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| Chapter XXIV.—Folly of the arguments derived by the heretics from numbers, letters, and syllables.
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Chapter XXIV.—Folly of the arguments
derived by the heretics from numbers, letters, and syllables.
1. This
very thing, too, still further demonstrates their opinion false, and
their fictitious system untenable, that they endeavour to bring forward
proofs of it, sometimes through means of numbers and the syllables of
names, sometimes also through the letter of syllables, and yet again
through those numbers which are, according to the practice followed by
the Greeks, contained in [different] letters;—[this, I say,]
demonstrates in the clearest manner their overthrow or confusion,3151
| 3151 “Sive
confusionem” is very probably a marginal gloss which has found its
way into the text. The whole clause is difficult and obscure. |
as well as the untenable and perverse character of their [professed]
knowledge. For, transferring the name
Jesus, which belongs to another language, to the numeration of the
Greeks, they sometimes call it “Episemon,”3152
as having six
letters, and at other times “the Plenitude of the Ogdoads,”
as containing the number eight hundred and eighty-eight. But His
[corresponding] Greek name, which is “Soter,” that is,
Saviour, because it does not fit in with their system, either with
respect to numerical value or as regards its letters, they pass over in
silence. Yet surely, if they regard the names of
the Lord, as, in accordance with the preconceived purpose of the Father,
by means of their numerical value and letters, indicating number in the
Pleroma, Soter, as being a Greek name, ought by means of its
letters and the numbers [expressed by these], in virtue of its being
Greek, to show forth the mystery of the Pleroma. But the case is not so,
because it is a word of five letters, and its numerical value is one
thousand four hundred and eight.3153
| 3153 Thus: Σωτήρ ( σ = 200, ω = 800, τ = 300, η = 8, ρ = 100 ) = 1408.
| But these things do not in any way correspond with their Pleroma;
the account, therefore, which they give of transactions in the Pleroma
cannot be true.
2. Moreover, Jesus, which is a word belonging
to the proper tongue of the Hebrews, contains, as the learned among them
declare, two letters and a half,3154
| 3154 Being written thus, ישו, and the small
י being apparently
regarded as only half a letter. Harvey proposes a different solution
which seems less probable. | and signifies that Lord who
contains heaven and earth;3155
| 3155 This is one of the most obscure passages in the whole
work of Irenæus, and the editors have succeeded in throwing very little
light upon it. We may merely state that ישו seems to be
regarded as containing in itself the initials of the three words יְהֹוָה, Jehovah;
שְמַיִם, heaven;
and וְאָרָץ, and
earth. | for Jesus in the ancient Hebrew language
means “heaven,” while again “earth” is expressed
by the words sura usser.3156
| 3156 Nothing can be made of these words; they have probably
been corrupted by ignorant transcribers, and are now wholly
unintelligible. | The word, therefore, which contains heaven
and earth is just Jesus. Their explanation, then, of the
Episemon is false, and their numerical calculation is also
manifestly overthrown. For, in their own language, Soter is a
Greek word of five letters; but, on the other hand, in the Hebrew tongue,
Jesus contains only two letters and a half. The total which they
reckon up, viz., eight hundred and eighty-eight, therefore falls to the
ground. And throughout, the Hebrew letters do not correspond in number
with the Greek, although these especially, as being the more ancient and
unchanging, ought to uphold the reckoning connected with the names. For
these ancient, original, and generally called sacred letters3157
| 3157 “Literæ
sacerdotales,”—another enigma which no man can solve.
Massuet supposes the reference to be to the archaic Hebrew characters,
still used by the priests after the square Chaldaic letters had
been generally adopted. Harvey thinks that sacerdotales represents
the Greek λειτουργικά,
“meaning letters as popularly used in common
computation.” | of the Hebrews are ten in number (but
they are written by means of fifteen3158
| 3158 The editors have again long notes on this most obscure
passage. Massuet expunges “quæque,” and gives a lengthened
explanation of the clause, to which we can only refer the curious
reader. | ), the last letter
being joined to the
first. And thus they write some of these letters according to their
natural sequence, just as we do, but others in a reverse direction, from
the right hand towards the left, thus tracing the letters backwards. The
name Christ, too, ought to be capable of being reckoned up in
harmony with the Æons of their Pleroma, inasmuch as, according to their
statements, He was produced for the establishment and rectification of
their Pleroma. The Father, too, in the same way, ought, both by means of
letters and numerical value, to contain the number of those Æons who
were produced by Him; Bythus, in like manner, and not less Monogenes; but
pre-eminently the name which is above all others, by which God is called,
and which in the Hebrew tongue is expressed by Baruch,3159
| 3159 בָרוּךְ, Baruch,
blessed, one of the commonest titles of the Almighty. The final
ך seems to be reckoned
only a half-letter, as being different in form from what it is when
accompanied by a vowel at the beginning or in the middle of a word.
| [a word] which also contains two and a half letters. From this
fact, therefore, that the more important names, both in the Hebrew and
Greek languages, do not conform to their system, either as respects the
number of letters or the reckoning brought out of them, the forced
character of their calculations respecting the rest becomes clearly
manifest.
