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the sons of Manasseh who inhabited Gilead, and the sons of Ephraim who ruled the people in Shechem; but also as in Jerusalem itself those who reigned from the tribe of Judah were mine, and kings of my portion; so also will the nations of the foreigners one day be mine. He indicates all foreigners through Moab and through Idumea, from these two nations that were forbidden to enter the Church of God, and accepting all the rest. For it is written: “Ammonites and Moabites shall not enter the Church of the Lord until the third and fourth generation, and even forever.” Moab and Ammon were sons of Lot from the unlawful union with his daughters, and from the seed of Sodom; whose succession, the Moabites and the Ammonites, the law of Moses makes rejected. But the present law proclaims the good news most excellently to Moab, saying: “Moab, the cauldron of my hope;” and to another nation, the one descended from Esau, it signifies good things, adding next: “Upon Idumea I will stretch out my shoe.” Idumea was called from Edom; and this was Esau, about whom it has been said: “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau.” And countless other prophecies have been spoken against the Idumeans and against Idumea. But the present word proclaims the best things also to these, as God says: “Upon Idumea I will stretch out my shoe.” Then next he speaks indefinitely also about the remaining nations: “To me foreigners were subjected,” or “were made friends.” And he calls Moab the cauldron of his hope, or the cauldron of his washing, or of his security; since it was not otherwise possible for him, having once been rejected, to enter the Church of God, except through the washing of regeneration. Therefore, as one washed in a cauldron and cleansed from his former impiety, he is deemed worthy of grace, and thus attains security. And these things which have come to pass in deeds can be received by the eyes, by visiting the country of the Arabs, and seeing the peoples abounding among them, Moabites and Ammonites 23.569 filling the Churches of God. Likewise also, “Upon Idumea I will tread,” he says, “with my shoe,” according to Symmachus. And it would not be difficult to see this prophecy, by visiting the country of the Idumeans and receiving with sight the multitudes of the Churches of God there; so that one would not hesitate to confess that a treading has truly occurred in those places. For these reasons it was said above: “God has spoken in his holy one; I will rejoice.” For since the whole race of men was about to be called back to salvation, fitting for his philanthropy, he rejoiced in the salvation of those being saved. And otherwise, you would not be wrong to call his shoe the apostles, or those who even now serve in the preaching concerning him. Therefore, God has wrought all these things, when in the last of the days he spoke to us in his holy one. According to another interpretation, God, having spoken in his holy one, called all, simply both Jews and Greeks, and the nations throughout the whole world to his grace; wherefore he also enumerated Shechem and Gilead, and Manasseh and Ephraim and Judah and Moab and Idumea and all the foreigners, deeming the whole race of men equally worthy of the same calling; except that he calls first those from Israel. For it was necessary for the first places and the first-fruits of the evangelical preaching to be assigned to them first on account of the promises to their fathers, for which the Savior himself also first preached the gospel to them, testifying and saying: “I came not but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And he advised his apostles also to preach the Gospel to them first, saying: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into a city of the Samaritans do not

