Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
In this chapter, God restores to man -- who had been, as it were, renewed and recreated through the Flood -- the original goods that might have seemed lost through sin and the Flood: namely, fruitfulness, dominion over beasts, and even better nourishment. First, therefore, God blesses Noah and his posterity, and grants them the eating of flesh, though not of blood; whence, second, in verse 5, He establishes the penalty for homicide. Third, in verse 9, He enters into a covenant with Noah not to bring another flood, and gives the rainbow as the sign of the covenant. Fourth, in verse 20, Noah becomes drunk, and while sleeping is uncovered by Ham, but is covered by Shem and Japheth; and therefore, upon waking, he curses Ham but blesses Shem and Japheth.
Vulgate Text: Genesis 9:1-29
1. And God blessed Noah and his sons. And He said to them: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth. 2. And let the fear and dread of you be upon all the animals of the earth, and upon all the birds of the sky, with all that move upon the earth: all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand. 3. And every thing that moves and lives shall be food for you: even as the green herbs, I have delivered all things to you: 4. except that you shall not eat flesh with blood. 5. For I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast: and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. 6. Whoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed: for man was made in the image of God. 7. But increase and multiply, and go upon the earth, and fill it. 8. Thus also God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9. Behold, I will establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you: 10. and with every living soul that is with you, as well among birds as among cattle and all beasts of the earth that came out of the ark, and all beasts of the earth. 11. I will establish My covenant with you, and all flesh shall be no more destroyed with the waters of a flood, neither shall there be from henceforth a flood to waste the earth. 12. And God said: This is the sign of the covenant which I give between Me and you, and every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13. I will set My bow in the clouds, and it shall be the sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14. And when I shall cover the sky with clouds, My bow shall appear in the clouds: 15. and I will remember My covenant with you and with every living soul that enlivens flesh; and the waters of the flood shall no more destroy all flesh. 16. And the bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and shall remember the everlasting covenant that was made between God and every living soul of all flesh which is upon the earth. 17. And God said to Noah: This shall be the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh upon the earth. 18. And the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19. These three are the sons of Noah: and from them was spread abroad the whole race of men over the entire earth. 20. And Noah, a husbandman, began to till the earth, and he planted a vineyard. 21. And drinking of the wine he was made drunk, and was uncovered in his tent. 22. And when Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, he told it to his two brothers outside. 23. But Shem and Japheth put a cloak upon their shoulders, and going backward, covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness. 24. And Noah awaking from the wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him, 25. he said: Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers. 26. And he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, let Canaan be his servant. 27. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant. 28. And Noah lived after the Flood three hundred and fifty years. 29. And all his days were completed, nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.
Verse 2: Let the Fear of You Be upon All the Animals
2. LET THE FEAR OF YOU BE UPON ALL THE ANIMALS OF THE EARTH. -- Note: Man through sin lost full dominion over the beasts; hence God here restores and confirms to him some partial and incomplete dominion. For God instilled in the animals a certain fear by which they fear and reverence man as their master; and if they are wild, they flee from the sight of man and do not attack him, unless provoked by injury or driven by hunger. Indeed even fish, says St. Basil (Homily 40 on the Hexaemeron), are frightened by human shadows and flee from them. Even elephants, if we believe Pliny (Book VIII, ch. 5), are alarmed by human footprints. Hence we see oxen and horses often driven by small boys. Again, man brings down birds and wild animals with arrows, and there is no beast so strong that it cannot be captured and tamed by man. Hear St. Ambrose (Epistle 38 to Horontius), truly and elegantly teaching how wild and irrational creatures recognize human reason and grow tame under his gentle authority: 'Often,' he says, 'they have checked their bites at the recalling sound of the human voice; we see hares caught by the harmless teeth of dogs without a wound; even lions, if a human voice rings out, release their prey; leopards and bears are roused and recalled by voices; horses whinny at the applause of men and moderate their pace at silence. Often they pass by without a blow those who have been beaten: so powerfully does the whip of the tongue drive them.' He then adds: 'What shall I say of their tribute? The ram nurtures its fleece to please man, and is plunged into the river to increase its luster. Sheep likewise seek out better pastures so that with sweeter milk they may fill their swollen udders; they endure the pains of birth to bring their gifts to man. Bulls groan all day long with the plow pressed into the furrows. Camels, besides the service of bearing burdens, present themselves to be shorn like rams, so that like subjects paying tribute to a king, diverse animals offer their contributions and pay their annual tax. The horse, priding himself on so great a rider, gathers his proud steps, and arching his back for his master to mount, spreads his back as a lordly seat.'
But this promise is most especially fulfilled in the faithful, to whom through Christ it was said: 'Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents' (Luke 10); and: 'They shall take up serpents, and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them' (Mark 16). Thus lions came with bowed necks to St. Anthony, and licked his hands and feet seeking his blessing. Thus the boa serpent obeyed St. Hilarion, two dragons obeyed Ammon, a wild ass obeyed Macarius the Roman, a hippopotamus obeyed Benus, a crocodile obeyed Helenus, a lioness obeyed Abbot John, a hyena obeyed Macarius of Alexandria, a dog obeyed the Abbot of the Suberians of Syria -- as is found in their lives in the Lives of the Fathers. For the moral interpretation, see St. Gregory, Book XXI of the Moralia, ch. 11.
Verse 3: Every Thing That Moves and Lives Shall Be Food
3. EVERY THING THAT MOVES AND LIVES SHALL BE FOOD FOR YOU. -- 'Every thing,' namely, that is edible and suitable to the human constitution; for vipers, scorpions, and other venomous animals cannot be eaten because they are harmful to the human constitution and destroy it. Note further that what is commanded here is not a precept but a permission -- man is allowed to eat any, that is, whatever sort of food he pleases. As if to say: I permit that whatever pleases you, whatever is agreeable to your constitution and palate, you may take as food. So Abulensis. Therefore religious who do not make use of this divine permission, and who abstain from meat -- whether always or at certain times -- for the mortification of the flesh, do not sin; on the contrary, they perform acts and give signs of heroic temperance.
EVEN AS THE GREEN HERBS, I HAVE DELIVERED ALL THINGS TO YOU -- that you may feed on animals, just as until now you have eaten herbs.
Morally, St. Ambrose (Book on Noah, ch. 25) says: 'It is signified that irrational passions ought to be subject to the mind of the wise man, as vegetables are to the farmer; and that we should make use of creeping thoughts as the farmer does of vegetables, which, though they cannot harm, still do not have the flavor of stronger food. For the general commandment, common to all, does not prescribe the higher kinds of virtues, which are in any case for the few. But even if someone cannot present himself with the stronger banquets of virtue, let him at least have such passions as do not harm but delight.'
You ask: Was the eating of flesh lawful and customary before the Flood? First, Lyranus, Tostatus, and the Carthusian on chapter 1, last verse, hold that it was neither lawful nor customary, since in chapter 1, last verse, God granted man only the eating of herbs. The pagans held the same view; hence Ovid, in Book XV of the Metamorphoses, sings thus of that first and golden age of the world:
'That ancient age did not pollute its lips with blood;
Then birds moved safely through the air on their wings,
And the fearless hare wandered in the open fields.'
But he errs when he execrates the later introduction of meat-eating as a crime, saying:
'Alas, how great a crime it is to stuff entrails with entrails,
And for one living creature to live by the death of another!'
