This commentary by Augustine follows on from the article Genesis 1, 2 Ruah – The Spirit of God is feminine, in which several commentaries and interpretations of the second verse of Genesis are introduced.
Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram (Genesis to the letter), First Book 6:12 to 8:14
6. 12. Ut quemadmodum in ipso exordio inchoatae creaturae, quae coeli et terrae nomine, propter id quod de illa perficiendum erat, commemorata est, Trinitas insinuatur Creatoris
In this way, as soon as in the very beginning mention is made of the creature in the state of a sketch and it is [already] called heaven and earth in view of what was to be brought to perfection from it, the Trinity of the Creator is alluded to.
With the expression inchoata creatura, designating a work barely begun, in the state of a sketch, Augustine follows on from his earlier explanation, which examines the detail of the whole work of creation that brought each creature to perfection when it was drawn from an as yet unformed terrestrial and celestial mass, in which the different species cannot be distinguished because the waters still cover the entire earth’s surface. He explains, therefore, that there is no succession of time between form and matter, but only a logical dependence and, following the biblical account, makes the distinction in the work of creation between the moment when God decides to create and creates heaven and earth and the moment when he dries up the earth and draws all the species from it; because God knows no succession of time, nor succession of thought, but everything is present to him simultaneously.
(nam dicente Scriptura: In principio fecit Deus coelum et terram; intellegimus Patrem in Dei nomine, et Filium in principii nomine, qui non Patri, sed per seipsum creatae primitus ac potissimum spiritali creaturae, et consequenter etiam universae creaturae principium est: dicente autem Scriptura: Et Spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquam, completam commemorationem Trinitatis agnoscimus);
(indeed, when Scripture says: In principio God made heaven and earth we understand the Father in the word God and the Son in the word principium, which is not the principium of the Father, but first and foremost of the spiritual creature created by himself and then also he is principium of the creation of every creature; however it is when Scripture says “and the Spirit of God stood over the water” that we recognize the full mention of the Trinity);
In the Latin translation of the second verse of Genesis, the Hebrew word meraḥefet is translated ferebatur. The verb fero indicates movement, transport, carrying something. Here in the passive-reflexive form indicates that the breath moves while being above the water. The original Hebrew word evokes the rustling of a bird’s wings as it hovers over the waters. Augustine also refers to the translation of “superferebatur super aquam“, where the idea of being above (super) is repeated twice, and he goes on to explain the importance of the Spirit of God beiing above. This passage also evokes the long chapter that Augustine will dedicate to the creation of angels, here called “spiritual creatures”, created by the Word of God, which then went on to create the rest of the creatures of this world.
ita et in conversione atque perfectione creaturae, ut rerum species digerantur, eadem Trinitas insinuetur: Verbum Dei scilicet, et Verbi generator, cum dicitur: Dixit Deus; et sancta bonitas, in qua Deo placet quidquid ei pro suae naturae modulo perfectum placet, cum dicitur: Vidit Deus quia bonum est.
In the same way, reference is also made to the Trinity when creation is turned towards God and [led] to its perfection, so that the species of things may be distinguished: notably the Word of God and the one who begets the Word, when it is said: “God says”; and holy goodness [i.e. the Holy Spirit], in which is pleasing to God any of what it has pleased him to make perfect in the measure of its nature [the nature proper to each], when it is said: “God saw that it was good”.
In the account of creation, Augustine contemplates the work of the Trinity: “God said”, so God begets the Word, he is Father, and his Word, the divine Word, is his Son, the Word that perfectly expresses what he is, his will: in the Son we see the Father. Then it’s the Holy Spirit he contemplates in “God saw that it was good”, for creation is the work of his goodness, a reflection of his goodness, and God’s goodness is his breath, his life-giving Spirit, who infuses life into creation and leads it to perfection. Every being, brought to perfection, reflects the creative goodness of the divine spirit.
7. 13. Sed cur commemorata prius quamvis imperfecta creatura, postea commemoratur Spiritus Dei, prius dicente Scriptura: Terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, et tenebrae erant super abyssum; ac deinde inferente: Et Spiritus Dei superferebatur super aquam?
But why is the creature, though imperfect, mentioned first, and then the Spirit of God? Scripture [in fact] first says: “The earth, however, was invisible and uncompounded, and darkness was over the deep; and then it adds: “And the Spirit of God was above the water”?
An quoniam egenus atque indigus amor ita diligit, ut rebus quas diligit, subiciatur; propterea cum commemoraretur Spiritus Dei, in quo sancta eius benevolentia dilectioque intellegitur, superferri dictus est, ne facienda opera sua per indigentiae necessitatem potius quam per abundantiam beneficentiae Deus amare putaretur?
Could it be since needy and indigent love loves in such a way that it puts itself underneath [it submits to] affectionate things? Is this why when mention is made of the Spirit of God, which is understood in the holy benevolence and affection of God, it is said that he is above (superferri), so that we do not imagine that God loves by doing his work because of a need due to indigence, rather than by the abundance of his charity?
Cuius rei memor Apostolus dicturus de caritate, super eminentem viam demonstraturum se ait: et in alio loco: Supereminentem, inquit, scientiae caritatem Christi.
Remembering this, the apostle, about to speak of charity, says that he is going to show a supereminent way (supereminentem which is superior (above) to all others) (1 Corinthians 12:31); and in another passage, he says that: “the charity of Christ rises above (supereminentem) science” (Ephesians 3:19).
Cum ergo sic oporteret insinuari Spiritum Dei, ut superferri diceretur, commodius factum est ut prius insinuaretur aliquid inchoatum, cui superferri diceretur; non enim loco, sed omnia superante ac praecellente potentia.
Since it was necessary, therefore, to lead to the Spirit of God, in order to be able to say that he is above (superferri), it was easier to indicate first something barely sketched out, to say that [the Spirit] is above that; indeed, it is not by place that [the Spirit] surpasses and excels above all things, but by power.
8. 14. Ita etiam rebus ex illa inchoatione perfectis atque formatis, vidit Deus quia bonum est: placuit enim quod factum est, in ea benignitate qua placuit ut fieret. Duo quippe sunt propter quae amat Deus creaturam suam; ut sit, et ut maneat. Ut esset ergo quod maneret: Spiritus Dei superferebatur super aquam; ut autem maneret: Vidit Deus quia bona est.
So it was only after he had formed things and brought them to perfection from this state of being, that “God saw that it was good”. What was made pleased God, in the same benevolence with which it pleased Him to make it. So there are two things in view of which God loves his creature: that it may be, and that it may remain. So that what remains may be: “the Spirit of God stood above the water”. And so that it may remain: “God saw that it was good”.
Et quod de luce dictum est, hoc de omnibus. Manent enim quaedam supergressa omnem temporalem volubilitatem in amplissima sanctitate sub Deo; quaedam vero secundum sui temporis modos, dum per decessionem successionemque rerum saeculorum pulchritudo contexitur.
And what is said about light is also said about everything. For some creatures [angels] remain beyond all temporal change in the immense holiness below God; some, indeed, according to the modality of time [allotted to them], while beauty is woven through the passage and succession of the things of the centuries.
…
18. 36. Sed ante omnia meminerimus, unde iam multa diximus, non temporalibus quasi animi sui aut corporis motibus operari Deum, sicut operatur homo vel angelus; sed aeternis atque incommutabilibus et stabilibus rationibus coaeterni sibi Verbi sui, et quodam, ut ita dixerim, fotu pariter coaeterni sancti Spiritus sui.
But first of all we should remember, from the many things we have already said, that God does not act as by temporal movements of his soul or body as man or angel acts; but [he acts] by the eternal, immutable and stable reasons of his Word to him coeternal, and I would say, by a certain warming action (fotu) done by the Holy Spirit, also coeternal.
Augustine introduces the verb foveo to warm, using its action noun fotus. This action of warming accomplished by the Holy Spirit will be compared to that of the bird brooding, taking its brood under its wings, since the verb found in the original Hebrew text of the second verse of Genesis, meraḥefet, describes the action of the bird spreading its wings. Augustine thus recalls the interpretation of a Syrian holy father, already reported by Basil of Caesarea: in Syriac, a language related to Hebrew, this verb indicates the action of incubating, warming the eggs by infusing them with vital energy.
Nam et illud quod per graecam et latinam linguam dictum est de Spiritu Dei, quod superferebatur super aquas, secundum syrae linguae intellectum, quae vicina est hebraeae, (nam hoc a quodam docto christiano syro fertur expositum) non superferebatur, sed fovebat potius intellegi perhibetur. Nec sicut foventur tumores aut vulnera in corpore aquis vel frigidis vel calore congruo temperatis; sed sicut ova foventur ab alitibus, ubi calor ille materni corporis etiam formandis pullis quodammodo adminiculatur, per quemdam in suo genere dilectionis affectum.
Indeed, what is said throughout the Latin and Greek language about the Spirit of God, that he moved above the waters, according to the understanding of the Syriac language, which is close to Hebrew, (indeed, this is the explanation handed down by a Syrian Christian scholar), is affirmed that it should not be understood “he moved above [he hovered] (superferebatur)”, but warmed (fovebat). And this not as one heals by warming (foventur) what is swollen or a wound in the body with cold waters or evenly tempered by heat; but as animals with wings incubate eggs, in such a way that the warmth of this maternal body is somehow also infused into the chicks that are to be formed, through a certain affection which in its kind is love (dilectionis).
Non itaque per singulos dies istorum operum divinorum tamquam temporales voces Dei carnaliter cogitemus. Non enim ad hoc ipsa Dei Sapientia nostra infirmitate suscepta venit ad colligendos sub alas suas filios Ierusalem, quemadmodum gallina pullos suos ut semper parvuli simus; sed ut malitia infantes, mente pueri esse desinamus.
So let us not think in a carnal way that for each day of these divine works there are words from God like sounds that are emitted in time. Indeed, the very Wisdom of God did not come to assume our weakness by gathering under his wings the children of Jerusalem, in the same way as a hen gathers her chicks, so that we might always remain children, but that being children through malice, we might stop being children through intelligence.
This reading of the second verse of Genesis follows an initial extract from Augustine on the first verse, introduced by the article Bereshit – In the head of God. The introduction to the various translations and interpretations of the second verse of Genesis can be found in the article Ruah – L’Esprit de Dieu est féminin which presents a continuity concerning the identification of the Spirit of God with the feminine and maternal attitude of the bird that spreads its wings over its young, protects them, incubates them and infuses the eggs with vital energy, just as God’s Holy Spirit hovers over the waters of the coming creation, infusing them with the “seminal reasons” for the different species and forms that were to be drawn from them, just as the earth emerged from the water in the Genesis account.