Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of Chapter VI
All men, and especially the giants, corrupt themselves with lusts and every crime; hence second, at verse 7, God threatens the world with destruction by a flood, and consequently, at verse 14, He commands Noah to build an ark, in which both he himself and pairs of animals of every species may be preserved as seed for posterity.
Here ends the first age of the world, and the first part of Genesis, and the second begins, which concerns Noah and the flood, and concludes with Abraham in chapter 12.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 6:1-22
1. And when men began to multiply upon the earth, and had begotten daughters; 2. the sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives from all whom they had chosen. 3. And God said: My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh: and his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. 4. Now giants were upon the earth in those days: for after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they begot; these are the mighty men of old, men of renown. 5. And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that every thought of the heart was intent upon evil at all times, 6. it repented Him that He had made man on the earth. And being touched inwardly with sorrow of heart: 7. I will destroy, He said, man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth, from man even to beasts, from the creeping thing even to the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them. 8. But Noah found grace before the Lord. 9. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just and perfect man in his generations; he walked with God. 10. And he begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11. And the earth was corrupted before God, and was filled with iniquity. 12. And when God had seen that the earth was corrupted (for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth), 13. He said to Noah: The end of all flesh is come before Me, the earth is filled with iniquity through them, and I will destroy them with the earth. 14. Make yourself an ark of timber planks: you shall make little rooms in the ark, and you shall pitch it within and without. 15. And thus shall you make it. The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16. You shall make a window in the ark, and in a cubit shall you finish the top of it: and the door of the ark you shall set in the side: you shall make it with lower, middle chambers, and third stories. 17. Behold I will bring the waters of a great flood upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life under heaven. All things that are in the earth shall be consumed. 18. And I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall enter into the ark, you and your sons, and your wife, and the wives of your sons with you. 19. And of every living creature of all flesh, you shall bring two of a sort into the ark, that they may live with you: of the male sex, and the female. 20. Of fowls according to their kind, and of beasts in their kind, and of every thing that creepeth on the earth according to its kind: two of every sort shall come in unto you, that they may live. 21. You shall take unto you of all food that may be eaten, and you shall lay it up with you: and it shall be food for you and them. 22. And Noah did all things which God commanded him.
Verse 1: Men Began to Multiply
1. "And when men began to multiply." -- Josephus and Theodoret think that these events occurred around the seventh generation from Adam, namely in the time of Enoch. This is therefore a recapitulation: for here Moses recapitulates and returns from Noah to earlier times, which gave occasion for the flood.
Verse 2: The Sons of God
2. "The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair." -- You ask: who are the sons of God, and who the daughters of men?
First opinion. Some answer that the sons of God are angels -- that angels are corporeal, and that in the body they here first committed their sin of lust, for which they were cast out of heaven. So Josephus, Philo (book On the Giants), Justin (Apology I), Clement (Stromata III), Tertullian (book On the Dress of Women, where he teaches that the demons here taught women to prepare antimony, bracelets, and other cosmetics), Lactantius (book II, ch. 15). Nor is it surprising that they thought this: for even in this age, Cajetan judged it probable that angels have their own bodies.
Second opinion. Secondly, others answer that the sons of God (namely as to nature) are demons, who from themselves and their own nature and body begot offspring after the manner of men, as the Platonists held, and Francis George (tome I, problem 74); or rather, as Burgensis and Francis Valesius (Sacred Philosophy, ch. 8) hold, that they are demons -- first as succubi, who received the most potent seed from the most powerful men, and then the same demons as incubi transferred it into the most vigorous women, and thus begot giants. For although Pererius doubts whether a man can be generated in this way from incubus demons, and Cyril denies it, nevertheless Cardanus and Cajetan assert it, and Delrio proves it well (book II of Magical Disquisitions, question 15).
Third opinion. But I say: the "sons of God" are here called the sons of Seth. First, on account of their holiness, justice, temperance, and other virtues, through which the image of God shone forth in them, as in His own sons. So St. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theodoret, Rupert, and Hilary (on Psalm 132). Secondly, as Oleaster notes, it is a Hebrew idiom: for the Hebrews call all things that are strong, great, and excellent, things "of God" -- so "mountains of God" and "cedars of God" mean the tallest and greatest mountains and cedars. Thus the "sons of God" are called the sons of Seth because they were robust, outstanding in strength, form, beauty, and stature. Conversely, the sons and daughters of Cain are called "sons and daughters of men" -- first, because they were perverse and attached to earthly things; second, because they had weakened and diminished their bodily strength, form, and stature. Hence, as Pererius notes, the Cainites are said to have begotten not sons but daughters, because their generative power, enfeebled by unrestrained lust, could produce not sons but almost only daughters. Theodoret and Suidas add a third reason: that Seth, on account of his piety and wisdom, was called "God" -- hence his sons are called sons of God.
