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QUESTION 49.

What is meant again in the same book: "And Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that his face was to fight in (Sgt. against) Jerusalem; and he took counsel with his elders and mighty men to stop the waters of the springs, which were outside the city; and they aided him. And he gathered many people, and stopped the waters of the springs, and the river that runs through the city?" What do these things mean according to contemplation?

Answer. The mind with knowledge of practical philosophy, and all divine discernment

girt against the contrary power, is Hezekiah, his name (448) being interpreted as divine strength; and for this reason he is king of Jerusalem, that is, of the soul, which is the vision of peace; that is, of the gnostic contemplation which is freed from the passions. When he sees the opposing power stirred up against him, he duly takes counsel with his elders and his mighty men, to stop the waters of the springs outside the city. The rulers of such a mind are the principle of faith, and that of hope, and that of love, authoritatively ruling over all the divine thoughts and reasonings of the soul; and wisely advising the mind, at the same time together strengthening it against the contrary power, and pointing out the ways of its overthrow. For without faith, and hope, and love, no evil is completely abolished, nor is any good whatsoever accomplished.

For faith persuades the embattled mind to draw near to God, becoming for it the whole provision of spiritual weapons as an encouragement to be of good courage. Hope, for its part, becomes for it the most unfailing guarantor of divine assistance, promising the overthrow of the contrary powers. And love prepares it, even when embattled, to be hard to move—or rather, completely immovable—from divine affection, nailing the whole power of its nature to the divine.

And the names of the rulers, when interpreted, are indeed consonant with these words. For the rulers of Hezekiah at that time were Eliakim the son of Hilkiah the steward, and Somnas the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder [Sgt. the remembrancer]; and Eliakim is interpreted as 'resurrection of God'; and his father Hilkiah, 'portion of God'. Therefore, the first and only son of the divine portion, that is, of true knowledge, is the principle of the divine resurrection within us according to faith, with the necessary economy according to knowledge, that is, discernment, bearing well the uprisings of both voluntary and involuntary temptations.

And Somnas the scribe is interpreted as 'conversion'; clearly signifying through itself the most complete principle of divine hope, without which it is in no way natural for anyone to be converted to God in any respect; since it is proper to hope to act as a scribe, that is, to teach and bring to view future things as present, and to persuade those embattled by the contrary power that God (449) who defends them is in no way absent; on whose behalf, and for whose sake, the saints wage war.

And Joah the son of Asaph the recorder is interpreted as 'brotherhood of God'; and Asaph his father, 'gathering'. Therefore, of the gathering concerning divine things and the union of the psychic powers in the same, that is, of the rational, irascible, and appetitive, love has become the offspring; according to which, those who have already attained equal honor with God through grace inscribe in their memory the beauty of the divine loveliness; for brotherhood manifestly signifies the grace of equal honor,

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ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΜΘ΄.

Τί ἐστι πάλιν ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ βίβλῳ· "Καί εἶδεν Ἐζεκίας ὅτι ἤκει Σενναχειρίμ, καί τό πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ τοῦ πολεμῆσαι, ἐν (Sgt. ἐπί) Ἱερουσαλήμ· καί ἐβουλεύσατο μετά πρεσβυτέρων αὐτοῦ καί δυνατῶν, ἐμφράξαι τά ὕδατα τῶν πηγῶν, ἅ ἦν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως· καί συνεπίσχυσαν αὐτῷ. Καί συνῆγε λαόν πολύν, καί ἐνέφραξε τά ὕδατα τῶν πηγῶν, καί τόν ποταμόν τόν διορίζοντα διά τῆς πόλεως;" Τί θέλει ταῦτα σημαίνειν κατά θεωρίαν;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ μετά γνώσεως τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν νοῦς, καί πᾶσαν διάκρισιν θείαν

διεζωσμένος κατά τῆς ἐναντίας δυνάμεως, Ἐζεκίας ἐστί, κατα τοὔνομα (448) αὐτοῦ κράτος θεῖον ἑρμηνευόμενος· καί διά τοῦτο βασιλεύων τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἤγουν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἡ τῆς ὁράσεως τῆς εἰρήνης· τουτέστι, τῆς παθῶν ἀπηλλαγμένης γνωστικῆς θεωρίας. Ὅς ἐπειδάν κεκινημένην ἴδῃ κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ τήν ἀντικειμένην δύναμιν, δεόντως βουλεύεται μετά τῶν πρεσβυτέρων αὐτοῦ καί δυνατῶν, ἐμφράξαι τά ὕδατα τῶν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως πηγῶν. Ἄρχοντες δέ τυγχάνουσι τοῦ τοιούτου νοός, ὁ τῆς πίστεως λόγος, καί ὁ τῆς ἐλπίδος, καί ὁ τῆς ἀγάπης, πρεσβυτικῶς δυναστεύοντες πάντων τῶν κατά ψυχήν θείων νοημάτων τε καί λογισμῶν· καί σοφῶς τῷ νῷ συμβουλεύοντες, κατά ταυτόν ὁμοῦ καί συνεπισχύοντες κατά τῆς ἐναντίας δυνάμεως, καί τούς τρόπους τῆς αὐτῆς καθαιρέσεως ὑποδεικνύντες. Χωρίς γάρ πίστεως, καί ἐλπίδος, καί ἀγάπης, οὐδέν οὔτε τῶν κακῶν καταργεῖται παντελῶς, οὔτε τῶν καλῶν κατορθοῦται τό σύνολον.

