Every part has the spiritual, but not every part the corporeal; for in many places the corporeal is shown to be impossible. Therefore, much attention must be brought by one who reverently reads the divine books as divine writings, the character of whose meaning appears to us as follows: 4.3.6 The words declare that God chose a certain nation on earth, which they call by several names. For this entire nation is called Israel, and it is also called Jacob. But when it was divided in the times of Jeroboam son of Nebat, the ten tribes said to be under him were named Israel, while the remaining two and the Levitical tribe, being ruled by those of the seed of David, [were named] Judah. And the whole place, which those of the nation inhabited, given to them by God, is called Judaea, whose metropolis is Jerusalem, metropolis, that is, of several cities, whose names are found scattered here and there in many places, but are listed together in Joshua the son of Nun. Things being so, the apostle, elevating our understanding, says somewhere: "Behold Israel according to the flesh," as if there were an Israel according to the spirit. and elsewhere he says: "For not the children of the flesh are these the children of God," "nor are all who are of Israel, these are Israel." nor "is he a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter." For if the judgment of a Jew is taken from what is inward, it must be understood that, just as there is a race of corporeal Jews, so there is a certain nation of "Jews who are so inwardly," the soul possessing this nobility according to certain secret principles. But also many prophecies prophesy concerning Israel and Judah, relating the things that will happen to them. And surely the so many promises written to them, which are lowly in their literal sense and present no stature and dignity of a promise of God, require a mystical interpretation. But if the promises are spiritual, being declared through sensible things, then those to whom the promises are made are not corporeal either. 4.3.7 And that we may not spend too much time on the discussion concerning the "Jew who is so inwardly" and concerning the Israelite who is "the inner man," these things being sufficient for those who are not dull, we return to the subject at hand and we say that Jacob is the father of the twelve patriarchs, and they of the leaders of the people, and they in turn of the subsequent Israelites. Therefore, the corporeal Israelites trace their ancestry to the leaders of the people, and the leaders of the people to the patriarchs, and the patriarchs to Jacob and those still further back; while the spiritual Israelites, of whom the corporeal were a type, are from peoples, the peoples having come from tribes, and the tribes from a certain one, who has not such a corporeal origin but a better one, he too having been begotten of Isaac, and he having descended from Abraham, all being traced back to Adam, whom the apostle says is Christ. For every beginning of families that are inferior with respect to the God of all began from Christ, who after the God and Father of all is thus the father of every soul, as Adam is the father of all men. But if Eve also is successfully interpreted by Paul as referring to the church, it is not surprising, since Cain was born of Eve and all subsequent people trace their origin to Eve, that there should be fallen ones from the church, since all were generated from the church in the primary sense. 4.3.8 But if what we have said about Israel and its tribes and peoples is startling, when the Savior says: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," we do not take these words as do the Ebionites, who are poor in understanding, named for the poverty of their understanding (for "ebion" is what a poor man is called among the Hebrews), so as to suppose that Christ came primarily for the carnal Israelites. For "not the children of the flesh are these the children of God." Again, the apostle teaches certain things of this sort concerning Jerusalem, that "the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother

πᾶσα μὲν ἔχει τὸ πνευματικόν, οὐ πᾶσα δὲ τὸ σωματικόν· πολλαχοῦ γὰρ ἐλέγχεται ἀδύνατον ὂν τὸ σωματικόν. ∆ιόπερ πολλὴν προσοχὴν συνεισακτέον τῷ εὐλαβῶς ἐντυγχάνοντι ὡς θείοις γράμμασι ταῖς θείαις βίβλοις, ὧν ὁ χαρακτὴρ τῆς νοήσεως τοιοῦτος ἡμῖν φαίνεται· 4.3.6 Ἔθνος τι ἐπὶ γῆς ἀπαγγέλλουσιν οἱ λόγοι ἐξειλέχθαι τὸν θεόν, ὃ καλοῦσιν ὀνόμασι πλείοσι. καλεῖται γὰρ τοῦτο τὸ πᾶν ἔθνος Ἰσραήλ, λέγεται δὲ καὶ Ἰακώβ. ὅτε δὲ διῄρητο κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους Ἱεροβοὰμ υἱοῦ Νάβατ, αἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τούτῳ λεγόμεναι φυλαὶ δέκα ὠνομάσθησαν Ἰσραήλ, αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ δύο καὶ ἡ Λευιτική, ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκ σπέρματος τοῦ ∆αυεὶδ βασιλευόμεναι, Ἰούδας. ὁ δὲ σύμπας τόπος, ὅντινα ᾤκουν οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνους, δεδομένος αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, καλεῖται Ἰουδαία, ἧς μητρόπολις Ἱερουσαλήμ, μητρόπολις δηλονότι πλειόνων πόλεων, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα πολλαχοῦ μὲν καὶ ἄλλοθι διεσπαρμένως κεῖται, ὑφ' ἓν δὲ κατειλεγμέναι εἰσὶν ἐν Ἰησοῦ τῷ τοῦ Ναυῆ. τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων, ὑψῶν τὸ διανοητικὸν ἡμῶν ὁ ἀπόστολός φησί που· «βλέπετε τὸν Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ σάρκα», ὡς ὄντος τινὸς Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ πνεῦμα. καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ λέγει· «οὐ γὰρ τὰ τέκνα τῆς σαρκὸς ταῦτα τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ», «οὐδὲ πάντες οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ οὗτοι Ἰσραήλ». ἀλλ' οὐδὲ «ὁ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν, οὐδὲ ἡ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομή· ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, καὶ περιτομὴ καρδίας ἐν πνεύματι, οὐ γράμματι». εἰ γὰρ ἡ κρίσις τοῦ Ἰουδαίου ἐκ τοῦ κρυπτοῦ λαμβάνεται, νοητέον ὅτι, ὥσπερ Ἰουδαίων σωματικῶν ἐστι γένος, οὕτω τῶν «ἐν κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαίων» ἐστί τι ἔθνος, τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν εὐγένειαν ταύτην κατά τινας λόγους ἀπορρήτους κεκτημένης. ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλαὶ προφητεῖαι περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα προφητεύουσι, διηγούμεναι τὰ ἐσόμενα αὐτοῖς. καὶ οὐ δήπου αἱ τοσαῦται τούτοις γεγραμμέναι ἐπαγγελίαι, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ λέξει ταπειναὶ τυγχάνουσαι καὶ οὐδὲν ἀνάστημα παριστᾶσαι καὶ ἀξίωμα ἐπαγγελίας θεοῦ, οὐχὶ ἀναγωγῆς μυστικῆς δέονται. εἰ δὲ αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι νοηταί εἰσι δι' αἰσθητῶν ἀπαγγελλόμεναι, καὶ οἷς αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι, οὐ σωματικοί. 4.3.7 Καὶ ἵνα μὴ ἐπιδιατρίβωμεν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ περὶ τοῦ «ἐν κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαίου» καὶ τῷ περὶ «τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου» Ἰσραηλίτου, καὶ τούτων αὐτάρκων ὄντων τοῖς μὴ ἀκέντροις, ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον ἐπανερχόμεθα καί φαμεν τὸν Ἰακὼβ πατέρα εἶναι τῶν δώδεκα πατριαρχῶν, κἀκείνους τῶν δημάρχων, καὶ ἔτι ἐκείνους τῶν ἑξῆς Ἰσραηλιτῶν. ἆρ' οὖν οἱ μὲν σωματικοὶ Ἰσραηλῖται τὴν ἀναγωγὴν ἔχουσιν ἐπὶ τοὺς δημάρχους, καὶ οἱ δήμαρχοι πρὸς τοὺς πατριάρχας, οἱ δὲ πατριάρχαι πρὸς τὸν Ἰακὼβ καὶ τοὺς ἔτι ἀνωτέρω· οἱ δὲ νοητοὶ Ἰσραηλῖται, ὧν τύπος ἦσαν οἱ σωματικοί, οὐχὶ ἐκ δήμων εἰσί, τῶν δήμων ἐκ φυλῶν ἐληλυθότων, καὶ τῶν φυλῶν ἀπὸ ἑνός τινος, γένεσιν οὐ τοιαύτην σωματικὴν ἔχοντος ἀλλὰ τὴν κρείττονα, γεγενημένου κἀκείνου ἐκ τοῦ Ἰσαάκ, καταβεβηκότος κἀκείνου ἐκ τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, πάντων ἀναγομένων ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀδάμ, ὃν ὁ ἀπόστολος εἶναί φησι τὸν Χριστόν; πᾶσα γὰρ ἀρχὴ πατριῶν τῶν ὡς πρὸς τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν κατωτέρω ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ ἤρξατο τοῦ μετὰ τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν καὶ πατέρα οὕτω πατρὸς ὄντος πάσης ψυχῆς, ὡς ὁ Ἀδὰμ πατήρ ἐστι πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων. εἰ δὲ καὶ ἡ Εὔα ἐπιτέτευκται τῷ Παύλῳ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀναγομένη, οὐ θαυμαστόν, τοῦ Κάιν ἐκ τῆς Εὔας γεγενημένου καὶ πάντων τῶν ἑξῆς τὴν ἀναγωγὴν ἐχόντων ἐπὶ τὴν Εὔαν, ἐκπτώματα τῆς ἐκκλησίας τυγχάνειν, πάντων ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλη- σίας προηγουμένῳ λόγῳ γεγενημένων. 4.3.8 Εἰ δὲ πληκτικά ἐστι τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τῶν φυλῶν καὶ τῶν δήμων αὐτοῦ ἡμῖν εἰρημένα, ἐπὰν φάσκῃ ὁ σωτήρ· «οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ», οὐκ ἐκλαμβάνομεν ταῦτα ὡς οἱ πτωχοὶ τῇ διανοίᾳ Ἐβιωναῖοι, τῆς πτωχείας τῆς διανοίας ἐπώνυμοι («ἐβίων» γὰρ ὁ πτωχὸς παρ' Ἑβραίοις ὀνομάζεται), ὥστε ὑπολαβεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς σαρκίνους Ἰσραηλίτας προηγουμένως τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπιδεδημηκέναι. «οὐ» γὰρ «τὰ τέκνα τῆς σαρκὸς ταῦτα τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ». πάλιν ὁ ἀπόστολος περὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τοιαῦτά τινα διδάσκει, ὅτι «ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐλευθέρα ἐστίν, ἥτις ἐστὶ μήτηρ