Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of Chapter VIII
The flood gradually diminishes and finally ends: and this Noah learns in verse 8 from the dove returning with an olive branch. Then, in verse 16, he goes out from the ark with all his household. Finally, in verse 20, he offers a sacrifice to God, who, appeased by it, promises that there will be no more flood hereafter.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 8:1-22
1. And God remembered Noah, and all the living things, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark, and He brought a wind over the earth, and the waters were diminished. 2. And the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were shut up: and the rains from heaven were restrained. 3. And the waters returned from the earth, going and coming back: and they began to diminish after a hundred and fifty days. 4. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, upon the mountains of Armenia. 5. And the waters were going and decreasing until the tenth month: for in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared. 6. And after forty days had passed, Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and sent forth a raven, 7. which went forth and did not return, until the waters were dried up upon the earth. 8. He also sent forth a dove after it, to see if the waters had now ceased upon the face of the earth. 9. But when it found no place where its foot might rest, it returned to him into the ark: for the waters were upon the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and caught it and brought it into the ark. 10. And having waited yet seven other days, he again sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11. And it came to him in the evening, carrying a branch of olive with green leaves in its mouth; Noah therefore understood that the waters had ceased upon the earth. 12. And he waited nevertheless yet seven other days: and he sent forth the dove, which returned no more to him. 13. Therefore in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters were diminished upon the earth: and Noah opening the roof of the ark, looked out and saw that the surface of the earth was dried. 14. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. 15. And God spoke to Noah, saying: 16. Go out of the ark, you and your wife, your sons and the wives of your sons with you. 17. All living things that are with you of all flesh, as well of fowls as of beasts and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, bring out with you, and go upon the earth: increase and multiply upon it. 18. So Noah went out, and his sons, his wife and the wives of his sons with him. 19. And all living things, and cattle, and creeping things that creep upon the earth, according to their kinds, went out of the ark. 20. And Noah built an altar to the Lord: and taking of all clean cattle and fowls, he offered holocausts upon the altar. 21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor, and said: I will no more curse the earth for the sake of man; for the imagination and thought of man's heart are prone to evil from his youth: I will therefore no more destroy every living soul as I have done. 22. All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease.
Verse 1: God Remembered Noah
AND GOD REMEMBERED NOAH. -- As if God had forgotten Noah, when He had left him floating in that horrible abyss of waters with the ark; here at the end of the flood He is said to remember him, because He now delivers him from it, says Theodoret. We heard in the preceding chapter of the destruction of all the wicked: here we hear the consolation of the pious. Just as He earlier showed that the joy of the wicked was turned into grief, so here He declares that the sorrow of the pious was turned into joy, according to that saying of Tobit: "Everyone who worships You knows this for certain, that his life, if it be in trial, shall be crowned."
HE BROUGHT A WIND -- that is, the Holy Spirit, say Theodoret and St. Ambrose. Secondly, Rupert understands by the spirit the sun, which by its heat dried the waters. But I say it was a spirit, that is, a strong wind, which by force, not so much natural (for how could that happen with such vast waters, in so brief a time?), as divine, partly dried up and consumed the waters, partly condensed them and drove them into the deep and the channel from which they had burst forth: which done, He shut them up there, closing the fountains and openings of the deep; and this is what follows: "The fountains of the deep were shut up." So St. Chrysostom and Ambrose. What this deep is I explained in chapter 7, verse 11. The same wind by the same force brought it about that from this flood no plague or pestilence was afterwards spread.
Verse 2: The Rains Restrained
AND THE RAINS FROM HEAVEN WERE RESTRAINED. -- Not as if it had rained continuously up to this point for 150 days, but that as the flood was decreasing, God restrained all rains whatsoever, even the ordinary ones, so that the waters might decrease more quickly and the earth be dried. God therefore restrained the rain here for seven full months, namely from the 17th day of the seventh month, when the water began to decrease, to the 27th day of the second month of the following year, when the earth was dried, as is evident from verse 14.
