De Noe

But the deeper sense has this: that the foolish man sees only the present, what is before his eyes; he does not look to the future, he does not think of the past. But the wise man both remembers the past and considers the future. Therefore every wise mind walks backward, that is, it looks to the past, nor is it hindered by some habit of nature: it suffers none of its deeds to be empty, none to be bare. It covers what have been done otherwise with a certain cloak and grace, either of present or of future work, so that nothing unseemly passes by, nothing unadorned is left behind. Whence also the Apostle forgot the former things, sought after the earlier ones—but he forgot, so as to hide the errors of persecution, so as to cover over the earlier faults and overshadow them with good works. For blessed are those also whose sins are covered, that is, if they are covered over with good deeds and overlaid with the following disciplines of the virtues. "And Noah," it says, "became sober from the wine." It is clear that from intervening drunkenness men become sober through sleep. But the mind is sober when it knows both the past and the future. Therefore the mind of the just man was sober even when it was thought to be drunk; for there is a glorious cup that intoxicates the just. But that man was truly drunk who laughed at his father. For because he considered neither the past grace of his begetting, nor the present reverence due to his father, nor the future punishment for the injury to his father, he was truly drunk, and what he thought he saw, he did not see. There was in him a profound blindness, who could not see his father.

For if he had seen his father, he certainly would not have laughed; for a father is not to be laughed at, but to be revered. But much more could the foolish man not see the mind of a righteous man. For how could he see, who supposed there was the error of drunkenness where there was the perfect vapor of wisdom and of the other virtues? As it is written: "For the vapor of the virtue of God goes forth." For when is the mind more sober than when it so contemplates the affairs of all things and times, present and future, that no temporal unsteadiness of drunkenness appears in it? I also ask by what reasoning, when earlier it said among the sons of Ham, it now calls him the younger. For it is written thus: "Noah knew all that his younger son had done to him." Did the Scripture not previously set forth the order of generation? Certainly not. What then? Are contrary things now written? I think not. How then is it resolved, unless you take "younger" not by age, not by time, but as one raw in understanding and placed in a certain infancy of intellect, who has not drunk in the teaching of a more advanced age nor received the counsel of the elderly? For there are, as it were, certain gray hairs of human understanding. And therefore it says: "When you come to the council of elders, close your mouth," as another saying has it: "For you must first learn before you speak." Therefore have your ears ready, so that you may gain something from the counsels of the wise. The tongue is to be restrained, the hearing prepared.

Blessing his son Sem, Noah said: “Blessed is the Lord God of Sem. And Canaan shall be his servant.” And he said “Lord” and “God,” and specifically the God of his son, whose name is Sem, because he is the God of the righteous, that is, the God of minds, not of valleys, who possess the grace of exalted virtue. Then, for what reason, when his son Cham sinned, did he not condemn him, but his son, to servitude? And perhaps for this reason: that a father is more deeply affected by the injuries of his son, especially those of which he himself is the guilty party and the author, and is more vehemently grieved that the punishment for his own sin is paid by his son, who would be punished not so much by his own as by his father’s merit. Then, because, since the son was a disciple of his father’s teaching and an emulator of his most wicked thoughts, each used the same body and the same mind and the same malice. Therefore, the son indifferently pays the price either for his father’s malice or for his own, since the partnership in wickedness is common. Therefore, what he pays for his father’s wickedness, he undoubtedly also pays for his own guilt, being guilty of it, or certainly the punishment is prolonged, since it extends even to the son, and the affliction of the successor continues into later times.

Much is said. This according to the letter. But it is not so much men as their characters that are comprehended here, whose nature is one in each of the two. For Cham means 'heat,' Chanaan 'commotion' and 'restlessness.' Now he who is hot is certainly restless and more agitated. Therefore in the two there was one passion and one disposition. Thus when one is condemned, both are damned. Why then does holy Noah, blessing his son Japheth, say: "May the Lord enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the houses of Sem, and may Chanaan be his servant"? We have said above that Japheth signifies an indifferent good. Now indifferent things have breadth, which consists in health, vigor, beauty, strength, riches, grace, nobility, friends, powers, and the rest. But these, although they are indifferent goods, have nevertheless harmed many who have possessed them without wisdom and justice. For riches have made many drunk, nobility and power have made them proud, beauty has made them lustful, by whose favor they have corrupted the chastity of another's mind. Therefore, according to the disposition of those who use them, these things we have spoken of are indifferent, whose use is either governed by virtues or, certainly, without the governance of virtues, those things which could be of benefit begin to be a fraud.

Now since after the flood Noe is said to have lived three hundred and fifty years, we think it by no means to be passed over. For in three hundred the cross of Christ is certainly signified, by whose type the just man was freed from the flood. In fifty is the jubilee number of remission, by which the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven, pouring grace into human breasts. Therefore by the perfect number of remission and grace the just man completed the course of this life. Concerning the generation of Japheth it says: Rhodes and other islands of the nations. Not undeservedly is breadth spoken of, when even into another part of nature, that is, the maritime, his generation proceeded. For truly as breadth it was not content with what nature had prescribed for the use of men, that is, possession of the land, but also entered the sea, advanced even to the islands. This according to the letter. But according to the higher sense, because those things which are external, which are called goods—riches, powers, honors—are spread more widely, nor are the rich content only with those things which are in their hands and in sight, but they spread their desires far and wide, while either profit from money is sought from farther regions, or honor from more people, or more widespread power, or desire.

Now I ask for what reason Scripture recorded that Cham, that wicked man, fathered Chus the elder? There are two kinds of earth: one, as it were, sandy and dusty—or, to speak more plainly, dust—and another kind of earth, fruitful and fertile, that is, a more solid and deep soil. What, then, does the wicked man generate but dust, from which no generation can arise? Therefore the prophet compared dust to the impious, saying: “Not so the impious, not so, but like dust which the wind casts from the face of the earth,” because, even according to a higher sense, the soul of the impious is barren, unable to produce useful fruits. For what reason also does Chus generate the giant Nembroth, who was a hunter before the Lord? Whence it is said: “Like Nembroth the giant, a hunter before the Lord.” What else, then, would dust and sand generate but an earthly man, because the impious man prefers earthly things to heavenly? For giants are introduced in fable as having wished to fight against the heavens and thought that the celestial could be reached by an earthly ascent.

But in a higher sense, this is signified: that he who loves earthly pleasures, pursues them, and thinks that by such errors he can attain the grace of God and that the heavenly kingdom is to be conferred by such means, that man fights against heavenly things with a stubborn passion. Hence there is a proverb concerning one who has sinned: 'Like Nimrod the giant hunter before God.' Now Nimrod is interpreted to mean 'Ethiopian.' The color of the Ethiopian signifies the darkness and squalor of the soul, which is opposed to light, devoid of brightness, wrapped in darkness, more like night than day. The hunter's custom is in the forests, his dwelling among wild beasts and animals. Therefore the irrational is mingled with irrational passions, and a hunter of this kind is accustomed to explore, to seize, and to delight in those things which are of a wild and harsh malice. Finally, the beginning of this Nimrod's kingdom was Babylon, that is, 'confusion,' because malice and power consist not in simplicity and purity, not in the distinction of virtue, but in the confusion of vices.