brings the greatest preservation of all those things. For from the beginning he gave an abundance of food which he calls Thera, but another interprets it as sustenance. And he promises to make the inhabitants lack nothing, and he has made a plan concerning the priests and the holy ones, that they should be saved and should attend to the sacred hymns. But when all these things had already been corrupted and the nation was not able to enjoy the good things of the earth because it had fallen under the power of the Romans, and the priesthood was falling away and all the gladness in the temple was dissolved, the great power arose there, the horn of David, which strikes every power of the enemies, a beautiful lamp shining with heavenly light for David and for his lineage, who, beginning there, sends forth the brightness to the whole world, as the prophet Simeon says: A light for the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.
264 Ps 132,3 And the parable of the myrrh was of a divine matter,
but that which is from God becomes more manifest according to the parable of the dew descending from heaven upon the mountains. For the gift and the good thing is heavenly, not human, nor does it appear among humans without the gift from above.
265 Ps 133,1.2 It signifies that the work of hymns will be according to the
gathering of all the saints, so as not to cease either by day or by night, since sleep would not overcome the then power of incorruptible and tireless bodies.
266 Ps 134,1.2 Hymns are the end of good things, and the subject of hymns are the works of God and his gifts and benefits. And those who hymn are not strangers and those standing far off, but those who are near and remain, just as David also appointed the singers to remain for this purpose. 267 Ps 134,3.4 And one might say that it is a great benefit and the sum of all benefits from God to make humans his own, just as he made the Hebrew people his own and at that time established them as special to himself above all the nations, making them something abundant and preeminent, inasmuch as the God of all in creation is also their own God in intimacy. 268 Ps 134,6.7 Recalling the paradoxical things that happened concerning Israel, things done not by nature as it was originally revealed but by a will that is above nature (on the one hand, heavenly things like fire and hail and darkness; on the other, earthly things like frogs and locusts and gnats and the avenging action against the firstborn; and on the other, things done in the sea and the deep, such as what happened in the Red Sea), he brings it back to the creative authority, connecting these things to those as having come from the same power, saying that he himself is once and for all the one who raises clouds from the ends of the earth and shows forth lightnings as preludes to rain and sends winds from an invisible origin; their location not being known before they blow; and he says that the unseen and unknown origin of the winds is a treasury of God, the winds being understood as continuously stored somewhere, as in the treasuries of bodies. 269 Ps 134,13 He signifies that the wonders happened not only for the sake of Israel but for the knowledge of God throughout all the earth and for all time, the one doing them being known not only while the works were being done but also later through memory. 270 Ps 134,15 Above, then, he called them gods who are not gods, according to the custom of the nations, but now, to the shame of the falsely named gods, he calls them idols, slandering them by their material, that they are silver and gold, and refuting them by their workmanship, that they are made by humans, and by their lifelessness along with the vain likeness of souls, because there is no breath of life in them; all of which contains the clear slander both of their worship and of the demons
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μεγίστην ἐπιφέρει τὴν ἁπασῶν ἐκείνων περισωστικήν. τροφῆς γὰρ εὐπορίαν ἔδωκεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἣν Θήραν καλεῖ, σίτησιν δὲ ἕτερος ἑρμηνεύει. καὶ τοὺς οἰκήτορας ἀνενδεεῖς καταστήσειν ἐπαγγέλλεται, περί τε ἱερέων καὶ ὁσίων βουλὴν πεποίηται σῴζεσθαί τε αὐτοὺς καὶ τοῖς ὕμνοις τοῖς ἱεροῖς προσεδρεύειν. τούτων δὲ ἁπάντων ἤδη διεφθαρμένων καὶ μήτε τῶν τῆς γῆς ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύειν δυναμένου τοῦ ἔθνους διὰ τὸ Ῥωμαίων ἐξουσίᾳ περιπεσεῖν τῆς τε ἱερατείας διαπιπτούσης καὶ τῆς εὐφροσύνης τῆς ἐν τῷ ναῷ διαλελυμένης ἁπάσης, ἡ μεγάλη δύναμις ἀνέτειλεν αὐτόθι τὸ κέρας τοῦ ∆αυὶδ ὃ πᾶσαν ἐχθρῶν κερατίζει δύναμιν, λύχνος εὐπρεπὴς οὐρανίῳ φωτὶ καταλάμπων τῷ ∆αυὶδ καὶ τῷ ἐκείνου γένει ὃς καὶ αὐτόθι ἀρξάμενος ἐπὶ πάντα κόσμον ἐκπέμπει τὴν λαμπηδόνα καθά φησιν ὁ προφήτης Συμεὼν Φῶς εἰς ἀποκάλυψιν ἐθνῶν καὶ δόξαν λαοῦ σου Ἰσραήλ.
264 Ps 132,3 Καὶ θείου μὲν πράγματος ἦν παραβολὴ καὶ ἡ τοῦ μύρου,
ἐπιφανέστερον δὲ τὸ ἐκ θεοῦ κατὰ τὴν τῆς δρόσου παραβολὴν γίνεται τὴν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατιοῦσαν ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη. οὐράνιον γὰρ τὸ δῶρον καὶ τὸ ἀγαθόν, οὐκ ἀνθρώπειον οὐδὲ χωρὶς τῆς ἄνωθεν δωρεᾶς ἐν ἀνθρώποις φαινόμενον.
