The Transfer of Election and the Symbolism of Noah's Sons

After Methuselah was born, Enoch found favor with God after two hundred and thirty years, and he fathered sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch found favor with God, and he was not found, because God transferred him.

The Apostle, having received the word concerning Enoch, says in the Epistle to the Hebrews: 'By faith Enoch was transferred so as not to see death' (Heb 11:5). His life is described in a number of days, and having completed a year and a remainder, he was transferred, which one would logically consider to be a translation into better things, since he was promised the virtue which ought to exist in humans according to perfection and fullness. But his translation did not happen like that of other men; for the bodies of the others, remaining here and being dissolved, were separated from the souls; concerning this it is said that he was transferred, about which we understand that either he was taken up like Elijah or by some other way he was snatched into a divine place.

It is proper to observe here how what is said by Paul, 'And just as it is appointed for men to die once' (Heb 9:27), is made true. For if these, I say Elijah and Enoch, having been taken up, are to be with their thickest bodies even now and throughout the whole age, then the word of the wise and holy Paul concerning the necessity of all men dying is false. But it is not false. Therefore, what is set forth requires a theory, even if not in the way accustomed, that although other men have shared in death now, it must be understood that their mortal part is to be set aside according to the secret word of God, so that they might possess the fleshy life. For if the Savior is the 'firstborn from the dead' (Col 1:18), He would be the firstborn of these.

For it is undignified for such a word to be outside of them; furthermore, if they did not lay aside the fleshy life, as we have said, they would not have shared in the divine resurrection, by which from the dishonorable we shall all receive the body as honorable, from the glory as splendid, from the weak as powerful, from the psychic as spiritual. If one also reads the book of the Testament to a friend, he will know that he is said to be snatched into Paradise; and to know this, even if it is not from an irreproachable book, is not absurd. And there are those who speak of the translation by way of way...

They say it is so, according to which the Savior said to the disciples, 'You are no longer of this world, but I have chosen you' (John 15:19), effecting a transfer of election from the worldly things; and they receive another explicit thing constructed by this: 'We know that we have passed from death into life' (1 John 3:14). For those having passed from the death which follows through wickedness, we have been transferred unto the life which is from virtue.

This repayment suits not only Enoch, but all the saints; therefore, examine whether it is fitting to approve the former. And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah fathered three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. It is to be observed that he did not say at this point from how many years he began to father, but by chance he had three sons, not born at once. And it is also good that it is written that he had not fathered daughters, but sons, as a symbol showing that the righteous man is not a female-bearer, just as it has been written concerning Moses and Abraham; for these also did not have daughters.

For indeed someone is blessed, according to the Psalm, a father of well-born offspring, hearing: 'Blessed are you, and it shall be well with you. Your children like olive shoots around your table; thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord' (Psalm 128:3-4). But the daughters are perceived as symbols. Immediately also the tyrant Pharaoh, being fond of the males born by the Hebrews, destroys them, taking possession of the females. For those offspring of the soul that are well-born, those turning toward the things below strive to destroy, rejoicing in wealth and human things.

Immediately also the following explicitly teaches this: as a multitude became, daughters were born to them (Genesis 6:1). And it happened when men began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. The 'many' can also be applied to a multitude, over which especially it is most dominant, even regarding the Egyptians. For in the Exodus it is said: 'And the sons of Israel were fruitful and became Egyptians' (Exodus 1:7). But also the 'Many say to my soul' (Psalm 51:5) instead of 'Egyptians'; for words do not bring serious matters. And Paul, saying: 'For we are not as many who corrupt the word of the Lord' (2 Cor 2:17), shows those who are negligent. And also the...