Verse 3: Going and Returning
GOING AND RETURNING -- going, that is, returning to the sea and to the subterranean abyss, through various channels and through hidden veins. So St. Jerome.
In the seventh month -- from the beginning, not of the flood, as some would have it, but of the year, as is clear from verse 13 and the following verses.
Verse 4: The Mountains of Armenia
ON THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY. -- So the Latin Bibles, the Septuagint, and all the Fathers consistently read, and reason proves that it should be read thus. For since the waters remaining at their height held the earth for 150 days, it follows that they remained at their height up to the 17th day of this seventh month; for the flood began on the 17th day of the second month. Now from the 27th day of the second month to the 17th day of the seventh month, there are precisely 150 days, after which the waters began to decrease; therefore on the 17th day of the seventh month they began to decrease; but they could not in one day decrease by the 15 cubits by which they exceeded the mountains in every direction -- not only those of Armenia, but also those higher than them in the whole earth -- so that the ark could rest on the mountains of Armenia on that same 17th day; but this happened gradually, so that after 10 days, namely on the 27th day of the same month, the ark could come to rest on those mountains, as is stated here. For it is clear that the waters decreased very slowly from the fact that, after the ark rested in the seventh month, the tops of the mountains finally appeared only in the tenth month.
Therefore the Hebrew and Chaldean texts here are not so much defective as distorted and jumbled; for instead of 17 they have 27, namely for the two separate words asar iom, that is, "on the tenth day," one should read as a single joined word esrim, that is, "twentieth," supply "day."
Therefore Eugubinus, Cajetan, and Lipomanus were wrong in saying that our text here is corrupt.
THE MOUNTAINS OF ARMENIA. -- In Hebrew it is "the mountains of Ararat," which the Chaldean translates as "the mountains of Cordu," which Josephus and Curtius call the Cordiaean mountains. These mountains, say Pererius and Delrio, are part of Mount Taurus (which takes various names in different places), where it overlooks Cilicia and the Araxes river, which is perhaps called Ararat in Hebrew. Hence Stephanus, in his book On Cities, thinks Tarsus of Cilicia was named from tarsis, that is, "to dry up," because as evidence that the earth was first dried there, Tarsus was founded in that place. But others think Tarsus was founded and named after Tarshish, son of Japheth.
Whence is Armenia named? Note: Armenia seems to have been later so named from Aram, the son of Shem, grandson of Noah, Genesis chapter 10. But if you consider the Hebrew etymology, Aram and Armenia signifies "high" and "exalted"; for Armenia is the highest of all regions of the world, and this can be inferred from the fact that the ark first settled on the mountains of Armenia as the flood was decreasing.
Verse 5: The Tenth Month
The tenth month -- not from the beginning of the flood, as Tostatus and Cajetan would have it, but from the beginning of the 600th year of Noah's life, as is clear from the preceding chapter, verse 11, and here verses 13 and 14. So Lyranus and Pererius.
The Tops Appeared
THE TOPS APPEARED. -- For although the ark had already come to rest on the mountains of Armenia in the seventh month, nevertheless the mountains had not yet been uncovered; for the mass of the ark had penetrated some cubits (say seven or eight) below the water by its own weight, as cargo ships are accustomed to do; therefore as the water gradually decreased by these seven or eight cubits, the mountains were finally uncovered, so that to Noah looking out through the window of the ark, the tops of the mountains finally appeared in the tenth month. It is likely that they had been uncovered and stripped of water before, but that they first appeared and were seen by Noah himself in the tenth month. Moreover, it is not necessary to say that the waters always decreased evenly and at a uniform rate; it is likely that at the beginning they decreased more, and this so that the ark would no longer float, but would settle on the mountains of Armenia, for the security and consolation of Noah: for at the very beginning, the waters were not only dried up and condensed by the wind, but were also suddenly drawn back by God into their deep, from which they had come forth, which indeed received an immense quantity of water, and there they were shut up; whence verse 2 says: "And the fountains of the deep were shut up."
