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La cité de dieu

CHAPITRE III.

GÉNÉALOGIE DES TROIS ENFANTS DE NOÉ.

Il faut considérer maintenant la généalogie des enfants de Noé, et en dire ce qui sera nécessaire pour marquer le progrès de l’une et de l’autre cité. L’Ecriture commence par Japhet, le plus jeune des fils de Noé, qui eut huit enfants¹, l’un desquels en eut trois, l’autre quatre, ce qui fait quinze en tout. Cham, le second fils de Noé, en eut quatre, plus cinq petits-fils, dont l’un lui donna deux arrière-petits-fils, ce qui fait onze. Après quoi l’Ecriture revient à Cham et dit: « Chus (qui est l’aîné de Cham) engendra Nebroth, qui était un géant et un grand chasseur contre le Seigneur; d’où est venu le proverbe : Grand chasseur contre le Seigneur comme Nebroth. Les principales villes de son royaume étaient Babylone, Orech, Archad et Chalanné, dans le territoire de Sennaar. De cette contrée sortit Assur, qui bâtit Ninive, Robooth, Halach et, entre Ninive et Halach, la grande ville de Dasem² ». Or, ce Chus, père du géant Nebroth, est nommé le premier entre les enfants de Cham, et l’Ecriture avait déjà fait mention de cinq de ses fils et de deux de ses petits-fils. Il faut donc qu’il ait engendré ce géant après la naissance de ses petits-fils, ou, ce qui est plus probable, que l’Ecriture l’ait cité à part, parce qu’il était très-puissant; car en même temps elle parle aussi de son royaume, qui prit naissance dans la fameuse Babylone et autres villes ou contrées déjà citées. Quant à ce qu’elle dit d’Assur, qu’il sortit de cette contrée de Sennaar, qui dépendait du royaume de Nebroth, et qu’il bâtit Ninive et les autres villes dont elle fait mention, cela n’arriva que longtemps après; mais elle en parle ici en passant et par occasion, à cause de l’empire fameux des Assyriens que Ninus, fils de Bélus et fondateur de cette grande ville de Ninive, qui prit son nom, étendit merveilleusement. Pour Assur, d’où sont sortis les Assyriens, il n’était pas fils de Cham, mais de Sem, aîné de Noé; d’où II paraît que, dans la suite, des descendants de Sem possédèrent le royaume de Nebroth, et, s’étendant plus loin, fondèrent d’autres villes dont Ninive fut la première. De là, l’Ecriture remonte à un autre fils de Cham, nommé Mesraïm, et à ses sept enfants, et elle en parle, non comme de particuliers, mais comme de nations, disant que de la sixième sortit celle des Philistins; ce qui en fait huit. Ensuite elle retourne à Chanaan, en qui Cham fut maudit, et fait mention d’onze de ses fils et de certaines contrées qu’ils occupaient. Ainsi toute la postérité de Cham monte à trente et une personnes. Reste à parler des enfants de Sem, aîné de Noé; car c’est lui qui termine cette généalogie. Mais il y a ici quelque obscurité dans la Genèse, où il n’est pas aisé de découvrir quel fut le premier fils de Sem. Voici ce qu’elle dit : « De Sem, père de tous les enfants d’Héber et frère aîné de Japhet, naquirent Ela, etc.³ » Par là, il semblerait qu’Héber fût fils immédiat de Sem, et cependant il n’est que le cinquième de ses descendants. Sem, entre autres fils, engendra Arphaxat, Arphaxat engendra Caïnan⁴, Caïnan engendra Sala, et Sala engendra Héber. L’Ecriure a voulu faire entendre par là que Sem est le père de tous ses descendants, tant fils que petits-fils et autres de sa race; et ce n’est des Septante et par saint Luc (III, 36), ne se trouve ni dans le texte hébreu, ni dans la Vulgate.

pas sans raison qu’elle parle d’Héber avant que de parler des fils de Sem, quoiqu’il ni soit, comme je viens de le dire, que le vingtième de sa race, à cause que c’est de lui que les Hébreux ont pris leur nom, bien qu d’autres veuillent que ce soit d’Abrabam, mais avec moins d’apparence⁵. Ainsi l’Ecriture nomme d’abord six enfants de Sem, l’un desquels en eut quatre; puis elle fait mention d’un autre fils de Sem qui lui engendra un petit-fils, et celui-ci un arrière-petit-fils dont sortit Héber. Héber eut deux fils, dont l’un fut nommé Phalec, c’est-à-dire Divisant, à cause, dit l’Ecriture, que de son temps la terre fut divisée; l’autre eut douze fils; de sorte que toute la postérité de Sem est de vingt personnes. De cette manière, tous les descendants des trois fils de Nué, c’est-à-dire quinze de Japhet, trente et un de Cham et vingt-sept de Sem, font soixante-treize. Après, l’Ecriture ajoute : « Voilà les enfants de Sem selon leurs familles, leurs langues, leurs contrées et leurs nations⁶ ». Et parlant de tous ensemble : « Voilà les familles des enfants de Noé, selon leurs générations et leurs « peuples : d’elles fut peuplée la terre après le déluge⁷ ». On voit par là que c’est de nations et non d’hommes en particulier que parle l’Ecriture, lorsqu’elle fait mention de ces soixante-treize, ou plutôt soixante-douze personnes, comme nous le montrerons ci-après, et que c’est pour cela qu’elle en a omis plusieurs de la postérité de Noé, non qu’ils n’aient eu des enfants aussi bien que les autres, mais parce qu’ils n’ont pas fait souche comme eux et n’ont pas été pères d’un peuple.

