Collectio dictorum veteris testamenti

 is forced to descend into a foreign state and if the demons should see any good understanding accompanying him, they hasten to subject it to the sowi

 escaping. The heifer, taken first, signified the first generation. For just as the heifer struggles against the yoke, so also the first generation of

 the river, but to keep alive every female. For the devil, the spiritual Pharaoh, also conceived a threefold manner of plotting against the spiritual I

 He interprets what that one speaks spiritually and obscurely, and transforms his weak voice to be more melodious. For I have not come, he says, to abo

 the Gospel according to Christ, had as a son the multitude of those being reborn to it through the Holy Spirit whom she also circumcised with a stone

 and easy to comprehend is the mystery concerning Christ. But God did not lead the Jews to this immediately, but through the long law and the many ridd

 Moses commanded Joshua son of Nun to choose mighty men and go out and fight 77.1196 Amalek, signified that Jesus Christ would be subject to the comman

 of the people of the Jews, and servant of God, he ascends to the highest knowledge of God but the people are prevented from approaching, lest they di

 coming after it, demands this final penalty, as one who, after being freed from the burden of sin, is again voluntarily subjected to it. And He comman

 But the eighth ineffably suggests the mystery of the eternal well-being of the 77.1204 beings. The sixth day is called Preparation, because on it the

 and poverty of intellect, they make their neighbors, that is, those of the same faith, partners, so that through one another they may be raised to hig

 unmixed with wickedness, those partaking of the true Lamb nourish their own soul, throughout the whole weekly age, which is measured by the week. And

 the body bears uncircumcision. Circumcision is mystical, a voluntary removal of the passions. The circumcision of circumcision is the putting away of

 of rational discernment, as Israel did in the time of Moses, commits idolatry. For having cast into the fire of the passions the words concerning theo

 to do good things, and to walk toward good things. Humpbacked is the one bent downwards, and not able to look up from earthly things. Sun-spotted is o

 God, ostracizing stupidity, and wishing his subjects to belong to necessity alone, through the not weaving together of linen and wool, banished variet

 but in heaven God Himself whom alone they both worship and attend. And on the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, an

 they were catechized by the evangelists. Or otherwise, the four types of meanings were a symbol of the four types of moral discourse. Of which the one

 Aaron's rod, as a symbol of watchfulness. For to Jeremiah, seeing a staff of a nut tree, God says: Behold, I am watchful over my words. And it budded

 bracelets, and rings, and armlets, and braided chains. For the leaders of the people in Christ and the eminent often surpass the evangelical commands

 with bodily ways of the ministry of the virtues, they return to the contemplation of kindred intelligible things. A foreign boy and a servant-girl are

 undertaking. For she will pay the penalty for the offense to God, the Father of spirits, and she will be his wife, as having already been joined to hi

 of the other man wherefore he is required to pay the penalty for the murder, but he alone suffers loss in his soul. For this, I think, is what this m

 war for one year he shall cheer his wife, whom he has taken. For it is not right that one who has just taken a spouse for himself should be led out t

 Virtue is the mother of the good deeds from it. And its nest is the soul in which it dwells. It is necessary for those who encounter them to be benefi

 its fruit for three years will be unpurified for you. It shall not be eaten, and in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy to the Lord. But in th

 dragging down to earth, those things that draw up to heaven. Saul, is the natural 77.1249 law, which from the beginning received from the Lord the lot

 David is the law according to the spirit, who reigns over the Christians who worship God spiritually. But Saul is the law according to the letter, who

 the face of the Lord, according to David, and learns the cause of such a famine, that this injustice was against Saul, and against his house, with whi

 taking from the spiritual David, that is, the law according to the spirit, may kill the aforementioned sons and grandsons of 77.1257 Saul then in eve

 of knowledge, if it should receive the divine and discerning word, which brings to memory former sins, and will prefer even to nature itself the heali

