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Merob, daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel, and he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites; and they exposed them on the mountain before the Lord. And the seven of them fell there together, and they were put to death in the days of harvest, in the beginning of the barley harvest. And Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself upon the rock, until the water of God dropped on them from heaven. And he did all that the king commanded. And God hearkened to the land after this.” Why after the death of Saul was David required to render justice, when a famine held the land, until he gave the seven men from (14G_364> the seed of Saul to be put to death by the Gibeonites? What is the power of these words and how shall we contemplate them spiritually?

Response. The precise knowledge of the oracles of the Spirit is revealed only

naturally to those worthy of the Spirit; who, through great care for the virtues, having cleansed the mind(1) of the soot of the passions, like a clean and transparent mirror, at the very first encounter, receive the knowledge of divine things stamped and falling upon them, like a face. But for those whose life, like mine, is stained with the blots of the passions, it is scarcely possible, even from certain probable conjectures, to substantiate the knowledge of divine things, let alone to presume to understand and express it with precision. And I know clearly that you yourself, through experience, know divine things better, honored father(2), and having taken it by trial, you have the knowledge of these things more than I know them by speaking, being able to declare nothing about divine things from experience. Nevertheless, even what is according to one's ability is not to be rejected, and especially by you who have commanded and have placed upon me this labor of speaking about things beyond my ability.

Saul, therefore, is, according to this place in Scripture(3), the law in the letter, ruling the carnal Jews according to the power of a carnal commandment, that is, the bodily manner or reasoning ruling those who are led by the letter of the law alone. For 'requested hades,' according to one interpretation, is how Saul is interpreted; for having preferred the pleasure-loving life to the life and kingdom conducted in the Spirit of God according to virtue, the people of the Jews requested hades, that is, ignorance, to reign over them instead of knowledge; for everyone who has fallen away from divine love has the law in the flesh ruling through pleasure, (14G_368> one unable or unwilling to keep any divine commandment.

But in another way, Saul is interpreted as 'borrowed' or 'a loan'. For the written law was not given to those who received it as a possession of property, but for the instruction of an expected promise. Therefore, God, having given the kingdom to Saul, did not promise the kingdom eternally in the covenant with him. For any loan does not become a possession of property for the one who receives it, but a cause of toil and labors for the collection of other property. And Saul's concubine Rizpah is interpreted as 'running' of the 'mouth'. And running of the mouth is the learning of the law according to only its verbal utterance, which the one who engages only in the bodily worship of the law unlawfully takes to wife, from whom he begets nothing pious and God-loving. For the one who practices only the bodily learning of the law according to verbal utterance(4) does not have a lawful cohabitation with the word, that is, with the learning of the law. Whence his offspring become base and rejected. For to him are born, through the unlawful union with Rizpah, Armoni and Mephibosheth, which is their anathema and the shame of their mouth. For Armoni, according to one interpretation, is interpreted as 'their anathema' and Mephibosheth as 'shame of their mouth'; and their anathema is the corruption of the activity of the passions through the body according to sin(5); while Mephibosheth is the unnatural movement of the mind concerning evil, that is, the inventive capacity according to the mind

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Μερόβ, θυγατρὸς Σαούλ, οὓς ἔτεκε τῷ Ἐσδριήλ, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοὺς ἐν χειρὶ τῶν Γαβαωνιτῶν· καὶ ἐξηλίασαν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ὄρει ἐναντίον Κυρίου. Καὶ ἔπεσον ἐκεῖ οἱ ἑπτὰ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, καὶ ἐθανατώθησαν ἐν ἡμέραις θερισμοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ θερισμοῦ κριθῶν. Καὶ ἔλαβε Ῥεσφά, θυγάτηρ Ἔα, τὸν σάκκον καὶ διέστρωσεν αὐτὸν ἑαυτῇ ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν, ἕως ἔσταξαν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς ὕδατα Θεοῦ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. Καὶ ἐποίησε πάντα ὅσα ἐνετείλατο ὁ βασιλεύς. Καὶ ἐπήκουσεν ὁ Θεὸς τῇ γῇ μετὰ ταῦτα». ∆ιὰ τί μετὰ τὸν θάνατον Σαοὺλ ὁ ∆αβὶδ ἀπῃτήθη δίκας, λιμοῦ κρατήσαντος τὴν γῆν, ἕως ἔδωκε τοὺς ἐκ (14Γ_364> τοῦ σπέρματος Σαοὺλ ἑπτὰ ἄνδρας θανατωθῆναι τοῖς Γαβαωνίταις; Τίς ἡ τούτων δύναμις τῶν λόγων καὶ πῶς πνευματικῶς αὐτοὺς θεωρήσομεν;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ἡ μὲν ἀκριβὴς γνῶσις τῶν λογίων τοῦ Πνεύματος μόνοις ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι

πέφυκε τοῖς ἀξίοις τοῦ Πνεύματος· οἳ διὰ πολλὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπιμέλειαν τῆς τῶν παθῶν αἰθάλης τὸν νοῦν ἐκκαθάραντες(1), ἐσόπτρου δίκην καθαροῦ τε καὶ διαυγοῦς, ἅμα τῇ πρώτῃ προσβολῇ, καθάπερ πρόσωπον, ἐντυπουμένην αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐμπίπτουσαν τὴν τῶν θείων ὑποδέχονται γνῶσιν· οἷς δὲ κατ᾽ ἐμὲ ταῖς τῶν παθῶν κηλίσιν ὁ βίος κατέστικται, μόλις, κἂν ἐξ εἰκότων τινῶν στοχασμῶν, τεκμηριῶσαι τὴν τῶν θείων γνῶσίν ἐστι δυνατόν, μὴ ὅτι γε νοῆσαί τε καὶ φράσαι ταύτην δι᾽ ἀκριβείας ἀπαυθαδίζεσθαι. Καὶ οἶδα σαφῶς ἔγωγε ὅτι πάσχων αὐτὸς γινώσκεις τὰ θεῖα μᾶλλον, τίμιε πάτερ(2), καὶ πείρᾳ λαβὼν ἔχεις τούτων τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἤπερ ἐγὼ λέγων ἐπίσταμαι, μηδὲν ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν ἀποφήνασθαι περὶ τῶν θείων δυνάμενος. Πλὴν καὶ τὸ κατὰ δύναμιν οὐκ ἀπόβλητον, καὶ μάλισθ᾽ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἐπιτάξασι καὶ τόνδε μοι περὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ δύναμιν τοῦ λέγειν πόνον ἐπιθεμένοις.

Σαοὺλ τοίνυν ἐστίν, κατὰ τόνδε τῆς Γραφῆς τὸν τόπον(3), ὁ βασιλεύων κατὰ δύναμιν ἐντολῆς σαρκίνης τῶν σαρκικῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐν γράμματι νόμος, ἤγουν ὁ βασιλεύων τῶν ἀγομένων μόνῳ τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου σωματικὸς τρόπος ἢ λογισμός. 'Αἰτητὸς' γὰρ 'ᾄδης,' κατὰ μίαν ἐπιβολήν, Σαοὺλ ἑρμηνεύεται· τῆς γὰρ ἐν Πνεύματι Θεοῦ κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν διεξαγομένης ζωῆς τε καὶ βασιλείας προτιμήσας τὴν φιλήδονον ζωὴν ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαὸς ᾐτήσατο τὸν ᾅδην ἤγουν τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἀντὶ τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ βασιλεύειν· πᾶς γὰρ ὁ τῆς θείας ἐκπεπτωκὼς ἀγάπης τὸν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ νόμον ἔχει διὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς βασιλεύοντα, (14Γ_368> τὸν μηδεμίαν θείαν ἐντολὴν φυλάξαι δυνάμενον ἢ μὴ βουλόμενον.

Κατ᾽ ἄλλον δὲ τρόπον Σαοὺλ ἑρμηνεύεται 'δεδανεισμένος ἢ δάνειον'. Οὐ γὰρ ἐδόθη ὁ γραπτὸς νόμος τοῖς λαβοῦσιν εἰς κτῆσιν περιουσίας, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς παιδαγωγίαν προσδοκωμένης ἐπαγγελίας. ∆ιὸ καὶ δοὺς τῷ Σαοὺλ τὴν βασιλείαν Θεὸς ἐν τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ∆ιαθήκῃ αἰώνιον οὐ καθυπέσχετο τὴν βασιλείαν. Πᾶν γὰρ δάνειον οὐ γίνεται τῷ λαβόντι κτῆμα περιουσίας, ἀλλὰ πρόφασις καμάτου καὶ πόνων εἰς ἄλλης περιουσίας συλλογήν. Ἡ δὲ τοῦ Σαοὺλ παλλακὴ Ῥεσφὰ 'δρόμος' ἑρμηνεύεται 'στόματος'. ∆ρόμος δὲ στόματός ἐστιν ἡ κατὰ μόνην τὴν ἐν λόγῳ προφορὰν τοῦ νόμου μάθησις, ἣν εἰσοικίζεται παρανόμως ὁ μόνην τὴν σωματικὴν τοῦ νόμου περιέπων λατρείαν, ἀφ᾽ ἧς οὐδὲν εὐσεβὲς γεννᾷ καὶ φιλόθεον. Ὁ γὰρ μόνην τὴν σωματικὴν τοῦ νόμου κατὰ προφορὰν λόγου μάθησιν ἐξασκούμενος(4) νόμιμον οὐκ ἔχει τὴν πρὸς τὸν λόγον, ἤγουν τὴν μάθησιν τοῦ νόμου, συμβίωσιν. Ὅθεν δυσγενῆ καὶ ἀπόβλητα καθέστηκεν αὐτοῦ τὰ γεννώμενα. Γεννᾶται γὰρ αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν παράνομον κοίτην ἐκ τῆς Ῥεσφᾶς ὁ Ἑρμονθὶ καὶ ὁ Μεμφιβοσθέ, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀνάθεμα αὐτῶν καὶ αἰσχύνη στόματος αὐτῶν. Ἑρμονθὶ γάρ, κατὰ μίαν ἐπιβολήν, 'ἀνάθεμα αὐτῶν' ἑρμηνεύεται καὶ Μεμφιβοσθὲ 'αἰσχύνη στόματος αὐτῶν·' ἀνάθεμα δὲ αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ διὰ σώματος καθ᾽ ἁμαρτίαν φθορὰ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐνεργείας(5)· Μεμφιβοσθὲ δέ ἐστιν ἡ παρὰ φύσιν τοῦ νοῦ περὶ κακίαν κίνησις, ἤγουν ἡ κατὰ νοῦν ἐπινοητικὴ