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the serpent to the first-formed, advising to depart from the divine command as something useful and good, this is to take away from hearing the earring of the commandment. Therefore, the murderer of such brothers and friends and neighbors will hear from the law that voice which the history says came from Moses to those who had murdered such ones: You have filled your hands today for the Lord, each one through his son or his brother, that a blessing may be given upon you. 2.214 But it seems fitting that the memory of those who accepted sin has also entered into the discussion, so that we might learn how Moses again brings back the tablets made by God, in which the divine law had been engraved, after they fell from his hands to the ground and were shattered by the resistance of what lay beneath—no longer the same ones at all, but only the writing on them. For having taken the tablets from the material below, he submits them to the power of the one who engraves the law upon them. And thus he recalls the grace, carrying the law on the stone tablets, God himself having impressed the words on the stone. 2.215 For perhaps through these things we may be guided to a conception of the divine providence for us. For if the divine Apostle speaks truly in calling the tablets hearts, that is, the ruling part of the soul—and he who through the Spirit searches the depths of God certainly speaks truly—it is possible from this to learn consequently that human nature was in the beginning unbreakable and immortal, fashioned by divine hands and adorned with the unwritten engravings of the law, since the will according to the law was naturally implanted in us in the turning away from evil and in the honor of the Divine. 2.216 But when the sound of sin impinged, which the first Scripture calls the voice of a serpent, and the story concerning the tablets calls the voice of those who lead in wine, then, having fallen to the earth, it was shattered. But again the true lawgiver, of whom Moses was a type, hewed for himself the tablets of our nature from our earth. For marriage did not fashion for him the flesh that received God, but he himself becomes the stonecutter of his own flesh, which was inscribed by the divine finger. For the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. And when this happened, our nature again possessed what is unbreakable, having become immortal by the engravings of the finger. And in many places in Scripture the Holy Spirit is called the finger. 2.217 And so the transformation of Moses into what is more glorious becomes of such a kind and so great that the manifestation of that glory is incomprehensible to the eye below. But certainly one who has been taught the divine mystery of our faith is not ignorant of how the contemplation according to the anagogical sense corresponds to the history. For the restorer of our shattered nature (and you surely understand through what is said him who healed our fragments), when he again restored the shattered tablet of our nature to its ancient beauty, adorned by the divine finger, as has been said, is no longer comprehensible to the sight of the unworthy, becoming unapproachable to those who look at him because of the excess of glory. 2.218 For truly, when he comes, as the Gospel says, in his glory and all the angels with him, he becomes scarcely comprehensible and manifest to the righteous. But the impious one and he who judaizes his heresy, as Isaiah says, remains without a share in that sight; "for let the impious one be taken away," he says, "so that he may not see the glory of the Lord." 2.219 But following the sequence of what was previously examined, we have been led to these things for the sake of the meaning of the contemplation concerning this passage. But let us return to the subject at hand. How does he who is witnessed by the divine voice to see God clearly in so many theophanies, in which it says that he spoke "face to face, as one might speak to his own friend," having experienced these things, as though not yet having obtained what he is believed through scriptural testimony to have obtained, beg God to appear to him, as if the one who is always appearing had not yet been seen?