3. For, choosing out of the law whatever things agree
with the number adopted in their system, they thus violently strive to
obtain proofs of its validity. But
if it was really the purpose of their Mother, or the Saviour, to set
forth, by means of the Demiurge, types of those things which are in the
Pleroma, they should have taken care that the types were found in things
more exactly correspondent and more holy; and, above all, in the case of
the Ark of the Covenant, on account of which the whole tabernacle of
witness was formed. Now it was constructed thus: its length3160
was two cubits and a half, its breadth one
cubit and a half, its height one cubit and a half; but such a number of
cubits in no respect corresponds with their system, yet by it the type
ought to have been, beyond everything else, clearly set forth. The
mercy-seat3161
also does in like manner not at all
harmonize with their expositions. Moreover, the table of shew-bread3162
was two cubits in length, while its height was
a cubit and a half. These stood before the holy of holies, and yet in
them not a single number is of such an amount as contains an indication
of the Tetrad, or the Ogdoad, or of the rest of their Pleroma. What of
the candlestick,3163
too, which had
seven3164
branches and seven lamps? while, if these had been made according to the
type, it ought to have had eight branches and a like number of lamps,
after the type of the primary Ogdoad, which shines pre-eminently among
the Æons, and illuminates the whole Pleroma. They have carefully
enumerated the curtains3165
as being ten, declaring
these a type of the ten Æons; but they have forgotten to count the
coverings of skin, which were eleven3166
in number.
Nor, again, have they measured the size of these very curtains, each
curtain3167
being eight-and-twenty cubits in length.
And they set forth the length of the pillars as being ten cubits, with a
reference to the Decad of Æons. “But the breadth of each pillar
was a cubit and a half;”3168
and this
they do not explain, any more than they do the entire number of the
pillars or of their bars, because that does not suit the argument. But
what of the anointing oil,3169
which
sanctified the whole tabernacle? Perhaps it escaped the notice of the
Saviour, or, while their Mother was sleeping, the Demiurge of himself
gave instructions as to its weight; and on this account it is out of
harmony with their Pleroma, consisting,3170
as it
did, of five hundred shekels of myrrh, five hundred of cassia, two
hundred and fifty of cinnamon, two hundred and fifty of calamus, and oil
in addition, so that it was composed of five ingredients. The
incense3171
also, in like manner, [was compounded] of
stacte, onycha, galbanum, mint, and frankincense, all which do in no
respect, either as to their mixture or weight, harmonize with their
argument. It is therefore unreasonable and altogether absurd [to
maintain] that the types were not preserved in the sublime and more
imposing enactments of the law; but in other points, when any number
coincides with their assertions, to affirm that it was a type of the
things in the Pleroma; while [the truth is, that] every number occurs
with the utmost variety in the Scriptures, so that, should any one desire
it, he might form not only an Ogdoad, and a Decad, and a Duodecad, but
any sort of number from the Scriptures, and then maintain that this was a
type of the system of error devised by himself.
4. But that
this point is true, that that number which is called five, which
agrees in no respect with their argument, and does not harmonize with
their system, nor is suitable for a typical manifestation of the things
in the Pleroma, [yet has a wide prevalence,3172
| 3172 Some such supplement as this seems
requisite, but the syntax in the Latin text is very confused.
| ] will be proved as follows from the Scriptures. Soter is a name
of
five letters; Pater, too, contains five letters; Agape
(love), too, consists of five letters; and our Lord, after3173
blessing the five loaves, fed with them five thousand men. Five
virgins3174
were called wise by the Lord; and, in
like manner, five were styled foolish. Again, five men are said to have
been with the Lord when He obtained testimony3175
from the Father,—namely, Peter, and James, and John, and
Moses, and Elias. The Lord also, as the fifth person, entered into the
apartment of the dead maiden, and raised her up again; for, says [the
Scripture], “He suffered no man to go in, save Peter and
James,3176
| 3176 St. John is here
strangely overlooked. | and the father and mother of the
maiden.”3177
The rich man in hell3178
declared that he had five brothers, to whom he
desired that one rising from the dead should go. The pool from which the
Lord commanded the paralytic man to go into his house, had five porches.
The very form of the cross, too, has five extremities,3179
| 3179 “Fines et summitates;” comp.
