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For God will not see as man sees; Man looks on the face, but God on the heart. For do we seek much flesh? We desire nobility of soul. And why did God not say by name: Go, anoint for me the 63.698 David as king, but one of the sons of Jesse? So that David might not suffer what Joseph suffered. For just as those, when they learned who their sought-after king was, plotted against him; so there was a fear lest these too might do this. So that ignorance became a mother of safety for David. David therefore came, and is anointed with the oil, and went away having the kingdom, not clothed in a breastplate, nor a shield, nor spears, but the vote of God which is more powerful than all. And when war called, he went to see the battle line, and found the barbarian challenging to single combat, and no one dared to leap forward or go out against him. He stood and says: Who is this uncircumcised man, who has reproached the battle line of the living God? And they say to him: Whence this recklessness of yours? But he, Not recklessness, but faith, not a breastplate, but piety do I arm myself with; I do not consider his size, but the desolation of his mind; I do not see that the ship is large, but that it has no helmsman. What then of his brothers? Again envy, again malice. With whom have you left those few sheep? We know the pride of your heart and your wickedness, that you have come down to see the war. But he, cutting short the sore, withdrew from them, and having come to another part of the battle, says: What shall be for the man who takes his head? And they bring him to the king. Therefore he saw the king downcast, afraid and trembling, and says to him: Why has the face of my lord fallen? and in his prosperity he confesses his servitude. Who is this man? Shall I not go and take off his head? What then says the king? And how are you able, being a small boy, while he has been a warrior from his youth? The king disbelieves; David is compelled to tell his accomplishments: I, he says, was a small boy, shepherding the sheep of my father; and when a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from my flock, I would go out after them, and snatch it from their mouth, and strike the lion and the bear; and this man shall be as one of those beasts, because he has reproached the battle line of the living God. And Saul said to David: Go, and the Lord be with you. And the king gave him his own armor, and he was not able to bear it. Why? God did not allow this, so that the armor might not share in the victory of his accomplishments; so that the king might not say, My armor conquered, he casts off the armor, and puts on faith; he lets fly a stone; the foreigner fell. For not by the nature of the body, but by the power of the spirit, did he carry off the victory. He ran and took his sword, and cut off his head; and what was written was fulfilled: In the works of his own hands the sinner is caught. If, therefore, you love glory and honor, do not adorn and tend your house or your horse, but your soul; since as things are now, nothing could be more worthless than you, who have a desolate soul, and put forward the beauty of your house and your horse. But both those and these things are done, he says. What are you saying? Do you not fear saying these things, and counting Christ with horses and stones? Do you not know that he himself formed the body, and bestowed the soul, and assigned the whole world? but you do not give back to him even a small re 63.699 compense? And if you rent out a small house, you demand the rent with great exactness; but while you enjoy all his creation, and inhabit so great a world, you do not deign to pay even a little rent? and of what defense would you be worthy? For just as one who hurls a stone on high will not be able to cut through the body of heaven, nor reach that height, but receives the blow on his own head, as the stone returns upon the one who hurled it; so indeed also he who that blessed substance of God

