Chapter 9
[Genesis 9:1] -- And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all animals of the earth, and upon all the birds of the air, with everything that moves upon the ground. All the fish of the sea are handed over to you, and everything that moves and lives shall be food for you; just as I gave you green plants, I give you everything. It is clear from the text that the second age of the world, like the first and the beginnings of others, is blessed by the Lord. Noah is blessed with his sons, that is, with all those who are born of his flesh and endowed with faith and obedience, demonstrating truly that they are his sons; for his progeny is commanded to fill the earth, as is evident that it has come to pass; for men are said to be a terror to all the animals of the earth and the birds of the air; for these, together with the fishes, are permitted to be eaten, as they were given herbs to eat up to the time of the flood. Where it is noted that since their terror and dread is commanded to be over the animals, certainly it is prohibited from being over men. For to desire to be feared by an equal is manifestly to be proud contrary to nature; and yet it is necessary that governors be feared by their subjects when they find that God is least feared by them. For in that they demand fear from those living perversely, they dominate not as men, but as animals, because evidently insofar as the subjects are beastly, insofar they ought also to lie under fear. According to the spiritual understanding, however, Noah is blessed with his sons, namely our Lord and Savior with the apostles, whom he also deigned to call sons, saying: Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them (Matt. 9:15). God the Father commanded them to grow and multiply over the whole world, when the Lord said to his disciples: Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:14), that is, to all nations. For all the commands of the Lord and Savior are indeed those of the Father. He himself said: What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me (John 12:50). He subjected all animals that move on the earth, all the birds of the air, and all the fish of the sea to their dominion when he said: Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:18). For animals, birds, and fish represent persons of different dispositions and characters, all of which after the flood are given as food to Noah's sons, because after the Lord brought the gift of the saving bath to the world, he wanted this to be administered to all nations as well, saying to the apostles: Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). For these are given as food to Noah's sons according to what was shown to Peter in a mystical sheet with all the quadrupeds and reptiles of the earth: Rise, Peter, kill and eat (Acts 10:13); that is, convert the pagans from their wicked way of life by preaching the truth; and bring them into the members of the Church by initiating them into sacred mysteries; whence it is rightly added here:
[Genesis 9:4] -- Except that you shall not eat flesh with its blood. For blood rightly denotes carnal desires and carnal sense. Blood is poured out when one renounces carnal temptations and thoughts, in which one lived poorly, so that such people can say with the Apostle: Yet I live, now not I; but Christ lives in me (Gal. II, 29). And again: I conferred not immediately with flesh and blood (Gal. I, 16): otherwise, whoever begins to incorporate those persevering in former crimes into the unity of the holy Church by baptizing them, as if eating beasts given by the Lord with blood, because he receives into society those whose conscience is still held by their old way of life as if suffocated. They say that this was the greatest transgression of the giants because they ate flesh with blood; and therefore the Lord, having destroyed them by the flood, indeed allowed people to eat flesh, but prohibited them from doing so with blood.
[Genesis 9:5] -- For I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it and from man, from his fellow man I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. For in a typological sense, lifeblood refers to that vital essence by which humans are animated, sustained, and live in the flesh through the soul, just as the hand of beasts typologically refers to the act of devouring by which they kill a man. For who in sound mind would truly believe that the blood of man pertains to the substance of the soul? Although the same legislator seems to say more clearly elsewhere: For the life of every creature is its blood (Leviticus 17:14). Thus it is said in the same way as it is said And the rock was Christ, not that it was, but that it signified. The law was not without purpose in wanting to signify the soul through the blood, that is, an invisible thing through a visible thing, except that blood, diffused through all veins from the heart itself, predominates in our body more than other fluids, so that wherever a wound may be inflicted, no other fluid but itself emerges. Thus the soul, which invisibly prevails over all that we consist of, is better signified by that which visibly prevails over all that we consist of. It is clear to understand how God seeks the soul of man from the hand of man, demanding retribution from him who has sinned; but it can indeed be reasonably asked how it is also required from beasts, which lack reason, unless perhaps we can understand here the mystery of the future resurrection intimated to us, when all the bodies of the human race, which have either been consumed by wild beasts or destroyed in any other way, or corrupted, are restored incorrupt, and all souls of humans, separated from their bodies by any manner of death, are restored to their bodies, so that they may obtain either eternal life for their good deeds, or eternal death for their bad deeds, in judgment with those same bodies. It is aptly added:
[Genesis 9:6] -- Whoever sheds human blood, their blood shall be shed. Many have shed human blood, and their blood has not been shed. And others have killed a man with poison or by hanging, and yet when the man is dead, blood is not shed; how then will the Lord shed their blood in such a man when he who has killed has not shed blood, unless because the blood of man, as we have said, should be understood to be his vital substance by which he subsists? Whoever sheds it, that is, whoever kills a man by some kind of death, his blood will be shed because by sinning he loses eternal life. For the soul that sins will die (Ezekiel 18:20). Which is similar to what is said to Peter: For all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword; as if it were openly said: All who unjustly kill a man, and they themselves perish by killing in the soul. It is fittingly added:
[Genesis 9:6] -- For man was made in the image of God. Therefore, it is a greater crime to kill an innocent man; because whoever does this not only destroys the work which God made but also corrupts His image. Therefore God requires the souls of men from beasts or men by whom they were driven from the body, because He made man in His image in that He intended him to remain for eternity, and not to perish with the death of the body like the animals; and for the sake of this sacrament, it is not permitted to eat flesh with blood, so that we may always be reminded by this command that we were created according to the substance of our soul in the image of our Creator, and that we should fear corrupting that same image in ourselves by sinning.
