of God, by whom the divine disciples killed every male of the opposing power, like Simon and Elymas the magicians, and they destroyed their strong dogmas; and they preserved the women, and the souls able to say: Because of your fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb even upon the earth; and the infants likewise, to whom Paul also writes: Little children, do not be infants in your minds, but be infants in evil. And beasts, he says, preserve. For a righteous man has mercy on the souls of his beasts; alluding through the beasts to the more irrational. A beast was also Cornelius, according to the vision about the four-footed animals that appeared to Peter. CHAP. 22. Ver. 2. You shall not take the mother with the young. Because they cannot feed themselves, if the mother is taken. CHAP. 23. Ver. 3. An Ammonite shall not enter. Why ever does he forbid intermingling with the Moabites and Ammonites, not for some stated time, but forever? First, on account of their unlawful root; for they were born of an unlawful union; then on account of their impiety, which they prepared the Israelites 17.32 to share in by making their women beautiful, and through them ensnaring them into the worship of idols. However, he commands the Edomite and the Egyptian to be received after the third generation, the one as a brother, the other as a benefactor who arose in a time of need. For when a famine occurred, their fathers went into Egypt and were fed. The law therefore teaches us not to be unmindful even of an old benefit. Ver. 14. What is, For the Lord your God walks in your camp? It is known that the air, when often filled with foul odors, causes plague. Therefore, he commanded them when encamped to bury their excreted dung. And so that they might not suffer harm by disobeying, he necessarily added: For the Lord your God walks in your camp. And he teaches the reason: To deliver you, and to give up your enemy before your face. And through this he teaches to do nothing unlawful. For he adds this: And your camp shall be holy, and no unseemly thing shall be found in you. Ver. 12. And you shall have a place, he says, outside the camp, and you shall go out there. Ver. 13. And you shall have a peg upon your belt. And it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it, and returning, you shall cover your own uncleanness. Ver. 14. For the Lord your God walks in the camp to deliver you, and to give your enemy into your hands. And your camp shall be holy, and no unseemly thing shall be seen in you. For it is fitting for those who desire to act manfully against the spiritual enemies to avoid every form of impurity. But since we all stumble much, and human nature is sick with its easy slide into sin; and no one will understand his own transgressions, according to the voice of the Psalmist; Let it be, he says, that you are all but shattered by one of the innate impurities also within you, and are found to be sick with things outside the law and a holy life. For the law of sin dwells in the members of the flesh. First, let the stumblings that come from this sickness not be done openly and undisguisedly, nor indeed in the sight of many; but as it were, hiding outside, and as far as possible from the camp; then let it be covered over by corrections, he says; For the wise will cover their own shames, according to what is written. For ceasing from our sins, and in a way reconstituting our mind with inclinations toward better things, so as to choose what is profitable, we put our stumblings out of the way; and having conquered unseemly sin with the fragrances of subsequent deeds, we shall enter again into the camp of the saints, that is, into the church of the firstborn. And this is fulfilled in Christ, if we take up his cross, using a vigorous and most ready spirit. For to have a peg upon our belt, that is, the 17.33 wood, alludes to this indirectly. Therefore, making the bodily things a spiritual prefiguration of the spiritual things; for we are not in impurities, in the eyes

