105

Teaching this, the Master said: "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, and cast it from you." And concerning the hand and the foot he has said the same and added: "It is better for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body be cast into Gehenna." Here he called the actions of the members, members, which it is fitting to circumcise, and to cut out, and to purify the rational part, and to dedicate and consecrate the whole to the divine laws. For thus we will become strangers to the communion of the adversary, and we will receive our own Master and benefactor as a dweller within, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 81.1141

VOLUME 13. CHAPTER 33. 1, 2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, speak

to the sons of your people. God, being benevolent, calls the people his own people; but turning away because of their transgressions, he no longer uses the name of kinship; this can be seen to have happened also in the case of the great Moses. For before the transgression he said to Pharaoh: "Send forth my people, that they may serve me;" but after the worship of the calf, he says to Moses: "Hasten, go down quickly from here, for your people have transgressed." Thus, therefore, here too he calls the people not his own, but the prophet's people. And you will say to them: A land, upon which I bring a sword, and the people of the land take one man from among them, and give him to themselves for a watchman; (3-5) and he sees the sword coming upon the land, and blows the trumpet, and warns the people; and the hearer hears the sound of the trumpet, and does not take heed, and the sword comes and takes him, his blood will be upon his own head. Because having heard the voice of the trumpet he did not take heed, his blood will be upon him. He calls war a sword, and the watchman a scout; and the word teaches us that he himself provides peace to men through goodness, but allows war to happen because of the transgressions of men who bring upon themselves afflictions. If therefore, he says, when a war is waged against a certain city, those who are being warred against should set a scout upon a certain high hill, and then that man, seeing the army advancing, should give a signal with the trumpet, and should not be contemptuous, nor neglectful of those who appointed him for this, he himself, it says, will be innocent, having fulfilled the work entrusted to him, but the one who did not wish to take heed and care for his own salvation, will become the cause of his own slaughter and captivity. Therefore he says: "His blood will be upon him;" let him, it says, lay the blame for his slaughter on himself. "But this man, because he took heed, has delivered his own soul." If, he says, he takes heed, he will be the cause of his own salvation. 2. And if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet, and 81.1144 does not warn the people, and the people do not take heed, and the sword comes and takes a soul from them, it was taken because of its own iniquity, but I will require its blood from the hand of the watchman. If, he says, the appointed scout, being negligent, does not signal the attack of the enemies to the people, those who are destroyed will pay the penalty for what they transgressed, but he himself will be held accountable for the betrayal committed by the watchman; and he said these things to make the prophet more diligent in the ministry of the word. Therefore he adds: 7. And you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, and you will hear a word from my mouth, and you will warn them from me. What the scout is accustomed to do among enemies, he says, it is fitting for you, O prophet, to do, and to convey what is said by me with all eagerness. 8. When I say to the sinner: O sinner, you will surely die, and you do not warn the sinner to guard the ungodly, to turn him from his

105

τοῦτο διδάσκων ὁ ∆εσπότης ἔλεγεν· "Εἰ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ὁ δεξιὸς σκανδαλίζει σε, ἔκκοψον, καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ." Καὶ περὶ χειρὸς δὲ καὶ ποδὸς τὸ αὐτὸ εἴρηκε καὶ προστέθεικε· "Συμφέρει σοι, ἵνα ἀπό ληται ἓν τῶν μελῶν σου, καὶ μὴ ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου βληθῇ εἰς γέενναν." Μέλη δὲ ἐνταῦθα τὰς τῶν με λῶν ἐκάλεσεν ἐνεργείας, ἃς προσήκει περιτέμνειν, καὶ ἐκκόπτειν, καὶ τὸ λογικὸν ἀποκαθαίρειν, καὶ ὅλον τοῖς θείοις νόμοις ἀφιεροῦν τε καὶ καθοσιοῦν. Οὕτω γὰρ τῆς μὲν τοῦ ἐναντίου κοινωνίας ἀλλότριοι γενησόμεθα, τὸν δὲ ἡμέτερον καὶ ∆εσπότην καὶ εὐερ γέτην ἔνοικον ληψόμεθα, ᾧ πρέπει δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 81.1141

ΤΟΜΟΣ ΙΓʹ. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΛΓʹ. αʹ, βʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με, λέ γων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, λάλησον

τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ λαοῦ σου. Εὐμενὴς ὢν ὁ Θεὸς, ἑαυτοῦ λαὸν καλεῖ τὸν λαόν· διὰ δὲ τὰς παρανομίας ἀποστρεφόμενος, οὐκ έτι τῷ οἰκειώσεως ὀνόματι κέχρηται· τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου Μωσέως ἔστι γεγενημένον ἰδεῖν. Πρὸ μὲν γὰρ τῆς παρανομίας ἔφη τῷ Φαραώ· "Ἐξαπόστειλον τὸν λαόν μου, ἵνα μοι λατρεύσῃ·" μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ μόσχου λατρείαν, λέγει τῷ Μωσεῖ· "Σπεῦσον, κατάβηθι τὸ τάχος ἐντεῦθεν, ἠνόμησεν ὁ λαός σου." Οὕτω τοίνυν κἀνταῦθα οὐχ ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ προφήτου λαὸν καλεῖ τὸν λαόν. Καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς· Γῆ, ἐφ' ἣν ἂν ἐγὼ ἐπ άγω ῥομφαίαν, καὶ λάβῃ ὁ λαὸς τῆς γῆς ἄνθρω πον ἕνα ἐξ αὐτῶν, καὶ δώσῃ αὐτὸν ἑαυτοῖς εἰς σκοπόν· (γʹ-εʹ.) καὶ ἴδῃ ῥομφαίαν ἐρχομένην ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ σαλπίσῃ τῇ σάλπιγγι, καὶ σημάνῃ τῷ λαῷ· καὶ ἀκούσῃ ὁ ἀκούσας τῆς σάλπιγγος, καὶ μὴ φυλάξηται, καὶ ἐπέλθῃ ἡ ῥομφαία, καὶ καταλάβῃ αὐτὸν, τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ ἔσται. Ὅτι τῆς φωνῆς τῆς σάλπιγγος ἀκούσας οὐκ ἐφυλάξατο, τὸ αἷ μα αὐτοῦ ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔσται. Ῥομφαίαν λέγει τὸν πόλεμον, σκοπὸν δὲ τὸν κατάσκοπον· διδάσκει δὲ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος, ὅτι εἰρήνην μὲν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αὐτὸς παρέχει δι' ἀγαθότητα, πόλεμον δὲ συγχωρεῖ γενέσθαι διὰ τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρανομίας ἐφελ κομένων τὰ λυπηρά. Ἐὰν τοίνυν, φησὶ, πολέμου κατά τινος πόλεως γενομένου κατάσκοπον ἐπὶ γη λόφου τινὸς καταστήσωσιν οἱ πολεμούμενοι, εἶτα ἐκεῖνος θεασάμενος ἐπιοῦσαν τὴν στρατείαν σημάνῃ τῇ σάλπιγγι, καὶ μὴ καταφρονήσῃ, μηδὲ ἀμελήσῃ τῶν εἰς τοῦτο αὐτὸν προβαλλομένων, αὐτὸς μὲν, φησὶν, ἀθῶος ἔσται τὸ ἐγκεχειρισμένον ἔργον πε πληρωκὼς, ὁ δὲ μὴ βουληθεὶς φυλάξασθαι καὶ τῆς οἰκείας φροντίσαι σωτηρίας, πρόξενος ἑαυτῷ σφαγῆς καὶ αἰχμαλωσίας γενήσεται. ∆ιό φησι· "Τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔσται·" ἑαυτῷ, φησὶ, τὰς αἰτίας τῆς σφαγῆς ἀνατιθέτω. "Οὗτος δὲ, ὅτι ἐφυλάξατο, τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐξείλετο." Ἐὰν δὲ, φησὶ, φυλά ξηται, αἴτιος ἑαυτῷ σωτηρίας γενήσεται. ʹ. Καὶ ὁ σκοπὸς ἐὰν ἴδῃ τὴν ῥομφαίαν ἐρχο μένην, καὶ μὴ σαλπίσῃ τῇ σάλπιγγι, καὶ 81.1144 μὴ σημάνῃ τῷ λαῷ, καὶ ὁ λαὸς μὴ φυλάξηται, καὶ ἐπελθοῦσα ἡ ῥομφαία λάβῃ ἐξ αὐτῶν ψυ χὴν, αὐτὴ μὲν διὰ τὴν αὐτῆς ἀνομίαν ἐλήφθη, τὸ δὲ αἷμα αὐτῆς ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ σκοποῦ ἐκζητήσω. Ἐὰν δὲ, φησὶν, ἀμελήσας ὁ χειροτονη θεὶς κατάσκοπος μὴ σημάνῃ τῷ λαῷ τῶν πολεμίων τὴν ἔφοδον, οἱ μὲν ἀναλισκόμενοι δίκας ὧν ἐπλημμέ λησαν τίσουσι, τῆς δὲ γεγενημένης ὑπὸ τοῦ σκοποῦ προδοσίας αὐτὸς ὑφέξει τὰς εὐθύνας· ταῦτα δὲ ἔφη σπουδαιότερον τὸν προφήτην περὶ τὴν τοῦ λόγου δια κονίαν ποιῇ. ∆ιὸ ἐπάγει· ζʹ. Καὶ σὺ, υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, σκοπὸν δέδωκά σε τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀκούσῃ ἐκ τοῦ στόματός μου λόγον, καὶ προφυλάξῃς αὐτὸν παρ' ἐμοῦ. Ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς πολεμίοις, φησὶν, εἴωθε ποιεῖν ὁ κατά σκοπος, τοῦτό σε δρᾷν, ὦ προφῆτα, προσήκει, καὶ τὰ παρ' ἐμοῦ λεγόμενα μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας δια πορθμεύειν. ηʹ. Ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν με τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ· Ἁμαρτωλὲ, θανάτῳ ἀποθανῇ, καὶ μὴ διαστείλῃ τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ τοῦ φυλάξασθαι τὸν ἀσεβῆ, τοῦ ἀπο στρέψαι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς