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 body bears uncircumcision. Circumcision is mystical, a voluntary removal of the passions. The circumcision of circumcision is the putting away of the natural energies themselves, those according to sense and intellect, concerning sensible and intelligible things, which comes about through the presence 77.1212 of the Holy Spirit, wholly transforming both the body and the soul toward what is more divine. The table of the loaves hinted at the provision of our necessities from the earth, or the annual cycle, divided by the turnings of the four seasons; the lampstand, the light from the stars, or the day; whence it also had seven lights, for the seven days of the week, or the seven wandering stars. But such were the things of the first tabernacle, as a symbol of the present state; just as those of the second tabernacle were a symbol of the future state. For the censer signified that this was pleasing to God, the manna, the then heavenly and spiritual food; Aaron's rod that budded, the ever-flourishing nature of the future priesthood; the tablets of the Covenant, the tablets of the hearts, on which were inscribed the commandments of God. The gold in all things, that future things are more precious than present things. The Cherubim on the mercy seat, an imitation of the invisible ministering powers, in the midst of whom God, delivering oracles, was propitiated. The golden bells declared the purity and splendor of the faith, and its melodiousness in dogmas and teachings; the pomegranates, the life of the priest and teacher. For just as the appearance of the pomegranate is hard and astringent, but the hidden fruit is sweet; so too their life is hardened and unapproachable in appearance. But when our Husbandman opens and reveals its stored-up beauty, then the partaking of its own fruits becomes sweet to those who enjoy them. He calls *ossyboi* the sphere-like appendages hanging from the tunic for the sake of adornment beyond what is necessary. For the life of the priest must not only be adorned by the commandments, but also have something from itself as an addition of adornment. And you shall put in the breastpiece of judgment the declaration and the truth. The declaration and the truth were not some kind of artifact at all; for he would have also stated the manner of their construction; but it was only a certain spiritual knowledge. When Moses placed the breastpiece upon the priest's breast, the declaration and the truth entered in intelligibly, being a certain divine revelation, and illuminating the priest's heart. Therefore the other interpreters also called these things "illuminations" and "declarations"; such a prefiguration teaching us that if someone bears the breastpiece, that is, the governing part of the soul, which discerns the better from the worse, pure and radiant, and adorns it with virtues as with precious stones, with the thoughts circling back upon themselves, and as if doubled, so that nothing may be uttered from the tongue unexamined (for this is what the command for the breastpiece to be double signifies), then indeed, then immediately and automatically the declaration and the truth will be present to him, bringing luminous revelations. The breastpiece was placed upon the breast of the high 77.1213 priest, teaching that his passionate part must be subdued by reason. And upon the breastpiece lay the declaration and the truth. For to the spoken word belong the things of clarity; but to the indwelling word, the things of truth. And upon the breast of the priest were the names of the tribes. For the priest ought always to bear in his heart and mind those under him, and to pray for them. The blood of the sacrificed goat sanctified both the inner tabernacle and the outer, prefiguring the blood of the sacrificed flesh of Christ; which sanctifies both the inner soul and the outer flesh of believers; or both those inside the Mosaic law, and those outside, that is, believers. The mind that is coming out of the Egypt of sin, whenever it is left behind a little

