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* Footnotes
- A.M. 2298, A.C. 1706.
*H And Israel taking his journey, with all that he had, came to the well of the oath, and killing victims there to the God of his father Isaac,
Ver. 1. The well of the oath. Bersabee.
*H God said to him: I am the most mighty God of thy father; fear not, go down into Egypt, for I will make a great nation of thee there.
Ver. 3. Fear not. He might be apprehensive, lest his children should be depraved, living among idolaters, or prefer Egypt before the promised land. He was also afraid to undertake this journey without consulting God. M.
*H I will go down with thee thither, and will bring thee back again from thence: Joseph also shall put his hands upon thy eyes.
Ver. 4. Thence; in thy posterity. Sept. add at last, or after a long time. Jacob's bones were brought back and buried in Chanaan. C. — Eyes, as he is the most dear to thee. Parents closed the eyes of their children in death. The Romans opened them again when the corpse was upon the funeral pile; thinking it a mark of disrespect for the eyes to be shut to heaven; "ut neque ab homine supremum eos spectari fas sit, & cœlo non ostendi, nefas." Plin. xi. 37.
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Acts
7:15
So Jacob went down into Egypt. And he died, and our fathers.
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Josue
24:5
And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with many signs and wonders.
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Psalms
104:23
And Israel went into Egypt: and Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Cham.
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Isaias
52:4
For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt at the beginning to sojourn there: and the Assyrian hath oppressed them without any cause at all.
*H His sons, and grandsons, daughters, and all his offspring together.
Ver. 7. Daughters. Dina, and grand-daughter Sara, (v. 17,) and his sons' wives, &c. C. — We may observe, that all here mentioned were not born at the time when Jacob went down into Egypt, but they were before he or Joseph died; that is, during the space of 17 or 71 years. See S. Aug. q. 151. 173. M. — The names of the Heb. and Sept. vary some little from the Vulgate, which may be attributed to the difference of pronunciation, or to the same person having many names. The number is also different in the Sept. as the authors of that version have, perhaps, inserted some names taken from other parts of Scripture, to remove any apparent contradiction. The genealogies of Juda, Joseph, and Benjamin, are carried farther than the rest, as those families were of greater consequence.
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Exodus
1:2
Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda,
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Exodus
6:14
These are the heads of their houses by their families. The sons of Ruben the firstborn of Israel: Henoch and Phallu, Hesron and Charmi.
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1_Paralipomenon
5:1
Now the sons of Ruben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was his firstborn: but forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his first birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, and he was not accounted for the firstborn.
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1_Paralipomenon
5:3
The sons then of Ruben the firstborn of Israel were Enoch, and Phallu, Esron, and Charmi.
*H The sons of Ruben: Henoch and Phallu, and Hesron and Charmi.
Ver. 9. Hesron and Charmi, were probably born in Egypt, as Ruben had only two sons. C. xlii. 37. Philo.
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Exodus
6:15
These are the kindreds of Ruben. The sons of Simeon, Jamuel and Jamin, and Ahod, and Jachin, and Soar, and Saul the son of a Chanaanitess: these are the families of Simeon.
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1_Paralipomenon
4:24
The sons of Simeon: Namuel and Jamin, Jarib, Zara, Saul:
*H The sons of Simeon: Jamuel and Jamin and Ahod, and Jachin and Sohar, and Saul, the son of a woman of Chanaan.
Ver. 10. Jamuel. Num. xxvi. 12, he is called Namuel. — Jachin is Jarid. 1 Par. iv. 24. C.
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1_Paralipomenon
6:1
The sons of Levi were Gerson, Caath, and Merari.
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1_Paralipomenon
2:3
The sons of Juda: Her, Onan and Sela. These three were born to him of the Chanaanitess the daughter of Sue. And Her the firstborn of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him.
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1_Paralipomenon
4:21
The sons of Sela the son of Juda: Her the father of Lecha, and Laada the father of Maresa, and the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen in the House of oath.
*H The sons of Juda: Her and Onan, and Sela, and Phares and Zara. And Her and Onan died in the land of Chanaan. And sons were born to Phares: Hesron and Hamul.
Ver. 12. Were born, afterwards. M.
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1_Paralipomenon
7:1
Now the sons of Issachar were Thola, and Phua, Jasub and Simeron, four.
*H These are the sons of Lia, whom she bore in Mesopotamia of Syria, with Dina, his daughter. All the souls of her sons and daughters, thirty-three.
Ver. 15. Syria. This must be restrained to her seven children. — Thirty-three, comprising Lia or Jacob; but without Her and Onan, who were dead. C.