Θεοῦ, ᾧτινι οἱ θεσπέσιοι μαθηταὶ ἀπέκτεινον ἅπαν ἀρσενικὸν τῆς ἀντικειμένης δυνά μεως, ὡς Σίμωνα καὶ Ἐλύμαν τοὺς μάγους, καὶ τὰ ἰσχυρὰ δὲ αὐτῶν κατέλυον δόγματα· περιεποιοῦντο δὲ τὰς γυναῖκας, καὶ δυναμένας εἰπεῖν ψυχάς· ∆ιὰ τὸν φόβον σου, Κύριε, ἐν γαστρὶ ἐλάβομεν ἕως ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· καὶ τὰ νήπια δὲ ὡσαύτως, οἷς καὶ Παῦλος γράφει· Τεκνία, μὴ ταῖς φρεσὶν νήπιοι γίνεσθε, ἀλλὰ τῇ κακίᾳ νηπιάζετε. Καὶ κτήνη δὲ, φησὶ, περιποιήσατε. ∆ίκαιος γὰρ οἰκτείρει ψυχὰς κτηνῶν αὐτοῦ· τοὺς ἀλογωτέρους διὰ τῶν κτηνῶν αἰνιττόμενος. Κτῆνος ἦν καὶ ὁ Κορνήλιος, κατὰ τὴν ὀπτασίαν τὴν περὶ τῶν τετραπόδων φανεῖσαν τῷ Πέτρῳ. ΚΕΦ. ΚΒʹ. Στίχ. ʹ. Οὐ λήψῃ τὴν μητέρα μετὰ τῶν τέκνων. Ἐπειδὴ μὴ δύναται ἑαυτὰ τρέφειν, τῆς μητρὸς ληφθείσης. ΚΕΦ. ΚΓʹ. Στίχ. γʹ. Οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται Ἀμανίτης. Τί δήποτε τὴν πρὸς Μωαβίτας καὶ Ἀμανίτας ἐπιμιξίαν κωλύει οὐ κατὰ ῥητόν τινα χρόνον, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα; Πρῶτον διὰ τὴν παράνομον αὐτῶν ῥίζαν· ἐκ παρανόμου γὰρ γεγένηνται συνουσίας· ἔπειτα διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν, ἧς καὶ τοὺς Ἰσραηλίτας 17.32 μεταλαχεῖν παρεσκεύασαν ὡραΐσαντες τὰς γυναῖκας, καὶ διὰ τούτων αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν τῶν εἰδώλων λατρείαν ἀγρεύσαντες. Τὸν μέντοι Ἰδουμαῖον καὶ τὸν Αἰγύ πτιον μετὰ τρίτην κελεύει προσίεσθαι γενεὰν, τὸν μὲν ὡς ἀδελφὸν, τὸν δὲ ὡς εὐεργέτην ἐν καιρῷ γεγενημέ νον. Λιμοῦ γὰρ προσπεσόντος, εἰς Αἴγυπτον εἰσελθόντες οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν διετράφησαν. ∆ιδάσκει τοίνυν ὁ νόμος ἡμᾶς, μηδὲ παλαιᾶς εὐεργεσίας ἀμνημονεῖν. Στίχ. ιδʹ. Τί ἐστιν, Ὅτι Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου ἐμπε ριπατεῖ ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ σου; Οἶδε πολλάκις δυσοσμίας ὁ ἀὴρ ἐμπιπλάμενος λοι μὸν ἐμποιεῖν. Ἐκέλευσε τοίνυν αὐτοῖς στρατοπε δευομένοις τὴν ἐκκρινομένην καταχωννύναι κόπρον. Ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἀπειθήσαντες βλάβην εἰσδέξωνται, ἀναγ καίως ἐπήγαγεν· Ὅτι Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἐμπεριπατεῖ ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ σου. Καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν διδάσκει· Ἐξελέσθαι σε, καὶ παραδοῦναι τὸν ἐχθρόν σου πρὸ προσώπου σου. ∆ιὰ δὲ τούτου παιδεύει μηδὲν πράττειν παράνομον. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπάγει· Καὶ ἔσται ἡ παρεμβολή σου ἁγία, καὶ οὐχ εὑρεθήσεται ἐν σοὶ ἀσχημοσύνης πρᾶγμα. Στίχ. ιβʹ. Καὶ ὁ τόπος ἔστω σοι, φησὶν, ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς, καὶ ἐξελεύσῃ ἐκεῖ. Στίχ. ιγʹ. Καὶ πάσσαλος ἔσται σοι ἐπὶ τῆς ζώνης σου. Καὶ ἔσται ὅταν καθιζάνῃς ἔξω, καὶ ὀρύ ξῃς ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐπαναγαγὼν καλύψεις τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην σου ἑαυτοῦ. Στίχ. ιδʹ. Ὅτι Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου ἐμπεριπατεῖ ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ ἐξελέσθαι σε, καὶ παραδοῦναί σοι τὸν ἐχθρόν σου εἰς τὰς χεῖράς σου. Καὶ ἔσται ἡ παρεμβολή σου ἁγία, καὶ οὐκ ὀφθήσε ται ἐν σοὶ ἀσχημοσύνη πράγματος. Παραιτεῖσθαι μὲν γὰρ πᾶν εἶδος ἀκαθαρσίας πρέ πει τοὺς κατανδρίζεσθαι τῶν νοητῶν ἐπιθυμοῦντας ἐχθρῶν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πολλὰ πταίομεν ἅπαντες, καὶ νοσεῖ μὲν ἡ ἀνθρώπου φύσις τὸ εὐόλισθον εἰς τὸ πλημμελές· συνήσει δὲ οὐδεὶς παραπτώματα, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Ψάλλοντος φωνήν· Γένοιτο, φησὶ, μιᾷ τῶν ἐμφύτων καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν ἀκαθαρσιῶν περιθραύεσθαι μονονουχὶ, καὶ ἁλίσκεσθαί τι νενοσηκότας τῶν ἔξω νόμου καὶ ζωῆς ἁγιοπρεποῦς. Ἐνοικεῖ γὰρ τοῖς μέ λεσι τῆς σαρκὸς τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος. Πρῶτον μὲν μὴ ἐναργῶς καὶ ἀκρύπτως, μήτε μὴν ἐν ὄψει πολ λῶν, τὰ ἐκ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας πραττέσθω πταίσματα· ἀλλ' οἷον ἔξω λεληθότες, καὶ ὡς ἀπωτάτω τῆς παρ εμβολῆς· εἶτα ταῖς ἐπανορθώσεσι κατακαλυπτέσθω, φησί· Σοφοὶ γὰρ καλύψουσι τὰς ἑαυτῶν αἰσχύ νας, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον. Καταλήγοντες γὰρ τῶν πλημμελημάτων, καὶ ταῖς εἰς τὰ ἀμείνω ῥοπαῖς ἀνα στοιχειοῦντες τρόπον τινὰ τὸν νοῦν, εἰς τὸ δεῖν ἑλέ σθαι τὸ ὠφελοῦν, ἐκ μέσου ποιούμεθα τὰ προσ πταίσματα· καὶ τὴν ἄκοσμον ἁμαρτίαν ταῖς τῶν ἐφεξῆς εὐωδίαις νικήσαντες, εἰσελευσόμεθα πά λιν εἰς τῶν ἁγίων παρεμβολὴν, τουτέστιν εἰς τὴν τῶν πρωτοτόκων ἐκκλησίαν. Ἐν Χριστῷ δὲ τοῦτο πληροῦται, εἰ λάβοιμεν τὸν αὐτοῦ σταυρὸν, γοργῷ καὶ εὐζωνοτάτῳ φρονήματι κεχρημένοι. Τὸ γὰρ ἔχειν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τοῦ ζωστῆρος πάσσαλον, ἤγουν τὸ 17.33 ξύλον, τοῦτο πλαγίως ὑπαινίττεται. Πνευματικῶς οὖν τῶν νοητῶν ὑποτύπωσιν ποιούμενοι τὰ σωμα τικά· οὐ γάρ ἐσμεν ἐν ἀκαθαρσίαις, ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς