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"And God said to Noe and to his sons with him, 'Lo, I am making my covenant with you and with your offspring after you, and with every living being that is with you, including both birds and cattle, and with all the wild beasts of the earth.'""
(Pegg |
ESTERDAY [252] I BROUGHT TO YOUR ATTENTION
1a | | | the commendation accorded Noe by the Lord after 23) he had built an altar following his disembarkation from the ark, and was offering sacrifices of thanksgiving and had demonstrated his gratitude. But we were unable to proceed further and deal completely with the reading by showing the loving God's considerateness and care displayed in regard to the good man. I mean, since our sermon had been prolonged to great length, we concluded it rapidly lest your memory be overwhelmed by the plethora of words and the things yet unspoken be impaired by what has been said already. You see, our anxiety was not simply to say a great deal; rather, we wanted to say the kind of things that it would be possible for you to retain in your memory and leave here enriched. After all, if it was likely that we said more than was proper and you gained nothing from what was said, what would be the use of that? Accordingly, in the knowledge that we have undertaken this task for the sake of your benefit, we also consider we have received sufficient reward if we see your progress in grasping our words precisely, and if you store them away in the recesses of your mind, constantly pondering and ruminating on them.
(2) You see, recollection of words already spoken prepares you to receive with greater ease those yet to be spoken, and thus become in the future instructors of others. This, after 1. Gen g.8—-10, the LXX omitting the final phrase of the Hebrew.
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all, is the object of all our vigilance and enthusiasm, that you would all become perfect and complete, and that nothing of the contents of the Holy Scriptures would escape you. Acquaintance with them, remember, will also make the greatest contribution to your progress towards an excellent life, provided you are prepared to be sober and alert, and will make you readier for the difficulties virtue involves. You see, whenever it has come to our attention that all of those good people who relied on their considerable trust in God to pass the whole of their life in trials and tribulations and give evidence of great endurance and thanksgiving were as a result found worthy of reward, how could we in our turn fail to show eagerness to travel by the same path as they so as likewise to enjoy the same reward as theirs? Hence I beseech you to make each day some effort both towards your growth in God's grace and to maintaining in security and close observance your previous good behavior, as well as supplying for any omissions, so that in this way you may reach the very pinnacle of virtue to my satisfaction, the building up of the Church and the glory of Christ. Seeing, after all, your insatiable interest in spiritual instruction, I do not cease daily, despite my awareness of my own extreme inadequacy, to offer you nourishment from the Holy Scriptures and to propose for your hearing whatever the love of God provides out of his characteristic benevolence and with a view to your benefit.
(3) So come now, today, too, let us demonstrate to your good selves the extraordinary degree of God's love, which he manifests in regard to the human race, by drawing attention to the very words spoken by God to Noe. "God said to Noe and to his sons." After blessing him and his sons in the words,
""Increase and multiply, " and entrusting him with [253] control of all the animals and giving him authority to enjoy a share of them in the manner of vegetables for eating, and instructing him not to eat flesh with the blood in it, still caring as he was for the good man and those due to come later and ever anxious to ply our nature with kindness, he added even greater benefits in the words, "God said to Noe and to his sons with him, 'Lo, I am making my covenant with you and
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with your offspring after you, and with every living being that is with you, including both birds and cattle, and with all the wild beasts of the earth that are with you, including all that disembarked from the ark. I will keep my covenant with you: no more will all creatures perish in the water of the deluge, and never again will there be a deluge to destroy the whole earth.'"? Chances were that the good man was still beside himself and his mind still prey to fear; and it was likely that if some light shower should happen to fall, he would be bound to become distraught and quite upset at the thought of such a deluge overwhelming the world once again. Hence the good Lord took steps to instil confidence into him and all those in future, knowing as he did that even a chance concern would succeed in alarming him, past experience having proved sufficient to frighten him out of his wits. Since therefore the odds were that this blessed man would be utterly terrified at even a passing shower, the good God for this reason, as if taking steps to encourage him and free him from all fear, as well as reduce him to a state of complete security and tranquility, promised never to inflict such dreadful punishment again. This promise he had in fact already made even before the blessing when he said, as you heard, "'I will not proceed to curse the earth.'"* Even if people continue their display of wickedness, yet I no longer submit the human race to such terrible punishment. In other words, he shows his ineffable love by making the promise once again so that the good man may be able to take heart and not come to the following conclusion: After first bestowing blessings on the human race and causing us to multiply in number, he brought this ruin upon us.
