yielding seed; Let this be food for you. 30. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I give every green herb for food; and it became so. 31. And God looked at everything that He had created, and behold, everything was very good. And there was evening and there was morning: the sixth day. The sixth day of creation represents the creation of the animals that live on land, the creation of man, the blessing of man, and the universal approval of the creatures. The earth, which is dead more than other elements, but in its turn produces living animals, shows in a new way the power of the Creator, independent of help and planting life wherever it pleases. In the creation of man, the notable things are the time of his creation in the order of other creatures, God's advice about him, his name, the image of God in him, his purpose and, finally, the difference between the sexes. Man is created after all visible creatures. For the general order of visible creation consisted in a constant ascent to the most perfect. Man is a small world, a reduction and, as it were, the purest extraction of all the natures of the visible world. All other creatures of the earth were created to serve him, and therefore he is introduced into the world as a ruler into a house, like a priest into a church, completely built and adorned. God's advice on the creation of man has in Moses the appearance of a multitude of advisers. This image of expression is either borrowed from the lips of the mighty of the earth (1 Kings 13:9; 1 Ezra 4:17), or generally comes from the property of language (Job 18:2–3; Dan. 2:36), or introduces Angels into the participation of the council of God (1 Kings 22:20; Job 2:1; Dan. 4:14), or refers to the three persons of the Holy Trinity. since Holy Scripture is explained in this way only in important and decisive cases, such as: when a person is expelled from paradise (Gen. 3:22), when languages ​​are confused (Gen. 11:7), when a prophet is chosen about the fall of the chosen people and about the Messiah (Is. 6:8), then it is necessary that this way of expression have some special and majestic sign. Conversations of God with Angels cannot be imagined where the interlocutors are ascribed a single image and image of God and where the matter is not about any kind of service, but about assisting God. So, the adviser or advisers of the Divine must be sought within the Divinity itself. And we find them when we see them in St. Scripture that God the Creator has the Word, or Wisdom, and the Spirit, that the Father loves the Son, who is the image of His hypostasis (Heb. 1:3), and shows Him everything that He Himself creates (John 5:20), how much more does He show what He creates in His image; for whatever He does, the Son also does (John 5:19). By the name of advice (Acts 2:23; Eph. 1:11), and consequently by the action of advice, God’s foreknowledge and predestination are depicted in Holy Scripture. The counsel of God is eternal (Acts 15:18). But Moses brings it down to time in order to show it all the more close to man. Predestination embraces all creatures, but Moses represents almost all creation as accomplished, as if without preliminary reflection, and concerns the Creator only with man. This means that in the predestination of man lies the basis for the predestination of all creatures that preceded him in existence and all subsequent times. Adam, the original name of a person, which first belonged to the person of the first person, then to the family, according to the generally accepted explanation, is derived from the scarlet earth אדמה (Gen. 2:7), which the ancients called virgin and true (Flavius. Jewish Antiquities. Book I, Chapter 1). The image and likeness of God does not need to be explained as two different things, since in the word of God one of these names is often used in the same force as both together (Gen. 1:26–27, 5:1, 9:6; James 3:9; Col. 3:10). However, the most significant of these words is image, which is a similarity that is not accidental, but taken from the prototype. An image is something more than a trace. All beings show traces of the Creator, and, as it were, the back of God. The image of the face of God is found only in man. Since Moses does not explain what the image of God consists of, to understand this we can resort to comparing what was created in the image with the Prototype. So, you can look for the image of God: in the spiritual and immortal being of the human soul. However, these features seem too general; in the powers or abilities of the soul. Ambrose, Augustine and Damascus find the image of the Holy Trinity in memory, reason and will or love; in the actual perfection of spiritual powers, directed towards God and from Him directly receiving impressions of truth and goodness, or, according to the Apostle (Eph. 4:24), in righteousness and in the holiness of truth; in the union of soul and body. The soul in the body, like God in nature, being invisible, is present in everything, acts in it, animates it, rules it and preserves it; in a body consistent with the body of glory of the God-man (Phil. 3:21). But the Apostle does not attribute these features to the original image of God when he posits it in the spirit of the mind (Eph. 4:23) and when he uses the concept of the image of God as proof of the incorporeality of the Divine (Acts 17:29); in man's relation to the world, God is the ruler of everything, and man is made the ruler of the visible world. This line is used to describe the image of God by Chrysostom and Theodoret, who take the words of God’s advice about the dominion of man (Gen. 1:26) as an explanation of the image of God, which is doubtful. It should be carefully noted that similarity features are not always the essence of image features. But since the features of the image of God in man are not determined by the word of God with numerical precision, as if in order for him to be the image of an unlimited and indescribable being in this respect, then it is not necessary to accept this image in too close a sign. We can agree that its common basis is in the essence and abilities of the soul. The most essential and living features consist in the reflection of Divine truth and goodness, or in the holiness of truth. The advantages of a person are more external and relative; they are additions and consequences thereof. From this understanding of the image of God, God’s great view of man is revealed. Man is adorned with the image of God so that visible creatures are created for him, and he for God; for nothing can be so kind to the Supreme Being as the image of His highest perfection; and there can be no greater power to possess creatures than the image of the Creator. The foundations of the image of God are deeply laid in the soul so that, if its living features are eclipsed by deviation from the original rightness. (Eccl.7:29), at least some of his remains kept a person in the love and care of God (Gen.9:6) and did not allow him to be ultimately rejected; and so that even a fallen person may find out what he was and what he should be 5 . Finally, man’s external advantages are placed depending on the image of God, so that with the loss of it, God’s blessing will turn into punishment, the creature will not recognize its ruler and will rebel against him, so that the kingdom of God will not be completely swallowed up by the unlimited dominion of sin and death. Man is destined to possess the whole earth. By this God signified the superiority of his being and His unconditional love for him; but he also established in him the agreement of the lower creatures and their union with Himself. Their particular perfections originate and find their limit in the common good, the focus of which is in man; therefore he must be king over everything around him, in order to spread the influence of good everywhere. All creatures should offer God the service of reverence and gratitude; if their service does not rise above the sensual, a person must be their priest, in order to raise it within himself to the throne of the Most High. Creatures not endowed with understanding must demonstrate the rational of God and tell the glory of God: man must be their prophet, in order to resolve their sensory broadcasts with the highest language of the spirit. The difference of sex does not make a difference in the image of God, although the Apostle predominantly attributes it to the husband in relation to community life (1 Cor. 11:7). The reasoning of St. about the original state of man in relation to the difference between the sexes is worthy of note. Chrysostom, which is read in his essay “On Virginity”: Virginity appeared to us from the beginning and before marriage. Marriage surpassed and presented itself as a necessary thing after; so that Adam, if he had remained obedient, would not have needed it. But how, you say, would so many thousands be born? If this thought strikes you so strongly, then I ask you in return: how was Adam born? Like Eve - without marriage? How, they will say again, would all people really be born in the same way? One way or another, I won't say. The subject of my reasoning is only that God did not need marriage for the reproduction of people on earth. The blessing given to man includes the propagation of the race, dominion over creatures and the purpose of food. By the promise of the multiplication of the race, God gives man the power to produce others like himself, which is why there is no need to look for another source of human souls other than the soul of the first man. But through the same promise, God is the Creator of the most distant descendants of Adam, as well as of himself. And since everyone is born with the ability to give birth, there is no doubt that in Adam the entire human race received this blessing. It has been preserved even in the midst of universal damnation, for it is deeply implanted in human nature. However, those who give birth to children with unclean motives confuse their curse with the source of God's blessing. The more holy the gift of God, the more worthy the wrath of God is the abuse. The promise of many children should not be taken as a command that imposes the necessary obligation to bear children. A similar blessing was given to the dumb (Gen. 1:22), for whom it, of course, is no longer an obligation. But God also speaks His promises as commands, for He calls with His authority and places them before our eyes (Ps. 132:3). Having been created for possession, man, from his very abilities and strengths, could know his purpose. But beyond this, God solemnly entrusts to him the right of dominion, that is, a great instruction showing that the true Ruler of creatures is God and that man must use the dominion given to him in perfect obedience and devotion to the will of God. The purpose of earthly food showed man a state that was not quite perfect for his spiritual being, but still preparatory to complete perfection, for the highest spiritual life for its continuation does not need the help of lower creatures. God provides plants for human food. From a comparison of this decree with a similar decree about food after the flood (Gen. 9:3), which also mentions animals, we can conclude that animals were not initially designated as food for humans. This does not contradict the right of dominion over them, for eating is not the only action of possessing creatures. In particular, tree fruits are assigned to man, and grass to other animals, so that the most perfect belongs to the most perfect. But is this precluded for dumb people from eating tree fruits and various animals? Some claim both. If animals were created in small numbers, then at least in the beginning they should not have been carnivorous. The legend about the Golden Age is consistent with this 6. After the completion of all creation, there follows the universal approval of creatures, pronounced with greater force than before. And God looked at everything that He created: He knows the creatures in all, even the smallest parts, in the most intimate properties, in the most distant actions and consequences, in all relationships and in their entire composition: and now everything is very good. Each creature is particularly good, but overall it is very good. Each day of creation brought new good to creatures, but the day of the creation of man increased the good of the whole world. The solemn end of creation II. 1. Thus the heavens and the earth and all their hosts were completed. 2. And God finished his work on the seventh day, and rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; for in it he rested from all his works, which he had done and created. Moses concludes the description of the six-day creation with a brief repetition of what has been said, calling the last limit of creation the end, or completion, and showing the parts of it under the names of heaven, earth and their armies. The heavenly host sometimes means the stars (Deut. 4:19), and sometimes the Angels (Neh. 9:6). The army of heaven and earth are the majestic creatures of the whole world, similar to the army in the structure that prevails in them and in serving Providence in defense of the righteous and in vengeance on sinners (Judges 5:20). Instead of the seventh day of the end of God's work, the translation of the seventy interpreters is placed in the sixth. The concept is one, but there is a kind of contradiction in the words. Perhaps the Greek interpreters wanted to forestall the question: was something done on the seventh day? The last day of creation is called the end of all the works of God; although God is working until now (John 5:17). That is, He produces new creatures, but not new types of creatures. Creation continues by preserving the laws of nature, but not by establishing new ones. He creates new things in the kingdom of grace (2 Cor. 5:17), and hunts in the kingdom of nature. The end of creation is sealed by the solemn rest of the Creator and the blessing and sanctification of the seventh day. God calms down not from weariness, which is not characteristic of Him (Is. 40:28), but from works. This peace is not only the accomplishment of deeds, but some special consequence of it. And human peace is not complete inaction, for complete inaction is impossible; but the action of forces balanced among themselves and with external objects of action, since labor is the continued dominance of active forces over the object of action. Likewise, the work of God is an action in a creature that has not yet reached the measure of perfection predetermined for it by the wisdom and goodness of the Creator; but the action in creatures that have come to fulfill their predestination and, as far as possible, are in conformity with Divine perfections, is the peace of God. Bodily and sensory beings did not bring peace to God, but man, united with God by the power of his likeness and through his medium established other creatures in union with his perfections. Since man, at his creation, was still placed in a state of preparation and on the path to his full perfection, then the rest of God relative to creation is still a transformation and hope of that perfect peace when God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). For this reason, perhaps, Moses does not give evening and morning to the seventh day, that is, the continuation of the day that has limits. The blessing and sanctification of the seventh day is not a preliminary indication of the Jewish law of the Sabbath, established after the exodus from Egypt, as some believe. For the Creator blesses and sanctifies the very day on which he rested, and because he rested from all his works. And the law does not speak of a new blessing and sanctification of the seventh day, but of the ancient and original (Ex. 20:10-11), and it is placed between the immutable commandments of the Decalogue. What the blessing of the day is can be understood from its opposite, the curse of the day. The day is cursed when it is considered the beginning and cause of some evil and, in a frenzy of sadness, is condemned to lamentation and, as it were, destruction (Job.3:1-9; Jer.20:14-16). Consequently, when the day is blessed, then it is made partakers of some special good, worthy of joy and preservation among the very changes of time. Most importantly, God’s blessing is always a source of solid and abiding good. Sanctification in general marks the separation to a higher purpose (Josh. 20:7; Num. 3:13), and is sometimes attributed to that which is holy in itself (John 10:36, 17:19); in particular, the sanctification of times is their appointment for worship (2 Kings 10:2; Neh. 8:9; Joel 1:14, 2:15–16). So, God, blessing and sanctifying the seventh day, makes it an unforgettable monument of His glory and joy in creation (Ps. 103:31) and a time, by excellence, sacred to man. It cannot be said, contrary to this, that a person who was holy all the time and had all his deeds as the object of God, did not need a special sacred time. If he was in time, he could not do everything at all times. And if there is a time for every will under heaven (Eccl. 3:1), if for Adam there was a time when he had to carry out the affairs of his dominion over the creatures (Gen. 1:28) and cultivate the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15), then why should there not be a time in which he would be solely and completely immersed in God? The eclipsed memory of the consecration of the seventh day was resumed by the ritual - the decree of the Sabbath, but the seventh day reckoning of time was in use among the patriarchs (Gen. 29:27) even before the flood (Gen. 8: 4, 10, 12). The universality and antiquity of the legend of the seventh day among the pagans 7 also shows that this tradition comes from the beginning of the world. The Gospel brings the concept of the creation of the world closer to the doctrine of the redemption of man. It calls a person reborn in Christ a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15), compares the inner enlightenment from God to the origin of the original light from the word of God (2 Cor. 4:6), and connects the peace of believers in Christ with the peace of God after the completion of creation (Heb. 4: 3, 4, 9, 10). From this it is revealed that between the works of God in the world great and small, in the kingdom of nature and grace, despite their apparent distance and significant difference, there is some mysterious proportionality and correspondence. So, the creation of the world can be seen as an image of redemption. But since the Gospel has revealed only some features of similarity between one and the other with clarity, then anyone who wants, according to its instructions, to extend this consideration to some detail, must be content with probability, bearing in mind that the manifold wisdom of God may be revealed, albeit by fortune-telling (Eph. 3:10). The correspondence between creation and redemption can be observed in relation to the formation of the Church in general and in relation to the regeneration of each person. Some believe that the six days of creation, with the day of rest, mark the seven thousand years of the existence of the world, in which the Church is built and perfected (2 Pet. 3:8, Lact. Inst. div. L. VII, p. 14). But Jesus Christ does not allow us to extend our curiosity too far in searching for the times and seasons which the Father has given to his authority (Acts 1:7). Without adhering to a strict reckoning of times, but comparing the works of the Lord in the six-day creation of the world with His works in the structure and accomplishment of the universal Church, we can imagine the latter in six successive changes. I. In the beginning the Church was heaven and earth together, or heaven on earth. The Fall of man made it an uneducated and empty land. Darkness covered her as if she had completely united with the abyss of fallen spirits. But the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, that is, over the tribes of men, which in the word of God are depicted as waters (Is. 8:6-7; Rev. 17:15), which perished in Adam, and grace overshadowed him. God sent him the light of revelation about the Redeemer and separated the kingdom of light from the kingdom of darkness, the believing man from the unrepentant devil, the seed of the woman from the seed of the serpent, the tribe of Seth from the tribe of Cain, the house of Noah from the ultimately corrupted first world. II. In order to reveal the light of revelation in greater clarity, God wanted to establish the firmament, that is, a society in which His promises would be unshakably established and which would tell all other nations His glory and proclaim the gracious work of His hands (Ps. 19:1-5; Rom. 10:18). For this reason, the troubled waters of the earthly tribes during the pandemonium of Babylon were divided; and the rejected peoples, like waters under the firmament, covered the earth, thinking only of the earth; Abraham and the Patriarchs, like waters above the firmament, ascended to the highest promises and closest union with God, and the chosen people who descended from them were purified and confirmed by the law. III. Then the Church, previously immersed in the waters of the nations, appeared on the solid, own land of promise and was adorned with earthly blessings from God. Her land was opened so that the fruits of salvation would be born and righteousness would grow (Is. 14:8). In the middle of it, like a tree of life, the root of Jesse was planted (Is. 11:1), whose rod was to establish, a new branch to renew, a fruit to imbue the universe with immortality. IV. With the incarnation of the Son of God, the Spiritual Sun of the world and the new Church appeared, like the moon, illuminated by His light. The apostles and teachers of Christianity with the entire Church, like the moon and stars, sent light into the very night of paganism. V. With the continuation of the life-giving action of the Spiritual Sun, the waters of previously rejected peoples exhaust souls living a spiritual life, and lofty minds above the visible and temporal fly to the pure contemplation of the invisible and eternal. VI. Finally, the land of Israel, which once flourished, but was then abandoned for a while by the hand of creation, will show in itself to the world life from the dead (Rom. 11:15). When the mysterious body of the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), which now, being composed and composed by Himself, through the mutual cohesion of the members, by the corresponding action of each of them, increases in its composition (Eph. 4:15-16), is created completely and finally, then, erected by its Head, permeated by the Holy Spirit, it will solemnly reveal in all its members the one image of God, and the great Saturday of God and men will come. Each person in particular has his own heaven and earth, spirit and flesh, internal and external, a remnant of primitive perfection and the chaos of sinful corruption, from which, through the action of Grace, a new creation is gradually built. I. Emerging from moral insignificance, he finds himself in an unsettled and empty land, and darkness closes the depths of his heart from himself. But the Spirit of God descends on the tearful waters of repentance and the Word of God produces in him the highest light, which the clearer it shines, the more it is separated, and the person’s own darkness becomes more noticeable. II. The day of repentance is followed by a day of purification and joy, in which God creates a firmament in the spirit and heart, separating the upper waters from the lower, meek and pure tears of grace from the sensual tears of grief and contrition. III. After the confinement of the waters of contrition within certain limits, a person discovers in self-knowledge a new country, dry, unadorned, barren, naked before the light of God’s Justice, not watered by any consolations of grace. But after this testing languor, by the power of the creative Word, good feelings and virtues begin to grow from dead dryness, at first weak and short-lived, then firm and sublime, destined to bear the fruit of truth. Both states are good in the ways of God, although the soul guided by them at first does not remember them. IV. If a person constantly continues to listen to the Word of the Lord speaking about him, the light of faith in the highest powers of his soul becomes the sun that illuminates its innermost depths, warms and revives it. It also forms certain private insights, revelations, visions, which, like stars, cast certain rays into the deepest night of natural ignorance. V. Jesus Christ, being the sun shining in the soul and the word speaking in it, produces in it an inner new life. From the very waters of internal and external sorrows, living and life-giving deeds of love arise, grow and multiply. In the firmament of the purified spirit, in moments of admiration, sublime thoughts appear. VI. Grace, even on the previously dead earth of the old, sensual, external man, hour by hour, places more and more impressions of the true inner life. And earthly thoughts receive a higher direction, and passions are penetrated by Divine love, and slavish fear is purified by the spirit of filial submission to God. In this way, the whole person is recreated in the Image of the Son of God, and then he completely inhabits him, lives in him, rules in him, rests in him, is sanctified by the Holy One and rests in the saints. The narrator of creation, in order to reduce such a vast subject to the limits of human understanding and need, especially set two things in mind: the gradual order of origin of creatures and the predominant dignity of creatures. According to this rule, having measuredly described the six days of creation and the seventh day of God's rest, he again returns to the six days to depict the creation of man. This image consists of the following features: a look at the state of the world before the creation of man (Gen. 2:4-6), the image of the creation of the first man (Gen. 2:7), his location (Gen. 