56

At this time the Lord Christ also endured the saving passion. Therefore, it was very fitting that God, the Lord of all, commanded the tabernacle to be set up on the first day of the first month; both because it was a representation of the whole world; and in order to prepare for the feast of the Passover, which the law required the Jews to celebrate first. And then for the first time they were about to celebrate this feast in the desert. For it was the second year after the release from slavery.

153 QUAESTIONES IN LEVITICUM

I For what reason did God command sacrifices to be offered? We have spoken about these things in many places, both in the writings against the Greeks and in those against the heresies, and indeed also in those against the magi. In addition to these, also in the interpretations of the prophets, and in the commentaries on the apostles. Nevertheless, I will speak here in summary, that God is in need of nothing, I do not think even the excessively foolish would dispute. And that he does not accept such sacrifices, he taught through most of the prophets. But since the people, having spent a long time in Egypt, had been taught to sacrifice to demons, he permitted the sacrifices, in order to free them from superstition. For that they delighted in these things, the events concerning the calf bear witness; this he also made clear through Ezekiel the prophet: "For I saw you," he says, "polluted in your blood, and I said to you: In your blood is life, be fruitful." And he says that seeing you rejoicing in the blood of sacrifices, I permitted you to enjoy such a desire. In addition to this, he also prepared for them another remedy against evil by this means: for he commanded that the things deified by the Egyptians be sacrificed to him; 154 from the quadrupeds, the calf and the goat and the sheep; and from the birds, the turtledove and young pigeons. We are not unaware, then, that the Egyptians deified many other things as well, but he assigned the tamer of the deified things for the sacrifices; and the others he called unclean, so that, abominating some as unclean, they might not deify them, and sacrificing others, they might not suppose them to be gods; but might only worship him to whom these things are offered. And since some were well supplied with money, while others lived in poverty, to the former he commanded to offer a calf or a lamb or a goat; but to the latter, two turtledoves or two young pigeons; and to the very poorest, a little fine flour mixed with oil. For he legislates in proportion to their means, some of these he called gifts, as being offered not from legal necessity but from a God-loving disposition, and others sacrifices of salvation; and the name signifies deliverance from sickness or some other hardships. And sacred rites were offered for sin and for trespass and for ignorance. Sin signifies a voluntary transgression of some law; trespass, a transgression that has happened from some circumstance. For it happened that someone unintentionally approached either a leper or a corpse or a man with a discharge, and ignorance has a clear interpretation; for not everyone knew all the laws. For nature itself taught the sins of the soul. But these things, which were fitting for Jews alone, required teachers. And of these victims, some were completely burned; but of others, certain small parts, the fat covering the belly and the kidneys and the fat upon them and the lobe of the liver. And we have stated what these things signify. But the sacrifice offered for sin was offered without oil and frankincense. For those who sit in the darkness of sin do not have the nourishment of light; nor cheerfulness, those who ought to groan; for according to the prophet "oil makes the face cheerful"; 155 nor the sweet smell, those of wickedness <not> putting away the stench. But since "the law was a shadow of the good things to come," and not the very image of the things, according to the

56

κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν καιρὸν καὶ ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς τὸ σωτήριον ὑπέμεινε πάθος. μάλα τοίνυν εἰκότως τῇ μίᾳ τοῦ πρώτου μηνὸς στῆναι τὴν σκηνὴν ὁ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότης Θεὸς προσέταξε· καὶ ὅτι τοῦ κόσμου παντὸς ἐκτύ πωμα ἦν· καὶ ἵνα εὐτρεπίσῃ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Πάσχα ἑορτήν, ἣν πρώτην ἐπιτελεῖν νόμος ἦν ἰουδαίοις. τότε δὲ καὶ πρῶτον ταύτην ἔμελλον ἑορτά ζειν τὴν ἑορτὴν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. δεύτερον γὰρ ἦν ἔτος μετὰ τὴν τῆς δουλείας ἀπαλλαγήν.

153 QUAESTIONES IN LEVITICUM

I Τίνος ἕνεκα τὰς θυσίας προσφέρεσθαι προσέταξεν ὁ Θεός; Πολλαχοῦ μὲν ἡμῖν εἴρεται περὶ τούτων, κἀν τοῖς πρὸς ἕλληνας συγγε γραμμένοις κἀν τοῖς πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις, καὶ μέντοι κἀν τοῖς πρὸς τοὺς μά γους. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις κἀν ταῖς τῶν προφητῶν ἑρμηνείαις, καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἀποστόλων ὑπομνήμασιν. ἐρῶ δὲ ὅμως κἀνταῦθα ἐν κεφαλαίῳ, ὅτι μὲν ἀνενδεὴς ὁ Θεός, οὐκ οἶμαι οὐδὲ τοὺς ἄγαν ἀντερεῖν ἀνοήτους. ὅτι δὲ καὶ τὰς τοιαύτας οὐ προσίεται θυσίας, διὰ τῶν πλείστων ἐδίδαξε προφη τῶν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ χρόνον συχνὸν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διατετελεκὼς ὁ λαὸς θύειν δαίμοσιν ἐδιδάχθη, συνεχώρησε τὰς θυσίας, ἵνα τῆς δεισιδαιμονίας ἐλευ θερώσῃ. ὅτι γὰρ ταύταις ἔχαιρον, μαρτυρεῖ τὰ περὶ τὸν μόσχον γεγε νημένα· τοῦτο καὶ διὰ Ἰεζεκιὴλ τοῦ προφήτου δεδήλωκεν· " εἶδόν σε, γάρ φησι, πεφυρμένην ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου καὶ εἶπόν σοι· ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου ζωή, πληθύνου ". λέγει δὲ ὅτι θεασάμενός σε τῷ τῶν θυσίων αἵματι χαίρουσαν, συνεχώρησά σοι τῆς τοιαύτης ἀπολαύειν ἐπιθυμίας. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ ἕτερον αὐ τοῖς ἀλεξίκακον διὰ τούτου κατεσκεύασε φάρμακον· θύεσθαι γὰρ αὐτῷ 154 προσέταξε τὰ παρ' αἰγυπτίων θεοποιούμενα· ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν τετραπόδων, μόσχον καὶ τράγον καὶ πρόβατον· ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν πτηνῶν, τρυγόνα καὶ περιστερῶν νεοττούς. οὐκ ἀγνοοῦμεν οὖν, ὅτι καὶ ἄλλα πάμπολλα ἐθεο ποίουν αἰγύπτιοι, ἀλλὰ τῶν θεοποιουμένων τὰ ἡμερώτερα ταῖς θυσίαις ἀπένειμε· τὰ ἄλλα δὲ ἀκάθαρτα προσηγόρευσεν, ἵνα τὰ μὲν ὡς ἀκάθαρτα βδελυττόμενοι μὴ θεοποιήσωσι, τὰ δὲ ὡς θύοντες μὴ θεοὺς ὑπολάβωσιν· ἀλλὰ μόνον προσκυνῶσι τὸν ᾧ ταῦτα προσφέρεται. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οἱ μὲν ἦσαν ἐν εὐπορίᾳ χρημάτων, οἱ δὲ πενίᾳ συζῶντες τοῖς μὲν μόσχον προσ φέρειν ἢ ἀρνίον ἢ αἶγα προσέταξε· τοῖς δὲ δύο τρυγόνας ἢ δύο νεοττοὺς περιστερῶν· τοῖς δέ γε πενεστάτοις, σεμίδαλιν ὀλίγην ἀναμεμιγμένην ἐλαίῳ. σύμμετρα γὰρ τῇ δυνάμει νομοθετεῖ, τούτων τὰ μὲν δῶρα προση γόρευσεν, ὡς οὐκ ἐκ νομικῆς ἀνάγκης, ἀλλ' ἐκ φιλοθέου προσφερόμενα γνώμης, τὰς δὲ θυσίας σωτηρίου· δηλοῖ δὲ τοὔνομα ἀρρωστίας ἢ χαλεπῶν τινων ἑτέρων ἀπαλλαγήν. προσεφέροντο δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας καὶ πλημ μελείας καὶ ἀγνοίας ἱερουργίαι. δηλοῖ δὲ ἡ μὲν ἁμαρτία νόμου τινὸς παρά βασιν ἐθελούσιον· ἡ δὲ πλημμέλεια, τὴν ἐκ περιστάσεώς τινος γεγενη μένην παρανομίαν. συνέβαινε γάρ τινα παρὰ γνώμην ἢ λεπρῷ πελάσαι ἢ νεκρῷ ἢ γονορρύει, ἡ δὲ ἄγνοια σαφῆ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν ἔχει· οὐ γὰρ πάντες ἅπαντας τοὺς νόμους ἠπίσταντο. τὰ μὲν γὰρ τῆς ψυχῆς ἁμαρτήματα καὶ ἡ φύσις ἐδίδασκε. ταῦτα δέ γε, ἃ μόνοις ἥρμοττεν ἰουδαίοις, διδασκά λων ἐδεῖτο. καὶ τούτων δὲ τῶν θυμάτων τὰ μὲν ὁλοτελῆ κατεκαίετο· τῶν δὲ σμικρά τινα μόρια, ὁ τῆς κοιλίας ἐπίπλους καὶ οἱ νεφροὶ καὶ τὸ ἐπικεί μενον αὐτοῖς στέαρ καὶ τοῦ ἥπατος ὁ λοβός. εἴρηται δὲ ἡμῖν τίνων ταῦτα δηλωτικά. ἡ δὲ ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας προσφερομένη θυσία, δίχα ἐλαίου καὶ λιβανωτοῦ προσεφέρετο. οὐ γὰρ ἔχουσι τοῦ φωτὸς τὴν τροφὴν οἱ ἐν σκότει τῆς ἁμαρτίας καθήμενοι· οὐδὲ τὸ ἱλαρόν, οἱ στένειν ὀφείλοντες· κατὰ γὰρ τὸν προφήτην " τὸ πρόσωπον ἱλαρύνει τὸ ἔλαιον "· 155 οὐδὲ τὸ εὐῶδες, οἱ τῆς πονηρίας <μὴ> ἀφιέντες τὴν δυσοσμίαν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ " σκιὰν εἶχε τῶν μελλόντων " ὁ νόμος, καὶ οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν εἰκό να τῶν πραγμάτων, κατὰ τὸν