265 Ps 133,1.2 Προσημαίνει τὸ τῶν ὕμνων ἔργον ἐσόμενον κατὰ τὴν
ἐπισύνοδον ἁπάντων ἁγίων, ὡς μήτε ἡμέρας μήτε νυκτὸς διαλιπεῖν ἅτε μηδὲ τοῦ ὕπνου νικῶντος ἐν τῇ τότε δυνάμει τῶν ἀφθάρτων καὶ ἀκαμάτων σωμάτων.
266 Ps 134,1.2 Ὕμνοι μὲν τέλος τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ὕμνων δὲ ὑπόθεσις τὰ ἔργα τοῦ
θεοῦ καὶ δῶρα καὶ εὐεργετήματα. οἱ δὲ ὑμνοῦντες οὐχ οἱ ξένοι καὶ μακρὰν ἑστῶτες ἀλλ' οἱ πρόσεδροι καὶ παραμένοντες, ὥσπερ καὶ κατέστησεν ἐπὶ τούτῳ μενοῦντας τοὺς ὑμνῳδοὺς ὁ ∆αυίδ. 267 Ps 134,3.4 Εἴποι δ' ἄν τις εὐεργεσίαν εἶναι μεγάλην καὶ κεφάλαιον ἁπάντων εὐεργετημάτων παρὰ θεοῦ τὸ προσοικειώσασθαι ἀνθρώπους, καθάπερ τὸν Ἑβραίων προσῳκειώσατο λαὸν καὶ ἐξαίρετον ἑαυτῷ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τότε κατέστησε περισσόν τι καὶ ὑπερέχον θέμενος αὐτούς, καθὸ καὶ ἴδιος αὐτοῦ θεὸς ἐν οἰκειότητι ὁ πάντων θεὸς ἐν δημιουργίᾳ. 268 Ps 134,6.7 Τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ παραδόξως γενομένων μνημονεύων τῶν οὐ φύσει τῇ κατ' ἀρχὴν ἐκφανείσῃ πραχθέντων ἀλλὰ θελήματι τῷ ὑπὲρ φύσιν (τοῦτο μὲν οὐρανίων οἷον πυρὸς καὶ χαλάζης καὶ σκότους, τοῦτο δὲ ἐπιγείων οἷον δὴ βάτραχοι καὶ ἀκρίδες καὶ σκνῖπες καὶ ἡ κατὰ πρωτοτόκων τιμωρὸς ἐνέργεια, τοῦτο δὲ τῶν ἐν θαλάσσῃ καὶ βυθῷ πεπραγμένων οἷα τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἐρυθράν), ἐπαναφέρει πρὸς τὴν δημιουργικὴν ἐξουσίαν, συνάπτων ταῦτα ἐκείνοις ὡς ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς γεγονότα δυνάμεως φάσκων ὅτι καὶ καθάπαξ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ νεφέλας μετεωρίζων ἀπ' ἄκρων γῆς καὶ ἀστραπὰς ἐκφαίνων ὑετῶν προοίμια καὶ ἀνέμους ἐξ ἀοράτου τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπιπέμπων· οὐ πρότερον γινωσκομένων ἔνθα εἰσὶ πρὶν ἢ καὶ πνεύσωσι· θεοῦ δὲ θησαυρὸν τὸ τῆς τῶν ἀνέμων γενέσεως ἀθεώρητον καὶ ἄγνωστον εἶναι λέγει, συνεχῶς ἀποκειμένους νοεῖσθαί που τοὺς ἀνέμους καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς σωμάτων ἔχει θησαυροῖς. 269 Ps 134,13 Οὐχ ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ μόνον γεγενημένα τὰ τεράστια σημαίνει ἀλλ' εἰς τὴν διὰ πάσης γῆς καὶ χρόνου παντὸς ἐπίγνωσιν θεοῦ, οὐ μόνον ἕως ἐπράττετο τὰ ἔργα γνωριζομένου τοῦ πράττοντος ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς ὕστερον διὰ μνήμης. 270 Ps 134,15 Ἄνω μὲν οὖν αὐτοὺς θεοὺς ὠνόμασε κατὰ τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν συνήθειαν τοὺς οὐ θεούς, νῦν δὲ ἐπ' αἰσχύνῃ τῶν ψευδονύμων θεῶν εἴδωλα ὀνομάζει τῇ τε ὕλῃ διαβάλλων ὅτι ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον καὶ τῇ ἐργασίᾳ καθαίρων ὅτι ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῷ ἀψύχῳ μετὰ τοῦ ματαίου τῶν ψυχῶν ὁμοιώματος διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐνεῖναι πνεῦμα ζωῆς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς· ὅπερ ἅπαντα τοῦ τε σεβάσματος ἔχει τὴν ἐξ ἐμφανοῦς διαβολὴν καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων
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