Miscellanies 2.19.99
Summary: Noah was saved by devotion to God; of Abraham's many children only Isaac inherited, and of Isaac's twins the younger received the blessing, a prophetic type; all things belong to the wise, who long for the one through whom all things were made.
Greek text · Stählin 2:167
Νῶε δὲ ὁ μὴ οὕτω γενόμενος ὡς ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἐπισκοπῇ θείᾳ διασῴζεται· φέρων γὰρ αὑτὸν ἀνέθηκε τῷ θεῷ. τόν τε Ἀβραὰμ ἐκ τριῶν παιδοποιησάμενον γυναικῶν οὐ διʼ ἡδονῆς ἀπόλαυσιν, διʼ ἐλπίδα δέ, οἶμαι, τοῦ πληθῦναι τὸ γένος ἐν ἀρχῇ, εἷς μόνος διαδέχεται κληρονόμος τῶν πατρῴων ἀγαθῶν, οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι διῳκίσθησαν τῆς συγγενείας· ἔκ τε αὐτοῦ διδύμων γενομένων ὁ νεώτερος κληρονομεῖ εὐάρεστος τῷ πατρὶ γενόμενος, καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς λαμβάνει, δουλεύει δὲ ὁ πρεσβύτερος αὐτῷ· ἀγαθὸν γὰρ μέγιστον τῷ φαύλῳ τὸ μὴ αὐτεξούσιον. ἡ δὲ οἰκονομία αὕτη καὶ προφητικὴ καὶ τυπική. ὅτι δὲ τοῦ σοφοῦ πάντα ἐστί, σαφῶς μηνύει λέγων· διότι ἠλέησέν με ὁ θεός, ἔστι μοι πάντα. ἑνὸς γὰρ δεῖν ὀρέγεσθαι διδάσκει, διʼ οὗ τὰ πάντα γέγονεν καὶ τοῖς ἀξίοις τὰ ἐπηγγελμένα νέμεται.
English · Claude translation
But Noah, who did not become like Adam, was saved by divine oversight; for he offered himself freely to God. And of Abraham, who had children by three women, not for the enjoyment of pleasure but, I think, in the hope of multiplying the race at the beginning, only one succeeded as heir of the father's goods, while the others were settled away from the family. And of the twins born from him, the younger inherits, having become pleasing to his father, and receives the blessings, while the elder serves him; for it is the greatest good for a worthless man not to be his own master. This arrangement is both prophetic and typical. And that all things belong to the wise man he clearly shows, saying: “Because God has had mercy on me, I have all things.” For he teaches that we must long for one thing, through which all things came to be and the promised things are distributed to the worthy.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions and quotations are Gen 6:8–9, Gen 16; 21; 25:1–6 (Abraham's three wives: Sarah, Hagar, Keturah), Gen 25:23; 27, and Gen 33:11 (LXX, Jacob). “Of the twins born from him” means from Isaac, Abraham's heir.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misencoded letter and stray punctuation in the digital text; wrong breathing on εἷς): εἶς μόνος διαδέχεται → εἷς μόνος διαδέχεται; τῶν πατρῴων ἀγαθῶι·, οἱ δὲ → τῶν πατρῴων ἀγαθῶν, οἱ δὲ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.19.99 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/19/99/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.19.99 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/19/99/).
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