Homilies on Genesis — Homily 2
Latin source: Origen, In Genesim homiliae (Rufinus's Latin translation), from the public-domain critical text of W. A. Baehrens, GCS 29 = Origenes Werke VI (Leipzig, 1920). This English translation is released into the public domain.On the ark of Noah.
* * * *[§1] As we begin to discuss the ark that was built by Noah according to God's command, let us first of all see what things are related about it according to the letter, and, setting forth the questions that are commonly raised as objections by very many people, let us also seek the resolutions of them from those things which have been handed down to us by our predecessors, so that, when we have laid foundations of this kind, we may be able to ascend from the text of the narrative to the mystical and allegorical sense of spiritual understanding, and, if anything hidden is contained in these things, to open it up, the Lord revealing to us the knowledge of His word. First, therefore, let us set forth these very things which are written. "And the Lord said to Noah," it says, "the time of every man has come before me, since the earth has been filled with iniquities by them; and behold, I will destroy them and the earth. Make therefore for yourself an ark out of squared timbers, you shall make nests in the ark, and you shall pitch it within and without with pitch. And thus shall you make the ark: three hundred cubits the length of the ark, and fifty cubits the breadth, and thirty cubits its height; gathering it together you shall make the ark, and to a cubit you shall finish it at the top. But the door of the ark you shall make in the side; the lower parts double-chambered and the upper parts triple-chambered you shall make them." And after a little: "Noah did everything, whatsoever the Lord God commanded him, so he did." First, therefore, it is asked what sort of shape and form the ark itself ought to be understood to have. This ark I think, so far as appears from the things that are described, rose up on four corners from the bottom, and, these same corners being drawn in gradually into a narrow point right up to the top, was gathered into the space of a single cubit. For it is related thus, that in its foundations three hundred cubits were set in length, but fifty in breadth, and thirty were built up in height, yet gathered together into a narrow summit, so that there is a cubit of its breadth and length. Now indeed, within, those parts which are called its lower ones are set down as double-chambered, that is, containing a double dwelling, but the upper parts as triple-chambered, as if we should say built with triple upper rooms. But these distinctions of dwellings seem to have been made for this purpose, that the diverse kinds of animals or beasts might more easily be separated by individual quarters, and that all the tame and sluggish ones might be set apart from the wild beasts. These separations of dwellings, then, are called nests. And the timbers are related to have been squared, so that one might both more easily be fitted to another, and, when the flood overflowed, the whole onrush of the waters might be kept off, since the joint, smeared within and without with pitch, would be fortified. It has indeed been handed down to us, and not without probability, that the lower parts which we spoke of above, built in double fashion, which were also separately called double-chambered — apart from the upper parts, which are called triple-chambered — were double in this manner for the reason that all the animals spent an entire year in the ark, and certainly for a whole year it was necessary that foods be provided, and not only foods, but also that places for the digestions be established, so that neither the animals themselves, and especially the men, might be troubled by the stench of dung. They hand down, therefore, that the lowest region itself, which is at the bottom, was assigned and set apart for necessities of this kind, but that the part above this and adjoining it was appointed for preserving the fodder. For it seemed necessary that for those beasts to which nature has given the eating of flesh, animals should be brought in from without, on whose flesh, feeding, they might be able to preserve their life for the sake of restoring their posterity; but that for others other foods, which natural use demands, should be kept. For these uses, therefore, they hand down that the lower parts, which are called double-chambered, were divided, but the upper ones were appointed as a dwelling for the beasts or animals; among which the lower parts furnished a dwelling for the wild and untamed beasts or serpents, but the places adjoining these in the upper regions were stalls for the gentler living creatures. But above all things, on high, the seat was placed for the men, inasmuch as they excel all things both in honor and in reason, so that, just as by reason and wisdom man is said to hold sovereignty over all things that are on the earth, so also he should be placed higher in position and above all the living creatures that are in the ark. They hand