σῶμα φέρει ἀκρόβυστον. Περιτομή ἐστι μυστικὴ, ἑκούσιος παθῶν περιαίρεσις. Περιτομὴ περιτομῆς ἐστιν ἡ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν καὶ νοῦν, περὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ καὶ νοητὰ φυσικῶν ἐνεργειῶν ἀπόθεσις γινομένη διὰ τῆς παρου 77.1212 σίας τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, τὸ σῶμά τε καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὁλικῶς μεταμορφούσης πρὸς τὸ θειότερον Ἡ μὲν τράπεζα τῶν ἄρτων τὴν ἐκ τῆς γῆς τῶν ἡμῖν ἐπιτηδείων ἀνάδοσιν ὑπῃνίττετο, ἢ τὸν ἐνιαυσιαῖον κύκλον, τεσσάρων καιρῶν τροπαῖς μεριζόμενον· ἡ δὲ λυχνία, τὸ ἐκ τῶν ἀστέρων φῶς, ἢ τὴν ἡμέραν· ὅθεν καὶ ζʹ τοὺς φωστῆρας εἶχε, διὰ τὰς ζʹ τῆς ἑβδομάδος ἡμέρας, ἢ τοὺς ζʹ πλανωμένους ἀστέρας. Ἀλλὰ τοιαῦτα μὲν τὰ τῆς πρώτης σκηνῆς, εἰς σύμβολον τῆς παρούσης καταστάσεως· ὥσπερ τῆς δευτέρας σκηνῆς εἰς σύμβολον τῆς μελλούσης· τὸ μὲν γὰρ θυμιατήριον ἐσήμαινε τὸ κεχαρισμένην εἶναι ταύτην Θεῷ, τὸ δὲ μάννα, τὴν τηνικαῦτα οὐράνιον καὶ πνευματικὴν τροφήν· ἡ δὲ ῥάβδος Ἀαρὼν ἡ βλαστήσασα, τὸ τῆς μελλούσης ἱερωσύνης ἀειθαλές· αἱ δὲ πλάκες τῆς ∆ιαθήκης τὰς πλάκας τῶν καρδιῶν, αἷς ἐνεγράφησαν αἱ ἐντολαὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὁ δ' ἐν ἅπασι χρυσὸς, τὸ τιμιώτερα τῶν παρόντων εἶναι τὰ μέλλοντα. Τὰ δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ ἱλαστηρίῳ Χερουβὶμ, μίμημα τῶν ἀοράτων λειτουργικῶν δυνάμεων, ὧν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ χρηματίζων ὁ Θεὸς ἐξιλάσκετο. Οἱ μὲν χρυσοῖ κώδωνες ἐδήλουν τὸ τῆς πίστεως καθαρὸν καὶ λαμπρὸν, καὶ εὔηχον ἐν δόγμασι καὶ διδάγμασι· οἱ δὲ ῥοΐσκοι τὸν βίον τοῦ ἱερέως καὶ διδασκάλου. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τῆς μὲν ῥοιᾶς τὸ μὲν φαινόμενον σκληρὸν καὶ στυφὸν, ὁ δ' ἐγκεκρυμμένος καρπὸς ἡδύς· οὕτω καὶ τούτων ὁ βίος κατεσκληκὼς μὲν καὶ δυσπρόσιτος τὸ φαινόμενον. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὁ Γεωργὸς ἡμῶν ἀνοίξῃ καὶ φανερώσῃ τὸ ἀπόθετον τούτου κάλλος, τότε γλυκεῖα γίνεται τοῖς ἀπολαύσασιν ἡ μετουσία τῶν ἰδίων καρπῶν. Ὀσσύβους καλεῖ τὰ ἔξω τῆς χρείας ἀπηρτημένα τοῦ χιτῶνος χάριν κόσμου σφαιροειδῆ ἀπαρτήματα. ∆εῖ γὰρ τὸν βίον τοῦ ἱερέως μὴ ταῖς ἐντολαῖς κοσμεῖσθαι μόνον, ἀλλ' ἔχειν τι οἴκοθεν εἰς προσθήκην κόσμου. Καὶ ἐπιθήσεις τῷ λογείῳ τῆς κρίσεως τὴν δήλωσιν καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Οὐκ ἦν ὅλως τέχνημά τι ἡ δήλωσις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια· ἦ γὰρ ἂν εἴρηκε καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς κατασκευῆς αὐτῶν· ἀλλὰ μόνον γνῶσις ἦν τις πνευματική· ἐπιτιθέντος Μωσέως τὸ λογεῖον τῷ στήθει τοῦ ἱερέως, συνεισήρχετο νοητῶς ἡ δήλωσις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, θεία τις ἀποκάλυψις οὖσα, καὶ τὴν καρδίαν τοῦ ἱερέως καταφωτίζουσα. ∆ιὸ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἑρμηνευταὶ φωτισμοὺς καὶ δήλους ταῦτα ὠνόμασαν· διδασκούσης ἡμᾶς τῆς τοιαύτης διατυπώσεως, ὡς εἰ τις τὸ λογεῖον ἤτοι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, τὸ διακρῖνον τὸ κρεῖττον ἀπὸ τοῦ χείρονος, καθαρὸν φέροι καὶ λαμπρὸν, καὶ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς καθάπερ λίθοις τιμίοις τοῦτον κατακοσμήσοι, τῶν ἐνθυμημάτων ἀνακυκλουμένων εἰς ἑαυτὰ, καὶ ὥσπερ διπλασιαζομένων, ἵνα μηδὲν ἀβασανίστως ἀπὸ τῆς γλώττης προφέροιτο (τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὸ προστετάχθαι διπλοῦν εἶναι τὸ λογεῖον), τότε δὴ, τότε παραπόδας καὶ αὐτομάτως παρέσται τούτῳ ἡ δήλωσις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, τὰς φωτεινὰς ἀποκαλύψεις κομίζουσα. Τὸ μὲν λογεῖον ἐπετίθετο τῷ στήθει τοῦ ἀρχιε 77.1213 ρέως, διδάσκον ὅτι χρὴ λόγῳ καταστέλλεσθαι τὸ θυμικὸν αὐτοῦ. Τῷ δὲ λογείῳ ἐπέκειτο ἡ δήλωσις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ προφορικῷ λόγῳ πρέπει τὰ τῆς σαφηνείας· τῷ ἐνδιαθέτῳ δὲ τὰ τῆς ἀληθείας. Ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους δὲ τοῦ ἱερέως ἦσαν τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν φυλῶν. Ὀφείλει γὰρ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐν καρδίᾳ καὶ νοῒ φέρειν ἀεὶ τοὺς ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν, καὶ δεῖσθαι ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. Τὸ αἷμα τοῦ σφαγιαζομένου χιμάρου ἡγίαζε καὶ τὴν ἔσω σκηνὴν, καὶ τὴν ἔξω, προτυποῦν τὸ αἷμα τῆς τυθείσης σαρκὸς τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ὅπερ ἁγιάζει καὶ τὴν ἔσω ψυχὴν, καὶ τὴν ἔξω σάρκα τῶν πιστευόντων· ἢ τούς τε ἔσω τοῦ Μωσαϊκοῦ νόμου, καὶ τοὺς ἔξω, δηλονότι πιστεύοντας. Ὁ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐξερχόμενος νοῦς, ἐπὰν μικρὸν ἀπολειφθῇ