Notes on Genesis · §23 · Origen of Alexandria

The four hundred didrachms as a harmful number

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Origen is commenting on Genesis 23:15, where Abraham pays four hundred didrachms for a burial field.

“A land of four hundred didrachms” (Genesis 23:15). It must be noted that the price of the tomb is four hundred, because the tetrad and the hundred are harmful. And if you seek the similar things from the Scriptures, you will find them.

Greek

(6) Στίχ. ιε΄. Γῆ τετρακοσίων διδράχμων. Σημειωτέον, ὅτι τάφου τιμή ἐστι τὰ τετρακόσια, τῷ κακωτικὴν εἶναι τὴν τετράδα καὶ ἑκατοντάδα. Καὶ ζητήσας τὰ ὅμοια ἐκ τῶν Γραφῶν εὑρήσεις.

About this text

Origen's short notes on hard passages in Genesis, such as why God sent the flood.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) was a Christian theologian and head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria, later ordained a priest in Caesarea.

The work addresses difficult passages in Genesis by showing how apparent problems in the text can be understood through God's providential plan. Origen explains that the flood was not an act of divine anger or regret but a deliberate change in God's providential plan to destroy Cain's line while preserving the righteous Noah. He interprets the fire that destroyed Sodom as a sign of the coming end of the age, and connects Lot's wife becoming a pillar of salt to a spiritual warning about losing one's saltiness.

A reader will meet Noah, Cain, Saul, Lot's wife, Joseph, Mary, and Joseph's steward. Origen quotes Scripture and also quotes opponents, introduced by phrases such as 'as some say.' He notes that the four hundred didrachms paid for Abraham's burial field are significant because the numbers four and one hundred are harmful. He asks whether Joseph's dream about his mother and brothers bowing to him may prophesy Mary and Joseph worshiping Christ. Finally, he suggests that Joseph's steward seems to have benefited in piety from Joseph, and explains why the Hebrews' identity as shepherds made them an abomination to the Egyptians.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from de La Rue, Origen's Works, vol. 7 (Migne PG 17, Paris 1857) (Greek)

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