Verse 7: The Raven
Did the raven return? WHICH (THE RAVEN) WENT FORTH AND DID NOT RETURN. -- The Chaldean, Josephus, and, as it seems to some, the Hebrew itself has the contrary, namely, that the raven went forth and returned. Hence Calvin accuses our Latin text of falsity; but the Septuagint, our Translator, and all the Fathers except Procopius read with the negation: the raven went forth and did not return. Both versions and readings can have a true sense, and therefore can easily be reconciled with each other.
For which note: The Hebrew literally reads thus: The raven went forth, going out and returning, namely, this raven sent out from the ark, as St. Augustine, St. Chrysostom, and others attest, seeing corpses lying on the mountains or floating in the waters, which had not yet decomposed or been devoured by fish, was attracted by them; or rather, as Pererius thinks, because it was weary of confinement in the ark and was eager for freedom, it did not want to return into the ark; but since the earth was still muddy and watery, it would fly back from time to time to the top of the ark and perch on it, only to fly off again to the corpses. The raven therefore returned to the top of the ark, but did not return to Noah, into the ark itself, but flew back and forth. Hence Noah could not learn from it whether or how much the earth was drying; therefore shortly after he sent forth the dove, which would explore this. See Francis Lucas, note 3 on Genesis.
Secondly and more genuinely, the Hebrew word schob signifies "to return," not to Noah who sent it, but to its former place, freedom, and habit: whence schob is often taken to mean "to depart," as is clear from verse 3 here, and Ruth 1:16, and Ezekiel 18:26, and often elsewhere; therefore in the Hebrew the literal reading is: The raven went forth, going out and departing, until the waters were dried up upon the earth; that is, it went forth more and more and departed, until the earth was dried; for it is natural for birds, when released from a cage, to fly away as far as possible. Our Translator expressed this sense more clearly when he translated: "It went forth and did not return." Whence also St. Jerome in the Hebrew Traditions on Genesis says that in the Hebrew it reads, "it went out, going out and not returning"; so skillfully and learnedly does Father Gordon argue, book I of Controversies, chapter 19. For the raven going out was returning to its freedom, and consequently was not returning to the ark, but was departing farther from it; and this is what the Hebrew schob signifies.
UNTIL THE WATERS WERE DRIED UP. -- The word "until" does not signify that after the earth was dried the raven returned to the ark, but only that before the drying it had not returned; so "until" is used in Matthew chapter 1, last verse; Psalm 109:2, and elsewhere.
Moral lesson. From this passage the raven became a proverb among the Hebrews, so that they say "a raven messenger" of someone who is sent and returns late or never. The raven did not return to the ark, but the dove did: ravens are those who defer repentance and say: "Tomorrow, tomorrow"; doves that groan are those who repent at once and return to the ark. Hence Alcuin, in his book On Virtues and Vices: "Perhaps," he says, you answer: "Tomorrow, tomorrow" (that is, I will convert); O raven's cry! The raven did not return to the ark, but the dove returned; if you then want to do penance when you can no longer sin, when your sins have left you, not you them: you are quite alien to the faith, you who wait for old age to do penance."
Otherwise St. Ambrose, book On Noah, chapter 17: The sending out of the raven, he says, signifies "that every just man, when he begins to purify himself, first repels from himself whatever is dark, unclean, and reckless. Indeed all shamelessness and guilt is dark and feeds on the dead like a raven. And therefore guilt is as it were sent out and driven away, and separated from innocence, so that nothing dark remains in the mind of the just man. Finally the raven that went out does not return to the just man, because fleeing guilt belongs entirely to equity, and does not seem to suit honesty and justice." And in chapter 18, he says the dove returning to the ark signifies the simple and innocent, who, sent to convert worldly people, when they see that wickedness has flooded them, lest they labor in vain and be contaminated by it, quickly fly back to the ark of the mind: "For slowly, he says, amid the cunning of this world and the waves of worldly desires, does simplicity find a harbor." See more from him if you wish.
Verse 9: Where It Might Rest
WHERE IT MIGHT REST. -- For everything was still muddy and covered with mire.
FOR THE WATERS WERE UPON THE WHOLE EARTH. -- For although they had left the high mountains, they still covered all the flat or level ground.
Verse 11: The Olive Branch
IN THE EVENING. -- Having fed all day (says St. Chrysostom, homily 26), it returns to its mate in the familiar shelter, to avoid the cold of night. So Delrio.
A BRANCH OF OLIVE. -- Because the olive always remains green in its leaves, as Pliny attests, book 16, chapter 20. This olive tree could therefore have preserved its leaves for a whole year under the waters of the flood. So St. Chrysostom, homily 26: although St. Ambrose, book On the Ark, chapter 19, prefers that this olive sprouted under the waters, not naturally, but by the omnipotence of God.
Note: Although the flood laid low nearly all trees situated in the plains, nevertheless this olive, and certain other trees and plants, could have been preserved among the rocks of the mountains, which broke the force of the waters.
The Jews speak foolishly here, who fable that this branch was brought from Zion and the Mount of Olives, which the flood supposedly did not reach because it was sacred. Others dream that it was brought from paradise.
The olive is a symbol of peace, victory, and happiness. Tropologically: The olive, says St. Ambrose, is the emblem of divine mercy. Again the olive, says Pererius, is the hieroglyphic of peace, victory, and happiness. This dove therefore with the olive branch was as it were bringing Noah and the world security from the waters, and peace and reconciliation with God. I will say more about the symbolism of the olive at Leviticus chapter 2, verse 4.
THAT THE WATERS HAD CEASED. -- That is, that they had been diminished down to the trees and the ground.
Allegory: Noah, Christ, and the Church
Allegorically, Noah is Christ, the ark is the Church; after the passion and death of Christ, God brought back the spirit of life, when He raised Christ from the dead, and then gave men the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins. Secondly, the waters were not immediately dried up by the Spirit, because God does not immediately dry up the waters of concupiscence and temptations and all sins, but does so over time; thirdly, the ark first rested on the mountains, because at the time of Christ's passion, the Church stood firm in the Apostles; fourthly, Noah opened the window on the 40th day, because Christ ascended to heaven and opened it on the 40th day after the resurrection; fifthly, the raven sent out does not return, because the faithless Jews, cast out of the Church, do not return to it; sixthly, the dove is the Holy Spirit, who was seen in the form of a dove over Christ; seventhly, the dove is sent out a third time, because the Holy Spirit comes to us three times: first, when we are baptized; second, when we are confirmed; third, when He will raise our bodies. Eighthly, the dove did not sit on muddy ground or on corpses, because the Holy Spirit does not enter a carnal and malevolent soul; ninthly, the dove came in the evening, because the Holy Spirit was poured out in the last days of Christ; tenthly, the dove brings an olive branch, because the Holy Spirit brings us the oil of divine grace and peace with God; eleventhly, Noah is assured by the dove that the waters have ceased, because the Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God; twelfthly, Noah removes the roof of the ark, because Christ removes all obstacles so that we may have free entrance into heaven; which will happen when He says: Come, blessed of My Father, etc.
Verses 12-13: The Waters Diminished
THE WATERS WERE DIMINISHED -- down to the ground, so that dry land appeared. Note here: On the first day of the first month of the 601st year of Noah, the earth is here called dried; understand this as inchoate, that is, so that it was stripped of water, yet still remained muddy and marshy: for it was perfectly dried from mud and slime after 57 days, namely on the 27th day of the second month, as is stated in the following verse, so that Noah with his family could leave the ark and walk upon the earth. So Pererius.
AND NOAH OPENING THE ROOF OF THE ARK, LOOKED OUT. -- Noah did not open the entire roof of the ark, but only a part, namely one or another plank of it, just as much as was needed so that he could conveniently be raised above the roof itself, and from there look around in every direction (which he could not do from the window, since it was positioned at the side of the ark) and see whether the waters had now everywhere left the earth.
Tropologically, St. Ambrose, book On Noah, chapter 20: Noah, that is, a just man, opens the roof so that he might gaze upon incorporeal things, namely God and the heavenly beings: "And therefore," he says, "the just man sought the Lord whom he did not see, free from corruption, desirous of eternity."
