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me to wipe them out, and I will make you into a great and strong nation." But he, having prayed, appeased God, and having come down he burned the calf with fire, and ground it into fine powder and scattered it upon the water, and made the sons of Israel drink it. And having propitiated God with a civil war, fasting again for another forty days, he goes up to the mountain and receives the second tablets. Then he also saw the glory of the Lord, sitting by the cleft of the rock, and his face was glorified. But one must understand the "back parts" of God as the divine economies and energies, the rock as the firm and unshakable nature of faith, and the cleft of the rock as the eye of faith (for because of this those like Moses see the unattainable and unseen things), and the veil as unbelief; for whenever a person believes in the Lord, the veil is taken away, as the apostle says. Then he also builds the ark through Bezalel, son of Maria the sister of Moses, and of Hur who was with both him and Aaron, when they held up the hands of Moses against Amalek. And the works of the tabernacle were completed in seven months, and on the 1.140 first day of the first month of the second year of the exodus it was erected; which also the scripture testifies in the third of Leviticus. And in the second month the numbering of the people took place, and there were found from twenty years old and upward, as the fourth book of Numbers says, sixty myriads and #22γφνʹ, apart from the Levites; and the Levites, having been numbered, were found to be 22,000. In the fortieth year of the exodus Aaron died, 123 years old, and Moses appoints Eleazar the son of Aaron. And Moses in the 11th month of the 40th year of the exodus, and in the one hundred and twentieth year of his life, having blessed all the people, having gone up to Mount Naban, that is, Ambreim, situated in Moabitis beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho, and having viewed the land promised to Israel, died, and no one has seen his tomb, and his eyes were not dimmed, nor had his lips perished. And the devil tempted him as one who had sinned against God, to drag him away with the sinners. But he was driven back by an archangelic hand as rash and audacious and an enemy of the friends of God. And there came a cloud and darkness over the place, so that no one saw where Moses was buried, as Josephus relates. It should be known that the most blessed Moses, in the Holy Spirit, composed the five books of the archeology in the Hebrew language; which afterwards, like the rest, was translated into the Greek dialect, 1.141 being interpreted by the seventy under Ptolemy Philadelphus. And Genesis contains from the top, from the beginning, the creation of the world and the fashioning of man, the flood, the destruction of the Sodomites, the life and death from beginning to end of the fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the oracles, and the reign of Joseph in Egypt. Exodus contains the affliction of Israel, and the crossing of the Red Sea through Moses, and the sojourn in the desert, and how, while receiving the law, he tested God, and the construction of the tabernacle. Leviticus, the varied tradition of the sacrifices and the ordering of the priests. Numbers contains the twofold visitation or census of the sons of Israel, the first taking place under Moses and Aaron immediately after the exodus on Mount Sinai, and the second under Moses and Eleazar, after the utter destruction in forty years of the first ones because of their unbelief, taking place in Araboth of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho. Deuteronomy contains all the mighty works of God from the beginning until the death of Moses that were done for them, and indeed also the entire second song, and the leaders of the tribes who were also to inherit by lot the land of promise. And when Israel had crossed the Jordan, Joshua circumcised all the people with stone knives; for during the forty years in the desert no one