Justin Mart., Dial. c. Tryph., 91. | two in length, two
in breadth, and one in the middle, on which [last] the person rests who
is fixed by the nails. Each of our hands has five fingers; we have also
five senses; our internal organs may also be reckoned as five, viz., the
heart, the liver, the lungs, the spleen, and the kidneys. Moreover, even
the whole person may be divided into this number [of parts],—the
head, the breast, the belly, the thighs, and the feet. The human race
passes through five ages first infancy, then boyhood, then youth, then
maturity,3180
| 3180
“Juvenis,” one in the prime of life. | and
then old age. Moses delivered the law to the people in five books. Each
table which he received from God contained five3181
commandments. The veil covering3182
the holy of holies had five pillars. The altar
of burnt-offering also was five cubits in breadth.3183
| 3183 Ex. xxvii. 1;
“altitudo” in the text must be exchanged for
“latitudo.” | Five priests were chosen in the
wilderness,—namely, Aaron,3184
Nadab,
Abiud, Eleazar, Ithamar. The ephod and the breastplate, and other
sacerdotal vestments, were formed out of five3185
materials; for they combined in themselves gold, and blue, and
purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And there were five3186
kings of the Amorites, whom Joshua the son of Nun shut up in a
cave, and directed the people to trample upon their heads. Any one, in
fact, might collect many thousand other things of the same kind, both
with respect to this number and any other he chose to fix upon, either
from the Scriptures, or from the works of nature lying under his
observation.3187
| 3187 [Note the
manly contempt with which our author dismisses a class of similitudes,
which seem, even in our day, to have great attractions for some minds not
otherwise narrow.] | But although such is the case, we do not
therefore affirm that there are five Æons above the Demiurge; nor do we
consecrate the Pentad, as if it were some divine thing; nor do we strive
to establish things that are untenable, nor ravings [such as they indulge
in], by means of that vain kind of labour; nor do we perversely force a
creation well adapted by God [for the ends intended to be served], to
change itself into types of things which have no real existence; nor do
we seek to bring forward impious and abominable doctrines, the detection
and overthrow of which are easy to all possessed of intelligence.
5. For
who can concede to them that the year has three hundred and sixty-five
days only, in order that there may be twelve months of thirty days each,
after the type of the twelve Æons, when the type is in fact altogether
out of harmony [with the antitype]? For, in the one case, each of the
Æons is a thirtieth part of the entire Pleroma, while in the other they
declare that a month is the twelfth part of a year. If, indeed, the year
were divided into thirty parts, and the month into twelve, then a fitting
type might be regarded as having been found for their fictitious system.
But, on the contrary, as the case really stands, their Pleroma is divided
into thirty parts, and a portion of it into twelve; while again the whole
year is divided into twelve parts, and a certain portion of it into
thirty. The Saviour therefore acted unwisely in constituting the month a
type of the entire Pleroma, but the year a type only of that Duodecad
which exists in the Pleroma; for it was more fitting to divide the year
into thirty parts, even as the whole Pleroma is divided, but the month
into twelve, just as the Æons are in their Pleroma. Moreover, they
divide the entire Pleroma into three portions,—namely, into an
Ogdoad, a Decad, and a Duodecad. But our year is divided into four parts,
—namely, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. And again, not even
do the months, which they maintain to be a type of the Triacontad,
consist precisely of thirty days, but some have more and some less,
inasmuch as five days remain to them as an overplus.3188
| 3188 365 (the days of the year)—12
× 30 + 5. | The
day, too, does not always consist precisely of twelve hours, but rises
from nine3189
| 3189 These hours of
daylight, at the winter and summer solstice respectively, correspond to
the latitude of Lyons, 45° 45´ N., where Irenæus resided. | to
fifteen, and then falls again from fifteen to nine. It cannot therefore
be held that months of thirty days each were so formed for the sake of
[typifying]
the Æons; for, in that case, they would have
consisted precisely of thirty days: nor, again, the days of these months,
that by means of twelve hours they might symbolize the twelve Æons; for,
in that case, they would always have consisted precisely of twelve
hours.
6. But further, as to their calling material substances
“on the left hand,” and maintaining that those things which
are thus on the left hand of necessity fall into corruption, while they
also affirm that the Saviour came to the lost sheep, in order to transfer
it to the right hand, that is, to the ninety and nine sheep which were in
safety, and perished not, but continued within the fold, yet were of the
left hand,3190
| 3190
“Alluding,” says Harvey, “to a custom among the
ancients, of summing the numbers below 100 by various positions of the
left hand and its fingers; 100 and upwards being reckoned by
corresponding gestures of the right hand. The ninety and nine sheep,
therefore, that remained quietly in the fold were summed upon the left
hand, and Gnostics professed that they were typical of the true spiritual
seed; but Scripture always places the workers of iniquity of the left
hand, and in the Gnostic theory the evil principle of matter was
sinistral, therefore,” etc., as above. | it follows that
they must acknowledge that the enjoyment3191
| 3191 “Levamen,” corresponding probably to the
Greek ἀνάπαυσιν.
| of rest did not imply salvation. And that which has not in like
manner the same number, they will be compelled to acknowledge as
belonging to the left hand, that is, to corruption. This Greek word Agape (love), then, according to
the letters of the Greeks, by means of which reckoning is carried on
among them, having a numerical value of ninety-three,3192
| 3192 ᾽Αγάπη
( α = 1, γ = 3, α = 1, π = 80, η = 8 ) = 93.
| is in like manner assigned to the place of rest on the left hand.
Aletheia
(truth), too, having in like manner, according to the principle indicated
above, a numerical value of sixty-four,3193
| 3193 ᾽Αλήθεια ( α = 1, λ = 30, η = 8, θ = 9, ε = 5, ι = 10, α = 1 ) = 64.
| exists among material substances. And thus, in fine, they will be
compelled to acknowledge that all those sacred names which do not reach a
numerical value of one hundred, but only contain the numbers summed by
the left hand, are corruptible and material.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
