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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume I

Book Three — Paradise

QUESTION III. How great the place of Paradise was, and why it was created by God, when it would be of little use to man

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QUESTION III. How great the place of Paradise was, and why it was created by God, when it would be of little use to man.1

QUAESTIO III. Quantus fuerit locus Paradisi, et cur sit a Deo conditus, parvo usui futurus homini.

DE magnitudine Paradisi nihil certi nisi frivolis et futilibus coniecturis dici potest. Nam quod scripsit Ephraem, terram Paradisi (undique circumplexam Oceanum) longe maiorem esse nostro terrarum orbe, supra confutatum est. Alii probant amplissimum fuisse Paradisi locum, argumento fluvii quo irrigabatur, quem maximum et altissi[mum]...
Concerning the magnitude of Paradise, nothing certain can be said, except by frivolous and futile conjectures. For what Ephraem wrote—that the land of Paradise (encompassed on every side by the Ocean) is far greater than our globe of the earth—has been confuted above. Others prove that the place of Paradise was very vast, by the argument of the river by which it was watered, which [was] the greatest and high[est]...2
...[altissi]mum fuisse declarant quatuor nobilissima nostri orbis flumina ex eo derivata; tum etiam quod solus Paradisus, si Adam non peccasset, omnium hominum futurum erat domicilium: tantae autem multitudinis hominum, nisi amplissimus esset locus, capax non fuisset. TOSTATUS in 13 caput Geneseos quaestione 98 magis coartat et coangustat locum Paradisi: nam non solum qualibet trium partium mundi (Asiam dico, Europam et Africam), sed etiam ingenti aliqua provincia (ut est Hispania et Germania) minorem eum facit. Non enim maximam esse eius loci amplitudinem necesse fuit, cum non nisi electos (qui pauci fuissent, prout nunc est multitudo hominum) tenere debuisset: nec opus esset eo loci esse animalia ulla, scilicet quorum servitio tunc non esset opus homini; nec propter sterilitatem terrae plurimum loci teneri oportebat, cum tota Paradisi terra optima et fertilissima esset. Existimat igitur Tostatus Paradisi longitudinem fuisse circiter duodecim milliarium, ambitum vero eius triginta sex vel quadraginta: verum de re tam incerta, inanis et incerta est omnis coniectura. MIHI quidem satis credibile fit Paradisum non fuisse locum adeo patentem et spatiosum ut quidam tradiderunt: quippe eum Scriptura appellat hortum, et ait locatum fuisse in regione Heden ad plagam eius orientalem, atque in medio eius fuisse lignum vitae et lignum scientiae boni et mali.
...the highest, as the four most noble rivers of our world, derived from it, declare; and also because Paradise alone, if Adam had not sinned, was to be the dwelling-place of all men: but it would not have been capable of so great a multitude of men, unless the place were very vast. Tostatus, on the 13th chapter of Genesis, question 98, rather constrains and narrows the place of Paradise: for he makes it smaller not only than any of the three parts of the world (Asia, I mean, Europe, and Africa), but even than some great province (such as Spain and Germany). For it was not necessary that the breadth of that place be very great, since it had to hold none but the elect (who would have been few, in proportion to the present multitude of men): nor was there need that there be any animals in that place, namely those of whose service there would then be no need for man; nor, on account of any sterility of the soil, did much space need to be held, since the whole land of Paradise was the best and most fertile. Tostatus, therefore, reckons that the length of Paradise was about twelve miles, but its circuit thirty-six or forty: but about a matter so uncertain, all conjecture is empty and uncertain. To me, indeed, it seems credible enough that Paradise was not so open and spacious a place as some have handed down: since Scripture calls it a garden, and says it was located in the region Heden, toward its eastern part, and that in the midst of it were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.3
Nec sane assentior illis qui putarunt non habitaturos extra paradisum homines si Adam non peccasset: non enim est probabile unum illum locum capacem esse potuisse omnium hominum. Si enim post peccatum Adae vixerunt aliqui homines prope mille annos, sine dubio in statu innocentiae non minus tria vel quatuor millia annorum vixissent, quo spatio temporis numerosissimam prolem edidissent et mirandum in modum genus humanum esset multiplicatum. Ad hoc, narrat Moses capite primo huius libri dixisse Deum homini ut dominaretur cunctis animalibus et subiiceret sibi omnem terram; concessit quoque illi cibi causa omnes herbas et omnes fructus arborum universae terrae: nec est dubitandum quin illi homines peragrassent orbem terrae, vidissent maria, insulas variasque orbis regiones, et in his admiranda Dei opera. Nam cum non omnia uno in loco nascantur, homines intra Paradisum tantummodo habitassent, nec scientiam rerum naturalium (quae perceptione sensuum multisque experimentis comparatur) consecuti fuissent, nec ex cognitione et contemplatione tantorum Dei operum (quae in variis mundi locis apparent) honestissimam voluptatem (quae suavissimum est humanae mentis pabulum) capere potuissent. Adiice quod non est credibile universam terram fore desertam et hominibus vacuam, cum hominis industria et cultura multum ei ad fertilitatem, amoenitatem atque decorem conferat. Atque hoc testimonio divinae Scriptu[rae]...
Nor indeed do I assent to those who thought that men would not have dwelt outside paradise, if Adam had not sinned: for it is not probable that that one place could have been capable of holding all men. For if, after the sin of Adam, some men lived nearly a thousand years, without doubt in the state of innocence they would have lived no less than three or four thousand years; in which space of time they would have produced very numerous offspring, and the human race would have been multiplied in a wonderful manner. To this, Moses narrates in the first chapter of this book that God said to man that he should have dominion over all the animals, and subject the whole earth to himself; He also granted him, for the sake of food, all the herbs and all the fruits of the trees of the whole earth: nor is it to be doubted that those men would have traversed the globe of the earth, would have seen the seas, the islands, and the various regions of the world, and in these the wondrous works of God. For since not all things are born in one place, if men had dwelt only within Paradise, they would not have attained the knowledge of natural things (which is acquired by the perception of the senses and by many experiments), nor could they have taken, from the knowledge and contemplation of the so great works of God (which appear in various places of the world), that most honorable pleasure which is the sweetest food of the human mind. Add that it is not credible that the whole earth would be deserted and empty of men, since the industry and cultivation of man confers much to its fertility, pleasantness, and adornment. And this, by the testimony of the divine Scriptu[re]...4
...[Scriptu]rae probari potest: Isaias enim cap. 45 sic ait, Dominus fecit terram, ipse plastes eius: non in vanum creavit eam, ut habitaretur formavit eam. VERUM aliquis fortasse mirabitur, et ex nobis cognoscere cuperet quonam consilio Deus Paradisum tanta magnificentia condiderit: videtur sane in hominis usum fuisse a Deo comparatus Paradisus; atqui perexiguo usui fuisse homini declaravit brevitas temporis quo est in eo Adam commoratus. Theodoretus quaest. 24 in Genesim, Beda, Hugo de S. Victore, Rabanus et Strabus in Commentariis suis super libro Geneseos, S. Thomas prima parte quaest. 103 art. 2 et secunda secundae quaestione 164 artic. 2, varias eius rei rationes afferunt. Prima ratio est: Deus non tractat hominem ex praescientia futurorum (hoc est, secundum ea quae aliquando facturus est homo), sed secundum praesentem eius statum. Quamvis igitur sciret Deus peccaturum hominem, tamen quia status ille innocentiae in quo eum creaverat poscebat locum habitationis eius esse singularis et eximiae pulchritudinis atque amoenitatis, idcirco consentaneum fuit facere Paradisum, locum nempe felicissimo illi hominis statui respondentem. Secunda ratio: licet Paradisus non magno usui fuerit homini ad habitationem, fuit tamen ei maximae utilitati ad intelligendum quot quantisque bonis careret ac esset privatus propter inobedientiam: recordatio enim amissae tam amoenae ac beatae habitationis ingentem commovebat admissi sceleris dolorem. Tertia ratio: voluit Deus ut esset in terris aliquid corporatum et aspectabile quod incomparabilem Paradisi caelestis pulchritudinem adumbraret, quo ex aliqua parte aestimari possent aeterna bona diligentibus Deum in caelis praeparata.
