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"And they fell," he says, "the seven of them together, and they were put to death at the beginning of the barley harvest. And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, until water from God dripped on them from heaven." Rizpah, as I said, is interpreted as 'course of the mouth,' which is the corporeal teaching of the law according to the mere utterance of the word; <ἣ> after the death of the passions born from her and the manifestation that occurred on high of natural contemplation(51) in the heart of each of those preoccupied by her, spreads repentance, like sackcloth, upon the rock, I mean the word of faith according to Christ, caring for the ordinances in the Spirit through repentance according to Christ, keeping before her eyes day and night through memory, as children, the former way of life of the law in the flesh, until the waters of God drip from heaven, that is, until the divine knowledge of the Scriptures is sent down from the height of spiritual contemplation(52), which quenches the passions and renews the virtues. For the learning of the law, by approaching (14Γ_404> Christ, the true and firm rock, through repentance, is naturally disposed to receive the divine rain of the spiritual knowledge of the Scriptures, according to the command of King David, that is, of the mind 'strong in sight.' For he says: "and he did all that the king commanded. And after these things God heeded the land."

Therefore the learning of the divine Scriptures, according to the command of King David, that is, of the spiritual law or of the mind strong in sight, being transferred through the midst of repentance, of which sackcloth is a symbol, according to the practice of the virtues, to the rock, that is, to Christ, is naturally disposed to call forth the divine rain of knowledge, and it is accustomed to entreat God to hearken to the land of the heart and to give divine showers of graces and to supply the abundance of the fruits of righteousness and to loose, like a famine, the preceding ignorance of divine things, and to make the soul a land full of spiritual goods, abounding in grain and wine and oil: with the one, being strengthened(53) as by a principle of practical knowledge; with the other, rejoicing(54) as in divine longing and the renewal of erotic ardor in desire for God; and with the other, making the face of the virtues cheerful(56) as in a smooth and even(55) and transparent and illuminating manner and principle of dispassion, free from all earthly motion.

But let us also, according to the great David, destroy Saul from every border of Israel, that is, the earthly and corporeal ordinance of the law, or the Jewish manner of worship, or the more corporeal meaning of the whole Scripture that is ready at hand in the mere letter, from every mode of contemplative mystagogy, and let us pass over to the spiritual (14Γ_406> deification of things understood, and let us preserve the Gibeonites, that is, the natural principles of beings, whom Jesus, the true heir of the divine promises, kept dispassionate, on whose account, since they were being destroyed by Saul, God held back the divine rain of mystical knowledge, and let us kill through these very Gibeonites, that is, through natural contemplation, as it were seven men of the sons of Saul, the impassioned, material, and temporal interpretation of the law, which Rizpah, being 'the course of the mouth,' which is the corporeal learning of the law, is naturally disposed to bear, and Merob, interpreted as 'fullness of the throat,' that is, the indulgence of the stomach, the one bearing Mephibosheth and Armoni, the one interpreted as 'shame of the mouth,' the other as 'their curse,' that is, the state and the activity of the passions, the other bearing the five sons to Adriel, that is, to the contemplative part of the soul, the five impassioned modes of our senses through misuse; whom destroying through natural contemplation we propitiate the angered God, having been transferred from the letter to the spirit, and the divine

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«Καὶ ἔπεσον», φησίν, «ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ οἱ ἑπτά, καὶ ἐθανατώθησαν 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». Ῥεσφά, καθὼς ἔφην, ἔστιν ἑρμηνευομένη 'δρόμος στόματος,' ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ κατὰ μόνην τοῦ λόγου τὴν προφορὰν σωματικὴ τοῦ νόμου διδαχή· <ἣ> μετὰ τὸν θάνατον τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς γεννωμένων παθῶν καὶ τὴν φανέρωσιν τὴν ἐν τῷ ὕψει γενομένην τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας(51) ἐν τῇ τοῦ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον καρδίᾳ τῶν αὐτῇ προκατειλημμένων, καθάπερ σάκκον, τὴν μετάνοιαν στρώννυσιν ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν, λέγω δὲ τὸν λόγον τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν πίστεως, τῶν ἐν Πνεύματι διὰ τῆς μετανοίας κατὰ Χριστὸν ἐπιμελουμένη θεσμῶν, ἔχουσα κατ᾽ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς διὰ τῆς μνήμης, ὡς τέκνα, τὴν ἐν σαρκὶ τοῦ νόμου προτέραν ἀγωγήν, ἕως στάξουσιν ὕδατα Θεοῦ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, τουτέστιν ἕως καταπεμφθῶσιν αἱ θεῖαι τῶν Γραφῶν γνώσεις ἐκ τοῦ ὕψους τῆς πνευματικῆς θεωρίας(52), αἱ σβεστικαὶ μὲν τῶν παθῶν, ἀνανεωτικαὶ δὲ τῶν ἀρετῶν. Πέφυκε γὰρ ἡ τοῦ νόμου μάθησις, πρὸς (14Γ_404> Χριστόν, τὴν ἀληθῆ καὶ στερρὰν πέτραν, διὰ τῆς μετανοίας προσχωροῦσα, τὸν θεῖον τῆς πνευματικῆς τῶν Γραφῶν γνώσεως ὑετὸν ὑποδέχεσθαι, κατὰ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ βασιλέως ∆αβίδ, τουτέστι τοῦ 'ἰσχυροῦ τὴν ὅρασιν' νοῦ. Φησὶ γάρ· «καὶ ἐποίησε πάντα ὅσα ἐνετείλατο ὁ βασιλεύς. Καὶ ἐπήκουσεν ὁ Θεὸς τῇ γῇ μετὰ ταῦτα».

Οὐκοῦν ἡ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν μάθησις, κατὰ τὴν ἐντολὴν ∆αβὶδ τοῦ βασιλέως, τουτέστι τοῦ πνευματικοῦ νόμου ἢ τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ τὴν ὅρασιν νοῦ, διὰ μέσης τῆς μετανοίας, ἧς ὁ σάκκος ὑπάρχει σύμβολον, κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν, ἤγουν τὸν Χριστόν, μεταφερομένη, τὸν θεῖον ἐκκαλεῖσθαι τῆς γνώσεως πέφυκεν ὑετὸν ἐπακοῦσαί τε τὸν Θεὸν τῇ γῇ τῆς καρδίας εἴωθε δυσωπεῖν καὶ δοῦναι θείους χαρισμάτων ὄμβρους καὶ τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καρπῶν χορηγῆσαι τὴν ἀφθονίαν καὶ λῦσαι, καθάπερ λιμόν, τὴν προλαβοῦσαν τῶν θείων ἀγνωσίαν καὶ ποιῆσαι χώραν πλήρη τῶν πνευματικῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν ψυχήν, σίτῳ βρίθουσαν καὶ οἴνῳ καὶ ἐλαίῳ, τῷ μέν, ὡς λόγῳ πρακτικῆς γνώσεως, στηριζομένην(53), τῷ δέ, ὡς θείῳ πόθῳ καὶ ἀνανεωτικῷ τῆς κατ᾽ ἔφεσιν πρὸς Θεὸν ἐρωτικῆς ζέσεως, εὐφραινομένην(54), τῷ δέ, ὡς λείῳ καὶ ὁμαλῷ(55) καὶ διαυγεῖ καὶ φωτιστικῷ καὶ παντὸς γεώδους ἐλευθέρῳ κινήματος τῆς ἀπαθείας τρόπῳ τε καὶ λόγῳ, τὸ πρόσωπον ἱλαρυνομένην τῶν ἀρετῶν(56).

Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς κατὰ τὸν μέγαν ∆αβὶδ ἀφανίσωμεν τὸν Σαοὺλ ἐκ παντὸς ὁρίου Ἰσραήλ, τουτέστι τὸν γεώδη καὶ σωματικὸν τοῦ νόμου θεσμόν, ἤγουν τὸν ἰουδαϊκὸν τῆς λατρείας τρόπον ἢ τὸν ἐν μόνῳ τῷ ῥητῷ πρόχειρον τῆς ὅλης Γραφῆς καὶ σωματικώτερον νοῦν, ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου θεωρητικῆς μυσταγωγίας, καὶ μετέλθωμεν πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν τῶν νοουμένων (14Γ_406> ἐκθέωσιν, καὶ περιποιησώμεθα τοὺς Γαβαωνίτας, τουτέστι τοὺς κατὰ φύσιν τῶν ὄντων λόγους, οὓς ἀπαθεῖς διετήρησεν ὁ ἀληθινὸς κληροδότης τῶν θείων ἐπαγγελιῶν Ἰησοῦς, δι᾽ οὕς, ἀναιρουμένους ὑπὸ Σαούλ, τὸν θεῖον ἀνέσχε τῆς μυστικῆς γνώσεως ὑετὸν ὁ Θεός, καὶ ἀποκτείνωμεν δι᾽ αὐτῶν τῶν Γαβαωνιτῶν, τῆς φυσικῆς δηλαδὴ θεωρίας, ὥσπερ ἄνδρας ἑπτὰ τῶν υἱῶν Σαούλ, τὴν ἐμπαθῆ τοῦ νόμου πρόσυλόν τε καὶ χρονικὴν ἐκδοχήν, ἣν τίκτειν πέφυκεν ἡ Ῥεσφά, 'στόματος' ὑπάρχουσα 'δρόμος,' ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ σωματικὴ τοῦ νόμου μάθησις, καὶ ἡ Μερόβ, 'πλησμονὴ φάρυγγος' ἑρμηνευομένη, τουτέστιν ἡ τρυφὴ τῆς γαστρός, ἡ μὲν τὸν Μεμφιβοσθὲ τίκτουσα καὶ τὸν Ἑρμονθί, τὸν μὲν 'αἰσχύνη στόματος' ἑρμηνευόμενον, τὸν δὲ 'ἀνάθεμα αὐτῶν,' ἤγουν τὴν ἕξιν τῶν παθῶν καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἡ δὲ τοὺς πέντε υἱοὺς τῷ Ἐσδριήλ, τῷ θεωρητικῷ δηλαδὴ τῆς ψυχῆς μέρει, τοὺς κατὰ παράχρησιν ἐμπαθεῖς πέντε τρόπους τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν αἰσθήσεων· οὓς διὰ τῆς φυσικῆς ἀναιροῦντες θεωρίας ὠργισμένον τὸν Θεὸν ἱλεούμεθα, πρὸς τὸ πνεῦμα μετενεχθέντες ἀπὸ τοῦ γράμματος, καὶ τοὺς θείους