So also the Pythagoreans and the Manichaeans held it wicked to kill an animal and eat it; and Tertullian too, now a Montanist, in his book On Fasting Against the Psychics, chapter 4, asserts that the eating of flesh was a concession to human incontinence.
Second, Cajetan here, and Victoria (Relection on Temperance), and Dominic Soto (Book V, On Justice, Question 1, art. 1) think that at that time the eating of flesh was both lawful and customary: first, because God nowhere forbade the eating of flesh, and flesh is the most suitable food for man; second, because there were then flocks of sheep, of which Abel was the shepherd. You will say: Abel tended his flocks for wool and milk, not for eating. On the contrary: then there would have been no praise of Abel over Cain for having offered the fatter sheep to God. For if nobody ate them, it would have been all the same for him and for Cain to sacrifice fat or lean sheep -- since lean sheep not infrequently give wool and milk as good as, or even better than, fat ones; but they always yield inferior meat. So Cajetan.
Third, and best, St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Pererius, and others hold that before the Flood the eating of flesh was not forbidden but was lawful; nevertheless, more religious men, such as the descendants of Seth, abstained from it because God, in assigning food to man, had expressly mentioned only herbs and not flesh (ch. 1, v. 29). For thus it is very well explained how the reasons of both the first and second opinions are reconciled. God therefore here, after the Flood, explicitly and expressly permits the eating of flesh to all, even to the saints, on account of the deterioration of the earth brought about both by sin and by the Flood's introduction of the saltiness of the sea, and consequently on account of the weakened powers both of men and of plants. For physicians report, and experience confirms, that flesh provides a fuller, more solid, more nourishing, and more suitable nourishment for the human body than herbs.
Verse 4: You Shall Not Eat Flesh with Blood
4. YOU SHALL NOT EAT FLESH WITH BLOOD. -- In Hebrew it is 'basar benaphso damo lo tochelu,' 'flesh with its soul, its blood, you shall not eat'; that is, as Pagninus translates, 'you shall not eat flesh with its soul, which is its blood,' as if to say: You shall not eat flesh with its soul, which soul is the blood or resides in the blood of the animal itself.
Note: What is prescribed here is the manner of eating flesh, namely: first, the animal is to be slaughtered; second, the blood is to be poured out; third, the flesh is to be cooked and eaten. But the eating of blood is absolutely forbidden, whether it is still in the animal (whence the eating of animals that have died naturally or been strangled is also forbidden here, as Eucherius teaches), or whether it has been separated from the animal -- and whether it is liquid and drinkable, or stuffed and coagulated, as it is in sausages. For God here forbids every form of eating blood. So Lyranus, Tostatus, the Carthusian.
You ask why God so strictly forbade the eating of blood. I answer: First, to deter men as far as possible from shedding human blood. So St. Chrysostom and Rupert. For that the pagans went so far as not merely to shed but even to drink human blood, Tertullian testifies in his Apology, chapter 9. This reason God Himself gives in the following verse. For blood is the vehicle of the soul and of life and of the vital spirits; hence the soul, that is, life, is said to be in the blood, as is clear from the Hebrew here and from Leviticus 17:11. Second, because God willed that blood, which is as it were the life of the animal, should be offered to Him alone as the Author of life, in sacrifices for the life of the sinner, as is clear from Leviticus 17:11. So St. Chrysostom and St. Thomas. Rupert adds a third reason: the blood of brute animals is heavy, earthy, melancholic, and a cause of many illnesses if eaten; hence it was forbidden to be consumed.
This precept concerning the avoidance of blood-eating is not a natural but a positive law, which was renewed by the Apostles in Acts 15:29, and lasted not only until the time of Tertullian and Minucius, as he himself attests in the Octavius, but also until the time of Bede and Ratinus, as is clear from his Penitential. But it has now fallen into disuse: for nowadays the custom is not indeed to drink blood, but to eat it in sausages.
Verse 5: For I Will Require the Blood of Your Lives
5. FOR I WILL REQUIRE THE BLOOD OF YOUR LIVES. -- This is the reason why God forbade the eating of blood, namely lest men, by becoming accustomed to the blood of beasts, should eventually not spare even human blood, as if to say: So precious to Me is your blood, by which the body is nourished and enlivened, that I will require it even from brute beasts that have killed a man; how much more will I require it from you, who are men?
I WILL REQUIRE IT AT THE HAND OF ALL BEASTS -- that is, of demons, who are fierce like beasts, says Rupert; but this sense is symbolic, not literal. Second, Theodoret explains it thus: At the resurrection I will require and restore to you all the blood that beasts have shed by killing or injuring you; but this sense too is not the genuine one, but anagogical. Third, others explain it thus: In sacrifice I will require your blood, unjustly shed by man, from the hand of beasts; because God willed that homicide, by which blood is shed, and indeed every sin of man, should be expiated by the blood of beasts, as is clear from Numbers 28:29. For in sacrifice the slain beast atones for the offense of homicide and of every sin of man, and so God, as it were in the sacrificed beast, avenges homicide and every fault of man.
Fourth, Abulensis and Lipomanus explain it thus, as if to say: If you shed the blood of your neighbor, either by yourself or through some beast sent against him, God will require it not from the beast, but from you who shed it either by the sword or by your command. For they refer the phrase 'from the hand of beasts' not to 'I will require,' but to 'your blood'; but this interpretation is forced and almost violent. Fifth, best and most plainly, the same Abulensis and Oleaster explain it thus, as if to say: I will punish beasts if they kill a man. This is clear from Exodus 21:28, where God commands the ox (and likewise any other beast) that has killed a man to be stoned.
Furthermore, from this divine sanction and permission here given, it often happens that God Himself hears the prayers and petitions of those who are unjustly condemned or dragged to death by rulers or judges; and especially, if the accused and condemned cite their judges before the tribunal of God in an unjust or even doubtful case, God not rarely compels those judges to die and present themselves to give an account at His judgment -- even within the time appointed by the accused.
Thus David, afflicted by manifold injury and violence at Saul's hand and nearly crushed, citing him before God exclaims: 'The Lord judge between me and you, and the Lord avenge me of you,' etc. Nor was this appeal in vain, since shortly after, Saul was defeated in battle by the Philistines, and, wounded by arrows, lest he fall alive into their hands, ran himself through with his own sword.
Second, still more evident is the appeal to divine judgment of the priest Zechariah, when he was being stoned in the court of the temple at the command of the most ungrateful King Joash: 'May the Lord see and require it.' For this appeal did not go without its effect. Scarcely a year later, the royal officials who had consented to this outrage were slaughtered by the sword of the Syrians, and the king himself, struck by great calamities and pierced with many wounds on his bed by his own men, was swept together with his courtiers before the divine tribunal to give an account of his deeds.
Third, the seven Maccabee brothers, tormented by Antiochus with every cruelty and savagery for the sake of their ancestral laws, not obscurely set a day for him before God, saying: 'The Lord God will look upon the truth,' etc. 'You shall see the great power of God, how He will torment you and your seed,' etc. 'You shall not escape the hand of God,' etc. For feeling those appeals from heaven to be efficacious against him, he perished by a manifest divine punishment.
Fourth, not only does Paul complain about Alexander the coppersmith, saying (2 Timothy 4:14): 'The Lord will reward him according to his works';' but the souls of the blessed Martyrs cry out to the same Lord against their oppressors: 'How long, O Lord, do You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' (Apocalypse 6). Their appeal is only deferred, not condemned. Indeed, even Christ Himself, appealing from the injuries of the Jews to the Father's judgment, says: 'I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.' From these sacred and divine testimonies let us now proceed to weighty and truly memorable histories.
