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the Lord God, how one ought to make promises to him, did not prevent the slaughter. After these things the story of the angels teaches us their good will toward God. For when Manoah wished to offer a kid to him, the divine angel said: " If you detain me, I will not eat of your bread. And if you make a burnt offering, you shall offer it to the Lord ". 'I do not need food,' he says; 'I do not accept a sacrifice.' For the latter is God's, while the former is proper to human nature. But I neither need food as a man, nor do I seize the divine honor. And from this it is clear, that those entertained by Abraham, consumed the food set before them in some other manner. XXI How did Samson, living dissolutely and unlawfully, enjoy spiritual grace? 305 And from this it is clear, that the Lord imparts the divine gift even to the unworthy for the sake of another economy. The Savior shows this also in the holy gospels: " 'For many,' He says, 'will come on that day, and say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name perform many mighty works?" And I will say to them: "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity; I do not know who you are."'" This the Lord God has also done here. For wishing to destroy the power of the foreigners, through spiritual grace He bestowed upon him strength and power. For this very reason He also allowed him to marry a foreign woman. And this the story also teaches: " 'And his father and his mother did not know, that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking a retribution from the foreigners '." But the phrase " it is from the Lord " does not signify the divine action but the divine permission. XXII Why then, being also a Nazirite, and living under the law, did he eat the honeycombs made in the mouth of the lion, it being a carcass? This also shows that the need for such laws is not necessary for all. For no one of those who have transgressed such laws has been brought to justice; but if someone has supposed that Samson did this as one who was not a strict keeper of the law, let him consider again that when he was thirsty God gave him a spring by commanding the hollow of the jawbone of the donkey to gush forth. And this 306 according to the law partook of a threefold uncleanness. For the donkey is unclean while living, and again unclean when dead, and having become an instrument of slaughter and having slain a thousand of the foreigners, it had another uncleanness. But nevertheless the lawgiver of the law from this, and not from elsewhere, provided for him the need for water. But this unconquerable, this invincible man, whom many myriads of foreigners shuddered at, a courtesan enslaved. So much more grievous than the battle-line in wars is the war of desire. For him who had so nobly excelled in valor and had become much talked of for his extraordinary deeds of courage, pleasure rendered a captive of the spear. This also stripped him of divine grace. " 'For Samson awoke,' it says, 'from his sleep and said: "I will go out, and I will do as always and I will shake myself free."' " And he did not know that the Lord had departed from him; but the compassionate God had not completely forsaken him, but seeing him being mocked, He took pity and heard him when he prayed and supplied such great strength, as to shake the supporting columns of the idols' shrine, and to bring down with them the roof and to bury three thousand men and a manifold number of women. XXIII From where did Samson capture so many foxes? There is a mountain near them that rears many foxes; and this the story teaches: " 'For the Amorite,' it says, 'began to dwell in the mountain of the myrtle-grove, where there are bears and foxes '." 307 XXIV What is: " Micah made for it an ephod and teraphim "? Concerning the ephod we have often said, that it was a priestly garment and through it God would reveal what was to be done. But the teraphim were something of a kind for idols, but not dedicated to God. For this the story teaches here also. " 'For he made,' it says, 'a graven and a molten image.' " Then it adds: " And Micah made an ephod

