Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.01.2013, Side 23

qui autem ita uiuunt, ut eorum
conuersatio, sicut dicit apostolus, in
caelis sit, non eos existimo linguae
suae modum, quantum ad ueritatem
promendam adtinet falsitatemque
uitandam, exemplo illo obstetricum
debere formare.
However, I believe that those whose
way of living, as the Apostle says, is
in heaven, should not imitate the
example of the midwives when it
comes to speaking the truth and
avoiding falsehood.
This kind of rigorism brings Augustine into difficulties when it comes to the
story of Jacob, who clearly lied to his age-blinded father Isaak in pretending
to be Esau and thus fraudulently obtaining the blessing of the first-born.
Here, as usual, whenever a text seems to say something immoral, Augustine
takes refuge in a spiritual meaning. Thus in qu. 1,74, he refers to his Sermo
IV de Vetere Testamento, where, among other things, he had explained that
Esau’s hair stands for his sins so that he openly displays his sins. Jacob, on
the contrary, has a smooth skin and thus is pure of sin. However, by binding
the pelts around his arms, Jacob takes up the sins of others as a prototype of
Christ. As to the deceit itself, Augustine argues, Isaak could not be deceived,
because, filled with the prophetic Spirit, he would have seen through what
was going on. Moreover, Jacob did not actually lie, when he presented
himself to his father as the first-born, because he had previously purchased
from Esau the right of the first-born in exchange for a dish of lentiles.
For the trick that Jacob played on Laban by putting branches peeled
in stripes in the watering troughs when the sheep and goats bred so that
they produced only speckled lambs and kids, Augustine gives the following
explanation:
qu. 1,93 (to Gen 30,37.42)
Ac per hoc cogit inquiri prophetiam
et aliquam figuratam significa-
tionem res ista, quam sine dubio
ut propheta fecit Iacob; et ideo nec
fraudis arguendus est.
non enim tale aliquid nisi reuela-
tione spiritalieum fecisse credendum
est.
And thus this story requires looking
for a prophecy or a meaning that
points to the future. Without ques-
tion, Jacob exercised such a function
as a prophet, and thus one cannot
accuse him of deceit.
One cannot believe that he would
have done something like that
without a spiritual revelation.
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