Fifth, then, Nauclerus and Fulgosius relate that Ferdinand, King of Leon and Castile, ordered two noblemen of the Carvajal family, suspected of treason against him but unheard, to be hurled from a very high cliff by a hasty judgment. But they, seeing their defense cut off and death at hand, commended their cause to Christ as the most just Judge, and cited King Ferdinand to appear before His tribunal within thirty days. Nor was their appeal in vain, for on the thirtieth day he was struck by death and summoned before the divine Judge.
Sixth, the same Fulgosius writes that a Neapolitan knight, dragged with the rest of his Templar brethren to execution, seeing from the window Clement V and Philip the Fair, King of France, by whose authority he was being put to death, cried out: 'Since there is no longer any mortal left to whom I may appeal, I appeal to Christ the just Judge, who redeemed us, that before His tribunal within a year and a day you may be made to appear, where I may plead my cause.' And within the year both of them died, about to render their account to God.
Seventh, Joannes Pauli records that Rudolph, Duke of Austria, condemned a knight to be put in a sack and drowned. But the knight, upon seeing the Duke, cried out: 'Duke Rudolph, I summon you before the dread tribunal of God within a year.' He, laughing, replied: 'Very well, go ahead; I will be there then.' When the time had elapsed, falling into a fever and remembering the summons, he said to his servants: 'The time of my death is at hand; I must go to judgment,' and immediately died.
Eighth, from the histories of Armorican Brittany, Aeneas Sylvius relates that Francis, its Duke, had his brother Giles, falsely accused of treason, killed in prison. Shortly before his death, Giles, seeing a Franciscan friar, adjured him to inform his brother the Duke that he must present himself before God's tribunal within forty days. The Franciscan went to the Duke on the borders of Normandy and announced his brother's death and appeal. The Duke, terrified, immediately began to sicken, and as the illness worsened day by day, he expired on the appointed day.
Verse 6: Whoever Shall Shed Man's Blood
AND AT THE HAND OF MAN, AT THE HAND OF EVERY MAN, AND HIS BROTHER. -- Delrio notes that three epithets are impressed upon the murderer, which aggravate his guilt. First, he is called a 'man' [homo] -- one who ought to have been mindful of his humanity. Second, he is called a 'man' [vir] -- one whom it befitted to master his anger and not abuse his strength and power. Third, he is called a 'brother' -- one who ought to have been joined to his brother by the closest love, and therefore to defend, not kill, him. For we are all brothers in Adam, and everyone within the common patriarch of his tribe or family is a brother to his fellow tribesman -- just as the Jews (to whom Moses here especially speaks) were brothers in Abraham.
6. WHOEVER SHALL SHED MAN'S BLOOD, HIS BLOOD SHALL BE SHED. -- 'Shall be shed,' that is, it ought to be shed; it is right and just that his blood likewise be shed -- namely by the sentence and condemnation of judges, as the Chaldean paraphrase has it. For God both here and in Exodus 21:12 and Matthew 26:57, by the law of retaliation, passed the sentence of death upon murderers, which has been accepted by the practice of all nations. Note this against the Anabaptists, who would take away from magistrates the right of the sword against the guilty.
Second, 'shall be shed,' namely, ordinarily this is fulfilled in reality, so that the murderer is actually killed -- either by a judge, or through brawling, robbers, collapsing buildings, fires, or other similar accidents. For God here pledges that He will be the avenger of the slain, and will punish murderers with retaliation through various misfortunes of life. That this is so, experience confirms, by which we see murderers, with divine vengeance pursuing them, perish by remarkable accidents -- not by a natural, but almost always by a violent death. I shall bring remarkable examples of this at Deuteronomy 21:4.
Note: For 'human blood,' the Hebrew is 'dam haadam haadam,' 'the blood of man in man'; where the phrase 'in man' is variously explained by different interpreters. The Septuagint renders it: 'for the blood of man his blood shall be shed.' Second, Oleaster says 'in man' means 'by man.' Third, Cajetan translates it 'against man,' that is, he says, to the injury and insult of man. Fourth, most easily and plainly, Abulensis says 'in man' means 'within man,' or the blood existing in man -- so that it is a pleonasm, which our Interpreter [the Vulgate translator] accordingly passed over and omitted.
FOR MAN WAS MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD -- as if to say: If the common nature does not move you, let at least My image move you; for man is My image. See therefore that by killing him you do not destroy the living image of the heavenly King, says St. Chrysostom; and so you would be injurious not so much to man as to God Himself.
Otherwise our Salazar (on Proverbs 1:16) says: 'By man shall his blood be shed,' that is, by the public magistrate; for to him alone it is lawful to take the life of subjects. He adds the reason: 'For man was made in the image of God,' that is, the man to whom the magistracy has been entrusted is an express image and representation of God, and acts in His place and represents His person; and from this there is derived to him that power and authority over the lives of subjects which otherwise belongs to God alone -- so that he can pass sentence of death on the wicked and criminal no otherwise than as God, whose person he bears.
Verse 7: But Increase and Multiply
7. BUT INCREASE AND MULTIPLY. -- As if to say: You see that by this prohibition of homicide I wish to provide for the propagation of the human race; therefore devote yourselves to it, especially at this time of a renewed world, in such great scarcity of people, and increase and multiply. So Rupert, whose allegorical interpretation see in Book IV, ch. 34.
GO UPON THE EARTH. -- In Hebrew 'shirtsu baarets,' that is, be fruitful and multiply on the earth like fish, frogs, and other swarming creatures (for marvelous is their fecundity, breeding, and proliferation, and this is what the Hebrew 'scharats' signifies) -- so that as quickly as possible you may go throughout the whole earth, scatter yourselves, and occupy and fill it.
Verse 9: Behold, I Will Establish My Covenant
9. BEHOLD, I WILL ESTABLISH. -- In Hebrew it is 'mekim,' 'establishing,' that is, 'I establish'; for God in the present moment actually establishes and ratifies this covenant and promise not to bring another flood upon the earth, with Noah and all mankind; whence shortly after, in verse 12, He assigns the sign of this covenant, namely the rainbow. Note that this covenant is not a covenant of contracting parties, in which each side binds and obliges itself to certain conditions of the covenant (for in this covenant Noah does not bind himself to God, but God alone binds Himself to Noah); rather, this covenant is a mere promise of God, for such is rightly called in Hebrew 'berit.'
Verse 11: Neither Shall There Be a Flood Henceforth
11. NEITHER SHALL THERE BE FROM HENCEFORTH A FLOOD -- namely, a universal one; whence it follows, 'to waste the earth,' that is, the entire earth. For after this universal flood, there was a particular but famous flood -- that of Ogyges in Greece, in the time of the patriarch Jacob; and after that, the flood of Deucalion in Thessaly, in the time of Moses. So Orosius, Eusebius, and others in their Chronicles.
Verse 12: This Is the Sign of the Covenant
12. THIS IS THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT WHICH I GIVE BETWEEN ME AND YOU. -- Just as God here in the present ratifies the covenant with Noah, so also in the present He produces and assigns the sign of the covenant, namely the rainbow.
FOR PERPETUAL GENERATIONS -- through all generations, as long as one generation succeeds another, until the consummation of all the generations of this age, that is, until the day of judgment. For these generations are called 'perpetual' not absolutely, but relatively -- namely, in relation to Noah and his posterity, with whom God here enters this covenant. God therefore signifies that this covenant will be everlasting, that is, it will last as long as the generations endure by which the posterity of Noah are propagated, with whom this covenant is made. Hence the Hebrew 'ledorot olam' can be translated 'for the durations of the age,' that is, as long as this age, this world, this life on earth endures.
From this passage, therefore, it is not to be condemned (whether it is true or false I do not debate here) -- that opinion of certain Doctors who hold that after the day of judgment there will be a universal flood by which the whole earth will again be covered with water, just as it was covered at the beginning of the world. For this promise of God, not to bring another flood, extends only to the generations of this age, that is, until the day of judgment, not beyond.
Verse 13: I Will Set My Bow in the Clouds
13. I WILL SET MY BOW IN THE CLOUDS, AND IT SHALL BE THE SIGN OF A COVENANT. -- This bow is the rainbow, as all the Fathers teach, except St. Ambrose (Book on the Ark and Noah, ch. 27), who assigns to this bow not a literal but a moral sense, after his custom.
Note: God calls the bow, that is the rainbow, His own, because the rainbow is most beautiful and represents to us the beauty and magnificence of God its maker. Hence Sirach 43:12 says of it: 'Look upon the rainbow, and bless Him who made it: it is very beautiful in its brightness, it has encompassed the heaven with the circle of its glory, the hands of the Most High have opened it.' Hence Plato in the Theaetetus held that the rainbow was called the daughter of Thaumas, that is, of Wonder, on account of the admiration it inspires.
Note second: Against Alcuin and the Gloss, the rainbow existed before Noah and the Flood. For its natural generation and cause is the reflection of the sun's rays in a dewy cloud. Since, therefore, this existed before the Flood just as now, it follows that the rainbow also existed before the Flood.
You will say: How then does God here say in the future tense, 'I will set My bow,' and not 'I have set' in the past tense? I answer: In Hebrew it is the past tense 'natatti,' 'I have given, I have set,' that is, 'I give, I set and will give, will set' the rainbow -- not absolutely, that it may exist, but that it may be a sign of the covenant that God here makes with Noah. The rainbow therefore existed before the Flood as a natural sign of dewy clouds and, consequently, of coming rain. Hence Ovid:
'The rainbow conceives waters, and brings nourishment to the clouds.'
Julius Scaliger (Exercitation 80) teaches that a morning rainbow portends rain, but an evening one fair weather. Again, Aristotle (History of Animals, Book V, ch. 22) reports that the rainbow greatly contributes to the generation of manna, or aerial honey. Moreover, Pliny (Book XII, ch. 24) reports that aspalathus and other fragrant herbs become more fragrant through the rainbow: 'Aspalathus,' he says, 'is a white thorn, of the size of a modest tree, with a rose-like flower, its root sought after for perfumes. They report that in whatever bush the heavenly bow curves, there is the same sweetness of fragrance as in the aspalathus; but in the aspalathus itself an indescribable sweetness.' The same author (Book XVII, ch. 5): 'When the earth,' he says, 'which has been drenched by continuous drought is moistened by rain, and where the heavenly bow has let down its ends, then it sends forth that divine breath of its own, conceived from the sun, with which no sweetness can compare.'
But after the Flood, and after this covenant of God with Noah, the rainbow was instituted by God as a supernatural sign of this pact -- that there would be no further flood henceforth.
Note third: It is fitting that this sign that there will be no flood is the rainbow, and that it is placed in the clouds -- because from the clouds the waters of the Flood descended, and from them a flood could again be feared. Therefore, lest we fear this, God places in those same clouds the contrary sign of the rainbow. St. Thomas (Quodlibet III, art. 30) and Abulensis here (Question 7) add that the rainbow is a natural sign that there will not immediately be a great outpouring of water sufficient for a flood, because for that it is necessary for the clouds to be many and thick, which dissolve into heavy rain; but such clouds are incompatible with the rainbow, for the rainbow arises in a cloud that is not thick and dense, but dewy, translucent, and concave, from the reflection of the rays of the opposite sun.
Note fourth: The author of the Historia Scholastica, on the book of Genesis, chapter 35, says: 'The Saints report that for forty years before the day of judgment, the heavenly bow will not be seen' -- because then there will be extreme dryness, by which the world will be prepared for the conflagration that will take place near the day of judgment. But this tradition is frivolous and false, and falsely attributed to the holy Fathers. For if there were such great dryness then, men, animals, and plants would perish from it -- the contrary of which Christ teaches us in Matthew 24:38.
Symbolically and mystically, St. Ambrose, in his book on the Ark and Noah, chapter 27: The rainbow, he says, is the clemency of God, which, like a bow drawn but lacking an arrow, through the adversities it sends, wishes rather to frighten us than to strike; so that we may correct our vices, and thus escape the arrows of vengeance, according to Psalm 59:6 [60:6]: 'You have given a sign to those who fear You, that they may flee from the face of the bow.' On which see St. Augustine and St. Gregory (Book XIX of the Moralia, near the end).
The two horns of the rainbow are mercy and truth, or justice; hence Christ the Judge is depicted sitting upon a rainbow, for He will sit upon a glorious cloud, such as the rainbow is.
Verse 16: And I Shall See the Rainbow and Remember
16. AND I SHALL SEE IT (the bow, that is, the rainbow), AND I WILL REMEMBER THE COVENANT. -- Therefore we too in turn, whenever we see the rainbow, should remember the Flood and the cataclysm that destroyed the world and sinners; we should remember the divine covenant, and give thanks to our God for this pact, being grateful and obedient to Him. Finally, let us say: If the rainbow is so beautiful and varied, how beautiful and varied is God and the house of God?
Allegorically, the rainbow is a sign, first, of the Gospel law, for this brings grace, remission, and glory. So Rupert, who however wrongly thinks this sense is the literal one in this passage. Second, since the rainbow is of a watery and fiery color, it is a sign of the baptism of Christ, which is done by fire and water (Matthew 3:11). So St. Gregory (Homily 8 on Ezekiel). Third, the rainbow is the incarnate Word, veiled in flesh -- or rather, it is the very flesh of the Word. First, because just as the sun shining in a cloud makes the rainbow, so the Word shining in flesh made Christ. Second, because just as the rainbow was a symbol of peace in the time of Noah, so also the incarnation of Christ was the reconciliation of the world. Third, the two horns of the rainbow are the two natures of Christ -- the divine and the human; and their hidden and invisible string is the mysterious hypostatic union. Fourth, in the rainbow there is a triple color, and so also in Christ: for Christ was sky-blue, that is, heavenly, through His constant prayer; He was green through the flower of graces and virtues; and He was red through His blood on the Cross. Fifth, from this bow were shot the hidden arrows of love, pierced and wounded by which the Bride sang: 'Stay me with flowers, compass me with apples, for I languish with love.' Sixth, this rainbow was rain-bearing, because at Pentecost it gave the world an abundance of preaching and heavenly doctrine, as it were a rain. So Ansbertus on Apocalypse 4:3. To which add, seventh: the rainbow, which is a semicircle, signifies Christ descending from heaven to earth and again returning from earth to heaven. Finally, it signifies the kingdom of Christ, which in this life is half-full and imperfect, but in heaven this circle will be completed -- that is, the kingdom of Christ, reigning over all for all eternity.
Morally, the three colors of the rainbow signify the power of purging, illuminating, and perfecting, which holy Doctors share from God and the angels. Second, the sky-blue color is faith; the green is hope; the red is charity -- which the rainbow, that is, God's mercy, poured into men, as Viegas, Ribera, Pererius, and others teach on Apocalypse 4:3.
