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

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 the fifth year, you shall eat its fruit. The paradise is the Mosaic writing, abounding, like certain manifold and beautiful plants, with the most beautiful and various ordinances. And God commands to remove the impurity of each plant; that is, the corporeal and sensible aspect of each law. For this is an impurity to the spiritual husbandmen, as it is both useless and harmful. For to these is the word addressed. Therefore, the three years during which the fruit of the plants was unpurified are the three periods: that according to Moses, that according to Jesus son of Nave, that according to the judges, during which the fruit of the laws was not manifest; that is, its hidden and spiritually understood meaning, being covered by the density of the history and by the shadow. But the fourth year is the time of the proph 77.1248 ets, during which the declared fruit became holy to the Lord, henceforth being referred to Christ, through the testimony of the prophetic voices. But the fifth year is the fifth period, during which Christ became man, as has been shown above. For from then on, the veil having been removed, we the faithful partake usefully of the fruit of the Mosaic legislation. FROM THE BOOK OF JOSHUA SON OF NAVE Gibeon is the lofty mind; but the valley, the flesh humbled by death; and the sun is the word that enlightens the mind and supplies it with the power of contemplation, and delivers it from all ignorance; but the moon is the natural law, that is, natural discernment, moderately illuminating and persuading the flesh to be subject to the soul. For the moon is a symbol of nature, because of its changeableness. Whoever, therefore, through a pious life arrays himself against the invisible enemies, becomes a Jesus son of Nave; and prays for the sun to stand still for him, as has been said, over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley; that is, to remain with him for the destruction of the strongholds of wickedness, and the annihilation of the enemies. Just as after the death of Moses, Jesus the son of Nave took over the leadership; so after the death of the legal letter, Jesus the Christ took over the leadership of the new people; and just as with knives of stone, through the firm word of his commandments he circumcised this people's relation to sensible things, and prepared it to cross the flowing and unstable current of the present life, without being wet, that is, without being entangled in it; carrying the ark placed upon the shoulders of the virtues; I mean, the knowledge receptive of the divine mysteries. OF THE FIRST OF KINGS. Concerning Saul and David. The old law, taken according to the letter alone, is Saul, reprehensible, since it is shaken by countless contradictions, and having no agreement with itself. But when the harp of David resounds for it, that is, the wisdom of the hidden spirit; that is, the spiritual sense; it is immediately sobered, the evil spirit of contradiction being driven away. And I will give, he says, the kingdom to your neighbor, who is better than you. For just as David was a neighbor to Saul, as he himself was also anointed king; so also the spirit was a neighbor to the letter in the law, as it was hidden under it. To which, therefore, power has been given, the law taken according to the letter having been extinguished, but that which is understood according to the spirit having shone forth; who was also better than that one, inasmuch as the intelligible things are much more beautiful than the sensible ones, and than the