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πρωτοπλάστοις ὁ ὄφις, ὥς τι χρήσιμον καὶ ἀγαθὸν τὸ ἀποστῆναι τοῦ θείου προστάγματος συμβουλεύων, τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ περιελέσθαι τῆς ἀκοῆς τὸ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐνώτιον. Οὐκοῦν ὁ τῶν τοιούτων ἀδελφῶν τε καὶ φίλων καὶ πλησίον φονεὺς ἀκούσεται παρὰ τοῦ νόμου τῆς φωνῆς ἐκείνης ἥν φησιν ἡ ἱστορία παρὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως γεγενῆσθαι τοῖς τοὺς τοιούτους φονοκτονήσασιν· ἐπληρώσατε τὰς χεῖρας ὑμῶν σήμερον τῷ Κυρίῳ ἕκαστος ἐν τῷ υἱῷ ἢ τῷ ἀδελφῷ δοθῆναι ἐφ' ὑμᾶς εὐλογίαν. 2.214 ∆οκεῖ δὲ κατὰ καιρὸν καὶ ἡ μνήμη τῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν παραδεξαμένων ἐπεισεληλυθέναι τῷ λόγῳ, ὥστε μαθεῖν πῶς τὰς θεοτεύκτους πλάκας ἐν αἷς ὁ θεῖος νόμος ἐνεκεχάρακτο εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Μωϋσέως χειρῶν πεσούσας καὶ τῇ ἀντιτυπίᾳ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου συντριβείσας πάλιν ὁ Μωϋσῆς ἀνακομίζεται, οὐκέτι διόλου τὰς αὐτάς, ἀλλὰ μόνον τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῶν γράμμα. Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς κάτω ὕλης λαβὼν τὰς πλάκας ὑποτίθησι τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ τὸν νόμον αὐταῖς ἐγχαράσ σοντος. Καὶ οὕτως ἀνακαλεῖται τὴν χάριν, φέρων ἐν ταῖς λιθίναις δέλτοις τὸν νόμον, αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ λίθῳ τὰς φωνὰς ἐντυπώσαντος. 2.215 Ταχὰ γὰρ ἔστι διὰ τούτων ὁδηγηθέντας τῆς θείας ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προμηθείας ἐν περινοίᾳ γενέσθαι. Εἰ γὰρ ἀληθεύει ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος καρδίας ὀνομάζων τὰς πλάκας, τουτέστι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀληθεύει δὲ πάντως ὁ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ διερευνώμενος, ἔστιν ἐκ τούτου δι' ἀκολούθου μαθεῖν ὅτι ἀσύντριπτος ἦν τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς καὶ ἀθάνατος ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις, ταῖς θείαις χερσὶ κατεσκευασμένη καὶ τοῖς ἀγράφοις τοῦ νόμου κεκαλλωπισμένη χαράγμασι, φυσικῶς ἡμῖν ἐγκειμένου τοῦ κατὰ νόμον βουλήματος ἐν τῇ ἀποστροφῇ τοῦ κακοῦ καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θείου τιμῇ. 2.216 Ἐπεὶ δὲ προσέπεσε τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ ἦχος, ὃν ἡ πρώτη Γραφὴ φωνὴν ὄφεως ὀνομάζει, ἡ δὲ κατὰ τὰς πλάκας ἱστορία φωνὴν ἐξ οἴνου ἀρχόντων, τότε εἰς γῆν πεσοῦσα συνετρίβη. Ἀλλὰ πάλιν ὁ ἀληθινὸς νομοθέτης, οὗ τύπος ἦν ὁ Μωϋσῆς, ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἡμῶν ἑαυτῷ τὰς τῆς φύσεως πλάκας ἐλάξευσεν. Οὐ γὰρ γάμος αὐτῷ τὴν θεοδόχον ἐδημιούργησε σάρκα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τῆς ἰδίας σαρκὸς γίνεται λατόμος τῆς τῷ θείῳ δακτύλῳ καταγραφείσης. Πνεῦμα γὰρ ἅγιον ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν Παρθένον καὶ ἡ τοῦ Ὑψίστου ἐπεσκίασε δύναμις. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτο ἐγένετο, πάλιν τὸ ἀσύντριπτον ἔσχεν ἡ φύσις, ἀθάνατος γενομένη τοῖς τοῦ δακτύλου χαράγμασι. ∆άκτυλος δὲ πολλαχῇ παρὰ τῆς Γραφῆς ὀνομάζεται τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. 2.217 Καὶ οὕτω γίνεται τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ ἐνδοξότερον μεταποίησις τοιαύτη τε καὶ τοσαύτη ὡς ἀχώρητον εἶναι τῷ κάτω ὀφθαλμῷ τὴν τῆς δόξης ἐκείνης ἐμφάνειαν. Πάντως δὲ ὁ πεπαιδευμένος τὸ θεῖον τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν μυστήριον οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ πῶς συμβαίνει τῇ ἱστορίᾳ ἡ κατ' ἀναγωγὴν θεωρία. Ὁ γὰρ διορθωτὴς τῆς συντετριμμένης ἡμῶν φύσεως (νοεῖς δὲ πάντως διὰ τῶν λεγομένων ἐκεῖνον τὸν τὰ συντρίμ ματα ἡμῶν θεραπεύσαντα), ἐπειδὴ πάλιν εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐπανήγαγε κάλλος τὴν συντετριμμένην τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν πλάκα, τῷ θείῳ δακτύλῳ, καθὼς εἴρηται, καλλωπισθεῖσαν, οὐκέτι χωρητὸς ταῖς ὄψεσι τῶν ἀναξίων γίνεται, τῷ ὑπερβάλ λοντι τῆς δοξῆς ἀπροσπέλαστος τοῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁρῶσι γινόμενος. 2.218 Ἀληθῶς γάρ, ὅταν ἔλθῃ, καθώς φησι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, ἐν τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἄγγελοι μετ' αὐτοῦ, μόγις μὲν τοῖς δικαίοις χωρητὸς γίνεται καὶ κατα φανής. Ὁ δὲ ἀσεβὴς καὶ ἰουδαΐζων τὴν αἵρεσιν, καθὼς Ἠσαΐας λέγει, ἀμέτοχος ἐκείνου τοῦ θεάματος μένει· ἀρθήτω γὰρ ὁ ἀσεβής, φησίν, ἵνα μὴ ἴδῃ τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου. 2.219 Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ τῶν προεξητασμένων ἑπόμενοι, πρὸς τὴν ὑπόνοιαν τῆς περὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον θεωρίας ἠνέχθημεν. Ἐπὶ δὲ τὸ προκείμενον ἐπανέλθωμεν. Πῶς ὁ τοσαύταις θεοφανείαις ἐναργῶς ὁρᾶν τὸν Θεὸν παρὰ τῆς θείας φωνῆς μαρτυρούμενος ἐν οἷς φησιν ὅτι· ἐνώπιος ἐνωπίῳ, ὡς ἄν τις λαλήσῃ πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ φίλον, ἐν τούτοις γενόμενος, ὡς μήπω τυχὼν ὧν τετυχηκέναι διὰ τῆς γραφικῆς μαρτυρίας πιστεύεται, δεῖται τοῦ Θεοῦ φανῆναι αὐτῷ, ὡς τοῦ ἀεὶ φαινομένου μηδέπω ὀφθέντος;