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με ἐκτρῖψαι αὐτούς, καὶ ποιήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ ἰσχυρόν." αὐτὸς δὲ δεηθεὶς ἐξιλάσατο τὸν θεόν, καὶ κατελθὼν τὸν μὲν μόσχον κατέκαυσε πυρί, καὶ κατήλεσεν αὐτὸν λεπτὰ καὶ ἔσπειρεν ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος, καὶ ἐπότισε τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραήλ. καὶ ἐμφυλίῳ πολέμῳ τὸν θεὸν ἱλεωσάμενος, πάλιν ἑτέρας τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέ ρας νηστεύσας, ἄνεισιν εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ τὰς δευτέρας πλάκας λαμ βάνει. τότε εἶδε καὶ τὴν δόξαν κυρίου παρὰ τῇ ὀπῇ τῆς πέτρας καθίσας, καὶ ἐδοξάσθη τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ. ὀπίσθια δὲ θεοῦ χρὴ νοεῖν τὰς θείας οἰκονομίας καὶ ἐνεργείας, πέτραν δὲ τῆς πί στεως τὸ στερρὸν καὶ ἀκράδαντον, ὀπὴν δὲ τῆς πέτρας τὸν τῆς πίστεως ὀφθαλμόν (διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ οἱ κατὰ Μωϋσέα θεωροῦσι τὰ ἀνέφικτα καὶ ἀθέατα), κάλυμμα δὲ τὴν ἀπιστίαν· ἡνίκα γὰρ ἄν θρωπος πιστεύσῃ πρὸς κύριον, περιαιρεῖται τὸ κάλυμμα, ὥς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος. τότε κατασκευάζει καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν διὰ Βεζελεὴλ υἱοῦ Μαρίας τῆς ἀδελφῆς Μωϋσέως, καὶ Ὢρ τοῦ συνόν τος καὶ Ἀαρών, ὅτε τὰς χεῖρας ἀνεῖχον Μωϋσέως κατὰ τοῦ Ἀμαλήκ. ἐτελειώθη δὲ τὰ ἔργα τῆς σκηνῆς ἐν ἑπτὰ μησί, καὶ τῇ 1.140 πρώτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ πρώτου μηνὸς τοῦ δευτέρου ἔτους τῆς ἐξόδου ἔστη· ὅπερ καὶ ἡ γραφὴ μαρτυρεῖ ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν Λευιτικῶν. τῷ δὲ δευτέρῳ μηνὶ ἐγένετο ἡ ἐξαρίθμησις τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ εὑρέθη ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω, καθὼς ἡ τετάρτη βίβλος τῶν ἀριθ μῶν λέγει, μυριάδες ἑξήκοντα καὶ #22γφνʹ, χωρὶς τῶν Λευιτῶν· οἱ δὲ Λευῖται ἀριθμηθέντες εὑρέθησαν χιλιάδες κβʹ. τῷ τεσσαρα κοστῷ ἔτει τῆς ἐξόδου Ἀαρὼν ἐτελεύτησεν ρκγʹ ἐτῶν, καὶ Μωϋ σῆς προχειρίζεται Ἐλεάζαρ τὸν υἱὸν Ἀαρών. Μωϋσῆς δὲ τῷ ιαʹ μηνὶ τοῦ μʹ ἔτους τῆς ἐξόδου, ἑκατοστῷ δὲ εἰκοστῷ ἔτει τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ, εὐλογήσας πάντα τὸν λαόν, ἀναβὰς εἰς τὸ ὄρος Ναβὰν ἤτοι Ἀμβρείμ, κείμενον ἐν τῇ Μωαβίτιδι πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου κατὰ πρόσωπον Ἱεριχώ, καὶ κατοπτεύσας τὴν γῆν τὴν ἐπηγγελμέ νην αὐτῷ τῷ Ἰσραήλ, ἐτελεύτησε, καὶ οὐκ εἶδεν οὐδεὶς τὸν τάφον αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἠμαυρώθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ ἐφθά ρησαν τὰ χείλη αὐτοῦ. ἐπείραζε δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος ὡς ἡμαρ τηκότα τῷ θεῷ συνελκύσαι μετὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν. ἀλλ' ἀρχαγ γελικῇ διεκρούσθη χειρὶ ὡς προπετὴς καὶ θρασὺς καὶ τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ φίλων δυσμενής. ἐγένετο δὲ νεφέλη καὶ σκότος κατὰ τὸν τόπον, ὡς μὴ ἰδεῖν τινὰ ποῦ ἐτάφη Μωϋσῆς, καθὼς Ἰώσηπος ἱστορεῖ. Ἰστέον ὅτι τὰ πέντε βιβλία τῆς ἀρχαιολογίας ὁ μακαριώ τατος ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι Μωϋσῆς ἀνετάξατο κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραΐδα γλῶσσαν· ἥτις μετὰ ταῦτα, ὡς καὶ αἱ λοιπαί, εἰς Ἑλληνικὴν μετ 1.141 εβλήθη διάλεκτον ὑπὸ τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἑρμηνευθεῖσα ἐπὶ Πτο λεμαίου τοῦ Φιλαδέλφου. καὶ ἡ μὲν Γένεσις ἄνωθεν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς τὴν κοσμογένειαν τήν τε τοῦ ἀνθρώπου πλάσιν, τὸν κατακλυσμόν, τὴν τῶν Σοδομιτῶν ἀπώλειαν, τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς μέχρι τέλους τῶν πατέρων Ἀβραὰμ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ βίωσιν καὶ τελείωσιν, τοὺςχρηματισμοὺς καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ βασιλείαν περιέχει. ἡ δὲ Ἔξοδος τὴν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ περιέχει κάκωσιν, καὶ τὴν διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρυθρᾶς διάβασιν, καὶ τὴν ἐν ἐρήμῳ διατρι βήν, καὶ ὅσα νομοθετούμενος ἐπείρασε τὸν θεόν, καὶ τὴν τῆς σκηνῆς κατασκευήν. τὸ Λευιτικὸν τὴν τῶν θυσιῶν ποικίλην πα ράδοσιν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἱερέων διακόσμησιν. οἱ Ἀριθμοὶ τὴν διτ τὴν ἐπίσκεψιν εἴτ' οὖν ἀπαρίθμησιν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ περιέχει, τὴν μὲν πρώτην ἐπὶ Μωϋσέως καὶ Ἀαρὼν μετὰ τὴν ἔξοδον εὐθὺς ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σινᾷ γενομένην, τὴν δὲ δευτέραν ἐπὶ Μωυσέως καὶ Ἐλεάζαρ, μετὰ τὴν ἐν τεσσαράκοντα ἔτεσιν πανωλεθρίαν τῶν πρώτων διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν αὐτῶν, γενομένην ἐν Ἀραβαὼθ Μωὰβ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου κατὰ τὴν Ἱεριχώ. τὸ δὲ ∆ευτερονόμιον πάσας τὰς ἐξ ἀρχῆς μεγαλουργίας. τοῦ θεοῦ μέχρι καὶ τῆς τοῦ Μωϋσέως τελευτῆς γενομένας εἰς αὐτοὺς περιέχει, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὴν δευτέ ραν ᾠδὴν πᾶσαν, καὶ τοὺς φυλάρχους οἳ καὶ ἔμελλον κατακληρο νομεῖν τὴν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας γῆν. ∆ιελθόντος δὲ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ τὸν Ἰορδάνην, περιέτεμεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς πάντα τὸν λαὸν μαχαίραις πετρίναις· τὰ γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη οὐδεὶς