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his, on which upon his hand was the scarlet thread; and he called his name Zarah.” Do you see how much of the things spoken Genesis contains? For this reason I think that the riddles in these things were not passed over in silence by the wonderful evangelist; therefore the holy Apostle, interpreting the things concerning the fence, perhaps concerning which it was said, why was a fence broken through for you, says thus in the Epistle to the Ephesians: “For he is our peace, who has made both one; and having broken down the middle wall of the fence, the enmity, in his flesh, abolishing the law of commandments in ordinances, that he might create the two in himself into one new man, and reconcile both in one body to God.”

4. Having then applied your mind to these things, consider whether the one birth of the two who have been mentioned, both that of Perez through whom a fence was broken, and that of the one who put forth his hand first but came forth second, does not signify two ways of life of those who have been deemed worthy of the birth that is with God; of which the one submitted to the Gospel, and the other to the law of Moses. But of these, the one according to the Gospel put forth his hand first; yet he does not come forth into the light first; but drawing back his hand, he permits the second, the one according to Moses, who was coming, to come forth first; then thus he himself, 22.909 being first, comes out last, with the symbol on his hand that establishes him as first. And the life of the God-loving men before Moses was the life according to the Gospel of Christ, according to which those around Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Melchizedek and Job, are remembered to have excelled, and much earlier than these, those around Noah and Shem, and Japheth, and Enoch and as many others as have been similar to these. At any rate, all these were righteous, and pious, and God-loving; if even certain others were testified to, they were entirely foreign to the legislation according to Moses; but having preceded the way according to Moses, they shone forth similarly to us in the philosophy according to the Gospel.

5. The first, then, was signified by Zarah, which is interpreted Rising; for the first rays of the rising of the light of piety shone forth through the first among men who were pious; such as were those before Moses who from the first constitution of men were shown to be God-loving; who indeed, similarly to Zarah, first put forth their hand, displaying the practical life; yet they did not make it prevail; but when the way according to them had been drawn back, and as some fence was broken through, his brother, the life according to Moses, came forth; which indeed the wonderful Apostle has called the middle wall of the fence; wherefore he was also named Perez, named after the breaking of the fence; for Perez is interpreted division; whence also the Pharisees were prominent among them, from dividing and separating themselves from intermingling with the many. It was therefore blessed and much better for the fence not to be broken, but for it to remain one and unbroken; and this would have happened if the second, following the one who put forth his hand first, had lived in the same way; for it would have been much better for those of the circumcision if they had happened to have lived according to the life of the God-loving men of old; and thus the fence would have been one, and the building of both the first and the last one.

6. But since the weakness of the second did not allow the first way to prevail, a breach of the fence according to God having rightly occurred, and the middle wall of the fence having been inserted, the one who formerly put forth his hand first, comes out second into the light, through our Savior Jesus Christ who recovered the most ancient and original fence; wherefore the prophecy also says to him: “and you shall be called the builder of fences;” This one indeed also took away the aforementioned middle wall; who, being Lord also of the sabbath, makes both one, according to the holy Apostle who said “For He is our peace, who has made both one, and the middle wall of the fence

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αὐτοῦ, ἐφ' ᾧ ἐπὶ τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ κόκκινον· καὶ ἐκάλεσε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ζαρᾶ.» Ὁρᾷς ὁπόσα τῶν εἰρημένων ἡ γένεσις περιέχει; ὧν ἕνεκα ἡγοῦμαι μὴ παρασεσιωπῆσθαι τὰ παρὰ τῷ θαυμασίῳ εὐαγγελιστῇ τὰ ἐν τούτοις αἰνίγματα· φησὶν οὖν ὁ ἱερὸς Ἀπόστολος διερμηνεύων τὰ περὶ τοῦ φραγμοῦ τάχα που περὶ οὗ εἴρηται, τί διεκόπη διὰ σὲ φραγμὸς ὧδέ πως ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἐφεσίους Ἐπιστολῇ· «Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ὑμῶν, ποιήσας τὰ ἀμφότερα ἔν· καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας, τὴν ἔχθραν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ, τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασι καταργήσας, ἵνα τοὺς δύο κτίσῃ ἐν ἑαυτῷ εἰς ἕνα καινὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἀπαλλάξῃ τοὺς ἀμφοτέρους ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι τῷ Θεῷ.»