...it can be proven by the testimony of the divine Scripture: for Isaiah, chapter 45, speaks thus: The Lord made the earth, He is its fashioner (plastes); He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited. But perhaps someone will wonder, and would desire to learn from us by what counsel God founded Paradise with such great magnificence: Paradise indeed seems to have been prepared by God for the use of man; and yet that it was of very little use to man, the brevity of the time in which Adam tarried in it has declared. Theodoret, question 24 on Genesis; Bede, Hugh of St. Victor, Rabanus, and Strabo in their Commentaries on the book of Genesis; Saint Thomas in the first part, question 103, article 2, and in the second of the second, question 164, article 2, bring forward various reasons of this matter. The first reason is: God does not treat man from the foreknowledge of future things (that is, according to those things which man will at some time do), but according to his present state. Although, therefore, God knew that man would sin, yet because that state of innocence in which He had created him demanded that the place of his habitation be of singular and exceptional beauty and pleasantness, therefore it was fitting to make Paradise, namely a place answering to that most happy state of man. The second reason: although Paradise was of no great use to man for habitation, it was nevertheless of the greatest usefulness to him for understanding from how many and how great goods he was lacking and deprived on account of his disobedience: for the recollection of so pleasant and blessed a habitation, now lost, stirred up a great grief over the crime committed. The third reason: God willed that there should be on earth something corporeal and visible which would adumbrate the incomparable beauty of the heavenly Paradise, whereby the eternal goods prepared in the heavens for those who love God might in some part be estimated.5
Quarta ratio: constituit Deus ut homo in statu innocentiae vitam ageret in terris tranquillissimam et iucundissimam, nullis bonis carentem omnibusque malis vacuam; ad eam vero iucunditatem et beatitatem vitae plurimum conferebat domicilii salubritas et amoenitas. Et vero satis incongruum fuisset ut Adam, prius quam culpam admitteret, subiret poenam: quare dum status innocentiae stetit, decuit in eo loco eum versari quem nullum incommodum nullaque molestia contingeret. Quinta ratio: non quia brevi tempore Adam in Paradiso mansurus erat, propterea non debuit in eo collocari; nam et Lucifer princeps malorum Angelorum in caelo Empyreo conditus est, ex eo mox eiiciendus; quinetiam Adamo tribuit Deus iustitiam originalem et potestatem non peccandi ac moriendi, quam tamen brevissimo post tempore erat amissurus: non enim Deus quid futurum sit, sed quid postulet praesens rei status, spectat et aestimat. Sextam rationem praedictis addunt multi: Paradisum terrestrem, licet eo non diu potitus fuerit Adam, futurum tamen fuisse maximo usui ad habitationem Henoch et Eliae, qui creduntur in illo Paradiso habitare et habitaturi usque ad adventum Antichristi. Sed hoc an satis firmum sit necne, paulo infra disquiremus.
The fourth reason: God established that man, in the state of innocence, should lead on earth a most tranquil and most delightful life, lacking no goods and void of all evils; and to that delightfulness and blessedness of life, the wholesomeness and pleasantness of the dwelling contributed very much. And indeed it would have been quite incongruous that Adam, before he committed fault, should undergo punishment: wherefore, while the state of innocence stood, it was fitting that he dwell in a place which no inconvenience and no trouble would befall. The fifth reason: not because Adam was going to remain in Paradise a short time, ought he on that account not to have been placed in it; for Lucifer too, the prince of the evil Angels, was created in the Empyrean heaven, soon to be cast out of it; nay, God bestowed on Adam original justice and the power of not sinning and not dying, which nevertheless, a very short time after, he was about to lose: for God regards and estimates not what is going to be, but what the present state of the thing demands. The sixth reason many add to the foregoing: that the terrestrial Paradise, although Adam possessed it not long, was nevertheless going to be of the greatest use as a habitation for Enoch and Elijah, who are believed to dwell in that Paradise, and to be going to dwell there until the coming of Antichrist. But whether this be firm enough or not, we shall inquire a little below.6

