Edition Hide
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

36.

Dicet aliquis: Cur non potius ita de deo suo praesumpsit Abraham, ut fateri non timeret uxorem? Neque enim deus ab illo mortem non poterat repellere, quam timebat, eumque cum coniuge sua ab omni pernicie in illa peregrinatione tutari, ut nec uxor eius, quamvis esset pulcherrima, appeteretur ab aliquo nec propter illam ipse necaretur. p. 629,23 Poterat sane hoc efficere deus; quis ita sit demens, ut hoc neget? Sed si interrogatus Abraham illam feminam indicasset uxorem, duas res tuendas committeret deo, et suam vitam et coniugis pudicitiam. Pertinet autem ad sanam doctrinam: quando habet, quod faciat homo, non temptare dominum deum suum. Neque enim et ipse salvator non poterat tueri discipulos suos, quibus tamen ait: Si vos persecuti fuerint in una civitate, fugite in aliam; cuius rei prior exemplum praebuit. Nam cum potestatem haberet ponendi animam suam nec eam poneret, nisi cum vellet, in Aegyptum tamen infans portantibus parentibus fugit. p. 630,7 Et ad diem festum non evidenter, sed latenter ascendit, cum alias palam loqueretur Iudaeis irascentibus et inimicissimo animo audientibus nec tamen valentibus in eum mittere manus, quia nondum venerat hora eius, non cuius horae necessitate cogeretur mori, sed cuius horae oportunitate dignaretur occidi. Qui ergo palam docendo et arguendo et tamen inimicorum rabiem valere in se aliquid non sinendo dei demonstrabat potestatem, idem tamen fugiendo et latendo hominis instruebat infirmitatem, ne deum temptare audeat, quando habet, quod faciat, ut quod cavere oportet evadat. p. 630,16 Neque enim et apostolus Paulus desperaverat adiutorium protectionemque divinam fidemque perdiderat, quando per murum in sporta submissus est, ut inimicorum manus effugeret. Non ergo in deum non credendo sic fugit, sed deum temptando sic fugere noluisset, cum sic fugere potuisset. Proinde cum inter ignotos propter excellentissimam pulchritudinem Sarae et eius pudicitia et mariti vita esset in dubio nec utrumque tueri posset Abraham, verumtamen unum horum posset, id est vitam, ne deum suum temptaret, fecit quod potuit; quod autem non potuit, illi commisit. Qui ergo se hominem occultare non valuit, maritum se occultavit, ne occideretur; uxorem deo credidit, ne pollueretur.

Translation Hide
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

36.

Some may say, Why did not Abraham's confidence in God prevent his being afraid to confess his wife? God could have warded off from him the death which he feared, and could have protected both him and his wife while among strangers, so that Sara, although very fair, should not have been desired by any one, nor Abraham killed on account of her. Of course, God could have done this; it would be absurd to deny it. But if, in reply to the people, Abraham had told them that Sara was his wife, his trust in God would have included both his own life and the chastity of Sara. Now it is part of sound doctrine, that when a man has any means in his power, he should not tempt the Lord his God. So it was not because the Saviour was unable to protect His disciples that He told them, "When ye are persecuted in one city, flee to another." ¹ And He Himself set the example. For though He had the power of laying down His own life, and did not lay it down till He chose to do so, still when an infant He fled to Egypt, carried by His parents; ² and when He went up to the feast, He went not openly, but secretly, though at other times He spoke openly to the Jews, who in spite of their rage and hostility could not lay hands on Him, because His hour was not come, ³ --not the hour when He would be obliged to die, but the hour when He would consider it seasonable to be put to death. Thus He who displayed divine power by teaching and reproving openly, without allowing the rage of his enemies to hurt Him, did also, by escaping and concealing Himself, exhibit the conduct becoming the feebleness of men, that they should not tempt God when they have any means in their power of escaping threatened danger. So also in the apostle, it was not from despair of divine assistance and protection, or from loss of faith, that he was let down over the wall in a basket, in order to escape being taken by his enemies: ⁴ not from want of faith in God did he thus escape, but because not to escape, when this escape was possible, would have been tempting God. Accordingly, when Abraham was among strangers, and when, on account of the remarkable beauty of Sara, both his life and her chastity were in danger, since it was in his power to protect not both of these, but one only,--his life, namely,--to avoid tempting God he did what he could; and in what he could not do, he trusted to God. Unable to conceal his being a man, he concealed his being a husband, lest he should be put to death; trusting to God to preserve his wife's purity.