87

God's saying, "Adam where are you?" was not that of one who was ignorant, but of one who was showing from what a height to what a depth of shame Adam 109.3 had fallen. And "Where is Abel your brother?" meaning that he whom you ought always to carry in your arms and always be with, this one has been cast upon the ground by you 109.4. For he shows from what followed that he did not ask for the sake of ignorance, but convicting him in saying that "cursed is the ground in your works and cursed are you from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand"; 109.5 "for behold," he says, "his voice cries to me." And "Where is Sarah your wife?" he did not say in ignorance. Since how could he be ignorant, he who knew she was laughing inside the house? Therefore he did not ask in ignorance, but so that he might present to her daughters who "profess godliness" to learn her conduct, when they try to serve holy ones from their own labors 109.6. For she, being in so great a service, she herself working on the unleavened cakes and the cakes baked in ashes and preparing so great a service along with her own servants, did not see the face of those being served, leaving behind a model of gentle modesty for our generations. And these things will suffice for a refutation of the foolish contradictions. 110.1 And if they say that the God of the Law is good, he who overreached the Egyptians and taught his own people to plunder as they were departing from the land of Egypt, the foolish do not know that with God nothing is lost and that there is just judgment 110.2 and "God is not mocked." For what did the Egyptians think, that they sought to have the Jews work for these things without wages and not for a few years, but for two hundred and fifteen along with † the two hundred and fifteen years of 110.3 Joseph? For since four hundred and thirty years of sojourning had been determined for Abraham and his seed, as it says "your seed will be a sojourner 110.4 in a foreign land," then what was determined was being fulfilled. Therefore, in his compassion God divided the years of their sojourning. And immediately through 215 years while they were still in the land of Canaan he took hold of them and the other 215 he divided for those who went down 110.5 into Egypt. For the number of these years is reckoned thus: it was then the seventy-fifth year of Abraham. Therefore there are from the seventy-fifth year of Abraham until the birth of Isaac 25 years; Isaac begets Jacob being in his sixtieth year and it has become 85 years; and Jacob being 89 years old begets Levi and it becomes 174 years; Levi being 44 years old begets Kohath; and in the forty-seventh year of Levi Jacob goes down into Egypt and it becomes two hundred and eleven years. and after their entry into Egypt another four years and the two hundred and fifteen are completed. 110.6 From this point again are reckoned for me the remaining two hundred and fifteen years of the Israelites' sojourning. And Kohath after the descent into Egypt in his sixty-fifth year begets Abraham, the father of Moses; therefore it becomes, from the first Abraham, his seventy-fifth year, until the birth of the last 110.7 Abraham 280 years, and from the descent into Egypt 65 years. And Abraham being seventy years old begets Moses, and it becomes from the first Abraham 350 years, and from the descent into Egypt 110.8 135 years. And Moses in his 30th year walks on the Red Sea, going out from Egypt along with the Israelites. And it becomes from the great Abraham 380 years, and from the descent into Egypt 110.9 165 years. And the remaining fifty years they spent after the crossing 110.9 of the Red Sea until the arrival in Palestine, not because of the length of the road, but because of

87

εἰπεῖν τὸν θεόν «Ἀδὰμ ποῦ εἶ;» οὐκ ἀγνοοῦντος ἦν, ἀλλὰ δεικνύοντος ἀπὸ οἵου ὕψους πρὸς ποῖον βάθος αἴσχους ὁ Ἀδὰμ 109.3 ἐκπεπτώκει. καί «ποῦ Ἄβελ ὁ ἀδελφός σου;» ὅτι ὅν σε ἔδει φέρειν ἀεὶ ἐν ἀγκάλαις καὶ ἀεὶ συνεῖναι αὐτῷ, οὗτος ἐπὶ γῆν παρὰ σοῦ 109.4 ἔρριπται. δείκνυσι γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ ἐπαγομένου ὅτι οὐκ ἀγνοίας χάριν ἠρώτα, ἀλλὰ διελέγχων ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν ὅτι «ἐπικατάρατος ἡ γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις σου καὶ ἐπικατάρατος σὺ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, ἥτις ἔχανε τὸ στόμα αὐτῆς δέξασθαι τὸ αἷμα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου ἐκ τῆς χειρός σου»· 109.5 «ἰδού, γάρ φησιν, ἡ φωνὴ αὐτοῦ βοᾷ πρός με». καί «ποῦ Σάρρα ἡ γυνή σου;» οὐκ ἀγνοῶν εἶπεν. ἐπεὶ πῶς ἠγνόει ὁ γελῶσαν ἔνδον τῆς οἰκίας εἰδὼς αὐτήν; οὐκ ἀγνοῶν τοίνυν ἠρώτα, ἀλλ' ἵνα παραστήσῃ ταῖς θυγατράσιν αὐτῆς ταῖς «ἐπαγγελλομέναις θεοσέβειαν» μαθεῖν τὴν ἐκείνης ἀγωγήν, ὅταν ἁγίοις ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων καμάτων ὑπηρετεῖν 109.6 πειρῶνται. ἐκείνη γὰρ ἐν τοσαύτῃ ὑπηρεσίᾳ ὑπάρχουσα, αὐτὴ τοὺς ἀζύμους καὶ τοὺς ἐγκρυφίους ἐργαζομένη καὶ τὴν τοσαύτην ὑπηρεσίαν ἐξαρτύσασα ἅμα τοῖς ἰδίοις αὐτῆς οἰκέταις, πρόσωπον τῶν ὑπηρετουμένων οὐχ ἑώρα, σωφροσύνης ἐπιεικοῦς ὑπογραμμὸν ταῖς ἡμετέραις γενεαῖς ὑπολιμπάνουσα. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἀρκέσει εἰς παράστασιν ταῖς τῶν ματαίων ἀντιλογίαις. 110.1 Ἄν τε εἴπωσιν ὅτι καλὸς ὁ θεὸς τοῦ νόμου, ὁ τοὺς μὲν Αἰγυπτίους πλεονεκτήσας καὶ σκυλεῦσαι διδάξας τοὺς ἰδίους αὐτοῦ ἀνθρώπους ἐν τῷ ἐξέρχεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, οὐκ οἴδασιν οἱ μάταιοι ὅτι παρὰ θεῷ οὐδὲν ἀπόλλυται καὶ ὅτι δικαιοκρισία ἐστὶ 110.2 καὶ «θεὸς οὐ μυκτηρίζεται». τί γὰρ ἐνόμιζον Αἰγύπτιοι ὅτι ἐζήτουν ταῦτα ἀμισθὶ ἐργάζεσθαι τοὺς Ἰουδαίους καὶ οὐ τὰ τυχόντα ἔτη, ἀλλὰ διακόσια δεκαπέντε σὺν † τοῖς διακοσίοις δεκαπέντε ἔτεσι τοῦ 110.3 Ἰωσήφ; τετρακοσίων γὰρ καὶ τριάκοντα ἐτῶν παροικίας ὁρισθείσης τῷ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῷ αὐτοῦ σπέρματι, ὡς λέγει «πάροικον ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα 110.4 σου ἐν γῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ», τότε τὸ ὁρισθὲν ἐτελειοῦτο. τῇ οὖν ἑαυτοῦ εὐσπλαγχνίᾳ ὁ θεὸς τὰ ἔτη τῆς αὐτοῦ παροικίας διεμέρισε. καὶ εὐθὺς μὲν διὰ ˉσ δεκαπέντε ἐτῶν ἔτι ὄντων ἐν τῇ Χανανίτιδι ἀντελάβετο αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ˉσ πεντεκαίδεκα διεῖλε τοῖς εἰς Αἴγυπτον μετελ110.5 θοῦσιν. ὁ γὰρ ἀριθμὸς τούτων τῶν ἐτῶν οὕτως ἀναλογεῖται· ἦν τότε ἑβδομηκοστὸν πέμπτον ἔτος τοῦ Ἀβραάμ. γίνονται τοίνυν ἀπὸ ἑβδομηκοστοῦ πέμπτου ἔτους Ἀβραὰμ ἕως γεννήσεως Ἰσαὰκ ἔτη ˉκˉε· Ἰσαὰκ γεννᾷ τὸν Ἰακὼβ κατάγων ἔτος ἑξηκοστὸν καὶ γέγονεν ἔτη ˉπˉε· Ἰακὼβ δὲ γενόμενος ἐτῶν ˉπˉθ γεννᾷ τὸν Λευὶ καὶ γίνονται ἔτη ˉρˉοˉδ· Λευὶ ἐτῶν γενόμενος ˉμ τεσσάρων γεννᾷ τὸν Καάθ· ἐν δὲ τῷ τεσσαρακοστῷ ἔτει καὶ ἑβδόμῳ Λευὶ κάτεισιν Ἰακὼβ εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ γίνονται ἔτη διακόσια ἕνδεκα. καὶ μετὰ τὴν εἴσοδον αὐτῶν τὴν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἕτερα τέσσαρα ἔτη καὶ πληροῦνται τὰ διακόσια δεκαπέντε. 110.6 ἐντεῦθέν μοι πάλιν ἀριθμεῖται τὰ λοιπὰ διακόσια πεντεκαίδεκα ἔτη τῆς τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν παροικίας. Καὰθ δὲ μετὰ τὴν εἰς Αἴγυπτον κάθοδον ἐν τῷ ἑξηκοστῷ πέμπτῳ ἔτει αὐτοῦ γεννᾷ τὸν πατέρα Μωυσέως Ἀβραάμ· γίνονται τοίνυν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου Ἀβραάμ, τοῦἑβδομηκοστοῦ αὐτοῦ πέμπτου ἔτους ἕως τῆς γεννήσεως τοῦ ἐσχάτου 110.7 Ἀβραὰμ ἔτη ˉσˉπ, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς εἰς Αἴγυπτον καταγωγῆς ἔτη ˉξˉε. Ἀβραὰμ δὲ ἐτῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ὢν γεννᾷ τὸν Μωυσέα, καὶ γίνονται ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ πρώτου Ἀβραὰμ ἔτη ˉτˉν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς εἰς Αἴγυπτον καταγωγῆς 110.8 ἔτη ˉρˉλˉε. ὁ δὲ Μωυσῆς ἐν τῷ ˉλ αὐτοῦ ἔτει πατεῖ τὴν ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν, ἅμα Ἰσραηλίταις ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἐξιών. καὶ γίνονται ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ μεγάλου Ἀβραὰμ ἔτη ˉτˉπ, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς εἰς Αἴγυπτον καθόδου ἔτη 110.9 ˉρˉξˉε. τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ πεντήκοντα ἔτη κατηνάλωσαν μετὰ τὴν διαπεραίωσιν 110.9 τῆς ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης μέχρι τῆς εἰς Παλαιστίνην ἀπαντήσεως, οὐ διὰ τὸ μῆκος τῆς ὁδοῦ, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