Translator’s notes

  1. The third question of the disputation: the size of Paradise, and why God made it so magnificent though man would enjoy it so briefly. ↩
  2. On Paradise's size nothing certain can be said—only frivolous conjectures. Ephrem's claim (Paradise's land, girt by the Ocean, far larger than our world) was refuted above. Others argue Paradise was vast, from its watering river. Continues onto the next page (catchword ‘mum’). ↩
  3. Marginal glosses: "Auctoris coniectura de magnitudine Paradisi"; "Genes. 5." Arguments for a vast Paradise: the four great rivers derived from its river, and that it alone would have housed all mankind. But Tostatus (Gen 13 q.98) makes it small—smaller than a great province like Spain or Germany—since it would hold only the few elect, needed no animals, and was wholly fertile; he reckons it about 12 miles long, 36–40 in circuit (all mere conjecture). Pererius: Paradise was probably not so spacious—Scripture calls it a ‘garden,’ set in the eastern part of Heden, with the tree of life and tree of knowledge in its midst. ↩
  4. Marginal gloss: "In statu innocentiae non tantum in Paradiso, sed ipsum etiam extra Paradisum habitaturos fuisse homines." Pererius dissents from those who held men would have dwelt only in Paradise had Adam not sinned: one place could not hold all mankind. (If fallen men lived nearly 1,000 years, in innocence they'd have lived 3,000–4,000, multiplying enormously.) Moses (Gen 1) says God bade man rule all animals and the whole earth, and granted all its herbs and fruits for food; doubtless men would have ranged the globe, seen its seas, islands, and regions, and God's works in them—gaining natural knowledge (got by sense and experiment) and the mind's sweetest pleasure from contemplating God's works everywhere. Nor would the whole earth lie deserted, since human cultivation adds to its fertility and beauty—proven by Scripture. Continues onto the next page (catchword ‘rae’). ↩
  5. Marginal gloss: "Sex rationibus ostenditur, eximiae fuisse convenientiae ut conderetur Paradisus in usum hominis, licet non eo diu homo esset potiturus." Proven by Isaiah 45:18 (‘The Lord made the earth... not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited’). But why did God make Paradise so magnificent if man enjoyed it so briefly? Six reasons (from Theodoret q.24, Bede, Hugh of St Victor, Rabanus, Strabo, Aquinas Summa I q.102 a.4 & II-II q.164 a.2): (1) God deals with man by his present state, not foreknowledge—innocence demanded a singular beautiful home; (2) it taught man, by its loss, the goods his disobedience forfeited (memory of it stirred grief); (3) it was a visible adumbration of the heavenly Paradise, so the eternal goods could be in part estimated. ↩
  6. The remaining reasons: (4) God meant man in innocence to lead a most tranquil, delightful life (to which the dwelling's pleasantness contributed)—and it would be unfitting for Adam to suffer hardship before sinning; (5) Adam's short stay was no reason not to place him there—Lucifer too was created in the Empyrean, soon to fall, and God gave Adam original justice and the power not to sin/die which he would soon lose (God regards the present state, not the future); (6) (which many add) the terrestrial Paradise would serve as the dwelling of Enoch and Elijah, believed to live there until Antichrist's coming—a point Pererius will examine below. ↩