husband and told him these things. But because he, too, feared the death
that God had threatened, he would not eat, unless he should see Eve eat
first. So Eve took two more apples and boldly ate the one forthwith, for
she had already tasted the sweetness of the fruit, and instead of
feeling shame for what she had already done, she longed to taste it
oftener. When Adam saw that it did her no harm (and he even observed a
pleasurable sweetness upon her lips), he took the apple that she had
offered him and ate just as she had done. But when they had eaten the
apple, their eyes were opened to a greater knowledge than they had had
before, just as the serpent had predicted: for immediately they were
ashamed of their naked limbs, since they saw that the bodies of the
birds were covered with feathers and those of the beasts with hair,
while their own bodies were naked, and they were much ashamed of that.
But most of all did it shame them to know that their transgression had
made them guilty before God; and they bore their bodies in fear and were
ashamed of their naked limbs. Soon they went to hide among the trees,
thus giving proof of their shortsightedness, for they did not realize
that God had such knowledge of His handiwork and all the things that He
had made, that neither bushes nor forests could hide them from His
sight, since even the secret hiding places in the caverns of hell lie
bare and visible before His eyes at all times.
But while Adam was in hiding, God spoke to the spirit that was concealed
in the serpent: “Through pride and evil intent thou didst raise the
first rebellion, there being none to ensnare thee, only thine own pride
and envy; wherefore Mine anger rages against thee without mercy, and
thou has forfeited eternal happiness and all hope of returning to it.
Thou hast now a second time stirred My heart to anger because of the sin
that has just been committed. Adam will have to suffer punishment for
his transgression, but he shall still have hope of return and mercy,
because he came into My wrath on account of thy wickedness and seductive
guile. And as thou overcamest Adam’s wife while she was yet a virgin, so
shall one of her daughters, also a virgin, win a triumph over thee. And
just as thou seemest now to have led Adam with all his possessions and
kinship as spoils into thy dominion, so shall one of his sons search all
thy garners and carry all thy treasures away as spoils; and leading
forth Adam and all his faithful kinsmen out of thy power in a glorious
triumph, he shall appoint him to an honored place among his sons in the
kingdom which thou wert fittingly deprived of. And as a green tree bore
the fruit through which thou hast now won thy victory, so shall a dry
tree bear the fruit through which thy victory shall be brought to
naught.” Then God spoke to the serpent in which the spirit had concealed
himself: “Cursed art thou before all the beasts upon earth; because thou
hast received Mine enemy and concealed him from the eyes of Eve to the
end that, hidden in thee, he might win a victory over mankind. Therefore
shalt thou lose the likeness to a maiden’s face which thy countenance
has borne and shalt henceforth bear a grim and ugly face hateful to
mankind; thou shalt lose the feet that bore thy body upright and
henceforth crawl upon breast and belly. Bitter and unclean dust shall be
thy food, because thou atest of the apple which thou tookest from the
hand of Eve. Thou shalt be a self-chosen vessel of venom and death as
evidence that thou didst hide venomous envy in thy body. I declare the
covenant sundered between thee and all mankind; thy head and neck shall
be crushed under the heel and the tread of men in revenge for the
treachery which mankind has suffered through thy slippery cunning. And
since thou didst cause man to break the law with his mouth and in
eating, the spittle that comes forth from the mouth of a fasting man
shall prove as dangerous a venom to thy life, if thou taste it, as thy
venom is to man, if he taste it.”
Then God, calling Adam and Eve, asked where they were. And Adam replied:
“We hid ourselves, Lord, being ashamed to appear naked before Thy face.”
In the first word that Adam answered God, he lied to Him; for they knew
themselves guilty of violating the law and hid for that reason; but Adam
concealed this in the answer that he gave to God. Then God said to him:
“Why should you be more ashamed of your nakedness now than when we last
talked together, unless it be that you have increased in knowledge from
eating the apples that I forbade you?” But when Adam saw that he could
not conceal how they had broken the law, he sought to escape by placing
the blame for the act on another rather than on himself, for he answered
in these words: “If I had been alone about my affairs and if Thou hadst
not given me this woman to advise with me, I should have kept the
appointed law and would not have broken Thy commands.” These words added
greatly to Adam’s guilt in God’s eyes, for he sought defense rather than
mercy. But if he had spoken in this wise: “Remember now, O Lord, that I
am formed of fragile stuff like a pot of brittle clay, and am in greater
need of Thy forbearance and mercy than the merits of my case can demand,
for in my weakness I have fallen into great guilt against Thee, O Lord,
because of my transgression,”—then his guilt would at once have been
lessened in the sight of God, inasmuch as he would be seeking mercy but
not defense. But when God heard Adam replying as if excusing himself, He
said as if in wrath: “Thou shalt put no blame upon Me for creating the
woman; for I gave her to thee to be a delight and a companion, not that
thou shouldst commit law-breaking by her counsel. I even warned thee not
to transgress and told thee what guilt threatened if thou didst break
the law. Why then didst thou follow thy wife’s miserable advice rather
than My saving counsel, if thou didst not do it through pride and
avarice, wishing to equal Me in knowledge and therefore eager to know
what was not promised thee?”