(4) His purpose, therefore, was to eliminate all apprehension from Noe's thinking and for him to be quite assured that this would not happen again. He said, remember, Just as I brought on the deluge out of love, so as to put a stop to their wickedness and prevent their going to further extremes, so in this case too it is out of my love that I promise never to do
2. Gen g.8—-11.
3. Gen 8.21.
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it again, so that you may live free of all dread and in this way see your present life to its close. Hence he said, "'Behold I make my covenant,'" that is, I form an agreement. Just as in human affairs when someone makes a promise he forms an agreement and gives a firm guarantee, so too the good Lord said, " 'Behold, I make my covenant.'" He was right in saying,
"'T make,'" instead of, Behold I renew the disaster brought on by their sins; "'I make my covenant with you and your offspring after you.'" See the Lord's loving kindness: not only with your generation, he says, do I form my agreement, but also in regard to those coming after you I give this firm guarantee.
(5) Then to show his characteristic generosity he says, "'and with every living being that is with you, including both birds and cattle, and with all the wild beasts of the earth that are with you, including all that disembarked from the ark. I will keep my covenant with you: no more will all the creatures perish in the water of the deluge, [254] and never again will there be a deluge to destroy the whole earth.'" Do you see the extent of the agreement? Do you see the unspeakable generosity of the promises? Notice how once again he extends his loving kindness to the animals and wild beasts—and rightly so: what I have often said before I say again now. That is, since these creatures had been created for the human for that reason they now share the kindness shown humanity.
While the covenant with the latter and with the animals seems identical, in fact it is not. This too happens for the human's consolation, you see, so that he may be in a position to know how much esteem he enjoys, since not only is the favor bestowed on himself, but also that all the animals have a share in enjoying the Lord's generosity on his account. "'No more will all creatures perish,'" the text says, "'in the water of the deluge, and never again will there be a deluge to destroy the whole earth.'"
(6) Do you see how once, a second time, and more frequently he promises never again to inflict such an awful disaster, so as to eliminate fear from the good man's thoughts and cause him to be optimistic about the future? Then, con-
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sidering not his own nature but our limitations, he is not content with the verbal promise, but demonstrates his considerateness in our regard by supplying also a sign valid for all time and capable of freeing the human race of this terrible fear, with the result that even if a heavy shower should fall, even if a wild storm should break, or if the tide should reach to a flood, not even then would we be able to feel fear but rather feel confidence by contemplating the sign given us.
"Then the Lord God said to Noe: "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you.'
See the great regard he displays for the good man; like one person speaking with another, he makes his agreement with. him in just the same fashion in the words, ""This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you, and with every living creature that is with you for all generations.'" Do you see that the sign due to be given to every creature is made valid for eternal generations? Not only does he give the sign to all creatures alike, but he also makes it never-ending and coterminous with the duration of the world. So what is the sign? "'I am putting my bow in the clouds, and it will act as a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.'"® See, along with the verbal promise he also gives the sign, namely, the rainbow, which some people say is caused by the sun shedding its rays on the clouds. In case my word is not sufficient, he is saying, behold I also give a sign that I will never again inflict such an awful punishment; so when you see the sign, you will be freed of fear. "'When I bring clouds on the earth, my bow will be visible in the clouds, and I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living being of every kind.'"® What are you saying, O blessed author? I will recall (he is saying) my covenant—that is, the guarantee, the promise—not because he needs to recall it, but for us to fix our eyes on that sign given us and thus suspect no trouble; instead, by remembering at once God's promise we are able to be confident that we will suffer nothing like that again.
4. Gen 9.12.
Ge Geman 33 6. Gen 9.14—15.
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(7) Do you see God's considerateness, how much care he shows our race, the great extent of the loving kindness he has displayed, not because he saw the change in human beings but for the purpose of teaching us through every event the extraordinary degree of his [255] goodness? "'Never again will there be a deluge to wipe out every creature;'"' never again will there be a downpour like that. Since he knew the human race were afraid of that, see how he constantly makes the promise as if to say, Even if you see a great rush of water falling, don't suspect any trouble in that event: ""There will be no deluge to wipe out every creature," never again will the human race experience anger like that. "'My bow will be in the clouds, and sight of it will remind me of an eternal covenant between God and all living beings of every kind.'"®
Notice the utter ordinariness of the language he employs out of a wish to induce confidence and security in the human race. I will see, he says, that I remember my covenant. Does that therefore mean that sight jogs his memory? This is not the conclusion we are to come to—God forbid—but that when we see the sign, we may take heart at God's promise, especially as it is impossible for God's promises to fail.
(8) "God said to Noe," the text goes on, ""This is the sign of the covenant I made between me and all creatures that are upon the earth.'"® You recognized, he is saying, the sign I gave of agreement between me and every creature living on the earth. Worry your head no longer, nor upset your thinking; instead, fix your gaze on this and allow yourself the luxury of firm hope, let all those coming after you enjoy comfort from this sign, and let sight of it provide the basis for confidence that never again will such an awful deluge destroy the world. I mean, even if people's sins are intensified, nevertheless I will keep these promises I have made: I will vent no longer such terrible anger on everyone. Do you see the excess of his goodness? Do you see the extent of his considerateness?
Do you see the degree of his care? Do you see his promise of 7. This time Chrysostom quotes v. 11 in a different form—a common enough departure for a preacher.
8. Gen 9.16.
9. Gen 9.17.
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generosity? After all, he did not simply extend his kindness to two or three or even ten generations; instead, he promised it would last as long as the duration of the universe so that we might be the wiser for each instance, both the fact that they suffered such terrible punishment for the enormity of their sins and also the fact that we were accorded such marvellous promise owing to his ineffable love. People of sense, you see, are drawn to obedience of commands rather by kindnesses than by punishments.
(9) Accordingly, let us not prove ungrateful; even if before we gave evidence of any good, or rather while we were actually practicing things deserving of punishment, he granted us such lavish kindness, what great generosity would he still not accord us from his richness provided we prove grateful, demonstrate our thanks for his previous favors and work a great change for the better? If he bestows favors on us despite our being unworthy and is kindly disposed towards sinners, what good things would we not meet with, provided we desist from evil and follow virtue? You see, the reason why he takes the initiative in laying up for us many blessings and grants a further opportunity of pardon to sinners instead of immediately inflicting penalties is this: that through every means he may win us over, in every way ply us with blessings, in every manner show us longsuffering. Frequently, however, while he punishes some by every means, his intention is to encourage others so that they may be brought to their senses through fright at the unfortunate and avoid experiencing punishment. Do you see his inventive love, how everything done by him happens with this sole object in view [256]—our salvation?
(10) So with this in mind let us not be remiss, or neglect virtue, or bypass the laws laid down by him. You see, if he sees us repentant and at peace and quite resolved on making a start, he both comes to our aid with resources of his own by rendering everything easy and light for us and also does not allow us even to feel the effects of the effort virtue involves. I mean, whenever the soul directs its faculties towards
God, it can no longer be deceived by the appearance of visible
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realities; instead, it passes them all by and takes less careful note of these things that fall under our gaze than of those realities that are not seen by our bodily eyes and are not subject to change but remain constant, as it is their nature to be fixed and unmoved. Such, you see, are the eyes of the mind: they concentrate uninterruptedly on those latter realities and, contemplating everything of this present life in the light of the radiance from them, pass them by as if some dream or shadow, no longer subject to deception nor able to be beguiled. Instead, even if they see wealth, they immediately mock it in their knowledge that it shifts from one person to another with less reliability than any runaway slave and, far from being constant, it brings countless troubles on its possessors, drives them to the very brink of disaster (so to say) and throws them over. Should they happen to espy some bodily beauty, they still do not lose their balance but consider its susceptibility to death and corruption and the fact that disease suddenly attacks and blights that beauty completely and, before the onset of disease, age takes effect and renders repulsive and ugly the face that was previously beautiful, whereas death, on the other hand, makes its assault and utterly wastes the body in its prime. Should they see someone clad in glory or sovereignty or scaling the very pinnacle of honors, and enjoying complete health and happiness, they ignore him as someone with no sure or firm foundation but only an inflated esteem for things that will leave him high and dry more surely than the currents of a river. After all, what is of less value than all the glory of this present life when it is compared to the grass in flower? "All human glory," Scripture says, remember, "is like grass in flower."!® Do you see, dearly beloved, how clearly the eyes of faith see when the mind is directed to God? Do you see how they can be beguiled by no visible reality? Instead, they have an accurate assessment of things and are subject to no deception.
