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to the fathers who have sinned; I am long-suffering also to their children. But if the children and the descendants should emulate the wickedness of their fathers and ancestors, I will bring on the punishment; but the piety of the ancestors will for a long time procure salvation for the family; "for He says, showing mercy to thousands and tens of thousands of those who love me, and of those who keep my commandments." And one might find in history the truth of the divine oracles. "For in the fifth generation, it says, the sons of Israel went up out of Egypt." But having been enslaved in Egypt to the gods of the Egyptians, neither their fathers nor their forefathers paid the penalty; but they themselves, emulating their impiety, were punished; since after such great beneficence, and the myriad wonders, they did not spit out their impiety, but their children, having loved God the savior, enjoyed the ancestral promise. And we see the truthfulness of the promise made to the patriarchs; for the nations through the seed of Abraham have obtained the blessing. Since, therefore, they were about to worship the calf, He threatens the punishment. XLI What is: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain"? Some say it forbids applying to vain things, that is, to idols, the name of God; others, for one who has sworn to lie. But I think the divine law commands that, apart from teaching, or prayer, 131 or some necessary need, one should not utter the divine name. For some are accustomed, both in jest and in laughter, to utter the revered name through their tongue as it happens. This, I think, the divine law forbids. For if the many are accustomed to keep their more expensive clothing for festivals, it is much more just to dedicate the divine name to prayers and teachings. XLII Why did he honor the sabbath with rest? He taught the people philanthropy. For he added, "that your male servant may rest, and your female servant, your ox and your beast of burden and all your cattle and the sojourner who dwells among you." XLIII And why did he not command this to happen on another day? This one might also say concerning another day, why ever did he choose this one, and not another. Nevertheless, this one had a certain reason capable of persuading the harshness of the Jews, in that the God of all created all things in six days, but on the seventh did nothing, but honored this day with a blessing. For he also added this, that "in six days the Lord your God made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them; and he rested on the seventh day and hallowed it." 132 XLIV What is: "And if you make me an altar of stones, you shall not build them hewn; for you have lifted up your tool upon it and it is defiled"? That they used iron, both those who worked the wood of the tabernacle, and those who worked the gold and the silver and the bronze, I think no one would deny. And that the priests also sacrificed the offerings with knives and flayed and cut them, I think this too is indisputable. It must be investigated, therefore, how iron did not defile these things, but did defile the hewn stones. Hence, it is clear that he contrives different things for different reasons. For since they spent forty years in the desert, continually departing and changing places, he forbids altars to be built of worked stones, so that when they had taken the promised land, the neighbors might not perform the sacrifices of demons on these altars. For this reason he commanded these to be constructed either of earth, or of unhewn stones; since each is easily dismantled. But that after the construction of the temple it was not permitted to sacrifice in another place, the law itself teaches. But if the law forbade sacrificing outside the temple, it likewise also prevented building an altar; At once, then, for a refutation of the impious, Elijah the great, having been forced to offer a sacrifice on Carmel, put together unhewn stones equal in number to the tribes, and on these he offered the sacrifice, so that the structure was immediately dismantled, and no one else in that place

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τοῖς πατράσιν ἡμαρτηκόσι· μακροθυμῶ καὶ παισίν. εἰ δὲ οἱ ἔκγονοι καὶ οἱ ἀπόγονοι, τὴν τῶν πατέρων καὶ προγόνων ζηλώσαιεν πονηρίαν, ἐπά ξω τὴν τιμωρίαν· ἡ δὲ τῶν προγόνων εὐσέβεια μέχρι πολλοῦ τῷ γένει προξενήσει τὴν σωτηρίαν· " ποιῶν, γάρ φησιν, ἔλεον εἰς χι λιάδας καὶ μυριάδας τοῖς ἀγαπῶσί με, καὶ τοῖς φυλάττουσι τὰ προστάγματά μου ". εὕροι δ' ἄν τις κἂν τῇ ἱστορίᾳ τὴν τῶν θείων λογίων ἀλήθειαν. " πέμπτῃ γὰρ γενεᾷ, φησίν, ἀνέβησαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ ἐξ Αἰ γύπτου ". ἀλλὰ τοῖς τῶν αἰγυπτίων ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δεδουλευκότες θεοῖς, οὐκ ἔτισαν δίκας οὔτε οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν, οὔτε οἱ προπάτορες αὐ τῶν· αὐτοὶ δὲ ζηλώσαντες τὴν ἐκείνων ἀσέβειαν ἐκολάσθησαν· ὡς μετὰ τοσαύτην εὐεργεσίαν, καὶ τὰ μυρία θαύματα τὴν ἀσέβειαν οὐκ ἐκπτύσαν τες, οἱ δὲ τούτων παῖδες, τὸν σωτῆρα Θεὸν ἠγαπηκότες, τῆς προγονι κῆς ἀπήλαυσαν ὑποσχέσεως. καὶ ὁρῶμεν τὸ ἀψευδὲς τῆς πρὸς τοὺς πα τριάρχας γεγενημένης ἐπαγγελίας· τὰ γὰρ ἔθνη διὰ τοῦ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ τῆς εὐλογίας τετύχηκεν, ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν τὸν μόσχον ἤμελλον προσκυνεῖν, τὴν τιμωρίαν προσαπειλεῖ. XLI Τί ἐστιν· " οὐ λήψῃ τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου ἐπὶ ματαίῳ "; Τινές φασιν ἀπαγορεύειν τὸ ἐπιθεῖναι τοῖς ματαίοις, τουτέστι τοῖς εἰδώ λοις, τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ προσηγορίαν· τινὲς δὲ τὸ ὀμωμοκότα ψεύσασθαι. ἐγὼ δὲ οἶμαι, τὸν θεῖον παρακελεύεσθαι νόμον, δίχα διδασκαλίας, ἢ προ 131 σευχῆς, ἢ ἀναγκαίας τινὸς χρείας, τὴν θείαν μὴ προφέρειν προσηγορίαν. καὶ γὰρ εἰώθασί τινες, καὶ παίζοντες, καὶ γελῶντες, προφέρειν ὡς ἔτυχε διὰ τῆς γλώττης τὸ σεβάσμιον ὄνομα. τοῦτο οἶμαι τὸν θεῖον νόμον ἀπα γορεύειν. εἰ γὰρ τὴν πολυτελεστέραν ἐσθῆτα ταῖς ἑορταῖς φυλάττειν εἰώθασιν οἱ πολλοί, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸ θεῖον ὄνομα προσευχαῖς καὶ διδασ καλίαις ἀφιεροῦν δίκαιον. XLII ∆ιὰ τί τὸ σάββατον τῇ ἀργίᾳ τετίμηκεν; Φιλανθρωπίαν τὸν λαὸν ἐξεπαίδευσεν. ἐπήγαγε γὰρ " ἵνα ἀνα παύσηται ὁ παῖς σου, καὶ ἡ παιδίσκη σου, ὁ βοῦς σου καὶ τὸ ὑποζύγιόν σου καὶ πᾶν κτῆ νός σου καὶ ὁ προσήλυτος ὁ παροικῶν ἐν σοί ". XLIII Καὶ διὰ τί μὴ ἐν ἄλλῃ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦτο γενέσθαι προσέταξεν; Τοῦτο ἄν τις εἶπε καὶ περὶ ἄλλης ἡμέρας, τί δήποτε ταύτην ἐξελέξατο, καὶ οὐχ ἑτέραν. εἶχε δὲ ὅμως αὕτη λόγον τινὰ πεῖσαι δυνάμενον τὴν ἰου δαίων ὠμότητα, τῷ τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν ἐν ἓξ ἡμέραις τὰ πάντα δημιουρ γῆσαι, ἐν δὲ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ μηδὲν μὲν ποιῆσαι, εὐλογίᾳ δὲ ταύτην τιμῆσαι. τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἐπήγαγεν ὅτι " ἐν ἓξ ἡμέραις ἐποίησε Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς· καὶ κατέπαυσε τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ ἡγίασεν αὐτήν ". 132 XLIV Τί ἐστιν· " ἐὰν δὲ θυσιαστήριον ἐκ λίθων ποιῇς μοι, οὐκ οἰκοδομήσεις αὐτοὺς τμητούς· τὸ γὰρ ἐγ χειρίδιόν σου ἐπιβέβληκας ἐπ' αὐτὸ καὶ με μίανται "; Ὅτι σιδήρῳ ἐχρῶντο, καὶ οἱ τὰ ξύλα τῆς σκηνῆς τεκτηνάμενοι, καὶ οἱ τὸν χρυσὸν καὶ τὸν ἄργυρον καὶ τὸν χαλκὸν ἐργασάμενοι, οὐδένα ἀντερεῖν οἶμαι. ὅτι δὲ καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς ταῖς μαχαίραις ἱέρευον τὰς θυσίας καὶ ἀπέδερον καὶ ἔτεμνον, ἀναμφίλεκτον εἶναι οἶμαι καὶ τοῦτο. ζητητέον τοίνυν, πῶς ταῦτα μὲν ὁ σίδηρος οὐκ ἐμίαινε, τοὺς δὲ τμητοὺς ἐμίαινε λίθους. τοιγάρ τοι δῆλόν ἐστιν ὡς ἄλλα δι' ἄλλων κατασκευάζει. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τεσσαράκοντα διετέλεσαν ἔτη, συνεχῶς ἀπαίροντες, καὶ τοὺς τόπους ἀμείβοντες, ἀπαγορεύει ἐκ λίθων εἰργασμένων οἰκοδομεῖσθαι θυσιαστήρια, ἵνα μὴ τούτων τὴν γῆν τὴν ἐπηγγελμένην ἀπειληφότων, ἐν τοῖς θυσιασ τηρίοις τούτοις, οἱ πλησιόχωροι τὰς τῶν δαιμόνων θυσίας ἐπιτελέσωσι. διὰ τοῦτο προσέταξεν, ἢ ἐκ γῆς, ἢ ἐξ αὐτοφυῶν λίθων ταῦτα κατασκευά ζεσθαι· ἐπειδήπερ ἑκάτερον εὐδιάλυτον. ὅτι δὲ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ναοῦ κατασ κευὴν οὐκ ἐξῆν ἐν ἑτέρῳ θύειν, αὐτὸς ὁ νόμος διδάσκει. εἰ δὲ θύειν ἔξω τοῦ ναοῦ ὁ νόμος ἀπεῖργε, καὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον οἰκοδομεῖν ὡσαύτως ἐκώλυ σεν· αὐτίκα γοῦν εἰς ἔλεγχον τῶν ἀσεβούντων, Ἠλίας ὁ πάνυ προσε νεγκεῖν ἐν τῷ Καρμήλῳ θυσίαν ἀναγκασθείς, ἰσαρίθμους τῶν φυλῶν αὐ τοφυεῖς συνέθηκε λίθους, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων τὴν θυσίαν προσήνεγκεν, ὥστε τὴν οἰκοδομίαν εὐθὺς διαλυθῆναι, καὶ μηδένα ἕτερον ἐν ἐκείνῳ