Of the Order and Nature of the Promises of God Which Were Made to Abraham.

Chapter 16.—Of the Order and Nature of the Promises of God Which Were Made to Abraham.

Caput XVI. De ordine et qualitate promissionum Dei, quae ad Abraham factae sunt.

God’s promises made to Abraham are now to be considered; for in these the oracles of our God, that is, of the true God, began to appear more openly concerning the godly people, whom prophetic authority foretold. The first of these reads thus: “And the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, and go into a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and magnify thy name; and thou shall be blessed: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee: and in thee shall all tribes of the earth be blessed.” Now it is to be observed that two things are promised to Abraham, the one, that his seed should possess the land of Canaan, which is intimated when it is said, “Go into a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation;” but the other far more excellent, not about the carnal but the spiritual seed, through which he is the father, not of the one Israelite nation, but of all nations who follow the footprints of his faith, which was first promised in these words, “And in thee shall all tribes of the earth be blessed.” Eusebius thought this promise was made in Abraham’s seventy-fifth year, as if soon after it was made Abraham had departed out of Haran because the Scripture cannot be contradicted in which we read, “Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” But if this promise was made in that year, then of course Abraham was staying in Haran with his father; for he could not depart thence unless he had first dwelt there. Does this, then, contradict what Stephen says, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran?” But it is to be understood that the whole took place in the same year,—both the promise of God before Abraham dwelt in Haran, and his dwelling in Haran, and his departure thence,—not only because Eusebius in the Chronicles reckons from the year of this promise, and shows that after 430 years the exodus from Egypt took place, when the law was given, but because the Apostle Paul also mentions it.

Iam considerandae sunt promissiones Dei factae ad Abraham. In his enim apertiora Dei nostri, hoc est Dei ueri, oracula apparere coeperunt de populo piorum, quem prophetica praenuntiauit auctoritas. Harum prima ita legitur: Et dixit Dominus ad Abram: Exi de terra tua et de cognatione tua et de domo patris tui [et uade] in terram, quam tibi demonstrauero; et faciam te in gentem magnam et benedicam te et magnificabo nomen tuum, et eris benedictus, et benedicam benedicentes te et maledicentes te maledicam, et benedicentur in te omnes tribus terrae. Aduertendum est igitur duas res promissas Abrahae; unam scilicet, quod terram Chanaan possessurum fuerat semen eius, quod significatur, ubi dictum est: Vade in terram, quam tibi demonstrauero, et faciam te in gentem magnam; aliam uero longe praestantiorem non de carnali, sed de spiritali semine, per quod pater est non unius gentis Israeliticae, sed omnium gentium, quae fidei eius uestigia consequuntur, quod promitti coepit his uerbis: Et benedicentur in te omnes tribus terrae. Hanc promissionem factam arbitratur Eusebius septuagensimo quinto anno aetatis Abrahae, tamquam mox ut facta est de Charra exierit Abraham; quoniam scripturae contradici non potest, ubi legitur: Abraham erat quinque et septuaginta annorum, cum exiit ex Charra. Sed si eo anno facta est ista promissio, iam utique in Charra cum patre suo demorabatur Abraham. Neque enim exire inde posset, nisi prius ibi habitasset. Numquidnam ergo contradicitur Stephano dicenti: Deus gloriae apparuit Abrahae patri nostro, cum esset in Mesopotamia, priusquam habitaret in Charra? Sed intellegendum est, quod eodem anno facta sint omnia, et Dei promissio, antequam in Charra habitaret Abraham, et in Charra habitatio eius et inde profectio; non solum quia Eusebius in chronicis ab anno huius promissionis conputat et ostendit post quadringentos et triginta annos exitum esse de Aegypto, quando lex data est, uerum etiam quia id commemorat apostolus Paulus.

Chapter 17.—Of the Three Most Famous Kingdoms of the Nations, of Which One, that is the Assyrian, Was Already Very Eminent When Abraham Was Born.

Caput XVII. De tribus excellentioribus gentium regnis, quorum unum, id est Assyriorum, iam Abraham genito sublimius eminebat.

During the same period there were three famous kingdoms of the nations, in which the city of the earth-born, that is, the society of men living according to man under the domination of the fallen angels, chiefly flourished, namely, the three kingdoms of Sicyon, Egypt, and Assyria. Of these, Assyria was much the most powerful and sublime; for that king Ninus, son of Belus, had subdued the people of all Asia except India. By Asia I now mean not that part which is one province of this greater Asia, but what is called Universal Asia, which some set down as the half, but most as the third part of the whole world,—the three being Asia, Europe, and Africa, thereby making an unequal division. For the part called Asia stretches from the south through the east even to the north; Europe from the north even to the west; and Africa from the west even to the south. Thus we see that two, Europe and Africa, contain one half of the world, and Asia alone the other half. And these two parts are made by the circumstance, that there enters between them from the ocean all the Mediterranean water, which makes this great sea of ours. So that, if you divide the world into two parts, the east and the west, Asia will be in the one, and Europe and Africa in the other. So that of the three kingdoms then famous, one, namely Sicyon, was not under the Assyrians, because it was in Europe; but as for Egypt, how could it fail to be subject to the empire which ruled all Asia with the single exception of India? In Assyria, therefore, the dominion of the impious city had the pre-eminence. Its head was Babylon,—an earth-born city, most fitly named, for it means confusion. There Ninus reigned after the death of his father Belus, who first had reigned there sixty-five years. His son Ninus, who, on his father’s death, succeeded to the kingdom, reigned fifty-two years, and had been king forty-three years when Abraham was born, which was about the 1200th year before Rome was founded, as it were another Babylon in the west.

Per idem tempus eminentia regna erant gentium, in quibus terrigenarum ciuitas, hoc est societas hominum secundum.. hominem uiuentium, sub dominatu angelorum desertorum insignius excellebat, regna uidelicet tria, Sicyoniorum, Aegyptiorum, Assyriorum. Sed Assyriorum multo erat potentius adque sublimius. Nam rex ille Ninus Beli filius excepta India uniuersae Asiae populos subiugauerat. Asiam nunc dico non illam partem quae huius maioris Asiae una prouincia est, sed eam quae uniuersa Asia nuncupatur, quam quidam in altera duarum, plerique autem in tertia totius orbis parte posuerunt, ut sint omnes Asia, Europa et Africa; quod non aequali diuisione fecerunt. Namque ista, quae Asia nuncupatur, a meridie per orientem usque ad septentrionem peruenit; Europa uero a septentrione usque ad occidentem, adque inde Africa ab occidente usque ad meridiem. Unde uidentur orbem dimidium duae tenere, Europa et Africa, alium uero dimidium sola Asia. Sed ideo illae duae partes factae sunt, quia inter utramque ab Oceano ingreditur, quidquid aquarum terras interluit; et hoc mare magnum nobis facit. Quapropter si in duas partes orbem diuidas, Orientis et Occidentis, Asia erit in una, in altera uero Europa et Africa. Quam ob rem trium regnorum, quae tunc praecellebant, Sicyoniorum non erat sub Assyriis, quia in Europa sunt; Aegyptiorum autem quo modo eis non subiacebat, a quibus tota Asia tenebatur, solis Indis, ut perhibetur, exceptis? In Assyria igitur praeualuerat dominatus inpiae ciuitatis; huius caput erat illa Babylon, cuius terrigenae ciuitatis nomen aptissimum est, id est confusio. Ibi iam Ninus regnabat post mortem patris sui Beli, qui primus illic regnauerat sexaginta quinque annos. Filius uero eius Ninus, qui defuncto patri successit in regnum, quinquaginta duos regnauit annos, et habebat in regno quadraginta tres, quando natus est Abraham, qui erat annus circiter millensimus ducentensimus ante conditam Romam, ueluti alteram in occidente Babyloniam.

Chapter 18.—Of the Repeated Address of God to Abraham, in Which He Promised the Land of Canaan to Him and to His Seed.

Caput XVIII. De iterato adloquio Dei ad Abraham, quo ei et semini eius Chanaan terra promittitur.