[Genesis 9:8-11] -- God also said to Noah and to his sons with him: Behold, I will establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, and continuing until he says: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; nor shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth. The meaning of the letter is clear, because the world need no longer fear the judgment of water, but of fire, and the frequent repetition rebukes and condemns the heresy of Origen, who presumed to dogmatize the cycles of infinite ages always running in the same order. Mystically, however, the water of the flood not returning to the earth signifies that the water of baptism, once received, cannot be repeated; for he who has been washed does not need to wash again, as the Lord himself testifies (John 13:10), and those who have been washed once in the waters of tribulations and reached eternal salvation are no longer to be cleansed in the same waters, but will joyfully sing to their Redeemer forever: We went through fire and water, and you brought us to a place of abundance (Psalm 66:12). Nor indeed should the meaning of the saving bath seem contrary to what is said about the waters of the flood above: Never again will I curse the ground because of man; or what is said here: Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth, since the water of baptism is not accustomed to bring a curse or destruction to our mind or body, but rather blessing and health; but it is to be understood that the Lord in baptism in a certain way curses our old conduct, and destroys it when he commands us to renounce the devil and all his works and pomps; and thus, having been cleansed with a new confession, we may be worthy to attain the grace of eternal blessing.
[Genesis 9:13-15] -- I will place my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth; and when I cover the sky with clouds, my bow will appear, and I will remember my covenant with you and with every living soul that is alive in the flesh, and the waters will no longer become a flood to destroy all flesh. The bow in the sky, whenever it is seen even today, reminds us of the divine covenant that the earth will no longer be lost in a flood; but if it is well considered, it also shows us a sign of future judgment that will come upon the world by fire. For indeed, it shines with both blue and red color not without reason, except because the blue color testifies about the waters that have passed, and the red color testifies about the flames that are to come. Fittingly, the celestial bow, which they call Iris, is placed as a sign of divine propitiation; for that bow tends to shine in the clouds, and responds in a somewhat grateful confession to the rays of the sun that illuminate the dewy darkness. Therefore, Christ is the Sun of righteousness, the clouds illuminated by Him are the saints, whose names are written in heaven, and the Psalmist speaks of them: Lord, your mercy is in heaven, and your truth reaches to the clouds (Psalm 35:6). And when the bow appears in the clouds, the Lord remembers His promise not to destroy the earth with a flood, because through the intercessions of the saints, who know how to shine not by themselves, but through Him, He is propitiated towards the faithful when they lift up the eyes of their minds to desire heavenly things, and they recognize His glory in the deeds and words or even the rest of the preceding just ones, as if in His clouds, there will be a bow in the clouds, and I will see it and remember the eternal covenant that was made between God and every living soul of all flesh that is upon the earth. It is said in a human manner that God remembers His covenant when He sees the bow in the clouds, which by the merits of the saints, glorified and heavenly through His illumination, He spares and has mercy on our frailty; but He does not newly remember anything since He can never forget anything. He has been mindful of His covenant forever, but He seems to remember the covenant He made with us when He extends the help of His protection to those in tribulation; hence, it is well said in the psalm from the persona of some afflicted individuals, to whom divine aid seemed delayed: Why do you turn your face away, do you forget our poverty and our tribulation (Psalm 43:24)?
