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And these very things have been recorded with much astonishment and spectacle; and it came to pass on the third day, as morning approached, there were voices and lightning and a dark cloud upon the mountain, and the voice of the trumpet sounded loud, and all the people in the camp were afraid; and Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke, because God had descended upon it in fire; and its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace; and all the people were exceedingly terrified; and the sounds of the trumpet grew exceedingly louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice, and the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses, and what follows. That the Lord descended, then, is attested by these things; but that he was also seen is no longer said, a thing which was reserved for the patriarchs alone. Therefore there was a presence of the Lord, but a vision, not of him, but clearly of the attendant angels about him, through whom he usefully made the vision fearsome and astonishing to the people, providing for the strengthening in them of reverence and fear and faith in him for the guarding and keeping of the laws about to be delivered to them. And that there were in fact many angels ministering to the Lord at the giving of the law, 31 Moses himself indicates in the blessings, saying, The Lord came from Sinai, and shone forth to us from Seir, and hastened from Mount Paran with ten thousands of Kadesh, at his right hand were angels with him, and what follows; wherefore also Stephen in the Acts, addressing the people, says, ‘you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.’ From Exodus. —10. Then the angel of God who went before the sons of Israel moved, and went behind them; the pillar of cloud also moved from before them; and went and stood behind them, and came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of the sons of Israel. Then in what follows the divine scripture teaches what the cloud was, saying: And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I am coming to you in a pillar of cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to you, and may believe you; and again, And God led them by day in a pillar of cloud, to show them the way; and by night, in a pillar of fire to give them light; and again, and the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud. Therefore from these things, the angel who went before the sons of Israel was clearly different from the cloud, and the cloud was something other than that angel, but was like a corporeal instrument of the Lord himself; through which, being himself incorporeal by nature, and beyond all sensible and material substance, he deigned to speak with his servant with his own sensible voice; and of such a 32 dispensation the Lord himself gives the reason to Moses, saying, ‘that the people may hear me speaking to you, and may believe you;’ but in the case of the people, being more corporeal, he spoke through a sensible voice, whereas in the case of the patriarchs, who needed neither cloud nor pillar of fire, the manner both of the vision and of his speech to them was different. And that it was not some angelic power that delivered the oracle through the cloud, but God himself, is shown in addition to what has been demonstrated before, also by the scripture that says thus: And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go and lead the people to the place of which I have told you; behold, my angel will go before you.’ And again: And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go, and go up from here, you and the people,’ and what follows; ‘and I will send my angel before you.’ For it is in no way fitting for an angel to say these things, but only for God, and for the Lord indicated by the Tetragrammaton throughout the whole history. Did, then, the maker of all things and God of all descend to such a degree, as to be borne upon a corporeal mountain, and to walk alongside like a pedagogue