 The Lord in the desert I mean in the world, and in the nature of men, digging out and cleansing the hearts of the worthy from material weight and min

 of the city. Since Hezekiah is interpreted as 'strength of God,' every mind 77.1265 that through practical philosophy has acquired divine strength, wh

 through themselves they again turn him away, as he flees into his land which is the fixed habit of evil, whom his sons kill as he is fleeing, and the

 the king of the Assyrians, flees to God, and silently cries out to Him, through progress in virtue and knowledge, and receives an angel as an ally th

 at once a philosopher and a lover of God has both Judah and Jerusalem the one taken as the habit of confession and repentance for Judah is interpret

 becomes a lofty and exalted mind, and in the good things given to it by God, boasts as if in its own accomplishments. There comes by providence upon t

 the spear and the flask of water that is, the power of practical virtue, and the grace of gnostic contemplation, even if he again gives these things

 of king Darius, I mean of the natural law, having conquered by him, lifts up his face to heaven, that is, the disposition of the soul, in which are th

 not being guarded. For lead is a symbol of punishment, but silver of brightness. And the seven eyes of this practical faith are the seven gifts of the

 constituted. For since matter is indeed a tetrad, because of the tetraktys of its elements, and form is a pentad, because of the fivefold nature of se

 they rise up for mischief. And approaching Zerubbabel, and Joshua and the leaders of the families, they say to them: We will build with you for like

escaping. The heifer, taken first, signified the first generation. For just as the heifer struggles against the yoke, so also the first generation of the people who went down 77.1181 into Egypt struggled against servitude. And the goat, taken second, hinted at the second generation. For just as the goat provides little income to its masters, so also the second generation rendered little servitude to the Egyptians. But the ram, taken third, foretold the third generation. For just as it provides more income, so also did this one provide more service as slaves. Therefore, the division of the three generations; but the face-to-face placement of the halved parts, the sharing of the affliction. For the first generation was also distressed, sojourning with the Egyptians. But God permitted the affliction in Egypt, so that, having later been delivered from so many hardships, they might know more greatly the one who delivered them; and that he himself might be known in all the earth through the signs he performed. Inharmonious with the new people, the firstborn according to time. For this was hinted at by the leaping and struggling infants in the womb of Rebecca, signifying the future enmity. Jacob took hold of Esau's heel as he was being born. And what happened showed that the mind that sees God through purity (for this is the interpretation of Israel) trips up the passions of gluttony, from which the other sicknesses of the soul are also born. Jacob, putting on the dead skins of kids, prefigured Christ putting on flesh that was dead to sin, through which he brought our salvation as most pleasing food to the Father, and, having become acceptable, he received the inalienable blessing and bestowed it upon Christians. Jacob anointing the stone. It shows how the hard-hearted soul of the nations will be anointed with the Holy Spirit, and will be set apart for God. And it also hinted that the assumed flesh will be anointed with divinity; for Christ is the cornerstone, joining the two peoples through himself. And Pharaoh said to Joseph: Tell your brothers, Taking your Father and your belongings, come to me, and I will give you all the good things of Egypt. If the devil only takes some subjects, he fills them with every love of pleasure. For Egypt is sin, and its good things are the pleasures found in it. But he also gives wagons for the transport of their belongings, making the journey to him easy and effortless. The father, then, of those who are captured, is the mind. And the belongings are the thoughts and actions. Likewise, again the king of the Assyrians promised to those in Jerusalem, saying: Come out to me and each of you will eat of his own vine, and of his own fig tree, and drink water from your cistern. For since the manner of sin is twofold, and we sin by being overcome either by innate pleasures or by those from without, 77.1184 the vine and the fig tree would be the pleasures from without, but the water of our cistern the innate ones, bubbling up from our body. And those from without are temporary, but the innate ones are longer-lasting. The devil promises the enjoyment of all these things to those from the holy way of life, as from Jerusalem, who desert to him and accept to serve him. Concerning Pharaoh in the Exodus. Pharaoh first afflicted the Israelite people with savage labors, thinking to prevent their increase in number. But with God working against him; For just as, it says, the Egyptians humbled them, so much more did they become, and they grew strong; he secretly comes to another device, and commands the Hebrew midwives to kill the males that are born, but to keep the females. But since God also prevented this; For the midwives, it says, feared God, and did not do as Pharaoh commanded them; he takes up a third plot, and openly commands those under him, to cast every male that is born into

