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that a limit has also been set that he will not fail until what is laid up for him should come; that is, the things promised by the Father to Christ, who said to him, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet; when also every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; for then also the expectation of the nations who have believed in him in the present time will have the opportunity to receive the expected promises in the expected kingdom of heaven. And these things in this way; but the things that follow from, binding his colt to the vine, being attached 28 to an allegorical sense, we will leave for the studious to seek, having exceeded even in what has been said, not according to the proposed scope, but nevertheless out of necessity for a clear narrative of the things concerning the passage. From Exodus. —IX. And Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law. And after a little; and they came to Horeb the mountain of God; and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire. And after other things; and when the Lord saw that he drew near to see, he called to him from the midst of the bush, saying. And again; and the Lord said to him: I am who I am. And after many things; and God spoke to Moses; and he said to him: I am the Lord, and I appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, being their God, and my name Lord I did not make known to them; and I established my covenant with them, and so forth. It is very carefully recorded in these passages that not the Lord but the angel appeared to Moses, through whom the Lord also, as if through an interpreter, giving oracles, teaches that it was not some subordinate power that gave the oracle, but he who is. And he more clearly shows who He who is is, in saying, I am the Lord; and I appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, being their God; and my name Lord I did not make known to them; which seems to me to contain such a meaning as this; to you, for the present, revealing my name only, I say, I am the Lord; but to your fathers I did not make my name known, for they were worthy of a greater knowledge of this sort; but I myself appeared to them and 29 through myself I established my covenant with them. And it is clear from what has been previously shown who it was that appeared to the fathers; for the argument, when examined in this way, was proving that this was the Word who was in the beginning with God, God the Word. Therefore the same one also appears now, but not in the same way as to the forefathers; for to them, as they were greater and more perfect, he himself appeared, and through himself he established his covenant with them; but in the time of Moses, not the Lord appeared, but the angel; yet it was no longer the angel who called him, but the Lord; for the Lord was the one giving the command, but the angel was the one ministering the divine words; whence, if anything else has been wonderfully uttered by the holy apostle, it is this: the one ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator; and this: for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast. Clearly, then, an angel is introduced, and the Lord giving oracles through him; and you would not find even once throughout the entire legislation the scripture indicating that God or the Lord appeared to Moses, which is shown to have been said only of the three patriarchs; so that from these things it is clear, that the entire legislation was given to the people of that time, as indeed to children in soul and beginners, as if delivered through tutors and stewards, and that the divine things were typically and iconically intimated to them through symbols, because they were not able to receive the more mystical and spiritual teaching, being indeed as children brought up in Egyptian ways, and still in need of much discipline, that God is a fire, according to that, our God is a consuming 30 fire, which is in no way said in the case of the patriarchs. But also when he commands them to purify themselves so that they may see the glory of the Lord, it is not said simply as in the case of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob that God appeared to them, with
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τὸ καὶ ὅρον τεθεῖσθαι τοῦ μὴ ἐκλείψειν ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ· τοῦτ' ἔστι τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐπηγγελμένα τῷ Χριστῷ, φήσαντι τος πρὸς αὐτὸν, Κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου, ἕως ἂν θῶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν σου· ὅτε καὶ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψει ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται ὅτι Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός· τηνικαῦτα γὰρ καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν προσδοκία τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότων καιρὸν ἕξει τὰς προσδοκηθείσας ἐπαγγελίας κομίσασθαι ἐν τῇ προσδοκωμένῃ τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείᾳ. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ταύτῃ· τὰ δ' ἑξῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ, δεσμεύων πρὸς ἄμπελον τὸν πῶλον αὐτοῦ, τῆς δι' ἀλληγορίας ὑπονοίας ἀρτη 28 μένα τοῖς φιλομαθέσι ζητεῖν καταλείψομεν, πλεονάσαντες καὶ ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις, οὐ κατὰ τὸν προτεθέντα μὲν σκοπὸν, ὅμως δ' ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὑπὲρ σαφοῦς διηγήσεως τῶν κατὰ τὸν τόπον. Ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐξόδου. -Θʹ. Καὶ Μωσῆς ἦν ποιμαίνων τὰ πρόβατα Ἰοθὸρ τοῦ γαμβροῦ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· καὶ ἦλθον εἰς τὸ ὄρος τοῦ Θεοῦ Χωρήβ· ὤφθη δὲ ἄγγελος κυρίου αὐτῷ ἐν φλογὶ πυρός. Καὶ μέθ' ἕτερα· ὡς δὲ εἶδεν κύριος ὅτι προσάγει ἰδεῖν, ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ βάτου λέγων. Καὶ αὖθις· εἶπεν δὲ κύριος πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν. Καὶ μετὰ πλεῖστα· ἐλάλησεν δὲ ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς Μωσῆν· καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐγὼ κύριος, καὶ ὤφθην πρὸς Ἁβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ, Θεὸς ὢν αὐτῶν, καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου Κύριος οὐκ ἐδήλωσα αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἔστησα τὴν διαθήκην μου πρὸς αὐτοὺς, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Σφόδρα παρατετηρημένως ἐν τούτοις οὐχ ὁ Κύριος ἀλλ' ὁ ἄγγελος ὦφθαι τῷ Μωσεῖ ἀναγέγραπται, δι' οὗ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ὥσπερ δι' ἑρμηνέως χρηματίζων διδάσκει, ὅτι μὴ εἴη ὑποβεβηκυῖά τις δύναμις ἡ χρηματίζουσα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ ὤν. Σαφέστερον δὲ τίς ἐστιν ὁ ὢν παριστᾷ ἐν τῷ φησὶν Ἐγὼ κύριος· καὶ ὤφθην πρὸς Ἁβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶἸακὼβ, Θεὸς ὢν αὐτῶν· καὶ τὸ ὄνομα μου Κύριος οὐκ ἐδήλωσα αὐτοῖς· ὃ καὶ τοιοῦτον δοκεῖ μοι νοῦν περιέχειν· σοὶ μὲν τὸ ὄνομά μου τέως αὐτὸ μόνον δηλῶν φημὶ Ἐγὼ Κύριος· τοῖς δὲ σοῖς πατράσιν τὸ μὲν ὄνομά μου οὐκ ἐδήλωσα, καὶ μείζονος γὰρ ἄξιοι τῆς τοιαύτης γνώσεως ἐτύγχανον ὄντες· αὐτὸς δὲ ὤφθην αὐτοῖς καὶ 29 δι' ἐαυτοῦ ἐμαυτοῦ τὴν διαθήκην μου πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἔστησα. Πρόδηλον δὲ ἐκ τῶν προαποδεδομένων τίς ἦν ὁ τοῖς πατράσιν ὀφθείς· τοῦτον γὰρ ἐξεταζόμενος τὸν τρόπον ὁ λόγος πρὸς τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν Θεὸν Λόγον ὑπάρχειν ἀπεδείκνυεν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ νῦν ἐπιφαίνεται, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁμοίως γε τοῖς προπάτορσιν· ἐκείνοις γὰρ ἅτε μείζοσι καὶ τελειοτέροις αὐτὸς ὤφθη, καὶ δι' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν διαθήκην αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἔστησεν· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Μωσέως ὤφθη μὲν οὐχ ὁ Κύριος, ἀλλ' ὁ ἄγγελος· ἐκάλεσε δὲ αὐτὸν οὐκέτι ὁ ἄγγελος, ἀλλ' ὁ Κύριος· Κύριος μὲν γὰρ ἦν ὁ διαταττόμενος, ἄγγελος δὲ ὁ τοὺς θείους λόγους διακονούμενος· ὅθεν εἰ καί τι ἄλλο θαυμασίως ἐκπεφώνηται τῷ ἱερῷ ἀποστόλῳ, καὶ τὸ, ὁ μόνος διαταγῆς γεὶς δι' ἀγγέλων ἐν χειρὶ μεσίτου· καὶ τὸ, εἰ γὰρ ὁ δι' ἀγγέλων λαληθεὶς λόγος ἐγένετο βέβαιος. Σαφῶς γοὖν ἄγγελος εἰσῆκται καὶ ὁ Κύριος δι' αὐτοῦ χρηματίζων· καὶ οὐδὲ ἅπαξ ἂν εὕροις δι' ὅλης τῆς νομοθεσίας τὴν γραφὴν σημειουμένην ὡς ὅτι δὴ ὤφθη ὁ Θεὸς ἢ ὁ Κύριος τῷ Μωσεῖ, ὅπερ ἐπὶ μόνων τῶν τριῶν πατριαρχῶν εἰρημένον ἐμφαίνεται· ὡς ἐκ τούτων σαφὲς εἶναι, τὴν πᾶσαν νομοθεσίαν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν τότε λαὸν, οἷα δὴ νηπίοις τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ εἰσαγομένοις, διδομένην ὥσπερ διὰ παιδαγωγῶν καὶ οἰκονόμων παραδεδόσθαι, τυπικῶς τε αὐτοῖς καὶ εἰκονικῶς τὰ θεῖα διὰ συμβόλων ᾐνίχθαι, τῷ μὴ τὴν μυστικωτέραν καὶ πνευματικὴν οἷόν τε αὐτοὺς ἐπιδέξασθαι διδασκαλίαν, ἅτε γοὖν παισὶ τρόποις Αἰγυπτίοις ἐκδιῃτημένοις, καὶ πολλῆς ἔτι χρῄζουσιν ἐπιστρεφείας, πῦρ εἶναι ὁ Θεὸς, κατὰ τὸ, ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν πῦρ κατανα 30 λίσκον, ὅπερ οὐδαμῶς ἐπὶ τῶν πατριαρχῶν εἴρηται. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτε προστάττει ἁγνίσασθαι αὐτοὺς ὅπως ἴδωσι τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου, οὐχ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἁβραὰμ καὶ τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἁπλῶς εἴρηται ὅτι ὤφθη αὐτοῖς ὁ Θεὸς, μετὰ