down, moreover, that the door too, which is said to have been made in the side, was in that place so that it might have below itself the lower parts which he called double-chambered, and that the parts which he called triple-chambered were called upper from the position of the door, and that, once all the animals had entered through it, they were separated each through their own places, according to what we said above, with fitting distinction. But the fortifying of the door itself is not accomplished by human means. For how, after it was closed and no man was outside the ark, could the door be pitched on the outside, unless because without doubt it was a work of divine power, that the waters might not enter through the entrance which no human hand had fortified? For this reason, therefore, Scripture, when it had said of all the other things that Noah made the ark and brought in the animals and his sons and their wives, did not say of the door that Noah closed the door of the ark; but it says that "the Lord God closed the door of the ark from without, and thus the flood came to pass." Yet it must be observed that after the flood Noah is not said to have opened the door, but "the window," when he sent forth "the raven, to see whether the water had ceased upon the earth." And that Noah brought food into the ark for all the animals or beasts which entered with him, hear from those things which the Lord says to Noah: "You," He says, "take for yourself from all the foods that are eaten, and you shall gather them to yourself, and they shall be for you and for them to eat." And that Noah did those things which the Lord commanded him, hear Scripture saying: "And Noah did," it says, "everything that the Lord God commanded him, so he did." Indeed, as to the fact that Scripture related nothing about the places which we mentioned as set apart for the dung of the animals, but tradition holds it, it will opportunely seem that silence was kept about this, concerning which the reasoning of the sequence itself would sufficiently teach. And because it could less worthily be fitted to spiritual understanding, Scripture therefore rightly kept silent about this, since it rather fits its narratives to allegorical understandings. Nevertheless, as far as concerns the necessity of the rains and the flood, no shape of ark could be given so suitable and fitting as one that, from the top, as from a kind of roof drawn up into a narrow peak, might pour off the crashing downpours of the showers, and, standing at the bottom in the waters with squared stability, could neither be tipped over nor sunk by the thrust of the winds nor by the onset of the waves nor by the restlessness of the animals which were within.
[§2] But although all these things have been composed with such great skill, certain people raise questions as objections, and especially Apelles, who was indeed a disciple of Marcion, but the inventor of another heresy rather than of the one which he received from his master. He then, while he desires to represent that the writings of Moses contain in themselves nothing of divine wisdom and nothing of the work of the Holy Spirit, exaggerates sayings of this kind and says that it could in no way have come about that so small a space could have held so many kinds of animals and their foods, which would suffice through a whole year. For since "two by two" of the unclean animals — that is, two males and two females (for this is what the repeated word indicates) — but "seven by seven," which is seven pairs, of the clean, are said to have been led into the ark, how, he asks, could this space that is written of have come about, so as to be able to hold at least four elephants alone? And after he opposes it in this manner through the individual species, he adds over all things in these words: it is established, therefore, that the tale is a fiction; and if this is so, it is established that this writing is not from God. But to these things we will bring to the notice of our hearers the things which we have learned from prudent men and those acquainted with the Hebrew traditions and from the ancient teachers. Our predecessors said, then, that Moses, who, as Scripture testifies concerning him, "had been instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," set down the number of cubits in this place according to the geometric art in which the Egyptians are especially skilled. For among geometers, according to that reckoning which among them is called "power," from a solid and a square either one is reckoned as six cubits, if taken generally, or as three hundred, if it is reduced in detail. And if this reckoning is indeed observed, in the measure of this ark there will be found such great spaces both of length and of breadth as could truly hold the seeds of the whole world to be restored and the reviving seed-plots of all living creatures. Let these things, so far as pertains to the reckoning of the narrative, be said against those who strive to attack the writings of the Old Testament as though they contained certain impossible and irrational things.