Abraham, then, having departed out of Haran in the seventy-fifth year of his own age, and in the hundred and forty-fifth of his father’s, went with Lot, his brother’s son, and Sarah his wife, into the land of Canaan, and came even to Sichem, where again he received the divine oracle, of which it is thus written: “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said unto him, Unto thy seed will I give this land.” Nothing is promised here about that seed in which he is made the father of all nations, but only about that by which he is the father of the one Israelite nation; for by this seed that land was possessed.

Egressus ergo Abraham de Charra septuagensimo quinto anno aetatis suae, centensimo autem quadragensimo et quinto patris sui, cum Loth filio fratris et Sarra coniuge perrexit in terram Chanaan et peruenit usque ad Sichem, ubi rursus diuinum accepit oraculum, de quo ita scriptum est: Et apparuit Dominus Abrahae, et dixit illi: Semini tuo dabo terram hanc. Nihil hic de illo semine dictum est, in quo pater factus est omnium gentium, sed de illo solo, de quo pater est unius Israeliticae gentis; ab hoc enim semine terra illa possessa est.

Chapter 19.—Of the Divine Preservation of Sarah’s Chastity in Egypt, When Abraham Had Called Her Not His Wife But His Sister.

Caput XIX. De Sarrae pudicitia in Aegypto per Deum custodita, quam Abraham non uxorem suam esse dixerat, sed sororem.

Having built an altar there, and called upon God, Abraham proceeded thence and dwelt in the desert, and was compelled by pressure of famine to go on into Egypt. There he called his wife his sister, and told no lie. For she was this also, because she was near of blood; just as Lot, on account of the same nearness, being his brother’s son, is called his brother. Now he did not deny that she was his wife, but held his peace about it, committing to God the defence of his wife’s chastity, and providing as a man against human wiles; because if he had not provided against the danger as much as he could, he would have been tempting God rather than trusting in Him. We have said enough about this matter against the calumnies of Faustus the Manichæan. At last what Abraham had expected the Lord to do took place. For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who had taken her to him as his wife, restored her to her husband on being severely plagued. And far be it from us to believe that she was defiled by lying with another; because it is much more credible that, by these great afflictions, Pharaoh was not permitted to do this.

Deinde aedificato ibi altari et inuocato Deo Abraham profectus est inde et habitauit in eremo adque inde ire in Aegyptum famis necessitate conpulsus est. Ubi uxorem suam dixit sororem, nihil mentitus; erat enim et hoc, quia propinqua erat sanguine; sicut etiam Loth eadem propinquitate. cum fratris eius esset filius, frater eius est dictus. Itaque uxorem tacuit, non negauit, coniugis tuendam pudicitiam committens Deo et humanas insidias cauens ut homo; quoniam, si periculum quantum caueri poterat non caueret, magis tentaret Deum, quam speraret in Deum. De qua re contra calumniantem Faustum Manichaeum satis diximus. Denique factum est, quod de Domitio praesumsit Abraham. Nam Pharao rex Aegypti, qui eam sibi uxorem acceperat, grauiter adflictus marito reddidit. Ubi absit ut credamus alieno concubitu fuisse pollutam, quia multo est credibilius, hoc Pharaonem facere adflictionibus magnis non fuisse permissum.

Chapter 20.—Of the Parting of Lot and Abraham, Which They Agreed to Without Breach of Charity.

Caput XX. De secessione Loth et Abrahae, quae illis salua caritate conplacuit.

On Abraham’s return out of Egypt to the place he had left, Lot, his brother’s son, departed from him into the land of Sodom, without breach of charity. For they had grown rich, and began to have many herdmen of cattle, and when these strove together, they avoided in this way the pugnacious discord of their families. Indeed, as human affairs go, this cause might even have given rise to some strife between themselves. Consequently these are the words of Abraham to Lot, when taking precaution against this evil, “Let there be no strife between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Behold, is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself from me: if thou wilt go to the left hand, I will go to the right; or if thou wilt go to the right hand, I will go to the left.” From this, perhaps, has arisen a pacific custom among men, that when there is any partition of earthly things, the greater should make the division, the less the choice.

Reuerso igitur Abraham ex Aegypto in locum unde uenerat, nunc Loth fratris filius ab illo in terram Sodomorum salua caritate discessit. Diuites quippe facti erant pastoresque multos pecorum habere coeperant, quibus inter se rixantibus eo modo familiarum suarum pugnacem discordiam uitauerunt. Poterat quippe hinc, ut sunt humana, etiam inter ipsos aliqua rixa consurgere. Proinde hoc malum praecauentis Abrahae uerba ista sunt ad Loth: Non sit rixa inter me et te, et inter pastores meos et inter pastores tuos, quia homines fratres nos sumus. Nonne ecce tota terra ante te est? Discede a me; si tu in sinistram. ego in dextram; uel si tu in dextram, ego in sinistram. Hinc fortassis effecta est inter homines pacifica consuetudo, ut, quando terrenorum aliquid partiendum est, maior diuidat, minor eligat.

Chapter 21.—Of the Third Promise of God, by Which He Assured the Land of Canaan to Abraham and His Seed in Perpetuity.

Caput XXI. De tertia promissione Dei, qua terram Chanaan Abrahae et semini eius in perpetuum pollicetur.

Now, when Abraham and Lot had separated, and dwelt apart, owing to the necessity of supporting their families, and not to vile discord, and Abraham was in the land of Canaan, but Lot in Sodom, the Lord said to Abraham in a third oracle, “Lift up thine eyes, and look from the place where thou now art, to the north, and to Africa, and to the east, and to the sea; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: if any one can number the dust of the earth, thy seed shall also be numbered. Arise, and walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.” It does not clearly appear whether in this promise that also is contained by which he is made the father of all nations. For the clause, “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth,” may seem to refer to this, being spoken by that figure the Greeks call hyperbole, which indeed is figurative, not literal. But no person of understanding can doubt in what manner the Scripture uses this and other figures. For that figure (that is, way of speaking) is used when what is said is far larger than what is meant by it; for who does not see how incomparably larger the number of the dust must be than that of all men can be from Adam himself down to the end of the world? How much greater, then, must it be than the seed of Abraham,—not only that pertaining to the nation of Israel, but also that which is and shall be according to the imitation of faith in all nations of the whole wide world! For that seed is indeed very small in comparison with the multitude of the wicked, although even those few of themselves make an innumerable multitude, which by a hyperbole is compared to the dust of the earth. Truly that multitude which was promised to Abraham is not innumerable to God, although to man; but to God not even the dust of the earth is so. Further, the promise here made may be understood not only of the nation of Israel, but of the whole seed of Abraham, which may be fitly compared to the dust for multitude, because regarding it also there is the promise of many children, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. But we have therefore said that this does not clearly appear, because the multitude even of that one nation, which was born according to the flesh of Abraham through his grandson Jacob, has increased so much as to fill almost all parts of the world. Consequently, even it might by hyperbole be compared to the dust for multitude, because even it alone is innumerable by man. Certainly no one questions that only that land is meant which is called Canaan. But that saying, “To thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever,” may move some, if by “for ever” they understand “to eternity.” But if in this passage they take “for ever” thus, as we firmly hold it means that the beginning of the world to come is to be ordered from the end of the present, there is still no difficulty, because, although the Israelites are expelled from Jerusalem, they still remain in other cities in the land of Canaan, and shall remain even to the end; and when that whole land is inhabited by Christians, they also are the very seed of Abraham.

