Ephrem the Syrian — Commentary on Scripture

Genesis 8:21

And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

“The Lord smelled” not the smell of the flesh or the smoke of wood, but rather he looked out and saw the simplicity of heart with which Noah offered the sacrifice from all and on behalf of all. And his Lord spoke to him, as he desired that Noah hear, “Because of your righteousness, a remnant was preserved and did not perish in that flood that took place. And because of your sacrifice that was from all flesh and on behalf of all flesh, I will never again bring a flood upon the earth.” God thus bound himself beforehand by this promise so that even if mankind were constantly to follow the evil thought of their inclination, he would never again bring a flood upon them.

Genesis 8:22

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

And because there was neither planting nor harvest during that year and the seasonal cycles had been disturbed, God restored to the earth that which had been taken away in his anger. God then said, “All the days of the earth, planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease from the earth.” For throughout the entire year, until the earth dried up, winter, with no summer, had been upon them.

Genesis 9:4

But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

God also blessed Noah and his sons that they might be fruitful and multiply and that fear of them should fall upon all flesh both in the sea and on dry land. “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life.” That means you shall eat no flesh that has not been slaughtered and whose blood, which is its life, has not been drained.

Genesis 9:5-6

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

God requires the blood now and in the future. He requires it now in the case of a death that he decreed for a murderer, and also a stoning with which a goring bull is to be stoned. At the end, at the time of the resurrection, God will require that animals return all they ate from the flesh of man. God said, “From the hand of a man and of his brother I will require the life of a man,” just as satisfaction for the blood of Abel was required from Cain, that is, “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.”

Genesis 9:8-11

And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

And his Lord spoke to [Noah], as he desired that Noah hear, “Because of your righteousness, a remnant was preserved and did not perish in that flood that took place. And because of your sacrifice that was from all flesh and on behalf of all flesh, I will never again bring a flood upon the earth.” God thus bound himself beforehand by this promise so that even if mankind were constantly to follow the evil thoughts of their inclination, he would never again bring a flood upon them.

Genesis 9:12-15

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

After these things God made a covenant with Noah and with all those who came out of the ark with him, saying, “All flesh shall never again perish in the waters of a flood. I will set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the eternal covenant between God and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Genesis 9:18-21

And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

Noah’s drunkenness was not from an excess of wine but because it had been a long time since he had drunk any wine. In the ark he had drunk no wine. Although all flesh was going to perish, Noah was not permitted to bring any wine onto the ark. During the year after the flood Noah did not drink any wine. In that first year after he left the ark, he did not plant a vineyard, for he came out of the ark on the twenty-seventh of Iyor, the time when the fruit should be starting to mature and not the time for planting a vineyard. Therefore, seeing that it was in the third year that he planted the vineyard from the grape stones that he brought with him on the ark and that it was three or even four years before they would have become a productive vineyard, there were then at least six years during which the just one had not tasted any wine.

Genesis 9:22-25

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

Noah cursed Canaan, saying, “Cursed be Canaan. A slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.” But what sin could Canaan have committed even if he had been right behind his father when Ham observed the nakedness of Noah? Some say that because Ham had been blessed along with those who entered the ark and came out of it, Noah did not curse Ham himself, even though his son, who was cursed, grieved him greatly. Others, however, say from the fact that Scripture says, “Noah knew everything that his youngest son had done to him,” it is clear that it was not Ham who observed his nakedness, for Ham was the middle son and not the youngest. For this reason they say that Canaan, the youngest, told of the nakedness of the old man. Then Ham went out and jokingly told his brothers. For this reason then, even though it might be thought that Canaan was cursed unjustly in that he did what he did in his youth, still he was cursed justly for he was not cursed in the place of another. Noah knew that Canaan would deserve the curse in his old age, or else he would not have been cursed in his youth.

Genesis 9:26-29

And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

After Ham had been cursed through his one son, Noah blessed Shem and Japheth and said, “May God increase Japheth, and may he dwell in the tent of Shem, and let Canaan be their slave.” Japheth increased and became powerful in his inheritance in the north and in the west. And God dwelt in the tent of Abraham, the descendant of Shem, and Canaan became their slave when in the days of Joshua son of Nun, the Israelites destroyed the dwelling places of Canaan and pressed their leaders into bondage.

Genesis 10:6-14

And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

Concerning Nimrod, Moses said, “He was a mighty hunter before the Lord,” because, according to the will of the Lord, it was he who fought with each of these nations and chased them out from there, so that they would go out and settle in the regions that had been set apart for them by God. “Therefore it is said, like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” One used to bless a chief or a ruler by saying, “May you be like Nimrod, a mighty hunter who was victorious in the battles of the Lord.”

Genesis 11:9

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

It is likely that they lost their common language when they received these new languages. For if their original language had not perished their first deed would not have come to nothing. It was when they lost their original language, which was lost by all the nations, with one exception, that their first building came to nought. In addition, because of their new languages, which made them foreigners to each other and incapable of understanding one another, war broke out among them on account of the divisions that the languages brought among them. Thus war broke out among those who had been building that fortified city out of fear of others. And all those who had been keeping themselves away from the city were scattered throughout the entire earth. It was Nimrod who scattered them. It was also he who seized Babel and became its first ruler. If Nimrod had not scattered them each to his own place, he would not have been able to take that place where they all had lived before.

Genesis 12:11-15

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:

Abraham gave a human reason as human beings do. Nevertheless, because Sarah thought it was Abraham who was sterile, she was taken to the palace. [This happened] first, so that she might learn that it was she who was barren; second, so that her love for her husband might be seen, for she did not exchange [her husband] for a king while she was a sojourner; and [last], so that the mystery of her descendants might be prefigured in her. Just as she had no love for the kingdom of Egypt, they would not love the idols, the garlic or the onions of Egypt. The entire house of Pharaoh was struck down by Sarah’s deliverance. So too would all Egypt be struck down by the deliverance of her descendants.

Genesis 14:18

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

This Melchizedek is Shem, who became a king due to his greatness; he was the head of fourteen nations. In addition, “he was a priest.” He received this from Noah, his father, through the rights of succession. Shem lived not only to the time of Abraham, as Scripture says, but even to [the time of] Jacob and Esau, the grandsons of Abraham. It was to him that Rebekah went to ask and was told, “Two nations are in your womb, and the older shall be a servant to the younger.” Rebekah would not have bypassed her husband, who had been delivered at the high place, or her father-in-law, to whom revelations of the divinity came continually, and gone straight to ask Melchizedek unless she had learned of his greatness from Abraham or Abraham’s son.

Genesis 15:17

And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

Abraham thought, “Perhaps these kings will destroy each other, or other peoples might rise up and destroy them and empty out the land for us. Perhaps my seed will become strong and will go and slay its inhabitants and possess it, or maybe the land will swallow [its inhabitants] because of their deeds. Perhaps the [inhabitants] might go into exile into another land because of hunger or rumor or some such reason.” Abraham sought to know which of these [would happen], but he had no doubts whatsoever.Then God, who knew what he sought, showed him what he did not seek in addition to what he did seek. For by the offering that Abraham made [when] the birds came down and he chased them away, God clearly showed him that his descendants would sin and be oppressed but would be saved through the prayers of their righteous ones. And by the pot of fire that came down, God made known that even if all their righteous ones should come to an end, deliverance from heaven would come to them. By the three-year-old calf and the three-year-old ram and the three-year-old goat [God showed him] that either the…

Abraham thought, “Perhaps these kings will destroy each other, or other peoples might rise up and destroy them and empty out the land for us. Perhaps my seed will become strong and will go and slay its inhabitants and possess it, or maybe the land will swallow [its inhabitants] because of their deeds. Perhaps the [inhabitants] might go into exile into another land because of hunger or rumor or some such reason.” Abraham sought to know which of these [would happen], but he had no doubts whatsoever.Then God, who knew what he sought, showed him what he did not seek in addition to what he did seek. For by the offering that Abraham made [when] the birds came down and he chased them away, God clearly showed him that his descendants would sin and be oppressed but would be saved through the prayers of their righteous ones. And by the pot of fire that came down, God made known that even if all their righteous ones should come to an end, deliverance from heaven would come to them. By the three-year-old calf and the three-year-old ram and the three-year-old goat [God showed him] that either they would be delivered after three generations or that kings, priests and prophets would soon arise from among his descendants. By the limbs of the animals that Abraham cut in two [God] depicted their many tribes, and by the bird that Abraham did not cut in two [God] signified their unity.

Genesis 17:17

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

Now Abraham was not guilty of any doubt by his laughter, for he showed his love toward Ishmael in what he said. He had clung to this hope for twenty-five years. Abraham had manifested his faith in every vision that had come to him. However great his contest with barrenness became, he manifested the victory of his faith. But when old age was added to the barrenness, he laughed in his heart. That his Lord would do these two things for him was a marvel to him.

Genesis 18:2

And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

Although Abraham ran from the tent toward them as if toward strangers, he ran to receive those strangers with love. His love for strangers was thus proved by the haste with which he ran to meet those strangers. Therefore the Lord, who had just appeared to him at the door of the tent, now appeared to Abraham clearly in one of the three. Abraham then fell down and worshiped him, seeking from him in whom majesty dwells that he condescend to enter his house and bless his dwelling. “If I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” God did not oppose him, for he said, “Do as you have said.” Then Abraham ran to Sarah [telling her] to make three measures of wheat, and then he ran to the herd to get a fatted calf.

Genesis 18:7

And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it.

The bread and meat, which was in abundance, was not to satisfy the angels but rather so that the blessing might be distributed to all the members of his household. After the angels had washed and sat down beneath a tree, “Abraham brought and set before them what he had prepared”; he did not dare recline with them but like a servant “stood apart from them.”

Genesis 18:9 · 2 passages

And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.

“Then [God] said of Sarah, ‘At this time I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.’ ” But Sarah, even though Abraham was standing behind her to strengthen her, “laughed and said, ‘After I have grown old shall I [again] have youthfulness? My husband is also old.’ ” A sign would have been given her if she had asked to hear or to see and then believe: first, because she was a woman, old and barren; and second, because nothing like this had ever been done before. God then gave a sign specifically to her who had not asked for a sign, and said, “Why did you laugh, Sarah, and say, ‘Am I, who am old, to bear a child?’ ” But Sarah, instead of accepting the sign that was given to her, persisted, by this falsehood, in denying the true sign that had been given to her. Even though she had denied it because she was afraid, nevertheless in order to make her know that a false excuse did not convince him, God said to her, “But you did laugh in your heart; lo, even your heart is denying the foolishness of your tongue.”

After they had eaten, “they inquired about Sarah.” She, who even in her old age had preserved her modesty, came out from inside the tent to the door of the tent. From Abraham’s haste and from the silence that Abraham imposed on everyone with his gestures, those of his household knew that these who, because of the man of God, allowed their feet to be washed like men were not men.

Genesis 18:16

And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

After the three men promised Sarah fruit, “they arose, and they looked toward Sodom.” It was not revealed to Sarah that they were going to Sodom lest, on the same day that they had given her joy in the promise that a son was to be hers, she be grieving over her brother on account of that sentence of wrath decreed on Sodom and the nearby villages. They hid this from Sarah lest she never cease weeping, but they revealed it to Abraham so that he not cease praying and so that it be announced to the world that nowhere in Sodom was there found a single just man for whose sake it might be saved.