διαδιδράσκοντες. Ἡ μὲν δάμαλις πρώτη ληφθεῖσα τὴν πρώτην ἐσήμαινε γενεάν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ δάμαλις, ἀποδυσπετεῖ πρὸς τὸν ζυγὸν, οὕτω καὶ ἡ τοῦ κατελθόντος 77.1181 εἰς Αἴγυπτον λαοῦ πρώτη φορὰ, ἀπεδυσπέτει πρὸς τὴν δουλείαν. Ἡ δ' αἲξ δευτέρα ληφθεῖσα τὴν δευτέραν γενεὰν ᾐνίττετο. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ αἲξ ὀλίγην παρέχει τοῖς δεσπόταις πρόσοδον, οὕτω καὶ ἡ δευτέρα γενεὰ ὀλίγην ἀπένειμε δουλείαν τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις. Ὁ δὲ κριὸς τρίτος ληφθεὶς τὴν τρίτην προεμήνυε γενεάν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὗτος πλείονα δίδωσι πρόσοδον, οὕτω καὶ αὕτη πλείονα δοῦλον παρέσχεν. Ἡ μὲν οὖν διαίρεσις τῶν τριῶν γενεῶν· ἡ δ' ἀντιπρόσωπος θέσις τῶν διχοτομημάτων, τὴν κοινωνίαν τῆς κακουχίας. Καὶ ἡ πρώτη γὰρ γενεὰ ἐδυσφόρει παροικοῦσα τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις. Συνεχώρησε δὲ τὴν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ κάκωσιν ὁ Θεὸς, ἵνα δυσχερῶν τοσούτων ὕστερον ἀπαλλαγέντες, γνῶσι μειζόνως τὸν ἀπαλλάξαντα· γνωσθῇ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ δι' ὧν ἐποίει σημείων. Ἀσύμφωνος τῷ νέῳ λαῷ, ὁ κατὰ χρόνον πρωτότοκος. Τοῦτο γὰρ ᾐνίττετο τὰ ἐν τῇ νηδύϊ τῆς Ῥεβέκας διασκιρτῶντα, καὶ ταρασσόμενα βρέφη, τὴν ἐσομένην ἔχθραν ὑποσημαίνοντα. Τῆς πτέρνης τοῦ Ἡσαῦ ὁ Ἰακὼβ ἐπείληπτο τικτόμενος. Ἐδήλου δὲ τὸ γενόμενον, ὡς ὁ νοῦς ὁ βλέπων Θεὸν διὰ καθαρότητα (τοῦτο γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται Ἰσραὴλ) πτερνίζει τὰ πάθη τῆς γαστριμαργίας, ἀφ' ὦν καὶ τἄλλα ψυχικὰ νοσήματα τίκτονται. Ἐρίφων δέρματα νεκρὰ περιθέμενος ὁ Ἰακὼβ, ἐτύπου Χριστὸν σάρκα περιθέμενον νεκρὰν ὅτι πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν, δι' ἧς τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν βρῶσιν ἡδίστην τῷ Πατρὶ προσεκόμισε, καὶ τὴν ἀναφαίρετον εὐλογίαν, ὡς ἀπόδεκτος γενόμενος, ἐκομίσατο καὶ τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς ἐχαρίσατο. Ἀλείφων τὸν λίθον Ἰακώβ. ∆είκνυσιν ὡς ἡ σκληροκάρδιος ψυχὴ τῶν ἐθνῶν χρισθήσεται μὲν τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, ἀφορισθήσεται δὲ τῷ Θεῷ. Ἠνίξατο δὲ καὶ ὅτι χρισθήσεται τῇ θεότητι ἡ προσληφθεῖσα σάρξ· λίθος γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς ἀκρογωνιαῖος συνάπτων δι' ἑαυτοῦ τοὺς δύο λαούς. Καὶ εἶπε Φαραὼ πρὸς Ἰωσήφ· Εἶπον τοῖς ἀδελ φοῖς σου, Παραλαβόντες τὸν Πατέρα ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα ὑμῶν, ἥκετε πρός με, καὶ δώσω ὑμῖν πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν Αἰγύπτου. Ὁ διάβολος εἰ μόνον λάβοι τινὰς ὑπηκόους, πάσης φιληδονίας αὐτοὺς ἐμπίπλησιν. Αἴγυπτος μὲν γὰρ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἀγαθὰ δὲ αὐτῆς αἱ κατ' αὐτὴν ἡδοναί. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἁμάξας δίδωσιν εἰς μετακομιδὴν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων αὐτοῖς, εὔοδον τιθεὶς τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν πορείαν, καὶ ἄπονον. Πατὴρ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἁλισκομένων, ὁ νοῦς. Ὑπάρχοντα δὲ οἱ λογισμοὶ καὶ αἱ πράξεις. Ὁμοίως δὲ πάλιν ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀσσυρίων τοῖς ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπηγγέλλετο λέγων· Ἐκπορεύεσθε πρός με καὶ φάγεσθε ἕκαστος τὴν ἄμπελον αὑτοῦ, καὶ τὴν συκῆν αὑτοῦ, καὶ πίεσθε ὕδωρ τοῦ λάκκου ὑμῶν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ διττὸς ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ ἢ τῶν ἐμφύτων ἡδονῶν, ἢ τῶν θύραθεν ἡττώμενοι πλημμελοῦμεν, 77.1184 εἶεν ἂν ἄμπελος μὲν καὶ συκῆ αἱ θύραθεν ἡδοναὶ, ὕδωρ δὲ τοῦ λάκκου ἡμῶν αἱ ἔμφυτοι, τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν ἀναβλύζουσαι. Καὶ αἱ μὲν θύραθεν, εἰσὶ πρόσκαιροι, αἱ δὲ ἔμφυτοι μακροχρονιώτεραι. Ὧν ἁπάντων τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν ὁ διάβολος ὑπισχνεῖται τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ἁγιοπρεποῦς πολιτείας, ὡς ἐξ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, αὐτομολοῦσι πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ δουλεύειν αὐτῷ καταδεχομένοις. Τῆς ἐξόδου περὶ τοῦ Φαραώ. Ὁ Φαραὼ πρῶτον μὲν ἀγρίοις πόνοις ἐκάκου τὸν Ἰσραηλιτικὸν λαὸν, τὴν εἰς πλῆθος αὔξησιν αὐτοῦ κωλύειν οἰόμενος. Ἀντιπράττοντος δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ· Καθ' ὅ τι γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐταπείνουν αὐτοὺς οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι, τοσούτῳ πλείους ἐγίνοντο, καὶ ἴσχυον· ἐφ' ἑτέραν λαθραίως ἔρχεται μηχανὴν, καὶ προστάττει ταῖς μαίαις τῶν Ἑβραίων ἀποκτείνειν μὲν τὰ ἄρσενα τῶν τικτομένων, τὰ θήλεα δὲ περιποιεῖσθαι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο κεκώλυκεν ὁ Θεός· Ἐφοβήθησαν γὰρ, φησὶν, αἱ μαῖαι τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησαν ὡς συνέταξεν αὐταῖς Φαραώ· τρίτης ἐπιβουλῆς ἅπτεται, καὶ φανερῶς ἐντέλλεται τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτὸν, πᾶν μὲν τικτόμενον ἄρσεν ῥίπτειν εἰς