After that God spoke to Eve: “Why didst thou egg thy husband on to
transgress?” And Eve was anxious that another should bear the blame for
her guilt rather than herself, for she spoke in this wise: “This crafty
serpent gave me that evil advice; had he not been created or appeared
before me, I should not have transgressed or egged on my husband to
transgress.” When God heard Eve’s excuse, He spoke in His wrath: “It
looks to Me as if you both wish to blame Me for your law-breaking: Adam
blamed Me for having created thee to advise with him, and now thou
findest fault with Me for having created the serpent. I created the
serpent as I created all the other beasts of the earth, but I did not
give him to you as a counsellor; on the contrary, I made him subject to
your dominion like all the other beasts of the earth. I warned you both
to commit no sin and told you to look for death, if you did. Now your
deed appears no better in your defense than before in the transgression;
wherefore you shall suffer the death with which I threatened you. Though
you may not immediately fall down dead, you shall, nevertheless, in your
death suffer a long punishment for your offence, and all your offspring
shall be responsible with you for this transgression. And the while that
you live upon earth you shall suffer sorrowful distress instead of
enjoying the blissful freedom which you knew not how to keep. And
whereas thou didst transgress before Adam, I will increase thy troubles
beyond what you are both to suffer: thou shalt be subject to the control
of thy husband and to all his commands, and shalt therefore seem of
lesser importance and lower in the sight of thy sons. The children that
thou shalt conceive in lustful passion thou shalt bring forth in pain
and imminent peril; it shall also be thy duty to give thy children all
forms of service in toil and troublesome care while bringing them up.”
Then God said: “Adam has now become as wise as any one of us, knowing
good and evil. Have care that he does not eat from the tree of life
without permission, as he did of the apples of knowledge, lest he live
eternally in his guilt.” Thereupon God appointed Cherubim to guard the
path leading to the tree of life with a flaming sword which constantly
turned its fiery edge in every direction so that none could pass forward
without permission. Then God said to Adam: “Because thou didst hearken
to thy wife’s evil advice rather than to my good counsel and hast eaten
of the forbidden fruit, the earth, which gave thee all manner of
desirable fruit in her motherly kindness, shall be cursed through thy
deed. As if in sorrowful wrath, she shall refuse thee such herbs as thou
mayest think suitable for food: thistles and weeds shall she give thee
for herbs, unless thou till her soil with labor and drench it with thy
sweat; for henceforth thou shalt gain thy food upon earth with toil.”
Thereafter God gave Adam and Eve coats of skin and said to them: “Since
you are ashamed of your naked limbs, cover yourselves now with the
garments of travail and sorrow and fare forth into the wide fields to
find your food with irksome toil. And finally you shall rest in the
deathlike embraces of earth and be changed again naturally into the
mortal materials from which you were made in the beginning.” Then said
Adam: “For justice and mercy I thank Thee, O Lord, for I see clearly how
greatly I have sinned; likewise do I own Thy grace in that I am not to
suffer merciless destruction like Lucifer. Sorrowing shall I descend
into the deathlike shadows of hell; yet I shall ever rejoice in the hope
of returning; for in this I trust to Thee, O Lord, that Thou wilt show
me the light of life even in the darkness of death. And I shall ever
look forward to the day when he, who is now rejoicing in my misfortune
as in a victory won, shall be afflicted by our returning as one who is
overcome and deprived of victory.” Then Eve said: “Though we now depart
in sorrow, Lord, because of our great misdoing, we shall take joy in Thy
merciful lenience in our distress.” Then God disappeared from their
sight; and they began to till the earth as God had commanded.
Now I have done as you requested, having explained briefly why the
serpent sought speech with the woman and what caused him to egg the
woman on to violate the law. Still, I have taken up only what is most
easily grasped in this speech; for the task of glossing our discourse
after deep meditation I prefer to leave to others. But let us continue
straight ahead in the discussion as we have begun, since we do not have
time to do both.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XLVIII
A COMMENTARY ON THE STORY OF LUCIFER
_Son._ I now see clearly why you regard the answers to my last questions
as glosses and interpretations of the speeches which you gave earlier
rather than a continuation of our original plan; and I fear that, if I
should ask you to enlarge further upon this subject, you will consider
my questions unwise. But having been granted freedom to ask about
whatever I have the curiosity to know, I shall venture another question:
and I shall continue to look for good answers as before, even though my
questions be childish. Now you have brought out that, when the serpent
spoke to the woman as he did, it was the spirit speaking with the
serpent’s tongue. You have likewise shown me why the woman was led into
sin; that Lucifer was inspired by malicious envy to hinder man from
coming into the dominion from which he himself had been expelled. And in
your discussion of the judgments of God you had something to say both
about Lucifer and about Adam, which I am not sure has often been heard
before. Now if I should on occasion recall these remarks and repeat them
as I have heard you state them, it may be that some one hearing me will
say that he has never heard this account before; and therefore I want to
ask you to tell me what facts I could state in my reply, so that I shall
not seem to withdraw my statements on account of ignorance but rather
find such means to support them, that all will think them true rather
than false.