Anagogically, the rainbow, which is of a watery and fiery color, is a sign both of the flood that was and of the future conflagration of the world. So St. Gregory (Homily 8 on Ezekiel). Again, the rainbow, which has the shape of a bow, and so presents the appearance of war, signifies the universal judgment, says Richard of St. Victor on Apocalypse chapter 4 -- in which the just will be green through eternal glory, but the wicked will be red through the fire of hell. Hence St. John (Apocalypse 4:3) saw the throne of God surrounded by a rainbow, that is, by mercy; for the rainbow in the time of Noah was a sign of peace, reconciliation, and covenant between God and men, and the rainbow was a sign, that is, peace, says Ticonius (Homily 2 on the Apocalypse), which is found in Volume IX of St. Augustine. Second, the many-colored rainbow delights and pours diverse showers upon the earth; so does God's mercy. Third, just as the rainbow is a semicircle, appearing only in our hemisphere, so also God's mercy appears only in this life, but justice in the next.
Verse 18: Ham Is the Father of Canaan
18. AND HAM IS THE FATHER OF CANAAN. -- Moses here mentions Canaan to pave the way for the curse on Canaan, with which on account of his father Ham he was punished by Noah in verse 25. St. Chrysostom adds, second, that Ham alone, being intemperate in the ark during the time of the Flood, begot Canaan, and therefore mention of him is made here. But all others teach the contrary; indeed Scripture itself teaches that only eight souls (namely Noah with his three sons and each of their wives) were saved through the ark (1 Peter 3:20). Again, Moses himself teaches that Canaan was born after the Flood (ch. 10, vv. 1 and 6).
At the time of Noah's exit from the ark, then, of which Moses here speaks, Canaan had not yet been begotten and born from Ham; yet Ham is called the father of Canaan because Canaan was destined to be born from him, and at the time of Moses, who writes this, Canaan and the Canaanites had already been born -- whom the Hebrews, descended from Shem, subdued and devastated. As if to say: From Ham was born Canaan, like a bad egg from a bad crow. For how would Ham beget a good son, when he himself had been a worthless son to a good father, a degenerate in both nature and upbringing? So St. Ambrose and Theodoret. Hence Ham's mockery, by which he mocked his father Noah, was punished in his son Canaan, when his descendants the Canaanites were punished with servitude and devastation by Joshua and the Hebrews, who were the descendants of Shem. So St. Ambrose (Book on the Ark and Noah, ch. 28), where mystically he says: Ham, that is, 'heat,' is the father of Canaan, that is, of 'disturbance' or rather 'crushing' and 'breaking'; for he who is hot is continually moved and disturbed, and disturbs and breaks everything.
Verse 19: From These Was Spread the Whole Human Race
19. THESE THREE ARE THE SONS OF NOAH, AND FROM THEM WAS SPREAD ABROAD THE WHOLE RACE OF MEN. -- Those therefore err who count more than three sons of Noah, such as Berosus, Annianus, and the Chronicle of Germany, which claim that Tuisco was a son of Noah; furthermore, that Noah after the Flood did not beget thirty other sons, and call them Titans from his wife Titrea. From this passage therefore it seems that Noah after the Flood, now broken and aged, and so that he might better devote himself to God, weary of Venus, abstained from the use of marriage, and therefore begot no other offspring: for from these three all humans descended. Cajetan and Torniellus hold the contrary, namely that Noah after the Flood begot other sons, from whom nations were also propagated; yet these three alone are named here, because those others were the more illustrious princes of this dissemination into nations, and the heads of the primary peoples. But what I said first is more conformable to the words of Scripture, which hardly admit another sense; for they clearly state: 'From these the whole human race was spread over the entire earth.'
Verse 20: Noah Began to Till the Earth and Planted a Vineyard
20. NOAH, A MAN AND FARMER, BEGAN TO TILL THE EARTH. -- In Hebrew it is 'noach isch haadama,' 'Noah began to be a man of the earth,' that is, to be a farmer; he began after the Flood to cultivate and work the land now dried out, as if to say: Noah returned to agriculture, which men had practiced before the Flood, by God's command, Genesis II, 15, and chapter III, verse 17; and this more diligently than before the Flood, because the Flood with its saltiness, sharpness, penetration, and inundation had sucked out and washed away the primeval richness and goodness of the earth. Hence Pererius, Delrio, and others believe that Noah invented the plow, and by drawing it with horses and oxen, broke up the earth with the plowshare, whereas previously men had dug and cultivated the earth with their own hands and mattocks.
See here the patriarch Noah devoting himself to agriculture. Likewise Shem, Japheth, Isaac, Jacob, Esau, Moses, Boaz, and Gideon were farmers; indeed the whole people of Israel cultivated fields, until they asked for a king, and Samuel by God's command told them that the king would take their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and the best of them, and give them to his servants, and would also tithe their harvests, 1 Kings VIII. Saul was a keeper of donkeys, David of sheep; Elijah called Elisha from the plow and made him a prophet. If you examine the lives of the Popes, you will find many sons of farmers, such as Sylverius, Adrian, Sylvester, etc. Cyrus king of Persia, and the ancient Roman emperors were farmers; hence the names Fabii, Lentuli, Pisones, Cicerones, Vitellii, Porcii, Servii, Appii, Scrophae -- farmers' names honored with triumphal dignity. Hear Valerius Maximus: 'Those very wealthy men also, who were summoned from the plow to be consuls, for pleasure's sake worked the barren and most scorching soil of Pupinia, and ignorant of delicacies, broke up the vastest clods with great sweat. Indeed those whom the dangers of the republic made into commanders, the straitness of family means forced to become ox-herds.' Romulus and Remus, Diocletian, Justin, kings and emperors, just as much as shepherds and farmers. The Arcadians, claiming themselves the most ancient of all mortals, are attested by histories to have been shepherds and farmers; hear the Poet: 'Pan (God of Arcadia) tends the sheep and the masters of sheep.' The Greeks acknowledge that Proteus and Apollo were shepherds of Admetus, king of Thessaly, together with Mercury and Argus. The Phrygians recognize as shepherds Paris, Priam, Anchises, and others. The Numidians, Georgians, Scythians, and Nomads prefer this way of life and no other. The care of kings was occupied not only with the exercise of agriculture, but they also embraced it in books as if an art -- such as Hiero, Mithridates, Philometor, Attalus, Archelaus; and generals, such as Xenophon, Syllanus, Cato, Pliny, and Terentius Varro; Curius was summoned from his farm to the Senate, and other elders likewise. Those who came to call Attilius to the command of Rome found him scattering seed. Nor was it a disgrace for them, having laid aside the ivory scepter, after gaining victory and peace, to return to the plow-handle. For the exercise of agriculture, first, was instituted by nature and by God; second, it has great pleasantness; third, it preserves health and strengthens the body; fourth, it procures crops and fruits; fifth, it is useful for meditating on the sky, the stars, rain, trees, and other natural things; sixth, it is useful for contemplating and worshipping God: hence the ancient festivals -- Cerealia, Floralia, Vinalia, Sementina, Agnalia, Palilia, Charistia, etc.
AND HE PLANTED A VINEYARD. -- Note that the vine existed before the Flood; for where else would Noah have gotten it? But until now the vine seems to have been wild, uncultivated, and scattered here and there, and from it men did not press wine but only ate the grapes. But Noah by skill cultivated the vine, planted it, arranged it into vineyards, and was the first to press wine from grapes; for not knowing the power of wine, as something never before seen or known, he became intoxicated from it. So says St. Jerome, book I Against Jovinian.
