Farmers And Workers Of The Earth

Et coepit Noe homo agricola esse terrae. Videtur quidem prima specie Adae illi qui de terra factus est, comparari Noe vir justus; quia et de illo scriptum est quod de paradiso ejectus coeperit operari terram: de isto quoque quoniam egressus ex arca factus sit agricola. Et propemodum in utroque praecesserat quaedam forma diluvii, quia et Noe post diluvium, et Adam post mundi constitutionem secundum figmentum corporis. Nam ut mundus fieret, congregata est aqua in unam congregationem, ut videretur terra quae ante non poterat per aquarum confusionem videri. Ergo sicut ille primigenes magister terram videtur operatus, ita etiam egressus ex arca Noe seminationis et culturae auctor est factus. Haec putantur similia: sed si verba consideres quae jam vim sensus altioris exprimunt, aliud est operatorem terrae esse, aliud agricolam. Alius enim tamquam mercenarii, alius tamquam patrisfamilias loco fungitur. Denique Cain qui fratrem occidit, erat operarius terrae. Et ut scias quia operari terram magis servile quam liberum sit, maledicto parricidalis ejus operatio comprehenditur. Denique scriptum est: Quoniam operaberis terram, et non augebit virtutem suam dare tibi: gemens et tremens eris super terram. Terra autem caro nostra est quam improbus operatur, bonus autem excolit. Ille quasi mercedem quaerat e terra; iste quasi bonae fructus capiat et gratiam disciplinae; ut magis fructiferum faciat agrum suum, et qui Domini possit respondere culturis, et indulgentiam cultoris ostendat. Operator autem quid aliud nisi escam tantummodo corporis sui quaerit, ventris magis usui studens, atque id solum explicare contentus, quod sibi prodesse possit ad victum? Ille vero alius fructuum utilitate pascitur. Quos fructus habeat justus agnoscis. Fructus autem spiritus, charitas, gaudium, pax, patientia, bonitas. Bonus ergo agricola habet continentiam, castitatem, ut si quae arbores cito curvantur in terram, et effusius germinant, eas velut quadam temperantiae suae falce succidat, ut abjiciant quod infirmum est, germinent quod decorum. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Noe et Arca, Caput XXIX Source: Migne PL 14.409b-410c

And Noah became a farmer of the earth. 1 It seems at first that this is a likness of that Adam who was made from earth, to whom the righteous man Noah is compared, because concerning the first it is written that being cast out of paradise he began to work the earth, 2 and also this man coming out of the ark was made a farmer. And near enough both were preceded by a certain type of deluge, Noah after his flood, and Adam after the establishment of the world according to the body, because so that the world might be, the waters were gathered into one place, that the earth appear, which was not able to before amid the confusion of the waters. Therefore as that first born teacher seems to have worked, so indeed coming out of the ark Noah was an author of the sowing of seed and farming. These things are thought to be similar, but if you consider the words, they will express a higher meaning, for a worker of the earth is one thing, and a farmer another. One is as a hireling, the other is as one who performs his duty as father of a family. Then Cain, who murdered his brother, was a worker of the earth. And that you know that to work the earth is more servile than to be a free man, his work is bound up in the the curse of the kin slayer. Then it is written: 'Because you will work the earth and it will not give its strength to you, but in groaning and in fear you shall be on the earth. 3 The earth is our flesh which as one wicked works, but he who is good cultivates. The former as a hireling seeks from the earth, the latter would gain the good fruits and the grace of discipline, so that he might make his field more fruitful, and he who is able to answer to the Lord for farming, he shall show the cares of the farmer. For what is a hireling but he who seeks food for his body alone, desiring the employment of his stomach more than all, and is not happy unless it is full; how would restraint profit such a fellow? The latter pastures for the utility of another. And what fruits the just man shall have, you know. The fruits of the spirit, charity, joy, peace, patience, and benevolence. The good farmer thus has continence, chastity, that if some trees sudddenly bend down to earth to pour out their seed, he with a certain sickle of temperance cuts them back, that he cut off what is weak, and they germinate what is fitting. Saint Ambrose, Noah and the Ark, Chapter 29 1 Gen 9.20 2 Gen 3.23 3 Gen 4.12