101

Of the Archangel (325) will stand, the saying: "And God will give to him the throne of David his father, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever?"

Response. This difficulty seems very much to have a clear and manifest explanation. If

for not all who are from Israel, these are Israel; nor because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but the children of the promise God reckons as seed. And, If the number of the sons of Israel be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved, it is clear that the faithful people, and through works of righteousness and true knowledge according to faith seeing God, is Israel; whether according to the flesh he bears his lineage from Israel, or belongs to the portion of the Gentiles. For he of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, bearing in himself the clear and undefiled character of faith, is not estranged from the calling and grace of the true Israel.

But also David himself, the blessed one, held the kingdom of the faithful in Israel; whence, as soon as Israel extinguished the light of his faith, he at once also departed from the kingdom of David. Therefore, the spiritual throne of David, and the intelligible kingdom of rational souls, and the faithful house of Jacob, and the holy great nation, over which, instead of the carnal and provoking Israel, God, speaking prophetically to Moses, would establish him; that is, he promised the one typically understood through him, saying: Let me alone, and I will blot out this nation at once, and I will make you into a great and terrible nation, or this; but not the faithless house of Jacob, and the provoking, and the sinful nation, and the wicked seed, and the lawless sons, and the rulers of Sodom, and the people of Gomorrah, and those who turned away with a wicked turning, and those who forsook the Lord, and who provoked the Holy One of Israel, and who did not know God, nor understand, and who were struck with an incurable plague of unbelief, receiving no method of rational healing that cures unbelief of the soul. For woe, he says, sinful nation, wicked seed, lawless sons; you have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel; why should you be smitten any more, adding lawlessness? There is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor bandages. Not those who limped on both hams, and who have turned away from the truth, and have been cast out of the divine inheritance like Cain and Ishmael and Esau and Reuben and Er and Onan and Manasseh and Eliab and Amnon, the firstborn of the patriarchs and prophets who were cast out and rejected. For he says: My firstborn son is Israel; for not only-begotten; since the introduction to adoption of a divine (328) and pious people was hoped for, being created according to God, and being brought to the adoption that is in grace, through the casting out of the firstborn and unbelieving people of Israel (Fr. of unbelieving Israel) who rose up against the intelligible Abel through envy, and killed him like Cain, and mocked the divine manner of the intelligible Isaac like Ishmael; and raged against the intelligible Jacob, as Esau; and poured out the seed of faith, and of the righteousness according to it, upon the earth of error and passions, like Er and Amnon; and denied the Church of God, as they denied Tamar; and made forgetfulness of virtues his own, like Manasseh; and who, out of pride, was evilly disposed towards the intelligible David who received the kingdom, and for this reason was despised like Eliab, and became the creator of a strange lawlessness like Amnon. Not these alien sons, and those who limped from their paths; those breathing (alt. full of) madness and murder, those who are truly carnal, sons according to the flesh only, those who are strangers to grace, whose God is their belly, and their

101

Ἀρχαγγέλου (325) σταθήσεται, τό· "Καί δώσει αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός τόν θρόνον ∆αβίδ τοῦ πατρός αὐτοῦ, καί βασιλεύσει ἐπί τόν οἶκον Ἰακώβ εἰς αἰῶνας;"

Ἀπόκρισις. Τοῦτο πάνυ φαίνεται τό ἄπορον, δήλην ἔχον καί φανεράν τήν διασάφησιν. Εἰ

γάρ οὐ πάντες οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραήλ, οὗτοι Ἰσραήλ· οὐδ᾿ ὅτι εἰσί σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ, πάντα τέκνα· ἀλλά τέκνα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας λογίζεται ὁ Θεός εἰς σπέρμα. Καί, Ἐάν ᾖ ὁ ἀριθμός τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ ὡς τά ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καί ὡς ἡ ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης, τό κατάλειμμα σωθήσεται, δῆλον ὡς ὁ πιστός λαός, καί δι᾿ ἔργων δικαιοσύνης καί ἀληθοῦς τῆς κατά τήν πίστιν γνώσεως ὀρῶν τόν Θεόν, ἐστίν Ἰσραήλ· εἴτε κατά σάρκα φέρει τό γένος ἐξ Ἰσραήλ, εἴτε τῆς ἐθνικῆς ὑπάρχει μερίδος. Ὁ γάρ τοῦ Ἀβραάμ καί Ἰσαάκ καί Ἰαώβ, ἐν ἑαυτῷ φέρων τρανόν καί ἄχραντον τόν χαρακτῆρα τῆς πίστεως, τῆς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Ἰσραήλ οὐκ ἀπηλλωτρίωται κλήσεώς τε καί χάριτος.

Ἀλλά καί ∆αβίδ αὐτός ὁ μακάριος τῶν ἐν Ἰσραήλ πιστῶν εἶχε τήν βασιλείαν· ὅθεν ἅμα τῆς πίστεως κατέσβεσεν ἑαυτοῦ τό φέγγος ὁ Ἰσραήλ, ἅμα καί τῆς τοῦ ∆αβίδ εὐθέως ἀπέστη βασιλείας. Ἄρ᾿ οὖν τόν τοῦ ∆αβίδ πνευματικόν θρόνον, καί τήν νοητήν τῶν λογικῶν ψυχῶν βασιλείαν, καί τόν πιστόν οἶκον τοῦ Ἰακώβ, καί τό ἅγιον μέγα ἔθνος, ἐφ᾿ ὅν ἀντί τοῦ σωματικοῦ καί παραπικραίνοντος Ἰσραήλ, προφητικῶς χρηματίζων ὁ Θεός τῷ Μωϋσῆ καταστήσειν αὐτόν· ἤτοι τόν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τυπικῶς νοούμενον ἐπηγγείλατο, εἰπών· Ἄφες με, καί ἐξαλείψω τό ἔθνος τοῦτο εἰσάπαξ, καί καταστήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καί φοβερόν, ἤ τοῦτο· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τόν ἄπιστον οἶκον τοῦ Ἰακώβ, καί παραπικραίνοντα, καί τό ἁμαρτωλόν ἔθνος, καί τό πονηρόν σπέρμα, καί τούς ἀνόμους υἱούς, καί τούς ἄρχοντας Σοδόμων, καί τόν λαόν Γομόῤῥας, καί τούς ἀποστραφέντας ἀποστροφήν πονηράν, καί τόν Κύριον ἐγκαταλίποντας, καί τόν Ἅγιον Ἰσραήλ παροξύναντας, καί τόν Θεόν οὐκ ἐπεγνωκότας, οὐδέ συνιέντας, καί πληγέντας πληγήν ἀπιστίας ἀνίατον, καί μηδεμίαν δεχομένην λογικῆς ἰατρείας μέθοδον, ἀπιστίαν ψυχῆς θεραπεύουσαν. Οὐαί γάρ, φησίν, ἔθνος ἁμαρτωλόν, σπέρμα πονηρόν, υἱοί ἄνομοι· ἐγκατελείπατε τόν Κύριον, καί παρωξύνατε τόν Ἅγιον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· τί ἔτι πληγῆτε προστιθέντες ἀνομίαν; Οὐκ ἔστι μάλαγμα ἐπιθεῖναι, οὔτε ἔλαιον, οὔτε καταδέσμους. Οὐ τούς χωλάναντας ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοτέραις ταῖς ἰγνύαις, καί τήν ἀλήθειαν ἀπεστραμμένους, καί ἐκβεβλημένους τῆς θείας κληρονομίας κατά τόν Κάϊν καί Ἰσμαήλ καί Ἡσαῦ καί Ῥουβίμ καί Ἤρ καί Αὐνάν καί Μανασσῆν καί Ἐλιάφ καί Ἀμνών, τούς τῶν πατριαρχῶν τε καί προφητῶν πρωτοτόκους καί ἐκβεβλημένους καί ἀποδεδοκιμασμένους. Φησί γάρ· Υἱός μου πρωτότοκος Ἰσραήλ· οὐ γάρ μονογενής· ἐπείπερ ἐπεισαγωγή πρός υἱοθεσίαν θεσπεσίου λαοῦ (328) καί εὐσεβοῦς ἠλπίζετο, κατά Θεόν κτιζομένου, καί εἰς υἱοθεσίαν προσαγομένου τήν ἐν χάριτι, διά τῆς ἐκβολῆς τοῦ πρωτοτόκου καί ἀπίστου λαοῦ Ἰσραήλ (Fr. ἀπίστου Ἰσραήλ) ἐπαναστάντος τῷ νοητῷ Ἄβελ διά φθόνον, καί ἀποκτείναντος κατά τόν Κάϊν, καί ἐμπαίξαντος τῷ θείῳ τρόπῳ τοῦ νοητοῦ Ἰσαάκ κατά τόν Ἰσμαήλ· καί μανέντος κατά τοῦ νοητοῦ Ἰακώβ, ὡς Ἡσαῦ· καί τό σπέρμα τῆς πίστεως, καί τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν δικαιοσύνης εἰς τήν γῆν τῆς πλάνης καί τῶν παθῶν ἐκχέαντος κατά τόν Ἤρ καί Ἀμνών· καί τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίαν, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι τήν Θάμαρ, ἀρνησαμένου· καί τήν λήθην οἰκειωσαμένου τῶν ἀρετῶν, κατά τόν Μανασσῆν· καί ἐπί τῷ νοητῷ ∆αβίδ λαβόντι τήν βασιλείαν ἐξ ὑπερηφανίας διαπονηθέντος, καί διά τοῦτο ἐξουδενωθέντος κατά τόν Ἐλιάφ, καί γενομένου ξένης παρανομίας δημιουργοῦ κατά τόν Ἀμών. Οὐ τούτους τούς ἀλλοτρίους υἱούς, καί χωλάναντας ἀπό τῶν τρίβων αὐτῶν· τούς μανίας καί φόνου πνέοντας (al. γέμοντας), τούς σαρκικούς ὄντως, κατά σαρκῶν μόνων υἱούς, τούς ξένους τῆς χάριτος, ὧν Θεός ἡ κοιλία, καί ἡ