καρπὸς αὐτοῦ τρία ἔτη ἔσται ὑμῖν ἀπερικάθαρτος. Οὐ βρωθήσεται, καὶ τῷ ἔτει τῷ τετάρτῳ ἔσται πᾶς ὁ καρπὸς αὐτοῦ ἅγιος τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ἐν δὲ τῷ πέμπτῳ ἔτει, φάγεσθε τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ. Ὁ παράδεισος μὲν ἡ Μωσαϊκὴ συγγραφὴ, καθάπερ τισὶ φυτοῖς πολυειδέσι καὶ ὡραίοις βρύουσα τοῖς καλλίστοις καὶ ποικίλοις νομοθετήμασι. Κελεύει δὲ ὁ Θεὸς περιελεῖν τὴν ἑκάστου φυτοῦ ἀκαθαρσίαν· τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸ ἑκάστου νόμου σωματικόν τε καὶ αἰσθητόν. Ἀκαθαρσία γὰρ τοῦτο τοῖς πνευματικοῖς φυτοκόμοις, ὡς ἄχρηστόν τε καὶ βλαβερόν. Πρὸς τούτους γὰρ ὁ λόγος. Τρία μὲν οὖν ἔτη, καθ' οὓς ἦν ὁ καρπὸς τῶν φυτῶν ἀπερικάθαρτος, οἱ τρεῖς καιροί· ὁ κατὰ Μωσέα, ὁ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν τοῦ Ναυῆ, ὁ κατὰ τοὺς κριτὰς, καθ' οὓς ἦν ὁ καρπὸς τῶν νόμων ἀσυμφανής· ἤτοι τὸ κεκρυμμένον αὐτοῦ, καὶ πνευματικῶς νοούμενον, τῷ πάχει τῆς ἱστορίας καὶ τῇ σκιᾷ καλυπτόμενον. Τέταρτον δὲ ἔτος ὁ καιρὸς τῶν προφη 77.1248 τῶν, καθ' ὃν ὁ δηλωθεὶς καρπὸς ἅγιος γέγονε τῷ Κυρίῳ, λοιπὸν ἀναφερόμενος εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν, διὰ τῆς μαρτυρίας τῶν προφητικῶν φωνῶν. Πέμπτον δὲ ἕτος, ὁ πέμπτος καιρός· καθ' ὃν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐνηνθρώπησεν, ὡς ἀνωτέρω δεδήλωται. Ἔκτοτε γὰρ περιαιρεθέντος τοῦ καλύμματος, μεταλαμβάνομεν οἱ πιστοὶ χρησίμως τοῦ καρποῦ τῆς Μωσαϊκῆς νομοθεσίας. ΕΚ ΤΗΣ ΒΙΒΛΟΥ ΙΗΣΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΝΑΥΗ Γαβαὼ μὲν ἔστιν ὁ ὑψηλὸς νοῦς· φάραγξ δὲ, ἡ τῷ θανάτῳ ταπεινωθεῖσα σάρξ· καὶ ὁ ἥλιος μὲν, ὁ φωτίζων τὸν νοῦν λόγος καὶ χορηγῶν αὐτῷ θεωρημάτων δύναμιν, καὶ πάσης ἀγνοίας ἀπαλλάττων· σελήνη δὲ ὁ φυσικὸς νόμος, ἤγουν ἡ φυσικὴ διάκρισις, μετρίως φωτίζουσα καὶ πείθουσα τὴν σάρκα ὑποταγῆναι τῇ ψυχῇ. Φύσεως γὰρ σύμβολον ἡ σελήνη, διὰ τὸ τρεπτόν. Ὅστις γοῦν δι' εὐσεβοῦς πολιτείας παρατάσσεται πρὸς τοὺς ἀοράτους ἐχθροὺς, Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ γίνεται· καὶ εὔχεται στῆναι αὐτῷ τὸν μὲν ἥλιον, ὡς εἴρηται, κατὰ Γαβαὼ, τὴν δὲ σελήνην κατὰ φάραγγα· τοῦτ' ἔστι, παραμεῖναι αὐτῷ πρὸς καθαίρεσιν τῶν τῆς κακίας ὀχυρωμάτων, καὶ ἀναίρεσιν τῶν πολεμίων. Ὥσπερ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν Μωσέως Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν παρέλαβεν· οὕτω μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ νομικοῦ γράμματος, Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς τὴν ἡγεμονίαν τοῦ νέου λαοῦ παρέλαβε· καὶ ὥσπερ διὰ τῶν πετρίνων μαχαιρῶν, διὰ τοῦ στεῤῥοῦ λόγου τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ περιέτεμε τούτου τὴν πρὸς τὰ αἰσθητὰ σχέσιν, καὶ παρεσκεύασεν αὐτὸν διαπεράσαι τὸ ῥέον καὶ ἄστατον τοῦ παρόντος βίου, μὴ βραχέντα, τοῦτ ἔστι, μὴ ἐνσχεθέντα τούτῳ· τοῖς ὤμοις δὲ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπικειμένην φέροντα τὴν κιβωτόν· λέγω δὴ τὴν δεκτικὴν τῶν θείων μυστηρίων γνῶσιν. ΤΗΣ ΠΡΩΤΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ. Περὶ Σαοὺλ καὶ ∆αβίδ. Ὁ παλαιὸς νόμος κατὰ μόνον τὸ γράμμα λαμβανόμενος, Σαούλ ἐστιν, ἐπίληπτος, ἅτε μυρίαις δονούμενος ἐναντιώσεσι, καὶ μηδεμίαν ἔχων πρὸς ἑαυτὸν συμφωνίαν. Ἡνίκα δὲ ἐπηχήσῃ αὐτῷ ἡ κιθάρα τοῦ ∆αβὶδ, ἤγουν ἡ σοφία τοῦ ὑποκεκρυμμένου πνεύματος· τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ὁ πνευματικὸς νοῦς· εὐθὺ σωφρονεῖ, τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύματος τῆς ἐναντιώσεως ἀπελαυνομένου. Καὶ δώσω, φησὶ, τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ πλησίον σου, τῷ ἀγαθῷ ὑπὲρ σέ. Καθάπερ γὰρ ὁ ∆αβὶδ πλησίον ἦν τοῦ Σαοὺλ, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς βασιλέα χρισθείς· οὕτω καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα πλησίον ἦν τοῦ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ γράμματος, ὡς ὑποκεκρυμμένον αὐτῷ. Ὧ καὶ δέδοται λοιπὸν τὸ κράτος, σβεσθέντος μὲν τοῦ κατὰ τὸ γράμμα λαμβανομένου νόμου, λάμψαντος δὲ τοῦ κατὰ τὸ πνεῦμα νοουμένου· ὃς καὶ ἀγαθὸς ἦν ὑπὲρ ἐκεῖνον, ὅσῳ καὶ πολλὰ καλλιόνα τῶν αἰσθητῶν τὰ νοητὰ, καὶ τῶν