Fourth opinion. Fourthly, the "sons of God" can be taken as "sons of the powerful," as Symmachus, the Chaldean, and Pagninus translate, so that the "daughters of men" are called common women, whom the powerful abused through their power and tyranny. For since God, as Damascene attests, is so called from "providing" and "foreseeing," rulers and the powerful, whose role is to provide for others, are called "gods." Hence that word of God to Moses: "I have made you a god to Pharaoh." So Molina. But the former sense, as it is plainer and more common, is also truer.
Verse 3: My Spirit Shall Not Remain
3. "My spirit shall not remain." -- In Hebrew it is lo iadon, which Symmachus, Arias, and others derive from the root dun, and translate as "shall not judge, shall not contend," as if God said: I will not allow this contention between My mercy and My justice to endure so long. Again, I no longer wish to strive against the obstinacy of men. It wearies Me, it presses and torments Me -- such great conflicts of opposing affections. I will therefore settle the dispute, and men who are incorrigible and wholly given over to the flesh I will utterly destroy. God speaks anthropopathically. St. Jerome also reads it thus in the Questions, or Traditions on Genesis: "In the Hebrew," he says, "it is written: My spirit shall not judge these men forever, because they are flesh -- that is, because the condition of man is fragile, I will not reserve them for eternal punishments, but will here repay them what they deserve. Therefore it conveys not severity, as it reads in our codices, but the clemency of God, when the sinner is here visited for his crime."
Secondly, and better, Pagninus and Cajetan, together with St. Chrysostom, read for iadon, with different vowel points, iiddon, from the root neden, that is, "sheath" -- as if to say: My spirit shall no longer remain in the body of man, as in a sheath; I will unsheathe, that is, I will draw out the soul from the body. Hence the Syrians call the body nidne, because it is, as it were, the sheath of the soul.
Thirdly, and most plainly, it can be said with Leo Castro (book III of the Apology) that in the Hebrew, for iadon one should read ialon, from the root lun, that is, "he stayed, tarried, lodged"; for the Septuagint, the Chaldean, and our Vulgate all translate it "shall not remain" -- namely, the spirit in the body, as in its lodging.
"My Spirit" -- The soul and life breathed into man by Me, Genesis 2; hence God holds our breath, life, and soul in His hand, Daniel 5:23.
"Forever" -- For a long time, such as men have had from Adam until now, because, as follows, after 120 years I will destroy all by the flood.
"Because he is flesh" -- Because he is carnal, and has thrown himself by his own fault into the vices of the flesh. So St. Chrysostom and Ambrose.
"And his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." -- Some think that here God sets the limit of life for each individual man, as if each man would henceforth live only 120 years. So Josephus, Philo, Rupert, Abulensis. But they are wrong: for it is established that after these times men lived not 120, but 400 years, as is clear from Genesis 11.
I say therefore that God here sets a limit for the whole human race, as if to say: Carnal men have most grievously offended Me. I could destroy them this instant; but because I am merciful, I give them a time for repentance, and a generous one -- namely 120 years. If they neglect it, after 120 years I will utterly destroy all by the flood, which I will bring upon the world. So the Chaldean, Jerome, Chrysostom, and Augustine (City of God, book 15, ch. 24). Therefore, as Augustine and Salvian rightly observe (book of Antikimenon from Genesis), God spoke these words in the year of Noah's life 480, twenty years before the birth of Shem, which occurred in Noah's year 500, just as the flood occurred in his year 600 -- though St. Jerome, Chrysostom, and Hugo hold that these words were spoken in Noah's year 500, one hundred years before the flood, so that from these 120 years God subtracted and shortened 20 on account of the sins of men. Here therefore God appointed for the world a time of repentance of 120 years, and revealed it to Noah, so that Noah himself might announce it to the world. Hence it follows that Noah is here implicitly appointed by God as a preacher of repentance and of the threat of the flood. That he discharged this duty diligently and faithfully among men is not to be doubted; and it is very probable that he had as colleagues in this work his grandfather Methuselah and his father Lamech. Hence Berosus the Chaldean (book I) says: "Then many were preaching and prophesying, and carving on stones about the coming destruction of the world; but those accustomed to their ways mocked everything, while the wrath and vengeance of heaven pressed upon them for their impiety and crimes."
Note here the moral lesson: just as impiety and wickedness destroy families, even the most ancient and noble, as is clear in the case of Cain and the giants, so piety and uprightness perpetuate them, as is clear in the case of Seth and Noah. This is what Psalm 36 says: "The just shall inherit the land; but the unjust shall perish, and the remnants of the wicked shall perish together."
Symbolically, the Cabalists, and among them Peter Bongus (treatise On the Mysteries of Numbers, in the six thousandth), take these 120 years as great Mosaic years, that is, of jubilee, so that each year here comprises fifty ordinary years: and consequently these 120 produce six thousand ordinary years (for multiply 120 by fifty, and you get six thousand), during which this world will endure, and the life and age of men -- on which I spoke at chapter 2, verse 2.
