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

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 one whose skin has been darkened by disease, such as the one whose soul is darkened by sin. Bleary-eyed is one who sees, but not soundly, like the heretics, who believe that God exists, but do not hold sound doctrines concerning him. Wild scabies, by anagogical interpretation, is a harsh flow of passion poured over the soul, beginning from pleasure, but ending in a bitter finish; lichen, is any passion whatsoever creeping over the soul, and spreading for the worse. One with a single testicle is one who bears fruit by halves. Why did the Israelites eat the bodies of the sacrifices, but pour the blood at the base of the altar. The Israelites, being childish in knowledge, bore a type of those being introduced to piety. Therefore the one being introduced to piety accomplishes the practice of the commandments, as if eating the flesh of the virtues, the visible things; I mean moral instruction, but he concedes their inner meanings to God through faith, believing only that they have divine meanings. For the altar is a symbol of God, and its base, a type of faith; for this is the foundation of the knowledge of God, 77.1217 supporting the whole structure of piety. But Christ, having come as the true high priest and having sacrificed himself, has given to the mature in knowledge both the flesh and the blood. For the one who is perfect in virtue, also drinks the inner meanings of the commandments as blood through knowledge. Concerning the leprosy of a house. In the law concerning a house having leprosy, see the whole mystery of our Savior, and the purification through baptism.* The two natures of Christ, of which one came down from above, and the other went up from below, after the resurrection. Living and pure, because they are providers of life and purity. And through the cedar wood is signified the incorruptibility of the body of Christ, and through the scarlet thread the two mingled streams of blood and water, or the twofold word of divinity and humanity. And through the hyssop, the fervor of the Holy Spirit; for the herb is both warm and cleansing. And through the living bird, the living Word; and through the blood of the slain one, the precious blood of the assumed flesh. And through the living water, the life-giving grace of baptism, with which the house must be sprinkled, that is, the inhabited world, seven times; or rather, mystically; for this number is most mystical. The living bird, sent away outside the city into the field, taught that the dead Christ will live, and being outside the world will be transported, and will ascend to the broad and pure field, heaven. The law has said: You shall not give your daughter to the son of the foreign ruler, and his daughter you shall not take for your son. For the daughter of the believing mind is good thought, and its son is good reasoning. Again, the daughter of the foreign ruler, or of the devil the ruler of the passions, is wicked thought, and his son is wicked reasoning. But wicked things must not be mixed with good things. You shall not let your animal breed with a different kind, and you shall not sow your vineyard with diverse seed. Here it says animal for beast of burden; and by beast of burden it signifies everything that is subject, commanding those who lead not to allow those under their authority to be subjected to the inseminations of the heterodox, lest they give birth to alien and bastard doctrines. Again, it calls a vineyard those planted in the Church, whom one must not overlook being sown with diverse, that is, various seeds of the impious; lest these, having consumed the moisture and richness of their souls for themselves, should make them unfruitful in piety.

ἐργάζεσθαι τὰ καλὰ, καὶ βαδίζειν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀγαθά. Κυρτὸς δὲ ὁ πρὸς τὰ κάτω κεκυφὼς, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος ἀπὸ τῶν γηΐνων ἀνανεύειν. Ἔφηλος δὲ, ὁ ἀπὸ νοσήματος μελανθεὶς τὴν ὄψιν τοῦ δέρματος, ὁποῖός ἐστιν ὁ ἀπὸ ἁμαρτήματος ζοφωθεὶς τὴν ψυχήν. Λιππὸς δὲ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ βλέπων μὲν, οὐχ ὑγιῶς δὲ, ὡς οἱ αἱρετικοὶ, Θεὸν μὲν εἶναι πιστεύοντες, οὐχ ὑγιῶς δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ δογματίζοντες. Ψῶρα δὲ ἀγρία κατ' ἀναγωγὴν πάθους δριμὺ ῥεῦμα καταχεόμενον τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐξ ἡδονῆς μὲν ἀρχόμενον, εἰς πικρὸν δὲ πέρας καταλῆγον· λειχὴν δὲ, πᾶν ὁτιοῦν πάθος ἕρπον κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ εὐρυνόμενον εἰς τὸ χεῖρον. Μόνορχις δὲ, ὁ ἐξ ἡμισείας καρπογονῶν. ∆ιατί οἱ Ἰσραηλῖται τὰ μὲν σώματα τῶν θυμάτων ἤσθιον, τὰ δὲ αἵματα πρὸς τὴν βάσιν ἔχεον τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. Οἱ Ἰσραηλῖται νηπιώδεις κατὰ γνῶσιν ὄντες τύπον ἔφερον τῶν εἰσαγομένων πρὸς εὐσέβειαν. Ὁ τοίνυν πρὸς εὐσέβειαν εἰσαγόμενος, τὴν μὲν πρᾶξιν τῶν ἐντολῶν ἀποτελεῖ, καθάπερ σάρκας ἐσθίων τῶν ἀρετῶν τὰ φαινόμενα· λέγω δὴ τὴν ἠθικὴν παιδαγωγίαν, τοὺς δὲ λόγους αὐτῶν τῷ Θεῷ παραχωρεῖ διὰ πίστεως, πιστεύων μόνον ὅτι λόγους ἔχουσι θείους. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ θυσιαστήριον Θεοῦ σύμβολον, ἡ δὲ τούτου βάσις, τύπος τῆς πίστεως· θεμέλιος γὰρ αὕτη θεογνωσίας, 77.1217 πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς εὐσεβείας βαστάζουσα. Χριστὸς δὲ παραγενόμενος ὁ ἀληθὴς ἀρχιερεὺς καὶ θύσας ἑαυτὸν, δέδωκε τοῖς ἀνδρικοῖς εἰς γνῶσιν μετὰ τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τὸ αἷμα. Ὁ γὰρ τέλειος εἰς ἀρετὴν, καὶ τοὺς λόγους τῶν ἐντολῶν ὡς αἷμα πίνει διὰ τῆς γνώσεως. Περὶ λέπρας τῆς οἰκίας. Ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τῷ περὶ τῆς οἰκίας ἐχούσης λέπραν, ὅλον ὅρα τὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν μυστήριον, καὶ τὸν διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος καθαρισμόν.* Τὰς δύο τοῦ Χριστοῦ φύσεις, ὧν ἡ μὲν ἄνωθεν κατῆλθεν, ἡ δὲ κάτωθεν ἀνῆλθεν, μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Ζῶντα δὲ καὶ καθαρὰ, διότι ζωῆς καὶ καθαρότητος αὗται παρεκτικαί. Καὶ διὰ μὲν τοῦ κεδρίνου ξύλου τὸ ἀδιάφθορον αἰνίττεται τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, διὰ δὲ τοῦ κεκλωσμένου κοκκίνου τοὺς ἀναμεμιγμένους δύο κρουνοὺς αἵματος καὶ ὕδατος, ἢ τὸν διπλοῦν λόγον θεότητος καὶ ἀνθρωπότητος. ∆ιὰ δὲ τοῦ ὑσσώπου τὴν ζέσιν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· θερμὴ γὰρ καὶ ἡ πόα σμηκτική. Καὶ διὰ μὲν τοῦ ζῶντος ὀρνιθίου, τὸν ζῶντα Λόγον· διὰ δὲ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἐσφαγμένου, τὸ τίμιον αἷμα τῆς προσληφθείσης σαρκός. ∆ιὰ δὲ τοῦ ζῶντος ὕδατος, τὴν ζωοποιὸν χάριν τοῦ βαπτίσματος, ᾧ περιῤῥαίνεσθαι χρὴ τὴν οἰκίαν, ἤτοι τὴν οἰκουμένην ἑπτάκις· εἴτουν μυστικῶς δέ· μυστικώτατος γὰρ οὗτος ὁ ἀριθμός. Τὸ ζῶν ὀρνίθιον, τὸ ἐξαποστελλόμενον ἔξω τῆς πόλεως εἰς τὸ πεδίον, ἐδίδασκεν, ὅτι ζήσεται ὁ ἀποθανὼν Χριστὸς, καὶ ἔξω τοῦ κόσμου γενόμενος μεταστήσεται, καὶ εἰς τὸ πλατὺ δὲ καὶ καθαρὸν πεδίον, τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναδραμεῖται. Εἴρηκεν ὁ νόμος· Τὴν θυγατέρα σου οὐ δώσεις τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ ἀλλογενοῦς ἄρχοντος, καὶ τὴν θυ γατέρα αὐτοῦ οὐ λήψῃ τῷ υἱῷ σου. Θυγάτηρ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ πιστεύοντος νοὸς, ἡ ἀγαθὴ διάνοια, υἱὸς δὲ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἀγαθὸς λογισμός. Αὖθις δὲ θυγάτηρ μὲν τοῦ ἀλλογενοῦς ἄρχοντος, ἢ τοῦ διαβόλου τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν παθῶν, ἡ πονηρὰ διάνοια, υἱὸς δὲ αὐτοῦ ὁ πονηρὸς λογισμός. Οὐ χρὴ δὲ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς τὰ πονηρὰ ἀναμίγνυσθαι. Τὸ κτῆνός σου οὐ κατοχεύσεις ἑτεροζύγῳ, καὶ τὸν ἀμπελῶνά σου οὐ κατασπερεῖς διά φορον. Κτῆνος ἐνταῦθα λέγει τὸ ὑποζύγον· διὰ τοῦ ὑποζυγίου δὲ τὸ ὑποχείριον ἅπαν αἰνίττεται, κελεύων τοῖς ἡγουμένοις, μὴ συγχωρεῖν ὑπάγεσθαι τοῖς σπερματισμοῖς τῶν ἑτεροδόξων τοὺς ὑπὸ χεῖρα, μή πως ἑτεροφυῆ καὶ νόθα τέκωσι δόγματα. Πάλιν δὲ ἀμπελῶνα καλεῖ τοὺς καταπεφυτευμένους ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, οὓς οὐ χρὴ παρορᾷν κατασπειρομένους διαφόρως, εἴτουν ποικίλως ἀσεβῶν σπέρμασιν· ἵνα μὴ ταῦτα τὴν ἰκμάδα καὶ πιότητα τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν εἰς ἑαυτὰ δαπανήσαντα, ποιήσωσιν αὐτὰς ἀκάρπους εἰς τὴν εὐσέβειαν.