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1_Paralipomenon
7:30
The children of Aser were Jemna, and Jesua, and Jessui, and Baria, and Sara their sister.
*H And sons were born to Joseph, in the land of Egypt, whom Aseneth, the daughter of Putiphare, priest of Heliopolis, bore him: Manasses and Ephraim.
Ver. 20. Ephraim. The Sept. take in here the children of both. Num. xxvi. 29. 35.
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1_Paralipomenon
7:6
The sons of Benjamin were Bela, and Bechor, and Jadihel, three.
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1_Paralipomenon
8:1
Now Benjamin begot Bale his firstborn, Asbel the second, Ahara the third,
*H The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Bechor, and Asbel and Gera, and Naaman and Echi, and Ross and Mophim, and Ophim and Ared.
Ver. 21. Benjamin. Ten in number; though the Sept. have only nine, and suppose that some of them were his grand-children. He was 33 (or 24, M.) years old. C. — Grotius thinks three names have been made out of two; Echi, Ros, and Mophim, out of Ahiram and Supham, as we read, Num. xxvi. 38.
*H The sons of Dan: Husim.
Ver. 23. Sons. The Arab. has son. Husim is Suham, (Num. xxvi. 42,) by change and transposition of letters. Ken.
*H All the souls that went with Jacob into Egypt, and that came out of his thigh, besides his sons' wives, sixty-six.
Ver. 26. Sixty-six; not including Jacob, Joseph, and his two children, who make up 70, v. 27. Deut. x. 22. The Sept. taking in Joseph's grand-children, read 75; in which they are followed by S. Stephen. Acts vii. 14. See S. Jer. q. Heb. C. — S. Augustine cannot account for these grand-children and great grand-children of Joseph being mentioned as coming with Jacob into Egypt, since some of them were not born during his life-time. He suspects some hidden mystery. W. See v. 7. — Some think S. Stephen excludes Jacob, Joseph, and his sons; and includes the 64 men, with 11 wives. D.
* Summa
*S Part 1, Ques 118, Article 2
[I, Q. 118, Art. 2]
Whether the Intellectual Soul Is Produced from the Semen?
Objection 1: It would seem that the intellectual soul is produced from the semen. For it is written (Gen. 46:26): "All the souls that came out of [Jacob's] thigh, sixty-six." But nothing is produced from the thigh of a man, except from the semen. Therefore the intellectual soul is produced from the semen.
Obj. 2: Further, as shown above (Q. 76, A. 3), the intellectual, sensitive, and nutritive souls are, in substance, one soul in man. But the sensitive soul in man is generated from the semen, as in other animals; wherefore the Philosopher says (De Gener. Animal. ii, 3) that the animal and the man are not made at the same time, but first of all the animal is made having a sensitive soul. Therefore also the intellectual soul is produced from the semen.
Obj. 3: Further, it is one and the same agent whose action is directed to the matter and to the form: else from the matter and the form there would not result something simply one. But the intellectual soul is the form of the human body, which is produced by the power of the semen. Therefore the intellectual soul also is produced by the power of the semen.
Obj. 4: Further, man begets his like in species. But the human species is constituted by the rational soul. Therefore the rational soul is from the begetter.
Obj. 5: Further, it cannot be said that God concurs in sin. But if the rational soul be created by God, sometimes God concurs in the sin of adultery, since sometimes offspring is begotten of illicit intercourse. Therefore the rational soul is not created by God.
_On the contrary,_ It is written in De Eccl. Dogmat. xiv that "the rational soul is not engendered by coition."
_I answer that,_ It is impossible for an active power existing in matter to extend its action to the production of an immaterial effect. Now it is manifest that the intellectual principle in man transcends matter; for it has an operation in which the body takes no part whatever. It is therefore impossible for the seminal power to produce the intellectual principle.
Again, the seminal power acts by virtue of the soul of the begetter according as the soul of the begetter is the act of the body, making use of the body in its operation. Now the body has nothing whatever to do in the operation of the intellect. Therefore the power of the intellectual principle, as intellectual, cannot reach the semen. Hence the Philosopher says (De Gener. Animal. ii, 3): "It follows that the intellect alone comes from without."
Again, since the intellectual soul has an operation independent of the body, it is subsistent, as proved above (Q. 75, A. 2): therefore to be and to be made are proper to it. Moreover, since it is an immaterial substance it cannot be caused through generation, but only through creation by God. Therefore to hold that the intellectual soul is caused by the begetter, is nothing else than to hold the soul to be non-subsistent and consequently to perish with the body. It is therefore heretical to say that the intellectual soul is transmitted with the semen.
