fire, air, earth and water—and the fifth "celestial" element of ether.
Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis 121
But perhaps it is not inappropriate that it was first called heaven and earth, secondly shapeless earth and abyss without light, thirdly water; so that first of all the material should be called by the name of the whole universe on account of which the material itselfwas made from absolutely nothing, that is, "heaven and earth"; secondly that its formlessness should be suggested by the name of "shapeless earth" and "abyss," because among all the elements earth is more formless and less shiny than the others; thirdly that the material as subject to the work of the craftsman should be signified by the name of "water." Water, after all, is more mobile than earth, and that is why, because it is easier to work and more readily moved about, the material as subject to the craftsman had to be called water rather than earth.
14. And air, to be sure, is more mobile than water, while it may without absur dity be supposed or understood that ether is more mobile even than air. But it would be much less appropriate to call the basic material by the name of "air" or "ether"; for these elements are thought rather to have an active force, while earth and water are more passive. If this is not very obvious, I think that at least it is apparent enough that the wind moves water and some things made ofearth;18 but wind is air that is moving with a kind of wave motion. So then, since air mani festly moves water, while what it is itself moved by to become wind is not apparent, who could doubt that the basic material is more suitably called by the name of water, which is moved, than of air, which does the moving? Now being moved is being passive, causing movement is being active.
To this we can add that the things the earth brings forth are irrigated with water in order to be produced and to grow, in such a way that it almost seems as if the water itself is being turned into this teeming vegetation. For this reason the basic material, when it was being presented as subject to the craftsman's working, would be more suitably indicated by the name of water because of its mobile plasticity and the way it itself turns into any living, growing body, than by the name ofair, in which it is only mobility that can be observed, while it lacks the other qualities which would more accurately signify the basic material.
Thus the sense of the whole passage would be: ln the beginning God made heaven and earth, that is the basic material which would be able to receive the form of heaven and earth. This material was earth, invisible and shapeless, that is, a formless depth also lacking light; which however, since it was subject to the craftsman moving and working it, was also named water precisely because it is so pliable in the hands of the one working it.
15. So in this whole presentation, then, of the basic material, it was first its end that was suggested, what it was made for, that is; secondly its formlessness, thirdly its subjection to the craftsman and its being entirely at his service. And so
18. Trees are the obvious instance. Ancient chemistry was very simple, with its four elements of fire, air, earth and water—and the fifth "celestial" element of ether.
1 22 Unfinished Literal Commentary on Genesis first heaven and earth—that, after all, is what the basic material was made for; secondly earth invisible and shapeless and darkness over the abyss, that is, its very formlessness without light—which is why the earth was also called invis ible; thirdly water subject to the spirit or wind19 for receiving its appearance and forms. That is why the Spirit of God was being borne over the water, to give us to understand the Spirit as working, the water as what he was working on, that is, as workable material. For when we name one thing in three ways, as the material of the world, as formless material, and as workable material, heaven and earth are rightly linked to the first way; obscurity, confusion, depth to the second; a yielding plasticity to the third, and to work on this the Spirit of the craftsman is already being borne over it.
Genesis 1:2; the meaning of the spirit of God
1 6. And the Spirit of God was being borne over the water(Gn 1:2); not like oil over water or water over earth, that is, as though being borne up by it; but if we must take examples from visible things, as this light of the sun or the moon is borne over these bodies which it illuminates on the earth. This is not, you see, being borne up by them, but while being borne up together with the sky or heaven, it is being borne over these things.
Again we must beware of supposing that the Spirit of God was being borne over the basic material as though covering a spatial distance, but rather as exer cising a skill in making and fashioning things, in the way that the intention of a craftsman is "borne over" the wood or whatever it is he is working on, or even over the parts of his body, which he applies to the work. And while this compar ison is much better than one with any bodily thing, still it is scarcely worth anything at all for understanding how the Spirit of God is borne over the material of the world to work on it. But we cannot find any clearer comparison, or any that is closer to the matter we are talking about in things that people can grasp in any way at all. For this reason the best thing to do in this kind of reflection will be to hold on to the injunction, where it is written: When youpraise the Lord, exalthim as much as you can; he will still be beyond you (Sir 43:30). This however is said if "the spirit of God" in this place is taken to be the Holy Spirit, whom we venerate in the inexpressible and unchangeable Trinity.
19.1 have added "or wind," because 1 think he has in mind here what he said earlier on about wind moving water, and not yet immediately the Spirit of God, which he is going to mention in a moment. The word spiritus in Latin has a much more manifest connection with breath and wind than "spirit" does in English.