(11) If you don't mind, however, let us once more resume the thread of our sermon, put a few matters before you and 10. Isa 40.6 LXX.
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Lou bring our instruction to a close so as to fix in your minds the remembrance of what has been said. When, as you recall,
Sacred Scripture completed its account of the divine sign, its intention once again was to teach us the matters related to the good man and his sons in saying, "Now, the sons of Noe who disembarked from the ark were Shem, Cham and Japheth.
Now, Cham was father of Canaan. These three were Noe's sons; beginning with them people spread out over the whole earth." It is worth enquiring at this point why in mentioning the three sons of Noe, Sacred Scripture added, "Now, Cham was the father of Canaan." Don't think, I beg you, this detail was tossed in to no purpose: there is nothing of the contents of Sacred Scripture which is spoken without some purpose that involves great benefit concealed beneath the surface. So why did it draw this to our attention by adding, "Now, Cham was the father of Canaan"? It intends in this way to hint to us the extraordinary degree of his intemperance by the fact that not even the magnitude [257] of the disaster nor the terribly straitened conditions in the ark caused him to control himself; instead, even though his elder brother had not yet at this stage had children, he indulged himself in incontinence at a time when the world was in the grip of such awful distress and disaster, and gave himself up to intercourse; far from putting a check on the impulse of desire, already from the very outset the depravity of his attitude had become clear. So, when a little later his son Canaan is due to receive the curse for the disrespect towards the father of the family, Sacred
Scripture had already anticipated its announcement on that account and revealed to us the name of the child at the same time as the intemperance of its father; the purpose was that when you later see him giving evidence of ingratitude towards his father, you would be in a position to know that right from the very beginning he was the kind of person not to be restrained even by the disaster. I mean, deep apprehension is sufficient to quench pleasure of all kinds, and there is nothing so capable of checking this flame and fury as depth of appre11. Gen g.18.
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hension and excess of ill fortune. So when this person in the midst of such troubles displays such a frenzy and lust for siring offspring, what excuse could be made for him?!"
(12) At this point, however, another question arises for us, that well known one that is bandied about everywhere: why does the son receive the curse when it is the father who is guilty of sin? But in case we are now making the sermon too long, we will leave this point to next time, so that when we reach that place in the text we may then also offer whatever solution God provides. You see, there is nothing of the contents of Sacred Scripture, as I said before, that you can find written there without some reason. So for the time being we know that it was not idly or by chance that Moses mentioned the son's name in saying, "Now, Cham was the father of Canaan. These three were Noe's sons; beginning with them people spread out over the whole earth." Let us in our turn, dearly beloved, not pass this present verse idly by, but rather grasp from this very remark as well the greatness of God's power. "These three were Noe's sons," the text says; "beginning with them people spread out over the whole earth." How could they have sufficed for that? How could the whole world come into existence from these few? How did their bodies manage to survive? There was no doctor to apply healing, no other kind of therapy. You see, there were not even any cities yet founded; instead, after the awful distress of their life in the ark they disembarked shrivelled up, as it were, after being shut in, so how could they have failed to expire after having the misfortune of being in such terrible isolation and unspeakable solitude? How did they not perish? Tell me, after all, would not fear and anxiety unhinge their mind and derange their thinking?
