129
and through that the nations will learn to worship the God of all, making the events concerning Gog greater than the saving cross, and of the death that loosed death, and of the divine apostles, who illuminated the world with the light of the knowledge of God. For all these things did not have the power to teach the nations the God of all, but only the destruction of Gog will make him manifest to all; so clearly do those who recount these myths Judaize. But we, obeying the divine Scripture, have made the aforementioned interpretation, having taught that this one has come, and the events concerning him have reached their end. And at that time the nations learned that the Jews did not endure captivity on account of divine weakness, but on account of their own transgression; but at the present time, through the Master's death and resurrection the nations received the rays 81.1220 of the knowledge of God, and having been delivered from their ancestral impiety, we have learned to worship the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
VOLUME 10. CHAPTER 40. 1. And it came to pass in the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the
first month, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was taken. And from this it is clear that the prophet shared in the captivity with Jeconiah the king; after whom Zedekiah reigned for eleven years, lacking a few months; for in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah the city was taken. Reasonably, therefore, he said that the fourteenth year of the capture of the city was the twenty-fifth of their captivity. On this day the hand of the Lord was upon me. (2.) And he brought me there in a vision of God, and brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, and upon it was as the building of a city opposite. Having prophesied to them their return from captivity, and having shown his own power through the resurrection of those dry bones, the God of all foretells also the building of the city and of the temple; and he uses not only words, but also shows such a vision to the prophet, illuminating the vision of his mind by the energy of the divine Spirit. But lest, by interpreting each detail, we should weary those who encounter this book with the length of our words, we wish to make a summary paraphrase of the things shown spiritually to the divine prophet. He says, therefore, 'In a vision of God,' that is, a spiritual, not a bodily sight, that his mind was carried away into the land of Israel, and that he saw on a certain high mountain a building, and someone standing, having the form of a man, but the color of most brilliant and beautiful bronze, carrying a measuring reed and a line, and commanding me both to behold the things being shown 81.1221 and to hear the things being said. For he said he had come for this purpose, both to show and to teach. 'That you also,' he says, 'may report these things to the house of Israel.' Then, measuring with the reed, he shows me all the measurements of the building; and first the measurements of the gates, and of the so-called thresholds and lintels, and doorposts. For he calls the doorpost 'ailam' in the singular; and 'ailamoth' in the plural; and again 'thee', both the threshold and the lintel; and 'theeim', the same in the plural. For so I found the interpretation of these from the Syrian. And he says that he saw not only the outer, but also the inner gates, and again the courts between, and those within them. For some were set apart for the priests, but others were accessible to all Israelites; and the divine temple had one surrounding wall, very great and very high; and inside, after that, with other small walls the
129
καὶ δι' ἐκείνου μαθήσεται τὰ ἔθνη τὸν τῶν ὅλων σέβειν Θεὸν, μείζονα τὰ κατὰ τὸν Γὼγ τοῦ σωτηρίου σταυροῦ, καὶ τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ τὸν θάνατον λύσαντος, καὶ τῶν θείων ἀποστόλων, οἳ τῷ φωτὶ τῆς θεογνω σίας τὴν οἰκουμένην κατηύγασαν. Ταῦτα μὲν γὰρ ἅπαντα οὐκ ἴσχυσε διδάξαι τὰ ἔθνη τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, μόνη δὲ ἡ τοῦ Γὼγ ἀναίρεσις δῆλον αὐτὸν ἅπασι καταστήσει· οὕτω σαφῶς Ἰουδαΐζουσιν οἱ ταῦτα μυθολογοῦντες. Ἡμεῖς δὲ, τῇ θείᾳ πειθόμε νοι Γραφῇ, τὴν προειρημένην ἑρμηνείαν ἐποιησά μεθα, διδάξαντες, ὅτι ἐλήλυθεν οὗτος, καὶ πέρας τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν εἴληφε. Καὶ τότε μὲν ἔμαθε τὰ ἔθνη, ὡς οὐ διὰ τὴν θείαν ἀσθένειαν τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ὑπ έμενον οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν σφῶν αὐτῶν παρανο μίαν· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ παρόντος, διὰ τοῦ ∆εσποτικοῦ θα νάτου καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὰς τῆς θεογνωσίας 81.1220 ἀκτῖνας ἐδέξατο τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ τῆς πατρῴας ἀσεβείας ἀπαλλαγέντα, προσκυνεῖν μεμαθήκαμεν τὸν Πατέρα, καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν, καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα· αὐτῷ πρέπει δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.
