1. Hebrew Bible, Song of Songs, 1.4, 8.13 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 1.4. מָשְׁכֵנִי אַחֲרֶיךָ נָּרוּצָה הֱבִיאַנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ חֲדָרָיו נָגִילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה בָּךְ נַזְכִּירָה דֹדֶיךָ מִיַּיִן מֵישָׁרִים אֲהֵבוּךָ׃ 8.13. הַיוֹשֶׁבֶת בַּגַּנִּים חֲבֵרִים מַקְשִׁיבִים לְקוֹלֵךְ הַשְׁמִיעִינִי׃ | 1.4. Draw me, we will run after thee; The king hath brought me into his chambers; We will be glad and rejoice in thee, We will find thy love more fragrant than wine! Sincerely do they love thee. 8.13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, The companions hearken for thy voice: ‘Cause me to hear it.’ |
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2. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 1.4-1.5, 1.21 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 1.4. וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־טוֹב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ׃ 1.5. וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בֹקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד׃ 1.21. וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים וְאֵת כָּל־נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם וְאֵת כָּל־עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב׃ | 1.4. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness." 1.5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day." 1.21. And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was good." |
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3. Hebrew Bible, Job, 26.12, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 40.15, 40.16, 40.17, 40.21, 40.22, 40.23, 40.24, 40.25, 40.25-41.26, 41.4, 41.7, 41.8, 41.23 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 26.12. בְּכֹחוֹ רָגַע הַיָּם ובתובנתו [וּבִתְבוּנָתוֹ] מָחַץ רָהַב׃ | 26.12. He stirreth up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He smiteth through Rahab." |
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4. Hebrew Bible, Proverbs, 8.22 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 8.22. יְהוָה קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ קֶדֶם מִפְעָלָיו מֵאָז׃ | 8.22. The LORD made me as the beginning of His way, The first of His works of old." |
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5. Hebrew Bible, Psalms, 24.2, 103.26, 104.26 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 24.2. כִּי־הוּא עַל־יַמִּים יְסָדָהּ וְעַל־נְהָרוֹת יְכוֹנְנֶהָ׃ 104.26. שָׁם אֳנִיּוֹת יְהַלֵּכוּן לִוְיָתָן זֶה־יָצַרְתָּ לְשַׂחֶק־בּוֹ׃ | 24.2. For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods." 104.26. There go the ships; There is leviathan, whom Thou hast formed to sport therein." |
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6. Hebrew Bible, 2 Kings, 6.23 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 6.23. וַיִּכְרֶה לָהֶם כֵּרָה גְדוֹלָה וַיֹּאכְלוּ וַיִּשְׁתּוּ וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם וַיֵּלְכוּ אֶל־אֲדֹנֵיהֶם וְלֹא־יָסְפוּ עוֹד גְּדוּדֵי אֲרָם לָבוֹא בְּאֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ | 6.23. And he prepared great provision for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Aram came no more into the land of Israel." |
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7. Hebrew Bible, Isaiah, 27.1 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 27.1. כִּי עִיר בְּצוּרָה בָּדָד נָוֶה מְשֻׁלָּח וְנֶעֱזָב כַּמִּדְבָּר שָׁם יִרְעֶה עֵגֶל וְשָׁם יִרְבָּץ וְכִלָּה סְעִפֶיהָ׃ 27.1. בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא יִפְקֹד יְהוָה בְּחַרְבוֹ הַקָּשָׁה וְהַגְּדוֹלָה וְהַחֲזָקָה עַל לִוְיָתָן נָחָשׁ בָּרִחַ וְעַל לִוְיָתָן נָחָשׁ עֲקַלָּתוֹן וְהָרַג אֶת־הַתַּנִּין אֲשֶׁר בַּיָּם׃ | 27.1. In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the slant serpent, and leviathan the tortuous serpent; and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea." |
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8. Hebrew Bible, Ezekiel, 28.13 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 28.13. בְּעֵדֶן גַּן־אֱלֹהִים הָיִיתָ כָּל־אֶבֶן יְקָרָה מְסֻכָתֶךָ אֹדֶם פִּטְדָה וְיָהֲלֹם תַּרְשִׁישׁ שֹׁהַם וְיָשְׁפֵה סַפִּיר נֹפֶךְ וּבָרְקַת וְזָהָב מְלֶאכֶת תֻּפֶּיךָ וּנְקָבֶיךָ בָּךְ בְּיוֹם הִבָּרַאֲךָ כּוֹנָנוּ׃ | 28.13. thou wast in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the carnelian, the topaz, and the emerald, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the carbuncle, and the smaragd, and gold; the workmanship of thy settings and of thy sockets was in thee, in the day that thou wast created they were prepared." |
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9. Mishnah, Hagigah, 2.1 (1st cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 2.1. They may not expound upon the subject of forbidden relations in the presence of three. Nor the work of creation in the presence of two. Nor [the work of] the chariot in the presence of one, unless he is a sage and understands of his own knowledge. Whoever speculates upon four things, it would have been better had he not come into the world: what is above, what is beneath, what came before, and what came after. And whoever takes no thought for the honor of his creator, it would have been better had he not come into the world." |
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10. Tosefta, Hagigah, 2.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 2.2. Four entered the orchard: Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, another, and Rabbi Akiva. One looked and died. One looked and was harmed. One looked and cut down the trees. And one went up in peace and went down in peace. Ben Azzai looked and died. Scripture says about him (Psalms 116, 15): \"Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints\". Ben Zoma looked and was harmed. Scripture says about him (Proverbs 25, 16): \"Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee\" and the continuation. [Cont. of the verse: \"Lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.\" Elisha looked and cut down the trees. Scripture says about him (Ecclesiastes 5, 5): \"Suffer not thy mouth to bring thy flesh into guilt\" etc. Rabbi Akiva went up in peace and went down in peace. Scripture says about him (Song of Songs 1, 4): \"Draw me, we will run after thee\" etc. They gave a parable: What is this similar to? To the orchard of a king and there is an attic above it. It is upon [the man] to look so long as he does not move [his eyes] from it. Another parable was given. What is this similar tp? To [a street] that passes between two paths, one of fire, and one of snow. If it leans one way, it gets burned [by the fire]. If it leans the other way it gets burned by the snow. A man must walk in the middle and not lean to or fro. A story of Rabbi Yehoshua [Who was walkin in the street and Ben Zoma came opposite him] he reached him and did not greet him. He said to him [from where and to where] Ben Zoma? He said to him: I was watching the creation, and there is not between the upper waters and the lower waters even a handbreadth. As it is written (Genesis 1, 2) \"and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters\". And it says (Deuteronomy 32, 11): \"As a vulture that stirreth up her nest\" etc. Just as the vulture flies over the nest, touching and not touching, so too there is not even a handbreadth between the upper waters and lower waters. Rabbi Yehoshua said to his students: Ben Zoma is already outside. In a few days, Ben Zoma passed away." |
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11. Anon., Pistis Sophia, 3.126 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
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12. Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 74b. בר אמוראי לאתויה ורגש ובעי לשמטיה לאטמיה ושדא זיקא דחלא ונחת נפק בת קלא אמר לן מאי אית לכו בהדי קרטליתא דדביתהו דר"ח בן דוסא דעתידה דשדיא תכלתא בה לצדיקי לעלמא דאתי,רב יהודה הינדוא משתעי זימנא חדא הוה אזלינן בספינתא וחזינן ההוא אבן טבא דהוה הדיר לה תנינא נחית בר אמוראי לאתויה אתא תנינא קא בעי למבלע לה לספינתא אתא פישקנצא פסקיה לרישיה אתהפיכו מיא והוו דמא אתא תנינא חבריה שקליה ותליה ליה וחיה הדר אתא קא בעי בלעא לספינתא הדר אתא ציפרא פסקיה לרישיה שקלוה לההיא אבן טבא שדיוה לספינתא הוה הני ציפרי מליחי בהדן אותבינהו עלייהו שקלוה ופרחו להו בהדה,תנו רבנן מעשה ברבי אליעזר ורבי יהושע שהיו באין בספינה והיה ר"א ישן ור' יהושע נעור נזדעזע ר' יהושע וננער ר"א אמר לו מה זה יהושע מפני מה נזדעזעת אמר לו מאור גדול ראיתי בים אמר לו שמא עיניו של לויתן ראית דכתיב (איוב מא, י) עיניו כעפעפי שחר,אמר רב אשי אמר לי הונא בר נתן זימנא חדא הוה קא אזלינן במדברא והואי אטמא דבשרא בהדן פתחנא ונקרינא ואנחנא אעשבי אדמייתינן ציבי חלם אטמא וטוינן כי הדרן לבתר תריסר ירחי שתא חזינהו להנהו גומרי דהוו קא מלחשי כי אתאי לקמיה דאמימר אמר לי ההוא עישבא סמתרי הוה הנהו גומרי דריתמא הוו,(בראשית א, כא) ויברא אלהים את התנינים הגדולים הכא תרגימו ארזילי דימא ר' יוחנן אמר זה לויתן נחש בריח ולויתן נחש עקלתון שנאמר (ישעיהו כז, א) ביום ההוא יפקוד ה' בחרבו הקשה וגו':,(סימן כל שעה ירדן): אמר רב יהודה אמר רב כל מה שברא הקב"ה בעולמו זכר ונקבה בראם אף לויתן נחש בריח ולויתן נחש עקלתון זכר ונקבה בראם ואלמלי נזקקין זה לזה מחריבין כל העולם כולו מה עשה הקב"ה סירס את הזכר והרג הנקבה ומלחה לצדיקים לעתיד לבא שנאמר (ישעיהו כז, א) והרג את התנין אשר בים,ואף בהמות בהררי אלף זכר ונקבה בראם ואלמלי נזקקין זה לזה מחריבין כל העולם כולו מה עשה הקב"ה סירס הזכר וצינן הנקבה ושמרה לצדיקים לעתיד לבא שנאמר (איוב מ, טז) הנה נא כחו במתניו זה זכר ואונו בשרירי בטנו זו נקבה,התם נמי ליסרסיה לזכר וליצננה לנקבה דגים פריצי וליעביד איפכא איבעית אימא נקבה מליחא מעלי איבעית אימא כיון דכתיב (תהלים קד, כו) לויתן זה יצרת לשחק בו בהדי נקבה לאו אורח ארעא הכא נמי לימלחה לנקבה כוורא מליחא מעלי בשרא מליחא לא מעלי,ואמר רב יהודה אמר רב בשעה שביקש הקב"ה לבראות את העולם אמר לו לשר של ים פתח פיך ובלע כל מימות שבעולם אמר לפניו רבש"ע די שאעמוד בשלי מיד בעט בו והרגו שנאמר (איוב כו, יב) בכחו רגע הים ובתבונתו מחץ רהב,אמר ר' יצחק ש"מ שרו של ים רהב שמו ואלמלא מים מכסין אותו אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד בריחו שנאמר (ישעיהו יא, ט) לא ירעו ולא ישחיתו בכל הר קדשי וגו' כמים לים מכסים אל תקרי לים מכסים אלא לשרה של ים מכסים,ואמר רב יהודה אמר רב ירדן יוצא ממערת פמייס תניא נמי הכי ירדן יוצא ממערת פמייס ומהלך בימה של סיבכי ובימה של טבריא ומתגלגל ויורד לים הגדול ומתגלגל ויורד עד שמגיע לפיו של לויתן שנאמר (איוב מ, כג) יבטח כי יגיח ירדן אל פיהו מתקיף לה רבא בר עולא האי בבהמות בהררי אלף כתיב אלא אמר רבא בר עולא אימתי בהמות בהררי אלף בטוחות בזמן שמגיח ירדן בפיו של לויתן,(סימן ימים גבריאל רעב) כי אתא רב דימי א"ר יוחנן מאי דכתיב (תהלים כד, ב) כי הוא על ימים יסדה ועל נהרות יכוננה אלו שבעה ימים וארבעה נהרות שמקיפין את ארץ ישראל ואלו הן שבעה ימים ימה של טבריא וימה של סדום וימה של חילת וימה של חילתא וימה של סיבכי וים אספמיא וים הגדול ואלו הן ארבעה נהרות ירדן וירמוך וקירומיון ופיגה,כי אתא רב דימי א"ר יונתן עתיד גבריאל לעשות | 74b. i.e., ba diver [ ibar amoraei /i]went into the water bto bringup this chest, bandthe fish bbecame angry and sought to sever his thigh, butthe diver bthrewupon it ba flask of vinegar and they descendedand swam away. bA Divine Voice emergedand bsaid to us: Whatright bdo you have totouch bthe crate of the wife of Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa, as she is destined to insert sky-bluewool bin it tobe used in the ritual fringes of bthe righteous in the World-to-Come? /b, bRav Yehuda from India relates: Once we were traveling in a ship and we saw a certain precious stone that was encircled by a snake. A diver descended to bring itup, and the bsnake came and sought to swallow the ship. A raven cameand bcut off its head,and bthe water turned into blooddue to the enormousness of the snake. bAnother snake came, tookthe precious stone, band hung iton the dead snake, band it recovered. It returnedand again bsought to swallow the ship,and yet again ba bird came and cut off its head, took that precious stone,and bthrew it onto the ship. We had with us these salted birds; we placedthe stone bon them,and bthey tookthe stone band flew away with it. /b,§ Apropos the stories of large sea creatures, the Gemara discusses the large sea creatures mentioned in the Bible. bThe Sages taught:There was ban incident involving Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, who were traveling on a ship, and Rabbi Eliezer was sleeping and Rabbi Yehoshua was awake. Rabbi Yehoshua trembled, and Rabbi Eliezer awoke.Rabbi Eliezer bsaid to him: What is this, Yehoshua; for whatreason bdid you tremble?Rabbi Yehoshua bsaid to him: I saw a great light in the sea.Rabbi Eliezer bsaid to him: Perhaps you saw the eyes of the leviathan, as it is written: “And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning”(Job 41:10)., bRav Ashi said: Huna bar Natan said to me: Once we were traveling in the desert, and we had a thigh of meat with us. We cut openthe thigh band toreoff the sciatic nerve and the forbidden fat band put it on the grass. Bythe time bthat we brought wood, the thigh had repaireditself, band we roasted it. When we returnedto that place bafter twelve monthsof bthe yearhad passed, bwe saw that those coals were still glowing. When I came before Ameimar, he said to me: That grass was a drug of life [ isamterei /i],while bthose coals were of broom. /b,The verse states: b“And God created the great sea monsters”(Genesis 1:21). bHere,in Babylonia, bthey interpretedthis as a reference to the bsea oryx. Rabbi Yoḥa says: This is leviathan the slant serpent, and leviathan the tortuous serpent, as it is stated: “In that day the Lord with His soreand great and strong bswordwill punish leviathan the slant serpent, and leviathan the tortuous serpent” (Isaiah 27:1).,§ The Gemara provides ba mnemonicfor the following statements of Rav Yehuda citing Rav: bEverything; time; Jordan. Rav Yehuda saysthat bRav says: Everything that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created in His world, He created male and female. Even leviathan the slant serpent and leviathan the tortuous serpent He created male and female. And if they would have coupledand produced offspring, they would have bdestroyed the entire world. What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, do? He castrated the male and killed the female, and saltedthe female to preserve it for the banquet bfor the righteous in the future. As it is stated: “And He will slay the serpent that is in the sea”(Isaiah 27:1)., bAnd He created even the beasts on the thousand hills(see Psalms 50:10) bmale and female. Andthey were so enormous that bif they would have coupledand produced offspring, bthey would have destroyed the entire world. What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, do? He castrated the male and cooledthe sexual desire of bthe female and preserved it for the righteous in the future. As it is statedabout the beasts: b“Lo now, his strength is in his loins”(Job 40:16); bthisis referring to the bmale.The continuation of the verse: b“And his force is in the stays of his body”; thisis the bfemale,alluding to the idea that they did not use their genitals for the purpose of procreation.,The Gemara asks: bThere too,with regard to the leviathan, blet Him castrate the male and cool the female;why was it necessary to kill the female? The Gemara answers: bFish are unrestrained,and therefore even if the female was cooled, the female would still procreate. The Gemara suggests: bAnd let Him do the opposite,and kill and preserve the male leviathan. The Gemara responds: bIf you wish, saythat the bsalted female is better; if you wish, sayinstead bthatsince bit is written: “There is leviathan, whom You have formed to sport with”(Psalms 104:26), the male must be left alive for sport, because it is bnot proper conductto sport bwith a female.The Gemara asks: bHere too,with regard to the beasts, blet Himpreserve the bfemale in salt,instead of cooling it. The Gemara answers: bSalted fish is good,but bsalted meat is not good. /b, bAnd Rav Yehuda saysthat bRav says: At the time when the Holy One, Blessed be He, sought to create the world, He said to the minister of the sea: Open your mouth and swallow all the waters of the world,so that there will be room for land. The minister of the sea bsaid before Him: Master of the Universe,it is benough that I will stay within my ownwaters. God bimmediately struck him and killed him; as it is stated: “He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding He smites through Rahab”(Job 26:12)., bRabbi Yitzḥak said: Conclude from herethat bthe name of the minister of the sea is Rahab, and were it not for watersof the sea that bcover him, no creature could withstand his smell,as his corpse emits a terrible stench. bAs it is stated: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain;for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, bas the waters cover the sea”(Isaiah 11:9). bDo not readthis phrase as b“cover the sea”; ratherread it as: bCover the minister of the sea,i.e., the term sea is referring to the minister of the sea, not to the sea itself., bAnd Rav Yehuda saysthat bRav says: The Jordan issues forth from the cave of Pamyas. That is also taughtin a ibaraita /i: bThe Jordan issues forth