Reply Obj. 1: In the passage quoted, the part is put instead of the whole, the soul for the whole man, by the figure of synecdoche.
Reply Obj. 2: Some say that the vital functions observed in the embryo are not from its soul, but from the soul of the mother; or from the formative power of the semen. Both of these explanations are false; for vital functions such as feeling, nourishment, and growth cannot be from an extrinsic principle. Consequently it must be said that the soul is in the embryo; the nutritive soul from the beginning, then the sensitive, lastly the intellectual soul.
Therefore some say that in addition to the vegetative soul which existed first, another, namely the sensitive, soul supervenes; and in addition to this, again another, namely the intellectual soul. Thus there would be in man three souls of which one would be in potentiality to another. This has been disproved above (Q. 76, A. 3).
Therefore others say that the same soul which was at first merely vegetative, afterwards through the action of the seminal power, becomes a sensitive soul; and finally this same soul becomes intellectual, not indeed through the active seminal power, but by the power of a higher agent, namely God enlightening (the soul) from without. For this reason the Philosopher says that the intellect comes from without. But this will not hold. First, because no substantial form is susceptible of more or less; but addition of greater perfection constitutes another species, just as the addition of unity constitutes another species of number. Now it is not possible for the same identical form to belong to different species. Secondly, because it would follow that the generation of an animal would be a continuous movement, proceeding gradually from the imperfect to the perfect, as happens in alteration. Thirdly, because it would follow that the generation of a man or an animal is not generation simply, because the subject thereof would be a being in act. For if the vegetative soul is from the beginning in the matter of offspring, and is subsequently gradually brought to perfection; this will imply addition of further perfection without corruption of the preceding perfection. And this is contrary to the nature of generation properly so called. Fourthly, because either that which is caused by the action of God is something subsistent: and thus it must needs be essentially distinct from the pre-existing form, which was non-subsistent; and we shall then come back to the opinion of those who held the existence of several souls in the body--or else it is not subsistent, but a perfection of the pre-existing soul: and from this it follows of necessity that the intellectual soul perishes with the body, which cannot be admitted.
There is again another explanation, according to those who held that all men have but one intellect in common: but this has been disproved above (Q. 76, A. 2).
We must therefore say that since the generation of one thing is the corruption of another, it follows of necessity that both in men and in other animals, when a more perfect form supervenes the previous form is corrupted: yet so that the supervening form contains the perfection of the previous form, and something in addition. It is in this way that through many generations and corruptions we arrive at the ultimate substantial form, both in man and other animals. This indeed is apparent to the senses in animals generated from putrefaction. We conclude therefore that the intellectual soul is created by God at the end of human generation, and this soul is at the same time sensitive and nutritive, the pre-existing forms being corrupted.
Reply Obj. 3: This argument holds in the case of diverse agents not ordered to one another. But where there are many agents ordered to one another, nothing hinders the power of the higher agent from reaching to the ultimate form; while the powers of the inferior agents extend only to some disposition of matter: thus in the generation of an animal, the seminal power disposes the matter, but the power of the soul gives the form. Now it is manifest from what has been said above (Q. 105, A. 5; Q. 110, A. 1) that the whole of corporeal nature acts as the instrument of a spiritual power, especially of God. Therefore nothing hinders the formation of the body from being due to a corporeal power, while the intellectual soul is from God alone.
Reply Obj. 4: Man begets his like, forasmuch as by his seminal power the matter is disposed for the reception of a certain species of form.
Reply Obj. 5: In the action of the adulterer, what is of nature is good; in this God concurs. But what there is of inordinate lust is evil; in this God does not concur. _______________________
THIRD
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Deuteronomy
10:22
In seventy souls thy fathers went down into Egypt: and behold now the Lord thy God hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven.
*H You shall answer: We, thy servants, are shepherds, from our infancy until now, both we and our fathers. And this you shall say, that you may dwell in the land of Gessen, because the Egyptians have all shepherds in abomination.
Ver. 34. Abomination. See C. xliii. 32. The source of this hatred against foreign shepherds, was probably because, about 100 years before Abraham, the shepherd-kings, Hycussos, had got possession of a great part of Egypt, and were at last expelled by the kings of Thebais. See Manetho ap. Eus. præp. x. 13. Another reason why they hated foreigners was, because they slew and eat sheep, &c. which they themselves adored. The Egyptians kept sheep for this purpose, and for the benefits to be derived from their wool, &c. C. xlvii. 17. C. — Joseph took advantage of this disposition of the inhabitants, to keep his brethren at a distance from them, that they might not be perverted. He does not introduce them at court, that no jealousy might be excited. He shews that he is not ashamed of his extraction. M.