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

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 knife, removing all of his love of pleasure and sin by the word according to Christ, which is called a rock because of its firmness, and a knife, because it divides the better from the worse. And the blood of the circumcision stopped, he says, meaning, the spiritual circumcision which was indicated has been completely fulfilled. Therefore the angel who threatened Moses with death also departed. So that it is clear that a teacher is often freed from danger by cleansing the disciple, and from the benefit of the latter he gains his own salvation. Just as Pharaoh inflexibly demanded brick-making from the Hebrews, but did not provide the straw by which it is done; so too the devil forcibly demands from the people who serve him defilement and impurity, fiercely kindling in them rabid desires; but he makes the thing difficult to obtain, so that by its ease it may not quickly lead to satiety and contempt. Moses said to Pharaoh: We will go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God; lest death or slaughter meet us. For since the Egyptians, when sacrificing, turned away from the dead, Moses makes this a pretext for their distant departure. Lest, he says, while sacrificing we should even encounter a dead body of the foreigners and invalidate the sacrifice. By "death," meaning one who died naturally; by "slaughter," one who was murdered by treachery. And we too must be very far from sin when we sacrifice to God, turning away from the deadening and murderous passions of our souls. And Moses said to Pharaoh: We will go with our young men, and with our elders, with our sons and daughters, and with our sheep and cattle; for it is a feast of the Lord our God. Those who desire freedom from demons and passions must try to flee completely, leaving behind no remnant of their own soul and mind, through which they might be brought down again and be caught by their former evils. The young men would be a type of manliness, the elders a symbol of prudence, and the sons and daughters an image of the childlikeness and simplicity in Christ. For with manliness and prudence and simplicity according to God 77.1192 one must depart from sin to sanctification. For he says, Be strong, and let your heart take courage; and, Be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves. The sheep and the cattle are a type of the bodily and more irrational movements, which must not themselves be left to the devil. But Pharaoh reluctantly lets the men go; but he tries to hold back the women and the young children, and the weak old men, and the other living creatures. For he fears those who are manly in virtue, as being able to resist; but he lays claim to the effeminate and soft souls, and the weakened and non-combative dispositions, and he procures whatever is childish in understanding, and whatever is dense and irrational. And Moses said to Pharaoh: But you will also give us whole burnt offerings and sacrifices which we will make to the Lord our God. One takes from Egypt and Pharaoh, and offers to God, taking from the godless wisdom and the education of those outside, as if they were sacrificial victims, eloquence and fine style, and mixing them with the doctrines of piety, and through skillful means helping the worship of God, and making the weapons of falsehood weapons of truth; but also the contemplative and the inquisitive, and the love of learning and the industrious and whatever is of this kind, transforming them from the harmful to the useful, we transfer from Egypt and Pharaoh to God. And God did not lead them by the way of the Philistines, because it was near, lest the people repent, when they see war, and turn back to Egypt. For it was near

