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 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; that is, a reason greater than wisdom and knowledge, which annihilates the enemies. The camp of the king of Assyria is that which moves the natural appetites toward pleasure. A warrior is one who stirs up the spirited part for the guarding of pleasures. A ruler is one who provokes the senses by the appearances of virtues. A general is the one who gives form to the passions and is inventive of their activity. The face of the devil is the smoothness of pleasure, and the sensible things that entice the senses. And many brought gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of the Jews. Every mind crowned with virtue and knowledge, and 77.1272 ruling Jerusalem, that is, the state which sees peace; I mean, the condition freed from the rebellious passions (for Jerusalem is interpreted as "vision of peace"); certainly has the visible creation offering presents to it, and gifts to God through it. For properly, presents are things given to the needy; but gifts are things brought to those who are in no need. Therefore, gifts are offered to the Lord as being in need of nothing, but presents to Hezekiah, because every man is in need, both of habits for virtue, and of reasons for knowledge. But gifts are the spiritual principles existing in each species of those things that constitute creation, through which the creator of creation is known, teaching that there is some creator and master of visible things. And presents are again the natural laws inherent in each of these; that is, the natural advantages, through which one is educated toward virtue; choosing this from one, and that from another; and imitating their natural laws by his own voluntary habits. For God has sown in the particular species of creation both spiritual principles of wisdom, revealing their creator, God; and natural laws, training man their spectator toward virtue. To offer a few examples from many, it is a natural law of the eagle to gaze intently at the sun’s ray. One will imitate this, directing the mind toward the divine light. He will also imitate the deer, pursuing the heights of divine contemplations, as she does the mountains, and destroying the passions that lie hidden in visible forms, like serpents, with the word of discernment, and extinguishing the poison of evil received in the memory with the many and various springs of knowledge. He will imitate also the sharp sight of the gazelle, leaping over the snares of the demons who plot against virtue. And furthermore, the safety of the bird, flying over the traps of the evil spirits who war against knowledge. The more divine principles of creation appear in the providence and coherence of the permanence of each species, while its natural laws appear in the identity of the natural activity of each species. Through all of which together God is glorified, from whom they have come into being; and man makes progress, for whose sake they have in turn come into being. And he was exalted in the sight of all the nations. The one who is magnified through practice and contemplation, is raised through practice above all the carnal and slanderous passions, becoming superior to these; and above the so-called natural bodies, that is, those that are under generation and corruption, and simply put, all things under sense perception, having, through contemplation, passed through the principles in them with knowledge, and having led the mind to kindred intelligible and divine things. For practical philosophy makes the practical man superior to 77.1273 the passions; while contemplation renders the contemplative man superior to visible things. And Hezekiah did not repay according to the recompense which God had given him, but his heart was lifted up; and there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and upon Jerusalem. Every mind