Verse 14: The Earth Was Dried
IN THE SECOND MONTH, ON THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF THE MONTH THE EARTH WAS DRIED. -- From this passage it is clear that the flood lasted a full year and ten days; for it began in the year 600 of Noah, on the 17th day of the second month; and it ended in the year 601 of Noah, on the 27th day of the second month: therefore Noah was in the ark for a full year and ten days.
Pererius thinks that the year here is to be understood as a lunar year, which contains twelve lunations, or twelve circuits of the moon through the Zodiac, and consequently contains 354 days, and is therefore eleven days shorter than the solar year; for the solar year contains 365 days. Pererius's reasoning is that the Hebrews used months, and consequently lunar years; therefore Moses seems to use the same here.
But this reasoning does not entirely hold: for the Hebrews used lunar months on account of their many feasts, which had to be celebrated according to the moon, as the new moon was to be celebrated at the new moon, and Passover on the 14th moon of the first month; from this, however, it does not follow that Moses uses the same in the Pentateuch. For Moses here writes the chronology of the world, which is customarily written according to solar years, as being the most common and most widely used. Moreover: the Hebrews reduced their lunar years to the solar year by intercalation every second or third year, and made them equal to it; and so they too used the solar year: otherwise they would not have been able always to begin their year in the month of the new harvest, and to celebrate Passover in it.
That Moses uses the solar year is supported by what I said at chapter 7, last verse, namely that from the 17th day of the second month to the 27th of the seventh month, 160 days had passed, so that for the first 150 days the waters remained at their level, then in the last ten days they were so diminished that the ark rested on the mountains of Armenia. For if you take lunar months, you would have to say that after those 150 days of the flood, the earth was suddenly dried within four days to such a degree that the ark could rest on those mountains, although afterwards it dried very slowly, as is clear from verses 5, 13, 14.
Verse 16: Go Out, You and Your Wife
Saint Ambrose, in his book On the Ark, chapter 21, and Cajetan note that at the entrance into the ark, chapter 6, verse 18, God commands the wives to enter separately from the males, but at the departure He commands them to go out together: because, says Saint Ambrose, at the entrance, by that tacit phrase of separation, they are admonished by God each to abstain from conjugal relations and from procreation, because that was a time of mourning and penance: but at the departure, by another phrase of combination, they are admonished to use conjugal relations, for the propagation of mankind.
Verse 17: Animals Reaching the Americas
ALL LIVING THINGS, etc., BRING OUT WITH YOU, AND GO UPON THE EARTH. -- One may ask: how could wolves, foxes, lions, tigers, and other harmful wild beasts from Asia, where Noah departed from the ark, reach islands and lands separated from it by the sea, and especially reach America?
Saint Augustine responds, in book 16 of The City of God, chapter 7: In three ways, namely that these animals either crossed to the islands by swimming, or were transported there by men on ships, or were produced in those places by God's ordinance and creation. This third option seems scarcely credible; for after the flood, indeed after the first creation of things in Genesis 1, God created nothing new: for it was precisely for this reason that He brought a male and female of each animal into the ark, so that their seed might be preserved upon the earth, Genesis 7:3.
It is more likely, therefore, that these wild beasts reached the islands by swimming. For experience teaches that wild animals can swim and swim across for entire days and nights when driven by necessity. A great indication of this is that in the New World, namely in America, these wild beasts are found throughout the entire continent and on the islands near it; but on islands separated from the continent by a four-day journey they are by no means found (because they could not fast that long in order to reach them by swimming), as our Josephus Acosta, who lived in America, asserts that he carefully observed, in his book 1 of On the New World, chapter 21: whence he adds that no fox, lion, bear, boar, or tiger is found on the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Margarita, and Dominica, because they are farther from the continent: just as before the arrival of the Spaniards there were no cattle, horses, dogs, or cows on those same islands, but after the Spaniards brought them in, those islands now abound with them.