from the cave of Pamyas, and travels in the Sea of Sivkhi,i.e., the Hula Lake, band in the Sea of Tiberias,the Sea of Galilee, band rolls down to the Great Sea, and rolls down until it reaches the mouth of the leviathan. As it is stated: “He is confident, though the Jordan rush forth to his mouth”(Job 40:23). bRava bar Ulla strongly objects to thisexplanation of the verse, stating: But bthisverse bis written about the beasts on the thousand hills. Rather, Rava bar Ulla saidthat this is the meaning of the verse: bWhen are the beasts on the thousand hills confident? When the Jordan rushes forth into the mouth of the leviathan. /b,§ The Gemara provides ba mnemonicfor the upcoming statements of Rav Dimi: bSeas; Gabriel; hungry. When Rav Dimi camefrom Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said that bRabbi Yoḥa said: Whatis the meaning of that bwhich is written: “For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods”(Psalms 24:2)? bThese arethe bseven seas and four rivers that surround Eretz Yisrael. And these arethe bseven seas: The Sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Sodom,i.e., the Dead Sea, bthe Sea of Ḥeilat, the Sea of Ḥeilata, the Sea of Sivkhi, the Sea of Aspamya, and the Great Sea,i.e., the Mediterranean. bAnd these are the four rivers: The Jordan, the Jarmuth, and the Keiromyon, and the Piga,which are the rivers of Damascus., bWhen Rav Dimi camefrom Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said that bRabbi Yonatan says: In the future, Gabriel will perform /b |
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13. Augustine, The City of God, 11.15, 11.17, 11.19, 11.33 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
| 11.15. As for what John says about the devil, The devil sins from the beginning 1 John 3:8 they who suppose it is meant hereby that the devil was made with a sinful nature, misunderstand it; for if sin be natural, it is not sin at all. And how do they answer the prophetic proofs - either what Isaiah says when he represents the devil under the person of the king of Babylon, How are you fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Isaiah 14:12 or what Ezekiel says, You have been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, Ezekiel 28:13 where it is meant that he was some time without sin; for a little after it is still more explicitly said, You were perfect in your ways? And if these passages cannot well be otherwise interpreted, we must understand by this one also, He abode not in the truth, that he was once in the truth, but did not remain in it. And from this passage, The devil sins from the beginning, it is not to be supposed that he sinned from the beginning of his created existence, but from the beginning of his sin, when by his pride he had once commenced to sin. There is a passage, too, in the Book of Job, of which the devil is the subject: This is the beginning of the creation of God, which He made to be a sport to His angels, which agrees with the psalm, where it is said, There is that dragon which You have made to be a sport therein. But these passages are not to lead us to suppose that the devil was originally created to be the sport of the angels, but that he was doomed to this punishment after his sin. His beginning, then, is the handiwork of God; for there is no nature, even among the least, and lowest, and last of the beasts, which was not the work of Him from whom has proceeded all measure, all form, all order, without which nothing can be planned or conceived. How much more, then, is this angelic nature, which surpasses in dignity all else that He has made, the handiwork of the Most High! 11.17. It is with reference to the nature, then, and not to the wickedness of the devil, that we are to understand these words, This is the beginning of God's handiwork; for, without doubt, wickedness can be a flaw or vice only where the nature previously was not vitiated. Vice, too, is so contrary to nature, that it cannot but damage it. And therefore departure from God would be no vice, unless in a nature whose property it was to abide with God. So that even the wicked will is a strong proof of the goodness of the nature. But God, as He is the supremely good Creator of good natures, so is He of evil wills the most just Ruler; so that, while they make an ill use of good natures, He makes a good use even of evil wills. Accordingly, He caused the devil (good by God's creation, wicked by his own will) to be cast down from his high position, and to become the mockery of His angels - that is, He caused his temptations to benefit those whom he wishes to injure by them. And because God, when He created him, was certainly not ignorant of his future malignity, and foresaw the good which He Himself would bring out of his evil, therefore says the psalm, This leviathan whom You have made to be a sport therein, that we may see that, even while God in His goodness created him good, He yet had already foreseen and arranged how He would make use of him when he became wicked. 11.19. Accordingly, though the obscurity of the divine word has certainly this advantage, that it causes many opinions about the truth to be started and discussed, each reader seeing some fresh meaning in it, yet, whatever is said to be meant by an obscure passage should be either confirmed by the testimony of obvious facts, or should be asserted in other and less ambiguous texts. This obscurity is beneficial, whether the sense of the author is at last reached after the discussion of many other interpretations, or whether, though that sense remain concealed, other truths are brought out by the discussion of the obscurity. To me it does not seem incongruous with the working of God, if we understand that the angels were created when that first light was made, and that a separation was made between the holy and the unclean angels, when, as is said, God divided the light from the darkness; and God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. For He alone could make this discrimination, who was able also before they fell, to foreknow that they would fall, and that, being deprived of the light of truth, they would abide in the darkness of pride. For, so far as regards the day and night, with which we are familiar, He commanded those luminaries of heaven that are obvious to our senses to divide between the light and the darkness. Let there be, He says, lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; and shortly after He says, And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:14-18 But between that light, which is the holy company of the angels spiritually radiant with the illumination of the truth, and that opposing darkness, which is the noisome foulness of the spiritual condition of those angels who are turned away from the light of righteousness, only He Himself could divide, from whom their wickedness (not of nature, but of will), while yet it was future, could not be hidden or uncertain. 11.33. That certain angels sinned, and were thrust down to the lowest parts of this world, where they are, as it were, incarcerated till their final damnation in the day of judgment, the Apostle Peter very plainly declares, when he says that God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved into judgment. 2 Peter 2:4 Who, then, can doubt that God, either in foreknowledge or in act, separated between these and the rest? And who will dispute that the rest are justly called light? For even we who are yet living by faith, hoping only and not yet enjoying equality with them, are already called light by the apostle: For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. Ephesians 5:8 But as for these apostate angels, all who understand or believe them to be worse than unbelieving men are well aware that they are called darkness. Wherefore, though light and darkness are to be taken in their literal signification in these passages of Genesis in which it is said, God said, Let there be light, and there was light, and God divided the light from the darkness, yet, for our part, we understand these two societies of angels - the one enjoying God, the other swelling with pride; the one to whom it is said, Praise Him, all His angels, the other whose prince says, All these things will I give You if You will fall down and worship me; Matthew 4:9 the one blazing with the holy love of God, the other reeking with the unclean lust of self-advancement. And since, as it is written, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble, James 4:6 we may say, the one dwelling in the heaven of heavens, the other cast thence, and raging through the lower regions of the air; the one tranquil in the brightness of piety, the other tempest-tossed with beclouding desires; the one, at God's pleasure, tenderly succoring, justly avenging - the other, set on by its own pride, boiling with the lust of subduing and hurting; the one the minister of God's goodness to the utmost of their good pleasure, the other held in by God's power from doing the harm it would; the former laughing at the latter when it does good unwillingly by its persecutions, the latter envying the former when it gathers in its pilgrims. These two angelic communities, then, dissimilar and contrary to one another, the one both by nature good and by will upright, the other also good by nature but by will depraved, as they are exhibited in other and more explicit passages of holy writ, so I think they are spoken of in this book of Genesis under the names of light and darkness; and even if the author perhaps had a different meaning, yet our discussion of the obscure language has not been wasted time; for, though we have been unable to discover his meaning, yet we have adhered to the rule of faith, which is sufficiently ascertained by the faithful from other passages of equal authority. For, though it is the material works of God which are here spoken of, they have certainly a resemblance to the spiritual, so that Paul can say, You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 1 Thessalonians 5:5 If, on the other hand, the author of Genesis saw in the words what we see, then our discussion reaches this more satisfactory conclusion, that the man of God, so eminently and divinely wise, or rather, that the Spirit of God who by him recorded God's works which were finished on the sixth day, may be supposed not to have omitted all mention of the angels whether he included them in the words in the beginning, because He made them first, or, which seems most likely, because He made them in the only-begotten Word. And, under these names heaven and earth, the whole creation is signified, either as divided into spiritual and material, which seems the more likely, or into the two great parts of the world in which all created things are contained, so that, first of all, the creation is presented in sum, and then its parts are enumerated according to the mystic number of the days. |
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14. Anon., Midrash On Song of Songs, 1.4
| 1.4. An additional meaning: \"See a man diligent in his work, before kings he will stand, he will not stand before mean men\", this is Rabbi Hanina. He (Rabbi Hanina) said: \"Once I saw men of the city bringing up (lit., i.e offering, sacrificing) burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. I said, \"All of them are bringing up peace-offerings to Jerusalem and I am not bringing up anything!? What will I do? Immediately I went out to the wilderness of the city, in the ruins of the city, and there I found one stone, I went out, cracked it, chiseled it, and polished it. He said, \"Behold, it is upon me to ascend to Jerusalem.\" He sought to procure workers for himself. He said to them, \"You (plural) bring up to me this stone to Jerusalem.\" He said to him, \"Give us our wages\", 100 gold pieces (\"Zahuvim\" lit., a type of gold-based currency), and we will bring your stone up to you, to Jerusalem.\" He said to them, \"And thus, from where will I have 100 gold pieces or 50 gold pieces to give to you all!?\" And he did not find for the hour, immediately they went to them. Immediately The Holy One Blessed Be He summoned to him 5 angels, with the appearance of the men (\"Sons of man\" lit.). They said to him, \"Our teacher/master, give to us 5 selas, and we will bring up your stone to Jerusalem, and only that you will give your hand with us. And he he gave his hand with them, and they were found standing in Jerusalem. He sought to give to them their wages, but he could not find them. The story came to the Chamber of Hewn Stone (the High Court). They said to him, \"Our teacher is similar to the ministering angels, they brought up your stone to Jerusalem!\" Immediately he gave to the Wise Men the wages that he was to pay with the angels." |
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