(13) Don't be surprised, dearly beloved: God it was who was managing everything, and the Creator of our nature was removing all these difficulties, and that direction of his in the words, "'Increase and multiply, and fill the earth,'"! also
12. Chrysostom asks the same question of the text's reference to Canaan here as do modern commentators, but with much greater moral elaboration.
13. Gen 1.28.
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granted them this increase. The Israelites, too, when they were confined in Egypt working with clay and making bricks, all the more in these circumstances did they grow into a vast multitude, and neither the pitiless and cruel command of Pharaoh requiring male children to be cast into the river, nor the rest of the ill treatment they endured from their taskmasters
[258] was successful in reducing their numbers; rather, they grew in numbers even further. Grace from above, you see, was bringing everything to a successful conclusion through adversity. Accordingly, when God gives his command, don't seek to subject things to examination according to human procedures: he is, after all, superior to our nature and so has no need of human procedures, but even through the very obstacles he causes things to flourish. In just the same way in the present case, too, he peopled the whole world from these three men. The text says, "Beginning with these three, people spread out over the whole earth." Do you see
God's power? Do you see how, even though the obstacles were many, there was nothing to thwart his will?
(14) You can see the same thing happening in the case of the faith: despite such adversaries, despite such conspirators and the opposition of kings, tyrants and mobs directing their every effort at quenching the spark of faith, through these very conspirators, through their anxiety to impede progress the flame of religion was fanned to such an extent as to engulf the whole world, inhabited and uninhabited. I mean, if you travel as far as India, as far as Scythia, to the very end of the world, even to the great Ocean, everywhere you will find the teaching of Christ illuminating the souls of all people.
You see, the strange and remarkable thing is that the preaching of religion reformed 'even the barbarian races themselves; they developed a thirst for knowledge, they gave up their old ways and adopted religion instead. Just as the Creator of all caused the number of human beings to multiply through these three men, in just the same way in the case of the faith, he won over the whole world through eleven men—fishermen, illiterate, untutored, not even bold enough to open their mouths. These illiterate, untutored fishermen stopped the
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mouths of philosophers, and like winged creatures traversed the whole world sowing the teaching of religion, pruning away the thorns, rooting out inveterate habits, and in every place planting Christ's laws. Neither the fact of their being few in number, nor their lack of tutoring, nor the severity of what they commanded, nor the fact that the human race was in bondage to inveterate habits was sufficient to prove an obstacle to them; instead, grace paved the way for removing all these difficulties, and so they achieved everything with ease by gaining a firmer resolve through the very obstacles. When on one occasion they were scourged, you recall, they went off rejoicing, not simply on account of the scourging, but "for the fact that they had been thought worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ,"!* whereas on another occasion when they were thrown into prison and were set at liberty by the angel, they still continued the same practices: going as far as the temple they sowed the word of their teaching, landing the people in their net in the cause of religion. Arrested again, they not only did not lose their resolve on that occasion but displayed even greater outspokenness, rising amidst a mob that raged and ground its teeth to declare, "'God must be obeyed rather than men.'"!® (15) Do you see the extent of their outspokenness? Do you see these untutored fishermen scorning such demented crowds that were ready to wreak death and destruction? When, however, dearly beloved, you hear this, attribute its occurrence, not to these men, but to grace from above which gave them strength and stimulated their readiness. Even blessed Peter himself, when he restored the use of his limbs to the man who was lame from his mother's womb, [259] to the amazement and wonder of everyone at their gifts, made no secret of his own gratitude in saying, " 'Gentlemen, why are you staring at us as if we are responsible for his walking through our own power or religious spirit?'"!® Why is it, he is saying, that you are amazed and astounded at what has happened? I 14. Acts 5.41.
