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

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 catechizes those still being catechized; but the three to those of the good earth which brought forth fruit, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. For these must be taught in different ways. For to those who have chosen a life in marriage you will say: Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. But to those in virginity: Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But to those in asceticism: Mortify your members which are upon the earth. And to each way of life you will apply the appropriate form of exhortation and teaching. But the law appointed the priests to blow the trumpets, because it is also the priests' own task to teach. And the frequent 77.1225 departures of the Israelites signified the frequent progress in virtue of the new people of the faithful, and the daily required reaching forth to the things which are before. The law called holy the one who promised his own hair to God. For the head is taken as a type of the mind, as the mind's dwelling place; but the hairs for the thoughts. For these are offspring of the mind. Therefore we ought not to have the mind naked and stripped of good thoughts, but teeming with them and having long hair for God. Concerning the red heifer. The one who burns the heifer and mixes the cedar wood with the ashes, and indeed also the one who gathers the ashes, are unclean, it says, until evening, even though they wash their garments and are clean, the law thereby indicating the weakness of human nature, and that, if our affairs were to be examined accurately, no one appointed for the liturgy is completely pure. For no one is worthy to touch the mysteries of our Savior; and furthermore, if our pure things were to be compared with the purity of Christ, they are impure and defiled, before whom not even the stars are pure, according to the one who said so. But the water of purification was laid up outside the camp, showing that the purification in Christ is outside the Synagogue of the Jews. For the purifying grace has departed from it. For behold, it says, your house is left to you desolate. And the deadness of a body is a symbol of corruption and impurity. But the sprinkling of the water is a type of holy baptism. And they were sprinkled on the third and the seventh day. For baptism holds the faith both of the resurrection of the Savior on the third day, and of his coming at the consummation of the seventh age, in which, judging, he will render to each one according to his works. But if a house should also be defiled, it says, by someone having died in it, those who enter it are unclean. And every vessel and utensil not covered is an abomination; yet the law commanded to cleanse these also with the water of purification. Therefore, a defiled house is the Synagogue of the Jews who killed the Lord, the Savior having died among them; at which time they were even more defiled by his murder. And as many proselytes as enter into it, these are also unclean with it. And the vessels in it are the individual Jews, uncovered vessels, because the security of their mind and hearing has been taken away, and they are ready for every evil. Jethro gives counsel, but Moses obeys, so that we may know how the people from the Gentiles have become wiser than the Jewish people through faith; and often, having laid down the law for the Jew from the Gentiles, he receives him as obedient to the commandments according to Christ. The person of Moses is represented by Christ; for he too is a lawgiver, and a mediator between God and 77.1228 men; but that of Aaron, the priests and high priests of the Jews; but that of Mary, the Synagogue of the Jews. For both the priests and the people of the Hebrews accused our Savior Christ of transgressing the law, and because he espoused the Church from the Gentiles, dark with the gloom of sin. It is likely that it was of walnut wood