ΤΟΜΟΣ Ιʹ. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Μʹ. αʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἰκοστῷ καὶ πέμπτῳ ἔτει τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἡμῶν, ἐν τῷ
πρώτῳ μηνὶ, δεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνὸς, ἐν τῷ τεσσαρεσκαιδε κάτῳ ἔτει μετὰ τὸ ἁλῶναι τὴν πόλιν. Καὶ ἐν τεῦθεν δῆλός ἐστι ὁ προφήτης Ἰεχονίᾳ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας κοινωνήσας· μεθ' ὃν Σεδεκίας ἐβα σίλευσε ἕνδεκα ἔτη ὀλίγων μηνῶν ἀποδέοντα· ἐν γὰρ τῷ ἑνδεκάτῳ ἔτει τῆς Σεδεκίου βασιλείας ἥλω ἡ πόλις. Εἰκότως τοίνυν ἔφη, τὸ τῆς ἁλώσεως τῆς πόλεως τεσσαρεσκαιδέκατον ἔτος, τῆς αὐτῶν αἰχμαλω σίας πέμπτον εἶναι καὶ εἰκοστόν. Ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ ἐγένετο ἐπ' ἐμὲ χεὶρ Κυ ρίου. (βʹ.) Καὶ ἤγαγέ με ἐκεῖ ἐν ὁράσει Θεοῦ, ἤγαγε δέ με εἰς τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἔθηκέ με ἐπ' ὄρους ὑψηλοῦ σφόδρα, καὶ ἐπ' αὐ τοῦ ὡσεὶ οἰκοδομὴ πόλεως ἀπέναντι. Προθεσπί σας αὐτοῖς ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἐπάνοδον, καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ὑποδείξας δύναμιν διὰ τῆς τῶν ξηρῶν ἐκείνων ὀστῶν ἀναστάσεως, προλέγει καὶ τῆς πόλεως καὶ τοῦ νεὼ τὴν οἰκοδομίαν· καὶ οὐ λό γοις κέχρηται μόνοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεωρίαν τοιαύτην ὑποδείκνυσι τῷ προφήτῃ, τῇ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἐνεργείᾳ τῆς διανοίας αὐτοῦ φωτίσας τὸ ὀπτικόν. Ἵνα δὲ μὴ τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον ἑρμηνεύοντες ἀποκναί σωμεν τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας τῇδε τῇ βίβλῳ τῷ μήκει τῶν λόγων, ἐν κεφαλαίῳ παράφρασίν τινα ποιή σασθαι βουλόμεθα τῶν ὑποδειχθέντων πνευματικῶς τῷ θεσπεσίῳ προφήτῃ. Λέγει τοίνυν, "Ἐν ὁράσει Θεοῦ," τουτέστι πνευματικῇ, οὐ σωματικῇ ὄψει, ἀπαχθῆναι μὲν αὐτοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν εἰς τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, ἰδεῖν δὲ ἐπ' ὄρους τινὸς ὑψηλοῦ οἰκοδομίαν, καί τινα ἑστηκότα, τὸ μὲν εἶδος ἀνθρώπειον ἔχοντα, τὴν δὲ χρόαν λαμπροτάτου καὶ περικαλλεστάτου χαλ κοῦ, κάλαμον δὲ καὶ σπαρτίον οἰκοδομικὸν ἐπιφερό μενον, καὶ παρακελευόμενόν μοι, καὶ τὰ ὑποδεικνύ 81.1221 μενα θεωρεῖν, καὶ τῶν λεγομένων ἀκούειν. Τούτου γὰρ χάριν καὶ ἐληλυθέναι ἔφασκεν, ὥστε καὶ ὑπο δεῖξαι καὶ διδάξαι. "Ἵνα καὶ σὺ, φησὶ, ταῦτα δια πορθμεύσῃς τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραήλ." Εἶτα μετρῶν τῷ καλάμῳ ὑποδείκνυσί μοι ἅπαντα τῆς οἰκοδομίας τὰ μέτρα· καὶ πρῶτον μὲν τῶν πυλῶν τὰ μέτρα, καὶ τῶν καλουμένων οὐδῶν τε καὶ ὑπερθύρων, καὶ παραστάδων. Αἰλὰμ γὰρ ἑνικῶς τὴν παραστάδα κα λεῖ· αἰλαμὼθ δὲ πληθυντικῶς· καὶ θεὲ πάλιν, τόν τε οὐδὸν, καὶ τὸ ὑπέρθυρον· θεεὶμ δὲ, τὰ αὐτὰ πληθυν τικῶς. Οὕτω γὰρ εὗρον τούτων παρὰ τῷ Σύρῳ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν. Λέγει δὲ ἑωρακέναι οὐ μόνον τὰς ἐξωτέ ρας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἔνδον πύλας, καὶ τὰς μεταξὺ πά λιν αὐλὰς, καὶ τὰς ἐκείνων ἐνδοτέρας. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἦσαν ἀφωρισμέναι τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν, αἱ δὲ πᾶσιν ἦσαν Ἰσραηλίταις βαταί· καὶ ἕνα μὲν ἐν κύκλῳ περίβο λον εἶχεν ὁ θεῖος νεὼς, μέγιστόν τε καὶ ὑψηλότατον· ἔνδον δὲ μετ' ἐκεῖνον τειχίοις ἑτέροις τὸ