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

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 mindset, and making them spacious for the reception of the divine rains of wisdom and knowledge; that they may water the flocks of Christ; I mean those who, because of the infancy of their soul, are in need of moral teaching. Scripture calls "cisterns" the hearts that are receptive of the heavenly gifts of His knowledge, being illumined by the firm word of the commandments, and casting off like calluses both the love for the passions and the relation to the sensible things of nature, and being filled with the cleansing knowledge of the virtues brought from above in spirit. And since Shephelah is interpreted as a narrow basin, the flocks of Shephelah would be those who through the distress of involuntary temptations are cleansed of the stains of the soul, and 77.1264 needing to be watered with the word concerning fortitude and patience. And in the plain are those who run well according to virtue, or those who are made broad by prosperity in life, needing to be watered, some with the word concerning almsgiving and sharing. Vinedressers of peace are those who in the height of contemplation cultivate the divine word of knowledge, which gladdens the soul, and removes it from material relation. And since Carmel is also interpreted as knowledge of circumcision, we will call its vinedressers those who, according to the knowledge of the circumcision of material things, cultivate the word that circumcises the soul of superfluous and useless cares and of the love of pleasure. Both these and those need the teaching of the older and more perfect ones. And the true husbandman is Christ, cultivating through the Gospel those who are being saved. But how was Uzziah able to have vinedressers in Carmel, when he himself governed the kingdom of Judah, but Carmel was situated under the kingdom of Israel? In no other way than according to the anagogical sense. And Uzziah was seeking the Lord in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the fear of the Lord; and the Lord made him prosper. Since Uzziah is interpreted as "strength of God," then every mind that has received strength from God for contemplation seeks God through it. And it seeks Him not simply, but in the days of the remembrance of God, in which it remembers God. For Zechariah is interpreted as "remembrance of God," which remembrance makes wise those who have it. And it makes them wise in the fear of the Lord, that is, in the practice of the commandments. For, it says, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. To whom the Lord also grants success in finding, teaching both the ways of the commandments and revealing the inner principles of beings. Therefore, he who seeks God without the practice of the divine commandments does not find Him, not being granted success in this. Such a mind walls off the entrance of the devil, which happens to the mind through the senses, having fixed in the desert, I mean in natural contemplation, the pious dogmas concerning beings like secure towers. Fleeing to these, one does not fear the demons that plunder in this desert—I mean the nature of visible things—and lead the mind astray through sensation, and drag it down to destruction. Such a mind is also a true husbandman, keeping the divine seeds of good things pure of tares through its own diligence and care. FROM THE SAME BOOK. Concerning Hezekiah. And Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to make war on Jerusalem; and he took counsel with his elders and mighty men to stop the waters of the springs which were outside the city. And they strengthened him, and he gathered many people, and stopped the waters of the springs, and the river that flows through the