Verse 4: Giants Upon the Earth
4. "Now giants were upon the earth." -- From the word "were" it seems that giants had existed before; yet in such a way that at this time they were multiplied, from the intermingling of the sons of God with the daughters of men. Hence the Hebrew for "after" has both "and also after"; and the Septuagint clearly translates thus: "Giants were upon the earth in those days, and after that, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men." So St. Augustine, Vatablus, and others.
Note: The giants are called in Hebrew nephilim, that is, "those who fall upon" (from the root naphal, meaning "he fell"), in an active sense, as if to say: those who rush upon, oppress, and prostrate all things like a storm, and drive them to ruin and destruction. Hence Aquila translates "those who violently rush upon"; hence that passage in Job 16:15: "He has rushed upon me like a giant." For the giants were the most enormous, tallest, strongest, and most violent of men. The same, from their ancestors Rapha and Anak, are called Rephaim and Anakim. In Greek they are called gigantes, as if gegenes, that is, "earth-born," as sons of the belly and the earth, says St. Ambrose and Philo.
Burgensis thinks the giants were demons clothed in human form. Valesius thinks the giants were the sons of incubus demons. Philo thinks that the most wicked men are called giants. But it is certain that the giants were men remarkable for their monstrous stature, strength, robberies, and tyranny.
Hence the giants, through their crimes, were the greatest and chief cause of the flood, as is clear from Wisdom 14:6 and Job 26:5. Moses himself intimates the same here: for it is for this reason that, about to describe the flood, he first mentions the giants as the cause of the flood. So interpreters everywhere teach.
From this passage again, and especially from the building of the Tower of Babel (discussed in chapter 11), the Gentiles derived the fable of the giants and Titans, as Pererius teaches, following St. Ambrose and Eusebius (Preparation for the Gospel, book 5, ch. 4). For antiquity believed that the giants were men of the tallest stature, with serpent feet, born from the angry earth for the destruction of the gods -- so that they might wage war against the gods and cast Jupiter from the possession of heaven -- but rashly and in vain, for they were crushed by Jupiter. Ovid briefly touches upon this in a few verses: "They say the giants attempted the kingdom of heaven, / And heaped up mountains toward the lofty stars. / Then the almighty Father shattered Olympus with a thunderbolt, / And knocked Pelion from beneath Ossa."
"After" -- that is, especially after. Note: The giants were chiefly generated from the sons of Seth (for these are called the sons of God), who possessed the most perfect bodily strength, and now degenerating from their original integrity, wholly given over to earth and belly with the greatest love and ardor of lust, joined themselves to the daughters of Cain (for these are called the daughters of men), who were most beautiful. For lust caused nature to exert in them all its force and the utmost of its power, and thus the most enormous and strongest men were begotten. Thomas Fazellus (On Sicilian Affairs, book 1, decade 1, ch. 6) brings many examples of giants from almost our own age, of whom some were 18, others 20, others more cubits in height.
See here how strength, as well as virtue or vice, is transmitted from parents to offspring. The Poet rightly says: "The brave are born of the brave; / In steers and in horses there is the virtue of their sires; / Nor do fierce eagles / Beget the timid dove."
Verse 5: Every Thought Bent Upon Evil
5. "Every thought" -- In Hebrew: kol yetser machshebot, "every figment of thoughts"; for yetser means a figment, or the molding of a potter. Hence Illyricus raves when from this passage -- or rather from his own monstrous pottery -- he forms and fashions the idea that original sin is not an accident, but the substance and substantial form of man. For such a substance, he says, is the molding of the potter. But he fails to notice that this "figment" is not God's, but "of thoughts"; and the thought of man does not depict and fashion a substance for itself, but an image of a desired substance -- and this image is an accident, not a substance. Hence Calvin translates it "every imagination." For just as a potter fashions his idols, so the imagination and concupiscence of man fashions its own images, like idols (on which see Cyprian in the prologue to the book On the Cardinal Works), and feeds and delights itself with them, not by compulsion but freely -- and therefore is justly punished, as these men were punished by the flood.
"Was bent upon evil." -- Calvin infers: therefore all our works, even holy ones, are contaminated by some hidden sin of concupiscence -- indeed, they are wholly filthy. For the Hebrew adds raq, that is, "only" bent upon evil.
I respond: the word raq neither the Septuagint, nor the Chaldean, nor our Vulgate translated, because they saw that it was added in Hebrew as a pleonasm and amplification, and was sufficiently included in the phrase "every thought and at all times bent upon evil." I respond secondly: Scripture here does not speak of the just, but of sinners, on whose account the flood was brought. For immediately afterward it excepts the just Noah at verse 8, whose every thought was bent not upon evil but upon good. I respond thirdly: this is a hyperbole; for sinners, even the greatest, nevertheless do some good things when they obey parents, help neighbors, keep faith with others, etc. Therefore "every" means most and very frequent "thought." So we commonly say: This man dreams of nothing else (that is, he often thinks of nothing else) than his belly. A similar hyperbole is found in Psalm 13:3 and Romans 3:12.
Add fourthly that Moses properly speaks of sinners -- not all, but only those who lived in the time of Noah, and who were the worst and most wicked. Even if we were to grant that they did no good but only evil, and this from their own free malice, it would still not follow that they could not have done otherwise, nor that other sinners who live in other times do no good but only evil.
From this passage Pererius probably concludes that at that time only Noah with his offspring was just, and all others were wicked, and therefore, just as they were drowned in the waters of the flood, so also they were plunged into hell -- except however infants, who were reborn through the sacrament of that time as they drowned. But the contrary is more probable: namely, that some adults too, when they saw themselves engulfed and gradually overwhelmed by the waters, repented, were justified, and were saved. St. Jerome and Rupert teach this, and St. Peter himself sufficiently intimates it (1 Peter 3:19); for thus in the dangers of shipwreck, even the most wicked, with great affection of piety, flee to God, promise amendment, seek and obtain pardon, so that while the body perishes, the soul is saved.
Verse 6: It Repented Him
6. "It repented Him." -- The Septuagint has "He reconsidered." For he who repents of a deed often turns it over and reconsiders it: Why did I do this? Would that I had not done it! A man repents when he recalls with sorrow and reconsiders his words or deeds, on account of a sad outcome from them that he had not foreseen. God foresees all things and cannot grieve; therefore properly speaking nothing causes Him to repent. Yet He is said anthropopathically to repent and grieve, when on account of the sins of men He resolves and determines to revoke His gifts and graces; when He kills and punishes sinners whom He created and showered with benefits, on account of their sins. Hence Symmachus translates "He turned away." It repented God, therefore -- that is, God, being angry and indignant at the sins of men, decreed to retract and destroy man, whom He had created.
Verse 7: I Will Destroy Man
7. "I will destroy man, etc., even to the beasts." -- Note: Sin dissolves the harmony of the entire universe, because it stains and distorts not only man but also the elements and all creatures. I will demonstrate this through the individual works of creation on each day. On the first day, light was created: sin puts this to flight and darkens it. Hence Jeremiah says (ch. 4): "I looked upon the heavens, and there was no light." On the second day, the firmament and heavenly spheres were created: now because of sins "the heavens shall be folded together like a book," says Isaiah (ch. 34, v. 4), so that they may not cover and hide sins and sinners. On the third day, plants were produced: concerning these, hear Jeremiah (ch. 4): "I looked upon the earth, and it was void and nothing." On the fourth day, the sun was made: sin eclipses it, as Isaiah teaches (ch. 13, v. 10). On the fifth day, fish and birds were produced: concerning these Jeremiah says (ch. 4, v. 25) that because of sin every bird departed. On the sixth day, quadrupeds and man were created: sin removes these from the mountains and forests, as is clear from Hosea (ch. 4, v. 3). All things therefore are punished along with sinning man, because they served him for sin -- or rather, man himself is punished in all things, when he is deprived of all things that he abused.
Verse 9: Noah, a Just Man
9. "Noah, a just man." -- "Noah," says St. Ambrose (book On the Ark and Noah, ch. 4), "is praised not for his lineage, but for his justice: for the lineage of a proven man is his ancestry of virtue; because just as the lineage of men consists of men, so the lineage of souls consists of virtues." Hence, as the world perished, Noah alone was preserved, as an uncorrupted stock, to be the origin of a new world and the seedbed of new humanity, as St. Ambrose says.
True nobility, praise, and glory therefore consist in justice, religion, and virtue. So the ancient Christians, nobles, and Martyrs judged. So the Martyr Romanus -- when the Emperor Galerius and Asclepiades, the prefect of Antioch, were attacking the Christians -- though beaten with whips and lead balls, refused to be spared on account of his noble birth: "Far be it," he said, "that the blood of my parents or the law of the court should make me noble: the generous following of Christ ennobles men." Asclepiades therefore ordered his sides to be cut with swords; then he said: "I thank you, O prefect, that you have opened wider mouths in me through which I may preach Christ: behold, as many mouths praise Him as there are wounds." Prudentius is the witness in the hymns of the Peristephanon. Likewise St. Agatha, when the prefect Quintian objected: "Are you not ashamed, born of noble family, to lead the humble and servile life of Christians?" replied: "Christian humility and servitude is far more excellent than the wealth and pride of kings."
Blessed Gregory Nazianzen (Oration 11): "True nobility," he says, "is the preservation of the divine image and the imitation of the archetype, which reason and virtue produce."
"Perfect." -- With the perfection not of homeland but of life, which excludes every sin -- not venial, but mortal -- and which consists in constant zeal and progress in virtues. See St. Augustine (book On the Perfection of Justice). Hence the Sibyl sings of Noah (book 1): "Alone among all he was the most just and true, / Noah most faithful and devoted to good works"; and Ecclesiasticus 44:17: "Noah was found perfect and just, and in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation." And Paul (Hebrews 11:7): "By faith Noah prepared the ark, by which he condemned the world, and was instituted heir of the justice which is by faith."
"In his generations." -- Among the men of his own age and time, and therefore above the men of his age. The abstract is used for the concrete -- namely, "his generations" for the men generated in his age. So the Wise Man says (Ecclesiastes 1:4): "A generation passes away, and a generation comes" -- that is, one age and offspring of men passes, and soon another of sons and grandsons succeeds it. For thus the Blessed Virgin is called blessed among women, that is, above all women. Hence some conclude that Noah was also more perfect than Enoch himself and all his ancestors who lived in that first age. But it is not necessary to say this; for it is not necessary to extend Noah's age back to Enoch, who had already been caught up into paradise six hundred years before. And even if we extended Noah's age that far, it suffices for the truth of these words to say that Noah was more perfect not than Enoch himself, nor than absolutely all men, but than most.
Secondly, Delrio understands by "generations" his actions; for these are like children, whom the soul begets. One's lineage and nobility is virtue.
A man throughout the whole space of his life -- that is to say, throughout the entire course of his life, Noah was perfect in his actions. This sense is narrower and more subtle. The former sense, therefore, is more plain, simple, and genuine.
"He walked with God" -- just as Enoch, about whom I spoke at chapter 5, verse 22. Hugh of St. Victor beautifully writes, in Book I of De Claustro animae [On the Cloister of the Soul]: "Just as," he says, "there is no moment in which man does not use or enjoy God's goodness and mercy, so there should be no moment in which he does not have Him present in his memory. For all time in which you do not think of God, consider that time lost." St. Basil, when asked: who frequently gets angry? who is sluggish at good works? who does not promote the glory of God? -- to each of these he gave this one response: "He who does not always think that God is the inspector of his actions. For this one recollection, if it were constant, would provide a remedy against all vices."
Verse 10: Shem, Ham, and Japheth
10. "Shem, Ham, and Japheth." -- "Shem" in Hebrew, says St. Cyril here, Homily 3, signifies perfection or planting; "Ham," cunning; "Japheth," amplification. More truly, "Shem" in Hebrew signifies name or fame; "Ham," heat and blackness; "Japheth," breadth -- as will be clear from chapter 9, verse 26. Here abstract terms are used for concrete ones: name and fame, that is, named and famous; heat and blackness, that is, hot and black; breadth, that is, broad.
Verse 11: The Earth Was Corrupted
11. "But the earth was corrupted." -- The inhabitants of the earth were so corrupt that they seem to have polluted and corrupted the very earth itself by their crimes: this is metonymy with hyperbole.
12. "All flesh" -- that is, every man: this is synecdoche, for "flesh" is the same as "man"; and hyperbole, for "all" means "most people," since Noah the just man is excepted, along with his family.
"He had corrupted his way" -- that is, his manner of living. So the ways of a man are called his works, conduct, and habits; the ways of God are called the works of God, Proverbs 8:22. St. Ambrose notes, in De Noe et arca [On Noah and the Ark], chapter 5, that the flood of flesh brought about the flood of waters. "The flesh," he says, "was the cause of the corruption even of the soul, which is, as it were, the origin and seat of pleasure, from which, as from a fountain, burst forth rivers of concupiscence and evil passions, and overflow widely; by which the rudder of the soul, so to speak, is swamped when the helmsman is thrown off, as the mind itself, overcome as by certain storms and tempests, yields its place." And in chapter 9: "Corruption is the cause of the flood: once it has crept in, the waters are opened, all the fountains of lusts boil up, so that the whole body is submerged in so great and so deep a flood of vices." Just as Noah, therefore, by enclosing himself with the animals in the ark, escaped the flood, so also you -- restrain your senses and passions within the rule of the mind, and you will be able to free yourself and your possessions from every peril of the flood.
Verse 13: The End of All Flesh
13. "The end of all flesh is come before Me" -- the day decreed by Me for the destruction of men and animals is at hand; I have determined to finish and destroy the world by a flood: this is clear from what follows.
"From before them" -- through them, by them. So the Septuagint. The Chaldean Targum translates it: on account of their evil works.
Verse 14: Make Yourself an Ark
14. "Make yourself an ark." -- The Hebrew word teba signifies that the form of the ark was not after the manner of a ship, whose keel is curved and whose top either lies open or is vaulted; but after the manner of a chest, closed on all sides and rectangular, which is flat on the bottom and equal in all directions, but on top is flat yet in such a way that it rises slightly to a small ridge and slope. So St. Augustine, Book XV of De Civitate Dei, chapter 27; and this is sufficiently inferred from its dimensions, which Moses gives in the following verse.