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δεσπότης Θεός, πῶς δεῖ ποιεῖσθαι τὰς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑποσχέσεις, οὐκ ἐκώλυσε τὴν σφαγήν. μετὰ ταῦτα διδάσκει ἡμᾶς ἡ ἱστο ρία τῶν ἀγγέλων τὴν περὶ τὸν Θεὸν εὔνοιαν. τοῦ Μανωὲ γὰρ ἔριφον αὐ τῷ προσενεγκεῖν ἐθελήσαντος, ἔφη ὁ θεῖος ἄγγελος· " ἐὰν παρα βιάσῃ με, οὐ φάγομαι τῶν ἄρτων σου. καὶ ἐὰν ποιήσῃς ὁλοκαύτωμα τῷ Κυρίῳ ἀνοίσεις αὐτό ". τροφῆς φησίν, οὐ δέομαι· θυσίαν οὐ δέχομαι. τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ Θεοῦ, ἐκεῖνο δὲ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἴδιον. ἐγὼ δὲ οὔτε ὡς ἄνθρωπος χρῄζω τροφῆς, οὔτε τὴν θείαν ἁρπάζω τιμήν. καὶ ἐντεῦθεν δῆλον, ὡς οἱ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ δεξιωθέντες, ἑτέρῳ τινι τρόπῳ τὴν παρατεθεῖσαν τροφὴν κατηνάλωσαν. XXI Πῶς ὁ Σαμψὼν ἐκδεδιῃτημένως καὶ παρανόμως ζῶν πνευματικῆς ἀπή λαυσε χάριτος; 305 Καὶ ἐντεῦθεν δῆλον, ὡς καὶ ἀναξίοις ὁ δεσπότης ἑτέρας χάριν οἰκονομίας τῆς θείας μεταδίδωσι δωρεᾶς. τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐαγγελίοις δείκ νυσιν ὁ σωτήρ· " πολλοί, γάρ φησιν, ἐλεύσονται ἐν ἐκεί νῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ ἐροῦσί μοι, Κύριε, Κύριε, οὐ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι προεφητεύσαμεν καὶ τῷ σῷ ὀνό ματι δυνάμεις πολλὰς ἐποιήσαμεν; καὶ ἐρῶ αὐ τοῖς· ἀποχωρεῖτε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομίαν· οὐκ οἶδα τίνες ἐστέ ". τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα πε ποίηκεν ὁ δεσπότης Θεός. τῶν γὰρ ἀλλοφύλων ἐθελήσας καταλῦσαι τὸ κράτος, διὰ τῆς πνευματικῆς χάριτος ῥώμην αὐτῷ καὶ δύναμιν ἐδωρή σατο. διά τοι τοῦτο καὶ συνεχώρησεν αὐτὸν ἀλλόφυλον γῆμαι γυναῖκα. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἡ ἱστορία διδάσκει· " καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν, ὅτι παρὰ Κυρίου ἐστίν, ὅτι ἀνταπόδομα αὐτὸς ζητεῖ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλ λοφύλων ". τὸ δὲ " παρὰ Κυρίου ἐστὶν " οὐ τὴν ἐνέρ γειαν τὴν θείαν ἀλλὰ τὴν συγχώρησιν τὴν θείαν δηλοῖ. XXII Τί δήποτε καὶ ναζηραῖος ὤν, καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν νόμον τελῶν, ἔφαγε τὰ ἐν τῷ στόματι τοῦ λέοντος, καὶ νεκροῦ ὄντος, κατασκευασθέντα κηρία; ∆ηλοῖ καὶ τοῦτο τῶν τοιούτων νόμων οὐ πᾶσιν ἀναγκαίαν τὴν χρείαν. οὐδεὶς γὰρ τῶν τοὺς τοιούτους παραβεβηκότων νόμους εἰσεπράχθη δίκας· εἰ δέ τις ὑπείληφε τοῦτο πεπραχέναι τὸν Σαμψών, ὡς οὐκ ἀκριβῆ φύλακα τοῦ νόμου γεγενημένον, σκοπησάτω πάλιν, ὡς διψήσαντι νᾶμα δέδωκεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ κοῖλον τῆς τοῦ ὄνου σιαγῶνος ἀναβλῦσαι κελεύσας. αὕτη δὲ 306 κατὰ τὸν νόμον τριπλῆς μετεῖχεν ἀκαθαρσίας. καὶ γὰρ ζῶν ὁ ὄνος ἀκά θαρτος, καὶ νεκρὸς πάλιν ἀκάθαρτος καὶ τὸ φονικὸν γενόμενον ὄργανον καὶ χιλίους κατακοντίσαν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων, ἄλλην εἶχεν ἀκαθαρσίαν. ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ τοῦ νόμου νομοθέτης ἐντεῦθεν αὐτῷ, καὶ οὐκ ἄλλοθεν, παρέσ χε τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος χρείαν. ἀλλὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἀχείρωτον, τὸν ἀήττητον, ὃν πολλαὶ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἔφριξαν μυριάδες, ἑταιρικὸν ἐξηνδραπόδισε γύναιον. τοσοῦτον χαλεπώτερος τῆς ἐν πολέμοις παρατάξεως τῆς ἐπι θυμίας ὁ πόλεμος, τὸν γὰρ οὕτω γενναίως ἠριστευκότα καὶ διὰ τὰς ὑπερ φυεῖς ἀνδραγαθίας πολυθρύλλητον γεγενημένον, δορυάλωτον ἀπέφηνεν ἡ ἡδονή, αὕτη καὶ τῆς θείας αὐτὸν ἐγύμνωσε χάριτος. " ἐξηγέρθη, γάρ φησι, Σαμψὼν ἐκ τοῦ ὕπνου αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν· ἐξελεύσομαι, καὶ ποιήσω καθὼς ἀεὶ καὶ ἀποτι νάξομαι ". καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἔγνω ὅτι ἀπέστη Κύριος ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· οὐ παντελῶς δὲ αὐτὸν καταλέλοιπεν ὁ φιλοικτίρμων Θεός, ἀλλ' ἰδὼν ἐπικερ τομούμενον, ᾤκτιρε καὶ εὐξαμένῳ ἐπήκουσε καὶ τοσαύτην ἰσχὺν ἐχορή γησεν, ὡς μὲν κλονῆσαι τοὺς φέροντος κίονας τὸν τῶν εἰδώλων σηκὸν συγκατενεγκεῖν δὲ τούτοις τὸν ὄροφον καὶ τρισχιλίους ἄνδρας συγχῶσαι καὶ γυναικῶν πολλαπλασίονα ἀριθμόν. XXIII Πόθεν ὁ Σαμψὼν τοσαύτας ἀλώπεκας ἤγρευσεν; Ὄρος ἐστὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς πολλὰς ἀλώπεκας τρέφον· καὶ τοῦτο ἡ ἱστορία διδάσκει· " ἤρξατο, γάρ φησιν, ὁ ἀμορραῖος τοῦ κατοι κεῖν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τοῦ μυρσινῶνος, οὗ οἱ ἄρκοι καὶ αἱ ἀλώπεκες ". 307 XXIV Τί ἐστιν· " ἐποίησεν αὐτῷ Μιχὰ ἐφοὺδ καὶ θεραφίν "; Περὶ τοῦ ἐφοὺδ πολλάκις εἰρήκαμεν, ὅτι ὕφασμα ἦν ἱερατικὸν καὶ δι' αὐ τοῦ ὁ Θεὸς τὸ πρακτέον ἐδήλου. τὸ δὲ θεραφὶμ τοιοῦτο τρόπον τι ἦν εἰδώ λοις, ἀλλ' οὐ τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακείμενον. τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἱστορία δι δάσκει. " ἐποίησε, γάρ φησι, γλυπτὸν καὶ χωνευτόν ". εἶτα ἐπάγει· " καὶ ἐποίησε Μιχὰ ἐφοὺδ