Κύριος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· λέγω δὲ τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τὰς τῶν ἀξίων καρδίας ἐκχοΐζων καὶ ἀποκαθαίρων τοῦ ὑλικοῦ βάρους τε καὶ φρονήματος, καὶ ποιῶν εὐρυχώρους πρὸς ὑποδοχὴν τῶν θείων τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς γνώσεως ὑετῶν· ἵνα ποτίζωσι τὰ κτήνη τοῦ Χριστοῦ· τοὺς δεομένους λέγω, διὰ ψυχῆς νηπιότητα, τῆς ἠθικῆς διδασκαλίας. Λάκκους καλεῖ ἡ Γραφὴ τὰς δεκτικὰς τῶν οὐρανίων χαρισμάτων τῆς αὐτοῦ γνώσεως καρδίας, λαμπομένας τῷ στεῤῥῷ λόγῳ τῶν ἐντολῶν, καὶ ἀποβαλλομένας καθάπερ πωρώματα, τήν τε πρὸς τὰ πάθη φιλίαν, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ αἰσθητὰ τῆς φύσεως σχέσιν, καὶ πληρουμένας τῆς ἄνωθεν φερομένης ῥυπτικῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐν πνεύματι γνώσεως. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ Σεφιλὰ στενὴν λεκάνην ἑρμηνεύει· κτήνη τοῦ Σεφιλὰ εἶεν ἂν οἱ διὰ τῆς στενοχωρίας τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν ἀποκαθαιρόμενοι τῶν ψυχικῶν κηλίδων, καὶ 77.1264 δεόμενοι ποτισθῆναι τὸν περὶ καρτεριᾶς καὶ ὑπομονῆς λόγον. Ἐν τῇ πεδινῇ δὲ οἱ εὐδρομοῦντες κατ' ἀρετὴν, ἢ οἱ ἐμπλατυνόμενοι τῇ κατὰ τὸν βίον εὐπραγίᾳ, δεόμενοι ποτισθῆναι, οἱ μὲν, τὸν περὶ ἐλεημοσύνης καὶ μεταδόσεως. Ἀμπελουργοὶ δὲ τῆς εἰρήνης εἰσὶν οἱ ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῆς θεωρίας γεωργοῦντες τὸν θεῖον λόγον τῆς γνώσεως, εὐφραίνοντα ψυχὴν, καὶ ἐξιστῶντα τῆς ὑλικῆς σχέσεως. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ὁ Κάρμηλος ἐπίγνωσις περιτομῆς ἑρμηνεύεται, ἀμπελουργοὺς αὐτοῦ φήσομεν, τοὺς κατ' ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς περιτομῆς τῶν ὑλικῶν πραγμάτων, γεωργοῦντας τὸν λόγον τὸν περιτέμνοντα τὴν ψυχὴν τῶν περιττῶν καὶ ἀνωφελῶν φροντίδων καὶ τῆς φιληδονίας. Χρήζουσι δὲ καὶ οὗτοι κἀκεῖνοι διδασκαλίας τῶν παλαιοτέρων τε καὶ τελεωτέρων. Γεωργὸς δὲ ἀληθινὸς ὁ Χριστὸς, γεωργῶν διὰ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τοὺς σωζομένους. Ἀλλὰ πῶς Ὀζίας ἠδύνατο ἀμπελουργοὺς ἔχειν ἐν τῷ Καρμήλῳ, αὐτὸς μὲν τὴν τοῦ Ἰούδα βασιλείαν διέπων, τοῦ Καρμήλου δὲ κειμένου ὑπὸ τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ; Οὐδαμῶς ἑτέρως ἢ κατὰ λόγον ἀναγωγῆς. Καὶ ἦν Ὀζίας ἐκζητῶν τὸν Κύριον ἐν ταῖς ἡμέ ραις Ζαχαρίου τοῦ συνιέντος ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου· καὶ εὐώδωσεν αὐτῷ ὁ Κύριος. Ἐπείπερ Ὀζίας ἰσχὺς Θεοῦ ἑρμηνεύεται, λοιπὸν πᾶς νοῦς ἰσχὺν ἐκ Θεοῦ λαβὼν εἰς θεωρίαν ἐκζητεῖ τὸν Θεὸν δι' αὐτῆς. Ἐκζητεῖ δὲ αὐτὸν οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλὰ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς μνήμης τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν αἷς μνημονεύει Θεοῦ. Ζαχαρίας γὰρ μνήμη Θεοῦ ἑρμηνεύεται· ἥτις μνήμη συνετίζει τοὺς ἔχοντας αὐτήν. Συνετίζει δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐν φόβῳ τοῦ Κυρίου, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἐν τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν. Ἀρχὴ γὰρ, φησὶ, σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου. Ὧ καὶ εὐοδοῖ ὁ Κύριος εἰς εὕρεσιν, τούς τε τῶν ἐντολῶν τρόπους διδάσκων, καὶ τοὺς τῶν ὄντων λόγους ἀποκαλύπτων. Τοιγαροῦν ὁ δίχα πράξεως τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν ἐκζητῶν τὸν Θεὸν, οὐχ εὑρίσκει αὐτὸν, μὴ εὐοδούμενος εἰς τοῦτο. Ὁ τοιοῦτος νοῦς ἀποτειχίζει τὴν γινομένην πρὸς τὸν νοῦν διὰ μέσων τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἴσοδον τοῦ διαβόλου, πηξάμενος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, λέγω δὲ τῇ φυσικῇ θεωρίᾳ, καθάπερ πύργους ἀσφαλεῖς τὰ εὐσεβῆ περὶ τῶν ὄντων δόγματα. Εἰς ἃ ὁ καταφεύγων οὐ φοβεῖται τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον ταύτην, φημὶ δὴ τὴν φύσιν τῶν ὁρωμένων, λῃστεύοντας δαίμονας καὶ πλανῶντας τὸν νοῦν διὰ τῆς αἰσθήσεως, καὶ πρὸς ἀπώλειαν κατασύροντας. Ὁ τοιοῦτος νοῦς καὶ ἀληθής ἐστι γεωργὸς, καθαρὰ ζιζανίων, διὰ τῆς οἰκείας σπουδῆς καὶ ἐπιμελείας, τὰ θεῖα τῶν ἀγαθῶν σπέρματα συντηρῶν. ΕΚ ΤΗΣ ΑΥΤΗΣ ΒΙΒΛΟΥ. Περὶ Ἐζεχίου. Καὶ εἶδεν Ἐζεχίας ὅτι ἥκει Σεναχηρεὶμ τοῦ πο λεμῆσαι ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ· καὶ ἐβουλεύσατο μετὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων αὐτοῦ καὶ δυνατῶν, ἐμφράξαι τὰ ὕδατα τῶν πηγῶν, ἃ ἦν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως. Καὶ συνεπίσχυσαν αὐτὸν, καὶ συνή γαγε λαὸν πολὺν, καὶ ἐξέφραξε τὰ ὕδατα τῶν πηγῶν, καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τὸν διορίζοντα διὰ τῆς