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

God, ostracizing stupidity, and wishing his subjects to belong to necessity alone, through the not weaving together of linen and wool, banished variety; 77.1220 through the not adding purple to linen, luxury and adornment; and through dealing with leprosy of garments and stones, he forbade acquiring more than is necessary. For this happened to garments stored away and to empty houses. In another sense, through the linen and the wool He revealed the duplicity of character, forbidding it. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not conduct your life yoking your love of labor with your love of pleasure. You shall have just balances, and just weights, and a just measure. By these different measures He alludes to the different modes of justice. For the chous is a type of measure among the Hebrews; for a mind that is both upright and a lover of justice, in a certain way weighs and measures the natures of things, testing and assigning to each what is fitting, subverting accuracy neither by defect nor by excess. OF THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. Moses and Aaron were commanded to review for battle-array and war, that is, to enroll every male of the sons of Israel from twenty years old and upward, everyone who goes out in the host. For everyone who has overcome childish weakness and softness, and has already become manly for the toils on behalf of virtue, and who goes out against demons in power and nobility, is enrolled in God's battle-array, and becomes a soldier of Christ. For the twentieth year is sufficient for courage and understanding for those who serve in worldly armies. But the time below that is incomplete for both. And Moses and Aaron, enrolling the aforementioned, both prefigured the one Christ, who is at once lawgiver and high priest, and the registrar of those who serve him. And, at God's command, are enrolled both all the males of the tribe of Levi, and only the male firstborn of the other tribes, from a month old and upward. But the period of a month is for both these and those a symbol of the infancy according to Christ in simplicity and innocence. Of these infants, the Levitical ones signify those who are consecrated; but the worldly firstborn signify those from the worldly life who imitate the truly firstborn Christ, as far as is possible. And Christ enrolls both these and those in the book of the ministers and firstborn who are above. The priestly class is placed first, as being dedicated to God alone, and not divided between God and the world, as the firstborn are divided; and both these and those are male, and superior to effeminacy. For what is cowardly and cannot contend is unapproved. 77.1221 And when all those previously enrolled had already died, and no one was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun; again a census is made of the sons of those who had died, and they are enrolled for the inheritance of the land. The males of the eleven tribes from twenty years old and upward; neither women nor children are taken in the census. For an inheritance from God and enjoyment is for those who are fit for the spiritual battle-array against the invisible enemies, and are in their prime for spiritual manliness, and are advanced in understanding, but not for those who are made effeminate in passions, and are inactive in resisting demons, nor for those who have a childish mind. And here again are enrolled specifically the males of the Levitical tribe, from a month old and upward, for the reason stated above. But no inheritance is given to these among the sons of Israel; since for the priests there is no inheritance in the land, as there is for other people,

Ἐξοστρακίζων τὴν βλακείαν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ μόνης γενέσθαι τῆς χρείας τοὺς ὑπηκόους βουλόμενος, διὰ μὲν τοῦ μὴ συνυφαίνειν λίνον καὶ ἔριον, τὴν ποικι 77.1220 λίαν ἐξώρισε· διὰ δὲ τοῦ μὴ πορφύραν τοῖς λίνοις, τὴν πολυτέλειαν καὶ τὸν καλλωπισμόν· διὰ δὲ τοῦ λέπραν ἱματίων καὶ λίθων περιεργάζεσθαι, τὸ κτᾶσθαι πλέον τῆς χρείας ἀπηγόρευσε. Τοῖς γὰρ ἀποθέτοις ἱματίοις καὶ ταῖς κεναῖς οἰκίαις τοῦτο συνέβαινε. Καθ' ἕτερον δὲ λόγον, διὰ τοῦ λίνου καὶ τοῦ ἐρίου τὴν τοῦ τρόπου διπλόην ἐνέφηνεν, ἀπαγορεύων αὐτήν. Οὐκ ἀροτριάσεις ἐν μόσχῳ παὶ ὄνῳ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. Οὐ πολιτεύσῃ συζεύξας τὸ φιλόπονον σου τῷ φιληδόνῳ. Ζυγὰ δίκαια, καὶ σταθμία δίκαια, καὶ χοῦς δίκαιος ἔσται σοι. Τοῖς διαφόροις μέτροις τούτοις τοὺς διαφόρους τρόπους τῆς δικαιοσύνης αἰνίττεται. Καὶ ὁ χοῦς γὰρ, εἶδος μέτρου παρ' Ἑβραίοις· νοῦς γὰρ εὐθής τε καὶ φιλοδίκαιος, ταλαντεύει τρόπον τινὰ καὶ μετρεῖ τὰς τῶν πραγμάτων φύσεις, δοκιμάζων καὶ ἐπιμετρῶν ἑκάστῳ τὸ πρέπον, οὔτε τῷ ἐλλιπεῖ, οὔτε τῷ περιττῷ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν παραλύων. ΤΗΣ ΒΙΒΛΟΥ ΤΩΝ ΑΡΙΘΜΩΝ. Ἐκελεύσθησαν Μωσῆς καὶ Ἀαρὼν εἰς παράταξιν καὶ πόλεμον ἐπισκέψασθαι, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἀπο γράψασθαι πάντα ἄρσενα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω, πάντα ἐκπορευόμε νον ἐν δυνάμει. Πᾶς γὰρ ὑπερβὰς τὴν παιδικὴν ἀσθένειαν καὶ μαλακίαν, καὶ ἤδη γενόμενος ἀνδρικὸς εἰς πόνους τοὺς ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς, καὶ ἐκπορευόμενος κατὰ δαιμόνων ἐν δυνάμει καὶ γενναιότητι, εἰς Θεοῦ παράταξιν ἀπογράφεται, καὶ Χριστοῦ γίνεται στρατιώτης. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ εἰκοστὸς ἐνιαυτὸς τοῖς κοσμικῶς στρατευομένοις αὐτάρκως εἰς ἀνδρείαν καὶ σύνεσιν. Ὁ δὲ κατωτέρω χρόνος ἀτελὴς πρὸς ἀμφότερα. Μωσῆς δὲ καὶ Ἀαρὼν ἀπογραφόμενοι τοὺς εἰρημένους, προετύπουν ἄμφω τὸν ἕνα Χριστὸν, τὸν νομοθέτην ἅμα καὶ ἀρχιερέα, καὶ ἀπογραφέα τῶν στρατευομένων αὐτῷ. Ἀπογράφονται δὲ, Θεοῦ προστάξαντος, τάτε ἄρσενα πάντα τῆς Λευὶ φυλῆς, καὶ τὰ ἄρσενα καὶ πρωτότοκα μόνα τῶν ἄλλων φυλῶν, ἀπὸ μηνιαίου καὶ ἐπάνω. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν μηνιαῖος χρόνος καὶ τούτοις κἀκείνοις σύμβολον τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν ἐν ἁπλότητι καὶ ἀκακίᾳ νηπιότητος. Τῶν δὲ νηπίων τούτων τὰ μὲν Λευιτικὰ τοὺς ἱερωμένους ὑποσημαίνουσι· τὰ δὲ κοσμικὰ πρωτότοκα, τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ κοσμικοῦ βίου τὸν ἀληθῶς πρωτότοκον Χριστὸν μιμουμένους, ὅσον ἐγχωρεῖ. Ἀπογράφεται δὲ καὶ τούτους κἀκείνους ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν βίβλῳ τῶν ἄνω λειτουργῶν τε καὶ πρωτοτόκων. Προτέτακται δὲ τὸ ἱερατικὸν γένος, ὡς μόνῳ τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακείμενον, καὶ μὴ μεριζόμενον πρὸς Θεὸν καὶ κόσμον, καθάπερ μερίζονται τὰ πρωτότοκα· ἄρσενα δὲ καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα, καὶ θηλυπρεπείας ὑπέρτερα. Τὸ γὰρ ἄναλκι καὶ ἀκαταγώνιστον, ἀδόκιμον. 77.1221 Ἀποθανόντων δὲ πάντων ἤδη τῶν προαπογρα φέντων, καὶ οὐδενὸς ὑπολειφθέντος πλὴν Χά λεβ υἱοῦ Ἰεφωνῆ, καὶ Ἰησοῦ υἱοῦ Ναυῆ· πάλιν ἀπογραφὴ γίνεται τῶν υἱῶν τῶν τετελευτηκό των, καὶ ἀπογράφονται εἰς κληρονομίαν τῆς γῆς. Οἱ τῶν ἕνδεκα φυλῶν ἄρσενες ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω· οὔτε δὲ γυναῖκες, οὔτε παῖδες εἰς ἀπογραφὴν λαμβάνονται. Κλῆρος γὰρ παρὰ Θεοῦ καὶ ἀπόλαυσις τοῖς ἐπιτηδείοις εἰς τὴν νοητὴν παράταξιν τῶν ἀοράτων ἐχθρῶν, καὶ ἀκμαίοις εἰς πνευματικὴν ἀνδραγαθίαν, καὶ βεβηκόσιν εἰς σύνεσιν, ἀλλ' οὐ τοῖς θηλυνομένοις ἐν πάθεσι, καὶ ἀδρανέσιν εἰς ἀντίστασιν τῶν δαιμόνων, οὐδὲ τοῖς παιδαριώδη φρόνησιν ἔχουσιν. Ἀπογράφονται κἀνταῦθα πάλιν ἰδικῶς τὰ ἄρσενα τῆς Λευιτικῆς φυλῆς, ἀπὸ μηνιαίου καὶ ἐπάνω, διὰ τὸν ἀνωτέρω δηλωθέντα λόγον. Οὐ δίδοται δὲ τούτοις κλῆρος ἐν υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν γῇ κλῆρος, ὡς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις,