Modes of Human Generation

Many testify: 'By the sword' he says, 'all the people of the sinners shall perish' (Ezekiel 21:7). And not everywhere do all perish by swords, but the sword signifies the punishment that is about to be brought upon those who sin. And the saying 'You Ethiopians are wounded by my sword' (Jeremiah 46:9) presents the same thought; but also that which is said in the Exodus by those being afflicted by Pharaoh against Moses and Aaron: 'Behold, God is judging to give a sword into the hands of Pharaoh' (Exodus 7:17), they show the sword signifies); and this sword, being turned, is said so that, having been turned from evil toward the virtue of the man, it might itself provide the entrance.

The guard, therefore, to which the sword and the cherubim have been placed, as was foretold, might be for benefit, so that, if there should arise any desire for the entrance, through these there might be a guidance: the cherubim signifying the knowledge of the truth, which he who wishes to enter must partake of, and the sword the perilous conduct; for through many tribulations it is possible to attain the kingdom, as it is written. But that the punishment lying from God, being turned and not always being executed, teaches the case of the Ninevites, who checked the wrath through repentance; to them, thus, the threat was turned. But also the saints, knowing the judgment concerning the cherubim and how it is not possible to enter into paradise without the divine economy concerning them, say: 'He who sits upon the cherubim, appear,' just as one holding the reins to them, opening or closing the entrance according to His will, because those outside desire to enter by obeying Your commands. But also others, knowing that He is the one who departs against man, 'You are earth and to earth you shall return' (Genesis 3:19), entreat Him saying: 'O He who sits upon the cherubim, let the earth be shaken,' so that, a change having occurred concerning the earth, He might say to the thief: 'Today you shall be with me in paradise' (Luke 23:43). And Adam knew Eve his wife, and having conceived, she bore Cain and said: 'I have acquired...'

Man was made through God. And it was added that he bore his brother Abel. And Abel became a shepherd of sheep, but Cain was working the earth. Subsequently, after the expulsion from paradise and the making of the skin tunics, it is said: Adam knew Eve his wife, by means of knowledge instead of trial, and the union with a woman being called coitus; for he knew her according to the sense of 'knowing'. Thus also he said, having seen her: 'This is now bone of my bones' (Gen 2:23).

According to the knowledge which Adam knew Eve his wife, it is also said in the Kings: 'Elkanah knew Hannah his wife' (1 Sam 1:20). Thus it is also said concerning Rebekah: 'She was a virgin, a man had not known her' (Gen 24:67), and nowhere was she known by any man, but it is clear that because she had not yet been joined to a man, it is thus said. And it is good indeed to say: 'She was a virgin, a man had not known her'; unless it be understood properly, it would be a contradiction, but desiring to show the saying as being most ignorant both in body and in mind, he thus spoke.

Even more divinely thus Mary affirmed: 'How shall this be to me, since I do not know a man?' (Luke 1:34). For being a truthful woman of sight, having been troubled upon seeing the angel, unless he himself removed the fear from her, and since she was likely to be a law-abiding woman, it is possible that no one of the appearing angels was to understand her, those having been sent to approach the daughters of men. 'And having conceived, she bore Cain' (Gen 4:1).

Another mode of the generation of humans is inscribed; for Adam was formed from dust, and Eve was built from being taken from the side of the man, but this one now being born from both parents came forth first, unlike the generation according to the Savior which happened from a virgin alone. For it is not unseasonable to note this, so that all the modes of the generation of humans may be numbered, saving us the previously mentioned things concerning the dust, as it signifies the bodily substance, namely the existence of the body in paradise.

'Having conceived' is also said here, and it is clear that these are from seed; subsequently, as not having entirely exhausted the word concerning providence, he said: 'I have begotten a man through God' (Gen 4:25).