St. Chrysostom notes that Noah pressed wine from the vine in order to soothe and strengthen his own and other men's sorrow, toils, and infirmity after the Flood; for wine strengthens and gladdens the heart of man. And from this Berosus Annianus holds that Noah is the same as Janus; and that he was called Janus, that is 'vine-bearing,' or rather 'wine-bearing,' from the Hebrew 'iain' or 'ien,' that is 'wine': hence also Janus is depicted as two-faced, because Noah saw both the age that was before the Flood and the one that was after it. Whence Ovid, Fasti 1: 'Two-headed Janus, origin of the silently gliding year, / you alone among the gods who see your own back.'
Aptly the symbolic deeds of the Romans symbolically depict Noah as having mixed with the vine and wine the blood of four animals, namely the monkey, the lion, the pig, and the lamb: because wine intoxicates and makes some drunkards into buffoons, like monkeys; others quarrelsome and cruel, like lions; others lustful and foul, like pigs; others gentle, kind, and pious, like lambs.
Verse 21: And Drinking Wine He Became Drunk
This drunkenness of Noah was not a sin, at least not a mortal one; because not knowing the power of wine, and being inexperienced, he drank it too freely. So say St. Chrysostom and Theodoret. Therefore Calvin and Luther wrongly attribute this drunkenness to Noah's intemperance, when it was due to inexperience. Others explain it differently, as if to say: 'he was inebriated,' that is, 'he was made joyful.' Hence St. Ambrose, following the Septuagint: 'He did not say,' he writes, 'he drank wine, nor that the just man drank up wine, but from the wine, that is, from its drink, he tasted. And so there is a twofold kind of inebriation: one which brings staggering to the body and trips up its steps, and disturbs the senses; another which steams the mind with the grace of virtue, and seems to avert all infirmity; of which Psalm 22 says: And my inebriating cup, how glorious it is!'
See here and admire the abstinence of the ancients; for all from the foundation of the world until the Flood, for 1,600 years, abstained from wine as well as from meat, and therefore were very long-lived and wise; for they lived to 900 years.
Where note first: Abstinence is most beneficial: first, for health and longevity; for it consumes harmful humors, and purifies and sharpens the vital spirits; second, for chastity and virtue; for it reduces the excessive blood, fluid, and spirits that nourish and arouse lust, anger, and other passions.
Note second: Sobriety naturally contributes to knowledge, both because it preserves health and prolongs life; and because it makes the head clear, and makes the animal spirits free and pure, and suited for speculation and meditation; and because the soul (which is one in man, and is simultaneously vegetative, sensitive, and rational) is of limited power and activity, and therefore the less it is occupied with food and the cooking, digestion, and excretion of food, the more it can and usually does devote itself to study and contemplation, and exert all its power in that direction. Hence Solomon, Ecclesiastes II: 'I thought, he says, in my heart to withdraw my flesh from wine, so that I might transfer my soul to wisdom, and avoid foolishness.' And Isaiah, chapter XXVIII: 'Whom will he teach knowledge, and whom will he make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk, those torn from the breast.'
Thus Enos, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah, being abstinent, were most wise. For Noah was the restorer, instructor, and governor of the whole world. Thus the Nazirites and Rechabites are commended for wisdom as much as for abstinence. Thus Moses and Elijah by a forty-day fast merited wisdom and the vision of God. Thus Judith, Esther, and the Maccabees obtained that wisdom and fortitude by which they overthrew Holofernes, Haman, and Antiochus. Thus John the Baptist by abstinence became like an Angel. Thus Paul the first Hermit, Anthony, Hilarion, and so many swarms of Anchorites and Monks led a long life, like terrestrial angels, in abstinence, contemplation, and wisdom, and lived a hundred years and more. Thus the cenobites of old, as St. Jerome attests, fasted perpetually, drinking water, and eating only bread with legumes and vegetables.
Hear also the pagans. Xenophon relates that the ancient Persians used to add nothing to bread but cress, and then they flourished in wisdom and military virtue, and held the empire of the world for 200 years, namely from Cyrus to Darius, who through indulgences and wines lost his empire along with his life. Chaeredemus the Stoic relates that the ancient priests of Egypt always abstained from meat, wine, eggs, and milk, and this so that they might attend to divine matters more purely, intensely, and keenly, and extinguish the heat of lust. And these were the wise men and Astrologers of Egypt. The Essenes among the Jews forbade themselves wine and meat, and devoted themselves entirely to prayer and the study of Sacred Scripture, about whom Josephus, Philo, and Pliny relate wonderful things; indeed Porphyry in his book On Abstinence from Animal Food asserts that most of them, being inspired by the divine spirit, became prophets. Eubulus reports that among the Persians there were three kinds of Magi, of whom the first (who were considered the most wise and eloquent) ate nothing besides flour and vegetables. Bardesanes the Babylonian relates that the Gymnosophists of India live only on tree fruits, rice, and flour. Euripides says that in Crete the prophets of Jupiter abstained from meat and all cooked food. Socrates used to exhort those zealous for virtue to cultivate abstinence and to reject delicacies as if they were Sirens; and therefore when asked how he differed from other men, he said: 'Others live to eat; but I eat to live.' Isaeus the Assyrian, as Philostratus testifies, when asked what were the most delightful feasts, replied: 'I have ceased to care about such things.' Xenocrates said that only three precepts had remained in the temple of Eleusis, namely: first, that the gods should be revered; second, that parents should be honored; third, that one should abstain from meat. Pliny says wine is hemlock for man; and Seneca says drunkenness is voluntary insanity. Epicurus, although the patron of pleasure, asserts that for living pleasantly and agreeably, a frugal diet contributes the most. And in his Letters he testifies that he was accustomed to eat only water and bread. About the abstinence of Pythagoras, Antisthenes, Diogenes, and Apollonius of Tyana, Laertius, Plutarch, and Philostratus have wonderful accounts. See more in St. Jerome, book II Against Jovinian, and Plutarch in his two orations on the use of meat.
AND HE WAS UNCOVERED IN HIS TENT -- as sleepers and drunkards are accustomed to throw off their coverings because of the heat, and to uncover themselves. So says Theodoret.
Verse 22: When Ham, the Father of Canaan, Had Seen This
The Hebrews and Theodoret relate that mention is made here of Canaan, because Canaan the boy, though capable of cunning (for he was perhaps about 10 years old), first saw his grandfather Noah uncovered, and mocked him, and then reported that very thing to his father Ham, who did not restrain the boy's impudence but approved it, and presented his father to his brothers for ridicule.
Here St. Basil and Ambrose note the character of the wicked, who delight in spreading the lapses of the good. Berosus of Annius adds (for what his credibility is worth) that Ham was a magician, and that he was therefore called Zoroaster (Cassian says the same, Conferences VIII, 21), because out of hatred with which he pursued his pious father, he mocked him, and by his magic rendered him sterile thereafter; that he taught men to have intercourse with their mothers, with males, and with beasts, and therefore was driven out and expelled by his father Noah.