[Genesis 9:20] -- Noah, a man of the earth, began to cultivate the ground and planted a vineyard, etc. It is often pleasing to repeat the word of the Lord, which he said to the Jews: "If you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me as well, for he wrote about me" (John 5:46). For even in this reading where Moses, weaving history, writes of Noah and his sons, he figuratively announces the passion of the Lord and the devotion of the peoples believing in him, as well as the infidelity of those contradicting the faith. Indeed, Noah cultivating the ground planted a vineyard, because the Lord, caring for the human race, established the Synagogue among the Jewish people; of which vineyard the Psalmist also remembers saying: "You transplanted a vine from Egypt" (Psalm 80:8); and the Lord, speaking in the Gospel to the Jews, says: "A man planted a vineyard and surrounded it with a fence" (Luke 20:9), and the rest to the end of the parable, where he says: "What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to those tenants? They said: He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants."
[Genesis 9:21] -- And drinking the wine, he became drunk, and he was naked in his tent. The Lord drank wine when he received the cup of his passion. He was made drunk by drinking when by suffering for us he reached the utmost extremity of death. He was naked in his tent, when among the Jewish people, whom he had made his own, and in which he had long been accustomed to dwell as in his tent, enduring reproaches and mockeries, he ultimately underwent the sentence of the cross, making manifest to all most openly the truth of the mortal substance which he had deigned to assume.
[Genesis 9:22] -- When Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father's nakedness was uncovered, he told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a cloak, laid it upon their shoulders, and walking backward, covered their father's nakedness; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's private parts. Ham, who saw his father's nakedness and laughed, signifies the Jewish people, who, contradicting and incredulous, rather despised the passion of our Lord and Savior than honored it, rejoicing in their relief at seeing it as contemptible rather than salvific. He also told his brothers outside what had happened to their father because through him the secret of the Lord's passion prophesied was made manifest and somewhat public, reaching the gift of the second generation; hence the Apostle says: "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23). Furthermore, the two brothers, the eldest and the youngest, signify those to whom it was subsequently added: both Jews and Gentiles are called to Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Both the eldest and youngest carry the sacrament of the Lord’s past and completed passion as if it were a single cloak from behind, not looking at their father's nudity because they do not consent to Christ's killing, but still honoring it with a veil, as if knowing from whom they were born, so that they could be sons of mercy who were previously sons of wrath. The middle son, that is, the Jewish people, is called the middle because he neither held the apostles’ primacy nor was the last to believe among the Gentiles, saw his father's nakedness because he agreed to Christ's death. It is aptly said of the two brothers that they covered their father's modesty with their faces turned away, as if displeased with the deed of the wicked vine; that vine, namely the Jewish nation, is mystically signified as having degenerated from paternal nobility at the time of the Lord’s passion and offered vinegar to the thirsting Lord on the cross instead of wine; for He thirsted for the faith and love of that people, but they, instead of the sweetness of faith and the fervor of love, gave Him the sharpness of hatred and unbelief.
[Genesis 9:24-25] -- But Noah, awakening from his wine, when he had learned what his younger son had done to him, said: Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers. Awakening from wine, Noah curses his offspring by whom he was mocked; however, he rewards with due blessing those who honored him as their father; and the Lord, according to the voice of the psalm (Psalm 3:6), having slept in death and risen immortal, smote all who opposed him without cause, and shattered the teeth of sinners; but upon his own people he poured the blessing of eternal salvation. Not only is Canaan subjected to a curse, but also to the servitude of his brothers. For what else is that nation today, but a certain scribe of Christians, bearing the law and the prophets as testimony to the affirmation of the Church, so that we might honor through the sacrament what it announces through the letter.
[Genesis 9:26] -- And he said: Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; let Canaan be his servant. In Shem, the firstborn son of Noah, we have indicated the primitive Church, gathered from the Israelite people, and in Japheth, the youngest son, the election of the Gentiles which followed; whence it is rightly said:
[Genesis 9:26] -- Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. For although He is the God of all nations, yet in a certain special way, even among the Gentiles, He is called the God of Israel; and how did this come to pass, if not from the blessing of Japheth? For in the people of the Gentiles, the Church has occupied the world. This is precisely foretold when it is subsequently said.
