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The face of the Lord is established as the true contemplation and knowledge of divine things according to virtue; seeking this, one is taught the cause of its lack and difficulty, and is commanded to give over to death the two sons (14Γ_382> of Saul by his concubine Rizpah, and the five sons of his daughter Merob. Saul is, as I said, 'hades requested,' or 'desired ignorance;' clearly desired ignorance(24) is the letter of the law, that is, the carnal power of the worship in the law, which is the carnal aspect of the law, or the mind holding carnally only to the matter of the letter according to sense-perception. Rizpah is, according to its interpretation, 'a running of the mouth,' which is the learning of the law according to only its verbal utterance; for one who is a stranger to the spiritual contemplation of the law truly has a running of the mouth, but not of the intellect.

The sons of Rizpah are Armoni and Mephibosheth. Armoni is 'their anathema,' which is the corruption of the activity of the passions through the body according to sin; or the place, that is, the world, in which the penalty for the transgression was given, that is, the dispositional relation to the world according to pleasure, or perhaps the unhewn and unadorned and unformed movement of the passions, while Mephibosheth is 'the shame of their mouth,' which is the unnatural movement of the mind concerning vice, that is, the inventive imagining of the passions, or perhaps the world-loving and body-loving meditation of the thoughts, or again, the movement of the mind that brings form to the passions and fashions a beauty for sense-perception according to pleasure; for both the written law and the mind that attends only to the letter of the law are by nature suited to beget these sons from learning that is according to mere verbal utterance. Merob, according to its interpretation, is the daughter of Saul, 'the fullness of the gullet,' which signifies the passion of gluttony. For both the law, according to the letter, defining by its symbols those who worship according to it, and the mind, on account of the flesh-loving life, limiting the law to its types according to the letter, know how to beget only the luxury of the body and the disposition that enjoys material things. The five sons of Merob, the daughter of Saul, are established as (14Γ_384> the five passionate modes of the five senses according to misuse, which the disposition that cares only for the body through luxury according to the law is always accustomed to bear to Adriel, that is, to the contemplative part of the soul.

These two sons of Saul(25), that is, matter and form, and the five grandsons of Saul, that is, the five modes of the five senses concerning matter and form according to misuse, I mean the passionate and unnatural entanglement of the senses with sensible things, that is, things subject to time and flux, after the death of Saul, that is, after the passing away of the carnal worship in the law according to the letter and the crossing over from ignorance, the wonderful David, according to the divine oracle, delivers to be put to death to the Gibeonites, that is, the spiritual law or mind [delivers] to the higher principles and thoughts according to natural contemplation the most universal relation of things under time in the symbols to sense-perception and the body, to be destroyed and put to death, this happening on the height of the hill of Saul, I mean, of the spiritual contemplation of the law. For unless someone first, having contemplated naturally the dissimilarity(26) of the divine and intelligible things in the symbols, desires to come in mind to the seemliness of the intelligible things, placing sense-perception completely outside the divine sanctuaries, he cannot be completely released from the carnal diversity in the types; according to which, as long as he has gone on holding to the letter, he does not reasonably alleviate the difficulty arising from the famine of knowledge, having condemned himself to eat the earth of Scripture, that is, the body, after the manner of the deceitful serpent, and not, according to Christ, heaven, that is, the spirit and soul of Scripture, that is, the heavenly and angelic bread, I mean the spiritual contemplation of the Scriptures in Christ and

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Πρόσωπον δὲ Κυρίου καθέστηκεν ἡ κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν τῶν θείων ἀληθὴς θεωρία καὶ γνῶσις· ἣν ζητῶν διδάσκεται τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ἐνδείας καὶ ἀπορίας καὶ κελεύεται δοῦναι πρὸς θάνατον τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς (14Γ_382> Σαοὺλ τοὺς ἐκ τῆς παλλακίδος Ῥεσφᾶς καὶ τοὺς πέντε τῆς αὐτοῦ θυγατρὸς Μερὸβ υἱούς. Σαούλ ἐστιν, καθὼς ἔφην, 'αἰτητὸς ᾅδης,' ἤτουν 'ἄγνοια ποθητή·' ποθουμένη δὲ σαφῶς ἐστιν ἄγνοια(24) τὸ γράμμα τὸ νομικόν, ἤγουν τὸ σωματικὸν τῆς ἐν νόμῳ λατρείας κράτος, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ τοῦ νόμου σωματικὸν ἢ νοῦς μόνης κατ᾽ αἴσθησιν ἀντεχόμενος σωματικῶς τῆς ὕλης τοῦ γράμματος. Ῥεσφὰ δέ ἐστιν, κατὰ τὴν αὐτῆς ἑρμηνείαν, 'δρόμος στόματος,' ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ νόμου κατὰ μόνην τὴν ἐν λόγῳ προφορὰν ἐκμάθησις· δρόμον δὲ ἀληθῶς ἔχει στόματος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ διανοίας, ὁ τῆς πνευματικῆς τοῦ νόμου θεωρίας ἀλλότριος.

Υἱοὶ δὲ τῆς Ῥεσφᾶς ὑπάρχουσιν Ἑρμονθὶ καὶ Μεμφιβοσθέ. Ἑρμονθὶ δ᾽ ἐστὶν 'ἀνάθεμα αὐτῶν,' ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ καθ᾽ ἁμαρτίαν διὰ σώματος φθορὰ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐνεργείας ἢ ὁ τόπος, τουτέστιν ὁ κόσμος, ἐν ᾧ τῆς παραβάσεως ἐδόθη τὸ ἐπιτίμιον, ἤγουν ἡ καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν πρὸς τὸν κόσμον ἐνδιάθετος σχέσις, ἢ τυχὸν ἡ πρόσυλος καὶ ἀκαλλὴς τῶν παθῶν καὶ ἀδιάπλαστος κίνησις, Μεμφιβοσθὲ δὲ 'αἰσχύνη στόματος αὐτῶν,' ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ παρὰ φύσιν τοῦ νοῦ περὶ κακίαν κίνησις, ἤγουν ἡ ἐπινοητικὴ τῶν παθῶν ἐνθύμησις, ἢ τυχὸν ἡ φιλόκοσμος μελέτη τῶν λογισμῶν καὶ φιλοσώματος, ἢ πάλιν ἡ τοῖς πάθεσιν εἶδος ἐπάγουσα καὶ τὸ καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν πρὸς αἴσθησιν διαπλάττουσα κάλλος τοῦ νοῦ κίνησις· τούτους γὰρ γεννᾶν τοὺς υἱοὺς πέφυκεν ἐκ τῆς κατὰ μόνην τὴν ἐν λόγῳ προφορὰν ἐκμαθήσεως ὅ τε γραπτὸς νόμος καὶ ὁ μόνῳ προσκαθήμενος τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου νοῦς. Μερὸβ δέ, κατὰ τὴν αὐτῆς ἑρμηνείαν, ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ Σαοὺλ θυγάτηρ, ἡ 'πλησμονὴ τοῦ φάρυγγος,' ὅπερ δηλοῖ τὸ τῆς γαστριμαργίας πάθος. Μόνην γὰρ οἶδε γεννᾶν σώματος τρυφὴν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὑλικῶν ἀπολαυστικὴν διάθεσιν ὅ τε νόμος κατὰ τὸ γράμμα τοῖς συμβόλοις τοὺς κατ᾽ αὐτὸν λατρεύοντας περιγράφων ὅ τε νοῦς διὰ τὴν φιλόσαρκον ζωὴν κατὰ τὸ γράμμα τὸν νόμον τοῖς τύποις περιορίζων. Πέντε δὲ τῆς Μερὸβ θυγατρὸς Σαοὺλ υἱοὶ καθεστήκασιν (14Γ_384> οἱ κατὰ παράχρησιν ἐμπαθεῖς πέντε τρόποι τῶν πέντε αἰσθήσεων, οὓς τίκτειν πάντως εἴωθε τῷ Ἐσδριήλ, ἤγουν τῷ θεωρητικῷ μέρει τῆς ψυχῆς, ἡ μόνου τοῦ σώματος κατὰ νόμον διὰ τρυφῆς ἐπιμελουμένη διάθεσις.

Τούτους τοὺς δύο τοῦ Σαοὺλ υἱούς(25), ἤγουν τὴν ὕλην καὶ τὸ εἶδος, καὶ τοὺς πέντε τοῦ Σαοὺλ υἱωνούς, ἤγουν τοὺς περὶ τὴν ὕλην καὶ τὸ εἶδος κατὰ παράχρησιν πέντε τρόπους τῶν πέντε αἰσθήσεων, λέγω δὲ τὴν ἐμπαθῆ τε καὶ παρὰ φύσιν πρὸς τὰ αἰσθητὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων συμπλοκήν, ἤγουν τὰ ὑπὸ χρόνον καὶ ῥεῦσιν, μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν Σαούλ, τουτέστι μετὰ τὴν πάροδον τῆς ἐν νόμῳ κατὰ τὸ γράμμα σωματικῆς λατρείας καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀγνοίας διάβασιν, παραδίδωσι θανατωθῆναι κατὰ τὸν θεῖον χρηματισμὸν ∆αβὶδ ὁ θαυμάσιος τοῖς Γαβαωνίταις, τουτέστι τοῖς κατὰ τὴν φυσικὴν θεωρίαν ὑψηλοτέροις λόγοις καὶ λογισμοῖς ὁ πνευματικὸς νόμος ἢ νοῦς τὴν ἐν τοῖς συμβόλοις πρὸς αἴσθησιν καὶ σῶμα καθολικωτάτην τῶν ὑπὸ χρόνον σχέσιν ἀφανίσαι καὶ θανατῶσαι κατὰ τὸ ὕψος γινομένοις τοῦ βουνοῦ Σαούλ, λέγω δὲ τοῦ νόμου τῆς πνευματικῆς θεωρίας. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ φυσικῶς πρότερόν τις, τὴν ἐν τοῖς συμβόλοις τῶν θείων καὶ νοητῶν διασκοπήσας ἀπέμφασιν(26), ἐλθεῖν ποθήσει κατὰ νοῦν, ἔξω παντελῶς τῶν θείων ἀδύτων τὴν αἴσθησιν θέμενος, πρὸς τὴν τῶν νοητῶν εὐπρέπειαν τῆς ἐν τοῖς τύποις ἀπολυθῆναι καθάπαξ οὐ δύναται σωματικῆς ποικιλίας· καθ᾽ ἥν, ἕως βέβηκε τοῦ γράμματος ἀντεχόμενος, τὴν ἐκ τοῦ λιμοῦ τῆς γνώσεως εἰκότως ἀπορίαν οὐ παραμυθεῖται, τῆς Γραφῆς τὴν γῆν, ἤγουν τὸ σῶμα, κατὰ τὸν ἀπατηλὸν ὄφιν ἐσθίειν ἑαυτὸν καταδικάσας, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ κατὰ Χριστὸν τὸν οὐρανόν, ἤγουν τῆς Γραφῆς τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὴν ψυχήν, τουτέστι τὸν οὐράνιον καὶ ἀγγελικὸν ἄρτον, λέγω δὲ τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ τῶν Γραφῶν πνευματικὴν θεωρίαν καὶ