δʹ. Τούτοις οὖν τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπιστήσας, θέα μήποτε ἡ τῶν δυοῖν τῶν εἰρημένων μία γένεσις, ἥ τε τοῦ Φαρὲς δι' ὃν διεκόπη φραγμὸς, καὶ ἡ τοῦ πρώτου μὲν τὴν χεῖρα προβάλλοντος, δευτέρου δὲ προελθόντος, αἰνίττεται δύο βίων τρόπους τῶν ἠξιωμένων τῆς παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ γεννήσεως· ὧν ὁ μὲν κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, ὁ δὲ κατὰ τὸν Μωϋσέως ὑπέστη νόμον· ἀλλὰ γὰρ τούτων πρῶτος μὲν τὴν χεῖρα προβέβλητο ὁ κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον· οὐ μὴν καὶ πρῶτος πρόεισιν εἰς φῶς· ὑποστείλας δὲ τὴν χεῖρα, τῷ κατὰ Μωϋσῆ δευτέρῳ ἰόντι προελθεῖν ἐπιτρέπει πρώτῳ· εἶθ' οὕτως αὐτὸς 22.909 πρῶτος ὢν, ὕστατος ἔξεισι, μετὰ τοῦ περὶ τὴν χεῖρα συμβόλου τοῦ πρῶτον αὐτὸν συνιστῶντος· ἦν δ' ὁ τῶν πρὸ Μωϋσέως θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν βίος ὁ κατὰ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ Εὐαγγέλιον, καθ' ὃν διαπρέψαι μνημονεύονται οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ Ἰακὼβ, Μελχισεδέκτε καὶ Ἰὼβ, καὶ πολὺ τούτων πρότεροι οἱ ἀμφὶ Νῶε καὶ Σὴμ, καὶ Ἰάφεθ, Ἐνώχ τε καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι τούτοις γεγόνασι παραπλήσιοι· δίκαιοι γοῦν οἵδε πάντες, καὶ εὐσεβεῖς καὶ θεοφιλεῖς· εἰ καί τινες ἕτεροι μαρτυρηθέντες, τῆς μὲν κατὰ Μωϋσέα νομοθεσίας πάμπαν ὑπῆρχον ἀλλότριοι· προλαβόντες δὲ τὸν κατὰ Μωϋσέα τρόπον, ἡμῖν ὁμοίως τῇ κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον φιλοσοφίᾳ διέλαμψαν.

εʹ. Ὁ μὲν οὖν πρῶτος, διὰ τοῦ Ζαρᾶ ἐδηλοῦτο, ὃς ἑρμηνεύεται Ἀνατολή· φωτὸς γὰρ εὐσεβείας αἱ πρῶται τῆς ἀνατολῆς αὐγαὶ, διὰ τῶν πρώτων ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐσεβησάντων ἐξέλαμψαν· οἷοί περ ἦσαν οἱ πρὸ Μωϋσέως ἐκ πρώτης ἀνθρώπων συστάσεως θεοφιλεῖς ἀποφανθέντες· οἱ δὴ καὶ τῷ Ζαρᾷ παραπλησίως, πρῶτοι μὴν τὴν χεῖρα προεβάλοντο τὸν πρακτικὸν βίον ἐνδειξάμενοι· οὐ μὴν καὶ ἐκράτυνέ γε τοῦτον· τοῦ δὲ κατ' αὐτοὺς τρόπου ἐν ὑποστολῇ γενομένου· καὶ ὥσπερ τινὸς φραγμοῦ διακοπέντος, ἐξῆλθεν ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ κατὰ Μωϋσέα βίος· ὃν δὴ μεσότοιχον φραγμὸν κέκληκεν ὁ θαυμάσιος Ἀπόστολος· διὸ καὶ ὠνομάσθη Φαρὲς, τῆς τοῦ φραγμοῦ· διακοπῆς ἐπώνυμος· ἑρμηνεύεται γοῦν Φαρὲς μερισμός· ἔνθεν καὶ Φαρισαῖοι παρ' αὐτοῖς διέπρεπον, παρὰ τὸ μερίζειν καὶ ἀφορίζειν ἑαυτοὺς τῆς τῶν πολλῶν ἐπιμιξίας· μακάριον μὲν οὖν καὶ πολὺ κρεῖττον ἦν μὴ διακοπῆναι τὸν φραγμὸν, ἕνα δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ ἀδιάκοπον μεῖναι· τοῦτο δ' ἂν γέγονεν εἰ τῷ τὴν χεῖρα προβεβλημένῳ πρώτῳ, συνακολουθήσας ὁ δεύτερος, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐπολιτεύσατο· πολὺ γὰρ ἦν βέλτιον τοῖς ἐκ περιτομῆς εἰ κατὰ τὸν βίον τῶν πρόπαλαι θεοφιλῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐτύγχανον πεπολιτευμένοι· καὶ οὕτω γὰρ ἦν εἷς ὁ φραγμὸς, καὶ μία ἡ οἰκοδομὴ τῶν τε πρώτων καὶ τῶν ὑστάτων.

ςʹ. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ μὴ τὸν πρῶτον κρατῆσαι τρόπον ἡ τῶν δευτέρων συνεχώρησεν ἀσθένεια, διακοπῆς εἰκότως τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν φραγμοῦ γενομένης, τοῦ τε μεσοτοίχου τοῦ φραγμοῦ παραβληθέντος, ὁ πάλαι πρῶτος τὴν χεῖρα προτείνας, δεύτερος ἔξεισιν εἰς φῶς, διὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ τὸν παλαίτατον καὶ ἀρχαῖον φραγμὸν ἀνακτησαμένου· διὸ καί φησιν εἰς αὐτὸν ἡ προφητεία· «καὶ κληθήσῃ οἰκοδόμος φραγμῶν·» οὗτος δὴ καὶ τὸ δηλωθὲν μεσότοιχον ἀνεῖλεν· ὃς Κύριος ὢν καὶ τοῦ σαββάτου ποιεῖ τὰ ἀμφότερα ἓν, κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸν Ἀπόστολον εἰπόντα «Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν ὁ ποιήσας τὰ ἀμφότερα ἓν, καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