An Exposition of Genesis

Preface

Moses was beloved of God, and men . . . The Lord gave him a law of life and instruction, that he might teach Jacob his covenant, and Israel his judgments. Sirach 45:1, 6.

In these words the famous prophet and lawgiver, Moses most-mild, is praised in several lofty ways. First, from the excellence of his gifts of sanctifying grace, as he is declared: Beloved of God, etc. For he was clearly equipped with so much holiness, agreeableness, and mildness, that he might be beloved and pleasing to both God and men. Second, from the prominence of his gifts of freely given grace, as it is added: The Lord gave him a law of life. That is, he appointed him the lawgiver of his people and the mediator between the people and himself. For the making and enacting of laws as an apostle and prophet pertains to the gifts of freely given grace. Third, he was entrusted with the loftiness of his office, as it follows: That he might teach Jacob, etc. That is, he himself was made the teacher of the Israelites. For he was given the law for this purpose, that he might show the Jewish people the Old Testament and divine precepts.

However, a distinction should be made between the law of the gospel and Mosaic law. For the law of the gospel contains and confers grace, namely because it includes the collected and combined sacraments of grace, which produce what they describe. The law of Moses, on the other hand, does not. Because of that the Apostle calls it the ministration of death⊕2 Corinthians 3:7. and damnation; not because it emerged directly as such, but incidentally, not offering grace and virtue for fulfilling what it commanded. Thus, the Lord testified through Ezechiel: I gave them statutes that were not good, and a law in which they shall not live.⊕Ezekiel 20:25. Nevertheless, the same law is rightly called the law of life, insofar as it contained divine precepts, particularly regarding morals, through which the fulfillment of a life of grace was fostered, and a life of glory was merited—not by force or virtue of the law, but by faith shaped by the future coming of Christ. Hence the Apostle acknowledges after all: The law indeed is holy and good.⊕Romans 7:12. Furthermore, the same law was a law of discipline, i.e., of rigidity and chastisement, since it imposed inflexible punishments on its transgressors, as in Hebrews it is stated: A man making void the law of Moses, dies without any mercy under two or three witnesses.⊕Hebrews 10:28. For that reason, it is called a law of fear. It is also called a law of instruction, i.e., useful teachings, since it was a renewal and declaration of natural law, prohibited idolatry, and prevented various errors. Indeed it presignified and foretold the mysteries of Christ and the Church, and it was largely arranged according to gospel law. For that reason, the Savior said to the Jews: If you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also; for he wrote of me.⊕John 5:46.

And so, at the bidding and instruction of God, Moses related to his people the law and everything pertaining to it, writing in five books. These books contain some passages that are obscure and difficult, and some which are clear and easy. I now intend to put forth explanations for all of them, as much as the Spirit of truth will deem worthy to provide, devoting extensive attention to the more difficult ones, and quickly touching on the easier ones. To all that is to be suitably completed, I call for encouragement and illumination, worshiping the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who with the eternal Father and his only begotten Son is one eternal God, true and most high.

Article 1

On the various translations of the Old Testament, a comparison of the translations of the Septuagint and Saint Jerome to each other, and that in which Jerome and Augustine appear to agree and disagree concerning the Septuagint translation.

The Scriptures of the Old Testament were translated long before the incarnation of Christ by the seventy interpreters,Septuagint comes from septuaginta, the Latin word for seventy. whose translation was used by the Church up to the time of Jerome. But after the coming of Christ, several others translated these same Scriptures. First came Aquila, then Theodotion, then later Symmachus. There was also another translation whose author is unknown, which is called the fifth edition. All of these were translated from Hebrew into Greek. There were several others as well who translated these Scriptures from Greek into Latin. Eventually Jerome, led by many reasonable motives, was the first to translate these Scriptures from Hebrew into Latin. But of these matters, more will be said later on.

In short, concerning the seventy interpreters and their translation, Augustine says in the eighteenth book of The City of God that while Eleazar was high priest of the Jews, they had been sent to Ptolemy, king of Egypt.Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309-246 BC). King Ptolemy himself, being a prudent man and wishing to test the fidelity of the interpreters, ordered them to separate so each one of them might translate the same Scripture apart from the rest. This being done, it was found that they had translated so harmoniously that they did not disagree with each other, neither in any particular word, nor in the order of words. Thus, it was all interpreted in the same way by each person, as if they might have been only one translator—which was in fact very astounding and extraordinary, even divinely inspired, as it could not otherwise have happened except by God. And indeed the one Spirit was truly in all these men. And for that reason, they received such an extraordinary gift from God, so that through this, the authority of those Scriptures might be commended as truly divine, not human, to advance the belief of the Gentiles—which after the coming of Christ we see fulfilled. Augustine states this concisely in the previously named book, chapter 42.

In addition, in chapter 43 of the same book, he writes these words: There have been others who translated these Scriptures into Greek, yet the Church received the translation of the seventy interpreters as if there were no other; and it is used by the Greek faithful, most of whom do not know there is any another. In our times there was also the priest Jerome, a most learned man, who translated these same Scriptures into Latin speech not from Greek, but from Hebrew. And although his translation is acknowledged by the Jews to be conveying the truth, and they do in fact affirm the seventy interpreters have made mistakes in many places, still the churches of Christ conclude no translation is to be preferred to the authority of the Septuagint.

Translation in Progress