βασιλέα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, καταφεύγει πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἀλαλήτως βοᾷ πρὸς αὐτὸν, διὰ τῆς κατ' ἀρετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν ἐπιδόσεως, καὶ δέχεται σύμμαχον ἄγγελον· δηλονότι μείζονα σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως λόγον ἐκτρίβοντα τοὺς πολεμίους. Παρεμβολὴ δὲ βασιλέως Ἀσσούρ ἐστιν ὁ πρὸς ἡδονὴν τὰς φυσικὰς ὀρέξεις κινῶν. Πολεμιστὴς δὲ ὁ τὸ θυμικὸν διεγείρων, εἰς τὴν τῶν ἡδονῶν φυλακήν. Ἄρχων δὲ ὁ ταῖς ἐπιφανείαις τῶν ἀρετῶν τὰς αἰσθήσεις διερεθίζων. Στρατηγὸς δὲ ὁ εἰδοποιὸς τῶν παθῶν, καὶ τῆς ἐνεργείας αὐτῶν ἐπινοητικός. Πρόσωπον δὲ τοῦ διαβόλου, τὸ λεῖον τῆς ἡδονῆς, καὶ τὰ θελκτικὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων αἰσθητά. Καὶ πολλοὶ ἔφερον δῶρα τῷ Κυρίῳ εἰς Ἱερουσα λὴν, καὶ τὰ δόματα τῷ Ἐζεχίᾳ βασιλεῖ Ἰουδαίων. Πᾶς νοῦς ἀρετῇ καὶ γνώσει κατεστεμμένος, καὶ 77.1272 βασιλεύων Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἤτοι τῆς εἰρήνην ὁρώσης ἕξεως· λέγω δὴ τῆς τῶν στασιαζόντων παθῶν ἀπηλλαγμένης καταστάσεως (ὅρασις γὰρ εἰρήνης Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἑρμηνεύεται)· πάντως ἔχει τὴν φαινομένην κτίσιν προσφέρουσαν αὐτῷ μὲν δόματα, τῷ δὲ Θεῷ δῶρα δι' αὐτοῦ. Κυρίως γὰρ δόματα μὲν τὰ τοῖς ἐνδεέσι διδόμενα· δῶρα δὲ, τὰ τοῖς ἀπροσδεέσιν εἰσκομιζόμενα. ∆ιὸ τῷ μὲν Κυρίῳ δῶρα ὡς πάντων ἀπροσδεεῖ τῷ δὲ Ἐζεχίᾳ δόματα, διότι πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἐπιδεῖται, καὶ τρόπων εἰς ἀρετὴν, καὶ λόγων εἰς γνῶσιν. Ἀλλὰ δῶρα μὲν, οἱ ἐνυπάρχοντες ἑκάστῳ εἴδει τῶν συμπληρούντων τὴν κτίσιν πνευματικοὶ λόγοι, δι' ὧν ὁ τῆς κτίσεως γνωρίζεται ποιητὴς, διδασκόντων, ὅτι ἐστί τις τῶν φαινομένων κτίστης καὶ δεσπότης. ∆όματα δὲ οἱ ἐνόντες ἑκάστῳ τούτων αὖθις φυσικοὶ νόμοι· τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὰ φυσικὰ πλεονεκτήματα, δι' ὧν παιδεύεταί τις πρὸς ἀρετήν· ἐκλεγόμενος τοῦ μὲν τόδε, τοῦ δὲ τόδε· καὶ τοὺς φυσικοὺς αὐτῶν νόμους τοῖς προαιρετικοῖς αὐτοῦ τρόποις ἀπομιμούμενος. Ἐγκατέσπειρε γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς κατὰ μέρος εἴδεσι τῆς κτίσεως καὶ σοφίας λόγους πνευματικοὺς, μηνύοντας τὸν ποιητὴν αὐτῶν Θεόν· καὶ φυσικοὺς νόμους παιδαγωγοῦντας εἰς ἀρετὴν τὸν θεατὴν αὐτῶν ἄνθρωπον. Ἵνα δὲ ἐκ πολλῶν ὀλίγα παραθῶμεν, ἀετοῦ φυσικὸς νόμος, τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἡλιακὴν μαρμαρυγὴν ἰθυτενῶς ἀτενίζειν. Ὃ μιμήσεταί τις, ἀπευθύνων τὸν νοῦν εἰς τὸ θεῖον φῶς. Μιμήσεται καὶ τὴν ἔλαφον, τὰ ὕψη τῶν θείων θεωρημάτων, καθάπερ ἐκείνη τὰ ὄρη, μεταδιώκων, καὶ τὰ ἐμφωλεύοντα τοῖς ὁρωμένοις εἴδεσι πάθη, καθάπερ ὄφεις, τῷ λόγῳ διαφθείρων τῆς διακρίσεως, καὶ τὸν τῇ μνήμῃ ἐναπολαμβανόμενον ἰὸν τῆς κακίας, ταῖς πολλαῖς καὶ διαφόροις κατασβεννύων πηγαῖς τῆς γνώσεως. Μιμήσεται καὶ τῆς δορκάδος τὴν ὀξυωπτίαν, τοὺς βρόχους τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων τῇ ἀρετῇ δαιμόνων ὑπερπηδῶν. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦ ὀρνέου τὴν ἀσφάλειαν, τὰς παγίδας τῶν τῇ γνώσει πολεμούντων πονηρῶν πνευμάτων ὑπεριπτάμενος. Οἱ μὲν θειότεροι τῆς κτίσεως λόγοι φαίνονται ἐν τῇ προνοίᾳ καὶ συνοχῇ τῆς τοῦ καθ' ἕκαστον εἴδους μονιμότητος, οἱ δὲ φυσικοὶ νόμοι ταύτης, ἐν τῇ ταυτότητι τῆς τοῦ καθ' ἕκαστον εἴδους φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας. ∆ι' ὧν ὁμοῦ πάντων δοξάζεται μὲν ὁ Θεὸς, παρ' οὗ γεγόνασι· προκόπτει δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος δι' ὃν αὖθις γεγόνασι. Καὶ ὑπερήρθη κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν. Ὁ διὰ πράξεως καὶ θεωρίας μεγαλυνθεὶς, ὑπεραίρεται διὰ πράξεως μὲν πάντων τῶν σαρκικῶν καὶ διαβεβλημένων παθῶν, ὑπεράνω τούτων γινόμενος τῶν δὲ φυσικῶν λεγομένων σωμάτων, ἤτοι τῶν ὑπὸ γένεσιν ὄντων καὶ φθοράν· καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ὅσα ὑπὸ τὴν αἴσθησιν· διὰ θεωρίας τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς λόγους γνωστικῶς διαπεράσας, καὶ πρὸς τὰ συγγενῆ νοητὰ καὶ θεῖα τὸν νοῦν ἀγαγών. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ πρακτικὴ μὲν φιλοσοφία τὸν πρακτικὸν ὑπεράνω ποιεῖ 77.1273 τῶν παθῶν· ἡ θεωρία δὲ τὸν θεωρητικὸν ὑπεράνω τῶν ὁρωμένων καθίστησι. Καὶ οὐ κατὰ τὸ ἀνταπόδομα ὃ ἀνταπέδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεὸς ἀνταπέδωκεν Ἐζεχίας, ἀλλ' ὑψώθη ἡ καρδία· καὶ ἐγένετο ἐπ' αὐτὸν ὀργὴ καὶ ἐπὶ Ἰούδαν καὶ ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ. Πᾶς νοῦς