15. The sea of Galilee, for example—the only example, perhaps.
50 On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees few people are able to understand, though on this point one should beware of making any rash assertions, seeing how obscure it is and far removed from human perception. But however it may be, it must be believed before it can be understood.
And there was made evening and there was made morning, a second day (Gn 1:8). From now on all the phrases that are repeated are to be understood and explained as above.
The sea and dry landformedfrom the material earlier called invisible earth and then water
12, 18. And God said, Let the water which is under the heavens be collected together into one collection, and let the dry land appear. And the water which was under the heavens was collected together into one collection, and the dry land appeared. And God called the dry land earth, and the collection ofwater he called sea. And God saw that it was good (Gn 1:9-10). On this place the Manichees say: "lf the whole world was full of water, how could the waters be collected together into one?" But it has already been said about the earlier verse that the name of waters was given to that basic material over which the Spirit of God was being borne, from which God was going to form everything. Now however, when it says, Let the water which is under the heavens be collected together into one collection, it means that that bodily material is being formed into the specific nature and appearance which these visible waters have. The very collecting together into one, you see, is the formation of these waters which we can see and touch. Every form, after all, is compressed into fitting the stan dard of unity.
And as for its saying, Let the dry land appear, what else is it to be understood as saying, but that that material is to receive the visible form which this earth has that we can see and touch? So that the earth was earlier on being called invisible and shapeless meant that the basic material was being named as unsorted and dark; and by the water over which the Spirit of God was being borne, another name was again being given to the same basic material. Now however, this water and earth are being formed from that material which was earlier on called by their names, before it received these forms which we can now see. We are told, by the way, that in Hebrew every collection of water, whether salt or fresh, is called a sea.15
15. The sea of Galilee, for example—the only example, perhaps.
Book I 51
Manichee quibble about the origin ofpoisonous, prickly plants, and trees that bear nofruit
13, 19. And God said, Let the earth sprout grass for fodder-bearing seed according to its kindand likeness, andfruit trees makingfruit, whose seed is in it acccording to its likeness. And thus it was made. And the earth thrust up grass forfodder andfruit trees makingfruit whose seed is in it according to its like ness. And God saw that it was good. And there was made evening and there was made morning, a third day (Gn 1:11-13). Here they are in the habit of saying: "lf God gave orders for grass to spring from the earth for fodder, and also fruit trees, who gave orders for so many thorny and poisonous plants and grasses to spring up, and trees that bear no fruit?" ln reply one must take care not to reveal any mysteries to the unworthy, nor to show them what things to come are being prefigured by the way things are said here.
So then what should be said is that it was through the man's sin that the earth was cursed, so as to bring forth thorns, not so that the earth itself should feel the punishment, since it lacks sensation, but that it might always be setting the crim inal nature ofhuman sin before people's very eyes, and thus admonishing them to turn away at some time or other from their sins and turn back to God's commandments. As for poisonous plants, they were created for punishing mortals or putting them through their paces, and all this on account of sin, because it was after sin that we became mortal. By unfruitful trees, however, human beings are being mocked and taunted, to make them understand how they should blush for shame at lacking the fruit of good works in the field of God, that is, in the Church, and to make them afraid, because they themselves neglect unfruitful trees in their fields and do nothing by way ofcultivating them, ofbeing neglected in their turn by God and left uncultivated.
So then, before the man's sin the text does not say that the earth produced anything but grass for fodder and fruit trees, while after his sin we see many prickly and unfruitful things springing up from the earth, for the reason, in my opinion, that we have just given. This, you see, is what the first man is told after he has sinned: Accursed shall the earth beforyou in all your works; in sadness and groaning shallyou eat ofit all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it thrust upforyou, andyou shall eat thefodder ofyourfield; in the sweat of your countenance shall you eat your bread, until you are turned back into the earth from which you were taken; for earth you are and into earth shall you go (Gn
3:17-19).
Manichee slurs on the work ofthefourth day
14, 20. And God said: Let constellations be made in the solid structure of heaven, so as to shine upon the earth and to divide between day and night, and to
52 On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees befor signs andfor times andfor days andfor years; and to befor brilliance in the solid structure ofheaven, so as to shine upon the earth. And thus it was made. And Godmade the two lamps, the greaterand the lesser; the greater lampfor the starting of the day, and the lesser lampfor the starting of the night, and the stars. And God placed them in the solid structure of heaven so as to shine upon the earth, and to preside over day and night, and to divide between day and night. And Godsaw that it was good. And there was made evening and there was made morning, afourth day (Gn 1:14-19).
Here the first question they ask is how it was on the fourth day that the constellations were made, that is, sun and moon and stars. How, after all, could the three previous days have been without the sun, since now we see that it takes the rising and the setting of the sun to complete a day, while the night is made for us by the absence of the sun, during its return from the other part of the world to the east? We answer them that it could have happened that the first three days were each reckoned according to the space of time it takes for the sun to go round, from the moment it comes out from the east until it returns again to the east. After all, human beings could be aware of this space and length oftime even if they were living in caves, where they couldn't see the sun rising and setting. In this way it can be seen that such a space of time could have elapsed even without the sun, before the sun was made, and this space of time could have been divided up into those three days.
So this then is the answer we would give, were we not restrained by what it says there: And there was made evening and there was made morning, which we see cannot now be made without the sun's regular course. So then, it remains for us to understand that in that particular passage of time the actual changes from one work to the next were given these names: evening on account of the comple tion of the finished work and morning on account of the next work to come, from the similarity with human work, which for the most part begins in the morning and ends in the evening. The transference, you see, of words from human matters to express things divine is common form with the divine scriptures.
2 1 . Next they want to know what it says about the constellations, and let them be for signs andfor times. "Could those other three days, after all," they say, "have been lacking in times, or were not they included in periods of time?"
But in saying/orsigns and times it means so that times might be distinguished by means of these constellations, and told apart by human beings; because were time to run on without being distinguished by any precise moments, moments that are marked by the courses of the heavenly bodies, time could indeed run on and pass by, but it could not be grasped and articulated by human beings; like the hours which pass indeed on a cloudy day, and run through their proper time, but cannot be marked and distinguished by us.