Ἡ μέν γάρ πίστις πείθει τῷ Θεῷ προσχωρεῖν τόν νοῦν πολεμούμενον, πάσης αὐτῷ γινομένη παρασκευῆς ὅπλων πνευματικῶν πρός τό θαῤῤεῖν παραμύθιον. Ἡ ἐλπίς δέ, τῆς θείας αὐτῷ καθίσταται βοηθείας ἐγγυητής ἀψευδέστατος, τήν τῶν ἐναντίων καθαίρεσιν ἐπαγγελλομένη δυνάμεων. Ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, δυσμετακίνητον· μᾶλλον δέ πάμπαν ἀκίνητον τῆς θείας στοργῆς αὐτόν εἶναι παρασκευάζει καί πολεμούμενον, προσηλοῦσα τῷ θείῳ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τήν τῆς φύσεως δύναμιν.

Καί συνᾴδει γε τούτοις τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ἑρμηνευόμενα τά τῶν ἀρχόντων ὀνόματα. Ἄρχοντες δέ τοῦ Ἐζεκίου κατ᾿ ἐκεῖνον ὑπῆρχον τόν χρόνον, Ἐλιακίμ ὁ τοῦ Χελκίου οἰκονόμος, καί Σομνάς ὁ γραμματεύς, καί Ἰωάχ, ὁ τοῦ Ἀσάφ ὁ ὑπομνηματογράφος [Sgt. ὁ ἀναμιμνήσκων]· ἑρμηνεύεται δέ, ὁ μέν Ἐλιακίμ, Θεοῦ ἀνάστασις· ὁ δέ πατήρ αὐτοῦ Χελκίας, μερίς Θεοῦ. Οὐκοῦν θείας μερίδος, ἤγουν γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς, υἱός πρῶτός τε καί μόνος, ὁ κατά τήν πίστιν τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν θείας ἀναστάσεώς ἐστι λόγος, μετά τῆς δεούσης κατά τήν γνῶσιν οἰκονομίας, ἤγουν διακρίσεως, καλῶς διαφέρων τάς τε τῶν ἑκουσίων καί ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν ἐπαναστάσεις.

Σομνάς δέ ὁ γραμματεύς ἑρμηνεύεται, ἐπστροφή· σαφῶς μηνύουσα δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς τόν πληρέστατον τῆς θείας ἐλπίδος λόγον, οὗ χωρίς, οὐδαμῶς οὐδενί καθοτιοῦν πρός Θεόν ἐπιστροφή γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν· εἴπερ ἐλπίδος ἴδιον τό γραμματεύειν, ἤγουν διδάσκειν τε καί ὑπ᾿ ὄψιν ἄγειν ὡς παρόντα τά μέλλοντα, καί μηδαμῶς ἀπεῖναι πείθειν τῶν πολεμουμένων ὑπό τῆς ἀντικειμένης δυνάμεως, τόν (449) ὑπερασπίζοντα θεόν· ὑπέρ οὗ, καί δι᾿ ὅν τοῖς ἁγίοις ὁ πόλεμος.

Ἰωάχ δέ ὁ τοῦ Ἀσάφ ὁ ὑπομνηματογράφος, ἑρμηνεύεται ἀδελφότης Θεοῦ· καί Ἀσάφ ὁ πατήρ αὐτοῦ συναγωγή. Οὐκοῦν τῆς κατά τό αὐτό περί τά θεῖα συναγωγῆς τε καί ἑνώσεως τῶν ψυχικῶν δυνάμεων, τουτέστι, τῆς λογικῆς καί θυμικῆς καί ἐπιθυμητικῆς, ἡ ἀγάπη καθέστηκε γέννημα· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐγγράγοντες τῇ μνήμῃ τό τῆς θείας ὡραιότητος κάλλος, οἱ τό ἰσότιμον ἤδη πρός Θεόν διά τῆς χάριτος κομισάμενοι· τῆς γάρ ἰσοτιμίας τήν χάριν σημαίνεται προδήλως ἡ ἀδελφότης,