And every plant of the field before it sprung up in the earth, and every herb of the ground before it grew: for the Lord God had not rained upon the earth; and there was not a man to till the earth.
Augustine of Hippo
Why after mentioning heaven and earth does this passage add "vegetation of the field and food" while remaining silent about so many other things that are in heaven and earth or even the sea, unless it wants "vegetation of the field" to be understood as an invisible created thing such as the soul? For "field" is often used figuratively in Scripture to represent the world.… Further on it adds "before they were upon the earth," which means "before the soul sinned." For once the soul was soiled with earthly desires, it was as if the soul was born on the earth, or its essence derived from the earth.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.