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Οὐ γὰρ ὡς ὄψεται ἄνθρωπος, ὄψεται Θεός· Ἄνθρωπος εἰς πρόσωπον, Θεὸς δὲ εἰς καρδίαν. Μὴ γὰρ πολυσαρκίαν ζητοῦμεν; ψυχῆς εὐγένειαν ἐπιθυμοῦμεν. Καὶ διὰ τί μὴ ἐξ ὀνόματος εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ἄπελθε, χρῖσόν μοι τὸν 63.698 ∆αυῒδ εἰς βασιλέα, ἀλλ' ἕνα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰεσσαί; Ἵνα μὴ πάθῃ ὁ ∆αυῒδ, ὅπερ ἔπαθεν Ἰωσήφ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ μαθόντες ἐκεῖνοι τὸν ζητούμενον αὐτῶν βασιλέα, ἐπεβούλευσαν· οὕτω δέος ἦν μὴ καὶ οὗτοι τοῦτο ἐργάσωνται. Ὥστε ἡ ἄγνοια ἀσφαλείας μήτηρ ἐγένετο τῷ ∆αυΐδ. Ἦλθε τοίνυν ὁ ∆αυῒδ, καὶ χρίεται τῷ ἐλαίῳ, καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ἔχων τὴν βασιλείαν, οὐ θώρακα, οὐκ ἀσπίδα περιβεβλημένος οὐδὲ δόρατα, ἀλλὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ψῆφον τὴν πάντων δυνατωτέραν. Καὶ πολέμου καλοῦντος, ἀπῆλθεν ἰδεῖν τὴν παράταξιν, καὶ εὗρε τὸν βάρβαρον προσκαλούμενον εἰς μονομαχίαν, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐτόλμα προπηδῆσαι οὐδὲ ἐξελθεῖν κατ' αὐτοῦ. Εἰστήκει καὶ λέγει· Τίς ἐστιν ὁ ἀπερίτμητος οὗτος, ὃς ὠνείδισε παράταξιν Θεοῦ ζῶντος; Καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· Πόθεν σοι ἡ ἀπόνοια αὕτη; Ὁ δὲ, Οὐκ ἀπόνοιαν, ἀλλὰ πίστιν, οὐ θώρακα, ἀλλὰ θεοσέβειαν καθοπλίζομαι· οὐ σκοπῶ αὐτοῦ τὸ μέγεθος, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν τῆς διανοίας αὐτοῦ· οὐ βλέπω ὅτι μέγα τὸ πλοῖον, ἀλλ' ὅτι κυβερνήτην οὐκ ἔχει. Τί οὖν οἱ ἀδελφοί; Πάλιν φθόνος, πάλιν βασκανία. Ἐπὶ τίνα ἀφῆκας τὰ μικρὰ πρόβατα ἐκεῖνα; ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ τὴν κακίαν, ὅτι ἕνεκεν τοῦ ἰδεῖν τὸν πόλεμον κατέβης. Ὁ δὲ ὑποτεμνόμενος τοῦ ἕλκους ἀπέστη ἀπ' αὐτῶν, καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς τὸ ἕτερον μέρος τοῦ πολέμου, λέγει· Τί ἔσται τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ αἴροντι τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ; Οἱ δὲ εἰσάγουσιν αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα. Εἶδε τοίνυν τὸν βασιλέα καταπεπτωκότα, δεδοικότα καὶ τρέμοντα, καὶ λέγει πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἵνα τί συνέπεσε τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ κυρίου μου; καὶ ἐν τῇ εὐημερίᾳ τὴν δουλείαν ὁμολογεῖ. Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος; οὐχὶ πορεύσομαι καὶ ἀφελῶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ; Τί οὖν ὁ βασιλεύς; Καὶ πῶς δύνασαι σὺ παιδάριον ὂν μικρὸν, αὐτὸς δὲ πολεμιστὴς ἐκ νεότητος αὐτοῦ; Ἀπιστεῖ ὁ βασιλεύς· ἀναγκάζεται ὁ ∆αυῒδ τὰ κατορθώματα εἰπεῖν· Ἐγὼ, φησὶ, παιδίον ἤμην μικρὸν, ποιμαίνων τὰ πρόβατα τοῦ πατρός μου· καὶ ὅτε ἤρχετο λέων ἢ ἄρκτος, καὶ ἐλάμβανε πρόβατον ἐκ τῆς ποίμνης μου, ἐξεπορευόμην ὀπίσω αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐξέσπων ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπάτασσον τὸν λέοντα καὶ τὴν ἄρκτον· καὶ ἔσται οὗτος ὡς ἓν τῶν θηρίων ἐκείνων, διότι ὠνείδισε παράταξιν Θεοῦ ζῶντος. Καὶ εἶπε Σαοὺλ πρὸς τὸν ∆αυΐδ· Πορεύου, καὶ Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ. Ἔδωκε δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ὅπλα, καὶ οὐκ ἐδύνατο βαστάξαι. ∆ιὰ τί; Οὐ συνεχώρει τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς, ἵνα μὴ τὰ ὅπλα συμμερίσωνται τὴν νίκην τῶν κατορθωμάτων· ἵνα μὴ εἴπῃ ὁ βασιλεὺς, ὅτι Τὰ ὅπλα μου ἐνίκησαν, ῥίπτει τὰ ὅπλα, καὶ ἐνδύεται τὴν πίστιν· ἀφίησι βῶλον· ἔπεσεν ὁ ἀλλόφυλος. Οὐ γὰρ τῇ φύσει τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλὰ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ πνεύματος, τὴν νίκην ἀπηνέγκατο. Ἔδραμε καὶ ἔλαβεν αὐτοῦ τὸ ξίφος, καὶ ἀπέτεμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν κεφαλήν· καὶ ἐπληρώθη τὸ γεγραμμένον· Ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ συνελήφθη ὁ ἁμαρτωλός. Εἰ τοίνυν δόξης ἐρᾷς καὶ τιμῆς, μὴ τὴν οἰκίαν μηδὲ τὸν ἵππον, ἀλλὰ τὴν ψυχὴν καλλώπιζε καὶ θεράπευε· ὡς νῦν γε οὐδέν σου γένοιτ' ἂν εὐτελέστερον ἐρήμην ἔχοντος ψυχὴν, καὶ τὸ τῆς οἰκίας καὶ τοῦ ἵππου προβαλλομένου κάλλος. Ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνα καὶ ταῦτα γίνεται, φησί. Τί φῄς; οὐ δέδοικας ταῦτα φθεγγόμενος, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἵππων καὶ τῶν λίθων τὸν Χριστὸν ἀριθμῶν; οὐκ οἶσθα ὅτι καὶ σῶμα αὐτὸς διέπλασε, καὶ ψυχὴν ἐχαρίσατο, καὶ τὸν κόσμον ἀπένειμεν ἅπαντα; σὺ δὲ οὐδὲ μικρὰν τούτῳ ἀντιδίδως ἀμοι 63.699 βήν; Κἂν μὲν οἰκίσκον μικρὸν ἐκμισθώσῃς, μετὰ πολλῆς ἀκριβείας τὸν μισθὸν ἀπαιτεῖς· τὴν δὲ κτίσιν αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν καρπούμενος, καὶ κόσμον τοσοῦτον οἰκῶν, οὐδὲ ὀλίγον ἀνέχῃ τὸν μισθὸν καταβαλεῖν; καὶ ποίας ἂν εἴης ἀπολογίας ἄξιος; Καθάπερ γὰρ ὁ λίθον πρὸς τὸ ὕψος ἀκοντίζων, τοῦ οὐρανοῦ μὲν τὸ σῶμα διατεμεῖν οὐ δυνήσεται, οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸ ὕψος φθάσαι ἐκεῖνο, τὴν δὲ πληγὴν τῇ οἰκείᾳ δέχεται κορυφῇ, πρὸς τὸν ἀκοντίζοντα ἐπανιόντος τοῦ λίθου· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ τὴν μακαρίαν ἐκείνην οὐσίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