Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume VI/The Letters of St. Jerome/Letter 35

Letter XXXV. From Pope Damasus.

Damasus addresses five questions to Jerome with a request for information concerning them. They are:

1. What is the meaning of the words &#8220;Whosoever slayeth Cain vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold&#8221;? (Gen. iv. 5.)

2. If God has made all things good, how comes it that He gives charge to Noah concerning unclean animals, and says to Peter, &#8220;What God hath cleansed that call not thou common&#8221;? (Acts x. 15.)

3. How is Gen. xv. 16, &#8220;in the fourth generation they shall come hither again,&#8221; to be reconciled with Ex. xiii. 18, LXX, &#8220;in the fifth generation the children of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt&#8221;?

4. Why did Abraham receive circumcision as a seal of his faith? (Rom. iv. 11.)

5. Why was Isaac, a righteous man and dear to God, allowed by God to become the dupe of Jacob? (Gen. xxvii.) Written at Rome 384