"Of planed wood." -- In Hebrew, "of wood gopher," which the Septuagint translate as "squared"; our Vulgate translator as "planed," that is, hewn and polished -- both for a tighter and closer joint, and for elegance, and so that they might more conveniently be coated with bitumen. Oleaster translates it as "pine wood"; the Chaldean Targum, likewise Aben Ezra and the Rabbis, translate it as "cedar wood." For cedar abounds in Syria, and is incorruptible, and yields very long planks that are light and buoyant. That the ark was made of cedar is also taught by St. Ambrose, De Arca, chapter 7, and St. Augustine, Treatise 6 on John. St. Jerome translates it as "of bituminous wood" (so that gopher would be the same as copher), that is, resinous wood -- for "bitumen" is broadly taken for "resin." Now pine and cedar are resin-bearing, and so all these translations would converge into one.
"You shall make little rooms in the ark." -- The Hebrew and the Septuagint have: "you shall make the ark with nests," that is, you shall divide and distribute the ark into small stalls, not only so that birds, but also so that the other animals, may have their own separate dwellings. Hence our Vulgate translator clearly expounded these nests as "little rooms."
Symbolically, St. Ambrose, De Noe [On Noah], chapter 6, writes: "Our whole body," he says, "is woven together like a nest, so that the vital spirit may penetrate all parts of the internal organs. Certain nests are our eyes, in which sight inserts itself. Nests are the cavities of our ears, through which hearing pours itself in. A nest is the nostrils, which draw odor to themselves. A fourth nest, larger than the rest, is the opening of the mouth, in which taste is nourished until it matures, and from which the voice flies out, in which the tongue lies hidden. The breath that we take in and by which we are nourished -- its nest is the lungs; and the nest of blood and spirit is the heart. The stronger bones also have nests, for they are hollowed within, and in certain cavities there is marrow. In the softer internal organs themselves are nests of desire or of pain." And shortly after: "There is now in this body a nest of chastity, in which there was formerly a nest of irrational concupiscence."
"With bitumen." -- Pitch -- more suitably, bitumen -- was used for gluing and strengthening the planks together, and for dispelling the stench arising from the dung of so many animals.
Verse 15: Dimensions of the Ark
15. "The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth fifty cubits, and the height thirty cubits." -- A cubit contains a foot and a half, or six palms. In ancient times, just as men's feet and palms were larger, so too cubits were greater than they are now. Origen understands the cubit here not as the common one (about which I have already spoken), but as one containing six common and ordinary cubits. Isidore Clarius and Delrio follow Origen. For in this way, all the animals could dwell in the ark not cramped and packed, but spaciously and healthfully. But in that case the vastness of the ark would have been monstrous -- it could scarcely have been assembled into one structure, and could scarcely have been sustained and moved by the waters. Add to this that elsewhere Scripture takes cubits as common, not geometric -- as when it says Goliath was six cubits and a span tall; for who would believe Goliath was 36 common cubits? Therefore here too common cubits are to be understood. So Torniellus.
Note: The length of the ark was tenfold its height and depth; for such is the ratio of 300 to 30, since ten times thirty is three hundred. Again, the length of the ark was sixfold its width; for such is the ratio of 300 to 50, since six times 50 is 300. The same is the proportion of dimensions in a well-formed human body: namely, its length, taken from the crown of the head to the feet, is sixfold its width, taken from the right side to the left through the middle of the chest. Again, the length of the human body is tenfold its depth, taken from the chest and penetrating through the chest to the back. So St. Augustine, Book XV of De Civitate Dei, chapter 26, and St. Ambrose, De Arca, chapter 6.
From this it follows that the interior capacity of the ark was 450,000 cubits. For if you multiply geometrically the 300 cubits of the ark's length by the 50 of its width, you will have 15,000 square cubits; and if you again multiply these by the 30 cubits of the ark's height, you will have the aforesaid 450 thousand solid cubits. This then was the dimension and capacity of the ark's interior, which was certainly immense and sufficient for all the animals and things contained in the ark -- so that it is not necessary to take the cubits here, with Origen, as geometric rather than common: for in that case the ark would have been six times larger and more capacious.
Verse 16: The Window and the Stories
16. "A window." -- One principal window, large and translucent, made of glass, crystal, or specular stone (for this is what the Hebrew tsohar signifies, and the Greek diaphanes ["transparent"], as Symmachus translates it). Nothing therefore prevents other smaller windows from having been made around the circuit of the third story, to admit light everywhere. This window could be opened: hence through it Noah sent out the dove and the raven.
"And you shall finish it to a cubit at the top." -- That is to say, you shall make the height of it -- namely of the window -- one cubit. So Vatablus, Oleaster, Delrio. Secondly, Torniellus explains it thus: "Always have the cubit measure at hand and apply it, so that according to it you may build each part of the ark to the measurement I have prescribed." Thirdly, and genuinely (as is clear from the Hebrew), "its" -- namely, the ark's -- top or height you shall make of one cubit; that is to say: you shall make the roof of the ark not entirely, but nearly flat, in such a way that it rises only gradually and slowly to a height of one cubit -- so that this cubit is the median height of the ark's ridge throughout its entire length. So John Buteo and Pererius, following the common opinion of the Doctors; for Moses here describes the ark's roof and its arched form at the ridge.
The Four Stories of the Ark
"You shall make rooms below and upper stories in it." -- Read and join these words thus, and do not refer "below" to the door that preceded. Now the sense is: "let one room, or story, be placed below another," says Delrio. Secondly, more aptly according to the Hebrew: "below," that is, the lowest stories; "rooms," that is, the middle stories (for in these, dining rooms are usually built); and "upper stories" (tristega), that is, the third or highest stories -- you shall make in the ark. For the Hebrew has: "lower, second, and third you shall make"; and the Chaldean Targum: "lower, second, and third rooms you shall make in it." From this it is clear that the ark had three levels or stories -- for these are what the Greeks call tristega -- in which partly animals, partly food, and other equipment were stored and distributed. To these add a fourth, the lowest, for the bilge.
Now John Buteo, in his book De Arca, describes and distributes each of these with great precision. In this lowest part was the place for ballast, or sand, which is necessary for a vessel so that it does not toss about in the waters, nor lean to this side or that, but rests upright in the waters by its weight and due balance. In this lowest part there was also a bilge that received the refuse from the upper stories through channels and expelled it outside through drains or holes into the water. These holes, however, were not in this lowest part (for this was entirely below the waterline), but in the next -- that is, the second level -- into which the water and refuse were raised from the lowest part by a pump. Unless you prefer to say with Torniellus that the refuse was lifted by ropes to the first and uppermost story, to the window of the ark, so that through it (being large) they might be cast outside.
In the second level, or story, was the place for all animals -- both creeping things and those that walk -- divided into very many cells or little rooms (Delrio counts 300), larger or smaller according to the size of the animals, arranged on both sides. In the cells were mangers and other vessels containing food and drink. In the floor of the cells were small openings through which animal refuse would be sent down to the bilge. In the middle of the cells on both sides there was a passageway, or corridor, through which the men could run with lanterns to each cell, to inspect them and provide each animal with its necessities. In this story was the door of the ark, mentioned in verse 16, and it was large and spacious -- since through it the elephants, camels, and all animals were brought into the ark.
In the third story were separate storerooms containing the provisions for both animals and humans -- namely hay, straw, fruit, grain, seeds, and legumes -- as well as casks of fresh water for drinking and washing. From this third story, through holes and pipes, food and drink were sent down into each manger of the second story. Here also was stored all equipment, both urban and rural, that would be needed after the flood.
In the fourth and highest story was the place for the humans and birds. First, then, there was the sleeping quarters of Noah and his sons, separate from the gynæceum, or women's quarters (for during the flood the men abstained from their wives, as St. Ambrose, Rabanus, Anselm of Laon, St. Jerome in Zechariah 12, Delrio, and others teach). The window of the ark shed light into this area. Second, there was a kitchen with a chimney and hearth; third, an oven, a bakery, and hand-mills; fourth, a woodshed with logs and charcoal; fifth, a pantry of provisions for both food and drink. On the other side were cages and nests for each kind of bird, with their feed. In these upper rooms there were stairways by which they ascended and descended from one level to another.
Moreover, as Buteo teaches, in this fourth level there were air vents for receiving and renewing fresh air. These vents were like chimneys extending up to the top of the ark, so that through certain small openings, skillfully constructed on both sides under the overhanging eaves of the roof (so that they would be sheltered from rain and more remote from the waves), the stench could be exhaled and the enclosed air could circulate, lest the air, infected by the foulness of filth, should also infect and kill the very animals.
Over all these a roof was placed, flat but somewhat inclined and rising to a height of one cubit (as was shown above), so that it might pour rain falling upon it off both sides of the ark, into the waters.
Now Buteo apportions the thirty cubits of the ark's height among the four stories already mentioned as follows: the bilge had four cubits of height; the second level, in which the animals were, had nine cubits of height; the third, for provisions, had eight; the fourth, for humans and birds, had nine cubits of height.
Moreover, Noah, with God directing him, in the ark most wisely distinguished the quarters and places of the animals, lest the animals could in any way harm one another; and he also with marvelous judgment placed and arranged all the loads within the ark in such a way that the ark itself, as if balanced by just weights, could stand and be borne upon the waters in an upright position.
All pagan writers made mention of this ark and of the flood, as Josephus attests, Book 1 of the Antiquities, chapter 4, where he adds that even in his own time, remains of the ark were customarily shown among the Armenians.
Allegorical Interpretation
Allegorically, the ark is the Church; Noah is Christ, the Savior and Consoler of the world; the clean and unclean animals in it are the just and the wicked. He who is outside this ark of Christ -- namely the heretic and the unbeliever -- will perish when the flood reigns, says St. Jerome. So also St. Augustine, Book XV of De Civitate Dei, chapter 26, and St. Gregory, Homily 16 on Ezekiel, where among other things he says: "The ark is finished at one cubit, because there is one Author and Redeemer of Holy Church without sin, toward whom all make progress who know themselves to be sinners." See Ferus here, at the end of the chapter.
Tropological Interpretation
Tropologically, the ark is the holy soul, planed smooth by the cutting away of vices through crosses and labors, squared and balanced on every side. Again, the ark is the secret of conscience; Noah is the mind; the length of the ark is faith; its breadth, charity; its height, hope -- likewise prayer and contemplation. The flooding of the waters is the onslaught of temptations. The mountains of Armenia on which the ark rests are the repose of the soul in the contemplation of divine things. The birds of the ark are heavenly thoughts; the animals are works and cares concerning earthly things. The raven sent out and not returning signifies false Christians, who rejoice outside in the tossing of temporal things and do not return to the quiet of the mind. The dove that returned signifies good Christians, who having been sent out to works of charity, soon return to the quiet of the mind, but with an olive branch, because they have performed works of mercy. All these things are found in Hugh of St. Victor, Allegories on Genesis, chapter 18, and in Origen here.
Verse 18: You Shall Enter the Ark
18. "You shall enter the ark, you and your sons, your wife and the wives of your sons." -- Here the men are separated from the women, to indicate that in the ark there was to be abstinence from the use of marriage, since it was a time of flood -- that is, of mourning and penance -- for propitiating God. Hence no one is recorded as having been born in the ark, and Moses implies this when he says in chapter 10, verse 1: "And sons were born to them after the flood." And chapter 11, verse 10: "Shem begot Arphaxad two years after the flood." The reason is given by Damascene, Book IV of De Fide, chapter 25: "He separated them from their wives, so that with chastity they might escape the sea and that universal shipwreck." Therefore the Hebrews and St. Jerome in Zechariah chapter 12, on the words "The family of the house of David apart, and their women apart"; and Abulensis here on chapter 7; and Remigius, on Joel chapter 2 at the words "Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber" -- all hold that during the entire time the flood lasted and the universal destruction of the world continued, neither Noah nor his sons engaged in procreation, because it was a time of mourning, praying, and appeasing God.
Verse 19: Pairs of Animals
19. "And of all living creatures you shall bring in pairs." -- Understand this of land animals; therefore even wild beasts -- such as lions, wolves, and tigers -- were brought in pairs into the ark. At that time they were tame, like gentle lambs, obeying Noah, that most innocent man, just as they had obeyed Adam in paradise. See St. Chrysostom, Homily 25. No fish, however, entered the ark, nor amphibians, because these live continually both in water and on land. Therefore some writers, mentioned by Hugh of St. Victor in Book I of De Arca morali, chapter 3, vainly and rashly assign to these amphibians cavities or nests which Noah supposedly made for them on the outside of the outermost wall of the ark facing the water. For if there are any amphibians that cannot be without land for so long -- either because of their food, or because they shelter on land at night -- these were received and preserved inside the ark with the others.
Again, animals that arise from putrefaction -- such as mice, worms, bees, and scorpions -- were not brought into the ark; nor those that are born from the mating of different species, such as the mule from a mare and a donkey. Of land animals that entered the ark, therefore, Arias Montanus in his book De Arca counts 450 species, excluding serpents. Pererius counts 23 species of serpents and reptiles. So that altogether there would have been about 175 species of land animals in the ark, of which only six are larger than a horse, few are equal, and many are smaller even than sheep. Pererius reckons all these land animals as equivalent to 250 oxen, and holds that they occupied no more space in the ark than 250 oxen would occupy.
You will find scarcely 150 species of birds in Gesner and Aldrovandus, of which few are larger than swans, and most are smaller. The ark could therefore easily contain all these, since its capacity was 450,000 cubits, as I said at verse 15.
Verse 20: They Shall Come to You
20. "They shall come in to you." -- In Hebrew, "they will come to you" -- namely of their own accord, even if they are wild -- and this either by God's instinct or by the impulse of angels, just as previously they had been brought to Adam (chapter 2, verse 19). So St. Augustine, Book XV of De Civitate Dei, chapter 27. Noah did not, therefore, seek out these animals and bring them to the ark, as Philo supposes; nor did the animals themselves, as the flood grew stronger, flee by swimming to the ark, as Hugh of St. Victor says, cited by Buteo.
Verse 21: Of All Foods
21. "Of all foods that can be eaten." -- In Hebrew, "of every food that is usually eaten" -- namely both by man and by beasts. Hence it is more true what John Buteo asserts (although Pererius holds the contrary), namely that carnivorous animals in the ark ate not plants but meat, placed in the ark by Noah for this purpose (for the lion, for example, feeds only on flesh).