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πολλῆς δὲ καταπλήξεως καὶ φαντασίας αὐτὰ δὴ ταῦτα ἀναγέγραπται· καὶ ἐγένετο τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ γενηθέντος πρὸς ὄρθρον, καὶ ἐγίνοντο φωναὶ καὶ ἀστραπαὶ καὶ νεφέλη γνοφώδης ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους, καὶ φωνὴ τῆς σάλπιγγος ἤχει μέγα, καὶ ἐπτοήθη πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ· καὶ ἐξήγαγε Μωσῆς τὸν λαὸν εἰς τὴν συνάντησιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς, καὶ παρέστησαν ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος Σινά. τὸ ὄρος Σινὰ ἐκαπνίζετο ὅλον διὰ τὸ καταβεβηκέναι ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τὸν Θεὸν ἐν πυρί· καὶ ἀνέβαινεν ὁ καπνὸς αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ καπνὸς καμίνου· καὶ ἐξέστη πᾶς ὁ λαὸς σφόδρα· ἐγίνοντο δὲ φωναὶ τῆς σάλπιγγος προβαίνουσαι ἰσχυρότεραι σφόδρα. Μωσῆς ἐλάλει, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτῷ φωνῇ, κατέβη δὲ Κύριος ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ Σινᾶ ἐπὶ τὴν κορυφὴν τοῦ ὄρους· καὶ ἐκάλεσε Κύριος Μωσῆν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν κατέβη Κύριος διὰ τούτων μεμαρτύρηται· ὅτι δὲ καὶ ὤφθη οὐκέτι εἴρηται, ὃ ἐπὶ μόνων τῶν πατριαρχῶν τετήρηται. Οὐκοῦν παρουσία μὲν ἐγεγόνει τοῦ Κυρίου· ὀπτασία δὲ, οὐκ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ δῆλον ὅτι τῶν ἀμφ' αὐτὸν δορυφόρων ἀγγέλων, δι' ὧν χρησίμως τῷ λαῷ φοβερὰν καὶ καταπληκτικὴν ἐποιήσατο τὴν ὀπτασίαν, εὐλάβειαν ὅμου καὶ φόβον καὶ πίστιν τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν κρατῦναι ἐν αὐτοῖς προμηθούμενος εἰς φυλακὴν καὶ τήρησιν τῶν μελλόντων αὐτοῖς παραδίδοσθαι νόμων. Καὶ ὅτι γε πλείους ἐτύγχανον οἱ τῷ Κυρίῳ κατὰ τὴν νομοθεσίαν διακονούμενοι ἄγγελοι, 31 αὐτὸς Μωσῆς ἐν ταῖς εὐλογίαις παρίστησι λέγων, Κύριος ἐκ Σινᾶ ἥκει, καὶ ἐπέφανεν ἐκ Σιεὶρ ἡμῖν, καὶ κατέσπευσεν ἐξ ὄρους Φαρὰν σὺν μυριάσιν Κάδης, ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ ἄγγελοι μετ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· δι' ὃ καὶ ὁ Στέφανος ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσιν ὡς πρὸς τὸν λαὸν ἀποτεινόμενος φησίν, οἵτινες ἐλάβετε τὸν νόμον εἰς διαταγὰς ἀγγέλων, καὶ οὐκ ἐφυλάξατε. Ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐξόδου. -Ιʹ. Ἐξῆρεν δὲ ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ προπορευόμενος τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐπορεύθη ἐκ τῶν ὄπισθεν αὐτῶν· ἐξῆρεν δὲ καὶ ὁ στύλος τῆς νεφέλης πρὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν· καὶ ἐπορεύθη καὶ ἔστη ἐκ τῶν ὀπίσω αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰσῆλθεν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς παρεμβολῆς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς παρεμβολῆς τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ. Εἶτ' ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς ἡ θεία διδάσκει γραφὴ, τί ποτε ἦν ἡ νεφέλη φάσκουσα· εἶπεν δὲ Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ παραγίνομαι πρὸς σὲ ἐν ἐκ στύλῳ τῆς νεφέλης, ἵνα ἀκούσῃ ὁ λαὸς λαλοῦντός μου πρὸς σὲ, καὶ σοὶ πιστεύσωσιν· καὶ πάλιν, Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἡγεῖτο αὐτῶν ἡμέρας ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης, δεῖξαι αὐτοῖς τὴν ὁδόν· τὴν δὲ νύκτα, ἐν στύλῳ πυρὸς τοῦ φαίνειν αὐτοῖς· καὶ αὖθις, καὶ κατέβη κύριος ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης. Οὐκοῦν διὰ τούτων ἕτερος ἦν σαφῶς τῆς νεφέλης ὁ προπορευόμενος τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἄγγελος, καὶ ἡ νεφέλη δὲ ἄλλη μὲν τίς ἐτύγχανεν παρ' αὐτὸν ἄγγελον, τοῦ δὲ Κυρίου αὐτοῦ σωματικὸν ὥσπερ ὄργανον ἦν· δι' οὗ, τὴν φύσιν ὢν αὐτὸς ἀσώματος, καὶ πάσης ἐπέκεινα αἰσθητῆς καὶ ὑλικῆς οὐσίας, δι' αἰσθητῆς φωνῆς τῆς ἰδίας ἠξίου ὁμιλίας τὸν θεράποντα· καὶ τῆς τοιαύτης 32 τε οἰκονομίας αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος τὸν λόγον ἀποδιδοὺς τῷ Μωσεῖ φησὶν, ἵνα ἀκούσῃ ὁ λαὸς λαλοῦντός μου πρὸς σὲ, καὶ σοὶ πιστεύσωσιν· ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ λαοῦ, οἷα σωματικωτέρου τυγχάνοντος, δι' αἰσθητῆς φωνῆς ὁμίλει, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν πατριαρχῶν, οὔτε νεφέλης οὔτε στύλου πυρὸς δεομένων, ἕτερος ἐγίγνετο τῆς τε ὀπτασίας καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁμιλίας ὁ τρόπος. Καὶ ὅτι γε οὐκ ἦν ἀγγελική τις δύναμις ἡ διὰ τῆς νεφέλης χρηματίζουσα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς, πρὸς τοῖς προαποδεδειγμένοις δηλοῦται καὶ διὰ τῆς οὕτως ἐχούσης γραφῆς· εἶπεν δὲ Κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν, Βάδιζε καὶ ὁδήγησον τὸν λαὸν εἰς τὸν τόπον ὃν εἴρηκά σοι· ἰδοὺ ὁ ἄγγελός μου προπορεύσεται πρὸ προσώπου σου. Καὶ πάλιν· Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν· Πορεύου καὶ ἀνάβηθι ἐντεῦθεν, σὺ καὶ ὁ λαὸς, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· καὶ συναποστελῶ πρὸ προσώπου σου τὸν ἄγγελόν μου. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἀγγέλῳ μὲν οὐδαμῶς λέγειν ἁρμόττει, Θεῷ δὲ μόνῳ, καὶ τῷ καθ' ὅλην τὴν ἱστορίαν διὰ τοῦ τετραγράμμου δηλουμένῳ Κυρίῳ. Ἆρ' οὖν ὁ τῶν ὅλων ποιητὴς καὶ Θεὸς τῶν ἁπάντων εἰς τοσοῦτον κατήει, ὡς ἐπὶ σωματικοῦ ὄρους ὀχεῖσθαι, καὶ παιδαγωγοῦ δίκην συμβαδίζειν