Fragments on Genesis

We are obliged to set these matters out at length in order to disprove what other people suppose. Some insist that paradise is in heaven and forms no part of the created order. But we see with our own eyes the rivers that flow out of it — they are open to the inspection of anyone who cares to look, even in our own day — so let everyone conclude from this that paradise did not belong to heaven, but was really planted within the created order. It is in fact a place in the east, and a chosen place. [a]

Genesis 1:5. “And it was evening, and it was morning: one day.” Hippolytus: He did not say “night and day,” but “one day,” with reference to the name of the light. He did not say “the first day,” for if he had said the “first” day, he would also have had to say that a “second” day was made. It was right to speak not of “the first day” but of “one day,” so that by saying “one” he might show that the day comes back round on its own circuit and, while it stays one, makes up the week.

Genesis 1:6. “And God said, Let there be an expanse in the middle of the water.” Hippolytus: On the first day God made what he made out of nothing. But on the other days he did not make out of nothing; he made out of what he had made on the first day, shaping it as he pleased.

Genesis 1:6–7. “And let it divide between water and water. And it was so. And God made the expanse, and God divided between the water that was under the expanse and the water above the expanse. And it was so.” Hippolytus: While that vast weight of water was still carried along over the face of the earth, the earth was for that reason “invisible” and “unformed.” When the Lord of all determined to make the invisible visible, he fixed a third of the waters in the middle; another third he set apart on high, lifting it together with the expanse by his own power; and the remaining third he left below, for people’s use and benefit. Now at this point we have an asterisk. The words stand in the Hebrew, but they do not occur in the Septuagint.

Genesis 3:8. “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden toward evening.” Hippolytus: Rather, they made out that the Lord was coming by a certain breeze. So as soon as they had sinned, God appeared to them, making them conscious of their sin and calling them to repentance.

Genesis 49:3–4. “Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the first of my children: hard to bear with, and hard and self-willed. You have run riot like water — do not boil over.” “Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the sum of my sorrow: excelling in dignity and excelling in might. You have been senseless as water — do not excel.” “Reuben, my firstborn, and the beginning of my pain: grasping beyond measure, and beyond measure hot as water. You will excel no more.”

Hippolytus: There was a great display of strength made by God on behalf of his firstborn people out of Egypt, for the land of the Egyptians was punished in a great many ways. That first people, the people of the circumcision, is what is meant by “my strength, and the first of my children” — just as God gave the promise to Abraham and to his offspring. But “hard to bear with,” because the people hardened itself against obeying God. And “hard, self-willed,” because it was not only hard against obeying God but self-willed enough to set upon the Lord. “You have run riot,” because in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ the people ran riot against the Father. But “do not boil over,” says the Spirit, by way of comfort — so that the people might not boil right over and be spilled, which leaves it a hope of salvation. For what has boiled over and been spilled is lost.

Genesis 49:4. “For you went up to your father’s bed.” Hippolytus: First he names the event: that in the last days the people will assault the Father’s bed, that is, the bride, the church, meaning to corrupt her. And it does exactly this even at the present day, assaulting her with slanders.

Genesis 49:5. “Simeon and Levi, brothers.” Hippolytus: Since the scribes came from Simeon and the priests from Levi. For the scribes and the priests carried out lawlessness of their own choice, and with one mind they killed the Lord.

Genesis 49:5–6. “Simeon and Levi, brothers, carried out lawlessness of their own choice. Let my soul not enter their council, and let my heart not contend in their assembly; for in their anger they killed men, and in their passion they hamstrung a bull.” Hippolytus: He says this about the conspiracy they were going to enter into against the Lord. That this is the conspiracy he means is plain to us, for blessed David sings, “Rulers have taken counsel together against the Lord,” and so on. The Spirit prophesied about this conspiracy when he said, “Let my soul not contend,” wanting, if it were possible, to draw them away from it, so that the crime to come might not happen through them.

“They killed men, and hamstrung the bull.” By the “strong bull” he means Christ. And “they hamstrung him,” since, when he was hung on the tree, they pierced through his sinews. Again, “in their anger they hamstrung a bull.” Notice how exact the wording is: “they killed men, and hamstrung a bull.” For they killed the holy ones, and those remain dead, waiting for the time of the resurrection. But a young bull, when it is hamstrung, sinks down to the ground, so to speak; and that is what Christ was like when he submitted willingly to death in the flesh. Yet he was not overcome by death. Though as a man he became one of the dead, in his divine nature he stayed alive. For Christ is the bull — an animal strong above all others, clean, and set apart for sacred use. And the Son is Lord of all power, who committed no sin, but rather offered himself for us, a fragrant offering to his God and Father. So let those who hamstrung this noble bull listen: “Cursed be their anger, for it was stubborn, and their wrath, for it was hardened.” Yet this people of the Jews dared to boast of hamstringing the bull: “Our hands shed this.” That, I think, is no different from the foolish words, “His blood be on us,” and the rest. Moses takes back the curse against Levi — or rather turns it into a blessing — because of the zeal the tribe showed for God afterward, and Phinehas in particular. But the curse against Simeon he did not take back, and so it was fulfilled in fact. Simeon did not obtain an inheritance like the other tribes, for he lived in the middle of Judah. His tribe was preserved, though, small as it was in number.