Furthermore, Acosta reasonably conjectures, from the fact that both men and animals penetrated from this hemisphere into America by land travel or by short and easy navigation, that those Indians had the use of neither large ships, nor knowledge of the compass, astrolabe, or quadrant, without which if you sail on the open sea for several days, you will go completely astray. Hence he says that wherever an island is found far separated from the continent and from other islands, such as Bermuda, we find it entirely devoid of human habitation. From this he concludes that America is connected to our hemisphere, and either adjoins our land at certain places, or at any rate is not very far separated from it, so that one could cross over by boats or small vessels. For toward the North Pole, the full extent of America has not been sufficiently explored, and many think that above Florida there is a very broad land, and that the Baccaleos extend all the way to the extremities of Europe.
Secondly, some wild beasts were brought there by men, either for profit, or novelty, or hunting, or display, or for some other reason, just as they are brought here in cages for viewing, some of which escaped from their cages and fled to the mountains and forests, and there multiplied by breeding.
If these explanations are not sufficient for someone, let him have recourse to God's providence, and say that just as all the animals were led by angels into the ark during the flood, so after the flood they were scattered by the work of the same angels through various lands and islands. So says Torniellus at the year of the world 1931, number 49.
Verse 19: According to Their Kind
ACCORDING TO THEIR KIND -- according to their species, that is, the animals, in pairs or sevens, went out of the ark according to their species, so that the animals (males and females) of the same species went out together.
Verse 20: Noah's Altar
AN ALTAR -- This is the first altar that is read of in Scripture; yet there is no doubt that others existed before, namely those on which Abel sacrificed, chapter 4. An altar is so called as if it were a high sacrificial platform (alta ara), on which victims are slaughtered and offered to God; whence the altar is called in Hebrew mizbeach, from zabach, that is, "he slaughtered."
BURNT OFFERINGS. -- From that seventh of the clean animals, the unmarried or solitary male, as I said at verse 2. So says Diodorus of Tarsus in the Catena.
Verse 21: The Sweet Odor
AND THE LORD SMELLED THE SWEET ODOR -- that is, the odor of a good fragrance, as Novatian reads, in his book On the Trinity, meaning: God accepted Noah's burnt offering as something pleasing and agreeable to Him; God was delighted by it, just as we are delighted and nourished by the aroma of roasted meat: for a sacrifice is, as it were, the food of God; whence the Chaldean translates: "The Lord received his offering with good pleasure." In Hebrew, for "odor of sweetness," it is reah hannichoach, "odor of rest": because this sacrifice appeased and calmed God who was angry with the human race. So say Vatablus and Oleaster.
Moses speaks metaphorically and anthropopathically, meaning: The smoke of this sacrifice, and the odor that ascended upward with the smoke, like a sweet odor pleased God, and as it were removed the stench of sins from God's nostrils: because, as Saint Chrysostom says: "The virtue of righteous Noah made the smoke and aroma of the sacrifice an odor of fragrance to God." Similarly, Plato and Lucian in like manner represent the gods of the nations as sweetly smelling the sacrifices and rejoicing in their aroma.
HE SAID TO HIM. -- In Hebrew: amar el libbo, "he said to his heart"; the Chaldean translates: "he said in his word"; the Septuagint: "he said reflecting," or after much reflection and consideration of heart, meaning: God said this with mature counsel and deliberate decree. Secondly, "he said to his heart" can be taken as "he said in his heart, or from his heart," meaning: He said it seriously and from the depths of His heart; for el is often taken for min or bet. Thirdly, Delrio explains it thus: "he said to his heart," that is, he said to Noah, who was the darling of God's heart. Fourthly, and best, from the Hebrew phrase you may explain it thus: amar el libbo, that is, "heart spoke to his heart," namely Noah's, who preceded: for all the ancient authorities agree that these words were said to Noah, meaning: God, appeased by Noah's sacrifice, spoke to his heart, that is, He consoled him, He soothed him, He said to him those things that were most pleasing and delightful to his heart; for this is what it means in Hebrew to speak to someone's heart.
I WILL NO MORE CURSE THE EARTH. -- "I will curse," that is, "I will do harm to," meaning: I will no longer destroy the earth by a flood, as I have done.
ON ACCOUNT OF MEN -- on account of the sins of men.
FOR THE SENSE. -- meaning: I will have pity on human weakness and inclination to evil, and therefore I will no longer punish their sins with a general flood of the whole world; but I will chastise each sinner with his own particular punishments: for I wish to preserve and propagate the human race itself.
The Sense and Thought of the Human Heart
THE SENSE AND THOUGHT OF THE HUMAN HEART. -- In Hebrew it is ietser leb haadam, "the figment of the human heart," that is, the very nature and essence of man, namely his reason and will, is evil, say Luther and Calvin, but foolishly: for the very nature, reason, and will of man are the figment not of man, nor of the human heart, but of God and of the divine will. But the figment of the human heart is its very thought, intention, and machination, as our Translator, the Septuagint, R. Kimchi, and others everywhere, both Hebrews and Greeks and Latins, translate; for man fashions and forms these things for himself in the workshop of his heart; whence it is clear that man has free will: just as the potter is free to fashion whatever figment or vessel he pleases.
Secondly, and better, "the figment," that is, the pottery-workshop and factory of the human heart is inclined to evil, so as to shape and fashion it; for just as the potter in his workshop forms dishes, pots, and chamber-pots: so man in the workshop of his heart and concupiscence fashions there images of all the things he desires. This pottery-workshop or factory of the human heart corrupted by sin is concupiscence itself, or the sense, and, as the Septuagint translate, dianoia, the mind corrupted by sin and pondering evils, which the movements of concupiscence bring forth and produce.
You will say: From concupiscence nothing good, but only the movements of concupiscence, which are evil, can come forth; therefore from the human heart nothing good, but only evil, can come forth. I reply: I deny the consequence, because in the human heart there is a twofold workshop, one of concupiscence, the other of reason, law, and virtue; the former inclines to evil, the latter to good; for God has naturally implanted in us this inclination to good: now it is in man's free choice to work in the workshop of concupiscence or of reason, and consequently to choose and perform either evil or good, especially if he is aided by the grace of God.
ARE INCLINED TO EVIL. -- In Hebrew ya ra, that is, are evil, namely the very figments, thoughts, and machinations that the human heart, infected and corrupted by sin and concupiscence, shapes and fashions for itself. But our Translator saw more deeply that ra, that is, "evil," is to be taken causally, as meaning "inclined to evil," or, as the Septuagint translate, "they are bent upon evils": for, as I said, he takes "figment" for the pottery-workshop itself, the sense and concupiscence, which formally are not evil, that is, sins; but causally, because they are inclined to evil and incite man to evil. For this is the fitting reason why God says He will have mercy on men, so as no longer to punish their sins with a flood, namely because men from birth are weak, feeble, and inclined to evil: for actual malice and sin provokes not God's mercy, but His wrath.
FROM HIS YOUTH. -- "For from that age," says Saint Ambrose, "malice grows; for diligence and zeal in sinning begins from youth: so that a boy sins as one who is weak, but a young man as one who is wicked, who zealously desires to commit sins and glories in his crimes."
Verse 22: All the Days of the Earth
ALL THE DAYS OF THE EARTH. -- Not as long as the earth shall last: for the earth stands forever, but as long as there shall be generation and corruption on the earth, and there shall be men and animals, for whose sake this variety of seasons was introduced.
SEEDTIME AND HARVEST. -- Isidorus Clarius thinks that the year is here divided into six parts according to the Hebrew custom, namely into flowering, ripening, heat, sowing, cold, and summer, on which see Delrio here. But it is far more true, as is clear from the antitheses themselves, that what is described here is, first, the alternations of labor, one of sowing and the other of reaping: for "seedtime" here signifies the time of sowing; "harvest," the time of reaping; second, the alternations of the year, summer and winter: third, the alternations of qualities and weather, cold and heat.
SHALL NOT CEASE. -- They shall not stop, they shall not cease to succeed one another, as they ceased and stopped during the entire year of the flood.