58

the pursuers, she went up to them on the roof, and said to them: Go to the 95.1228 mountainous region, lest the pursuers meet you, and you shall hide there for three days until the pursuers turn back. The Lord said to Samuel: Fill your horn with oil, and come, I will send you to Bethlehem to Jesse, for I have seen among his sons one for me to be king. And Samuel said, How shall I go? Saul will hear of it and will kill me. And the Lord said: Take a heifer from the herd in your hand, and you shall say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. And you shall call Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice, and you shall anoint whomever I tell you. And Samuel did what the Lord spoke to him. Scholion. From this we are taught that in some cases it is necessary to manage affairs prudently, and to use the weight and the magnitude of authority. For God, who rules all things by a word, and who was able to utterly destroy Saul and reduce him to non-existence, instructed Samuel to deflect his inquiry by a certain method. Michal let David down through the window, and he fled, and was saved. And Michal took the teraphim, and placed it on the bed, and a liver of goats, and a round pillow of hair, and placed it at its head, and covered them with a garment; and Saul sent messengers to take David; and Michal said that he was sick. Not only in wars, but also in peace one might find the use of deception to be great and necessary, and not only in the affairs of the city, but also in the home, by a husband toward his wife, and by a wife toward her husband, and by a father toward his son, and by a friend toward a friend, and indeed also by children toward a father. For Saul's daughter was not able to rescue her husband from the hands of Saul in any other way than by deceiving her father. And her brother, wanting to save the one saved by her. when he was in danger again, used the same weapons which the woman also used. For great is the power of deception, only let it not be brought forth with a deceitful purpose. Everything pleasant is an easy path to deception. Not every deceit is culpable; since night-watchmen with robbers, and generals with enemies, whom it is not possible to capture without deceit, seem to succeed by lying in ambush, and the so-called stratagems have such a reason, and so do the contests of athletes. For even among these, deception is considered a special skill.

TITLE 28. -Concerning one who brings a message, and mediates a response; (six) and that he who scorns the one sent, despises the one who sent him

Just as a snowfall in harvest time during a heatwave is beneficial, so is a faithful messenger to the one who sent him.

For he benefits the souls of those who use him. He who sends a message by a foolish messenger brings reproach upon himself from his own ways. 95.1229 He who receives you, receives me; and he who receives me, receives him who sent me. What ambassadors endure, is referred back to those who sent them.

TITLE 29. Concerning the ungrateful and unthankful.

In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, of the royal seed, came, and ten men with him, and they struck Gedaliah, and he died; and the Jews, and the Chaldeans, who were with him in Mizpah. Schol. This one, having received a promise of safety, killed the one who had given it. The Spirit of the Lord clothed Azariah the priest, the son of Jehoiada, and he stood above the people, and said: Thus says the Lord: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord? And you will not prosper, because you have forsaken the Lord. And they stoned him by the command of Joash the king in the court of the house of the Lord. And Joash did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And as he was dying, he said: May the Lord see, and judge. And it came to pass after a year, the army of Syria came up against him, and against Jerusalem, and

58

οἱ διώκοντες, αὕτη ἀνέβη πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Εἰς τὴν 95.1228 ὀρεινὴν ἀπέλθατε, μὴ συναντήσωσιν οἱ καταδιώκοντες ὑμᾶς, καὶ κρυβήσεσθε ἐκεῖ τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἕως ἂν ἀναστρέψωσιν οἱ καταδιώκοντες. Εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Σαμουήλ· Πλῆσον τὸ κέρας σου ἐλαίου, καὶ δεῦρο ἀποστείλω σε εἰς Βηθλεὲμ πρὸς Ἰεσσαὶ, ὅτι ἑώρακα ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ ἐμοὶ εἰς βασιλέα. Καὶ εἶπε Σαμουὴλ, Πῶς πορευθῶ; καὶ ἀκούσεται Σαοὺλ, καὶ ἀποκτενεῖ με. Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος· ∆άμαλιν βοῶν λάβε ἐν τῇ χειρί σου, καὶ ἐρεῖς, Θῦσαι τῷ Κυρίῳ ἥκω. Καὶ καλέσεις τὸν Ἰεσσαὶ καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν θυσίαν, καὶ χρίσεις ὃν ἂν εἴπω σοι. Καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Σαμουὴλ, ὅσα ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ Κύριος. Σχόλιον. Ἐντεῦθεν διδασκόμεθα ἐν ἐνίοις οἰκονομεῖν χρείαν εἶναι τὰ πράγματα, καὶ τῷ ὄγκῳ, καὶ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς ἐξουσίας κεχρῆσθαι. Ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς, ὁ λόγῳ πάντων κρατῶν, καὶ δυνάμενος τὸν Σαοὺλ ἄρδην ἀφανίσαι, καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀνύπαρκτον καταστῆσαι, ἐνέτρεψε τῷ Σαμουὴλ μεθόδῳ τινὶ ἀποκρούσασθαι τὴν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γενομένην πεῦσιν. Κατάγει Μελχὼλ τὸν ∆αβὶδ διὰ τῆς θυρίδος, καὶ ἔφυγεν, καὶ σώζεται. Καὶ ἔλαβε Μελχὼλ τὰ κενοτάφια, καὶ ἔθηκεν ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην, καὶ ἧπαρ αἰγῶν, καὶ στρογγύλωμα τριχῶν, καὶ ἔθηκε πρὸς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκάλυψεν αὐτὰ ἱματίῳ· καὶ ἀπέστειλε Σαοὺλ ἀγγέλους λαβεῖν τὸν ∆αβίδ· καὶ εἶπε Μελχὼλ ἐνοχλεῖσθαι αὐτόν. Οὐκ ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν εἰρήνῃ πολλὴν καὶ ἀναγκαίαν εὕροι τις τῆς ἀπάτης τὴν χρείαν, καὶ οὐ πρὸς τὰ τῆς πόλεως πράγματα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν οἰκίᾳ, πρὸς γυναῖκα τῷ ἀνδρὶ, καὶ πρὸς ἄνδρα γυναικὶ, καὶ πατρὶ πρὸς υἱὸν, καὶ πρὸς φίλον φίλῳ, ἤδη δὲ καὶ πρὸς πατέρα παισί. Καὶ γὰρ τῶν τοῦ Σαοὺλ χειρῶν, ἡ τοῦ Σαοὺλ θυγάτηρ οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ἑτέρως ἐξελέσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα, ἀλλ' ἢ μετὰ τὸ παραλογίσασθαι τὸν πατέρα. Καὶ ὁ ταύτης δὲ ἀδελφὸς, τὸν ὑπ' ἐκείνης διασωθέντα σῶσαι βουλόμενος. κινδυνεύοντα πάλιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὅπλοις ἐχρήσατο, οἷσπερ καὶ ἡ γυνή. Πολὺ γὰρ ἡ τῆς ἀπάτης ἰσχὺς, μόνον μὴ μετὰ δολερᾶς προσαγέσθω τῆς προαιρέσεως. Εὔκολον πρὸς ἀπάτην τὸ πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἅπαν. Οὐ πᾶς δόλος ὑπαίτιός ἐστιν· ἐπεὶ καὶ λῃστὰς νυκτοφύλακες, καὶ πολεμίους στρατηγοὶ, οὓς ἀδόλως συλλαβεῖν οὐκ ἔστιν, ἐνεδρεύοντες κατορθοῦν δοκοῦσι, καὶ τὰ λεγόμενα στρατηγήματα τοιοῦτον ἔχει λόγον, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀθλητῶν ἀγωνίσματα. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτων ἡ ἀπάτη νενόμισται ἴδιον.

ΤΙΤΛ. ΚΗʹ. -Περὶ ἀγγέλλοντος, καὶ μεσάζοντος ἀπόκρισιν· (σιξ) καὶ ὅτι ὁ τὸν

σταλέντα ἐξουθενῶν, τοῦ πέμψαντος περιφρονεῖ Ὥσπερ ἔξοδος χιόνος ἐν ἀμητῷ κατὰ καῦμα ὠφελεῖ, οὕτως ἄγγελος πιστὸς ἀποστείλαντα αὐτόν.

Ψυχὰς γὰρ τῶν αὐτῶν χρωμένων ὠφελεῖ. Ἐκ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ὁδῶν ὄνειδος περιποιεῖται ὁ ἀποστέλλων δι' ἀγγέλου ἄφρονος λόγον. 95.1229 Ὁ δεχόμενος ὑμᾶς, ἐμὲ δέχεται· καὶ ὁ ἐμὲ δεχόμενος, δέχεται τὸν ἀποστείλαντά με. Ἃ πρέσβεις ὑπομένουσι, ἐπὶ τοὺς πέμψαντας λαμβάνει τὴν ἀναφοράν.

ΤΙΤΛ. ΚΘʹ. Περὶ ἀγνωμονούντων καὶ ἀχαριστούντων.

Τῷ μηνὶ τῷ ἑβδόμῳ ἦλθεν Ἰσμαὴλ υἱὸς Ναθανίου ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος τῶν βασιλέων, καὶ δέκα ἄνδρες μετ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπάταξαν τὸν Γοδολίαν, καὶ ἀπέθανεν· καὶ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, καὶ τοὺς Χαλδαίους, οἳ ἦσαν μετ' αὐτοῦ εἰς Μασιφά. Σχόλ. Οὗτος λόγον λαβὼν ἀπαθείας, τὸν δεδωκότα ἀνεῖλε. Πνεῦμα Κυρίου ἐνέδυσε τὸν Ἀζαρίαν τὸν τοῦ Ἰωδαὲ τὸν ἱερέα, καὶ ἀνέστη ἐπάνω τοῦ λαοῦ, καὶ εἶπεν· Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· Τί παραπορεύεσθε τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Κυρίου; καὶ οὐκ εὐοδωθήσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγκατελίπετε τὸν Κύριον. Καὶ ἐλιθοβόλησαν δι' ἐντολῆς Ἰωὰς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν αὐλῇ οἴκου Κυρίου. Καὶ οὐκ ἐμνήσθη Ἰωὰς τοῦ ἐλέους, οὗ ἐποίησε μετ' αὐτοῦ Ἰωδαὲ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐθανάτωσε τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ὡς ἀπέθνησκεν, εἶπεν· Ἴδοι Κύριος, καὶ κρινάτω. Καὶ ἐγένετο μετὰ ἐνιαυτὸν, ἀνέβη ἐπ' αὐτὸν δύναμις Συρίας, καὶ ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