Genesis 49:11. “Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine — the tendril of the vine — he will wash his robe in wine, and his clothes in the blood of the grape.” Hippolytus: By the “foal” he means the calling of the Gentiles, and by the other the calling of the circumcision. “One donkey,” moreover, to signify that the two colts are of one faith — in other words, the two callings. One colt is tied to the “vine” and the other to the “vine tendril,” which means that the church of the Gentiles is tied to the Lord, while the one who belongs to the circumcision is tied to the old order of the law. “He will wash his robe in wine”: that is, by the Holy Spirit and the word of truth he will cleanse the flesh, which is what the robe means. And “in the blood of the grape,” the grape trodden and giving out its blood, which means the flesh of the Lord, he cleanses the whole calling of the Gentiles.

Genesis 49:12–15. “His eyes are glad with wine, and his teeth white as milk. Zebulun will live by the sea, and he will be at a harbor for ships, and he will reach as far as Sidon. Issachar desired the good portion, resting in the middle of the allotments. And seeing that rest was good, and that the land was fat, he set his shoulder to labor and became a farmer.” Hippolytus: That is, his eyes are brilliant as with the word of truth, for they look on everyone who believes in him. And his teeth are white as milk: that stands for the shining power of his words. This is why he calls them white and compares them to milk, as the thing that nourishes both the flesh and the soul. And Zebulun means “fragrance” and “blessing.”

Then, after a passage from Cyril:

Hippolytus: Again, I think it points, in a hidden way, to the mysteries of the new covenant of our Savior; and the words “his teeth are white as milk” stand for the excellence and purity of the food of those mysteries. And again, we take these words, “his teeth are white as milk,” in the sense that his words give light to those who believe in him.

And in saying, moreover, that Zebulun will live by the sea, he speaks prophetically of Zebulun’s territory as bordering on the sea, and of Israel as mingling with the Gentiles, the two nations being brought as it were into one flock. And this is plain in the Gospel: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,” and so on. And you will notice all the more how rich his portion is, having both inland country and seacoast.

“And he is at a harbor for ships”: that is, as in a safe anchorage, referring to Christ, the anchor of hope. And this stands for the calling of the Gentiles — that the grace of Christ will go out over the whole earth and sea. For he says, “And he is at a harbor for ships, and he will reach as far as Sidon.” That this is said prophetically of the church of the Gentiles is made plain to us in the Gospel: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people who sat in darkness saw a great light.” So in saying that Zebulun would live in country bordering on the sea, he plainly confirmed it, just as if he had said that in the future Israel would mingle with the Gentiles, the two peoples being brought together into one fold and under the hand of one chief Shepherd — the one who is good by nature, that is, Christ. In blessing him Moses said, “Zebulun will rejoice.” And Moses prophesies that in the allotment of the land he would have plenty supplied to him of the good things of both land and sea, under the hand of the One. “At a harbor for ships”: that is, as in an anchorage that proves safe, referring to Christ, the anchor of hope. For by his grace he will come out of many a storm and will be brought at last to land, like ships secure in harbor. Besides, he said that “he reaches even as far as Sidon,” indicating, as it seems, that so complete a unity will be brought about between the two peoples in the Spirit’s course that people of Israel’s own blood will occupy the very cities that were once exceedingly guilty in the sight of God.

After a passage from Cyril:

Hippolytus: And “that the land was fat”: that is, the flesh of our Lord. “Fat,” that is, “rich,” for it flows with honey and milk. The parts of the land are marked off as an inheritance and a possession for him: that means the teaching of the Lord. For this is a pleasant rest, as he says himself: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,” and so on. For those who keep the commands, and do not throw out the ordinances of the law, enjoy rest both in them and in the teaching of our Lord; and that is the meaning of “in the middle of the allotments.” As the Lord says, “I have not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.” For even our Lord, in the fact that he keeps the commands, does not destroy the law and the prophets but fulfills them, as he says in the Gospels. “He set his shoulder to labor, and became a farmer.” This is what the apostles did. Having received power from God, and having set themselves to work, they became the Lord’s farmers, cultivating the earth — that is, the human race — with the preaching of our Lord.

Genesis 49:16–20. “Dan will judge his people, being himself one tribe in Israel like the rest. And let Dan become a snake by the road, lying on the path, biting the horse’s heel; and the rider will fall backward, waiting for the salvation of the Lord. Gad — a raiding band will raid him, and he will plunder it at their heels. Asher — his bread will be fat, and he will furnish delicacies to princes.”

After passages from Cyril, Apollinaris, and Diodorus:

Hippolytus: The Lord is pictured for us as the rider, and the “heel” points us to the “last times.” And his “falling” stands for his death, as it is written in the Gospel: “Look, this child is set for the fall and the rising again of many.” We take the “raider” to be the traitor. And there was no other traitor to the Lord than the people. “Will raid him”: that is, will plot against him. “At their heels”: that refers to the help of the Lord against those who lie in wait for him. And again, the words “at their heels” mean that the Lord will take vengeance swiftly. He will be well armed in the foot, the heel, and will overtake and plunder the raiding band.