15. Acts 5.29.
16. Acts 3.12.
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mean, surely we aren't the ones who have worked this miracle, or restored him to health by our own power and made him walk, are we? Why are you staring at us? We have contributed nothing beyond making our tongues available, whereas the one who has achieved it all is the Lord and Creator of our nature. He is "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," whom you entitle patriarchs; he is the one "whom you betrayed and disowned before Pilate when his verdict had been to acquit him"—he it is who has achieved this, the one "whom you disowned, holy and good though he is, and asked for a murderer to be spared you, whereas you condemned the author of life, but God raised him from the dead and we are his witnesses. Through faith in his name this man, whom you see and know, his name has restored to vigor; faith which comes through him gave the man full strength in the presence of you all."!"
(16) What exceeding great forthrightness of speech! How unspeakably efficacious the power of the grace vouchsafed them from on high! This blessed man's outspokenness would have been the clearest testimony of the Resurrection. What greater sign could anyone seek to have than this when the one, who before the Crucifixion could not withstand the threat of a mere girl now rises in opposition, to the Jewish people in this fashion and on his own berates them despite their uncontrolled fury and utters such things as were capable of rousing their fury to greater heights? Do you see, dearly beloved, how this also in the present instance demonstrates what I was saying in the beginning? When anyone is on fire with love for God, no longer can he bear to see the things that fall under the gaze of these bodily eyes of ours; instead, he employs other eyes—I mean the eyes of faith— and in everything he has his sights on those other realities and he keeps his mind directed towards them. He walks on earth as though all his business was in heaven, and in this way discharges all his duties, being unhindered in the pursuit of virtue by any human preoccupation. Such a person, you see,
17. Acts 3.13—16.
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no longer has an eye for life's attractive features, no longer its harsh and difficult features, but passes them all by in pressing on towards his true homeland. Just as the contestant in this bodily race who runs with great concentration sees none of his opponents, no matter how many times he comes across them, but keeps his mind intent on the race, and thus easily overcomes everything in pressing on towards the goal he has set himself, in just the same way the person keen to run the race of virtue and desirous of leaving earth to reach heaven surrenders all visible things here below, becomes engrossed in the race and does not stop nor allow himself to be hindered by any visible thing before he succeeds in arriving at the very summit. In other words, to the person so disposed, whatever in this present life has a frightening aspect becomes contemptible; such a person has fear neither of sword, nor precipice, wild animals' teeth, torture, arrest by executioner, nor any other of life's hardships; instead, even if he sees the way strewn with burning coals he treads it as though he saw only meadows and gardens; even if he spies some other form of punishment besetting him, he does not become [260] numb at the sight nor turn back. Desire for future realities, you see, has transformed his attitude: as though clad in a body accidentally and for no purpose, he proves superior to passions, and guarded by grace from above he does not even feel the effect of bodily distress.
(17) So I beseech you: with a view to being able to bear without difficulty the effort which virtue involves, let us give evidence of great love of God, and by devoting our attention in that direction let us not be deflected by any of this life's concerns in our course towards that goal. Instead, let us keep in mind the constant enjoyment of future blessings and thus bear without distress the hardships of the present life: let insult not disturb us, nor poverty oppress us, nor bodily ailment sap the energy of our soul's purpose, nor scorn and derision on the part of the majority render us listless in practicing virtue. Let us rather shake off all these irritations like dust, adopt a noble and elevated attitude, and thus take a stance of great fortitude to all problems. As we recommended
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to your good selves yesterday, let us with all zeal be reconciled with our enemies and dispel the remaining passions from our soul: should untimely desire beset us, let us ward it off; should choler arouse our anger, let us suppress its upsurge with the singing of spiritual exhortations and thus show in its true light the ruin that passion brings. "A man of quick temper," Scripture says, remember,
"is not honorable;"!* and again, "The person who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the hell of fire."!® Should desire for money unbalance our thinking, let us be quick to shun this noxious ailment and expel it for what it is—the root of all evils. Let us be zealous in correcting each of the passions that beset us, so that by avoiding harmful ways and practicing those that are good we may on that dread day be judged worthy of God's loving kindness, thanks to the grace and mercy of his only-begotten Son, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power and honor, now and forever, for ages of ages. Amen.
18. Prov 11.25 LXX.
19. Matt 5.22.