Ambrose of Milan : Now let us consider more carefully what He says: And the Lord God said: Considering, I will not add to curse the earth on account of the works of men; because the heart of man remains diligently upon evil from his youth (Genesis 8:21). Therefore, He would not strike the whole earth again, as He did, all the days of the earth. Although He had sought revenge on the human race, yet He knew that the revenge of the law profits for fear, and the knowledge of doctrine, more than for a change in nature, which can be corrected in some, but cannot be changed in all. Therefore, the Lord took vengeance so that we might fear; He spared us so that we might be saved. And He took vengeance once as an example of fear, but spared us for the rest so that the bitterness of sin may not always rule over us, and also because if anyone desires to avenge sins more frequently, they are considered harsher rather than more lenient. Therefore, the Lord says: I will no longer add to curse the earth because of the works of men, that is, because He wanted to declare His mercy towards all mankind, and yet He should not have brought a certain security and negligence to human minds; He takes vengeance on a few, but reserves more. — On Noah and the Ark, 22.80 Bede : "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor, and He said to him: I will never again curse the ground because of humans." It was appropriate that, as a holy man and providing for future things, just as Abel consecrated the first age of the world by offering sacrifices to God, Noah would also consecrate the beginning of the second world age. This same act is remembered to have been done by Abraham and Melchizedek at the beginning of the third age, and by King David, a patriarch of the fourth age, on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Jesus, the high priest, and Zerubbabel, at the beginning of the fifth age, are also said to have done this upon restoring the altar which the Chaldeans had destroyed. All these prefigured the highest King and our true High Priest, who dedicated the entirety of the sixth age, indeed the beginning of the sixth age, to God with the sacrifice of His own body and blood on the altar of the holy cross. What is said, that the Lord smelled a sweet odor from Noah's offering, does not signify the fragrance that could delight human nostrils coming from burning sacrifices. It refers instead to the odor of virtues, which coming from the purest heart of the offerer, ascends to the sight of Divine Majesty. This is the kind of scent that Isaac, the patriarch, smelled in his son Jacob when he said: "See, the scent of my son is like the scent of a field that the Lord has blessed" (Genesis 27:27), and of which the Apostle says: "We are the pleasing aroma of Christ to God" (2 Corinthians 2:15). In mystical interpretations, it is appropriate that Noah offers a sacrifice after the flood, because this is the order of our consecration in Christ: first, we are washed in the fountain of life, and then we are refreshed at the sacred altar with the offering of the Lord. Hence the Apostle says: "But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified" (1 Corinthians 6:11). Washed in baptism, sanctified by the saving sacrifice, justified by good works. In the burnt offerings which were offered to the Lord from clean animals after the flood, holy martyrs can also be particularly prefigured. These, after the baptismal washing, maintained the purity of life and even shed their blood for the Lord. Burnt offerings, known as holocausts, were consumed entirely by fire and were the sacrifices of which nothing was consumed by the offerers. This name fittingly applies to martyrs, who merit to glorify God not only in their lives but also in their deaths. The altar on which these holocausts are offered is the heart of the elect, built by our Noah, Christ, and infused with the fire of His Spirit, which He sent to earth and wished vehemently to be kindled. There are many holocausts but one altar, because the heart and soul of the multitude of believers were one, without any separation; as the Apostle says: "Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). Burnt offerings are offered from all the clean animals and birds, symbolizing believers from every nation, every kind of people, from every age, who have attained the palm of martyrdom. If there is believed to be any distinction between clean animals and clean birds, the animals offered in burnt offerings represent those who from the common life of the people of God became martyrs; the birds symbolize those who, accustomed to frequently seeking heavenly things through flights of contemplation, were additionally crowned by a precious death. Thus, clean and unclean animals and birds exit the ark cleansed by the flood, but only clean ones are offered in sacrifice to the Lord. Believers emerge from the baptismal laver with the forgiveness of sins, but many of them return to the filth of sins afterward. Some persevere firmly in the cleanliness of life received until the end. Some tend so meticulously to the cleanliness once obtained that they even lay down their lives for its preservation. Since clean animals and birds entered the ark by sevens, it is evident that holocausts offered to the Lord came from these paired survivors. It is fitting that birds and animals in the seventh number are deputed as offerings to the Lord, symbolizing the grace of the sevenfold Spirit, by whose gift, believers are given not only the faith in the Lord but also the endurance to suffer for Him. Rightly, in animals and birds found in the seventh number and made holocausts, the glory of virgins can also be signified. Virginity, being an unequal number in that it prefers a celibate life free from marital union, offers itself as a holocaust to the Lord, consecrated perfectly to the Creator through the fire of supreme love. Of these, John says in Revelation: "These are those who did not defile themselves with women; they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, firstfruits to God and the Lamb" (Revelation 14:4). When Noah offers holocausts, the Lord smells a sweet savor, because God the Father graciously accepts both the passion of blessed martyrs and the virginal life of believers consecrated and offered through the grace of Christ. — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Bede : And he said to him: "I will no longer curse the ground because of man; for the intent and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from their youth. Therefore, I will never again strike down every living being as I have done." The Lord promises not to curse the earth again, nor strike every living being, because humans are so prone to sin that even if they were punished again by a flood, nonetheless, after it has passed, they would again involve themselves in vices and crimes. It should be noted that although the intent of the human heart is said to be prone to evil from youth, from which time the incentives of carnal desires are naturally generated in us, it does not follow that we first begin to be subject to sins from the time of puberty, though from then the wantonness of age prompts us to commit greater deeds. For there is also that divine sentence which says: "A heavy yoke is upon the children of Adam from the day they come forth from their mother's womb" (Sirach 40:1), referring to the yoke of the first transgression, because of which we are all conceived in iniquities and born in sins, although from the onset of youth we willingly add many more to those burdens with which we involuntarily came into this light due to the guilt inherited from our father; from all of which we are only freed by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, He says, "I will never again strike down every living being as I have done; but the extent of this promise of mercy He manifests by adding: — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Ephrem the Syrian : "The Lord smelled" not the smell of the flesh or the smoke of wood, but rather he looked out and saw the simplicity of heart with which Noah offered the sacrifice from all and on behalf of all. And his Lord spoke to him, as he desired that Noah hear, "Because of your righteousness, a remnant was preserved and did not perish in that flood that took place. And because of your sacrifice that was from all flesh and on behalf of all flesh, I will never again bring a flood upon the earth." God thus bound himself beforehand by this promise so that even if mankind were constantly to follow the evil thought of their inclination, he would never again bring a flood upon them. — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 6.13.2 John Chrysostom : The Scripture says, "And the Lord smelled a sweet odor," that is, he accepted the offerings. But do not imagine that God has nostrils, since God is invisible spirit. Yet what is carried up from the altar is the odor and smoke from burning bodies, and nothing is more malodorous than such a savor. But that you may learn that God attends to the intention of the one offering the sacrifice and then accepts or rejects it, Scripture calls the odor and smoke a sweet savor. — AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 1.7.3 Augustine of Hippo : CHARACTER OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. — Why does the Lord say: I will not any more curse the earth, because of the works of men, because the imagination of man is purposefully bent upon evil things from his youth, I will not therefore any more smite all living flesh as I have done , and after that, why does God bring back the benefits which the generosity of his love gratifies unworthy men? Is this a figure of thanks which signal the New Testament (Cf. Matthew 5:38), and past revenges the image of the Old Testament? In other words, would vengeance be the type of severity of the law, and the goodness of the sweetness of grace? [Augustine of Hippo, Question on Genesis, PL 34, — QUESTIONS ON GENESIS, Q. 14 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)