τὸ κατὰ Χριστὸν Εὐαγγέλιον, υἱὸν ἔσχε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἀναγεννωμένων αὐτῇ· ὃν καὶ περιέτεμε πετρίνῃ μαχαίρᾳ, περιελοῦσα πᾶσαν φιληδονίαν καὶ ἁμαρτίαν αὐτοῦ τῷ κατὰ Χριστὸν λόγῳ, ὃς λέγεται πέτρα μὲν διὰ τὸ στεῤῥὸν, μάχαιρα δὲ, διὰ τὸ διαιρεῖν τὸ κρεῖττον ἀπὸ τοῦ χείρονος. Ἔστη δὲ, φησὶ, τὸ αἷμα τῆς περιτομῆς, ἀντὶ τοῦ, πεπλήρωται ἐντελῶς ἡ δηλωθεῖσα πνευματικὴ περιτομή. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἀνεχώρησεν ὁ τὸν θάνατον ἐπανατεινόμενος τῷ Μωσεῖ ἄγγελος. Ὡς εἶναι δῆλον, ὅτι κινδύνου πολλάκις διδάσκαλος ἐλευθεροῦται, καθαίρων τὸν μαθητὴν, καὶ τῆς ὠφελείας τούτου σωτηρίαν ἰδίαν κομίζεται. Ὥσπερ ὁ Φαραὼ ἀπῄτει μὲν ἀπαραιτήτως τοὺς Ἑβραίους τὴν πλινθείαν, οὐκ ἐδίδου δὲ ἄχυρα δι' ὧν αὐτὴ γίνεται· οὕτω καὶ ὁ διάβολος ἀπαιτεῖ μὲν ἀναγκαστικῶς τοὺς αὐτῷ δουλεύοντας ἀνθρώπους τὸν μολυσμὸν, καὶ τὴν ἀκαθαρσίαν, ἐκκαίων αὐτοὺς ἀγρίως εἰς λυσσώδεις ἐπιθυμίας· δυσπόριστον δὲ τὸ πρᾶγμα τίθησιν, ἵνα μὴ τῷ ῥᾳδίῳ ταχέως εἰς κόρον ἴοι καὶ καταφρόνησιν. Εἶπε Μωσῆς πρὸς Φαραώ· Πορευσόμεθα ὁδὸν τριῶν ἡμερῶν, εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, ὅπως θύσωμεν Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν· μήποτε συναντήσῃ ἡμῖν θάνατος ἢ φόνος. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Αἰγύπτιοι ἐν τῷ θύειν ἀπετροπιάζοντο τοὺς νεκρούς· πρόφασιν ὁ Μωσῆς τοῦτο ποιεῖται τῆς εἰς μακρὰν ἀποχωρήσεως. Μήποτε, φησὶ, καὶ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων θύοντες περιτύχωμεν νεκρῷ, καὶ καταλύσωμεν τὴν θυσίαν. Θάνατον μὲν λέγων, τὸν φυσικῶς ἀποθανόντα· φόνον δὲ τὸν ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς φονευθέντα. Χρὴ δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς ποῤῥωτάτω τῆς ἁμαρτίας γινομένους, θύειν Θεῷ, καὶ ἀποτρεπομένους τὰ νεκρωτικὰ καὶ φονευτικὰ πάθη τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν. Καὶ εἶπε Μωσῆς πρὸς Φαραώ· Πορευσόμεθα σὺν τοῖς νεανίσκοις ἡμῶν, καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις, σὺν τοῖς υἱοῖς ἡμῶν καὶ θυγατράσι, καὶ προβάτοις καὶ βουσὶν ἡμῶν· ἔστι γὰρ ἑορτὴ Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν. Χρὴ τοὺς τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων καὶ παθῶν ἐλευθερίας ἐπιθυμοῦντας, φεῦγεν πειρᾶσθαι τελείως, μηδέν τι λείψανον τῆς ἑαυτῶν ψυχῆς καὶ διανοίας ἀφέντας ὀπίσω, δι' οὗ μέλλοιεν ὑπενεχθῆναι πάλιν, καὶ ἁλῶναι τοῖς προτέροις κακοῖς. Εἶεν δ' ἂν οἱ νεανίσκοι μὲν εἰς τύπον ἀνδρείας, οἱ πρεσβύτεροι δὲ εἰς σύμβολον φρονήσεως, οἱ δὲ υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες εἰς εἰκόνα τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ νηπιότητος καὶ ἁπλότητος. Σὺν ἀνδρείᾳ γὰρ καὶ φρονήσει καὶ κατὰ Θεὸν ἁπλό 77.1192 τητι ἀποφοιτητέον ἐξ ἁμαρτίας εἰς ἁγιασμόν. Ἀνδρίζεσθε γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ κραταιούσθω καρδία ὑμῶν· καὶ, Γίνεσθε φρόνιμοι ὡς οἱ ὄφεις, καὶ ἀκέραιοι ὡς αἱ περιστεραί. Τὰ πρόβατα δὲ καὶ οἱ βόες, τύπος τῶν σωματικῶν τε καὶ ἀλογωτέρων κινημάτων· ἃ μηδὲ αὐτὰ μεθετέον τῷ διαβόλῳ. Ἀλλ' ὁ Φαραὼ τοὺς μὲν ἄνδρας ἀνίησι καὶ ἄκων· τὰ γύναια δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀνήβους παῖδας, καὶ τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς γέροντας, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ζῶα, πειρᾶται παρακατέχειν. ∆έδιε μὲν γὰρ τοὺς ἀνδρείους εἰς ἀρετὴν, ὡς ἀνθίστασθαι δυναμένους· ἀντιποιεῖται δὲ τῶν θηλυπρεπῶν τε καὶ μαλθακῶν ψυχῶν, καὶ τῶν ἠσθενηκότων καὶ ἀπομάχων φρονημάτων, καὶ περιποιεῖται ὅσον νηπιῶδες εἰς σύνεσιν, καὶ ὅσον παχὺ καὶ ἄλογον. Εἶπε δὲ Μωσῆς πρὸς Φαραώ· Ἀλλὰ καὶ σὺ δώ σεις ἡμῖν ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ θυσίας ἃς ποιή σομεν τῷ Κυρίῳ Θεῷ ἡμῶν. Λαμβάνει τις ἐξ Αἰγύπτου καὶ Φαραὼ, καὶ προσφέρει τῷ Θεῷ, λαμβάνων ἐκ τῆς ἀθέου σοφίας καὶ τῆς παιδεύσεως τῶν ἔξω, καθάπερ ἱερεῖα τὴν εὐγλωττίαν καὶ καλλιέπειαν, καὶ ἀναμιγνύων αὐτὰ τοῖς τῆς εὐσεβείας δόγμασι, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐντέχνων τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ βοηθῶν, καὶ τὰ ὅπλα τοῦ ψεύδους ὅπλα τῆς ἀληθείας ποιούμενος· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ θεωρητικόν τε καὶ ἐξεταστικὸν, καὶ τὸ φιλομαθὲς καὶ τὸ φερέπονον καὶ εἴ τι τοιοῦτον, ἀπὸ τῶν βλαβερῶν ἐπὶ τὰ ὠφέλιμα μεταλαμβάνοντες, ἐξ Αἰγύπτου καὶ Φαραὼ πρὸς Θεὸν μετάγομεν. Καὶ οὐχ ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς Θεὸς ὁδὸν Φυλιστιεὶμ, ὅτι ἐγγὺς ἦν, μήποτε μεταμελήσῃ τῷ λαῷ, ἰδόντι πόλεμον, καὶ ἀποστρέψῃ εἰς τὴν Αἴ γυπτον. Ἐγγὺς μὲν γὰρ