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signify the twelve tribes descended from one forefather, Abraham; for this is what is shown by the one emerald stone on both his shoulders being made into two. He ordered it on the shoulders of the priest so that the weight of the twelve tribes would be upon him, bearing it and approaching God on their behalf. And the breastpiece upon his chest, being double, signifies soul and body, for this reason it is both double and placed upon the heart. 5.49 The twelve different stones, since each of the men had different opinions, and they were different tribes; there, on the shoulders, as from one forefather, he commanded one emerald stone; but here, since both the tribes and the opinions were different, he commands different stones to be placed on the chest. And on the forehead, the plate of sanctification, a seal of the Lord, he says letters were engraved, in which was written God, which they say in Hebrew is the tetragrammaton. The rest, then, were for seemliness, but the golden bells and the pomegranates, so that they might make a sound; and he was taught through the symbol not to dare to enter the Holy Places before he made his voice heard. For just as someone about to enter the presence of great men, if he does not find one to announce him, begins to knock, not daring to enter just any way, so also here he is commanded to walk by means of the little bells and produce a sound. And these things we have written down concerning the tent and the priest. The Text 5.50 There was a cloud by day upon it and fire by night, before all Israel, in all their departures, as it is written. And caravans of merchants, especially of Ishmaelites and Midianites, continually came to them, so that all things were supplied to them abundantly, God providing for their needs, as it is written in Deuteronomy thus: "Know how you passed through that great and terrible wilderness; behold, for forty years the Lord God was with you, you lacked not a thing." And again he says the same things in another way: "Your garments did not wear out from you, your feet were not calloused for forty years. And you will know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord God will discipline you," and again similarly: "He led you forty years in the wilderness; your garments did not grow old and your sandals did not wear out from your feet." 5.51 For it is not, as some story-tellers, especially those of the mutilation, supposed, that their garments and sandals did not grow old at all just as they were because Moses said so, but that, he says, they lacked nothing in the wilderness, as merchants continually brought them supplies. For if it were according to them, how was it possible for the children born in the wilderness to use their fathers' garments and sandals, which were for adults, while they themselves were very small? And how was it possible for them, having been commanded to make fresh showbread daily and place it on the table, to make it, if merchants were not bringing them grain? 5.52 Or from where did they get fine flour to make the wafers, or skins dyed blue and purple for the coverings of the tent, if they did not buy them from the merchants? For this reason, because the merchants supplied them by the providence of God, and they grumbled against God and against Moses, and they also had the wealth of the Egyptians, he then performed wonders for them as ungrateful and faithless people, at one time abundant water from a rock, at another time manna from heaven, at another time providing a flock of quail from the sea for thirty days; again, chastening them, he disciplined them with plagues, at one time consuming a part of the camp with fire, at another time destroying twenty-four thousand by death, at another time by means of serpents, and at another time, in the case of Dathan and Abiram and Korah, the earth, with divinely-sent wrath, swallowed them alive with their households and cattle, teaching them not to be faithless nor ungrateful to God, but to live soberly. 5.53 And having received the law in writing from God and being newly taught letters, and God using the wilderness as a quiet school, he allowed them forty years to carve out the letters. Whence it is possible to see in that wilderness, I mean of Mount Sinai, in