Cum ergo digressi essent separatimque habitarent Abraham et Loth necessitate sustentandae familiae, non foeditate discordiae, et Abraham in terra Chanaan, Loth autem esset in Sodomis, oraculo tertio dixit Dominus ad Abraham: Respiciens oculis tuis uide a loco, in quo nunc tu es, ad aquilonem et Africum et orientem et mare, quia omnem terram, quam tu uides, tibi dabo eam et semini tuo usque in saeculum, et faciam semen tuum tamquam harenam terrae. Si potest aliquis dinumerare harenam terrae, et semen tuum dinumerabitur. Surgens perambula terram in longitudinem eius et in latitudinem, quia tibi dabo eam. In hac promissione utrum sit etiam illa, qua pater factus est omnium gentium, non euidenter apparet. Potest enim uideri ad hoc pertinere: Et faciam semen tuum tamquam harenam terrae, quod ea locutione dictum est. quam Graeci uocant hyperbolen; quae utique tropica est, non propria. Quo tamen modo, ut ceteris tropis, uti solere scripturam, nullus qui eam didicit ambigit. Iste autem tropus. id est modus locutionis, fit, quando id quod dicitur longe est amplius, quam quod eo dicto significatur. Quis enim non uideat. quam sit incomparabiliter amplior harenae numerus, quam potest esse hominum omnium ab ipso Adam usque ad terminum saeculi? Quanto ergo magis quam semen Abrahae, non solum quod pertinet ad Israeliticam gentem, uerum etiam quod est et futurum est secundum imitationem fidei toto orbe terrarum in omnibus gentibus! Quod semen in conparatione multitudinis inpiorum profecto in paucis est; quamuis et ipsi pauci faciant innumerabilem multitudinem suam, quae significata est secundum hyperbolen per harenam terrae. Sane ista multitudo, quae promittitur Abrahae, non Deo est innumerabilis, sed hominibus; Deo autem nec harena terrae. Proinde quia non tantum gens Israelitica, sed uniuersum semen Abrahae, ubi est et promissio non secundum carnem, sed secundum spiritum plurium filiorum, congruentius harenae multitudini conparatur: potest hic intellegi utriusque rei facta promissio. Sed ideo diximus, quod non euidenter appareat, quia et illius gentis unius multitudo, quae secundum carnem nata est ex Abraham per eius nepotem Iacob, in tantum creuit, ut paene omnes partes orbis inpleuerit. Et ideo potuit et ipsa secundum hyperbolen harenae multitudini conparari, quia et haec sola innumera est homini. Terram certe illam solam significatam, quae appellata est Chanaan, ambigit nemo. Sed quod dictum est: Tibi dabo eam et semini tuo usque in saeculum, potest mouere nonnullos, si usque in saeculum intellegant (in aeternum. Si autem in saeculum hoc loco sic accipiant, quem ad modum fideliter tenemus initium futuri saeculi a fine praesentis ordiri, nihil eos mouebit; quia, etsi expulsi sunt Israelitae de Hierosolymis, manent tamen in aliis ciuitatibus terrae Chanaan, et usque in finem manebunt; et uniuersa terra illa cum a Christianis inhabitatur, etiam ipsum semen est Abrahae.

Chapter 22.—Of Abraham’s Overcoming the Enemies of Sodom, When He Delivered Lot from Captivity and Was Blessed by Melchizedek the Priest.

Caput XXII. De superatis ab Abraham hostibus Sodomorum. quando et Loth de captiuitate eripuit, et a Melchisedech sacerdote benedictus est.

Having received this oracle of promise, Abraham migrated, and remained in another place of the same land, that is, beside the oak of Mamre, which was Hebron. Then on the invasion of Sodom, when five kings carried on war against four, and Lot was taken captive with the conquered Sodomites, Abraham delivered him from the enemy, leading with him to battle three hundred and eighteen of his home-born servants, and won the victory for the kings of Sodom, but would take nothing of the spoils when offered by the king for whom he had won them. He was then openly blessed by Melchizedek, who was priest of God Most High, about whom many and great things are written in the epistle which is inscribed to the Hebrews, which most say is by the Apostle Paul, though some deny this. For then first appeared the sacrifice which is now offered to God by Christians in the whole wide world, and that is fulfilled which long after the event was said by the prophet to Christ, who was yet to come in the flesh, “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek,”—that is to say, not after the order of Aaron, for that order was to be taken away when the things shone forth which were intimated beforehand by these shadows.

Hoc responso promissionis accepto migrauit Abraham et mansit in alio eiusdem terrae loco, iuxta quercum Mambre, quae erat Chebron. Deinde ab hostibus, qui Sodomis inruerant, cum quinque reges aduersus quattuor bellum gererent et uictis Sodomitis etiam Loth captus esset, liberauit eum Abraham adductis secum in proelium trecentis decem et octo uernaculis suis et uictoriam fecit regibus Sodomorum nihilque spoliorum auferre uoluit, cum rex cui uicerat obtulisset. Sed plane tunc benedictus est a Melchisedech, qui erat sacerdos Dei excelsi; de quo in epistula, quae inscribitur ad Hebraeos, quam plures Pauli apostoli esse dicunt, quidam uero negant, multa et magna conscripta sunt. Ibi quippe primum apparuit sacrificium, quod nunc a Christianis offertur Deo toto orbe terrarum, inpleturque illud, quod longe post hoc factum per prophetiam dicitur ad Christum, qui fuerat adhuc uenturus in carne: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech; non scilicet secundum ordinem Aaron, qui ordo fuerat auferendus inlucescentibus rebus. quae illis umbris praenotabantur.

Chapter 23.—Of the Word of the Lord to Abraham, by Which It Was Promised to Him that His Posterity Should Be Multiplied According to the Multitude of the Stars; On Believing Which He Was Declared Justified While Yet in Uncircumcision.

Caput XXIII. De uerbo Domini ad Abraham, quo ei promittitur secundum multitudinem stellarum multiplicanda posteritas; quod credens iustificatus est adhuc in praeputio constitutus.

The word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision also. For when God promised him protection and exceeding great reward, he, being solicitous about posterity, said that a certain Eliezer of Damascus, born in his house, would be his heir. Immediately he was promised an heir, not that house-born servant, but one who was to come forth of Abraham himself; and again a seed innumerable, not as the dust of the earth, but as the stars of heaven,—which rather seems to me a promise of a posterity exalted in celestial felicity. For, so far as multitude is concerned, what are the stars of heaven to the dust of the earth, unless one should say the comparison is like inasmuch as the stars also cannot be numbered? For it is not to be believed that all of them can be seen. For the more keenly one observes them, the more does he see. So that it is to be supposed some remain concealed from the keenest observers, to say nothing of those stars which are said to rise and set in another part of the world most remote from us. Finally, the authority of this book condemns those like Aratus or Eudoxus, or any others who boast that they have found out and written down the complete number of the stars. Here, indeed, is set down that sentence which the apostle quotes in order to commend the grace of God, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness;” lest the circumcision should glory, and be unwilling to receive the uncircumcised nations to the faith of Christ. For at the time when he believed, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness, Abraham had not yet been circumcised.

Etiam tunc factum est uerbum Domini ad Abraham in uisu. Qui cum ei protectionem mercedemque promitteret ualde multam, ille de posteritate sollicitus quendam Eliezer uernaculum suum futurum sibi dixit heredem, continuoque illi promissus est heres, non ille uernaculus, sed qui de ipso Abraham fuerat exiturus, rursusque semen innumerabile, non sicut harena terrae, sed sicut stellae caeli; ubi mihi magis uidetur promissa posteritas caelesti felicitate sublimis. Nam quantum ad multitudinem pertinet, quid sunt stellae caeli ad harenam terrae? nisi quis et istam conparationem in tantum esse similem dicat, in quantum etiam stellae dinumerari non ualent, quia nec omnes eas uideri posse credendum est. Nam quanto quisque acutius intuetur, tanto plures uidet. Unde et acerrime cernentibus aliquas occultas esse merito existimatur, exceptis eis sideribus, quae in alia parte orbis a nobis remotissima oriri et occidere perhibentur. Postremo quicumque uniuersum stellarum numerum conprehendisse et conscripsisse iactantur, sicut Aratus uel Eudoxus uel si qui alii sunt, eos libri huius contemnit auctoritas. Hic sane illa sententia ponitur, cuius apostolus meminit propter Dei gratiam commendandam: Credidit Abraham Deo, et deputatum est illi ad iustitiam; ne circumcisio gloriaretur gentesque incircumcisas ad fidem Christi nollet admitti. Hoc enim quando factum est, ut credenti Abrahae deputaretur fides ad iustitiam, nondum fuerat circumcisus.