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and he took from him sensation; and he also killed the young man, I mean the spiritual law, and he took from him thought, so that the sower of evil, mingling with these, might bring forth sin. Therefore, vengeance is exacted from this Lamech seventy times seven, that is, he pays the penalty for his consent and his action. For this reason, when Peter said, "how many times shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" the Lord answered, "not only up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven," that is, "for one who repents to you, you will forgive not only the small things done with consent but also the actions."

QUESTION 79 What does the molten image and the graven image and the teraphim which they made in the time of Gideon signify, and what are the earrings and the crescents from which Gideon made an ephod and set it up in the gate and it became a scandal to his house?

RESPONSE According to Scripture, he makes a molten image who holds the types of evil from external preconceptions and from them melts them down and brings sin into action; and he makes a graven image who fashions the passion from himself; and he makes a teraphim who has acquired the disposition for the passions like a receptacle; for they say the teraphim is a receptacle for the blood of the sacrificed. And as for Gideon making an ephod from the earrings and the crescents, this 14Α_122 signifies that whoever of the teachers takes a word or a dogma from each one—for these are the earrings and crescents concerning something appearing in creation—then gathers from all of them one mystical word of contemplation and sets this forth in public or even deposits it in books—for this is the gate—as many as are unable to understand from a childish mind the mystical and unified meaning of the word, are scandalized at the teacher who said it.

QUESTION 80 What does the history of Gideon himself signify, and the fleece, and the war against the Midianites and the rest?

RESPONSE Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah, is taken to be sensation; she, conceiving through natural contemplation, gives birth to the natural law. But if she rises up against the mind, just as that one did against Sarah—for Sarah is interpreted as ‘ruling’—sensation is pushed aside and the mind conceives Isaac, the spiritual law, from whom comes Israel, that is, 'the mind that sees God.' When this one is tyrannized by Midian, that is, by fornication, he is handed over by permission for seven years, that is, to the temporal and transient passions. "And," it says, "the sons of Israel made for themselves holes and caves in the mountains;" for the mind, when it is warred against, seems to devise afflictions and toils, but doing these things without knowledge, it labors unprofitably. "For," it says, "a man of Israel sowed, and Midian and Amalek and the sons of the east went up and destroyed the fruit of the land;" For Amalek 14Α_124 is gluttony, and Midian fornication, and the sons of the east vainglory; they corrupt all the seed of the heart, which one seems to practice without knowledge. "And they did not leave a living substance in Israel," it says, "of flock or calf or donkey," that is, from the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive. "And their possessions and their tents went up with their camels, which were without number," that is, the various kinds of passions and their memories and their fantasies. "And," it says, "Israel was impoverished because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord sent a man, a prophet;" for when the mind is impoverished of all virtue, and its thoughts from

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καὶ ἔλαβεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὴν αἴσθησιν· ἀπέκτεινεν δὲ καὶ τὸν νεανίσκον, τὸν πνευματικόν φημι νόμον, καὶ ἔλαβεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν, ὅπως ταύταις μιγνύμενος ὁ τῆς κακίας σπορεὺς ἀποτεκεῖν ποιήσῃ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Ἐκ τούτου οὖν τοῦ Λάμεχ ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτὰ ἐκδικεῖται, τουτέστιν ὑπὲρ τῆς συγκαταθέσεως καὶ ἐνεργείας δίκας εἰσπράττεται. Ὅθεν ὁ Κύριος λέγοντι τῷ Πέτρῳ "ποσάκις ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ εἰς ἐμὲ ὁ ἀδελφός μου ἀφήσω αὐτῷ; ἕως ἑπτάκις;" ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Κύριος "οὐ μόνον ἕως ἑπτάκις ἀλλ᾽ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά", τουτέστιν "τῷ μετανοοῦντί σοι μὴ μόνον τὰ μικρὰ τὰ ἐν συγκαταθέσει γινόμενα ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἐνεργείας ἀφήσεις".

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 79 Τί δηλοῖ τὸ χωνευτὸν καὶ τὸ γλυπτὸν καὶ τὸ θεραφὶν ἅπερ ἐποίησαν ἐπὶ τοῦ

Γεδεὼν καὶ τί τὰ ἐνώτια καὶ οἱ μηνίσκοι ἅπερ ἐποίησεν ὁ Γεδεὼν ἐφοὺδ καὶ ἔστησεν ἐν τῇ πύλῃ καὶ γέγονεν εἰς σκάνδαλον τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐκεῖνος ποιεῖ χωνευτὸν κατὰ τὴν Γραφὴν ὁ ἐκ τῶν ἔξωθεν προλήψεων ἔχων