_Father._ The glosses to a speech are like the boughs and branches of a
tree. First the roots send up a stem which again branches out into many
limbs and boughs. And whatever limb you take, if you examine it with
proper care, you will find it joined to the stem which originally sprang
up from the roots; and all the boughs and branches draw nourishment from
the roots from which the stem grows. But if you hew off a limb and cast
it far away from the tree, and one should find it who knows not where it
grew, it will look to him like every other branch which he finds on his
way, seeing that he does not know where it has grown. But if he carries
it back to the stem from which it was cut and fits it there, the branch
itself will testify as to what roots it sprang from. It is the same with
the interpretation of a sermon; if a man knows how to present a speech
properly, he will also know how to interpret it correctly. But as I hear
that some things have been introduced into this discussion which have
not often been heard, I will now do the questioning for a while, since I
have answered more than I have asked. And first I wish to ask whether
this speech included anything that you already knew.
_Son._ There were a few things but not many. I have heard it quoted from
Lucifer’s words that he intended to set his throne as high as that of
God; but the answer that God gave to this I had never heard interpreted
before, but now you have explained it.
_Father._ Let me ask again: who do you suppose it was that, standing by,
heard Lucifer’s boastful and treacherous words and quoted them
afterwards?
_Son._ I have never heard his name spoken and I am not sure that they
were told by any one who heard them at the beginning.
_Father._ But this you shall know of a surety, that if Lucifer’s words
have been quoted by one who heard them in the beginning, he surely must
have heard those replies of God also, which I have just given; and he
could have reported both speeches, had he wished, since he heard either
both or neither. But if he reported Lucifer’s treacherous boasting as he
divined it, he surely could have thought out God’s truthful statement of
his vengeance in the same way; for either both or neither would be true.
For at the very moment when Lucifer transgressed, whether in thought or
in words, God had already purposed all the vengeance that was to befall
him from the first hour to the last. So great and all-sufficient are
God’s thoughts and wisdom, that the vision of the divine foresight sees
in the twinkling of an eye all the events that shall come to pass from
the first hour to the very last. But He withholds in divine patience all
the things that He intends shall come to pass, until suitable times
appear; and He will let everything happen as He has purposed it
heretofore. Now if God should have endowed any one with such great
insight and wisdom that he could know all the thoughts of God and should
report them as if God had disclosed them in word or speech, he would by
no means be telling falsehoods; for all that God has purposed has been
told him in his thoughts, whether his lips have spoken about them or
not. The apostle Paul tells us that God has given men his Holy Spirit
with a definite office and activity: some receive a spirit of prophecy,
some a spirit of knowledge and wisdom, some a spirit of eloquence, some
a spirit of understanding, and some a spirit of skill;[297] some have
these gifts in large measure, others in less; some enjoy one of these
gifts, others two, still others three, while some have all, each one as
God wills to endow him.
Footnote 297:
_I Corinthians_, xii, 4-10.
But those who, like King David, have received both the spirit of
understanding and of eloquence, have ventured to compose speeches and
write books in order that the speeches shall not perish. In some places
David has told of God’s purposes, in other places of His deeds, and in
still other places he has reported His words; and those who in times
past have written glosses to the psalms which David composed have had
more to say about what was in David’s mind than about the words that he
wrote. For to every word they have added long comments of what David had
in thought when he spoke this word; and in these comments they point out
the meaning which he had in his thoughts at every word that he wrote in
the Psalter. In like manner they have proceeded, who have interpreted
the words of the Evangelists, and they have brought out much that the
Evangelists have left unsaid. Thus they have shown that their comments
are on the words of thought which the lips had left unspoken. And if one
has received the God-given spirit of a perfect understanding, he has a
gift of such a nature that, when he hears a few spoken words, he
perceives many words of thought. But David did not himself gloss the
Psalter for the reason that he wished to leave to others the task of
expressing all those thoughts which came up in his mind, while he
continued writing the Psalms as originally planned. Thus all do who have
a speech on the tongue which ought to be interpreted: they proceed with
the discourse as planned and begun, and leave to others the task of
expressing in words what is in their thoughts. Still, you should know
that no one has glossed the sayings of David who sat by him, while he
was composing the Psalter, and asked what was in his mind at the time.