[§3] But now, first beseeching Him who alone can take away the veil from the reading of the Old Testament, let us try to inquire what this magnificent construction of the ark also contains of spiritual edification. I think, then, so far as I for the smallness of my understanding am able to attain it, that that flood, by which an end was then almost given to the world, holds the figure of that end of the world which will truly come. This the Lord Himself also declared, saying: "For as in the days of Noah they bought, sold, built, married, and gave in marriage, and the flood came, and destroyed all: so also shall be the coming of the Son of man." In which He evidently designates one and the same figure of the flood which preceded and of the end of the world which He says will come. As, therefore, it was then said to that Noah, that he should make an ark and bring into it with himself not only his sons and his kinsmen, but also animals of diverse kinds, so also to our Noah, who alone is truly just and alone perfect, the Lord Jesus Christ, it was said by the Father, at the consummation of the ages, that He should make for Himself an ark out of squared timbers and give it measures filled with heavenly mysteries. For this is designated in the Psalm, where it says: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession." He builds, therefore, the ark and makes in it nests, that is, certain storerooms, in which animals of diverse kinds may be received. Of which the prophet also says: "Go, my people, enter into your storerooms, hide yourself for a little while, until the fury of my wrath passes by." This people, then, which is saved in the Church, is compared to all those, whether men or animals, which were saved in the ark. But since the merit of all is not one, nor is the advancement in faith one, therefore the ark too does not furnish one and the same dwelling to all these, but the lower parts are double-chambered and the upper parts triple-chambered, and nests are distinguished in it, so as to show that in the Church also, although all are contained within one faith and are washed by one baptism, nevertheless the advancement is not one and the same for all, "but each in his own order." Those indeed who live by rational knowledge and are fit not only to govern themselves, but also to teach others, since they are found to be very few, hold the figure of the few who are saved with Noah himself and are joined to him by the nearest kinship, just as our Lord too, the true Noah, Christ Jesus, has few kinsmen, few sons and relatives, who are partakers of His word and capable of His wisdom. And these are they who are placed in the highest rank and are settled in the top of the ark. But the rest, the multitude of irrational animals or even beasts, is held in the lower places, and most of all those whose savage ferocity not even the sweetness of faith has softened. But somewhat above these are those who, though they keep less of reason, keep nevertheless very much of simplicity and innocence. And thus, as one ascends through the individual ranks of dwellings, one arrives at Noah himself, who is interpreted as 'rest' or 'just,' who is Christ Jesus. For it does not fit that Noah what his father Lamech says: "for this one," he says, "will give us rest from the works and from the sorrows of our hands and from the earth which the Lord God cursed." For how will it be true that that Noah gave rest to that Lamech or to the people who were then held on the earth, or how did the sorrows and toil cease in the times of Noah, or how was the curse of the earth, which the Lord had given, taken away, where rather both the divine anger is shown to be greater and God is related to say, "It repents me that I made man upon the earth," and again He says, "I will destroy all flesh which is upon the earth," and above all the sign of the highest offense, the destruction of the living, is given? But if you look to our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it is said, "behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sin of the world," and again of whom it is said, "having been made a curse for us, that He might redeem us from the curse of the law," and again when He says, "come to me, you who labor and are heavily laden, and I will refresh you, and you shall find rest for your souls," you will find that this is He who truly gave rest to men and freed the earth from the curse with which the Lord God cursed it. To this spiritual Noah, then, who gave rest to men and took away the sin of the world, it is said: "You shall make for yourself an ark out of squared timbers."