Verse 23: They Covered the Nakedness of Their Father
'Lest paternal reverence be diminished even by the mere sight,' says St. Ambrose, book On Noah, chapter 31. And he adds from Cicero, book I On Duties: 'Hence also at Rome there is said to have been an old custom that sons should not enter the baths with their parents, especially when grown up.' Thus St. Gregory, book 25 of the Moralia, chapter 22, teaches that the sins of spiritual parents and churchmen should be tropologically covered; and Constantine the Great taught this by his own example at the Council of Nicaea, when he burned the papers of accusations brought against certain Bishops, saying repeatedly: 'If he were to see the adultery of a Bishop, he would cover that crime with his military cloak, lest the sight of the offense harm in any way those who saw it' -- as Theodoret reports, book I of the History.
Allegorically, St. Augustine, book XVI of the City of God, chapters 2 and 7: Ham represents the Jews and heretics: these mock Noah, that is, Christ and Christians.
Verse 24: When He Had Learned What His Youngest Son Had Done
From the wine -- from the sleep into which the power of wine had cast him.
WHEN HE HAD LEARNED WHAT HIS YOUNGEST SON HAD DONE TO HIM. -- For Noah, waking up, saw that he was covered with a cloak not his own, but another's, namely that of his sons Shem and Japheth; he asked them the reason; they, not daring to lie to their father who was asking for every detail, revealed the whole matter and Ham's crime, which they would otherwise have suppressed in silence.
HIS YOUNGEST SON -- namely Canaan, says Theodoret, who was a 'son,' that is, grandson of Noah; hence Noah immediately curses him. But all others understand this son to be Ham: for it is his crime and impiety that is punished here. St. Chrysostom adds also his incontinence, that during the time of the Flood in the ark he used conjugal relations, and begot Canaan; about which matter I spoke at verse 18.
Note: Ham was the younger son of Noah, not as though he were the youngest of all, as some would have it, but because he was younger than Shem: for Ham was older than Japheth; Ham therefore was the middle one of Noah's sons, whence at verse 18 and everywhere else he is placed in the middle. So say St. Augustine, book XVI of the City of God, chapter 1, and Eucherius.
Verse 25: Cursed Be Canaan
Supply 'he shall be,' because Noah said these things not so much with the intent of cursing or imprecating, but rather prophetically foretold by the prophetic spirit those things that were going to happen to the descendants of his sons; hence explaining, he adds: 'He shall be a servant of servants.'
Note: By Canaan here Vatablus understands Ham himself, namely the impious father named from his most impious son; hence also Gennadius, Diodorus, and Origen think that when Noah said these things, Canaan had not yet been born. But the contrary is more true, namely that Canaan himself is simply addressed here; the reason from the Hebrews I stated at verse 18. Hence St. Ambrose, book On Noah, chapter 30: 'Both the father,' he says, 'is reproved in the son, and the son in the father, sharing a common partnership in foolishness, wickedness, and impiety. Nor could it be that one who had been a worthless son to a good father, degenerate both in nature and in upbringing, would beget a good son.'
Note second: The other sons of Ham, namely Cush, Mizraim, and Phut, are not cursed here by Noah, but only Canaan; for only the Canaanites, who were descendants of Canaan and equally impious as he, are recorded as having been destroyed by the descendants of Shem, namely the Jews; or as having served them, as is evident in the Gibeonites, who among the Canaanites obtained their lives from the Hebrews by deceit, on the condition that they would serve them as the most vile slaves; for this is what 'servant of servants' means. So says Rupert.
Note that Moses wrote all these things on account of the Canaanites who were to be expelled by the Jews; for he here prepares the way for his history of the expedition and journey of the Hebrews into Canaan, and gives the occasion and cause by which it happened, by God's will, that the Jews by themselves and through Joshua occupied Canaan, namely the impiety of Ham and Canaan, which the Canaanites imitated, and therefore were expelled from Canaan.
Hence it is clear, third, that Ham and Canaan are punished here in their descendants, namely the Canaanites, who were imitators and heirs of their father's impiety. See here how unhappy are those who have impious parents and teachers! Rightly did Plato give thanks to nature, or to God: first, that he was born a human being; second, that he was born male; third, that he was born Greek; fourth, that he was born Athenian; fifth, that he was born in the time of Socrates, by whom he could be instructed.
Morally, St. Ambrose says: 'Before the invention of wine, there remained for all an unshaken liberty; no one knew how to demand the service of slavery from a sharer in his own nature: there would be no slavery today, if there had been no drunkenness.'
'Servant of servants' -- that is, the lowest and most vile servant. Note that servitude is the punishment of sin; hence servants were both made and named from 'servare' (to preserve), because when captured in war, although they could be killed as enemies and offenders, by a certain leniency they were preserved alive as 'servi,' that is, for serving. Furthermore, he who refused to be a reverent son is punished to become a slave; for it is just that he be pressed down by servile subjection who was not ashamed to violate the filial, sweet, and natural subjection, or servitude.
Calvin here mocks the Pope, for having taken from this curse of Ham the title 'Servant of servants.' But he errs; for the Pope does not simply call himself 'servant of servants,' but, as Rupert rightly notes, with the addition, 'Servant of the servants of God;' and he does this out of pious submission of spirit; therefore the Pontiff did not take this name for himself from the impious Ham.
Verse 26: Blessed Be the Lord God of Shem
This is a Hebrew metalepsis; for from the consequent the antecedent is understood, namely from the blessing of God is understood the very blessing of Shem; for by these words Noah, just as he curses Ham, so he blesses not only God but also Shem and Japheth. The sense therefore is, as if to say: May God heap upon Shem and his descendants such great blessing and abundance, both of crops, and of wisdom, piety, religion, grace, and the worship of God, that whoever sees them may bless God who is so generous to Shem and His own, and say: Blessed be God, who is ever God, Lord, father, and provider of Shem and his posterity, who always shows by His benefits that He is God, guardian, and caretaker of Shem and his people. So say Lipomanus, Cajetan, and others. This blessing was fulfilled in the Jews, who descended from Shem. Learn here with Noah, at all good and fortunate events, to break forth into praise and blessing of God.
Morally, Pererius rightly notes, Ecclesiasticus III, that nine good things are promised by God to good children who honor their parents. The first is riches, both temporal and spiritual: 'As one who lays up treasure, so is he who honors his mother.' The second, that such a son will be blessed in his own children in turn: 'He who honors his father will rejoice in his children.' The third, that God will hear his prayers: 'In the day of his prayer he will be heard.' The fourth, that he will be long-lived: 'He who honors his father will live a longer life.' The fifth, that he will have a stable family and posterity: 'A father's blessing strengthens the houses of children.' The sixth, that he will be glorious: 'From the honor of the father comes the glory of the son;' either because an honored father renders his sons glorious, or because a son who honors his father wins glory for himself before all. The seventh, that in time of tribulation he will be freed from it by God: 'The charity done to a father will not be forgotten, and in the day of tribulation it will remember you.' The eighth, that his sins will be forgiven: 'As ice in fair weather, so will your sins be dissolved.' The ninth, that he will be blessed by God, that is, heaped with every abundance of good things: 'Honor your father, he says, so that a blessing from God may come upon you, and his blessing may remain to the last.'
Verse 27: May God Enlarge Japheth
In the Hebrew there is a beautiful allusion from the etymology of the name Japheth, namely 'japht elohim leiaphet,' as if to say: 'May God enlarge the enlarged one.' St. Augustine translates it as 'may he gladden'; Cajetan and Eugubinus, 'may he adorn,' or 'may God make Japheth himself beautiful.'