τοὺς τύπους τῆς κακίας καὶ ἐξ αὐ τῶν χωνεύων καὶ εἰς ἐνέργειαν φέρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· γλυπτὸν δὲ ποιεῖ ὁ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ δημιουργῶν τὸ πάθος· θεραφὶν δὲ ποιεῖ ὁ τὴν ἕξιν τῶν παθῶν κεκτημένος ὥσπερ δοχεῖον· φασὶ γὰρ τὸ θεραφὶν δοχεῖον εἶναι τοῦ αἵματος τῶν θυομένων. Τὸ δὲ ποιῆσαι τὸν Γεδεὼν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐνωτίων καὶ τῶν μηνίσκων ἐφούδ, τοῦτο 14Α_122 σημαίνει ὅτι ὅστις τῶν διδασκάλων ἀφ᾽ ἑκάστου λαμβάνων λόγον ἢ δόγμα τοῦτο γὰρ ἐνώτια καὶ μηνίσκοι περί τινος τῶν κατὰ τὴν κτίσιν προφαινομένων, εἶτα ἐξ ὅλων συναγείρων ἓν μυστικὸν λόγον θεωρίας καὶ τοῦτον προτιθεὶς ἐν φανερῷ εἴτε καὶ ἐν βίβλοις κατατιθέμενος τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ πύλη , ὅσοι μὴ δύνανται νοῆσαι ἐκ νηπίας φρενὸς τὸ μυστικὸν τοῦ λόγου καὶ ἑνιαῖον, σκανδαλίζονται εἰς τὸν εἰπόντα διδάσκαλον.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 80 Τί σημαίνει ἡ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸν Γεδεὼν ἱστορία καὶ ὁ πόκος καὶ ὁ πόλεμος πρὸς

τοὺς Μαδιηναίους καὶ τὰ λοιπά; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἀγάρ, ἡ παιδίσκη Σάρρας, λαμβάνεται ἐπὶ τῆς αἰσθήσεως· αὐτὴ

συλλαμβάνουσα διὰ τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας γεννᾷ τὸν φυσικὸν νόμον. Εἰ δὲ κατεξαναστῇ αὐτὴ τοῦ νοὸς ὥσπερ ἐκείνη τῇ Σάρρᾳ 'ἄρχουσα' δὲ ἡ Σάρρα ἑρμηνεύεται παρωθεῖται ἡ αἴσθησις καὶ συλλαμβάνει ὁ νοῦς τὸν Ἰσαάκ, τὸν πνευματικὸν νόμον, ἐξ οὗ ὁ Ἰσραήλ, τουτέστιν 'ὁ νοῦς ὁ τὸν θεὸν ὁρῶν.' Οὗτος ἐπειδὰν τυραννεῖται ὑπὸ τοῦ Μαδιάμ, τουτέστιν τῆς πορνείας, παραδίδοται κατὰ συγχώρησιν ἑπτὰ ἔτη, τουτέστιν ἐν τοῖς χρονικοῖς καὶ ἐπικαίροις πάθεσιν. «Καὶ ἐποίησαν», φησίν, «οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν τρυμαλιὰς καὶ σπήλαια»· πολεμούμενος γὰρ ὁ νοῦς δοκεῖ ἐπινοεῖν κακώσεις καὶ πόνους, ἀλλὰ χωρὶς γνώσεως τούτους ποιῶν ἀνονήτως κοπιᾷ. «Ἔσπειρεν», γάρ φησιν, «ἀνὴρ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἀνέβαινεν Μαδιὰμ καὶ Ἀμαλὶκ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ ἀνατολῶν καὶ διέφθειρον τὸν καρπὸν τῆς γῆς»· Ἀμαλὶκ 14Α_124 γὰρ ἡ γαστριμαργία καὶ Μαδιὰμ ἡ πορνεία καὶ υἱοὶ ἀνατολῶν ἡ κενοδοξία· διαφθείρουσιν πάντα τὸν σπόρον τῆς καρδίας, ὅνπερ ἄνευ γνώσεως ἐπιτηδεύειν δοκεῖ. «Καὶ οὐχ ὑπελείποντο ὑπόστασιν ζωῆς ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ», φησίν, ἐκ ποιμνίου καὶ μόσχου καὶ ὄνου, τουτέστιν ἔκ τε τοῦ λογικοῦ καὶ θυμικοῦ καὶ ἐπιθυμητικοῦ. «Ἀνέβαινον δὲ καὶ αἱ κτήσεις αὐτῶν καὶ αἱ σκηναὶ σὺν τοῖς καμήλοις αὐτῶν ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἀριθμός», τουτέστιν τὰ ποικίλα εἴδη τῶν παθῶν καὶ αἱ μνήμαι αὐτῶν καὶ αἱ φαντασίαι. «Καὶ ἐπτώχευσεν», φησίν, «ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ προσώπου Μαδιὰμ καὶ ἐκέκραξαν πρὸς Κύριον οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν Κύριος ἄνδρα προφήτην»· ἡνίκα γὰρ πτωχεύσει ὁ νοῦς πάσης ἀρετῆς, οἱ δὲ λογισμοὶ τούτου ἐκ