[Genesis 9:27] -- May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem. Indeed, Japheth dwells in the tents of Shem because in the faith of the patriarchs and prophets, in the prophetic Scriptures, in the spiritually understood legal sacraments, the Church sojourns on earth. For we are accustomed to use tents in war or on a journey, and in the tents of the Israelite people we, who have come to Christ from the Gentiles, dwell, because certainly as long as we sigh for the heavenly homeland while placed on this path of life, as long as we fight against the snares of the ancient enemy with Christ as our leader and helper, it is necessary always to hold on to the sayings and deeds and works of the ancient fathers as examples of life and profession; so that, protected by their authority, we may more certainly and securely strive towards the palm of reward with a perfected struggle. However, it also aligns with the growth of the holy Church, which has filled the whole world, that the name Japheth, which means ‘Enlargement’ is used; whence Noah, alluding to this name itself, says: May God enlarge Japheth, that is, may He grant enlargement. It is fitting, however, that what was said of Shem is repeated of Japheth: And let Canaan be his servant, because certainly the unbelieving Jews serve both peoples of believers, although with an impious mind, they provide service for salvation, not only in that they aid with the authority of the sacred volumes and strengthen in faith, but also in that they pursue them as far as they are able, because indeed by pursuing on account of righteousness, they make them higher participants of eternal blessedness, and even in that their offense of hard-hearted blindness prompts them to give greater thanks to their Redeemer and illuminator. To this people indeed the name Canaan, which means ‘Commotion,’ most aptly applies. For he cannot say: He set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps (Psalm 40:3); but uncertain and wavering, he is always in motion. It should also be noted according to the literal sense that not in vain is Canaan cursed when Ham sinned, not he himself but his son, especially when he was neither the firstborn of Ham but his youngest son. For it is written: The sons of Ham: Cush, Saba, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. Indeed, he foresaw equally in spirit that the progeny of Canaan would sin much more than the rest of the offspring of Ham, and therefore be worthy either to perish by curse or to groan under subjugation; which was particularly proven and shown by the wickedness of the Sodomites, who came from the lineage of Canaan, and by their dreadful retribution, and the extermination or subjugation of the Canaanites, which they suffered when the Israelite people, descended from the lineage of Shem, came out of Egypt. For from Cush came the Ethiopians, from Mizraim the Egyptians, from Phut came the Libyans, which the very names of these same peoples among the Hebrews still testify today, among whom there is absolutely nothing of such wickedness or vengeance as Scripture relates about the Sodomites and Canaanites.
[Genesis 9:27] -- God also expanded Japheth, so that he dwelt in the tents of Shem, and that Canaan was his servant, when the Greeks or Romans, certainly descended from the line of Japheth, possessed the kingdoms of Asia, in which the descendants of Shem lived, and among other things made the Canaanites tributary to themselves.
[Genesis 9:28] -- But Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood, and all the days of his life were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died. As we have taught above, the six hundred years of Noah's life, after which he entered the ark, signify the perfection of the faith and profession of those who undergo the sacraments of the Church of heavenly grace and everlasting reward. Thus also the three hundred and fifty years which he lived after the flood represent the great perfection of those who, having received the sacraments of life, faithfully serve the Lord until death. We said that the number three hundred, because it is marked by the letter tau in Greek (and tau is written in the figure of a cross), most aptly bears the type of those who know to glory only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; whence Gideon, with the Lord commanding and helping, defeated the innumerable army of the Midianites with three hundred men, teaching figuratively that by the faith of the Lord's cross we would be victorious over the wars against us by this world and our vices. Moreover, the number fifty, because Scripture teaches that it designates the rest of the law by figure, which always in the fiftieth year decreed the greatest remission of all sufferings and the liberation from all services for God's entire people. Therefore, Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood with a certain grace of mystery, to signify that we, having received the baptismal washing, should endure labors for the Lord in hope of the supreme rest and happiness. For he lived three hundred years to be patient in tribulation; he lived fifty years to be joyful in hope. But since seven times fifty make three hundred and fifty, and the number seven signifies the grace of the Holy Spirit, and fifty signifies true rest, which is given to the elect through the same Spirit, the type aptly corresponds. We can also interpret in this way the mystery of this number, that he who lives three hundred and fifty years after the flood, symbolizes the one who, throughout the whole time of received baptism, aided by the spiritual gift, does not cease to labor for eternal rest in heaven; and he will happily see the death of the flesh, or rather, he will pass from death to life, which alone is to be called true life, who completes the course of present life in such a great perfection. Amen.