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| What Was Prophetically Prefigured in the Sons of Noah.
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Chapter 2.—What Was Prophetically
Prefigured in the Sons of Noah.
The things which then were hidden
are now sufficiently revealed by the actual events which have
followed. For who can carefully and intelligently consider these
things without recognizing them accomplished in Christ? Shem, of
whom Christ was born in the flesh, means “named.” And what is
of greater name than Christ, the fragrance of whose name is now
everywhere perceived, so that even prophecy sings of it beforehand,
comparing it in the Song of Songs,861
to ointment poured forth? Is it
not also in the houses of Christ, that is, in the churches, that
the “enlargement” of the nations dwells? For Japheth means
“enlargement.” And Ham (i.e., hot), who was the middle
son of Noah, and, as it were, separated himself from both, and
remained between them, neither belonging to the first-fruits of
Israel nor to the fullness of the Gentiles, what does he signify
but the tribe of heretics, hot with the spirit, not of patience,
but of impatience, with which the breasts of heretics are wont to
blaze, and with which they disturb the peace of the saints? But
even the heretics yield an advantage to those that make
proficiency, according to the apostle’s saying,
“There
must also be heresies, that they which are approved may be made
manifest among you.”862
Whence, too, it is elsewhere
said, “The son that receives instruction will be wise, and he
uses the foolish as his servant.”863
For while the hot restlessness of
heretics stirs questions about many articles of the catholic faith,
the necessity of defending them forces us both to investigate them
more accurately, to understand them more clearly, and to proclaim
them more earnestly; and the question mooted by an adversary
becomes the occasion of instruction. However, not only those who
are openly separated from the church, but also all who glory in the
Christian name, and at the same time lead abandoned lives, may
without absurdity seem to be figured by Noah’s middle son: for
the passion of Christ, which was signified by that man’s
nakedness, is at once proclaimed by their profession, and
dishonored by their wicked conduct. Of such, therefore, it has
been said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”864
And
therefore was Ham cursed in his son, he being, as it were, his
fruit. So, too, this son of his, Canaan, is fitly interpreted
“their movement,” which is nothing else than their work. But
Shem and Japheth, that is to say, the circumcision and
uncircumcision, or, as the apostle otherwise calls them, the Jews
and Greeks, but called and justified, having somehow discovered the
nakedness of their father (which signifies the Saviour’s
passion), took a garment and laid it upon their backs, and entered
backwards and covered their father’s nakedness, without their
seeing what their reverence hid. For we both honor the passion of
Christ as accomplished for us, and we hate the crime of the Jews
who crucified Him. The garment signifies the sacrament, their
backs the memory of things past: for the church celebrates the
passion of Christ as already accomplished, and no longer to be
looked forward to, now that Japheth already dwells in the
habitations of Shem, and their wicked brother between
them.
But the wicked brother is, in the
person of his son (i.e., his work), the boy, or slave, of
his good brothers, when good men make a skillful use of bad men,
either for the exercise of their patience or for their advancement
in wisdom. For the apostle testifies that there are some who
preach Christ from no pure motives; “but,” says he, “whether
in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do
rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.”865
For it is Christ Himself who
planted the vine of which the prophet says, “The vine of the Lord
of hosts is the house of Israel;”866
and He drinks of its wine, whether
we thus understand that cup of which He says, “Can ye drink of
the cup that I shall drink of?”867
and, “Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me,”868
by which He obviously means His
passion. Or, as wine is the fruit of the vine, we may prefer to
understand that from this vine, that is to say, from the race of
Israel, He has assumed flesh and blood that He might suffer; “and
he was drunken,” that is, He suffered; “and was naked,” that
is, His weakness appeared in His suffering, as the apostle says,
“though He was crucified through weakness.”869
Wherefore the same apostle says,
“The weakness of God is stronger than men; and the foolishness of
God is wiser than men.”870
And when to the expression “he
was naked” Scripture adds “in his house,” it elegantly
intimates that Jesus was to suffer the cross and death at the hands
of His own household, His own kith and kin, the Jews. This
passion of Christ is only externally and verbally professed by the
reprobate, for what they profess, they do not understand. But the
elect hold in the inner man this so great mystery, and honor
inwardly in the heart this weakness and foolishness of God. And
of this there is a figure in Ham going out to proclaim his
father’s nakedness; while Shem and Japheth, to cover or honor it,
went in, that is to say, did it inwardly.
These secrets of divine Scripture
we investigate as well as we can. All will not accept our
interpretation with equal confidence, but all hold it certain that
these things were neither done nor recorded without some
foreshadowing of future events, and that they are to be referred
only to Christ and His church, which is the city of God, proclaimed
from the very beginning of human history by figures which we now
see everywhere accomplished. From the blessing of the two sons of
Noah, and the cursing of the middle son, down to Abraham, or for
more than a thousand years, there is, as I have said, no mention of
any righteous persons who worshipped God. I do not therefore
conclude that there were none; but it had been tedious to mention
every one, and would have displayed historical accuracy rather than
prophetic foresight. The object of the writer of these sacred
books, or rather of the Spirit of God in him, is not only to record
the past, but to depict the future, so far as it regards the city
of God; for whatever is said of those who are not its citizens, is
given either for her instruction, or as a foil to enhance her
glory.
Yet we are not to suppose that all that is recorded has
some signification; but those things which have no signification of
their own are interwoven for the sake of the things which are
significant. It is only the ploughshare that cleaves the soil;
but to effect this, other parts of the plough are requisite. It
is only the strings in harps and other musical instruments which
produce melodious sounds; but that they may do so, there are other
parts of the instrument which are not indeed struck by those who
sing, but are connected with the strings which are struck, and
produce musical notes. So in this prophetic history some things
are narrated which have no significance, but are, as it were, the
framework to which the significant things are attached. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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