2:8-15), the commandment given to him (Gen. 2:16-17), the creation of the wife (Gen. 2:18-23), the establishment of marriage (Gen. 2:24), the state of innocence (Gen. 2:25). A look at the creation of the world before the creation of man 4. These are the products of the heavens and the earth, at the time of their creation, at the time when the Lord God created the heavens and the earth, 5. and every bush of the field that was not on the earth before, and every grass of the field that did not grow before; for the Lord God sent no rain upon the earth, neither was there any man to till the field, 6. but steam rose from the earth to water the whole face of the earth. Having decided to describe the origin of man, the narrator again touches on the origin of the world in order to show the totality of both and in order to present the creation of the world as a preparation for the creation of man. Words: these are the products of heaven and earth at their creation, etc. constitute the inscription of the subsequent legend about the decoration of the earth and about the human race in particular (Gen. 5:1, 6:9, 10:1). Explaining the concept of the creation of heaven and earth, the narrator says that they begin, according to the Hebrew expression, from the day, that is, from the time of creation, for the Jews accept the day in the most extensive sign for some known time (Is. 2:12, 17, 20). In order to distinguish the initial generation of things, accomplished by creative power, from their birth according to the laws of nature, he mentions, as an example, the creation of plants, completely new on earth, without the assistance of rain and human hands (Gen. 2:5). He adds that steam rose from the earth (Gen. 2:6). Apparently, this describes the first state of the land, barely freed from the waters that covered and penetrated it. But some of these words, in connection with the previous ones, are taken in a negative sense, just as this is done out of necessity in the words of the psalm (Ps. 9:19): the poor will not be completely forgotten, the patience of the poor will perish (in connection with the previous expression it should be understood: it will not perish forever). It is worthy of note that in the introduction to the story of man for the first time, the majestic name יהוה Jehovah, that is, He or the Existent, is established in Holy Scripture in conjunction with the previously used name אלהים Elohim God. Perhaps the narrator’s intention was to convey through this especially that God, the Creator of the world and man, is the same one who revealed himself to Israel as the Fulfiller of gracious promises (Ex. 3:15). Some of the newest scholars of the sacred books notice something completely different here. Noting that up to this point in the book of Genesis the name Elohim was constantly used in it, and from now on until the end of Chapter III, Jehovah, Elohim, is used, they conclude from this that this part of the book was written by a completely different writer. But in this very part one Elohim is also used (Gen. 3:3, 5). Which of the two supposed writers wrote these verses? Even in one verse it is written first Jehovah Elohim, and then Elohim (Gen. 3:1). So, is this one verse really written by two writers? In chapter IV, one thing is used repeatedly: Jehovah. Is a third writer really needed for this? Chapter V begins with an inscription exactly like the present one, except that it says Elohim. How many more different writers must be invented to explain this difference in words? However, the learned defenders of this bold guess themselves sufficiently protect us from the difficulty of competing with them, when one (Eichhorn) of this part of the book of Genesis, in comparison with the previous one, prescribes a superior antiquity, according to its style, unprocessed and unlearned; and the other (Heinrichs) finds here more refinement in the syllable and more signs of learning. Image of the creation of man 7. The Lord God created man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The image of the creation of man shows in him the most excellent and closest creation to God. It is not produced by a single action, but by gradual formation, just as light is first created and then the luminaries are formed. The Creator of the world does everything with one word; The Creator of man appears to be first speaking within Himself, then acting, and finally introducing His breath into man. The idea of ​​some that the one acting in this case was the Son of God in the form of a man is a guess that does not serve either the clarity or the reliability of the legend of Moses. The Council of God (Gen. 1:26) assigns the creation of man to the Holy Trinity, and does not grant this action to Her single person. The narrator uses special features to describe the creation of body and soul. For the external part of man, the substance is taken from the earth, which he must possess, so that he has direct knowledge of the properties of the things subordinate to him and the closest relation to the area of ​​his dominion. And since this substance, formed, so to speak, by the Creator’s own hands, was without a doubt the purest, most perfect and consequently the strongest, the power with which primitive man could act in the visible world through it must have been as great as the weakness that now holds a damaged person under the influence of the nearest and most distant creatures of this world. But the first degree from which the formation of such a powerful creature begins is dust, and its Creator in everyday life is presented in the image of a poor man. This, according to the explanation made by Jeremiah the Prophet (Jer. 18:2–6), signifies the power of the Creator and the insignificance of the creature, no matter how great it may seem. The thought of being born from dust should be an inexhaustible source of humility for a person on earth and in heaven. God does not breathe the soul into a person in such a way that, therefore, it can in the proper sense be called with the pagans divinae particulam aurae, a particle of God's breath, for the living human soul is far different from God's life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:4). This inspiration shows only the beginning of its existence and a way of being different from those souls who were previously created by the Word of God. Creative inspiration relates primarily to the human face, as the seat of the instruments of feeling and the mirror of the soul. The soul from the first visible action, which testifies to its presence, is called breathing and, according to the exact translation of the Hebrew expression, the breath of lives; for man truly combines within himself the life of plants, animals and Angels, temporary and eternal life, life in the image of the world and in the image of God. With all this, man became a living soul, that is, after the union of the soul with the body, he became a single being, in outer life belonging to the circle of animals. First place of man 8. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east; and he placed there the man whom he had created. 9. And the Lord God made from the ground every tree that is pleasant to look at, and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10. A river comes out of Eden and waters the garden; then it splits into four streams. 11. The name of the first is Fishon: it flows around all the land of Havilah, where there is gold, 12. and the gold of that land is the best; there is also bdellach and onyx stone. 13. The name of the second river is Gihon: it flows around the whole land of Cush, 14. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows against Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15. And the Lord God took the man and set him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. Adam was given a garden for his stay, or, according to the usual name in our language, paradise גן, παϱαδεισος. Among the Jews, this name simply means a garden (Eccl. 2:5), and in the New Testament it sometimes shows a blessed state in heaven (Luke 23:42; 2 Cor. 12:2-4; Rev. 2:7). Therefore, not only on earth, even in the whole world, there is almost no place left where curiosity does not seek and gullibility does not find paradise. But instead of wandering along the crossroads of human opinions, it is better to stop in this study on the clear instructions of the Word of God and humbly recognize the power of the Cherub, who was appointed to guard the path to the tree of life. According to the legend of Moses, paradise must be sought on earth, for in it there are trees grown by God from the earth (Gen. 2:9), animals and birds (Gen. 2:19), created from the earth (Gen. 2:19), rivers, partly known (Gen. 2:14). Not the whole earth was paradise, but paradise was, as it were, its capital, for Adam, after the fall, was expelled from paradise to cultivate the earth (Gen. 3:23). It cannot be argued that the traces of paradise have been completely erased by a flood or otherwise, for the details that Moses goes into about its location show the contrary. He posits paradise in Eden, a country which, according to the instructions of other holy books (Is. 37:12. Eze. 27:23), can probably be sought near Mesopotamia, Syria or Armenia, in the east in relation to the country in which he writes, or to the promised land that he has in mind. In order to designate the place of paradise for the most distant posterity, he draws attention to what is most permanent and abiding on earth - the rivers. Of the four that he names, two are known beyond doubt: Hiddekel, according to the interpretation of seventy interpreters, Tigris (Dan. 10:4), which is in accordance with the local instruction of Moses and which there is no reason to doubt; and the Euphrates, which is known to have not been described by Moses in any special circumstance. But in exploring the other two rivers described by Moses, with the circumstances belonging to them, between the crossroads of guesses, not with special conviction, but only with special curiosity, you can dwell for a while on the newest one, according to which Fishon is Phasis, or Arak; Havilah is the fatherland of the people from whom the Caspian Sea was called Khvalynsk; Gihon - Gigon, otherwise Amu, a river flowing into the Aral Sea; Kush is the ancient Kaf, which was replaced by Balk, a city with a region in Bukharia, under Gikon (Michaelis Suppl. ad Lex. Hebr.). Whether bdellium is ανϑϱαξ anphrax, carbuncle, as seventy interpreters thought, or bdellium, a kind of fragrant resin, as the ancient Latin translator believed, cannot be decided with any certainty. However, wherever, due to disagreement of guesses, paradise is believed, this disagreement should not be blamed on the sacred writer, who gave his narrative all possible clarity, but time, which changes not only the arbitrary names of things, but also the natural state of the earth. What Moses also says about the origin of paradise, about its accessories and about the introduction of man into it must be understood in accordance with the original concept of the nature of paradise. The planting of paradise is attributed to God in such a way that its creation was not an accidental and simple consequence of the formation of the earth, but the action of the special intention of God. The special features of paradise were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life, which, according to the closest application to the Hebrew name, can be called the tree of lives and also the tree of health (Joshua 5:8) Moses represents as the head of the trees of paradise that are good for food, just as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is presented in some correspondence with trees that are pleasant to look at. Being as far removed from essential knowledge of the tree of life as from eating its fruits, we must be content with this comparative way of explanation. It was between the trees of paradise as man is between animals, as the sun is between the planets. The fruits of the trees of paradise served for nutrition, the fruit of the tree of life for health. Those could make up for the deficiency in the body produced by movement, and this one, bringing its forces into the same balance at all times, preserved in it the ability to live forever (Gen. 3:22) and mature to a painless transformation from the spiritual to the spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44-46). But since the life and light of man have always been in the hypostatic Word of God (John 1:4), the tree of life in its beneficial effect on natural life was a majestic formation of grace-filled life in God, in which sign the name of the tree of life is used in the New Testament (Rev. 2:7, 22:2). When the tree of life is presented in the middle of the garden, then Holy Scripture points not so much to the center of the place, but to its distinct property and obvious greatness. This is how the king introduces himself among his people (1 Kings 3:8). The name of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil no doubt refers to the effect it could produce in man. However, it could not be a source of knowledge, both because this is incompatible with the nature of the tree, and because the image of the Creator was in man the source of reason or knowledge (Col. 3:10) and the whole world presented him with images of good. So, this tree was supposed to constitute only a means and an opportunity for experimental knowledge or a real feeling of the difference between good and evil. This action could depend both on the properties of the tree and on the special purpose of God. From the property of the tree, if we imagine that it was in nature opposite to the tree of life; that as much life-giving power was contained in the tree of life, so much akin to the substance of deadness was hidden in the tree of knowledge; that as much as the influence of the former corresponded to the structure of the human body, so much the actions of the latter were incongruous with it and therefore destructive. From a special purpose, since the tree of knowledge, having been chosen as an instrument of testing, represented to man, on the one hand, an ever-increasing knowledge and enjoyment of good in obedience to God, on the other, the knowledge and sensation of evil in disobedience. Everything that Holy Scripture says about the tree of knowledge relates to this especially testing purpose. It seems that man was created outside of paradise and then brought into it either by an angel or by direct inspiration from God. Such an entry into it made him feel that he was not the natural ruler of his blessed home, but a prisoner brought into it by grace and must pass through it to glory. Man was brought into paradise to cultivate it (Gen. 2:15). Although intact nature, of course, was rich even without the aid of art, and although man least of all had to serve his body; However, God assigns him simple agricultural work, so that by testing things he can increase his natural knowledge, so that he can further defend himself as far as possible from the dangerous feeling of self-satisfaction and independence, and so that the visible improvement of earthly products through labor brings to his mind the possibility and duty of cultivating his own heart to bring God the most perfect fruits of honor and truth. He was also entrusted with guarding paradise not so much from the creatures subordinate to him, but from his own intemperance and the tempter provided by the Omniscient. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You shall eat the fruit of every tree in this garden, 17 But you shall not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat, you will surely die. The commandment given to Adam consists of a blessing, a prohibition and a threat. The prohibition is preceded by a blessing, so that a person, accepting this latter, all the more vividly feels both the obligation to submit to the first and the convenience of fulfilling the will of God. I submit, the Lord says to him, to your will all the trees of paradise - leave one to My will. You will have many good trees for food, but do not eat from one. Thus, the Lord also reveals in His commandments more love than His power. Hearing the prohibition placed on the tree of knowledge, some would like God to either completely remove such a dangerous tree from paradise, or to firmly strengthen man against temptation. Although it is not characteristic of a work to judge the Artist (Rom. 9:20), but when there are already those who contradict Him, then it is permissible with reverent caution to justify His ways. Man is created in the image of God. A necessary and high feature of the image of God is freedom. The freedom of the creature does not exclude the possibility of doing evil, but is strengthened in goodness by aggravated experiences of doing good, which gradually, with the assistance of grace, constitute a good habit, and, finally, the moral impossibility of doing evil. From this it is clear that man, created free, necessarily had to go through the path of testing. To test him, not only the natural and internal law of love for God is assigned, but also the positive external law of the tree of knowledge, because this last law reveals to man a way of acting based on the unconditional submission of his will to the will of God. And this obedience, immutably preserved, must clothe the will, limited by force, with the unlimited will, because this law subjects the lower powers of man, as well as the higher ones, to the inherent test and, consequently, prepares for exaltation; because God foresees an active temptation to which a person must be subjected from the side of an already fallen being, and turns the temptation to such an object in which the tempted one could easily resist the temptation. The prohibition is accompanied by a threat, so that if love and gratitude are shaken in the test, then even though fear would be a person’s salvation. Usually God acts with fear where he fails with love. The threat is expressed in an expression that, by the nature of the sacred language, depicts the certainty of the event: you will die. The threat of death for disobedience shows both that a person was not naturally mortal, and that death is the deprivation of everything that constituted the life of an innocent person. A person had spiritual life when he walked in the light of the face of God, fed on the Word of God and could grow in spiritual good. So, there is also spiritual death, when the human spirit has existence without life, just as in a dead body there is movement without life, when it gives rise to such thoughts and desires that are alien to its being and even consume it. A person had the life of the soul when his imagination was filled with pure and holy examples and when his heartfelt sensations were alive without violent frenzy and sweet without charming rapture. Imagination upset and cast into crude sensuality, restless and painful feelings, destructive passions are the death of the soul. Human bodily life was painless and safe from destructive actions. Infirmities, illnesses, and destruction constitute the death of the body. Thus, the threat of God, in the words of St. Augustine, includes all deaths even to the last, which is called the second (De civ. Dei. C. XV). God threatens man with death not as vengeance, but as a natural consequence of disobedience and falling away. The life and light of man were in God (John 1:4), deviation from the will of God was alienation from the life of God (Eph. 4:18), what remained for man except death? When the very day of eating from the tree of knowledge is designated as the day of death, this can be understood either in such a way that the day marks here in general the time after the Fall, or in such a way that on the day of the first Fall spiritual death occurs and the universal dominion of death begins. 18. And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone; I will make him a helper like him. 19. For when God created out of the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought it to man, that he might see what to call them, and that whatever man called every living soul, that should be its name; 20. And when the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field, then there was not found for man a helper like him. 21. And God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and when he fell asleep, he took out one of his ribs and covered that place with flesh. 22. And God created a woman from a rib taken from a man, and brought her to the man. 23. Then the man said, “This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she will be called woman, for she was taken out of man. In the description of the creation of the wife, Moses shows: God's advice about her creation (Gen. 2:18), the incident that gave man the idea of ​​a helper (Gen. 2:19–20), the image of the creation of the wife (Gen. 2:21–22) and the property and origin of her name (Gen. 2:23). The creation of the wife is preceded by the advice of God, like the creation of the husband, but not so solemn. For now God does not say let us create, but I will do. This difference in expression follows the difference between two councils, one of which contains the general and essential predestination of man, and the other is a particular addition to the first. The words: it is not good for man to be alone, it is impossible to put in opposition to the divine approval of the creatures that preceded man, and below to assert on them the necessity of a marital state for every person. The creation of a wife could not give the first man a higher perfection than in which he was created before her, and there are circumstances in which it is good for a man not to touch his wife (1 Cor. 7:1; Matt. 19:12). It was not good for Adam to be alone, probably because, when looking at the animals, he already felt the need for a helper like him (Gen. 2:20). When a wife in the council of God is called her husband’s assistant, this shows her purpose to assist him in the birth and upbringing of children, in all the needs related to temporary life. A husband's assistant as before him כנגדו, translated seventy; after him and those like him, a wife is called in commemoration of the same nature with him, in contrast to other kinds of animals, his closest service (1 Cor. 11:9), constant conversation with him and inseparable cohabitation. Wanting to show the incident that gave man the idea of ​​​​an assistant similar to him, and to explain the property of this assistant through comparison with the creatures that serve man, Moses describes the first man’s observation of animals, the naming of animals, and casually mentions their creation. There is no mention of fish here, because they, being in a world remote, so to speak, from man, could not present themselves to his gaze so quickly. The bringing of animals before man need not be represented as a spiritual vision or the action of Angels. It could be a consequence of their natural subordination and obedience to man, like a ruler. Some believe that the naming of animals and birds is not on the sixth day, which alone seems insufficient for this, and not before the creation of the wife, since the language presupposes an interlocutor, but this contradicts both the order of the sacred narrative and the connection in which the naming of animals is presented in it with the creation of the wife. It can be assumed that on the sixth day, not all without exception, but the most famous and closest to the existence of man, genera of earthly creatures were surveyed and named; and that the original language existed before the creation of the woman, without requiring much time and labor for its composition and education, like the gift of tongues in the Apostles. Man received it along with existence, perhaps perfected its knowledge through the conversation of the Creator, and through sensory sounds supplemented it from himself by inspiration from God, who predestined man for community life. St. Chrysostom explains the intention of viewing and naming animals when he says that God did this to show us the wisdom of Adam and as a sign of his dominion. In order to imagine the naming of names as an act of wisdom, it must be assumed that Adam previously had knowledge of the general properties and laws of beings; and applying to this general knowledge what he found by experience or close examination in particular types of creatures, he gave them names depicting their nature. Such names are still preserved mainly in the Hebrew language. The words: so that whatever a man calls every living soul, so shall its name be, show that God himself foresaw the dignity of these names and established them for constant use in the human language. The effect of this predestination invariably continued until the Pandemonium of Babylon. The consequence of the review and naming of animals was that man did not find a helper like him. Not found means more than it didn’t exist. The first presupposes the concept, search or desire of an object. From this it is clear that looking at animals created in pairs led man to the idea of ​​a human pair. Whether there was a special intention of God to introduce him to this thought or whether he entered into it only by following the images of the sensory world, Moses does not resolve this question. At least, God is justified in creating a dangerous helper by the fact that man himself invented it. To create a wife, God puts a person in a deep sleep. Some imagine this dream as the effect of some inclination towards the sensual from the spiritual. The wife is created from the rib of a man so that man, created in the image of God, is the only beginning of beings of his kind, just as God is the only beginning of all kinds of beings; so that the wife is always close to her husband’s heart; so that she would be naturally disposed to obey and submit to him, being, as it were, a part of him; in order to facilitate the mutual communication of thoughts, feelings, perfections and to make the human race a single body. When the place of the rib is covered with flesh, one cannot imagine that the integrity of Adam’s body is thereby violated. But Adam is left in such a position that he finds part of this wholeness in his helper (Matthew 19:6) 8. When a wife, created in an image invisible to Adam, appears before him, then either by the inner sensation of what happened in him during sleep and by natural passion, or by inspiration from God, he recognizes her origin from his own being and accordingly gives her a name. Our language does not show the power of this name: it is visible in the Hebrew words: איש, אשה ish, isha. 24. For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. These words can be taken either from the person of Adam, predicting the natural consequence of the creation of the wife, or from the person of Moses, showing the beginning of marriage. But Jesus Christ attributes them to God (Matthew 19:5). This quite shows their importance, no matter through whom they were pronounced. The property of the marital union is explained by comparing it with the natural union between parents and children and it is shown that the former is more inseparable than the latter. However, leaving father and mother and clinging to a wife relates to community life, but does not extend to the love and gratitude of children for their parents. Separation from father and mother is attributed to the husband because the husband, and not the wife, establishes a home and family separate from the parental one. The close union of marriage is expressed even more forcefully by the name one flesh. The exact reason of this original and universal law on marriage is such that it excludes polygamy and willful dissolution of marriage, but not virginity and chastity. 