And from this you will perceive that it is the grace of the spirit of
insight which guides such men to examine the foundations of the sermons
that they hear. Next they investigate how widely the roots ramify which
lie beneath the speech; they consider carefully how many limbs grow out
of it; and finally they make a count of the branches that sprout from
each limb. They also note precisely what bough they take for themselves,
that they may be able to trace it correctly back to the roots from which
it originally grew. Now if you understand this thoroughly and if you
investigate with care and precision everything that you hear told, you
will not fall into error, no matter whether the comments that you hear
be right or wrong, if God has given you the spirit that leads to a right
understanding. For every man who is gifted with proper insight and gets
into the right path at the beginning will be able to find the highways
of reason and to determine what expressions are suitable and will best
fit the circumstances. Now gather from these things whatever you can
that may give insight; but it does not seem necessary to discuss them
further.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
XLIX
INSTANCES IN WHICH GOD HAS ALLOWED THE DECISION
TO BE FRAMED ACCORDING TO THE STERN
DEMANDS OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE
_Son._ God reward you, sire, for being so patient in answering all the
questions that I am asking. I find, however, that you think my queries
wander about in a childish way, but as I cannot keep to the subject of
the conversation that we have begun, my questions will come down here
and there, as one might expect of youthful ignorance. Still, it seems
that it is better to have asked than not about the matter that I brought
up last, namely, how one is to determine whether the glosses are correct
or not. Now I understand perfectly your statement that a man does not
tell a lie about God, if he tells God’s purposes as if they were His own
words; for whatever God has determined in His own soul, He has already
spoken to Himself in His thoughts, whether He has uttered them with His
lips or not; wherefore those things may be interpreted as if spoken,
because in His mind He has spoken all that to Himself. This, too, is
clear to me, that, although no one is able to divine what God had in
mind at the beginning, He has Himself revealed it in letting those
things come to pass which He had thought and purposed; for it seems very
evident that all those things which God has allowed to occur, He had
thought upon and wisely planned in his own mind, before they came to
pass. It is also quite clear to me that those who have added explanatory
glosses to the writings of David, or other men who have written sermons
and set them in books, have developed their interpretations by studying
out what fundamental thought or purpose had since the beginning lain
underneath the words. Afterwards they wisely considered this, too, with
what truth probability might be able to account for every branch and
twig of that discourse, so that the contents might be revealed. Now
since these things begin to look somewhat clearer to me, it may be that
I shall continue to reflect upon them, if God gives me the necessary
insight. But since I realize that you feel it would be a large and
tedious task both to continue the discourse already begun and to make
suitable comments, I will now ask you to return to the subject before us
and to continue setting forth the judgment of God, giving cases in which
He allowed the sentence to be carried out with severity according to the
verdict of Justice and Truth, and others in which He showed greater
leniency.
_Father._ The following instances occurred long after the fall but had a
similar outcome. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, suffered a merciless doom
by the judgment of Truth and Justice.[298] Dathan and Abiram were justly
doomed and destroyed.[299] When Joshua led the people of Israel into the
land that God had promised them God ordered him to punish the people who
dwelt in the city called Jericho with such severity that whatever was
living should perish.[300] Long after that, when King Saul led an
invasion into Amalek, God commanded him to slay everything that was
living; but Saul incurred the anger of God because he did not carry out
what was commanded.[301] The case of Judas, one of the apostles of God,
is among the examples that belong to a much later date: for Truth and
Justice condemned him without mercy for dastardly treachery toward his
Lord. There are many similar cases, though we have given these only;
and, inasmuch as our speech would get too long, we cannot include in a
single discourse all the examples that we know resemble these. But when
God decreed all these punishments which we have now recounted, the
sisters were all on the judgment seat with Him, Truth and Justice, Mercy
and Peace, and they all agreed with Him and kissed and embraced each
other.
Footnote 298:
_Exodus_, xiv.
Footnote 299:
_Numbers_, xvi.
Footnote 300:
_Joshua_, vi.
Footnote 301:
_I Samuel_, xv.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
L
OTHER INSTANCES IN WHICH THE ARGUMENTS OF PEACE
AND MERCY HAVE HAD GREATER WEIGHT
_Son._ It is quite evident that in the cases which you have now
recounted, Truth and Justice had a larger part in the verdict than Peace
and Mercy. But no one can doubt that the sisters were all agreed in
these decisions, for we may be sure that God never passes a merciless
judgment. One will consequently need to ponder these things with careful
attention and close thinking; for the judgments of God are largely
concealed from men. Therefore I wish to ask you to point out those cases
in which Mercy and Peace have chiefly dictated the verdict, so that I
may get insight into dooms of both kinds, seeing that examples of both
are to be found.