Latin original · 38 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss · long chapter, split into parts; this part covers 15:232–15:269 (1391 verses in all)
For the unbelieving Jewish people is cursed from the earth, that is, from the Church, which has opened its mouth in the confession of sins to receive the blood of Christ, which was poured out for the remission of sins, from the hand of the persecutor who was unwilling to be under grace but under the law — so that he might be cursed by the Church, that is, so that the Church might understand and show him to be cursed, as the Apostle says: For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse of the law. Then, when he had said: You are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand, he did not say, "for you shall till it," but said: for you shall till the earth, and it shall not add to give you its strength.
Hence it is not necessary to understand that Cain tills the same earth which opened its mouth to receive his brother's blood from his hand; but he is understood to be cursed from this earth for the reason that he tills an earth which will not add to give him its strength. That is, the Church recognizes and shows the Jewish people to be cursed for this reason: that, Christ having been slain, they still practice earthly circumcision, earthly sabbath, earthly unleavened bread, earthly passover. All this earthly practice has a hidden power of the grace of Christ that is to be understood — a grace which is not given to the Jews who persist in impiety and unbelief, because it has been revealed in the New Testament;
and for those who do not pass over to the Lord, the veil which remains in the reading of the Old Testament is not taken away, because in Christ alone it is abolished — not the reading of the Old Testament itself, which has a hidden power, but the veil by which that power is hidden. Hence, when Christ suffered on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent, so that through the passion of Christ the secrets of the sacraments might be revealed to the faithful, who with open mouth in confession pass over to drink his blood. Therefore that people, like Cain, still tills the earth, still carnally practices the work of the law, which does not give it its strength, because in it they do not understand the grace of Christ.
Therefore also in that very earth which Christ bore — that is, in his flesh — they themselves worked our salvation by crucifying Christ, who died for our sins. Nor did that same earth give them its strength, because they were not justified by the power of his resurrection, who rose again for our justification; for although he was crucified out of weakness, yet he lives by the power of God, as the Apostle says. This, then, is the strength of that earth, which he did not show to the impious and unbelieving. Hence, when he rose again, he did not appear to those by whom he had been crucified — as to Cain tilling the earth — that the grain might be sown, not showing to that same earth the fruit of its strength:
for it says: You shall till the earth, and it shall not add to give you its strength. Groaning and trembling shall you be upon the earth. Now behold, who does not see, who does not recognize, in all the earth, wherever that people is scattered, how it groans in grief for its lost kingdom, and trembles in fear beneath countless Christian peoples? And so Cain answered and said: My cause is too great; if you cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from your face, and I shall be groaning and trembling upon the earth, then it shall be that everyone who finds me shall slay me. Truly he groans and trembles for this, lest, his earthly kingdom being lost, he be slain by this visible death. He calls this a greater cause than that the earth does not give him its strength, lest he die spiritually.
For he is carnally minded, and does not think it a grievous thing to be hidden from the face of God — that is, to have God angry with him — except lest he be found and slain. He is carnally minded, as one who tills the earth whose strength he does not receive. But to be carnally minded is death; and he, not understanding this, groans over his lost kingdom and trembles at bodily death. But what does God answer him? Not so, he says; everyone who slays Cain shall pay seven vengeances. That is, not so as you say: the impious race of carnal Jews shall not perish by bodily death. For whoever should so destroy them shall pay seven vengeances;
that is, he will take away from them the seven vengeances by which they are bound because of the guilt of slaying Christ, so that throughout this whole time, which is rolled onward in the sevenfold number of days, it may be more evident to faithful Christians — precisely because the Jewish race does not perish — what subjection they have deserved, who slew the Lord in their proud kingdom. And the Lord God set a mark upon Cain, lest anyone who found him should slay him. This truly is very marvelous: how all the nations that were subdued by the Romans passed over into the rite of the Roman worship and undertook to observe and celebrate those sacrilegious things, whereas the Jewish race, whether under pagan kings or under Christian ones, has not lost the mark of its law, by which it is distinguished from the other nations and peoples;
and every emperor or king who finds them in his kingdom finds them with that very mark, and does not slay them — that is, he does not bring it about that they cease to be Jews, marked off from communion with the other nations by a certain proper sign of their observance — unless any of them passes over to Christ, so that he is no longer found to be Cain, nor goes out from the face of God, nor dwells in the land of Naim, which is interpreted "commotion." Against which evil God is entreated in the psalm: Do not give my feet unto shaking; and: Let not the hands of sinners move me; and: They that trouble me shall exult if I be moved; and: The Lord is at my right hand, that I be not moved — and countless such sayings: which all suffer who go out from the face of God.
That is, from the mercy of his love. Hence it is said in a certain psalm: I said in my abundance, I shall not be moved for ever. But see what follows: Lord, in your good will you gave strength to my comeliness; but you turned away your face, and I was troubled. From this it is understood that every soul is beautiful and comely and mighty in strength by the participation of God's light, not of itself. And if these Manichaeans would consider and understand this, they would not fall into so great a blasphemy as to think themselves to be the nature and substance of God. But for this reason they cannot: because they are not still; for they do not understand the sabbath of the heart.
For if they were still, as was said to Cain, they would turn their sin back to themselves — that is, attribute it to themselves, and not to some unknown race of darkness — and so, through the grace of God, they would rule over that same sin. But now both they and all who, obstinate in various errors by resisting the truth, go out from the face of God, like Cain, like the lost Jews, dwell in the land of commotion — that is, in carnal disturbance against the delight of God, that is, against Eden, which they interpret as "feasting," where paradise was planted. Now I will briefly touch upon a few of the many remaining points, lest by too great a length of discourse I hinder the purpose of this work and of my reply.
For whom would it not move to seek and understand Christ in those books? — to pass over those things which, however much more sweetly they may be contemplated, the more they are drawn out from more hidden places, nevertheless require a lengthy dissertation, because they need many attestations — to pass over such things, then: whom would it not move to a salutary faith, that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, pleased God and was translated? And a seventh rest is proclaimed, to which everyone is translated who, as on the sixth day, in the sixth age of the world, is formed by the coming of Christ. That Noah with his household is delivered through water and wood: like the family of Christ through the baptism marked by the passion of the cross. That the same ark is built of squared timbers:
just as the Church is built of the saints, always ready for every good work. For a square, whichever way you turn it, stands firm. That it shows six times as long as its breadth, and ten times as long as its height, presents the likeness of the human body, because in a human body Christ appeared. That its breadth is spread out to fifty cubits: as the Apostle says, Our heart is enlarged. By what, if not by spiritual charity? Wherefore he likewise says: The love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For on the fiftieth day after his resurrection Christ sent the Holy Spirit, by whom he enlarged the hearts of believers. That it is three hundred cubits long, so that six times fifty are completed:
just as the whole time of this world is extended through six ages, in all of which Christ never ceased to be proclaimed; in five foretold through prophecy, in the sixth spread abroad through the Gospel. That its height rises to thirty cubits, a number which the length of three hundred cubits contains ten times: because Christ is our height. He, bearing the age of thirty years, consecrated the evangelical doctrine, testifying that he had come not to destroy the law but to fulfill it. And the heart of the law is recognized in the ten commandments: whence the length of the ark is completed by ten times thirty; whence also Noah himself is reckoned the tenth from Adam. That the timbers of the ark are cemented with pitch within and without:
so that in the joining of unity there might be signified the endurance of charity, lest, when scandals tempt the Church whether from those who are within or from those who are without, the brotherly bond should give way and the bond of peace be loosed. For pitch is a most fervent and most powerful glue, signifying the ardor of love, by great might of fortitude enduring all things to hold fast the spiritual fellowship. That all kinds of animals are enclosed in the ark: just as the Church contains all the nations, which also that dish shown to Peter signifies. That both clean and unclean animals are there: just as in the sacraments of the Church both the good and the evil are engaged. That the clean are by sevens and the unclean by twos:
not because the evil are fewer than the good, but because the good keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And the divine Scripture commends the Holy Spirit in a sevenfold operation: of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety and the fear of God. Hence also that number of fifty days, pertaining to the coming of the Holy Spirit, is consummated in seven times seven, which make forty-nine, with one added: for which reason it is said, Being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. But the evil, in the binary number, are shown to be prone to schisms and in a certain way divisible. That Noah himself with his household is counted as the eighth:
because in Christ the hope of our resurrection appeared, who on the eighth day — that is, after the seventh, the sabbath, on the first — rose first from the dead; which day is the third from the passion, but in the number of days which roll onward through all time, it is both the eighth and the first. That the ark, gathered together, is finished to one cubit above: just as the Church, the body of Christ, gathered into unity, he lifts up and perfects. Hence he says in the Gospel: He who gathers not with me scatters. That the entrance is made for it in the side: for no one enters into the Church except through the sacrament of the remission of sins; and this flowed from Christ's opened side. That the lower parts of the ark are built with two and three compartments:
just as out of all the nations the Church gathers either a twofold multitude, on account of the circumcision and the uncircumcision, or a threefold one, on account of the three sons of Noah, by whose offspring the world was filled. And for this reason these are called the lower parts of the ark, because in this earthly life there is diversity of nations, but at the summit we are all consummated into one. And there is no such variety there: because Christ is all and in all, consummating us, as it were, by one cubit above, in heavenly unity. That after seven days from Noah's entering the ark the flood came: because in the hope of the future rest, which was signified on the seventh day, we are baptized. That, besides the ark, all flesh which the earth sustained was consumed by the flood:
because outside the fellowship of the Church the water of baptism, though it be the same, not only avails nothing for salvation but rather avails for destruction. That it rained for forty days and forty nights: because all the guilt of sins that is incurred in the ten commandments of the law, throughout the whole world, which is contained in four parts — for ten multiplied four times make forty — whether that guilt which pertains to the days was contracted from prosperity of affairs, or that which pertains to the nights from adversity of affairs, is washed away by the sacrament of heavenly baptism.
That Noah was five hundred years old when the Lord spoke to him to make himself an ark, and was passing his six hundredth year when he had entered into it — whence it is understood that the ark was built over a hundred years — what else do these hundred years here seem to signify but the several ages of the world? Whence this sixth age, which is signified when five hundred are completed up to six hundred, builds up the Church in the evangelical manifestation; and therefore let him who takes counsel for his own life be as a squared timber, ready for every good work, and let him enter into the holy structure: because also the second month of the six hundredth year, in which Noah enters the ark, signifies the same sixth age. For two months are comprised in the number sixty;
and from the number six are named both sixty and six hundred and six thousand and sixty thousand and six hundred thousand and six hundred times, and whatever thereafter, in the larger sums, the number rises into infinite increases through the same root. And that the twenty-seventh day of the month is mentioned pertains to the signification of the same square-form, which has already been set forth in the squared timbers — but here more evidently, because the Trinity perfects us, ready for every good work (that is, in a certain manner squared): in memory, by which we recollect God; in understanding, by which we know him; in will, by which we love him — for three times three, and this three times, make twenty-seven, which is the square of the number three.
That in the seventh month the ark settled — that is, rested — the signification recurs to that sabbath rest: and because the perfect rest, there too the number of that square-form is repeated. For on the twenty-seventh day of the second month this sacrament was commended. And again on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month the same commendation was confirmed, when the ark rested. For what is promised in hope is exhibited in reality.
Furthermore, because that seventh rest is joined with the eighth resurrection — for the rest which receives the saints after this life is not ended by the restoring of the body, but rather it takes up the whole man, no longer in hope but now in reality itself, renewed on every side, both of spirit and of body, in perfect immortal salvation, unto the gift of eternal life — because, then, the seventh rest is joined with the eighth resurrection; and this, in the sacrament of our regeneration, that is, in baptism, is a high and deep mystery: the water rose fifteen cubits, exceeding the height of the mountains — that is, this sacrament transcends all the wisdom of the proud. For seven and eight joined make fifteen.
And because seventy is named from seven and eighty from eight, when both numbers are joined the water was raised for a hundred and fifty days, commending to us and confirming the same depth of baptism in the consecrating of the new man, that he may hold fast the faith of rest and of resurrection. That after forty days the raven sent forth did not return, being either intercepted by the waters or enticed by some floating carcass, signifies men most foul with the uncleanness of desire and on this account too intent upon the things which are outside in this world, who are either rebaptized or seduced and held by those whom baptism slays outside the ark — that is, outside the Church.
That the dove sent forth, finding no rest, returned, shows that through the New Testament rest is not promised to the saints in this world. For it was sent forth after forty days; which number signifies the life that is passed in this world. Finally, sent out after seven days, on account of that sevenfold spiritual operation, it brought back a fruitful sprig of the olive, whereby it might signify that some, even baptized outside the Church, if the fatness of charity has not been wanting in them, can at a later time — as it were in the evening — be led into the fellowship of unity, in the mouth of the dove, as it were in the kiss of peace.
That after another seven days, being sent out, it did not return, signifies the end of the world, when there shall be the rest of the saints — no longer in the sacrament of hope, by which the Church is united together in this time, so long as that is drunk which flowed from the side of Christ, but now in the very perfection of eternal salvation, when the kingdom shall be delivered up to God and the Father, so that in that clear contemplation of unchangeable truth we may need no bodily mysteries. It is too long to touch upon everything, even as briefly as I have run through these: why in the six hundred and first year of Noah's life — that is, when the six hundred years were completed — the roof of the ark is opened and, as it were, the sacrament that was hidden is revealed; why on the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth is said to have dried:
as though the necessity of baptizing were now finished in the number of the fifty-seventh day. For that is the twenty-seventh day of the second month, which number, from that conjunction of spirit and body, has seven times eight with one added, on account of the bond of unity. Why do those who had entered separated go out from the ark joined together. For it had been said thus, that Noah entered into the ark, and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons: the men were mentioned apart, the women apart. For in this time of this sacrament the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.
But Noah and his wife and his sons and the wives of his sons go out, the males and the females now mentioned together, because at the end of the world and in the resurrection of the just the body will cleave to the spirit in every kind of perfect peace, with no want or concupiscence of mortality resisting. Why, although both clean and unclean animals had been in the ark, yet after the going out from the ark none are offered to God in sacrifice except the clean? What, then, does it mean, when God speaks to Noah and, as it were, again from the beginning — because it was fitting that the same thing be signified in many ways —
commending the figure of the Church — that his offspring is blessed to fill the earth; that all animals are given to them for food, as is said to Peter in that dish: Kill and eat? That, having cast out the blood, they are bidden to eat: lest the former life be held as it were suffocated in the conscience, but rather have, as it were, an outpouring through confession. That God set a covenant between himself and men and every living soul, that he would not destroy it by a flood — namely, the bow which appears in the clouds, which never shines forth except from the sun: for those do not perish in the flood, separated from the Church, who in the prophets and all the divine Scriptures, as in the clouds of God, recognize the glory of Christ and do not seek their own.
But lest the worshippers of this sun swell up all the more, let them know that Christ is thus signified sometimes by the sun, as by the lion, by the lamb, by the stone — for the sake of some likeness, not by any property of substance. Now indeed, as for that which was uncovered in his house concerning the vine which the intoxicated Noah planted, to whom does not Christ appear as one who suffered among his own people? For then the mortality of his flesh was laid bare — to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Gentiles, as it were Shem and Japheth, the power of God and the wisdom of God; because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Accordingly, in the two sons, the eldest and the youngest, two peoples are figured, who carry one garment behind their backs — namely, the sacrament of the Lord's passion now past and accomplished — and do not gaze upon the nakedness of their father, because they do not consent to the death of Christ; and yet they honor it with a covering, as those who know whence they were born. But the middle son — that is, the people of the Jews (middle for this reason, because they neither held the primacy of the apostles nor were the last to believe among the Gentiles) — saw the nakedness of his father, because he consented to the death of Christ and announced it outside to his brothers. For through him it was made manifest and in a certain way published abroad, what was secret in prophecy; and therefore he becomes the servant of his brothers.
For what else is that very race even today but a certain book-bearer for the Christians, carrying the law and the prophets as a testimony to the assertion of the Church, so that we may honor through the sacrament what it announces through the letter? But whom would it not stir up, whom would it not either instruct or confirm in the faith, that those two are thus blessed who honored the nakedness of their father, though turned away, as those to whom the deed of the wicked vineyard was displeasing? Blessed, he says, be the Lord God of Shem. For although he is the God of all nations, yet in a certain manner, by a proper title, even among the nations themselves he is called the God of Israel. And whence has this come about, if not from the blessing of Japheth? For in the people of the nations the Church has occupied the whole world.
This, precisely this, was foretold when it was said: May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem. See, Manichaeans, see; behold, in your sight is the whole world: at this you are astonished, at this you grieve in our peoples, that God enlarges Japheth. See whether he does not dwell in the tents of Shem — that is, in the churches which the sons of the prophets, the apostles, built. Hear what Paul says to the now faithful Gentiles: You who were, he says, at that time without Christ, alienated from the fellowship of Israel and strangers to the covenants, and having no hope of the promise, and without God in this world. By these words it is shown that Japheth did not yet dwell in the tents of Shem. But mark how a little after he concludes.
Therefore now, he says, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Behold how Japheth is enlarged and dwells in the tents of Shem. And yet you hold, read, and preach the epistles of the apostles, in which all these things are attested. Where, then, should I reckon you yourselves, except in that accursed middle position, whose cornerstone is not Christ?
For we recognize you neither in that wall which believed in Christ out of the circumcision, whence also were the apostles, nor in that other which is out of the uncircumcision, whence are all those from the other nations who run together into the same unity of faith, as into the peace of the corner. But rather among all those who receive and read whatever books of our canon.
where Christ is shown to have been born mortal and to have suffered — and yet they do not honorably veil that same mortality, laid bare in the Passion, by the associated sacrament of unity; instead, without any knowledge of piety and love, they proclaim that from which we are all born, though they disagree among themselves, both the Jews against the heretics and the heretics themselves one against another. Nevertheless, under one condition of servitude, they are useful to the Church, whether for some corroboration or for some proof. For concerning heretics too it has been said: 'There must be heresies also, that they who are approved may be made manifest among you.' Go now and hurl your slanders against the ancient sacred writings; do this, you slaves of Ham; go, you to whom the bared flesh became worthless — the flesh from which you yourselves were born.
For there would be nothing by which you could in any way call yourselves Christians, unless Christ, just as he was foretold by the prophets, had come into the world, had drunk of his own vineyard that cup which could not pass away, had slept in his Passion as though in the drunkenness of a foolishness that is wiser than men; and had thus the weakness of mortal flesh been laid bare, by the hidden counsel of God stronger than men — a flesh which, had the Word of God not assumed it, the very name of Christian, in which even you glory, would not exist upon the earth. But do as I have said: derisively bring forth what we reverently honor; let the Church use you as those subject to it, that they who are approved may be made manifest in it.
To such a degree did those prophets pass over in silence nothing of what she was to have or to suffer, that we find even you there, in your appointed places, as a pernicious vanity for ensnaring the reprobate, but as something useful for making the approved manifest. You say that Christ was not foretold by the prophets of Israel — Christ, for whose foretelling all those pages keep watch, if only you would choose to search them out with piety rather than to assail them with frivolity. Who else is it that in Abraham goes out from his own land and from his kindred, to be enriched and made wealthy among strangers, but he who, having left the land and kindred of the Jews, from whom he was born according to the flesh, so prevails and grows powerful among the nations as we behold?
Who else is it that in Isaac carried the wood for himself unto sacrifice, but he who himself carried the cross for his own Passion? What other ram, about to be immolated, clung by its horns in the thicket, but he who was fastened to the gibbet of the cross to be offered up for us? Who else is it that in the angel wrestled with Jacob, when the weaker and vanquished one blesses the victor who prevails over him as though the stronger, yet in part makes the breadth of his thigh lame, but he who, suffering the people of Israel to prevail against himself, blessed in them certain ones who believed? But the breadth of Jacob's thigh went lame in the multitude of the carnal people. What other stone was set at Jacob's head, that it might in a certain manner be expressed by name — for it was even anointed — but the head of the man, Christ?