Response. But that the time of each one's life is not fixed is shown from the words of Scripture thus: "If," it says, "a man finds a betrothed young woman in the field, and having forced her, lies with her, you shall kill the man, but you shall not kill the young woman." "For in the manner that a man strikes his neighbor, and striking him there was no one to help, so this thing has happened." "And the young woman cried out, and there was no one to help her." But the divine Scripture would not have compared a forced sexual union to a forced killing, if death were fixed; for what is fixed by God is both unforced and inviolable. But if this is so, it is clear that years of life were not added to the predetermined life of Hezekiah, but to his years that had previously been indefinite, the end of which was coming through the deadly affliction, had not God healed him from the affliction and restored him to life. Question 34. If, as some say, the flood did not happen in every place on earth, but in the place where the people of that time dwelled, how is it true that the water was raised fourteen cubits above all the high mountains? Response. It does not seem to be true that the flood did not happen in the whole world, unless perhaps the places where the flood occurred were lower than the other places of the earth. Question 35. If God is the creator of all irrational creatures, why did he declare that which has a cloven hoof and chews the cud to be clean? And again, why is that which chews the cud, like the camel, but does not have a cloven hoof, ranked among the bad, and that which has a cloven hoof, but does not chew the cud, like the swine, reckoned among the unclean? And among the fish, those without scales? And why are the birds divided, even though some of the clean ones, if indeed they are permitted, eat and do the same things as the unclean ones? Response. By nature, indeed, all animals are clean and good, having been made by God from the beginning according to what was said: "And God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good;" and they have obtained the divine blessing which says: "Increase and multiply." But since God wished, as in all things that are eaten, to place the Jews under the yoke of bondage to the law, for this reason he named some of the animals and birds and fish clean, the slaughter and eating of which he permitted to the Jews, and he named some unclean, the eating of which he forbade them. Therefore, these are called clean and unclean: clean on account of nature, but unclean on account of the law. Alternatively, again, they are called clean and unclean for this reason: since in Egypt at that time all the animals

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὅτι δὲ οὐχ ὥρισται τῆς ἑκάστου ζωῆς ὁ χρόνος, δείκνυται ἐκ τῶν γραφικῶν φωνῶν οὕτως· Ἐάν, φησίν, ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ εὕρῃ ἄνθρωπος νεάνιδα μεμνηστευμένην καὶ βιασάμενος αὐτὴν κοιμηθῇ μετ' αὐτῆς, τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα ἀποκτείνατε, τὴν δὲ νεά νιδα μὴ ἀποκτείνητε. Ὃν γὰρ τρόπον ἐπάταξεν ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ, καὶ πατάσσων αὐτὸν οὐχὶ παρῆν ὁ βοηθῶν, οὕτως ἐγένετο τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο. Καὶ ἐβόησεν ἡ νεᾶ νις, καὶ ὁ βοηθῶν αὐτῇ οὐκ ἦν. Oὐκ ἂν δὲ παρείκασεν ἡ θεία γραφὴ τὴν βεβιασμένην κοίμησιν τῇ βεβιασμένῃ ἀναιρέ σει, εἰ ἦν ὁ θάνατος ὡρισμένος· τὸ γὰρ παρὰ θεοῦ ὡρισμένον ἀβίαστόν τε καὶ ἀπαράβατον. Ἀλλ' εἰ τοῦτο, δῆλον ὅτι οὐ τῇ προωρισμένῃ ζωῇ τοῦ Ἐζεκίου προσετέθησαν χρόνοι ζωῆς, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀορίστως προλαβοῦσιν ἔτεσιν αὐτοῦ, ὧν τὸ τέλος ἐγίνετο διὰ τοῦ θανατικοῦ πάθους, μὴ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκ τοῦ πά θους ἰασαμένου αὐτὸν καὶ εἰς τὸ ζῆν αὐτὸν ἀποκαταστήσαντος. Ἐρώτησις λδ. Eἰ, καθώς τινές φασιν, ὁ κατακλυσμὸς ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ τῆς γῆς οὐ γέγονεν, ἀλλ' ἐν ᾧ οἱ τότε ἄνθρωποι ᾤκουν, πῶς ἀληθὲς ὅτι ὑψώθη τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπάνω πάντων τῶν ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων δεκατέσσαρας πήχεις; Ἀπόκρισις. Oὐ δοκεῖ ἀληθὲς εἶναι τὸ μὴ ἐν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν γεγονέναι, εἰ μή τι ἄρα κοιλότεροι ἦσαν οἱ τόποι, ἔνθα ὁ κατακλυσμὸς ἐγένετο, τῶν λοιπῶν τόπων τῆς γῆς. Ἐρώτησις λε. Eἰ τῶν ἀλόγων ἁπάντων δημιουργός ἐστιν ὁ θεός, διὰ τί τὸ διχηλοῦν ὁπλὴν καὶ μηρυκισμὸν ἔχον καθαρὸν εἶναι ἀπεφήνατο; Καὶ πάλιν διὰ τί τὸ μηρυκισμὸν μὲν ἔχον, οἷον κάμηλος, ὁπλὴν δὲ μὴ διχηλοῦν, ἐν τοῖς κακοῖς τέτακται, καὶ τὸ διχηλοῦν μὲν τὴν ὁπλήν, μηρυκισμὸν δὲ μὴ ἔχον, οἷον χοῖ ρος, ἐν τοῖς μὴ καθαροῖς λελόγισται; Καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἰχθύσι δὲ τὰ ἀλεπίδωτα; Καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ διὰ τί διῄρηνται, καίτοι τινῶν καθαρῶν, εἴ γε συγχωροῦνται, ταὐτὰ τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις ἐσθιόν των καὶ πραττόντων; Ἀπόκρισις. Φύσει μὲν καθαρὰ ὑπάρχει πάντα τὰ ζῶα καὶ καλὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξ ἀρχῆς γεγονότα κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον· Καὶ εἶδεν ὁ θεὸς πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησε, καὶ ἰδοὺ καλὰ λίαν· καὶ τῆς θείας τετυχηκότα εὐλογίας λεγούσης· Aὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐβούλετο ὁ θεὸς ὥσπερ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐσθιομέ νοις ὑπὸ τὸν ζυγὸν τῆς τοῦ νόμου δουλείας ποιήσασθαι τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, διὰ τοῦτο τῶν ζώων καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ ἰχθύων τινὰ μὲν ὠνόμασε καθαρά, ὧν καὶ τὴν σφαγὴν καὶ τὴν βρῶσιν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐπέτρεψε, τινὰ δὲ ἀκάθαρτα ὠνόμασεν, ὧν τὴν βρῶ σιν αὐτοὺς ἀπεῖργε. Καθαρὰ οὖν ταῦτα καὶ ἀκάθαρτα λέ γονται· καθαρὰ μὲν διὰ τὴν φύσιν, ἀκάθαρτα δὲ διὰ τὸν νό μον. Ἄλλως δὲ πάλιν καθαρὰ καὶ ἀκάθαρτα λέγονται διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν· ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῇ Aἰγύπτῳ τότε πάντα τὰ ζῶα