25 Now Adam and his wife were both naked and not ashamed. Moses describes the state of innocence from the natural and moral side. The nakedness of the first people, considered in a natural relation to the body, shows that, due to its immortal strength, it did not require any protection from the action of external forces, and due to its beauty, no extraneous adornment. Nudity, morally acceptable and free from shame, is a sign of internal and external purity. Shame is a feeling of a real or imaginary, but noticeable lack of perfection or beauty: consequently, then there can be shame of nakedness when it actually reveals or brings to mind some imperfection or ugliness, which, since it cannot be the work of God, is, without a doubt, a consequence of moral corruption. The ordinary effect of shame is the desire to hide, but this desire is characteristic of the deeds of darkness, and not the deeds of light. From this it is clear that the nakedness of the first people was a state in which they, walking in light and truth, had nothing to hide from God and their conscience; that our clothing is a monument to the Fall; modesty is a kind of repentance, and shamelessness is unrepentance and rigidity 9. In the story of the creation of the first man one can find some foreshadowings of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul paves the way to this, calling Adam the image of the future (Rom. 5:14), and calling Jesus Christ, in contrast to the first man, the last Adam and the second man (1 Cor. 15:45, 47). So, the first Adam is the image of the second Adam. In the meaning of his name, he is the first scarlet according to the original substance of his body. The second is clothed in a robe of flesh stained with the blood of suffering (Rev. 19:13). In his origin and the dignity of his being, the first Adam had no father other than God, just like the second. The purest dust was extracted from the entire earthly nature formed in the previous days of creation into the body of the first Adam; in a similar way, into the flesh of the Second Adam, in the person of the Virgin Mary, the purest seed of the woman was extracted from all human nature, gradually purified to the possible extent in the previous preparatory times of the new creation. The creation of the first Adam was accomplished by breathing into the virgin earth the breath of life from God; the incarnation of the Son of God was accomplished by the invasion of the Holy Spirit and the overshadowing of the power of the Most High (Luke 1:35), through which in the Virgin Mary the consubstantial Word of God was introduced into the virgin seed of the woman. Thus, the first man Adam became a living soul, the Last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. The first is in the image and likeness of God, the last is the radiance of the glory of the Father and the very image of His hypostasis (Heb. 1:3). In relation to the world, Adam is made the ruler of the universe; The Son of God is appointed heir of all things (Heb. 1:2). At your location. For the sojourn of the first Adam, God, with his own hand, so to speak, planted a garden in Eden, in the east; like this, to prepare the place where the Second Adam was to appear, grapes were carried from Egypt by a high hand and planted (Ps. 79:9). In the creation of the wife. Here the similarities between the first and the Second Adam merge with the features of opposition: since what is in the first is illness, then in the Second is healing. The dream of the first Adam in paradise became the beginning of the diseases of all mankind; the death of the Second Adam is a decisive cure for all the diseases of all mankind. The rib of the first Adam lands, and a wife appears, destined to be an instrument of his seduction; The rib of the Second Adam is pierced, and blood and water come out - signs of the sacraments that cleanse the sin generated by the woman who came out of the rib. The place of the rib of the first Adam is covered with flesh, and thus the appearance of division received its perfection; but the perforated rib of the Second Adam remained open, so that in this way everything divided by the fall of the first Adam could come into union with the body of the Second. The state of the Second Adam after His death is, in abundance, the returned state of the first Adam before his sleep in paradise. In marriage, the created wife is united with her husband in such a union that both make one flesh; those who are redeemed by Jesus Christ and believe in Him are also members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones (Eph. 5:30). As the Head of the human race. But the first Adam threw down with him all the members of which he was the head; The second Adam was predestined to preside over all things in heaven and on earth (Eph. 1:10). The Fall and Recovery of Man The history of the fall and restoration of people describes their temptation (Gen. 3:1-5), the fall (Gen. 3:6-7), chastisement (Gen. 3:8-13), the judgment of God (Gen. 3:14-19), the giving of a new name to the wife (Gen. 3:20), the beginning of clothing (Gen. 3:21), the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (Gen. 3:22-24). 1. The most cunning of all the animals in the field that God created was the serpent. He said to his wife: Did God truly say: You shall not eat the fruit of any tree in the garden? 2. The woman said to the serpent: We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 3. Only the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God said, do not eat, and do not touch it, lest you die. 4. And the serpent said to the woman, You will not die. 5. On the contrary, God knows that on the day that you eat of its fruit, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil. Starting to describe temptation, the narrator gives the concept of the tempter. And indeed, a correct concept of it is necessary in order to comprehend the possibility and determine the image of temptation. The tempter is called the serpent. It is difficult to agree with the opinion that this means a simple animal, which, by example of its eating from a tree forbidden to humans, aroused in Eve an ungodly thought and desire; since in this case there would be no need for Moses to attribute to this animal, instead of a simple action, judgments and words unusual for it; and to represent the guilt of evil in the world as a being who does not have freedom and acts in accordance with his nature would mean to represent God as tempting contrary to His own word (James 1:13). It is impossible, on the contrary, to think that this serpent is only the ghost of an animal, since it is clearly compared to the beasts in the field. So, the serpent-tempter is a true, but not a simple animal. A being of the highest kind acts by it, for it acts with understanding; but the creature is evil, because it acts against the will of God, to the destruction of people and to its own punishment. This is the being who, precisely from the temptation and deception of men in the Word of God, is called the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan (Rev. 20:2, Zech. 3:1), a murderer from the beginning, the father of lies (John 8:44). Since no being could come out of the hands of the Creator as such, it must be assumed that it became such through falling away from Him. This is also confirmed by the Word of God when it speaks of the angels who did not keep their origin, but left their dwelling (Jude 1:6). Some believe that the beginning of their falling away is in envy of man (Wis. 2:24), and some - in pride and deviation from the love of God to selfishness (Is. 14:12-14), considering envy to be a consequence of the fall. Moses shows not the creature itself, but the instrument of the tempter, because his intention to briefly show the beginning of the damage to human nature does not allow him to enter into distant and difficult details about the properties of fallen spirits and because he wanted to present the tempter exactly and only in the form in which he appeared to Eve, in order to show that, despite this disguise, he could conveniently be discovered and recognized. When cunning is attributed to the serpent above all other animals, this shows the natural perfection of this animal, which Christ also represents as a model of wisdom (Matthew 10:16). The devil chooses such a weapon for the most convenient operation and concealment of deception. God allows this so that man can see the image of caution in the very instrument of temptation. The serpent is the speaker. It is in vain that this is attributed to the nature of the animals in paradise. This was the art of the devil, who wanted to attract Eve to himself with curiosity and surprise. However, from this very art she could conclude about the quality of a being that hides in someone else’s form and does not dare to appear in its own. Some think that the serpent talked with Eve in the natural language in which all things talk with the wise; but this natural language, not being controlled by the father of lies, would not be as evil as the tongue of the serpent in the tale of Moses. The serpent speaks to his wife because, as some note, she was not involved in studying the nature of animals, and received the law about the tree of knowledge through her husband and, consequently, could more easily waver in her judgment both about the nature of the one speaking to her and about the subject of the conversation; and because the wife, being naturally made dependent on her husband (1 Tim. 2:12-13), naturally had to be weaker in separation from him. The tempter did not abandon this successful trick after this (1 Kings 11:4; Eccl. 7:28; 2 Tim. 3:6). It seems that it was not difficult for Eve to notice the unnatural state of the serpent, and therefore it is even difficult to believe how she decided to enter into a conversation with him. But this is how it usually seems when the trick has already been discovered. Let us suppose that Eve was surprised by the extraordinary appearance of the speaking serpent, but just as before there was no fear and suspicion of sin and evil, her attention to the serpent could still be sharpened by surprise, and soon the thought could be born that his extraordinary state was the action of the hidden power of the forbidden fruit he had tasted. Finally, perhaps this phenomenon did not seem unusual. Then, when the visible world, still pure and subtle, was more freely and unobstructedly permeable to the invisible, perhaps it was not unusual for invisible beings to clothe themselves in the images of visible creatures in order to enter into relations with man, an inhabitant of the visible world. The first words of the tempter, as they are read in the translation of seventy interpreters, already contain slander against God, but they cannot be taken as a sign of bewilderment whether God truly said: do not eat the fruit of any tree in the garden? Thus, the slander falls not on God, but on Adam, which, apparently, is more consistent with the cunning of the tempter. By rebelling directly against the Word of God, he could have horrified Eve, but he is transformed before her into a bright Angel, into a teacher of truth and leads her into doubt about whether she truly heard the Word of God from her husband and whether she is abstaining from the tree of knowledge out of superstition. From this it is clear how dangerous even slight and remote doubts in faith are. Their action is clearly presented in the example of Peter drowning (Matthew 14:30–31). Eve, responding to the serpent, repeats the commandment about the tree of knowledge with the peculiarity that she adds to it the words: and do not touch it. From this we can guess that the thought of the severity of the commandment and the fear of death was already beginning to overshadow in her the pure feeling of love and reverence for God the Lawgiver. The second speech of the tempter contains so many words, so many lies, but woven in such a way that apostasy is given the appearance of acting according to the intention of God. Noting that the fear of death keeps Eve in obedience to God, he takes away first of all this support: you will not die. But in order not to seem to contradict the Word of God, he tries to introduce his own contradiction into the Word of God itself and to this he turns the God-named name of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Explaining this name, he assures that with eating from the tree of knowledge God united the perfect knowledge of good and evil, just as with eating from the tree of life he united immortal life; and promises in this knowledge new eyes, that is, a new degree of knowledge, and even divinity. He either attributes this concept of the tree of knowledge to God himself, or affirms it with an oath in the name of God: God knows (2 Cor. 11:11). Two thoughts could be revived by such a description of the tree of knowledge: either that God, out of envy, forbade it, so as not to have partakers of his own nature; or the one that Adam transformed the true meaning of God's commandment. One was more profitable for the tempter than the other; but in Eve it is more convenient to assume the latter. 6. It seemed to the wife that this tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and desirable because it gives knowledge; and she took the fruit thereof and ate; She also gave it to her husband, and he ate. 7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they saw that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves and made aprons for themselves. The very fall of the ancestors, according to the legend of Moses, begins in the interior, is revealed by external action and is directly accompanied by a new feeling of the state of sin. With the deviation from the unity of God's truth into the multiplicity of one's own thoughts, the multiplicity of one's own desires, not concentrated in the will of God, or lust, which is the immediate cause of deception, which, having conceived, gives birth to actual sin, is inseparable (James 1:14-15). Eve sees in the forbidden tree not what it is, but what she desires, according to certain types of lust (1 John 2:16). It seemed that the tree was good for food - that was carnal lust. Pleasant to the eyes - lust is combing. Desired for what knowledge gives - worldly pride. Thus, the first sin is born in sensuality - the desire for luxury, in the heart - the desire to enjoy without reasoning, in the mind - the dream of arrogant knowledge and, consequently, penetrates all the forces of human nature. Ate. This is the external effect of the Fall. In order to present this action as worthy of death, it must be considered in inextricable connection with the internal disposition to sin, which includes unbelief, disobedience, ingratitude, pride against God and the misuse of all abilities. The sinful action of the wife remains for some time without tangible consequences: either because the poison of the forbidden fruit gradually had to act in the body; or because the action of conscience was not suddenly felt in the soul occupied with sensual pleasure. Meanwhile, the husband will follow his wife. At the same time, the sacred narrator is silent about his special temptation and incentives to sin. From the order and connection of the narrative it is clear that he did not witness the conversation between his wife and the serpent. But more dangerous than this was the conversation with the wife instructed by the serpent, and the apparently successful experience of his instructions. However, what Adam desired when he ate from the forbidden fruit, this shows God’s reproach (Gen. 3:22). It seemed to my wife. A sinful disposition in the soul begins with a disorderly direction of cognitive forces. Aroused by curiosity and mistrust, the wife looks at the forbidden tree as if seeing it for the first time. She forgets to look at it as an object of God’s commandment, but considers it in its intended relation to herself, to her sensuality, to her heart, to her understanding. Solomon noticed this beginning of sin: this is what I found, that God created man upright; and they began to seek the thoughts of many (Eccl. 7:29). The difference between the sin of the husband and the sin of the wife can be assumed to be that the wife was the first to open her heart to the unknown tempter, and the husband acted against the direct command of God. In this understanding, the Apostle attributes deception to one wife (1 Tim. 2:14) and sin, crime, disobedience to one husband (Rom. 5:12, 14, 19). The eyes opened. This opening of the eyes does not mean the highest degree of knowledge. Jews use this expression when they want to show an unexpected discovery of a thing that had not been noticed before (Gen. 21:19). Such was the nakedness of the first parents. Nakedness, according to some modesty of the sacred language, betrays internal or external shame (Ex. 32:25; Hab. 2:15). The nakedness that the sinful forefathers felt was also internal, for it was combined with fear and the desire to hide from God; and external, because it required clothing. Inner nakedness marks the deprivation of primitive purity and grace; external involves a feeling of some imperfection or impurity in the body. Confused sinners thought to heal the feeling of nakedness by girding it. Of course, some parts of the body were especially susceptible to this sensation. This is explained either by the natural effect of the forbidden fruit, harmful to the body, or by the consequence of prevailing sensuality. But since the feeling of nakedness is accompanied by the fear of God, this feeling can be attributed directly to the action of conscience. In the loins, which are the visible source and sign of offspring (Gen. 24:2, 49:10; Heb. 7:5, 10), she represents to Adam the entire human race and all generations of sins and punishments that have to be born from the first sin; and the source of God’s blessing seems to him to be a source of unbearable shame and torment. 8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9. But God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10. He said: I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. 11. And (God) said: Who told you that you were naked? have you eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat? 12. Adam said: The wife whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from this tree, and I ate. 13. And God said to the woman: Why have you done this? The woman said: The serpent deceived me, and I ate. God himself appears to convict sinners; This is a work of mercy, by which he appears even to those who do not seek him (Is. 45:1). Walking in the garden and the voice, or tangible effect of this walking, are attributed to God. This means that God, by some sensory sign, first prepares man for his appearance. From Adam’s fear one cannot conclude that this sign was terrible, for he himself believes the cause of this fear to be his own nakedness. Adam recognizes the voice of the walking God from afar, either through the inspiration of his conscience, or, more likely, because this voice was known to him from previous similar phenomena. The Holy narrative does not give an accurate idea of ​​the image of the appearance of God. One can only affirm that the one who appeared was the Son of God, who tends to reveal God, not visible to anyone, especially sinners (John 1:18). This phenomenon is supposed to occur during the cool of the day, in the translation of seventy interpreters, at noon. The Hebrew expression can mean both morning and evening hours ( Song 2:17, 4:6 ). The translation is based only on the conjecture that the appearance of God the Accuser should have followed soon after the Fall. The desire to hide from God represents in the first parents a striking example of a confused sinner, before whom the clearest concepts, what is the concept of the omnipresence and omniscience of God, are obscured, as if in a dream, and who is not so much deprived as depriving himself of light (John 3:20). God begins his conviction of sinners with the question: where are you? According to the remark of St. Ambrose (Lib. de parad. p. xiii), God does not ask Adam here in what place he is, but in what state. However, both signs of this question show that God, out of condescension, accepts upon Himself the image of ignorance in order to reduce the confusion felt by sinners from His presence, and in order not to be forced to force recognition out of them by severity, but to induce them with meekness to sincere and saving repentance. For this reason, the reproof continues and is also accomplished by asking: who told you that you are naked? – what did you do? Only the serpent does not question; and this is because God does not foresee repentance in him. The first questioning introduces a person into a vivid sense of his condition; the second and third lead the husband and wife to the very confession of sin: ate, ate. But even in this repentance the power of sin is revealed again, which, once allowed into the heart, takes root and mixes itself with all actions, infecting the very virtues. At the first sign of the Lord’s presence, Adam could feel that God did not want to leave and destroy him, and therefore he had to resort to His mercy even without calling on him, but he was hiding. Then he acknowledges his nakedness, and such nakedness that not only brings him into shame, but also into fear and forces him not only to cover some parts of the body, but also to completely hide, but he is in no hurry to reveal its reason. The very admission of sin is mixed with the insignificant justification of the wife’s temptation: she gave me fruit from this tree; and even a complaint against God himself: the wife you gave me. The wife, in turn, places part of her blame on the serpent: the serpent deceived me. 14. Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed above all the cattle of the earth and above all the wild animals. On your belly you will go, and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel. 16. He said to his wife: I will bring sorrow upon sorrow to you in your pregnancy: you will give birth to children with illness; and your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. 17. And he said to Adam: Because you listened to the words of your wife and ate the fruit of the tree, about which I commanded you, saying: You shall not eat of it, the ground is cursed for your sake; you will eat from it with sorrow all the days of your life; 18. She will produce thorns and thistles for you; and you will eat the grass of the field. 19. By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it; for you are dust and to dust you will return. After the conviction, God pronounces His judgment on the guilty and especially on the serpent - the judgment of righteousness, and on people the judgment of truth and mercy. For only punishment is announced to the serpent, and to men the hope of victory over the serpent (Gen. 3:15). The words of judgment are divided into three parts: the first refers to the serpent, the second to the wife, the third to the husband. Judgment begins from the serpent not only because sin begins with them, but also because in its condemnation there is some consolation for frightened people, protecting them from despair when they hear the verdict about themselves. The curse pronounced by God on the serpent refers either to the natural serpent as an instrument of temptation, or to the devil, as if he acted with this instrument, or partly to one of these, and partly to the other, or to both together. All words of curse befit the natural serpent. And it is not surprising if God curses the instrument of temptation and the fall of man, when He curses the whole earth for the sake of man (Gen. 3:17). In this case, He is likened to a father who curses the sword that took the life of His son; or a schoolmaster, who, in order to keep the tendentious youth within the limits of order, places before her visible monuments of punished self-will. But if God curses the instrument of temptation, is it possible for Him to remain silent about the audacity of the true culprit of temptation? His condemnation was especially necessary both so that people would set him up as an example of punished resistance to God, and so that, having fallen into his snare, they would not lose hope of deliverance. However, the words of curse are not visibly divided between the serpent and the devil, but flow continuously, as if extending to one object. Therefore, it must be assumed that just as the serpent and the devil were presented in one person during the temptation of man, so God in one person brings them before His judgment; and that the words of curse, with one common sign, embrace both beings. This kind of uncertainty in the signification of these words befits God’s intention - to contain in the visible action of justice the secret of mercy, which would be more intelligible to a pardoned person than to a bitter enemy of God. For the convenience of understanding, one can separate the condemnation of the serpent from the condemnation of the devil. The serpent, the most perfect animal, is cursed to be placed below all animals. Nowadays he really is like that, because of the hatred and disgust that people have for him. He is condemned to walk on his belly and eat dust. This or part of his natural perfection is taken away from him, as Basil the Great thinks, Homil. de Parad., or he returns to the limits set for him by nature, but from which the devil took him. According to this, the last understanding, God says, as it were: “You, low creature, who dared to rebel against My image and against your master, will no longer appear in the height of imaginary perfection in which the tempter showed you; you will creep on the earth in accordance with your nature, and the dust in which you will live will mix with your food.” However, the explanation of Basil the Great is in agreement with the observations of nature, for even now there are still winged snakes that rise into the air (Dict d'hist. natur. de Bomare), and snakes are seen feeding on the earth and therefore having its color on them (Ptolem. Geogr. L. IV. Strab. l L. XVIII. Diod. L. XX, p. 2). The serpent, finally, from a meek and submissive animal to man becomes hostile to him. The image of this enmity, in the description of Moses, corresponds to the current state of both animals 10. The curse of the spiritual serpent before all livestock and beasts can mean his slavery and eternal bonds (Jude 1:6), more severe than the enslavement of a creature that submitted to futility in hope (Rom. 8:20), and his death, more inevitable for him than for foolish animals, which were produced for hunting and slaughter (2 Pet. 2:12). The condemnation of the serpent to walk on its belly and eat dust predictively shows that the pride of the devil will be pacified, since in the Psalmist (Ps. 71:9) the expression to lick the dust means the state of a humiliated enemy; that everything devoured by the greedy malice of the enemy of God will be only earth and decay, not satiating him, strengthening him, but preparing his dominion for final destruction. The image of enmity between the serpent and man describes with particular clarity the restoration of the kingdom of Grace on the ruins of the dominion of sin and death. Enmity marks not only division, but also a desire to harm and presupposes previous peace or harmony. Through sin, man came into agreement with the devil. After this union, God threatens the devil with enmity; From this it is clear that the destruction of this union will follow on the part of man; and the enmity of this latter will consist in moving away from sin and trying to defeat the devil. God Himself promises to put an end to the enmity. A person, having committed sin, is already a slave of sin (John 8:34) and does not have the strength to break its bonds in order to resist the devil. So, for this purpose God gives him his power, which is Grace. There is enmity between the serpent and the woman. This does not exclude the husband, but it shows that in order to confront the serpent, it will not be a man’s strength that will be needed; that the same wife whom he had overthrown by deceit would rise against him in strength; that the power of God will be made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). Enmity must continue between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. The name of the seed, carried from plants to the higher kinds of creatures, in Holy Scripture means posterity in general (Gen.9:9, 11), one person in the offspring (Gen.4:25), children of the promise (Rom.9:7, 8), the promised Deliverer (Gal.3:16); sometimes also a moral birth, that is, a consistently preserved disposition and way of life (Is. 1:4). The spiritual serpent, as far as we know, has no natural offspring. So, the following can be called his seed: rejected spirits, participants in his apostasy; sinful people, whom the word of God clearly calls brood of vipers (Matthew 3:7) and children of the devil (1 John 3:10), since the first of them, Cain, was of the evil one (1 John 3:12). And, finally, the predicted man of sin will be predominantly like this (2 Thess. 2:3). The seed of the woman does not simply mean the human race in general; this is revealed both by the concept of the seed of the serpent, and also from the very name of the seed of the wife, since in ordinary understanding the seed or offspring is assigned to the husband. So, the seed of the woman, in contrast to the seed of the serpent, should mean the most virgin part of humanity, preserved by the grace of God and hour by hour more cleansed, restored and perfected in people who believe, who were born not of blood, not of the lust of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God (John 1:12-13); by superiority - the purest essence of humanity in the person of the God-man, the leader and head of all believers, who was born of a woman (Gal.4:4) and appeared to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). The promise of constant enmity between the seed of the serpent and the woman proclaims the establishment and continuous preservation of the militant Church. The greatest punishment of the serpent and the greatest secret of the seed of the woman lies in the words: it will bruise your head. The translation of seventy interpreters paves the way for the explanation of these words: αυτoς σου τηϱησει ϰεφαλην, He will aim at your head. The word αυτος, He, which does not agree with the word σπεϱμα, seed, shows that the translator had in mind not so much the word seed as the main object, in the present case signified by it; and that he took the seed of the wife to be one person. In fact, the seed of the woman is contrasted here not with the multitude of the seed of the serpent, but with one serpent, and therefore should primarily mean the one Leader and Head of the believers; But what is said in this place can only be applied to the multitude of believers, since they form one body with him (Rom. 16:20). Hitting the serpent in the head means that this enemy is rendered unable to harm, since a serpent whose head is crushed can no longer sting. So, this proclaims victory over the devil, complete and eternal, the cessation of all actions and consequences of his enmity, the liberation of man from sin and death, the earth from curse and the flesh itself from corruption. This magnificent victory again explains and exalts the concept of the victorious seed of the woman. If God Himself posits, or begins, enmity between the serpent and the woman, then who but God can end it with triumph and glory? However, before the solemn cessation of hostility, some part of the power is left to the serpent: you will bite his heel. This is allowed so that the one who moved a person against the goodness of God becomes an executor of God’s justice; so that a person is not careless in relation to the murderer and is encouraged by the constant experience of evil to turn to good. The serpent bites the heel, which is the lowest and most insignificant part of the human composition; in the heel, which, having been wounded in the fall, still leaves another heel for the person to rise up. This is how believers are wounded by temptations, disasters, and bodily death. This victorious and divine seed of the woman, or the Head and Deliverer of believers, is also not excluded from being bruised in the heel. But since He could not be subjected to this wound through his own fault or through his own weakness, we must conclude that He is subjected to wounding in order to suffer the illnesses of others and to crush the head of the serpent through this. This is the wound about which the prophet speaks: By His stripes healing was granted to us (Is. 53:5). Thus, in the predestination of the seed of the woman lies the seed of the whole Gospel. The wife is punished in herself: by multiplying I will multiply your sorrow and your conception; more clearly: I will bring sorrow upon sorrow upon you in your pregnancy. Tribulation is the punishment of a sinner in general, but it is especially severe for the weaker sex, which has a greater measure of sensitivity. When the source of grief is primarily considered to be conception in the womb, we can accept this as the first manifestation of the damage to human nature, which, having received the ability to produce something similar to itself, so to speak, is shaken at its core by the action of this ability; as a denunciation of the corruption that has multiplied over time, which, with the multiplication of sins, has produced hordes of diseases tormenting humanity. In the birth of children: you will give birth to children with illness. Experience shows that the diseases of birth are divided between those who give birth and those who are born. But this division would be unjust if the latter were not, like the former, guilty. In order to reconcile this type of punishment with God’s justice, we must recognize, on the one hand, the suffering of parents in their children, and on the other, the sinful damage of children in their parents. On the part of the husband: your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. A wife who dares to bend her husband to her unlawful desire is mutually condemned for always being careful to please his desires and for dominion over him is subjected to his dominion. However, just as the independence of a wife in an innocent state is not assumed, so the husband’s unlimited dominion over her is not approved (Eph. 5:28). The husband's condemnation required greater severity because he, with greater impudence than his wife, justified himself in eating from the forbidden tree (Gen. 3:12). Responding to this vain excuse, God first of all reproaches Adam with the fact that he listened more willingly to the words of his wife than to his Lord, and that he acted against the commandment of God, which was completely known to him and was not difficult to fulfill. This is followed by punishments, which, by their nature, fall not only on the face and gender of Adam, but also on the entire human race contained in him. The earth is cursed for your sake. This curse can be explained about the scarcity of the fruits of the earth, both because blessing in general means abundance and abundance, and the curse is followed by devastation (Gen. 27:27-28; Mark 11:21; Heb. 6:7-8; Gen. 8:21), and especially because it speaks of the earth in that respect, since man feeds from it; for the following words of God’s judgment can be taken as an explanation of this curse. But if the creation, as the apostle says, sighs and sympathizes, and longs for liberation from the enslavement of corruption (Rom. 8:19-22), and if for the life of righteousness a new heaven and a new earth are needed (2 Pet. 3:13), then the real curse of the earth must extend to more than just its fertility. Only we cannot determine exactly how great the effect of this curse is, because we did not see her in a state of primitive blessing. The whole earth is subject to the curse deserved by man, for in the beginning the whole earth received a blessing for him. Having been created as the ruler of creation, in his fall he carries with him all his dominion. But this damage to the earth, which so naturally follows the damage to a person, is both a punishment for him and a mercy. While part of the perfection is taken away from a creature subject to vanity, part of the path to its abuse is blocked. And what an instruction for a sinner to see sin ravaging the universe! You will eat from it with sorrow all the days of your life. Man had to eat earthly products in accordance with natural needs, but he tasted for self-willed pleasure, and therefore from now on all his food, in memory of this lawful eating, will be dissolved in sadness. She will grow thorns and thistles for you. There is no need to believe that the curse produced new kinds of creatures on earth. And the blessed land could grow thorns and thistles, but for those creatures to whom they served for the benefit and benefit; Now she grows them for a person, and moreover, where he plants flowers or sows wheat, so that the memory of sin haunts him both in needs and in pleasures. “When I see a rose,” says Vasily V. Homil. de Parad, “she reminds me of my sin, for which the earth is condemned to grow thorns and thistles.” You will eat the grass of the field. This proclaims to man such a poverty that the fruits actually designated for him as food (Gen. 1:29) will no longer be sufficient for him, and he will have to eat herbs given to the dumb (Gen. 1:30). By the sweat of your face you will eat bread. Sweat is a sign of exhausting labor. Man is condemned to such work instead of heavenly work that strengthens and delights. Of the many types of labor, God points to agricultural labor, not as an inevitable duty for everyone, but as a natural and necessary need for everyone. But may the word of God’s judgment come true - those who do not work to earn bodily food, subject themselves to exhausting exertion in order to give food to their desires and passions, and in the very evasion of work they find new work. However, God Himself sometimes either aggravates or eases this condemnation, according to His special Providence (Ps. 127:2). You are dust and to dust you will return. This conclusion of condemnation apparently shows that bodily death is inevitable for a person, regardless of condemnation, by his nature. But, according to the word of God (Gen. 2:17), all death is punishment, and, according to the ancient Church teaching, God created man in incorruption (Wis. 2:23). Man and the earth were in a state of purity by their origin; but this earth was closed and protected from corruption by the image of God and the power of the tree of life; after the removal of the image of God, it becomes naked and, as it moves away from the tree of life, it is given over to natural destruction. It is worthy of note that all the punishments with which God strikes people here are temporary and end in bodily death. This shows that He had already found a way and predestined to save man from eternal condemnation, just as He actually revealed the serpent in condemnation. So, those who will be subject to eternal condemnation are irresponsible before God and have no right to complain about their ancestors. Naming a new name to my wife 20. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, for she became the mother of all living. At first glance, it seems that the story about giving the wife a new name, Eve, that is, life, is out of connection with the previous and subsequent story about the fall of man, that the very name of life is indecent for a wife after being condemned to death. To resolve this difficulty, interpreters believe that Moses mentions the naming of his wife, which preceded the Fall, and wants to discover Adam’s error in this naming; or that Adam, condemned to death, calls his wife life in reproach and humiliation; and that this name shows the imprudence and arrogance of the sinner even after condemnation; or that the life with which Adam consoles himself in the name of wife is a postponement of bodily death; or that the woman is called life because of the promise given by God about her seed, which should erase the head of the serpent, who has the power of death, and became the mother of all living, like the mother of the Second Adam, who is the life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This last guess, more than others, corresponds to the order and spirit of the narrative of Moses and is justified by examples of other names in which the forefathers concluded a confession of faith and hope, which are the names of Cain, Seth, Noah. 21. And God made clothing of skins and clothed Adam and his wife. Having depicted sin and the nakedness born from it, and then shown the fate of sin after its commission in the order of events and narration, Moses also mentions what followed decisively with nakedness. Leather clothes given to the first people, according to Gregory the Theologian, De natal. Chris., the essence is gross and mortal flesh. But although it is true that the human body became crude and mortal after the Fall, it cannot be said that before that man was naked in the flesh; for his body was created even before the soul, and the leather clothes given to him, at least in the proper sense, also do not mean flesh, just like the first, his own experience of clothing - fig leaves. It would also not be typical to call clothes made of leather, or clothes made from the bark of plants, as leather clothes, but most closely understand under this name clothes made from animal skin. since the beginning need for such clothing presupposes the beginning state of the current human bestial body, and since Moses usually describes the visible, and under the visible he concludes the contemplated, then the words: God made Adam and his wife leather clothes, really suggest that God gave bestial flesh to fallen people. The fact that God himself arranges and places vestments on people is a manifestation of His Providence and mercy for sinners. The same confusion that forced them to seek clothing prevented them from making it sufficient and perfect: God perfects it so that it is both a cover of shame and a protection from the action of external forces on the human body. Clothing, invented by sinners, was supposed to be a monument of sin as terrible as nakedness itself. God, to their consolation, also makes it a monument of His care for them. Why does God borrow man's clothing from animals, and not from plants, where the skins for its composition are taken from? And how could a person who was not yet accustomed to the thought of death be clothed with the death of others without disgust? These perplexities can be resolved in no other way than by the guess that God at one time taught man both to sacrifice animals and to turn their skins into clothing, so that by these sacrifices he would be taught to kill bestial lusts and passions in himself, having also before his eyes the future sacrifice of the victorious seed of a woman, and by faith would be clothed in his merits and strength. This assumption also satisfactorily explains the origin of the bloody sacrifices that were already made by the children of Adam (Gen. 4:4) and, of course, not by their own invention; and especially the origin of the law granting the priest the skin of burnt offerings ( Lev. 7:8 ). 22. And God said: Behold, Adam has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; now, lest he stretch out his hand and take fruit from the tree of life and eat it and live forever. 23. And God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken. 24. And when he had driven out Adam, then in the east by the Garden of Eden he placed a Cherubim and a flaming sword that turned to guard the way to the tree of life. In order to give completeness to the story of the sin and judgment of the first people, Moses finally mentions how the determination of condemnation pronounced on them was carried into effect by expelling them from paradise. He shows the reasons and image of this exile, or the circumstances accompanying it. So Adam became like one of us, knowing good and evil. These words obviously correspond to the promise of the tempter: you will be like gods, knowing good and evil, and therefore, without a doubt, they have an accusatory sign. We find a similar denunciation of this in the prophet Isaiah (Is. 41:23–24) against the pagans. When God says about Adam: he became like one of us, one cannot think that this speech is addressed to the Angels; for the pride of being created in the image of God could not consist in the desire to become like the Angels. So, here is presented the internal, so to speak, interview of the Holy Trinity and a new solemn council about the fate of fallen man, similar to the first council about his creation. since the majesty of this action and the majesty of the speaking God does not allow His words of advice to be taken for a simple stinging reproach, then under the image of mockery we must look for pure and dispassionate truth, which here, perhaps, is the following: man, having heeded the tempter, not only inwardly desired to be God, but in fact fulfilled this desire as much as he could; he can no longer do anything for himself; he himself decided his fate: paradise, a place of testing, is no longer needed for one who has completed his test. And this is the first reason for the expulsion of a person from paradise. The second reason is a consequence of the first: now, lest he stretch out his hand and take fruit from the tree of life and eat it and live forever. Now that man, having desired to be God, has imagined in himself to find an independent beginning of life, he should no longer use the instrument and sign of immortal life, so that he can recognize his mistake. The Tree of Life cannot be useful to someone who, having been alienated from the life of God, carries within himself the internal principle of death: in this case, his immortality would only continue and confirm his death. He must remove himself from the tree of life not so much as a punishment, but to shorten his punishment, and so that, just as sin would separate him from God, so mortality would separate him from the devil. Having stumbled on the path of life, he must follow the safest path of internal and external mortification. The third reason for the exile of a person is his purpose to cultivate the land from which he was taken. Before the Fall, man had to cultivate paradise, built and decorated for him by God: but now it is condemned to cultivate the land from which he was taken, that is, land that still requires construction and decoration. That earth, which God previously formed into the composition of the immortal human body, must now be built by man himself into the composition of the mortal body; he must continually, so to speak, recreate his body in order to destroy in it the remains of the forbidden fruit, and so that it is finally taken from the earth and made heavenly. To the land cursed for his disobedience, he must return the blessing through acts of obedience and humility. Banished Adam. In order to feel the severity of this blow, one must put oneself in Adam’s place and imagine what he had, what he hoped for, and where he would fall from the heights of his hope. Anyone who thinks about this will thank God, who measures his anger in such a way that he crushes the sinner, but does not plunge him into complete despair. He placed the Cherubim and the flaming sword of the convert to guard the way to the tree of life. כרוב Cherub, according to the explanation of some Jews, means כרביא like a child (from which, probably, the custom of depicting cherubs in the form of youths and infants originated); according to some, כרוב is the same as רכוב chariot, since in the Psalmist the Angels are called chariots (Ps. 67:18) and in Ezekiel the Cherubim are represented in the form of a chariot (Ezek. 10). According to the interpretation of Philo and many of the Church Fathers, the name Cherubim comes from רב much and נכר knew and means a being gifted with extensive knowledge; finally, by similarity with the Syrian word כרבוא fortress, it can mean strong, and in this, apparently, sign this name is given to the king of Tire (Ezek.28:14) and the calf face of the Cherubim in Ezekiel (Ezek.10:14, 1:10). A flaming sword, or literally from the Hebrew flame of a sword, can mean both a flame like a deadly weapon, and a weapon like a bright flame. Taking the Cherubim and the flame of a weapon as one thing, some believe that God fenced paradise with material fire, but instead of this confusion of concepts it is better to assume that the first means some spiritual force or being, and the latter shows the image of its appearance to man. Since human sins are in some respects the tribe of the first sin, just as humans are the tribe of the first man, it is natural that the former, like the latter, should have one common image in their particular traits. For this reason, in the particular narrative of the fall of the first people, one can see the general course and consequences of sin. The tempter, according to the same general rules, acts on all people according to which he acted on the first, with the difference that the serpent, which he uses as his instrument, is often located not outside, but inside the corrupted human nature and is excited pride. The lower part of human powers, like a woman, created to act depending on the spirit, is the first to be seduced by self-willed pleasure and then drags the spirit itself away from obedience to God. The action of sin exposes a person and opens his eyes to the complete deprivation of his own good, but he wants to hide rather than correct this deficiency. Meanwhile, God's justice alienates him from the life of God, condemns him to earthly thoughts, to dead deeds, to fruitless labors, to hurting pleasures, and leaves a mediastinum between him and the consolations of grace. Blessed is he if, at the price of repentance and self-sacrifice, he buys white robes from the Lord himself, so that he may be clothed with faith in the merits of the Redeemer, and may the shame of his own nakedness not appear (Rev. 3:18); and if, in order to return to life, he humbly takes the path of death. When starting to narrate the descendants of Adam, Moses does not intend to compile a complete genealogy, for, having named his three sons: Cain, Abel and Seth, he only says about his other children that sons and daughters were born to him (Gen. 5:4). The history of the community is also not its subject, for, having said about the construction of the city by Cain (Gen. 4:17) and the invention of certain arts in his descendants (Gen. 4: 21-22), nothing similar is said about Seth and his tribe, completely separated from the tribe of Cain. The properties and actions of the first two sons of Adam described by him make it clear that the purpose of this narrative was to show the beginning event and the visible image of the enmity predicted by God between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, between the rejected and the chosen tribe. The story of Cain and Abel is: 1) the circumstances of their birth (Gen. 4:1–2); 2) way of life (Gen.4:2); 3) sacrifices with their consequences (Gen.4:3–7); 4) the fratricide of Cain (Gen.4:8); 5) the consequences of this crime for Cain (Gen. 4:9–16). All parts of this narrative refer to the division of the rejected and the chosen seed; the first and second explain the distant beginnings of this division; the third shows the case; the fourth and fifth are visible action and its continuation. IV. 1. Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, whom she named Cain, saying, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2. Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Got it. The significance of this expression is explained by the fact that the virgin in the sacred language is called עלמה, that is, according to the derivation of this word, hidden. I have acquired a man from the Lord. The name of the firstborn of Adam, which means acquisition, should be of particular importance, since Moses also notices the thought with which it was given. The words containing the explanation of this name, when applied to similar expressions (Jer. 2:13; Gen. 49:25), can be translated in two ways: or I have acquired a man of the Lord, in one word - a God-man; or I have acquired a man from the Lord. In both types of this saying, in one more clearly, and in the other not so clearly, one thought of the foremother is presented - the thought of that seed promised to her by God, which should strike the serpent in the head. It was quite in keeping with her condition that she should alleviate the new illnesses of birth through the hope of confessing the second man after Adam, who is the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 15:47). It is also doubtful whether she thought to have the promised Savior in Cain himself or in his offspring, but both errors were possible because the promise was given without explaining the times and other circumstances of this event. Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel, according to Josephus, means crying, vanity. The reason for this name is believed to be the short life and unfortunate death of Abel. But it is difficult to imagine that the ancestors foresaw all this from the time of his birth. The vanity of human things, experienced by our ancestors. But this does not explain why this son, and not another, received the name from vanity. Finally, the futility of the hope that the forefathers placed in their first son. In fact, it could have turned out that they changed their thoughts about him even before the birth of the other, and with the name Abel they wanted to correct the error made in the name Cain. Delving into the circumstances of the birth of Cain and Abel, we can find in them some distant beginnings of the extreme dissimilarity that later opened up between these brothers. Cain came from Adam, fresh, so to speak, infused with the poison of sin; Abel was born from Adam, with the continuation of time, more purified by repentance and humility of himself under the strong hand of God. Cain was the son of hope, Abel the son of contrition; These different feelings of parents could have an impact on the birth, upbringing and education of children. 2. Abel was a shepherd of sheep, and Cain was a farmer. That Abel was a shepherd of sheep, and Cain a farmer, Moses says this in order to show the origin of the various sacrifices they made. But since the internal disposition of a person has an influence on the free choice of the kind of life, and, mutually, the chosen kind of life has an influence on the internal state, then the two different kinds of life chosen by the children of Adam can also be considered in relation to their personal qualities. Farming requires more bodily strength; cattle breeding, being in care of living creatures, provides some exercise of heartfelt goodness (Prov. 12:10, 27:23). Agriculture binds you to the land; The shepherd's life, according to the custom of the ancients, is a nomadic and wandering life, and therefore especially dear to those who recognize themselves as strangers and strangers on earth (Heb. 11:9-10, 13). 3. It happened at the end of the year that Cain brought a gift to the Lord from the fruit of the ground. 4. And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord looked upon Abel and his gift; 5. But he did not look upon Cain and his gift, and Cain became very upset and lowered his gaze. 6. Then the Lord said to Cain: Why are you upset? and why did you lower your gaze? 7. If you do good, will you not lift up your forehead? And if you do not do good, then sin lies at the door. You are tempted by his lust, but rule over him. The description of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel shows their time, objects, unequal success and the consequences of this for Cain. At the end of the year. Literally from Hebrew: at the end of days. If this expression should have a sign of a certain time, which is required by the concept of the end, then the end of days is or the end of the week, that is, the Sabbath day; or the end of the month, that is, new moons; or the end of the harvest, to which the sacrifice of the fruits of the earth especially befits; or the end of the year, that is, the New Year. Instead of the word year, Jews use: summer of days (Gen.41:1); and instead of this they briefly say: days, ימים (Lev.25:29). The sacrifice of the fruits of the earth could be an act of gratitude for the blessings of God, bestowed in their abundance. Different types of sowing sacrifices are described in the book of Leviticus (Lev. 2), but Cain’s sacrifice, like Abel’s, was probably a burnt offering, as the type of sacrifice is the simplest in rituals, the most ancient and universal in use. It is not so easy to show the origin of the sacrifice taken from the firstborn and from their fat, instead of which the shepherd could also bring wave and milk. The rule of reason, which commands us to render visible honor to God by offering that which is most dear to us, is in vain taken by some to be the original law of sacrifice. For if, according to this rule, beloved animals are sacrificed, why is it not permissible, according to this same rule, to sacrifice beloved children? Why are blood sacrifices not offered even now? Why were the Israelites themselves obliged to sacrifice in one place chosen by God? Moreover, it has always been fair and wisely known to the pagans themselves that God is not pleased with a burnt offering, that sacrifice to God is a broken spirit (Ps. 50:18-19). Therefore, it is more fitting to believe that Abel learned the sacrifice of the firstborn from Adam, Adam - from God, and God revealed in them the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8) and at the same time the image of how people should present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God (Rom. 12:1). The offering of the firstborn especially constitutes the Redeemer, because He is the firstborn before all creation ( Col. 1:15 ) according to eternal being; the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29) as the image of others and the first natural universal heir of spiritual goods; the firstborn from the dead ( Col. 1:18 ) according to his glorious resurrection. Fat, as a flammable substance, in sacrifice signifies the zeal with which the Son of God sacrifices Himself for men, and at the same time the heartfelt disposition of the believer, inflamed by love and the Holy Spirit. In considering the different successes of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel, two questions can be asked: how did God show his attention to the latter and disfavor to the former, and for what reason? The action with which God looked upon Abel and his gift had to be miraculous, so that he could be sure that it definitely came from God. Often God testified his favor to victims by sending down fire, as happened during the establishment of the priesthood (Lev. 9:24), during Gideon’s appeal for the deliverance of Israel (Judges 6:21), after the appearance of the destroying angel to David (2 Chron. 21:26), during the consecration of Solomon’s temple (2 Chron. 7:1), during the contest of the prophet Elijah with the priests Baal (1 Kings 18:38). They guess that this same sign was given to Abel; and Theodotion in his translation instead of the word looked upon, put inflamed. This sign also indicates, apparently, that the Psalmist will remember in words all your sacrifices, and will burn your burnt offering to ashes (Ps. 19:4). Moses does not clearly say why the two sacrifices were unequally accepted, but only, mentioning their unequal success, draws attention first to those who offered, and then to the offerings, and thereby makes it clear that God judges the external actions of piety by the disposition of the hearts. In accordance with this, the Apostle considers the advantage of Abel's sacrifice to be faith, by which he received evidence that he is a righteous man (Heb. 11:4). Therefore, the imperfection of Cain’s sacrifice was that his spirit was not a sacrifice to God; that he did not believe in the sacrifice of the Redeemer and that he imagined that he would find truth not in faith and assimilation of the Lord’s truth, but in himself and his deeds. Cain became very upset and lowered his gaze. These words express such indignation in Cain, which completely upset him. In order to obtain an accurate understanding of this illness, we must first introduce St. the narrator and connect the beginning with the consequence - indignation for the rejected victim with fratricide. From this consideration it appears that Cain believed that the blame for his misfortune was not in himself, lower in God, but in his brother, for in the first two cases the effect of despair should have been revealed on Cain himself. What was the misfortune of Cain, which was born from God’s favor for Abel and could, in the opinion of the former, end through the death of the latter? To resolve this, it must be assumed that Cain knew the advantage of the firstborn and the advantage of the tribe of promise, which among the tribes of men was supposed to be the subject of the special benefits of God. He hoped to retain these two advantages for himself alone: ​​God’s favor towards Abel shook this hope; the death of childless Abel, it seemed, could restore it, uniting all the promises predetermined for the human race in one person. From this it is clear that Cain’s mental illness consisted of pride and envy. Of course, time and natural means could not heal him when God himself wanted to open his wound (Gen. 4:6–7). The words of reproof, which are difficult to explain in Hebrew, present even greater difficulty in the Greek text of seventy interpreters, which, however, requires comment here, because it is literally followed by the Slavic translation, and with its incomprehensibility stops the reader. The meaning of these words, as far as one can comprehend it by guesswork, is probably the following: “If you brought your sacrifice rightly, that is, as it should be, that is, you brought it to the true God and performed it according to the established order, but you divided it wrongly, that is, you sacrificed not the best of God’s gifts and separated for this less than a tithe, then have you not sinned? Be silent, stop your indignation." However, besides the fact that this translation does not correspond to the Hebrew text, it represents something strange in the combination of concepts when the offering of a sacrifice that was wrongly separated and therefore unworthy is called right. The closest translation of the Hebrew text could be the following: if you do good, שאת, is it not reproach? (or: is it not acceptance? or: is it not forgiveness?) and if you do not do good, then doesn’t sin lie at the door? Of the many thoughts that this speech conveys, the true one should be the one that is most consistent with the intention of the speaking God and with the property of His reproof. In His denunciations, in general, such an order is noted that He first points out some visible and tangible evil to which the sinner is subject, and then, in order to lead him to repentance, he gives him to understand that this evil is a consequence of sin. In the present case, the indication of visible evil lies in these words: why were you upset and why did you lower your gaze? In the following words the origin of this evil from sin should be explained, and therefore their meaning should be as follows: “If you do good, if you are good and blameless, then why should your face fall? Shouldn't this be completely opposite? Isn't this an exaltation? Should not your face be lifted up both with your own joy and with My (says God) favor?” (for פנים נשא means both to lift up one’s face with a sense of one’s dignity (Is. 3:3), and to lift up the face of another with attention and favor (Gen. 19:21). “And if you do not do good, if you do not have goodness and purity of heart, then sin lies at the door.” It is he who appears from the heart on the face and appears with gloomy gazes and upset features, like a dog lying at the gate of a house and pursuing those passing by with fierce gazes. It is at the door, on the road: if you do not lock it up and tie it up, then the awakened evil inclination will immediately rush to an evil deed, and then the punishment will not budge.” His lust (or desire) for you; but thou shalt rule (or: and thou shalt rule) over him. Blessed Augustine understands this conclusion of God’s reproof regarding sin, St. Chrysostom takes this as a reference to Abel. According to this last guess, the form and meaning of the text should be as follows: your brother’s desire is for you, that is, he is naturally in your obedience as a younger one; and you will dominate, or at least take precedence and rule over him as the firstborn; and therefore why are you indignant in vain, envying Abel? But this explanation is not favored by the general nature of Jewish expressions, and especially by the fact that in the entire text of the accusatory speech there is neither the name of Abel nor a clear indication of him. On the contrary, the indication of sin, which was mentioned here before, is both close and clear, and therefore the translation of the text should receive the following form and meaning: his lust for you, that is, sin; you are tempted by an evil inclination, but you dominate it, that is, overcome the evil inclination, do not allow it to come into force, suppress evil at its very beginning. The Apostle gives the same instruction and in the same form (Rom. 6:12): Let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey it in its lusts. 8. And Cain said to Abel his brother: (let's go into the field). And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. The words “let’s go into the field” are not present in the Hebrew text now, but only the previous ones are read: and Cain said to Abel his brother. This speech, obviously incomplete, some try to explain without addition as follows: Cain spoke to Abel, his brother, that is, he showed him an appearance of affection and sincerity, so that the more likely, the more accidental, he would commit his malice over him. Others say this: and Cain spoke contrary to Abel, his brother, that is, he expressed his indignation to him with complaints and reproaches. But in the Samaritan text and the Greek, Syrian and Latin translations the very words of Cain to Abel are read: let us go into the field. The previous word said אמר and the subsequent ones when they were in the field show that this addition belongs to the integrity of the Holy. text. According to this consideration, the true circumstance noticed here by Moses is that Cain, in order to freely commit fratricide and hide it from exposure, insidiously summoned Abel to a secluded place. The type and weapon of the murder are unknown, except that it was connected with the shedding of blood, as the continuation of the narrative shows (Gen. 4:11-12). Consequences of the crime for Cain 9. And the Lord said to Cain: Where is Abel your brother? He said: I don’t know; Am I my brother's keeper? 10. But God said: What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the earth. 11. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive the blood of thy brother at thy hand. 12. When you cultivate the land, it will no longer give its strength to you, you will be an exile and begin to wander the earth. 13. And Cain said to the Lord: My crime is great and unforgivable. 14. Behold, You are now driving me out from the face of the earth, and from Your presence I will hide and be an exile and begin to wander on the earth; anyone who meets me can kill me. 15. The Lord said to him: therefore, whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold. And the Lord laid a sign on Cain, so that no one who met him would kill him. 16. And Cain went from the presence of God and began to live in the land of Nod, opposite Eden. The consequences of fratricide reveal in Cain a bitterness that extends to despair; and on the part of God they show justice dissolved in mercy. Where is Abel, your brother? This question proves that God, who did not want the sinner to die, despite neglecting his first suggestions, still wanted to convert Cain to repentance with meekness. For this, just as before in the denunciation of Adam, He takes upon Himself the image of ignorance, for this, in the name of His brother, He arouses in him the meek feelings of nature. Don't know; Am I my brother's keeper? If these words were explained only by the desire to hide the crime, then one could ask: did Cain really have no idea about the omniscience of God? But they are uttered not so much by pretense as by annoyance. Cain does not know, according to him, about the condition of his brother, not because he cannot, but because he does not want and does not consider himself obligated to know: he denies, contrary to the dictates of nature, to be a guardian, that is, concerned about the safety of his younger brother, in order to thereby reproach God, who has shown special favor for this. The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the earth. Since Cain was not disposed to repent and accept pardon, God finally proceeds to condemn him and for this purpose shows him that he has no need for his confession, less for other witnesses to the crime, except for the act of the crime itself. The blood of Abel cries out, that is, it demands vengeance (Rev. 6:9-10), it cries out from the earth by the very action of destruction, which, according to the order of nature, arouses other destructive forces against itself, and its cry ascends even to God; for Abel even after death speaks by faith (Heb. 11:4), placing him in the gracious presence of God. Moreover, most of all, Cain should have been struck - and should have consoled the followers of Abel - this thought that the blood of the murdered Abel was accepted by God with the same attention as his sacrifice. The condemnation of Cain (Gen. 4:11–12), although of the same kind, is more severe than the condemnation of Adam, because it could not be alleviated due to lack of repentance. The curse of Adam falls from him to the earth: cursed is the earth for your sake; Cain's curse turns from the earth to his face: you are cursed from the earth. The earth, which received the blood of Abel, becomes an instrument of curse for Cain, either to mark the fact that the sky is not yet completely barred for him, at least for his offspring, with this curse, or because God Himself is not consoled by vengeance for the crime, but only allows the creature to rebel against Him for the common good. Just as the earth serves man as food and shelter, the curse from the earth has two types. When you cultivate the land, it will no longer give its strength to you; that is, you will not only shed sweat to earn bread, as Adam was destined to do, but labor itself will not bring you the desired fruits. You will be an exile and will wander the earth. According to the translation of seventy interpreters, which is followed by the Slavic: you will be groaning and shaking on the earth. This latter translation seems to have been made for a conjectural explanation of the sign laid on Cain (Gen. 4:15), and the first is confirmed by the clear words of Cain himself, who, in the punishment of God, finds expulsion from the face of the earth. True, the righteous also honor their life on earth by wandering; but there is this difference between them and sinners that the former do not look for the fatherland anywhere on earth and find it everywhere, while the latter look for it everywhere and find it nowhere. My crime is great and unforgivable. Just as the word עון, which actually means a crime, according to some, can also mean the punishment of a crime, these words of Cain can also be translated as follows: the punishment of my crime is great, and even unbearable. Thus, Cain either shows his despair in the mercy of the Lord, or reproaches the cruelty of His justice. Both despair and blasphemy stem from a common source - obstinacy in sin and unbelief. Continuing to consider his condition, Cain reveals in his condemnation special features that strike him: expulsion from the face of the earth, that is, removal from the fatherly country, and hiding from the face of God, that is, alienation from the Church, in which God reveals His gracious presence, and from His fatherly care and protection. From inconsolable grief he turns to the thought of death: and it will happen that anyone who meets me will kill me. These words express either a desire for death: “if I am deprived of both the benefits of community life and the protection of Providence, then it would be better if the first person who meets me ends this miserable life”; or fear: “if I wander as an outcast from God and man, then everyone can kill me with impunity.” This last feeling is most consistent with the dispositions of Cain, who would not have encroached on the life of another if he had not valued his own temporary benefits dearly. It is the voice of an aroused conscience, commanding him to expect from others what he has done to another, but is still prophesied by the passion that possesses him. Such is a sinner when, looking at his sinful and wretched state, he does not turn his gaze to God and His mercy. God's new judgment on Cain (Gen. 4:15) again shows that God does not want the sinner to die. He makes him safe from quick and sudden death, in order to show him, even in punishment itself, the possibility and hope of mercy; so that, if not him, at least part of his descendants (no doubt, by foreknowledge), may be preserved for the human race and the Church; and in order to turn the terrible first example of a bitter sinner into an instructive example of long-suffering. Cain's safety from violent death is established by law and sign. Anyone who kills Cain will receive sevenfold revenge. This law is announced to Cain for his consolation, but since its fulfillment concerns all people, then it should have been announced to others, probably through Adam. Sevenfold vengeance for Cain means a punishment more severe than Cain himself for the death of Abel. For the number seven, according to the property of the sacred language, is used in an indefinite sign, to elevate the concept (Ps. 11:7; Proverbs 26:25). Such a severe punishment for Cain the murderer will not seem unjust or inappropriate if we take into account the fact that God made life itself a punishment for him, and to increase or exchange God’s punishment does not mean to punish the guilty person, but to rebel against God’s justice; that murder; what was already condemned in Cain is less excusable in those who saw this sad experience; and that it was necessary to bar Cain’s path from his followers with as much strict but preliminary condemnation as possible. Without reason, some believe that the sign placed by God on Cain consisted of excellent clothing or some kind of image on the forehead. Those who consider the trembling of members to be such a sign are affirmed in the words of the translation of the seventy: you will be groaning and shaking on the earth. But it seems that little was needed to make Cain inviolable for those who met him. The beginning of a terrible sign was laid on him already when his face fell. While the outer nature of man, created by the imprint of the inner one, was less distorted and disjointed from this latter, Cain’s horror and despair could form in his outer man a clear and indelible stamp of rejection, which would make him a living monument of God’s judgment and would remove all who see him from him. However, the Hebrew text in this place also allows the following translation: and the Lord gave a sign to Cain (that is, he performed some miracle in order to calm him down with assurance) that no one who met him would kill him. He began to live in the land of Nod. The land of Nod, or, according to the pronunciation of the seventy interpreters, Naid, means the land of wandering or exile. So, finally, Cain submits to the judgment of God; for this judgment is indelibly written in the book of his conscience. Against Eden. Some think that קדמת־עדן means more specifically on the eastern side of Eden, but this is unfounded (Gen. 3:24). When the Apostle, describing the benefits of the New Testament, tells the believers that they have come to the Mediator of the New Testament, Jesus, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaks better than Abel's (Heb. 12:24), and gives high significance to this saying of the blood of Abel, deriving it from faith (Heb. 11: 4), then this shows that in Abel he finds a foreshadowing and transformation of Jesus. This nature of the transformation is revealed in all parts of Avel’s story. Abel is the shepherd and chief of natural pastoral life - Jesus is the Shepherd and Chief Shepherd of spiritual life. Abel brings to God a sacrifice, without comparison more pleasant than Cain’s; Jesus brings the sacrifice of the cross, the only one worthy of God and which abolishes all ritual sacrifices. Abel's sacrifice is accompanied by his martyrdom - sacrifice Jesus is accompanied by his death. Abel suffers from the envy of his firstborn brother - Jesus suffers from the bitterness of the firstborn of the nations - Israel. The blood of Abel speaks of him through faith to the mercy of God and with its innocence cries out against the murderer to the justice of God - the blood of Jesus cries out to the Heavenly Father for mercy on the entire human race. Cain, the murderer of his brother, becomes an exile of the whole earth - the people who killed Jesus become a stranger of all nations. The murderer of Abel is allowed to live, but with a sign of condemnation and punishment - Israel, having crucified Jesus, retains its existence, but only in order to bear His blood on itself and on its children. Spread of the Outcast Tribe 17. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he built a city; and he called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch. 18. From Enoch was born Herod, from Herod was born Mechiael, from Mechiael was born Methuselah; Lamech was born from Methuselah. 19. Lamech took two wives: the name of one was Adah, the name of the other was Sella; 20. Adah gave birth to Jabal: this was the father of them that dwell in the booths with the cattle. 21. His brother's name was Jubal: this was the father of all those who played the harp and the organ. 22. Sella also gave birth to Tovel the blacksmith: this was the father of all forgers who worked in copper and iron. Fovel the blacksmith had a sister, Noema. 23. And Lamech said to his wives: Ada and Sella, listen to my words, wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! Did I kill a man so that someone could wound me, or a boy so that he could strike me? 24. For Cain must be avenged seven times, and Lamech seventy times seven. Following the cumulative history of Cain and Abel, Moses tells about the descendants of the first. He notices in it the order of several genera, the success of the community, the invention or improvement of the arts and the spread of vices. The purpose of this narrative can be either to show that, despite the curse of Cain, the remains of God's blessing and some rays of light were preserved in his descendants, which should either turn them to God or make them unrequited before Him; or to expose the superstition and humiliate the vanity of the Egyptians, who attributed the invention of music and forging, as well as the general improvement of social life, to the gods or demigods, their compatriots (in. Sicul. L. I); or to show that the branches were similar to their roots, that the best of Cain’s offspring were distinguished by success in gaining temporary benefits and pleasures, and the worst by debauchery and cruelty, that is, to depict the seed of the serpent as separated from the seed of the woman. This last goal, without refuting the other two, completely embraces all parts of this narrative and reveals its essential connection both with the previous legend about Cain and Abel, and with the subsequent one about Seth. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived. This may seem incongruous with Cain’s condition, that he, despairing of himself, wants to have offspring and pass on his condemnation to him. But such is the unrepentant sinner. Standing on the edge of the abyss, he still thinks about his pleasures. However, God allowed the spread of the outcast tribe, no doubt for a good purpose in general. And he built a city. So that this does not seem incredible, it should be noted that the city of Cain was created, perhaps not soon after the birth of his son, and that the Jews call every fenced village a city. The multiplication of wild animals could have given Cain the idea to build a city. But the true, and unique to him, motivation for this probably lay in the continued fear of not being killed. Thus, the first city is built by the first exile of the earth, the one who did not expect the city, which has an unshakable foundation, whose architect and founder is God (Heb. 11:10). He named the city after his son. The ancient custom was to name cities from the ancestor of the inhabitants or from the builder (Judges 18:29; 2 Kings 5:7). The beginning of this custom appears in the son of Cain, but not in Cain himself, whose name would not adorn his city. Herod, Mechiael, Methuselah are mentioned either because in ancient times genera were noted to divide and signify times; or for the continuity of the narrative from Enoch to Lamech. Moses describes the house of Lamech in detail as a famous tribe and as an example by which one could judge the descendants of Cain in general. Lamech took two wives for himself. This is the beginning of polygamy. Lamech's act is condemned not only by the original law of marriage (Gen. 2:24) and the lofty gospel teaching, but also by the Law of Moses (Lev. 18:18). True, such imperfection of marriage was tolerated by the Patriarchs, but then, as human life was noticeably shortened, the faith of the Patriarchs and the very vision of God demanded the rapid multiplication of the chosen tribe. We can look at the polygamy of Lamech, in which we do not see such circumstances, except as an action of willfulness or prevailing sensuality. This (Jovil) was the father of those who lived in the booths with the cattle. The father of the living here means the inventor of the way of life. The invention of Jovil is not the shepherd life, which Abel had already begun before him, but some most advantageous image of it, similar to the dispositions of the sons of this age, who in their way are wiser than the sons of this age, that is, the kind of nomadic life. The inventor had in mind both the tranquility of a permanent home and the benefits of constantly changing places for the most convenient feeding of numerous herds: by making booths, or movable dwellings, he catered to both luxury and covetousness. This (Jubal) was the father of all those who played the harp and organ. That Moses mentions this invention is not in praise of the inventor, one can conclude from his silence about other important and useful inventions. Fovel the blacksmith and תובל־קין Tubalkain in the Hebrew text are taken by most interpreters to be one name. But seventy interpreters did not accept קין as an integral part of their own name, and in Arabic this word retained the meaning of blacksmith. So it is probable that תובל־קין does not mean Tubalcain, but Tubal, or Fovel, the blacksmith. This was the father of all forgers. Here the Hebrew reading, obviously insufficient, is supplemented, according to the guidance of Onkelos and in accordance with the previous expressions. Working from copper and iron. The art of forging metals generally does honor to the inventor, because it involves research and knowledge of nature, and therefore, most importantly, it is necessary for the perfection of agriculture. But in particular, the forging of copper shows that the artist has already exceeded the limits of what is necessary. Noema. Why Moses named her is not clear from the narrative, unless her conviction is hidden in her name, which means beautiful. Lamech's words to his wives (Gen. 4:23–24) are retold as a special incident showing his character, and as an introductory narrative; and therefore this part of the story has neither a visible connection with the previous one nor complete completeness. The Jews, in explanation of this narrative, say that blind Lamech, at the direction of his guide, killed with an arrow his forefather Cain, considered to be a beast, and thus in the seventh generation he carried out the seven-week vengeance announced by God, as they try to interpret (Gen. 4:15), which they attribute to Cain himself, and not to the killer of Cain, and that then, angry with the youth, the culprit of this murder, he also killed him. Against this fable, it is enough to note that it attributes a double murder to Lamech; but the words: לחברתי וילד לפצעי הרגתי איש, according to a well-known property of the Hebrew language, depict one thought in two forms. Here are some presentations of the dark words of Lamech, more specious: I killed a man; they can hurt both me and the boy; they can hit me too; but if Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech is avenged seventy times seven. According to this presentation, Lamekhov’s speech contains a confession of the murder committed, but in this form and meaning it presents two inconsistencies: the poetic form of its first half is incompatible with the property of historical thought, which requires greater simplicity and clarity in expression; When considering the second half of the speech with the first, it is not clear why greater vengeance is due for Lamech than for Cain when they are both murderers. If I had killed a man, and for that they would have wounded me or a youth, and for that they would have struck me, then when Cain is avenged sevenfold, for Lamech seventy times sevenfold. And in this form, Lamech’s speech does not show why he believes greater vengeance for himself than for Cain. I will immediately kill the man who wounds me, and even the youth who strikes me, for Cain must be avenged seven times, and Lamech seventy times seven. That is, “no one dare insult Lamech. Will a strong person give me a wound in anger; Whether a weak youth will strike a blow out of thoughtlessness: for both I will avenge death. For if the one who kills Cain, the guilty and condemned one, is subject to severe vengeance, then the most severe vengeance must be taken on the one who even wounds or strikes Lamech.” Thus, Lamech blasphemes God’s definition of vengeance for Cain, deducing for himself from it the right of personal vengeance. Was it not the invention of the sword by Jovil that gave his overjoyed father the opportunity to make this impudent and inhumane threat? However, this explanation can be countered by the fact that such a threat does not concern Lamech’s wives at all: on what occasion or decency does he turn to them, and, moreover, with such strong suggestion? Did I kill (כי can also mean questioning, Isaiah (Is. 36:19)) a man so that someone could wound me, or a boy so that he could strike me? For for Cain and so on. A certain meaning of this speech can be deduced from the fact that in the narrative it follows Lamech’s description of polygamy with its fruits and with strong suggestion, as something actually important for them. For this reason, it is likely that Lamech’s speech was an excuse for polygamy: “Ada and Sella! Wives of Lamech! I know that to others my double marriage seems strange and contrary to the law and that I am compared to Cain, as the inventor of a new crime, but do not be embarrassed by such judgments and do not fear anything; listen to my words, listen to my speech: did I kill a man, as Cain did, or a youth, so that I could take revenge on me with a wound or even a blow? For if Cain the fratricide is safe, then Lamech the polygamist is, of course, even safer, and so on. Thus, a carnivore and a sensualist usually justifies and ensures himself by the fact that he is not a villain or a murderer. Spreading the Blessed Seed 25 And again Adam knew his wife, and she bare a son, and called his name Seth; because, she said, God gave me another seed, instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. 26. Seth also had a son, and he called his name Enos; then they began to be called by the name of the Lord. From the tribe of Cain, Moses moves on to a new line of Adam's descendants, in a brief description of which nothing more is visible than examples of piety. From this it is clear that, having depicted the seed of the serpent, he now points to the seed of the woman. And she called his name Seth. This name, derived from the word שית to put, can mean foundation. By giving this name to her son, Eve assumes and hopes that he will be the foundation of a new tribe, despite the fact that at the same time she has in her thoughts Abel, whose example apparently proves the unknown of such hope. She claims that God himself lays this foundation for a new tribe, and that Seth will not be like Cain, but will be instead of Abel, whose value, if not at his birth, then in life and death, she, of course, learned. All this shows that in Seth she hopes for the restoration and preservation of the blessed seed and gives it a name in the spirit of faith and insight into the future. And he called his name Enos. Enos means mortal, weak. Whether this name was born from a feeling of humility and contrition in general or from some special temptation that befell the tribe of the pious, Moses’ silence does not allow us to decide. Then they began to be called by the name of the Lord. In the Slavic text, according to the Greek of seventy interpreters, this place reads like this: this hope is to call on the name of the Lord God. The forced composition of these words (for what does it mean: he hoped to call?) and the uncertainty of the concept they represent (for really, except for Enos, no one called on the name of the Lord God?) without further study, one can notice the imperfection of the translation in this place. The translator derived the word הוחל, which comes from חלל, from יחל and adapted the entire speech to this error. From Hebrew, some translate this passage as follows: then the calling on the name of the Lord began. And they say that during the time of Enos, with the increase of the pious tribe, public and open worship was established, the actions of which were previously performed by each family and individual privately and without agreement with others. Others say: then the invocation of the name of God is profaned. And to explain this they add that from the days of Enos they began to give the name of Divinity to created things. Aquila’s translation reads: τοτε ηϱχϑη του ϰαλεσϑαι εν ονοματι Κυϱιου, which seems to mean: then they began to be called by the name of the Lord, that is, the tribe of the pious began to be distinguished by the name sons of God. This idea is completely consistent with the Hebrew expression בשם קרא (Isa.44:5, 48:1) and is justified by the subsequent narrative of Moses about the mixing of the sons of God and the daughters of men (Gen.6:2). Therefore, it must be assumed that in the days of Enos the society of the pious was visibly concentrated and separated from the sons of this age. Genealogy and chronology of the wife's seed 1. This is the genealogy of Adam, from the day on which God created man, in the image of God created him, 2. male and female created them, and blessed them, and called their name man, on the day of their creation. 3. Adam lived one hundred thirty (according to the text of seventy commentators 230) years and gave birth to a son in his likeness and in his image, and called his name: Seth. 4. After the birth of Seth, the days of Adam's life were eight hundred (700) years, and sons and daughters were born to him. 5. All the days of Adam’s life were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. 6. Seth lived one hundred and five (205) years; and begat Enos. 7. After the birth of Enos, Seth lived eight hundred and seven (707) years, and begat sons and daughters. 8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died. 9. Enos lived ninety (190) years and begat Cainan. 10. After the birth of Cainan, Enos lived eight hundred fifteen (715) years and begat sons and daughters. 11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years; and he died. 12. Cainan lived seventy (170) years, and begat Maleleel. 13. After the birth of Maleleel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty (740) years and begat sons and daughters. 14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died. 15. Malalel lived sixty-five (165) years and begat Jared. 16. After the birth of Jared, Mahleleel lived eight hundred and thirty (730) years and begat sons and daughters. 17. And all the days of Mahleelel were nine hundred and eighty-five years; and he died. 18. Jared lived sixty-two (162) years and begat Enoch. 19. After the birth of Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred (700) years and begat sons and daughters. 20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. 21. Enoch lived sixty-five (165) years and begat Methuselah. 22. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for three hundred (200) years and begat sons and daughters. 23. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24. For Enoch walked with God; and he was no more, because God took him. 25. Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years and begat Lamech. 26 After the birth of Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years and begat sons and daughters. 27. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died. 28. Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two (188) years and begat a son. 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, He will relieve us from our labor and from the weariness of our hands in cultivating the land which the Lord has cursed. 30. After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five (565) years and begat sons and daughters. 31. And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven (753) years; and he died. 32. And when Noah was five hundred years old, then Shem, Ham and Japheth were born to Noah. After Moses briefly mentioned the distribution of the human race in two different branches, starting again to count the generations, he warns the reader of his intention with a special inscription of this article: This is the genealogy of Adam, etc. as if he said: “First we named some of the descendants of Adam in order to show their properties in two different tribes, now we will show the sequential order of the genera of the first world and its chronology.” Of the many genera, Moses chose the line from Seth to Noah as the one that reveals the origin of the human race living after the flood; especially as the one from whom the Messiah was to be born, who always preserved this promise and was always in the special attention of Providence. In the chronology of the Patriarchs there is a difference between the ancient texts: Hebrew, Greek and Samaritan. The Greek text in the chronology of the first world gives about 600 years more than the Hebrew; It is worthy of note that it almost always exceeds it in round numbers. The difficulty of explaining satisfactorily the origin of this difference does not hinder the pure understanding of the saving teaching in Holy Scripture. As for the extraordinary longevity of the Patriarchs, it is enough to note that pagan antiquity also preserved the legend about it 11 . Male and female created them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam. Here some people believe that the root of the opinion about the first man was his wife. But that here we are not talking about one person, this is clear both from the way of expression, as well as from the indication of the blessing of God, which, obviously, is not pronounced in the same way as to one person (Gen. 1: 28-30). He gave birth to a son in his own likeness and in his own image. Seth had an image of human nature similar to Adam; but this is not what Moses seems to be talking about; for who can doubt that the first man begat another man? An image of piety, but Moses did not mention this either when speaking about Abel. Image of sin and mortality; and Moses, of course, was thinking about this most important image here when he contrasted it with God’s image. In this way he destroys the proud opinion of those who produced men from the race of gods and, under the name of the ancestor, he confesses about the entire human race what David confessed about himself (Ps. 50:7). In order to show that the blessed tribe always had people worthy of the continuation of this great blessing, and from time to time showed in themselves the foreshadowing images of the glorious seed of the woman, Moses somewhat interrupts his chronology regarding the life of Enoch, whose way of life and death he shows. Enoch walked with God. When applied to people, this expression is used to mean proximity, communication, circulation (1 Samuel 25:15). In relation to God, an expression similar to this, “walking before the face of God,” sometimes means a person’s reverent attention to God (Gen. 17:1), sometimes God’s benevolent attention to man (1 Samuel 2:30). In general, by walking and walking, Jews express their moral way of life. For these reasons, the present legend about Enoch generally means that he led a life in which he was always close to God. The detailed concepts contained in this are: walking before God, or in a living feeling of the presence of God; walking with God, or uniting with him by faith and love; walking after God, or imitating Him and striving for perfection, consistent with the perfection of the Heavenly Father; finally, walking in the face of God as a guide and ruler of the path, that is, being under the special cover of His providence and grace. Seventy interpreters, deviating from the words of a significant Jewish saying, wanted to depict its power to please with the word: please Enoch God. And he was no more, because God took him. Some Jews, taking these words as if they meant the same thing, that God took his soul (1 Kings 19:4), attribute to Enoch a natural death, but also a sudden and unfortunate one. Philo (L. de Abraham) allegorically expounds on Enoch’s moral appeal to God and removal from human society. But in order to have a better understanding of the death of Enoch, we must turn to the death of Elijah, whom the Lord also took (2 Kings 2:5). It must be thought that in the first, after the inner man reached the predetermined measure of the age of grace, the mortal was swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:4), in some nobler way than that which we call the death of the body. And he called his name Noah, saying: He will make us easier. Noah, according to the closest work of this name and according to the explanation, as it is read in the translation of the seventy, means the calmer, and according to the explanation, which is read in the Hebrew text, it should mean the comforter. But this difference is not so great as to constitute a subject of dispute. The tranquility, or consolation, or relief that Lamech promised himself through Noah, some believe in the filial assistance of this latter and care for the old age of the parent; but in this regard, the name of Noah would not be worthy of priority over others; some Jews - in the invention of the plough; but did the plow calm the curse of the earth? So, Lamech, of course, revered Noah as a gracious comforter, which he truly appeared to be, as the preserver of the human race and restorer of it in its best form, as the new ancestor and image of the saving seed of the woman. Having passed the detailed history of the first world, one that God Himself interrupted and sealed with its destruction, Moses dwells on this great change and renewal of the human race and the world. First of all, he shows the reasons for the destruction of the first world (Gen.6:1-4), then follows God's predestination about the flood (Gen.6:5-8), the election and preparation of Noah for the preservation of the human race and other creatures (Gen.6:9-22), Noah's entry into the ark (Gen.7:1-10), the image of the flood (Gen.7:11-24), the end of the flood ( Gen.8:1–14), Noah's descent from the ark (Gen.8:15–19). Reasons for the destruction of the first world VI. 1. When people began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them, it happened, 2. that the sons of God, seeing the daughters of men, how beautiful they were, took for themselves the wife whom one chose. 3. Then the Lord said: My Spirit will not forever be despised by men; in their error they are flesh; and so let their days be an hundred and twenty years. 4. At that time there were giants on the earth; especially since the time when the sons of God began to copulate with the daughters of men, and they began to give birth to them. These are strong, glorious people from ancient times. Moses believes that the first cause of the misfortune of the first world was the wrong marriages of the sons of God with the daughters of men. Who are these sons of God? According to the translation of Symmachus, cited by Jerome, sons of nobles. This translation does not contradict the property of the Hebrew expression אלהים בני (Ps. 81:6), but does not add up to the real tale of Moses. Based on the text of the Alexandrian Bible: Angels of God. This opinion is held by Lactatius (L. II, p. 14) and many of the ancients. Justin (in Apol.) asserts that from the marriage of angels with the daughters of men demons arose. Athenagoras in these very marriages believes the fall of the Angels and from them produces giants. Tertullian (De virg. et de singular cleric.) attributes to these Angels the invention of astrology, expensive stones, metals and some women's jewelry 12. But all these traditions contradict the testimony of Jesus Christ that Angels do not marry (Matthew 22:30). According to Philo, human souls, which, floating in the air, wanted to dwell in human bodies (De gigant.). According to the newest interpreters, they are the descendants of the tribe of Seth, who were not only sons of God by grace (Deut. 14:1; 1 John 3:1), but, probably, under this name they formed a society (Gen. 4:26), opposite to the society of the sons of men, that is, the descendants of Cain, led by one damaged human nature. Moses believes that the beginning of the mixing of such opposite societies is the seduction by the beauty of the daughters of men; and the consequence was that those who belonged to the society of those who walked in the Spirit were made flesh, and the light itself began to be turned into darkness. My Spirit will not forever be neglected by men; in their error they are flesh. Based on this translation, the meaning of the word דון despised to be is extracted from the Arabic dialect, and the word בשג is derived from שגה wandered. Thus, here is an image of the people of the first world, similar to the incriminating image of the Jews in the speech of the first martyr Stephen (Acts 7:51). Neglect of the Spirit of God is an extreme degree of perseverance against the Holy Spirit, and just as Stephen explains this obstinacy by the persecution of the Prophets and the failure to preserve the law (Acts 7:52–53), so this contempt should be attributed to the disregard of all Divine, spiritual and moral suggestions through the word, nature and conscience. since in this state a person acts as if he had only a sensual nature and no other higher nature, then in very accordance with this state he is called flesh. But this too unnatural state cannot exist forever in the entire human race, for, neglecting the Spirit of God, it no longer attracts His breath, but reflects it; Accordingly, it is, of necessity, distracted; and then the life of not only a person appointed to the closest communication with the Spirit of God, but also of no creature (Ps. 103:29) cannot stand. The Spirit of God, anticipating this of carnal people, makes through that last effort to introduce His life-giving breath into them. Other translations of this passage may show the need of the previous one more than satisfy the research. In the translation of seventy interpreters it reads: Let not My Spirit abide in these men forever, for they are flesh. But in the word דון one searches in vain for the meaning to abide. It is usually translated from the Hebrew: My Spirit will not judge or convict this people forever, because they are flesh. But what does God do in the flood itself, if not judge and convict carnal people? Let their days be a hundred and twenty years. Some understand this definition of God about the shortening of human life, but it cannot be accepted in this mind, because in this mind it is not fulfilled. Since the time of the flood, human life continued for up to 500 years; from the time of the Babylonian pandemonium - to 300, from the time of Abraham - to 150, during the time of Moses - to 120, and after that it decreased more. Another opinion, which accepts 120 years as the time predicted for repentance and correction, and which, as Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine claim, has foundations in Holy Scripture (1 Pet. 3:20). At the same time, it must be assumed that the time of repentance was announced to the world through Noah, who is called the preacher of righteousness (2 Pet. 2:5). As the second reason for God's wrath against the first world, Moses speaks of the giants, the beginning of which he posits even before the mixing of the sons of God with the daughters of men, and attributes the multiplication partly to this confusion. The Hebrew name for giants נפלים means attackers; according to Aquila: επιπιπτοντες, according to Symmachus: βιαιοι. The opinion about the extraordinary size of their body has a basis both in the Sacred History, which represents them even after the flood (Deut. 3:11; Num. 13:34; 1 Sam. 17:4; 2 Sam. 21:16-22; Am. 2:9), and in general in the legends of the peoples, justified by the human bones found in the earth (Calm. diss. de gigant). But in the present case, it is enough to keep in mind that they were glorious people who achieved this, as their name shows, by the spirit of dominance and oppression, and that with their increase, the corruption of people on earth increased, even until the end of God’s long-suffering. 5. And the Lord saw that the wickedness of men had increased on earth, and that every form of the thoughts of their hearts was one evil for all their life. 6. And the Lord repented that he had created man on earth, and was grieved in His heart. 7. And the Lord said: I will destroy from the face of the earth mankind that I have created, and not only men, but also cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the air, for I repented that I made them. 8. Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. In order to give the decisive judgment of God about the first world an image of justice and mercy, generally characteristic of the courts of God, Moses first depicts the extreme corruption of man (Gen. 6:5) and God's sorrow for him, and then pronounces the very definition of God's judgment, with the exception of Noah (Gen. 6:7-8). And every image of the thoughts of their heart is one evil for the rest of their lives. God, as the first cause of everything, judges a person not by external actions, but by their causes and foundations and finds the deepest damage, starting from the thoughts of the heart; the damage is the most detrimental, extending from here to all activities; universal damage, extending to all degeneration of the thoughts of the heart. Thus, when the very foundations of good are damaged, there is no longer room for correction, but only for destruction. However, this image of the human race should be revered as the image of every person who was among those killed by the flood (Ps. 13:2-3). And the Lord repented that he had created man on earth, and was grieved in His heart. The concept of the property of repentance attributed to God can be borrowed from the story of Saul, where repentance is attributed to God twice (1 Samuel 15:35) and where, meanwhile, Samuel says about Him that He is not a man, so that He would repent (1 Samuel 15:29). From this it is clear that when His repentance is spoken of, then He is spoken of as a man, and this is because, as Aben Ezra says, the law speaks in the language of the sons of men, that is, in the language of simple folk meaning. So, the thought contained in the words of Moses can be explained differently as follows: God saw man in a state in which he did not at all correspond to the destiny of Wisdom revealed in his creation, and could no longer be involved in Creative love and goodness. The foolish creation is also condemned to destruction along with man, not as punishment for involuntary obedience to vanity, but for the hope of freedom (Rom. 8:20-22). Thus, without violating the truth, the Lord gives the spectacle of His justice some special solemnity in order to make it all the more amazing and instructive. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This way the horror of God's judgment is mitigated. And the one who is being saved is saved not by his own justification, but by the grace of God, of course, and those who are perishing do not perish from the severity of judgment, but from extreme stubbornness against merciful grace. Noah's Election and Preparation 9. These are the race of Noah. Noah was a righteous and blameless man in his time; Noah walked with God. 10. Noah gave birth to three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. 11. But the earth was corrupted before the face of God, and the earth was filled with evil deeds. 12. God looked at the earth; and behold, it is corrupt: for all men on the earth have turned away from their way. 13. And God said to Noah, “The end of all people is come before Me; for the earth was filled with evil deeds from them. And behold, I will destroy them from the earth. 14. Make yourself an ark from gopher wood; make nests in the ark; and tarred it with pitch from within and without. 15. Make it thus: the length of the ark is three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty, and its height thirty. 16. Make a hole in the ark, and bring it up to a cubit; make a door to the ark on its side; arrange lower, second and third housing in it. 17 And behold, I will bring a flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the spirit of life under heaven; everything on earth will lose its breath. 18. But I will establish my covenant with you: you shall enter into the ark, and with you your sons, and your wife, and your sons’ wives. 19. Bring into the ark also two of every living creature of all flesh, male and female, so that they may live with you. 20. From the birds according to their kinds, and from the cattle according to their kinds, and from everything that creeps on the earth according to their kinds. From each clan, a couple will come to you so that they remain alive. 21. Take for yourself all the food that people eat, and prepare it for yourself, and you and they will eat it. 22. Noah did everything that God commanded him, and so he did. Describing the election and preparation of Noah for preservation from the flood, Moses again touches on his history (Gen. 6:9-11), once again mentions the corruption of the earth (Gen. 6:11-12), retells in detail the revelation given to Noah (Gen. 6:13-21) and briefly notes the fulfillment of it (Gen. 6:22). Moses showed the family of Noah before for the continuity of the genealogy of the Patriarchs, and now he shows it again in order to give an idea of ​​the number of those being saved from the flood. The praise he ascribes to Noah's moral and spiritual condition—righteous, blameless, walked with God—ranks him alongside Enoch. Jerome (In trad. Hebr.) notes that this praise is weakened by the application of significant words in his times, since Noah would seem perfect only in comparison with his contemporaries. On the contrary, isn’t its dignity revealed more by the fact that it was perfected in its own times, that is, in times of general corruption? God looked at the earth, and behold, it was corrupted, that is, He could no longer cover its sins with His long-suffering from the gaze of His justice and present Himself as if not seeing it. All people on earth have turned away from their path. Literally from the Hebrew: all flesh has corrupted its way on earth. Some interpreters extend this corruption to all living creatures, but the word flesh can more specifically mean a person (Deut. 5:26) and is used here with special decency to mean carnal people. The end of all people has come before Me. That is, the time of long-suffering is fulfilled; I have immutably determined the destruction of people and the means through which their punishment must be accomplished (Ezek. 7:2, 3, 7). Make yourself an ark תבה, according to the work from the word תוב can mean dwelling, but seventy interpreters, Aquila and Symmachus translate ϰιβωτος, which is consistent with the use of the word תבה in the history of Moses (Ex. 2:3). The following details relate to the ark: substance from gopher wood. According to the translation of seventy interpreters: from quadrangular trees. This last name Vossiy (De transl. LXX hit, p. XII) wittily applies to trees, the branches of which, arranged crosswise, form four corners among themselves. The Hebrew גפר, apparently, is the same word as the Greek ϰυπαϱισσος cypress, except that in Greek the sounds are softened and an ending is added to the root letters. The name “non-rotting”, used by the writer of notes on the Greek text 13, primarily befits this type of tree. Separation by length and breadth: make nests in the ark, that is, different compartments for animals that cannot be together. Protection from rottenness and water: tar it. Measure: the longitude of the ark is three hundred cubits, etc. In the calculations of interpreters we find under the name cubit a threefold measure: a simple cubit, one and a half feet; the holy cubit, three feet (Num. 35:4–5; 1 Kings 7:15; 2 Chron. 3:15) and the six-palmed cubit, or cubit of the elbow and palm (Ezek. 40:5, 43:13), no less than twenty inches and a half of a Parisian foot. This last cubit, in all likelihood, is the true and only one among the Jews before the introduction of the simple, or five-palm, adopted during the captivity of Babylon; and it must also have been common in antiquity, since it was also in use from ancient times in Egypt and on the island of Samos, as Herodotus writes (L. II, p. 28) and as shown by Nilome, which still exists in Cairo (Fid. loan. Cra. L. de pede. Rom). Therefore the longitude of the ark, in its very interior, was more than 500, the latitude more than 80, and the height more than 50 feet. The main accessories are external: make a hole in the ark, and bring it up to a cubit at the top; make the door to the ark on its side. צהר, according to the newest researchers, means the spine, that is, the roof of the ark, but this explanation would make the following words inexplicable: and bring it down to a cubit at the top, for what does it mean to bring the roof down to a cubit at the top? Raising it one cubit for the water to flow down would be too little for a building so huge. Symmachus צהר translates: διαφανες, Akila μεσημβϱινον. צהרים usually means midday light (Ps. 37:6). In the continuation of the narrative of the flood it is mentioned that Noah opened the window of the ark, which he made (Gen. 8:6), and this last expression seems to be an indication of the words: make צהר in the ark. For all these reasons, it is likely that צהר is a hole that could serve the ark both for light and for communication with outside air and thus replace windows and pipes. At this end it should have opened; or perhaps it was covered with a transparent substance. That this hole should have been in the roof of the ark is clear from the opposite remark about the door, that it should be on its side. since, for convenience inside the ark, this hole had to be as large as possible, and for safety from the outside as small as possible, it is clear what the command means to reduce it at the top to a cubit, probably in width, and in length, according to the need, perhaps the entire length of the ark, except for barriers to the strength of the whole building. Dividing the ark according to its height: make a lower, a second and a third dwelling in it. Flavius ​​(Antiq. L. I p. 3) and Philo (De vita Mos. L. II) believe that the ark has four divisions according to its height. This opinion is not contradicted by the Sacred Narrative, which, perhaps, does not count the lower part of the building, because it was intended for habitation, but only for weights, sewage and fresh water. I will establish My covenant with you. Covenant ברית, according to the ordinary use of this word, means an agreement or mutual obligation between persons or societies. The very word ברית comes from ברא to create, to cut, or from ברה to choose. The concept of cutting indicates the custom of entering into a covenant when slaughtering victims (see below note on Gen. 15:10); according to the other two expositions, the word verif is especially appropriate for such an action by which God chooses a person and builds his good. The solemn covenant between God and man in the Old Testament is presented in special forms five times: with Adam after creation (Gen. 2:16–17), with him after the fall (Gen. 3:15), with Noah, with Abraham (Gen. 15:18, 17:10), with the Jews (Ex. 24:8). All these covenants are based on gracious promises on the part of God and faith on the part of man; and all are images of the one Great Covenant of the Son of God with human nature. And in the present case, under the image of the temporary deliverance of the house of Noah, the eternal deliverance of the entire human race is promised through his tribe. You will enter the ark, and with you your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives. These words should be taken as a complete calculation of the people being saved from the flood, as the Apostle also accepted them (1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5). Thus, the rabbinic and Mohammedan traditions that propagate this calculation are completely abolished. Of all flesh, two by one. Natural explorers find that all the kinds of animals that were supposed to be in Noah's ark extend only to 300 or a little more. Of these, no more than six are larger than a horse; few equal him. When God says that the animals will enter the ark, it would be useless to bother with the study of the way in which they would copulate in one place from different parts of the world. Could this not have been produced by some secret suggestion of nature and premonition, similar to the one by which some animals even now annually make distant journeys? Take yourself some food. Neither types nor amounts of food are shown here. Need could limit both, but blessing could make even a little enough. However, detailed studies have found that the capacity of the ark even made it possible to prepare a special number of animals as food for other animals, carnivores (see But. de arça Noe). The narrator notes the fulfillment of God's command very briefly in order to show that there are no difficulties in fulfilling the known and immutable will of God. VII. 1. Then the Lord said to Noah: Enter the ark with all your family, for I see you righteous before Me at this time, 2. Take with you seven of every clean animal, male and female, and two of unclean cattle, male and female. 3. Also from the birds of the air (clean) in sevens, male and female (and from all unclean birds in twos, male and female), to preserve a tribe for the whole earth. 4. For after seven days I will cause rain to fall on the earth, forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy from the face of the earth everything that exists, whatever I have made. 5. Noah did everything the Lord commanded him. 6. Noah was six hundred years old when the flood waters came to the earth. 7. And Noah entered from the waters of the flood into the ark, and with him his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives. 8. And from clean cattle, and from unclean cattle, from birds and from everything that creeps on the earth. 9. In pairs, male and female, they entered Noah’s ark, as God commanded Noah. 10. And when seven days had passed, the waters of the flood came upon the earth. After preparing the ark with its accessories, Noah’s actual entry into it is preceded by a new revelation (Gen. 7:1–4). I see you righteous before Me at this time. Here is represented the judgment of the first world, in which Noah condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness by faith (Heb. 11:7). God judges and justifies Noah, finding him righteous not only outwardly and relatively before men, but also truly and inwardly before God; why solemnly declares to him that his salvation from the flood will be evidence of his righteousness. But when Noah with his righteousness is placed in contrast to his contemporaries - I see you as righteous at this time, then he himself becomes a judge and, with his example, justification and salvation, condemns those who do not believe. Seven of every clean animal. For the first time, pure animals appear here as a special category, but it is not shown which ones belong to it. From this it is clear that St. the writer assumed this to be known from other places in his writings or from the use of his time. Following this assumption, we find that clean animals are either those that the law allows to be eaten, of which the class is quite numerous (Lev. 11), or those that are sacrificed (Gen. 8:20) and of which the law counts only five kinds (Lev. 1: 2, 10, 14). If, at the end of the flood, Noah definitely offered a sacrifice from all clean cattle and from all clean birds, as this is clearly stated (Gen. 8:20), then from this it is not difficult to conclude that under the name of the clean, only sacrificial animals were accepted into the ark, and only the five kinds appointed for this in the law, for otherwise Noah’s sacrifice would have been too unprecedented in both quality and quantity. However, the intention of preserving pure animals in greater numbers than others is not only their purpose as sacrifice, but also their purpose as food. For sacrificial animals have always been in the most common use also for food. But why could Noah distinguish between clean animals before this distinction was determined by law and before they were eaten? Partly by their very nature: for just as the entire small world - man, in fragmentation, is reflected in the whole kingdom of animals, then some of them, bearing in themselves the most remarkable images of the good that is characteristic of him, naturally seem more compatible with him than others, are more convenient for him to use and seem especially pure, which is why Tacitus calls some animals unclean (Profana. Hist. L. IV). Upon their entry into the ark in septenary number, which could have been done by the secret inspiration of the Divine. According to legend about sacrificial animals from the beginning of the world. The number of seven, or literally from the Hebrew seven seven, in the designation of clean animals for preservation, apparently does not agree with the fact that in other places from all kinds of animals saved only in pairs, or two two (Gen. 6:19, 7:9, 15). But this difficulty is resolved by the fact that the expression two two can mean both the order of things without denoting quantity, that is, in pairs (Mark 6:7, 39, 40), and the number of things together with order, that is, two, or one pair of each kind. Therefore, where the expression two two is used about all animals in general, it can mean that they must be taken in pairs. Where they are divided into clean and unclean, there the words seven seven and two two, or more precisely according to the Hebrew text (which in this case differs from the Samaritan and Greek), two signify the number of animals. Origen (Contra Cels. L. IV) thinks that seven seven means fourteen and two two means four. But just as in the New Testament the expression two two, used, no doubt, by the nature of the Hebrew language, signifies not four, but two (Mark 6:7; Matt. 10:1-4), then this same number should be understood through it in the history of the flood to unclean animals; especially since here, according to the Hebrew text, two should be read without repetition. Similarly, clean animals should be counted seven of each kind, and not each of the sexes; for in this last case, according to the nature of the language, it would be necessary to say: from clean cattle the male sex is seven seven, and the female sex is seven seven. There is little need to worry about how the unequal number seven seven is consistent with the order according to which all animals in general should have been two two, or in pairs. It is enough that in seven there are couples or male and female. However, some assign three pairs of clean animals to the ark to preserve the family and one pair for sacrifice. A guess that agrees with the circumstances. And of the birds of the air in seven, male and female. This speech, so read from the Hebrew text, in view of what preceded it and in comparison with the Greek translation, turns out to be incomplete, for the division of birds into clean and unclean is lacking. But this can only be attributed to the simplicity and some carelessness of the ancient way of expressing oneself, which sometimes abounds in repetitions, and sometimes leaves to guesswork the circumstances necessary for the completeness and certainty of speech. For in seven days from now on, I will cause rain to fall on the earth. Such haste in entering the ark was possible only under the direct care of God for the gathering of animals, but it was necessary to prevent difficulties on the part of the wicked. Forty days and forty nights. This time of rain, containing only the beginning of the flood, is, of course, not without reason separated from its continuation and is designated by such a correct number. The number fourty in many places of Holy Scripture is presented as the number of temptation and purification (Exodus 24:18, 34:28; Numbers 14:33; Deut.9:18, 25:3; 1 Kings 19:8; Ezek.4:6; John 3:4; Matt.4:1–2). So, weren’t the forty days of the beginning flood the last gift of God’s patience for some sinners, who, even at the sight of a well-deserved execution, like the thief on the cross, could feel their guilt and cry out to God’s mercy (1 Peter 4:6)? The fulfillment of the command (Gen. 7:5) and the event of God's foreshadowing (Gen. 7:6) are very briefly noted. Further St. the writer makes some addition to this, but one that again only shows that Noah fulfilled the will of God with perfect accuracy (Gen. 7:7–9) and that the flood began exactly at the predicted time (Gen. 7:10). This pious simplicity is incomparably more instructive than the curious details that many would like to find in this place. Image of a rising flood 11. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heaven were opened; 12. So it rained on the earth for forty days and forty nights. 13. On that very day Noah entered into the ark, and his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, and with them Noah’s wife, and his sons’ three wives; 14. And every beast after its kind, and every livestock after its kind, and every creeping thing that moves on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, everything that flies, everything that is feathered. 15. Two of all flesh, in which is the spirit of life, went into Noah’s ark. 16 And among those who entered were male and female of all the living creatures, as God had commanded him. Finally the Lord closed behind him. 17. And when the flood continued on the earth for forty days, the waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. 