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σημαίνουσι τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς ἐξ ἑνὸς προπάτορος τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καταγομένας· τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὸ εἶναι ἕνα λίθον σμαράγδου τὸν ἐπ' ἀμφοτέρων τῶν ὤμων αὐτοῦ εἰς δύο γεγονότα. Ἐπ' ὤμων δὲ τοῦ ἱερέως προσέταξεν, ἵνα ᾖ τὸ βάρος τῶν δώδεκα φυλῶν ἐπ' αὐτόν, βαστάζοντα καὶ προσερχόμενον περὶ αὐτῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Τὸ δὲ λογεῖον τὸ ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους, τὸ διπλοῦν, ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα σημαίνει, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ διπλοῦν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς καρδίας τιθέμενον. 5.49 Οἱ δὲ δώδεκα διάφοροι λίθοι, ἐπειδήπερ διαφόρους γνώμας εἶχον, ἕκαστος τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ διάφοροι φυλαὶ ἦσαν· ἐκεῖ μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων, ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς προπάτορος, σμάραγδον ἕνα λίθον ἐκέλευσεν· ἐνταῦθα δέ, ἐπειδὴ καὶ αἱ φυλαὶ καὶ αἱ γνῶμαι διάφοροι, διαφόρους λίθους καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους κελεύει τεθῆναι. Ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ μετώπου τὸ πέταλον ἁγιάσματος σφραγῖδος Κυρίου γράμματα λέγει ἐντετυπωμένα, ἐν οἷς ἐγέγραπτο Θεός, ὅ φασι δι' ἑβραϊκῶν τὸ τετράγραμμον. Λοιπὸν τὰ ἄλλα δι' εὐπρέπειαν, οἱ δὲ κώδωνες οἱ χρυσοῖ καὶ οἱ ῥοΐσκοι, ἵνα ἐκτελῶσιν ἦχον· ἐδιδάσκετο δὲ διὰ τοῦ συμβόλου μὴ κατατολμᾶν εἰσιέναι εἰς τὰ Ἅγια, πρὶν ἢ ἐξακουστὸν ποιήσῃ τὴν φωνήν. Ὥσπερ γάρ τις παρὰ ἀνθρώποις μεγάλοις εἰσιέναι μέλλων, ἐὰν μὴ εὕρῃ τὸν μηνύοντα, ἄρχεται κρούειν, μὴ τολμῶν ὡς ἔτυχεν εἰσελθεῖν, οὕτως κἀνταῦθα προστάττεται διὰ τῶν κωδωνίων βαδίζειν καὶ κτύπον ἀποτελεῖν. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῆς σκηνῆς καὶ τοῦ ἱερέως κατεγράψαμεν. Τὸ κείμενον 5.50 Νεφέλη δὲ ἦν ἡμέρας ἐπ' αὐτὴν καὶ πῦρ τὴν νύκτα, ἐναντίον παντὸς Ἰσραήλ, ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἀναζυγαῖς αὐτῶν, καθὰ γέγραπται. Συνεχῶς δὲ βασταγαὶ ἐμπόρων, μάλιστα Ἰσμαηλιτῶν καὶ Μαδιανιτῶν, πρὸς αὐτοὺς συνήρχοντο, ὡς ἀφθόνως αὐτοῖς πάντα χορηγεῖσθαι, τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ κατ' αὐτοὺς προνοουμένου, καθὰ γέγραπται ἐν τῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ οὕτως· "∆ιάγνωθι πῶς διῆλθες τὴν ἔρημον τὴν μεγάλην, τὴν φοβερὰν ἐκείνην· ἰδοὺ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς μετὰ σοῦ, οὐκ ἐπεδεήθης ῥήματος." Καὶ πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ ἑτέρως λέγει· "Τὰ ἱμάτιά σου οὐ κατετρίβη ἀπὸ σοῦ, οἱ πόδες σου οὐκ ἐτυλώθησαν τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη. Καὶ γνώσῃ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου ὅτι ὡς εἴ τις ἄνθρωπος παιδεύσῃ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, οὕτω Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς παιδεύσει σε", καὶ πάλιν ὁμοίως· "Ἤγαγεν ὑμᾶς τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· οὐκ ἐπαλαιώθη τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ ὑποδήματα ὑμῶν οὐ κατετρίβη ἀπὸ τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν." 5.51 Οὐ γάρ, ὥς τινες τερατολόγοι, μάλιστα οἱ τῆς κατατομῆς, ὑπενόησαν, μὴ παλαιωθῆναι ὅλως αὐτόχρημα τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ὑποδήματα τῷ οὕτως εἰπεῖν τὸν Μωϋσέα, ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς, φησίν, ἔλειψεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, τῶν ἐμπόρων συνεχῶς τὰ ἐπιτήδεια προσκομιζόντων. Ἦ γὰρ ἂν κατ' αὐτοὺς τὰ γεννώμενα ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ παιδία πῶς ἐνῆν τοῖς πατρικοῖς ἱματίοις καὶ ὑποδήμασιν χρῆσθαι, τελείων ὄντων, αὐτῶν δὲ σμικροτάτων; Πῶς δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως καθ' ἡμέραν νεαροὺς κεκελευσμένοι ποιεῖν καὶ τιθέναι ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης ἐνῆν αὐτοὺς ποιεῖν, μὴ τῶν ἐμπόρων αὐτοῖς κομιζόντων τὸν σῖτον; 5.52 Ἢ πόθεν αὐτοῖς σεμίδαλις, ἵνα τὰ λάγανα ποιῶσιν, ἢ λαγχηρὰ δέρματα καὶ κυανὰ εἰς τὰς διφθέρας τῆς σκηνῆς, εἰ μὴ ἐκ τῶν ἐμπόρων ἠγόραζον; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ὅτι ἐχορήγουν οἱ ἔμποροι προνοίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐγόγγυζον κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Μωϋσέως, εἶχον δὲ καὶ τὸν πλοῦτον τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, ὡς ἀχαρίστοις λοιπὸν καὶ ἀπίστοις παράδοξα ἐποίει, ποτὲ μὲν ὕδωρ ἄφθονον ἐκ πέτρας, ποτὲ δὲ μάννα ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ποτὲ δὲ ὀρτυγομήτραν ἐκ θαλάττης ἐπὶ τριάκοντα ἡμέρας χορηγήσας· αὖθις σωφρονίζων ἐπαίδευε πληγαῖς, ποτὲ μὲν πυρὶ καταναλίσκων μέρος τῆς παρεμβολῆς, ποτὲ δὲ θανάτῳ θραύων εἴκοσι τέσσαρας χιλιάδας, ποτὲ δὲ διὰ ὄφεων, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ τοὺς περὶ ∆αθὰν καὶ Ἀβειρὼν καὶ Κορὲ θεηλάτῳ ὀργῇ ἡ γῆ ζῶντας πανοικὶ καὶ κτήνεσι κατέπιεν, διδάσκων μὴ ἀπιστεῖν μήτε ἀχαριστεῖν Θεῷ, ἀλλὰ σωφρόνως ζῆν. 5.53 Λαβόντες δὲ καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ τὸν νόμον ἐγγράφως καὶ διδασκόμενοι γράμματα νεωστί, καὶ ὥσπερ παιδευτηρίῳ ἡσύχῳ τῇ ἐρήμῳ χρησάμενος ὁ Θεὸς τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη εἴασεν αὐτοὺς καταλαξεῦσαι τὰ γράμματα. Ὅθεν ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἐρήμῳ, λέγω δὴ τοῦ Σιναΐου ὄρους, ἐν