Commentary on Genesis 1 part 15/15

For such conditions are unstable when a trial comes upon them.

For this reason the Word, wishing such people to be weaned:

Those weaned from the milk, those drawn away from the breast: expect affliction upon affliction, hope upon hope.

For as those who henceforth stand firm in stability accept affliction upon affliction.

But imperfect are those concerning whom Paul says:

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food.

For you were not yet able, nor indeed are you even now able.

He therefore promises her that she shall bear a son, saying that you shall call his name Ishmael.

This one shall be a wild man.

In many respects the man who is not such is distinguished from the diligent, the wise, and the civilised.

We therefore speak of the private and unschooled and uncultivated man in contrast to the citizen and the man of knowledge, and of the ignorant and the newly-taught in contrast to the learned and the educated.

Since, then, the offspring of virtue is a lawful citizenship, the man who does not live according to citizenship in the city of the living God, the heavenly city, is a wild man.

Falling short of that condition, he dwells in a field, not yet in a city.

And it is well that Scripture calls him not only wild but also a man;

for as yet there is no participation in the Word of God for the one now beginning, but only after he has advanced — for those to whom the word of God came He called gods — and thus he shall become a citizen of the heavenly city.

For concerning such persons this is said by the wise Paul to the Hebrews:

To Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, in which they shall be enrolled.

Rejoice not that the demons are subject to you, but that your names are written in heaven.

And one must by no means reckon thus, that names composed of syllables are written in the heavens, but rather names according to virtue;

these have an ever-memorable inscription in the heavens.

And these indeed are inscribed in the heavens, but those who are oppositely disposed, minding earthly things, have called their names upon their earthly possessions, as Jeremiah fittingly says concerning them:

They who depart shall be written upon the earth.

His hands shall be against all, and the hands of all against him, and he shall dwell before the face of all his brethren.

And Hagar called the name of the Lord who spoke to her:

Thou art the God who lookest upon me, because she said:

For indeed I have seen face to face him who appeared to me.

For this reason she called the well 'Well where I saw face to face,' which is between Kadesh and Bered.

In what was previously read it was an angel of God who was speaking to her, but now she names him Lord and God; and he who does not free himself from difficulties will say that the angel did not minister his own words but those of God, as the prophets do:

for in a certain manner the angels also, when they minister the ... and foretell things to come, do the work of prophets ...

... and the name 'angel' is indicative of an activity and not of an essence, as also the ... prophet by the appellation ...

angel ... angels ...

... he named ... on account of the one indwelling, just as Isaiah too, prophesying, sometimes speaks from his own person as one having the spiritual within himself, and sometimes as presenting the person of God, and without any preface says 'the Lord,' as when he says:

I have made the earth and man upon it; and from the Lord he announces ...

Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.

This we affirm: that not all the words are brought forth through him himself, but that, as participation is granted along with authority, and on account of the indwelling of God, those who partake are named gods.

Indeed, then, to Moses also the one speaking was called an angel:

And an angel of the Lord called him and said:

I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

As with respect to ministering, then, they are words of angels; but as with respect to the power, they are of God.

And this indeed is the first explanation ...

But there is also another, of an introductory kind, as follows:

there are many gods and many lords in heaven and on earth; yet gods, not the idols or demons, but those to whom he came who made them gods.

If the word of God comes to men, the men are made gods ...

... when the Word of God ...

according to 'the God of gods, the Lord, has spoken' — clearly of those who are so by participation ...

the word of God according to this ... of those coming to be ...

the Lord was named ... unless also through this ...

not 'God' but 'Thou art the God who lookest upon me' ...

of those being made gods ... And ...

and she added the genuineness of the vision:

For indeed I have seen face to face him who appeared to me; and it is clear that it was not with the eyes of the flesh but of the understanding, according to what is said:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

For he is made manifest to those who do not disbelieve in him.

For out of goodness God gives himself to be perceived, since it is impossible for created nature to see him unless he himself gives himself over to contemplation, according to the measure of each one's faith.

and also the writing spirit ...

For this reason she called the well 'Well where I saw face to face.'

it is the perception of things fitting;

which is often taken of intelligible things;

Drink waters from thy own vessels and from the spring of thine own wells.

The wells that sprinkle contemplations are those of the spring, which is the right apprehension concerning God, the wells being the divine words.

And it is also well that the vision of the teaching word was beheld between Kadesh and Bered.

For Kadesh is interpreted 'holy,' and Bered 'lightning.'

In the midst, then, of these, of the holy, in which ...

... and in the midst of lightning, a luminous condition, the divine instruction comes to be.

For thy lightnings shone upon the world.

And Hagar bore to Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore Ishmael.

And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

It might plausibly be said that, for the establishment of dignity and legitimacy, the phrase 'Hagar bore Abram a son' is set down with careful precision; and what follows is plain enough with respect to the literal sense.

But let us also consider the matters that pertain to the higher, anagogical sense.

When one who is making progress brings forth offspring in accord with the aim of his teacher, that which is brought forth is not a thing to be despised.

Fittingly, then, the saying of the offspring is presented as corresponding to the one who rightly instructs and sows that which is profitable.

It said: 'Hagar bore a son to Abram.'

And that this is indeed so...

I have furnished from what the Scripture says; it goes on to add:

'And Abram called the name of his son'; and it adds, 'whom she bore to him.'

For if he did not have the thought which is shown forth...

...he possessed this, he would have been content with 'And Abram called the name of his son,' without adding 'whom she bore to him.'

And let this much suffice for these matters.

But let us also consider what concerns the number of the patriarch's years.

He was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Both of the numbers, then...

'And Abram was ninety-nine years old, and the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him:'

'I am your God; be well-pleasing before me and become blameless.'

The number one hundred is completed out of ten times ten.

...things that roll were said to be squares, and the square figure is stable and secure.

...so it will be...

Again, then, God appeared to Abram...

...loving toward mankind, deigning to appear and to be his God, saying, 'I am your God.'

He is the God of the saints... but he is also the Creator of all things, of heaven and earth and of those within them, and in a special way, according to their worship, he becomes their God...

'O God, my God' — the phrase making clear that he who is the God of all is also mine, and that you are God to me as to one who serves you.

And anointing him, as it were, for the contest and for a training in manly courage, he adds, 'Be well-pleasing before me.'

'And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.'

'...become blameless before me...'

According to the literal sense... he had; yet this is no marvel.

For indeed other nations too have become populous.

'And Abram fell upon his face.'

...rejoicing and at the same time being greatly multiplied, as also was the patriarch.

'And God spoke to him, saying:'

'And as for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.'

'And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of many nations.'

'And I will increase you exceedingly, exceedingly.'

Again, after he had fallen down, the Lord confirms the promise, saying to him that he himself will establish a covenant with him.