[§4] Let us see, then, what the squared timbers are. That is squared which totters on no side, but, wherever you turn it, stands with faithful and solid stability. These are the timbers which bear all the weight, whether of the animals within or of the waves without. These I judge to be the teachers in the Church and the masters and the zealots of the faith, who both console the peoples placed within by the word of admonition and by the grace of teaching, and, by the power of the word and the wisdom of reason, withstand those attacking from without — whether pagans or heretics — and stirring up the waves of questions and the storms of contests. But do you wish to see that divine Scripture knows of rational timbers? Let us review what is written in the prophet Ezekiel: "And it came to pass," it says, "in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: to whom do you liken yourself in your exaltation? Behold, Assur is a cypress in Lebanon, beautiful in branches and dense in shade and lofty in height. Among the midst of the clouds its top was set, water nourished it and the deep exalted it and led all its rivers around it and sent forth its gatherings to all the timbers of the field. Therefore its height was exalted above all the timbers of the field." And after a little it says: "The many cypresses in the paradise of God, and the pines were not like its branches, and the firs were not like them. No timber in the paradise of God was likened to it, and all the timbers of the paradise of the delights of God envied it." Do you notice of which and of what sort of timbers the prophet speaks? how he describes the cypress of Lebanon, to which all the timbers that are in the paradise of God cannot be compared? And he adds this too at the last, that all the timbers that are in the paradise of God envied it, evidently showing that, according to spiritual understanding, the timbers that are in the paradise of God are called rational, seeing that in them he describes there to be a certain envy against those timbers that are in Lebanon. Whence, that we may say this too in passing, consider whether perhaps that also which is written, that "cursed by God is everyone who hangs on a tree," ought to be understood in the same way as that which is said elsewhere, "cursed is the man who has his hope in man." For we ought to hang on God alone and on no other, even if someone should be said to proceed from the paradise of God, just as Paul too says: "even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel to you otherwise than we have preached to you, let him be anathema." But these things at another time. Meanwhile you have seen what the squared timbers are, which, like a kind of wall and defense, are set in place by the spiritual Noah for those who are within against the waves that come over from without; which timbers are smeared "within and without" with pitch. For Christ, the architect of the Church, wishes you not to be such as those "who indeed appear outwardly to men to be just, but within are sepulchers of the dead," but He wishes you to be both holy in body without and pure in heart within, guarded on every side and fortified with the virtue of chastity and innocence, that is, to be smeared within and without with pitch.
[§5] After these things mention is made of the length and breadth of the ark and of the height, and certain numbers are set down in them, consecrated with mighty mysteries. But before we discuss the numbers, let us see what sort of thing it is that it speaks of length and breadth and height. The Apostle in a certain place, when he was speaking more sacredly of the mystery of the cross, says thus: "that you may know what is the length and breadth and depth." Now depth and height signify the same thing, only that height seems to measure the space from the lower parts to the upper, but depth to begin from the upper parts and descend to the lower. Consequently, then, the Spirit of God, both through Moses and through Paul, sets forth figures of mighty mysteries. For Paul, since he was preaching the mystery of Christ's descent, named depth, as of one coming from the upper parts to the lower; but Moses, because he designates the restoration of those who through Christ are called back from the destruction and perdition of the world — as it were from the death of the flood — from the lower parts to the things above and heavenly, in the measure of the ark does not mention depth, but height, as where one ascends from earthly and lowly things to heavenly and lofty ones. Numbers too are set down: three hundred cubits of length, fifty of breadth, thirty of height. Three hundred is three times a hundred, and the number one hundred is shown to be full in all things and perfect, and containing the mystery of the whole rational creation, as we read in the Gospels, where it says that "a certain man having a hundred sheep, when one of them had perished, leaving the ninety-nine in the mountains, went down to seek the one that had