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The City of God

Chapter 3.--Of the Generations of the Three Sons of Noah.

We must therefore introduce into this work an explanation of the generations of the three sons of Noah, in so far as that may illustrate the progress in time of the two cities. Scripture first mentions that of the youngest son, who is called Japheth: he had eight sons, ¹ and by two of these sons seven grandchildren, three by one son, four by the other; in all, fifteen descendants. Ham, Noah's middle son, had four sons, and by one of them five grandsons, and by one of these two great-grandsons; in all, eleven. After enumerating these, Scripture returns to the first of the sons, and says, "Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a giant on the earth. He was a giant hunter against the Lord God: wherefore they say, As Nimrod the giant hunter against the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Assur, and built Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: this was a great city." Now this Cush, father of the giant Nimrod, is the first-named among the sons of Ham, to whom five sons and two grandsons are ascribed. But he either begat this giant after his grandsons were born, or, which is more credible, Scripture speaks of him separately on account of his eminence; for mention is also made of his kingdom, which began with that magnificent city Babylon, and the other places, whether cities or districts, mentioned along with it. But what is recorded of the land of Shinar which belonged to Nimrod's kingdom, to wit, that Assur went forth from it and built Nineveh and the other cities mentioned with it, happened long after; but he takes occasion to speak of it here on account of the grandeur of the Assyrian kingdom, which was wonderfully extended by Ninus son of Belus, and founder of the great city Nineveh, which was named after him, Nineveh, from Ninus. But Assur, father of the Assyrian, was not one of the sons of Ham, Noah's son, but is found among the sons of Shem, his eldest son. Whence it appears that among Shem's offspring there arose men who afterwards took possession of that giant's kingdom, and advancing from it, founded other cities, the first of which was called Nineveh, from Ninus. From him Scripture returns to Ham's other son, Mizraim; and his sons are enumerated, not as seven individuals, but as seven nations. And from the sixth, as if from the sixth son, the race called the Philistines are said to have sprung; so that there are in all eight. Then it returns again to Canaan, in whose person Ham was cursed; and his eleven sons are named. Then the territories they occupied, and some of the cities, are named. And thus, if we count sons and grandsons, there are thirty-one of Ham's descendants registered.

It remains to mention the sons of Shem, Noah's eldest son; for to him this genealogical narrative gradually ascends from the youngest. But in the commencement of the record of Shem's sons there is an obscurity which calls for explanation, since it is closely connected with the object of our investigation. For we read, "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Heber, the brother of Japheth the elder, were children born." ² This is the order of the words: And to Shem was born Heber, even to himself, that is, to Shem himself was born Heber, and Shem is the father of all his children. We are intended to understand that Shem is the patriarch of all his posterity who were to be mentioned, whether sons, grandsons, great-grandsons, or descendants at any remove. For Shem did not beget Heber, who was indeed in the fifth generation from him. For Shem begat, among other sons, Arphaxad; Arphaxad begat Cainan, Cainan begat Salah, Salah begat Heber. And it was with good reason that he was named first among Shem's offspring, taking precedence even of his sons, though only a grandchild of the fifth generation; for from him, as tradition says, the Hebrews derived their name, though the other etymology which derives the name from Abraham (as if Abrahews) may possibly be correct. But there can be little doubt that the former is the right etymology, and that they were called after Heber, Heberews, and then, dropping a letter, Hebrews; and so was their language called Hebrew, which was spoken by none but the people of Israel among whom was the city of God, mysteriously prefigured in all the people, and truly present in the saints. Six of Shem's sons then are first named, then four grandsons born to one of these sons; then it mentions another son of Shem, who begat a grandson; and his son, again, or Shem's great-grandson, was Heber. And Heber begat two sons, and called the one Peleg, which means "dividing;" and Scripture subjoins the reason of this name, saying, "for in his days was the earth divided." What this means will afterwards appear. Heber's other son begat twelve sons; consequently all Shem's descendants are twenty-seven. The total number of the progeny of the three sons of Noah is seventy-three, fifteen by Japheth, thirty-one by Ham, twenty-seven by Shem. Then Scripture adds, "These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations." And so of the whole number "These are the families of the sons of Noah after their generations, in their nations; and by these were the isles of the nations dispersed through the earth after the flood." From which we gather that the seventy-three (or rather, as I shall presently show, seventy-two) were not individuals, but nations. For in a former passage, when the sons of Japheth were enumerated, it is said in conclusion, "By these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his language, in their tribes, and in their nations."

But nations are expressly mentioned among the sons of Ham, as I showed above. "Mizraim begat those who are called Ludim;" and so also of the other seven nations. And after enumerating all of them, it concludes, "These are the sons of Ham, in their families, according to their languages, in their territories, and in their nations." The reason, then, why the children of several of them are not mentioned, is that they belonged by birth to other nations, and did not themselves become nations. Why else is it, that though eight sons are reckoned to Japheth, the sons of only two of these are mentioned; and though four are reckoned to Ham, only three are spoken of as having sons; and though six are reckoned to Shem, the descendants of only two of these are traced? Did the rest remain childless? We cannot suppose so; but they did not produce nations so great as to warrant their being mentioned, but were absorbed in the nations to which they belonged by birth.