18 And the waters increased and increased in abundance on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters. 19. And the water increased on the earth more and more, so that all the high mountains that are under the whole sky were covered. 20. The waters still rose fifteen cubits, and the mountains were covered. 21. Thus, all flesh that moved on the earth perished: birds, and cattle, and beasts, and all the creeping things that crawled on the earth, and all people. 22. Whatever had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils on the dry land died. 23. Everything that existed on the surface of the earth was destroyed, from man to cattle and creeping things and birds of the air, everything was destroyed from the earth; only Noah remained and what was with him in the ark. 24. The waters rose above the earth for a hundred and fifty days. The depiction of the flood in its increase is distinguished by its fullness and vividness, corresponding to the greatness of the subject. It represents the time of the flood, beginning in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month. The writer does not show where he is counting the second month here. The Jewish year began in two ways: the civil year began with the new moon closest to the autumn equinox and the month of Tieri (Exodus 23:16, 34:22), and the church year began with the new moon closest to the spring equinox and the month of Nisan (Exodus 12:1–2). But since the use of this last year does not go back further than the exodus from Egypt, the first remains the only one for the most ancient times of the narrative of Moses (Jos. Antiq. L. I p. 4). Therefore, the beginning of the flood should be believed to be in the last half of autumn, a time that is usually rainy in many countries. The causes of the flood are in nature: all the sources of the great abyss burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened. The sources of the great deep are all the paths along which the waters, collected during the formation of the earth in certain collections, can rush back onto the dry land (Deut. 8:7; Ps. 32:7). The open windows of heaven can mean clouds shedding rain in such extraordinary quantities that it is likened to the rush of waters when the barriers to their containment are suddenly taken away ( Mal. 3:10 ). The actual beginning of the flood (Gen.7:12). Noah's safety and God's care for him (Gen. 7:13–16). The animals are not forced together, but enter the ark themselves in the desired order; The Lord himself closes the door of the ark behind him so that it is safe from both the waters and the drowning. Gradual rise of water (Gen. 7:17–20). This gradualness is depicted with precise gradualism and intense strength, showing the greatness of the described action. The highest elevation of the water is fifteen cubits from the surface of the mountains. This measure, without a doubt, cannot be taken in a certain sense in relation to mountains, for their height is different; but it may have a certain meaning in relation to the ark, which could show it by its immersion of fifteen cubits while it rushed unhindered, without touching the earth's surface. The effect of the flood (Gen. 7:21–23). And here the destruction of those living on land is described with such tension that it does not allow us to weaken or limit the signs of the final words: only Noah remained, and what happened to him in the ark. The continuation of the rise of the water until its decline: one hundred and fifty days (Gen. 7:24). From this image of the flood, the conclusion that it was universal for the whole earth comes naturally. To the doubt arising from the extraordinary amount of water required for this, it is not difficult to answer that a general flood can be represented by the passage of water, which, as is known, occupies about half of the globe, to the other open half, that the earth was even completely covered with water until the waters were collected in one place (Gen. 1:9), and that, as is known from the latest research, one atmosphere can provide more water than what is needed to drown the entire earth. On the contrary, the opinion about a partial flood entails an insoluble question in this case: why was the ark and the collection of all the animals in it needed, if the animals in many countries of the world remained unharmed, where Noah could also have moved? Philo proved the universality of the flood from sea shells, which are found on the tops of the highest mountains (Phys. sacr., t. I). Similar traces of the flood are visible in many places, to the amazement of unbelievers. Fontenelle in France, Leibniz in Germany recognized images of plants from Eastern India and South America on natural stones; and Buffon admits that this phenomenon cannot be explained otherwise than by the action of a great flood (Hist. Nat. Theorie de la terre I). Pallas in Siberia, which is the highest part of the highest part of the world in Asia, found the whole carcasses of an elephant and a rhinoceros on the mountains. What, besides a general flood, could drive them there or carry their corpses (Obser. sur la formation des montagnes par M. Pall.)? The origin of the general flood is likely to be explained by the latest scientists of nature by the movement of the center of the earth or its equilibrium point; maintaining its circulation around its axis; the effect of a comet passing near the earth on its atmosphere. But human guesses add nothing to the reliability of Holy Scripture. VIII. 1. Then God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and God brought a wind upon the earth, and the waters stood still. 2. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven ceased. 3. The waters turned from the earth and went back; The waters began to subside after one hundred and fifty days. 4. In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat 5. The waters subsided until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains appeared. 6. After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made. 7. And he sent out a raven, which flew out and flew back and forth until the earth was dried up from the water. 8. Then he released a dove from himself to find out whether the water had disappeared from the face of the earth? 9. But the dove did not find where to put its foot, and returned to him in the ark; for there was still water over all the earth; and therefore he stretched out his hand, and took him, and took him into the ark. 10. And he delayed another seven days; and again he sent the dove out of the ark. 11. The dove returned to him in the evening; and behold, a fresh olive leaf was in his mouth: then Noah knew that the waters had flown down from the earth. 12. He delayed another seven days and sent out the dove, and it never returned to him. 13. In the six hundred and first year (of Noah’s life), on the first day of the first month, the water on the earth dried up; Then Noah, opening the roof of the ark, looked and saw that the face of the earth was revealed. 14. And in the second month, by the twenty-seventh day of the month, the land was dried up. The image of the flood, increasing and destroying, is contrasted with the description of the flood ending, so that in the first the action of justice is revealed, and in the second - mercy. God remembered Noah. We attribute memory to a person when, out of many absent things, some become inherent in his imagination; in relation to God, remembrance can be called when some of the things inherent in His omniscience are under His immediate and direct action. There is such a memory of judgment, such as, for example, the memory of Babylon (Rev. 18:5), and there is a memory of Grace, as in the present case. So, the grace of God to Noah and kindness to the creatures, which, as it were, became especially dear to God under His care, is the original and essential reason that the destructive actions of the flood should soon cease. And God brought the wind. According to the Hebrew text: spirit; but this is not the Spirit of God, as the St. believed. Ambrose (L. de Noe et arca, p. 16) and Theodoret (In Cat), and a strong wind (Ex. 14:21). And here is the intermediate or natural cause of the cessation of the flood. And the waters stopped. The first effect of the wind was that the water stopped rising and rising. And the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed: and the rain from heaven ceased. With this line, the writer takes away the natural causes that produced the flood, which is why he uses here the same expressions that he used above in depicting the beginning of the flood (Gen. 7:11–12). So, by closing the sources of the abyss, it only means that they stopped pouring flood water onto the earth, however, they had to remain open to receive water returning from the earth. Closing the windows of heaven is the same as holding back the rain (Deut. 11:17). The closing of the sources of the abyss is not assigned an exact time here, and the continuation of the rain is assigned above only 40 days. If, with the end of this time, the sources of the abyss were also closed, then the waters could not rise for 150 days. But in order to bring into closest conformity with this the cessation of rain, it is possible to distinguish rain as one of the causes of the beginning of the flood and as part of the ongoing flood, for the extraordinary multitude and movement of waters on the earth’s surface could produce extraordinary fogs, clouds, and rains. In the first meaning, the specific time of rain was 40 days; in the second, it had to stop when the air began to be purified by the wind induced by God. And the waters began to subside after one hundred and fifty days. These 150 days are the same in which the waters rose (Gen. 7:24). They must be counted from the beginning of the flood, and they also include 40 days of rain. For since the beginning of the flood corresponds to the 17th day of the second month (Gen. 7:11), and the first sign of a decrease in waters corresponds to the 17th day of the seventh month (no doubt, the seventh month of the year, and not the flood), then between these numbers there are 150 days. The reduction of waters and the complete cessation of the flood is precisely described by the writer in several degrees. First degree: the ark stopped. It should not seem strange that the beginning of the decrease in water and the stopping of the ark are so close in time; if we consider these circumstances, that Noah’s ark was deeply immersed, that it stopped on a mountain, and that its very stopping served as a means for Noah to notice the diminishing of the water. On the Ararat Mountains. This word is explained by seventy interpreters in another place, translating it by Armenia (2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38). This translation is also confirmed by Burroughs in Josephus, Antiq. (L. X, p. 2). In Armenia there is a region that is still called by the locals Ararat, and Mount Masiy, lying east of Yerevan, bears the name of Mount Noah among the Persians (Chardin. Voyag. t. I). Second degree: the tops of the mountains appeared. This was followed by experiments done by Noah in order to learn about the state of the earth (Gen. 8:6-12). They begin after forty days, of course, from the time when the tops of the mountains appeared. For such a number of days must be assumed before the opening of the plains. And he released the raven. These words in the Alexandrian Bible are followed by an explanation: to find out whether the water is glass. It is likely that it was transferred here from the next verse. And he, having taken off, flew away and flew back. In the Slavic text, seventy interpreters agree with the Greek: and he went out and did not return. Interpreters are divided among themselves in choosing one of these different readings. The Jewish reading was followed in his time by Josephus (Ant. L. I, p. 4.) and also by Ambrose (Offic. L. I, p. 25). The Samaritan text and Onkelos also agree with this. But the difficulty is resolved by correct explanation of the Hebrew text. For this, it should be noted that the raven was sent by Noah only once; for why send him repeatedly, while the earth was dry of water, when he did not give the desired sign, and when a dove had already been used instead? That the return of the raven is completely different from the return of the dove, about which it is said: and he returned to him in the ark, and therefore he stretched out his hand, and took him, and took him into the ark. From consideration of these circumstances, it is revealed that the raven, having once flown out of the ark, continued to fly away and fly back until the earth was dried up from water; that is, he moved away from him and approached him, without giving any signs about the state of the earth, hiding and showing himself; flew off onto corpses or trees and flew to the top of the ark before the water completely dried up. Then he released a dove from himself. After an unsatisfactory experience, through the raven, which loves wet places, a dove is chosen for the same purpose, a bird that loves dry and fruitful places, faithful to its home and especially friendly with humans. This choice was justified by three experiences, which are explained by the properties of this bird. And he delayed another seven days. This suggests that the first experiment with a dove was made seven days after the raven. The frequent repetition of this number in this story makes it clear that the custom of counting days in weeks comes from the beginning of the world. And now there is a fresh olive leaf in his mouth. Some cannot understand where the olive leaf came from in Armenia, and, moreover, after the flood. But the olive tree was found in Armenia by Strabo (L. XI), who was born near Armenia in Cappadocia. This tree always retains leaves (Chris, in Gen. Hom. XXVI) and, according to the testimony of Theophrastus and Pliny, can grow under water 14. Then Noah learned that the waters had flowed from the earth. The information that Noah received through the dove was that the hills and plains where the olive tree usually grows were already opening up and that the earth was not so damaged that it could not soon be renewed for the food of animals. Third degree: the water on the earth has dried up. Noah learned about this by guessing, because the dove released the third time did not return to him; but I was completely convinced by opening, according to this hunch, the roof of the ark. Fourth and final degree: the earth has been drained. That is, after its surface was exposed to water, the moisture was extracted from it by the action of the sun, no doubt deeply penetrating it, it received the usual degree of dryness and hardness. This happened in almost two months. In the second month, by the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Consequently, the flood lasted a year and ten or eleven days. But the lunar year with this addition makes the solar year all year round. 15. And God said to Noah: 16. Come out of the ark, you and your wife with you, and your sons, and your sons’ wives. 17. Bring out with you all the animals that are with you, of all flesh, of birds, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that moves on the earth: let them disperse throughout the earth, and let them be fruitful and multiply on the earth. 18. Noah went out, and with him his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives. 19. Every beast and every creeping thing, and every bird, and everything that moves on the earth, according to their families, came out of the ark. And God said to Noah: Go out. Despite the fact that after the opening of the ark for about two months, Noah saw the state of the drying up and drying up of the earth, he did not dare to leave it until a command from God. He was in no hurry to seek his own pleasure on earth, but waited patiently until the work begun by God had reached its end. Let them be fruitful and multiply on earth. Some say that neither humans nor other animals multiplied in the ark, as if awaiting their fate and a new blessing for the new world. They notice that God Himself, in a revelation to Noah before entering the ark, separates wives from husbands, and upon leaving the ark unites them (Gen. 6:18, 8:16). Since the invisible Providence guides all the events of the world along correct and measured paths, and since this correctness is more conveniently comprehended by weak human observation in great and universal events, reason itself forces us to look at the flood as a very significant event in the world. Revelation gives this view a true direction and reveals great indications in the external to the internal, in the past - to the future. According to the saying of the Apostle Peter, baptism is αντιτυπον, a corresponding image of Noah’s ark (1 Pet. 3:20–21). Consequently, the ark was Τυπος; (1 Cor. 10:11), the preliminary image, or the transformation of the baptismal font, and the great renewal of the human race - the image of the rebirth of each person. Before the flood, the human race was carnal, not participating in the Spirit of God, filled with evil in all its thoughts, corrupt in all its actions: such is man outside the grace of baptism and regeneration. The old human race was buried in the flood, but at the same time a new race was prepared, preserved in the ark; Likewise, through baptism we are buried with Christ in death for the destruction of our old man, and at the same time we are introduced by Him into His immortal Church and begin to live a new life (Rom. 6:4-6). While the universe was devastated by the wrath of God, Noah received an olive branch from a dove, a sign of reconciliation and covenant with God; Thus, in the midst of the troubles of the world, he who encloses himself within himself with faith and patience is rewarded with a visit from the Holy Spirit (who once appeared in the form of a dove) and receives from him the oil of peace and spiritual joy. Jesus Christ reveals the correspondence between the times of the flood and the times of his coming (Matthew 24:37–39; Luke 17:25–27). He does not, as if with intent, define the coming he is talking about (Luke 17:20), but by the nature of things, the flood can be recognized as a transformation of both the first grace-filled and the new glorious coming of Christ. The similarity of these three great incidents in the word of God is indicated by their common action and name of judgment (Heb.11:7; John 12:31; Rev.20:11-12) and a certain death (Gen.6:13; Dan.9:24-27; Gal.4:4; Matt.24:14). In His first coming, Jesus Christ appeared as another Noah. He, just like this one, announced the coming judgment to a corrupt generation and, to save believers from the flood of eternal damnation, he created an ark not made by hands - His new Church. He Himself became the door (John 10:9) of this ark, and received into it wild and meek, clean and unclean animals, wheat and tares, in order for all to prepare sufficient mansions with His Father (John 14:2) and for all to acquire His spiritual blessing. But just as those who helped Noah in its creation did not enter Noah’s ark, so the scribes and Pharisees, who were supposed to edify the Church, rejected the stone that should have been at the head of the corner (Matthew 21:42) and closed the Kingdom of Heaven for themselves and others (Matthew 23:13). Thus the Jews, having become children of promise as children of wrath, were scattered and immersed in the waters of the heathen nations. Noah's ark rushed along the waters for a long time, but then it stopped on a solid mountain and gave from itself inhabitants to the whole earth; Thus, the Church of Christ, having fought for a long time against the waves of temptations and troubles, finally wins, establishes itself over the kingdoms and kings of the earth, starting from the high power of Rome, and spreads to all ends of the universe. By the new coming of Christ the fate of the last world will be resolved, just as the fate of the first world was resolved in the flood. The disaster of the first world is prepared by the mixing of the sons of God with the daughters of men and the multiplication of giants; the spirit of harlotry and predominance in natural and spiritual things, represented in Revelation by the fornicator and the beast (Rev. 13:17), will bring about the disasters of the last world. The judgment of the first world is foreshadowed by two Prophets: Enoch (Jude 1:14–15) and Noah (2 Pet. 2:5); in the last world there also appear two witnesses of Jesus prophesying (Rev. 11:3). But just as Noah’s prophecy did not gain faith in those who heard it, and the long-predicted flood of water came unexpectedly, so the Son of man, having come, will hardly find faith on earth (Luke 18:8), and the day of the fiery flood will come like a thief (2 Pet.3:3-10). Finally, just as the first end of the world was precisely its renewal, so after the coming times of the end a new heaven and a new earth will appear (Rev. 21:1). However, the distance between the judgment (Rev.17:1) and the judgment (Rev.20:12) between the coming (Rev.19:11) and the coming (Rev.20:14) is not measured here. For this is not the place for this, and perhaps it is not yet the time (Acts 1:6–7). For example, Irenea, Archbishop. Pskovsky “Interpretation of the 12 Prophets”, 1821, and an unknown author on the book. Job, 1860 Here and further in the printed edition, the Greek text is given without diacritics. – Editorial of the ABC of Faith. When contemplating the first day of creation, it is not useful to notice in the many pagan writers at least some features that obviously approach the image of Moses and show the birth of various legends about the beginning of the world from the one true one contained in the Holy Books. Plato in the Timaeus asks about the world: απ’αρχης τινος αρξαμενος; that is, whether he always existed, without having any beginning of birth; or was born, starting from some beginning? – and he himself holds the latter opinion. Exodus in Theogony: Ἐκ χαεος δ‘ερεβος τε μελαινα τε νυξ εγενοντο. From chaos Erev and Black Night were born. The word χαος, coming from χαινειν, to express amazement with the opening of the mouth, corresponds to the Hebrew תהו, coming from תהה, to be amazed. Ἐρεβος is the Hebrew ערב (erev), that is, evening, dusk. Theology of the Phoenicians, neighbors of the Jewish people (see Euseb. Praepar. Evang. L. I, c. 10) == την των ολων αρχην, the beginning of all things is αερα ζοφωδη, ϰαι πνευματωδη, η πνοην αερος ζοφωδους, ϰαι χαος ϑολερον ερεβωδες. The air is dark and spirit-like, or the breath of dark air, and muddy ere-like (gloomy) chaos - οτε δε, φησιν, ηρασϑη το πνευμα των ιδιων αρχων, ϰαι εγενετο συγϰϱασις, η πλοϰη εϰεινη εϰληϑη ποϑος. When he says, the spirit loved its principles, and dissolution occurred, then this coupling is called lust. Here again is chaos and erev, which pagan theology itself does not understand, unless explained from Jewish. The concept of love is found in the Mosaic word מרחפת. Further into the Phoenician cosmogony there are also the mysterious words Μωτ (Mot) and Κολπια (Kolpia); but the solution to this riddle is found in the Hebrew words מופ movement of the waters, and קול־פי־יה (Kol-pi-iag), the voice of the mouth of God. The Egyptian cosmogony is found in a similar relation to this in the description of life of Moses. See Diode. Biblioth. L. I, c. 13. Thales - προς τον πυϑομενον, τι πϱοτεϱον εγεγονει, νυξ, η ημεϱα; η νυξ (εφη) μια ημεϱα πϱοτεϱον. When asked what came first - night or day, he answered: the night before the one day. The Chaldeans believed that the earth was in the midst of the world and was supported by the power of the heavens located everywhere, Th. Stanl. orient. Phil. Proclus: συνεϰτιϰον ειναι ουϱανος των υπ αυτου οντων, ϰαι της συνεχειας αιτιον, Theol. Plato (L. IV, c. 16) the sky contains all the creatures below it, and is the cause of density. Pliny: Universa teneri mundi ipsius constricta circuitu, Hist. N. L, c. everything is contained, being embraced by the surroundings of the world itself. The most corrupt person can find within himself the remains of the image of God. He loves life, although, due to ignorance, not immortal. Loves truth, although only speculative. Hates lies, although in others. Loves praise, although without merit. Jealous of the virtues and glory of others. He fears and respects the wisest and most virtuous. Virgil says that Jupiter, having already taken possession of the world, Praedarique lupos jussit, pontumque moveri, ordered the wolves to torment and the sea to worry. Theophilus of Antioch in the second book of Autolycus: All people know the seventh day. Similar to the present legend about the origin of the wife, it also reached the pagans, as can be seen in Plato’s Συμποσιω. Plato in Politico writes that the first people were herded and protected by God himself, just as today the lower animals are grazed by god-like animals, humans; and that they grazed naked and uncovered for the most part in the open field. The ancients noticed that the serpent is especially afraid of a naked person, that the saliva of the latter is poison for the former. Josephus, speaking of this, Antiq. L. I, c. 3, refers to the Greeks and barbarians, namely to Manetho, Berosus, Moschus, Estieus, Jerome of Egypt, Hesiod, Ecataeus, Ellanipus, Acusilaus, Ephorus, Nicholas. It is worthy of note that Plato also produces Heroes from the mixing of gods with men, since their very name is from the word εϱως love. F. Cratyl. Mythology presents many examples of this kind. The opinion about the mixing of higher beings with people could be held when the latter were usually given a body. Cod. Vatic. On the rotting of cypress, see Theofrast. Hist. Plant. Plin. Hist. also: Perpetua nunquam moritura cupresso. Martial. Plin. lib. XIII, c. 25. In mari rubro (mirum est) silvas vivere et olivam baccas ferentem. Trees grow in the Red Sea, namely: laurel and olive with fruit. Pliny translated this from Theophrastus. Hist. Plant. L.IV, c. 8. You might be interested in: