Fragments on Genesis 139–167

of all, five times as much as theirs.” It was made greater either because of Jerusalem, or as a type of the apostle Paul. And Joshua, being of the tribe of Ephraim, divided the land among the other tribes. [Gen 45:7] “For God sent me before you, to leave you a remnant.” Since God sent Joseph before his brothers into Egypt for the life of many, clearly God, in sending him to Egypt, made use of the jealousy and the choice of his brothers for the economy concerning Joseph, for the life of many. So there are times when God, making use of the sins of some, plans what is his own for the salvation of others. [Gen 45:8] “Now therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he made me as a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler of all the land of Egypt.” The one who rules bodily things and in no way yields to them could say, “God made me lord of all the land of Egypt.” [Gen 45:20] “And do not spare your goods with your eyes, for all the good things of Egypt shall be yours.” Whatever there is in the figuratively named Egypt belongs not to the Egyptians but to Israel. Therefore at the exodus too the Hebrews despoil the Egyptians and take vessels of gold and silver, and whatever good there was in Egypt. [Gen 46:4] “And I will bring you up at the end.” A promise fitting God: not only to bring up, but also to bring to the end the one who is brought up. [Of the same.] To those who seek the life after this one from the Pentateuch we shall say: since he who said, “I will bring you up,” does not lie, he brought him up later in this life, and after his departure he brought him up, when afterwards Joseph laid his hands on the eyes of Jacob's body. And God brought him up, leading Israel after the end of life to the end that is with himself. [Gen 46:5] “And Jacob rose up from the well of the oath, and the sons of Israel took up Jacob their father.” The one who came to the well of the oath is Israel, bringing with all his household, I think, Jacob; but the one who rises from the well of the oath is Jacob; for it was not Israel but Jacob who needed to rise. Then after this the sons, not of Jacob but of Israel, took up their father Jacob, who needed to be taken up. [Of the same.] Pharaoh sent wagons to carry not Israel but Jacob. Jacob entered into Egypt; he did not go down. For to Israel it was said, “Do not fear to go down into Egypt.” [Gen 46:6] “Jacob entered into Egypt, and all his seed with him.” Here “the seed of Jacob” is said; above, “the sons of Israel.” But if Jacob and all his seed entered into Egypt, and Er and Onan did not enter, they were not the seed of Jacob.

[Gen 46:7] “Daughters and daughters of his daughters.” Clearly, having his daughters with him, he also brought along his sons-in-law. For he could not bear to send his daughters out of his house, lest they turn to idolatry. [Of the same.] If Jacob has no other daughters, how do his daughters go down into Egypt? Perhaps, then, it is meant allegorically. Next it says that they are from Leah, and gives daughters, thirty-three, Dinah being named. [Gen 46:8] “These are the names of the sons of Israel who entered into Egypt.” These are the names of the sons, not of Jacob but of Israel, who entered, not went down, into Egypt. “Jacob's firstborn, Reuben,” and so on. Having said above that the names are those of the sons of Israel, it now says that Reuben is the firstborn of Jacob. [Of the same.] It should be noted that with the sons of Jacob born in the land of Canaan it counts also the sons of Joseph who were in Egypt. For this contributes to the later text, near the end, where it says, “Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, like Reuben and Simeon.” [Gen 46:30] “And Israel said to Joseph: From now on I will die, since I have seen your face; for you are still alive.” It is wonderful that one who had been in Egypt was not harmed by the Egyptians, and remained in the life according to God. Therefore Jacob, wondering at it, said to Joseph, “For you are still alive.” [Gen 46:34; 47:4] “Your servants are shepherds of sheep from childhood until now …” “And they said to Pharaoh: We have come to sojourn in the land.” They speak frankly to Pharaoh about being shepherds; then, so that Pharaoh may not be troubled, they say, “We have come to sojourn in the land.” [Gen 47:5–6] “And Pharaoh said to Joseph, saying: Let them dwell in the land of Goshen.” In the Tetrapla, from which this copy too was taken, following the order of the Hebrew and the other versions, the Seventy is shown to have been transposed in some places, so that what was first came to be last and what was last first; and it was found to have suffered this here too. For this reason we have set out the sequence, which is this: to “Let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen” is joined “And Pharaoh said to Joseph: Let them dwell in the land of Goshen; and if you know that there are among them,” and so on. “And if you know that there are capable men among them, appoint them rulers of my cattle.” Pharaoh wishes to appoint the capable men of Israel rulers of the Egyptians' cattle. If anyone of Israel is capable, let him flee such a purpose. [Gen 47:10] “And Jacob, having blessed Pharaoh, went out from him.” He would not have gone out from him if he had blessed a righteous man. One must ask whether anyone, having blessed a saint,

went away from him. And here he goes out after blessing; but above, Jacob goes in after receiving a blessing. [Gen 47:14] “And Joseph brought all the money into the house of Pharaoh.” And where should all the money of Egypt and Canaan have been but in the house of Pharaoh? [Gen 47:17] “And they brought their cattle to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the sheep, and for the oxen, and for the donkeys.” Joseph does not do this cruelly, but so that they might not be worn out feeding the cattle, and so that afterwards they might receive them as a favour from … [Gen 47:18] “And there is nothing left to us before our lord but our own body and our land.” Since it is said of sinners, “Because they are flesh,” therefore now too the Egyptians, as flesh, say that what is left to them is not a soul, but their own body and their land. This must be thought to be said by all who are estranged from God. [Gen 47:19] “So that we may not die before you, and the land be made desolate, buy us and our land.” The Egyptians wish to live before Pharaoh, not before God. [Of the same.] The Egyptians wish to become Pharaoh's possession, as the saints are God's. [Gen 47:20] “For the famine prevailed over them.” Over the Egyptians, clearly; for it would not have been said of Israel that the famine prevailed over them. [Gen 48:2] “And Jacob, gathering strength, sat up on the bed.” He gathered strength and sat up in order to speak the inspired words. For I think that Jacob was troubled, but Israel gained strength, who also blessed the sons of Joseph, and so on; in this passage he is not named Jacob in the case of the children. [Gen 48:4] “And he said to me: Behold, I will increase you and multiply you.” Either the impious man does not increase, or he does not increase from God. You will say the same about “I will multiply,” for God says these things when he blesses. [Gen 48:5] “Ephraim and Manasseh are mine; like Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine.” As Reuben, so Ephraim, for both are firstborn; as Manasseh, so Simeon, for each is second to his mother. [Gen 48:6] “And the offspring which you beget after these shall be in the name of their brothers; they shall be called in their allotments.” Your other children who will be born, it says, will be ranked in the allotment under the tribes named after their brothers. [Gen 48:8] “And Israel, seeing Joseph's sons, said: Who are these?” and so on. “And Israel, seeing Joseph's sons” will seem to contradict “The eyes of Jacob were dim from old age”; unless perhaps the eyes being unable to see is compatible with Israel seeing the seed of Joseph, God showing him the things that would be.

[Gen 48:14] “And Israel, stretching out his right hand, laid it on the head of Ephraim.” This shows that the prophets understood what they were prophesying. Indeed, later the tribe of Ephraim led the ten tribes. For from it came the blessed Joshua son of Nun, a true type of Christ, as recorded in Numbers; therefore the blessing of Joseph too is referred to him. [Gen 48:20] “May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh; and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.” You will fittingly use this text about the more honoured standing in front in prayer. [Gen 49:9] “Crouching, you lay down like a lion and like a cub.” “You lay down” signifies the death undergone in the economy. Christ is a lion to those who have become wholly beastlike; to those who are still beginners, a cub.

[Gen 6:14–16] We must inquire what shape the ark must be understood to have. I think it is pyramid-shaped, starting from a length of three hundred cubits and a breadth of fifty, and drawn together up to the thirty cubits of height, so that the top comes to be a cubit in length and breadth. Let the lower parts of it, which are called “lower,” be of two storeys, and the parts above the two storeys, at the upper storey, of three storeys. Symmachus too set this out clearly, saying, “You shall make it with two decks and three decks.” Let there be understood in each storey compartments partitioned off, to separate animals of different kinds from one another; and let these partitioned compartments be called nests, or, as Symmachus put it, huts. And a little later: They say, then, that the lower deck, at the bottom of the two-storeyed part, was assigned for dung, and the one above it for gathering the animals' food; so that the flesh-eaters had a supply of flesh (other animals, besides those brought in to be preserved, being brought into the ark for the sake of food), and the others each had a supply of suitable food. So much for the account of the two-storeyed lower part. The three-storeyed part after this was assigned to the animals according to the nests just mentioned. And it is likely that to the kind of snakes and wild beasts the space of the lowest of the three storeys was allotted, and to the cattle and the rest of the tamer or gentler animals, in due order and reason, the upper parts. And it was necessary that man, just as by nature he is ruler

of the irrational animals, on which he has been set, so also in place he should be at the very top of the ark, about the third deck, having the rest of the animals under his hand. And we think that the side door, of which it is said, “And the door of the ark you shall make in its side,” was at the first deck from below, so that the animals, entering from there, might go off to the places assigned to the nests. This seems better to us to say than to suppose that the animals came down from above with much difficulty to their own places. The security of this closing door needed some more divine power, since no man outside could any longer pitch it so that water might not seep in. Therefore “the Lord God shut the door behind him.” Some raised the difficulty whether so great an ark could hold even the smallest part of

all the animals on earth. And especially Apelles, the disciple of Marcion, who became the father of a heresy different from his, wishing to reject the writings of Moses as not holy, raises this difficulty and adds: “The story, then, is false; the Scripture, then, is not from God”; not understanding what kind of three hundred cubits, and what kind of fifty, and how great the thirty were that Scripture named in the construction of the ark. But we learned from one of those of repute among the Hebrews that the three hundred cubits were so named as what geometers call a “power,” from the thirtieth square; so that our cubits of the length on the lower plane are ninety thousand; and likewise those of the breadth two thousand five hundred, and those of the height nine hundred. For it would be utterly absurd that one educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who are most skilled in geometry, and brought up in the king's house, should not have seen that three hundred cubits of length taken in the common sense, and fifty of breadth, and thirty of height, would perhaps not have held even four elephants and their food for a year, when God had commanded that two by two of the unclean animals should enter the ark. But if, in order to

understand more clearly “drawing it together you shall make the ark, and you shall finish it to one cubit above,” one must set out the architectural account, so to speak, of the ark, come, let us set it out as it has occurred to us and as we have learned it. Consider with me that the length of the ark at the very bottom is three hundred of the cubits mentioned, taken as the so-called “power,” and the breadth fifty; then, cubit by cubit, ten cubits of the length are drawn in, and one and two-thirds of the breadth; so that at the thirtieth cubit of height there remain ten of the length and one and two-thirds of the breadth; and after this the drawing together is completed to one cubit. But if it seems forced to anyone that the cubit is the thirtieth and also the first of the height, let him attend to the wording, which says, “and thirty cubits the