perished, and, when he had found it, carried it back on his shoulders, and placed it with those ninety-nine which had not perished." This hundred, then, being the number of the whole rational creation, since it does not subsist from itself, but descends from the Trinity and has received length of life — that is, the grace of immortality — from the Father through the Son and the Holy Spirit, is therefore set down tripled, inasmuch as it is increased to perfection through the grace of the Trinity, and so that it may restore into three hundred the one who has fallen from the hundred through ignorance, by the acknowledgment of the Trinity. The breadth holds the number fifty, which number is consecrated to remission and pardon. For according to the law, in the fiftieth year there was remission — that is, that if anyone had sold away a possession, he should receive it back; if a free man had come into servitude, he should receive back his freedom; the debtor should receive pardon, the exile should return to his fatherland. The spiritual Noah, therefore, Christ, in His ark, in which He frees the human race from destruction — that is, in His Church — has placed this number fifty of remission in the breadth. For unless He had granted the remission of sins to those who believe, the breadth of the Church would not have been spread throughout the circle of the earth. But the number thirty of the height contains a mystery similar to the three hundred. For what a hundred does there, ten multiplied by three does here. But the sum of the whole construction is brought back to one, because "there is one God the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord," and "the faith of the Church is one, one baptism, one body and one spirit," and all things hasten to the one end of God's perfection. But you too, who hear these things, if you attend to the holy Scriptures in your leisure, will find very many deeds of great matters contained under the number thirty or fifty. At thirty years of age Joseph is brought out of prison and receives the sovereignty of all Egypt, that by divine foresight he might drive off the ruin of the impending famine. Jesus is related to be of thirty years when He came to the baptism and "saw the heavens divided and the Spirit of God coming upon Himself in the likeness of a dove"; where also the mystery of the Trinity first began to be disclosed; and many things similar to these you will find. But you will also find the fiftieth day as a feast in the consecration of the new fruits, and from the spoils of the Midianites a fiftieth is taken off as a first-portion for the Lord. And with three hundred you will find both Abraham conquering the Sodomites, and Gideon with three hundred lapping the water with the tongue overcomes. Indeed, the door, which is placed not in the front nor from above, but from the side, crosswise — since it is the time of divine anger (for "the day of the Lord is a day of wrath and fury," as it is written; for although some may seem to be saved, yet many, whom their own merits reprove, are destroyed and perish) — the door is set crosswise, so that that may be shown which is said through the prophet, that "if you walk perversely with me, I too will walk with you in perverse anger." After these things let us also see about that which it says separately, "the lower parts double-chambered" and "the upper parts triple-chambered," lest perhaps that be indicated through these things which the Apostle said, that "in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things heavenly, earthly, and infernal," and in the ark there may be signified that the lower parts themselves are of all those things which the Apostle calls infernal, but the upper parts adjoining these are the earthly things themselves, and the triple-chambered upper parts, of which he speaks, are all together the heavenly things, but that in these the merits of those are distinguished who are able, according to the Apostle Paul, to ascend "up to the third heaven." And the many nests, because many of them are made in the ark, indicate that there are many dwellings with the Father. But concerning the animals and beasts and cattle and the other diverse living creatures, what other figure is to be kept by us than that which either Isaiah shows, when he says that in the kingdom of Christ the wolf with the lamb, the leopard with the kid, the lion and the ox go together to the pastures, and their offspring together feed on chaff, and moreover that a little child — such without doubt as the Savior spoke of: "unless you are converted and become like this child, you shall not enter into the kingdom of God" — will put his hand into the den of asps and be in no way harmed? Or even that figure which Peter teaches to be had even now in the Church, when he relates that he saw a vision, in which all the four-footed beasts and beasts of the earth and birds of heaven were contained within one linen of faith, bound at the beginnings of the four Gospels?
[§6] But since the ark, which we are attempting to describe, is commanded by God to be built not only double-chambered but also triple-chambered, let us too give our effort, according to God's command, to join a third exposition as well to this double one which has preceded. For the first, which preceded, is the historical, placed as it were as a kind of foundation in the lower parts. This second, the mystical, was higher and loftier. Let us try, if we can, to add a third, the moral — although this very thing too, that it neither said "double-chambered" alone and kept silent, nor "triple-chambered" only and stopped, but, when it had said "double-chambered," added also "triple-chambered," does not seem to be without the mystery of this very exposition which we have in hand. For the triple-chambered designates this triple exposition. But because the historical sequence cannot always stand in the divine Scriptures, but sometimes fails — as, for example, when it is said, "thorns will grow in the hand of the drunkard," and when in the temple built by Solomon it is said, "the sound of the hammer and the axe was not heard in the house of God," and again in Leviticus, when "the leprosy of the wall and of the little skin and of the warp is commanded to be inspected by the priests and to be cleansed" — for these reasons, then, and for others like them, the ark is woven together not only "triple-chambered," but also "double-chambered," so that we may know that in the divine Scriptures the sense of exposition inserted is not always triple, because the history does not always follow us, but sometimes only double. Let us try, therefore, to discuss the third exposition also, according to the moral topic. If there is anyone who, while evils increase and vices overflow, is able to turn himself away from fluid and perishing and falling things and to hear the word of God and the heavenly precepts, this one builds within his heart an ark of salvation and consecrates within himself, so to speak, a library of the divine word, and places in it length and breadth and height — faith, charity, and hope. He stretches the faith of the Trinity to the length of life and immortality, he founds the breadth of charity by the affection of pardon and kindness, he raises the height of hope to the heavenly and lofty things; for, walking upon the earth, he has his "conversation in the heavens." But the sum of his acts he brings back to one. For he knows that "all indeed run, but one receives the prize" — namely, the one who has not been manifold through the variety of thoughts and the instability of mind. But this library he builds not out of rough and unpolished timbers, but out of squared ones directed according to the line of equity — that is, not out of the volumes of secular authors, but out of the prophetic and Apostolic ones. For these are the ones who, hewn by diverse temptations, with all vices cut away and excised, keep a squared life balanced on every side. For the authors of secular books can indeed be called "lofty timbers" and "shady timbers" — for "under every lofty and leafy tree" Israel is accused of having committed fornication — because they indeed speak lofty things and use flowery eloquence, yet they did not act as they spoke; and therefore they cannot be named "squared timbers," because in them life and word by no means balance out. You therefore, if you make an ark, if you gather a library, gather it out of the prophetic and Apostolic discourses, or of those who followed them with the right lines of faith, make it "double-chambered" and "triple-chambered." From it learn the historical narratives, from it acknowledge "the great mystery" which is fulfilled in Christ and in the Church; from it also understand how to amend your morals, to cut away vices, to purge the soul and to strip it of every bond of captivity, placing in it "nests" and "nests" of diverse virtues and advancements. Indeed, you shall pitch it "within" and "without" — bearing faith in the heart, uttering confession with the mouth, having knowledge within, works without, pure in heart within, walking chaste in body without. Into this ark, then — whether we for the present set it down, according to the moral topic, as a library of divine books or as a faithful soul — you ought to bring in animals also of every kind, not only clean but also unclean. But the clean animals we can easily say may be understood to be memory, learning, understanding, examination, and judgment of the things we read, and other things like these. But concerning the unclean ones it is difficult to pronounce, which are also named "two by two." Nevertheless, so far as in such difficult places we can dare, I think that concupiscence and anger, since they are in every soul, are necessarily called unclean according to this, that they are servants to man for sinning; but according to this, that neither is the succession of posterity restored without concupiscence, nor can any amendment stand without anger, nor discipline, they are called necessary and to be preserved. And although these things seem now to be discussed not by moral but by natural reasoning, nevertheless the things which could occur to us for the present we have treated for edification. Indeed, if anyone at leisure is able to compare and confer the divine Scripture itself with itself and to fit "spiritual things to spiritual," it does not escape us that in this place he will find many secrets of profound and hidden mystery, which we now cannot bring into the midst, either for the brevity of time or for the labor of the hearers. Yet let us beseech the mercy of Almighty God, that He may make us "not only hearers of His word," but also "doers," and may bring upon our souls too the flood of His water, and may destroy in us the things which He knows are to be destroyed, and may make alive the things which He judges are to be made alive, through Christ our Lord and through His Holy Spirit. To Him be glory unto the eternal ages of ages. Amen.