Thursday, December 13, 2012

PG001(col. 227-230): First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians: Chapter 10.


(From the 1765 Venice edition of  André Galland's "Library of the Ancient Fathers", Tome 1, folio-size, p. 9)

Author:  André Galland

Googlebooks PDF: PG001

Chapter 10

     Abraham, called the friend[[67]][[71b]], was found faithful in <that> he <became> obedient to the words of God.  He through obedience went out from his land, and from his kindred, and from the house of his father, so that having abandoned little land, weak kindred, and a small house[[68]], he would inherit the promises of God.  For he says to him: "Go away from your land, and from your kindred, and from the house of your father, to the land which I shall show to you; and I will make you into a great people, and I will bless you, and I will magnify your name, and you will be blessed; and I will bless those blessing you, and I will curse those cursing you; and all the tribes of the land will be blessed[[69]] in you"[[72b]].  And again <when> he <went away> from Lot, God said to him: "Having looked up with your eyes, look away from the place where now you are, towards north, and south, and east, and the sea; because all the land which you see, to you I will give it, and to your seed until eternity.  And I will make your seed as the sand  of the land;[[A]] if someone is able to count out the sand of the land, also your seed he will count out"[[73b]].  And again he says: "God led out Abraham and said to him: 'Look up to heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them out, thus will be your seed'.  But Abraham trusted God, and it was considered of him <as> justice"[[74b]].  Because of trust and hospitality a son was given to him in old age[[75b]], and through obedience he led him forth[[76b]] <as> a sacrifice to God at one of the mountains which he indicated to him.


Biblical Citations
71b. 2 Chronicles 20:7; Judith 8:22; in the Latin translation of Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23

72b. Genesis 12:1,2,3

73b. Genesis 13:14,15,16

74b. Genesis 15:5,6

75b. Genesis 21

76b. Genesis 22


Notes
67."Abraham <...> the friend": Add with Young <the words>, "of God".  Thus also <writes> Clement of Alexandria <in the cited passage> <when> copying out these words.  However, Davies[[?]] read: "Abraham, God's friend", thinking that from the <abbreviated> word "GD" easily flowed "the"[[B]].  See below, chapter 17.--Gallandi

     "Abraham, called the friend":  Perhaps, "of God", should be added, as <it> is <in> James 2:23, "and was called friend of God".--Young

68. This <means>, which completely depended upon few.  For to Abraham were only two brothers, Aran and Nachor.  But Aran had already died, <with his> son Lot having been abandoned.  And so with Lot, from this stock remained Nachor and Abraham, who indeed on account of the sterility of Sarah lacked sons.--Coustant

69. "And <...> will be blessed": Thus <reads> the manuscript, as <in> the Septuagint.  Thus also <print> the remaining editions beyond Leclerc and Coustant, where "and" is omitted.--Gallandi


My Notes
A. One of Migne's editions has the wrong text in the line after this point.  In fact, it duplicates the text of the half-line just below it.  Even in the printed age we have the same "scribal" errors.

B. A common abbreviation for the word "theou", meaning "of God", would have been the two letters theta and upsilon.  In the uncial (i.e., square capital letter) script prevalent around the 3rd-4th centuries, the capital theta may have been confused for a capital omicron, which would just be the word "the", with the upsilon having somehow dropped out.

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