εὐαγγελισταῖς ἐνηχήθησαν. Ἢ καὶ ἄλλως, τὰ τέσσαρα τῶν σημασιῶν εἴδη σύμβολον ἦσαν τῶν τεσσάρων εἰδῶν τοῦ ἠθικοῦ λόγου. Ὧν τὸ μὲν ἐνηχεῖ τοῖς ἔτι κατηχουμένοις· τὰ τρία δὲ τοῖς τῆς ἀγαθῆς γῆς ἥτις ἐκαρποφόρησεν εἰς τριάκοντα, καὶ εἰς ἑξήκοντα, καὶ εἰς ἑκατόν. Ἄλλως γὰρ καὶ ἄλλως τούτους διδακτέον. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ τὸν ἐν γάμῳ βίον προελομένοις ἐρεῖς· ∆έδεσαι γυναικὶ, μὴ ζήτει λύσιν. Τοῖς δὲ τὸν ἐν παρθενίᾳ· Λέλυσαι ἀπὸ γυναικὸς, μὴ ζήτει γυναῖκα. Τοῖς δὲ τὸν ἐν ἀσκήσει· Νεκρώσατε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Καὶ ἑκάστῃ ἰδέᾳ βίου τὸ προσῆκον εἶδος ἁρμόσεις τῆς προτροπῆς καὶ διδασκαλίας. Τοῖς ἱερεῦσι δὲ σαλπίζειν ἀφώρισεν ὁ νόμος, ὅτι καὶ τῶν ἱερέων ἴδιον τὸ διδάσκειν. Αἱ δὲ πυκναὶ 77.1225 τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν ἐξάρσεις, τὰς πυκνὰς κατ' ἀρετὴν προκοπὰς τοῦ νέου λαοῦ τῶν πιστῶν, καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν ὀφειλομένας ἐπεκτάσεις ἐπὶ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν, ὑπεσήμαινον. Ἅγιον ὠνόμασεν ὁ νόμος τὸν ὑποσχόμενον τῷ Θεῷ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κόμην. Λαμβάνεται γὰρ ἡ κεφαλὴ μὲν εἰς τύπον τοῦ νοῦ, ὡς ἐνδιαίτημα νοῦ· αἱ δὲ τρίχες εἰς τὰς ἐννοίας. Νοῦ γὰρ αὗται γεννήματα. Χρὴ τοίνυν ἡμᾶς μὴ γυμνὸν καὶ ἐψιλωμένον ἐννοιῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔχειν τὸν νοῦν, ἀλλὰ βρύοντα ταύταις καὶ κομῶντα Θεῷ. Περὶ τῆς πυῤῥᾶς δαμάλεως. Ὁ καταπιπρῶν τὴν δάμαλιν καὶ ἀναμιγνὺς τῇ σποδιᾷ τὸ κέδρινον ξύλον, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ὁ συλλέγων τὴν σποδιὰν, ἀκάθαρτοι γὰρ, φησὶν, ἕως ἑσπέρας, καίτοι φαιδρυνόμενοι τὰ ἄμφια καὶ ὑπάρχοντες καθαροί, ὑποδηλοῦντος τοῦ νόμου τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπείας φύσεως ἀσθενὲς, καὶ ὅτιπερ, εἰ ἀκριβῶς ἐρευνῷτο τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, οὐδεὶς τῶν τεταγμένων εἰς λειτουργίαν παντελῶς καθαρός. Ἄξιος γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἀποθίγειν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν μυστηρίων· καὶ λοιπὸν εἰ συγκρίνοιτο τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς καθαρὰ τῇ καθαρότητι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀκάθαρτά ἐστι καὶ μεμολυσμένα, οὗπερ ἐνώπιον οὐδὲ τὰ ἄστρα καθαρὰ, κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα. Ἀπέκειτο δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ ἁγνισμοῦ ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς δηλοῦν ὅτι ἔξω τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων Συναγωγῆς, ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ κάθαρσις. Ἀποπεφοίτηκε γὰρ αὐτῆς ἡ ἀφαγνίζουσα χάρις. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀφίεται ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος. Καὶ νεκρότης μὲν σώματος, σύμβολον φθορᾶς καὶ ἀκαθαρσίας. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ ὕδατος ῥαντισμὸς, τύπος τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος. Κατεῤῥαίνοντο δὲ τρίτην καὶ ἑβδόμην ἡμέραν. Τὸ γὰρ βάπτισμα πίστιν ἔχει τῆς τε κατὰ τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν ἀναστάσεως τοῦ Σωτῆρος, καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν συντέλειαν τοῦ ἑβδόμου αἰῶνος ἐπιδημίας αὐτοῦ, καθ' ἣν κρίνων, ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Εἰ δὲ καὶ οἶκος καταμιαίνοιτο, φησὶ, τεθνεῶτός τινος ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀκάθαρτοι μὲν οἱ εἰσβαίνοντες ἐν αὐτῷ. Βδελυρὸν δὲ καὶ σκεῦος ἅπαν καὶ ἀγγεῖον οὐ πεπωμασμένον· πλὴν τῷ ὕδατι τοῦ ἁγνισμοῦ, καὶ ταῦτα διακαθαίρειν ἐκέλευσεν ὁ νόμος. Οἶκος μὲν οὖν μεμιασμένος, ἡ Συναγωγὴ τῶν κυριοκτόνων Ἰουδαίων, τεθνεῶτος ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῦ Σωτῆρος· ὅτε καὶ μᾶλλον ἐμιάνθησαν τῷ φόνῳ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ὅσοι δὲ προσήλυτοι εἰσβαίνουσιν εἰς αὐτὴν, ἀκάθαρτοι καὶ οὗτοι σὺν αὐτῇ. Σκεύη δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ οἱ κατὰ μέρος Ἰουδαῖοι, ἀγγεῖα οὐ πεπωμασμένα, διὰ τὸ ἀφαιρεθῆναι τὴν ἀσφάλειαν τοῦ νοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀκοῆς, καὶ εἶναι προχείρους εἰς πᾶσαν κακίαν. Γνωμοδοτεῖ μὲν ὁ Ἰοθὸρ, ὑπακούει δὲ ὁ Μωσῆς, ἵνα γνῶμεν ὡς ὁ ἐξ ἐθνῶν λαὸς σοφώτερος τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ λαοῦ διὰ τῆς πίστεως γέγονε· καὶ πολλάκις ἐξ ἐθνῶν τὸν Ἰουδαῖον νομοθετήσας, πειθόμενον λαμβάνει ταῖς κατὰ Χριστὸν ἐντολαῖς. Τὸ μὲν τοῦ Μωσέως πρόσωπον ἐπέχει Χριστός· νομοθέτης γὰρ καὶ οὗτος, καὶ μεσίτης τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ 77.1228 ἀνθρώπων· τὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀαρὼν, οἱ ἱερεῖς καὶ ἀρχιερεῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων· τὸ δὲ τῆς Μαρίας, ἡ Συναγωγὴ τῶν Ἰουδαίων. Οἵ τε γὰρ ἱερεῖς καὶ ὁ λαὸς τῶν Ἑβραίων κατηγόρησαν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ παράβασιν τοῦ νόμου, καὶ ὅτι τὴν ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐμνηστεύσατο, τὴν μέλαιναν τῷ ζόφῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Εἰκὸς καρυΐνην εἶναι