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τε τὴν Γαλαὰδ οἰκήσαντες υἱοὶ Μανασσῆ, καὶ οἱ ἐν Σικίμοις ἄρξαντες τοῦ λαοῦ υἱοὶ Ἐφραΐμ· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ οἱ ἐκ φυλῆς Ἰούδα βασιλεύσαντες ἦσαν ἐμοὶ, καὶ τῆς ἐμῆς μερίδος βασιλεῖς· οὕτως ἔσται ποτὲ ἐμὰ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἔθνη. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ πάντας ἀλλοφύλους διὰ τοῦ Μωὰβ καὶ διὰ τῆς Ἰδουμαίας, ἐκ δύο τούτων ἐθνῶν τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων εἰσιέναι εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα παραδεξάμενος. Γέγραπται γοῦν· «Ἀμμανῖται καὶ Μωαβῖται οὐκ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς Ἐκκλησίαν Κυρίου ἕως τρίτης καὶ τετάρτης γενεᾶς, καὶ ἕως εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.» Μωὰβ δὲ καὶ Ἀμμὰν γεγόνασιν υἱοὶ Λὼτ ἐκ παρανόμου μίξεως τῶν αὐτοῦ θυγατέρων, ἔκ τε τοῦ Σοδομιτικοῦ σπέρματος· ὧν τὴν διαδοχὴν, Μωαβίτας καὶ Ἀμμανίτας, ἀποβλήτους ποιεῖται ὁ Μωϋσέως νόμος. Ἀλλ' ὁ παρὼν νόμος τῷ μὲν Μωὰβ εὐαγγελίζεται κάλλιστα λέγων· «Μωὰβ, λέβης τῆς ἐλπίδος μου·» ἑτέρῳ δὲ ἔθνει τῷ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαῦ ὑφεστῶτι τὰ χρηστὰ σημαίνει, ἐπιφέρων ἑξῆς· «Ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰδουμαίαν ἐκτενῶ τὸ ὑπόδημά μου.» Ἰδουμαία δ' ἐκέκλητο ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἐδώμ· οὗτος δὲ ἦν ὁ Ἠσαῦ περὶ οὗ λέλεκται· «Μή τις πόρνος, ἢ βέβηλος, ὡς Ἠσαῦ.» Μυρίαι τε ἄλλαι προφητεῖαι κατὰ τῶν Ἰδουμαίων καὶ κατὰ τῆς Ἰδουμαίας εἴρηνται. Ἀλλ' ὁ παρὼν λόγος τὰ κάλλιστα καὶ τούτοις εὐαγγελίζεται, λέγοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ· «Ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰδουμαίαν ἐκτενῶ τὸ ὑπόδημά μου.» Εἶθ' ἑξῆς καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν ἀδιορίστως ἐπιλέγει· «Ἐμοὶ ἀλλόφυλοι ὑπετάγησαν,» ἢ «ἐφιλίασαν.» Λέβητα δὲ τὸν Μωὰβ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐλπίδος καλεῖ, ἢ λέβητα τοῦ λουτροῦ ἑαυτοῦ, ἢ τῆς ἀμεριμνίας ἑαυτοῦ· ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἄλλως ἐξῆν αὐτῷ, ἅπαξ ἀποβλήτῳ γενομένῳ, εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ παραβάλλειν, μὴ οὐχὶ διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας. Ὥσπερ οὖν λέβητι ἀπολουσάμενος καὶ ἀποκαθαρθεὶς τῆς προτέρας δυσσεβείας, καταξιοῦται τῆς χάριτος, καὶ οὕτως ἀμεριμνίας τυγχάνει. Καὶ ταῦτα δι' ἔργων κεχωρηκότα πάρεστιν ὀφθαλμοῖς παραλαβεῖν, τῇ τῶν Ἀράβων ἐπιδημήσαντας χώρᾳ, θεωμένους τε τοὺς παρ' αὐτοῖς πληθύνοντας λαοὺς, Μωαβίτας καὶ Ἀμμανίτας 23.569 πληροῦντας τὰς Ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ, «Ἐπὶ Ἰδουμαίαν ἐπιβήσομαι, φησὶ, τῷ ὑποδήματί μου,» κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον. Καὶ ταύτην δὲ τὴν πρόῤῥησιν οὐδὲν ἂν εἴη δυσχερὲς ἰδεῖν, τῇ τῶν Ἰδουμαίων ἐπιστάντας χώρᾳ καὶ τὰ πλήθη τῶν αὐτόθι Ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὄψει παραλαβόντας· ὡς μὴ ὀκνῆσαί τινα ἀληθῶς ἐπίβασιν γεγονέναι τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις ὁμολογῆσαι. ∆ιὰ δὴ ταῦτα ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο· «Ὁ Θεὸς ἐλάλησεν ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ· Ἀγαλλιάσομαι.» Μέλλον γὰρ πᾶν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ ἀνακαλεῖσθαι, πρεπόντως αὐτοῦ τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, συνέχαιρε τῇ τῶν σωζομένων σωτηρίᾳ. Καὶ ἄλλως δὲ ὑπόδημα αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοις λέγων τοὺς ἀποστόλους, ἢ τοὺς εἰς ἔτι δεῦρο τῷ περὶ αὐτοῦ κηρύγματι διακονουμένους. Ταῦτα δὴ οὖν πάντα εἰργάσατο ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτε ἐπ' ἐσχάτῳ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ. Καθ' ἑτέραν δὲ ἐκδοχὴν λαλήσας ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ, πάντας ἁπαξαπλῶς Ἰουδαίους τε καὶ Ἕλληνας, τά τε καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔθνη εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χάριν ἀνεκαλέσατο· διὸ καὶ τὴν Σίκιμα καὶ τὸν Γαλαὰδ, καὶ τὸν Μανασσῆν καὶ τὸν Ἐφραῒμ καὶ τὸν Ἰούδαν καὶ τὸν Μωὰβ καὶ τὴν Ἰδουμαίαν καὶ τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους ἅπαντας κατηριθμήσατο, ἐξ ἴσου τῆς ὁμοίας κλήσεως καταξιώσας ἅπαν τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος· πλὴν ἀλλὰ πρώτους τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καλεῖ. Ἐχρῆν γὰρ τὰ πρωτεῖα καὶ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ κηρύγματος πρώτοις αὐτοῖς ἀπονεῖμαι διὰ τὰς πρὸς τοὺς αὐτῶν πατέρας ἐπαγγελίας, δι' ἃς καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ πρώτοις αὐτοῖς εὐηγγελίζετο μαρτυρόμενος καὶ λέγων· «Οὐκ ἦλθον εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ.» Καὶ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις δὲ αὐτοῦ πρώτοις αὐτοῖς κηρύσσειν τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον παρῄνει φάσκων· «Εἰς ὁδὸν ἐθνῶν μὴ ἀπέλθητε, καὶ εἰς πόλιν Σαμαρειτῶν μὴ