Note: Japheth (whom the pagans call Iapetus) is derived from the Hebrew 'pata,' that is, to persuade, allure, entice; but in the hiphil form (as it is here) it means to enlarge, as the Septuagint, the Chaldean, our Interpreter, Vatablus, Mercerus, Pagninus, and others translate here. Japheth therefore signifies not so much 'beautiful' as 'enlarged.' Therefore the Greeks vainly twist themselves, who derive the Hebrew name Japheth from the Greek 'iaptein,' meaning to wound, or from 'iasthai,' meaning to heal, or from 'isorrhopeein,' meaning to send forth and to fly, as if to say: May God send forth and make Japheth fly through the breadth of the earth. Now the sense is, as if to say: May the posterity of Japheth spread itself out and be very numerous, so as to occupy the broadest and most extensive regions, to such an extent that it spreads into the lot and habitation of the descendants of Shem. That this indeed happened is clear from the following chapter, and from St. Jerome here in the Hebrew Questions, and from Josephus, book I Antiquities VI. From these it is established that the descendants of Japheth occupied Europe, and the northern part of Asia trending toward the West, from the Taurus and Amanus mountains to the Tanais; the descendants of Ham occupied the southern part of Asia, from the Amanus and Taurus, namely Egypt and part of Syria, and all of Africa; while the descendants of Shem occupied the eastern part of Asia, from the Euphrates to the Indian Ocean. See Arias Montanus in his Apparatus, in the Phaleg, or On the Origins of the First Nations.
Allegorically, and most especially, what is prophesied here is the Church of the Gentiles to be enlarged and joined with the Jews in Christ and Christianity; for from Japheth descended the Gentiles; but from Shem descended the Jews and Christ, who first had God's temple, worship, and Church, into which Christ then brought the Gentiles, making from both one Church, and transferred its breadth and headship from Shem, that is from Jerusalem and the Jews, to Japheth, that is to Rome and the Gentiles. So say St. Jerome, Chrysostom, homily 29, and Rupert, book IV, chapter 39; hence from the Hebrew you may aptly translate: 'may God allure, or persuade Japheth (the Gentiles descended from Japheth) to dwell in the tents of Shem, namely in the Church of Christ, who is descended from the Jews and Shem.' Here therefore is a clear prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles to Christ. For the Hebrew 'pata' properly means to allure, to entice, to persuade.
AND MAY HE DWELL IN THE TENTS OF SHEM. -- Some, such as Theodoret, Lyra, and Abulensis, repeat here the noun not Japheth but God, as if to say: May God dwell in the tents of Shem; and so it happened: for among the Semites, namely the Jews, God dwelt in the tabernacle and temple. Furthermore, from the Semites was born Christ God: for from them the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Hence the Chaldean translates: 'and may the divinity dwell in the tents of Shem.' For the Chaldean 'sechina' means 'rest,' by which name the Hebrews signify the presence of the divinity dwelling and resting in the tabernacle, upon the ark in the propitiatory. Hence also the Holy Spirit, who rests in the Prophets and other Saints, is called 'sechina,' says Elias Levita. Hence from the Chaldean you may also translate: 'And may the Holy Spirit, or holiness itself, rest in the tent of Shem.'
Second, more aptly and more truly, you should refer 'may he dwell' to Japheth; for God has already blessed Shem before: here therefore he blesses not Shem but Japheth. Now by 'the tents of Shem' Delrio, Pererius, and others understand literally the Church. But since all these things literally concern the expansion and propagation of the descendants of Japheth, you should rather take 'tents' here in the literal, proper sense, and through them understand the Church in the allegorical sense (which nevertheless here prevails over the literal, and is more intended by the Holy Spirit than the literal), in the sense which I gave in the preceding paragraph.
Verse 28: Noah Lived after the Flood Three Hundred and Fifty Years
Therefore since Abraham, as will be shown in the next chapter, was born in the year 292 after the Flood, it follows that Abraham was born while Noah was still alive, and lived with him for 58 years. Noah therefore saw the tower of Babel, and saw almost all his descendants corrupting their ways and falling into idolatry: even though Noah himself, as Epiphanius attests, had exacted an oath from his sons to preserve the true worship of the true God and mutual concord. Noah therefore saw the world full of men, and those impious: he saw and groaned.
For it must be noted here that in these three hundred years after the Flood, an astonishing propagation of humanity took place. Philo, in the book of Biblical Antiquities, relates that Noah, shortly before his death, counted all his offspring, propagated from him in the space of 350 years that he lived after the Flood, and found sons and grandsons descended from him through Japheth to be one hundred and forty thousand two hundred and two, besides women and children. From Ham, two hundred and forty-four thousand nine hundred. From Shem he counts fewer; but some figures of Shem's descendants seem to be missing from his manuscript. When all are computed therefore, he easily saw that the humans begotten from him amounted to nine hundred thousand and more. What a vast army of sons and grandsons! What a great patriarch was Noah! But that book is of doubtful authority, both because Eusebius, book II of the History, chapter 18, and St. Jerome, book On Illustrious Men, and Bellarmine, book On Ecclesiastical Writers, when they catalogue the works of Philo, do not mention this book; and because the style of the book is different from Philo's style; and because that book teems with many apocryphal narratives. So says Sixtus of Siena, book IV of the Bibliotheca under Philo, and following him our Possevinus. The number, however, that I cited from it is credible, indeed it seems rather too small; for, as Diodorus relates from Ctesias, book III, Ninus, founder of the Assyrian monarchy (in the 43rd year of whose reign Abraham was born, says Eusebius), had in his army one million seven hundred thousand infantry, and two hundred thousand cavalry: in addition, scythed chariots numbering ten thousand six hundred. On the other side, Zoroaster, king of the Bactrians, raised against Ninus an army of forty thousand. Behold, in both armies together there were then two million three hundred thousand men, all of whom Noah, father of all, could have seen; for he was still alive then. Nor is this surprising: for in those times men had many wives, and devoted themselves entirely to procreation.
Furthermore, note here that the faith and worship of God, from the beginning of the world for 2,108 years, could have been propagated and handed down through the hands of three men, namely Adam, Methuselah, and Shem; for Adam saw Methuselah, Methuselah saw Shem, and Shem saw Jacob, who was born in the year of the world 2108, which was the year 452 after the Flood. For Shem lived 500 years after the Flood, as is clear from chapter XI, verse 11; therefore Shem could have seen Jacob. Finally, the Hebrews relate that Noah with Shem returned from Armenia to their old homeland, that is, to places near Damascus; and there founded the kingdom and pontificate of Salem, and handed it over to his son Shem, who by another name was called Melchizedek. But in chapter XIV I will show that Shem was not Melchizedek.
Berosus of Annius adds, book III, that after the ark came to rest on the mountains of Armenia, Noah dwelt there, and taught the Armenians agriculture, astronomy, sacred rites and ceremonies of worshipping God, and finally many secrets of natural things; and from there he journeyed to Italy, and there taught men both piety, and Physics and Theology (and that therefore he was called by the Italians the 'father of the gods' and the 'soul of the world'), and finally died there. But this Berosus of Annius is suspected of being a forgery.
Symbolically, St. Ambrose, book On Noah, chapter 32: 'In the three hundred years of Noah,' he says, 'it is certain that the cross of Christ is signified (for the letter Tau, which among the Greeks stands for three hundred, has the form of a cross), by whose type the just man was freed from the Flood. In the fifty, the jubilee is the number of remission, by which the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven, pouring grace upon human sinners. Therefore, with the perfect number of remission and grace complete, the just man finished the course of this life.'