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will be saved. Who then is the one who will do these things? He immediately presents him, saying: I will execute my judgment, and I will rescue my sons, clearly teaching that he himself is the only one able to take away the spoils of the one who was revealed. Then he next explains who the spoils are, saying that they are his sons. Therefore he adds: I will rescue my sons, and when they are rescued, those who were taken from them through insolence will eat their own flesh and drink their blood as wine. For no longer being able to eat the flesh of others, they will eat their own, nor being able any longer to drink the blood of human souls, they will drink their own blood, so as to become drunk from it. And when these things are thus done, there will be a perception for all flesh, that is, for all men, even those who are still carnal, that I am the Lord who rescued you and helps you. But who are you? My own city and the restored Zion, to whom all these things were spoken. Therefore, he says, they will know and all will simply confess that the achievement of such great salvation of the nations was not of a mortal nature, but of the power of God, which rescued his own sons from the aforementioned giant and those with him. But according to another interpretation, these things can be referred to those who from time to time persecute the church of God, with the Word describing their end and their destruction, and how they will eat their own flesh and drink their own blood. And then all will know and confess that it was not a mortal power that rescued the church of God, but it was the God of Jacob who helps her. But instead of 'God of Jacob,' the other interpreters have rendered it 'the mighty one of Jacob'. And the Word opportunely made mention of the God of Jacob or the mighty one of Jacob, sending us back to the God who appeared in the form of a man to the patriarch Jacob, who must be understood to be none other than the Son of God. The divine is incorporeal, immaterial, intangible, and simple; and one, acting appropriately with respect to it, would not receive any corporeal image. However, the sacred text speaks to us about it in human terms. For it was not possible for those who are in dense bodies themselves to understand otherwise, unless our human affairs were brought in as if by way of examples, so that from things in the realm of sensation and visible things we might be able, at least in part, to understand things concerning the divine essence. 2.37 After the Word has gone through the evangelical preaching and the calling of the nations that came through it, and the establishment of the godly way of life and the overthrow of the revealed giant, he turns again to the people of the circumcision, as if persuading and making an apology for the reason why, having visited all the nations, he gave them up. Therefore he speaks in their person: Let none of you blame me as if I had forgotten the zeal I formerly had for you of old, nor let anyone accuse me of having given a bill of divorce to your mother, who long ago held the place of a wife with me, but let him not even think that I, being forced by some creditor, have sold you for the payment of the debt; for none of these things has been done by me. But if the truth must be spoken: You have sold yourselves by your sins, and that these things are so, you yourselves would also confess, that I, being God and Lord of all, did not hesitate to descend from my own greatness and make my own presence among you. Wherefore I also came and was in your midst and lived with you in the manner of a man, and I called all of you to myself and did all these things because of surpassing love for humanity. But there was no one who answered me or obeyed me when I cried out and called you all back to myself, but you even dared such things as one could not bear to hear. And I bore these things with forbearance, being able to suffer nothing at all nor to permit such things to be dared or do you not yourselves remember that at a certain time "the Red

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διασωθήσεται. τίς οὖν ἐστιν ὁ ταῦτα πράξων, εὐθὺς παρίστησι λέγων· ἐγὼ δὲ τὴν κρίσιν μου κρινῶ, καὶ ἐγὼ τοὺς υἱούς μου ῥύσομαι, ἑαυτὸν σαφῶς διδάξας εἶναι τὸν μόνον δυνατὸν ἀφελέσθαι τοῦ δηλωθέντος τὰ σκῦλα. εἶθ' ἑξῆς διερμηνεύει, τίνες τὰ σκῦλα τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ εἶναι λέγων· διὸ ἐπιφέρει· τοὺς υἱούς μου ῥύσομαι, ὧν ῥυσθέντων οἱ ἀφῃρημένοι αὐτῶν ἐξ ἐπηρείας, αὐτοὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν σάρκας φάγονται καὶ τὸ αἷμα αὐτῶν ὡς οἶνον πίονται· οὐκέτι γὰρ ἑτέρων σάρκας ἐσθίειν δυνάμενοι τὰς ἑαυτῶν φάγονται οὐδὲ ἐκπίνειν ἔτι τὸ αἷμα τῶν ἀνθρωπείων ψυχῶν δυνάμενοι τὸ ἑαυτῶν αἷμα πίονται ὡς καὶ μεθυσθῆναι αὐτοὺς ἐξ αὐτοῦ. τούτων δὲ οὕτως πραχθέντων αἴσθησις ἔσται πάσῃ τῇ σαρκί, τοῦτ' ἔστι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις καὶ τοῖς ἔτι σαρκίνοις οὖσιν, ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ ῥυσάμενός σε καὶ ἀντιλαμβανόμενος. τίνα δὲ σὲ ἢ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ πόλιν καὶ τὴν ἀποδοθεῖσαν Σιών, πρὸς ἣν πάντα ταῦτ' ἐλέγετο. τοῦτο οὖν γνώσονταί φησι καὶ ὁμολογήσουσιν ἁπαξαπλῶς πάντες ὡς οὐκ ἦν θνητῆς φύσεως τὸ κατόρθωμα τῆς τοσαύτης τῶν ἐθνῶν σωτηρίας, ἀλλὰ θεοῦ δύναμις, ἣν ἡ τοὺς ἰδίους υἱοὺς ῥυσαμένη ἀπὸ τοῦ προλεχθέντος γίγαντος καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ. καθ' ἑτέραν δὲ διάνοιαν δύναται ταῦτα ἐπὶ τοὺς κατὰ καιρὸν διώκοντας τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησίαν ἀναφέρεσθαι τοῦ λόγου τὸ τέλος αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν καταστροφὴν διαγράφοντος καὶ ὡς τὰς ἑαυτῶν σάρκας φάγονται καὶ τὸ αἷμα ἑαυτῶν πίονται. ὅτε καὶ γνώσονται πάντες καὶ ὁμολογήσουσιν, ὅτι μὴ θνητὴ δύναμις ἦν ἡ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ ῥυσαμένη, ἀλλ' ἦν ὁ ἀντιλαμβανόμενος αὐτῆς θεὸς Ἰακώβ. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· θεὸς Ἰακώβ, ἰσχυρὸς Ἰακὼβ οἱ λοιποὶ ἑρμηνευταὶ ἐκδεδώκασιν. εὐκαίρως δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἢ τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ Ἰακὼβ ἐμνημόνευσεν ὁ λόγος ἀναπέμπων ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὸν ἐν ἀνθρώπου σχήματι τῷ πατριάρχῃ Ἰακὼβ ὀφθέντα θεόν, ὃν οὐδὲ ἕτερον ὑποληπτέον εἶναι τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀσώματον τὸ θεῖον, ἄϋλον, ἀναφὲς καὶ ἁπλοῦν· καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὰ εἰκότα δρῶν φαντασίαν τινὰ λάβοι σωματικήν. πλὴν τὸ γράμμα τὸ ἱερὸν ἀνθρωπίνως ἡμῖν τὸ περὶ αὐτοῦ διαλέγεται. οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἑτέρως δυνηθῆναι νοεῖν τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ παχέσιν ὄντας σώμασιν, εἰ μὴ καθάπερ ἐν τάξει παραδειγμάτων παρεκομίσθη τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, ἵν' ἐκ τῶν ἐν αἰσθήσει καὶ ὁρατῶν πραγμάτων κἂν τὸ ἐκ μέρους νοεῖν ἰσχύσωμεν τὰ περὶ τῆς θείας οὐσίας. 2.37 ∆ιελθὼν ὁ λόγος τὸ κήρυγμα τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν καὶ τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ γενομένην τῶν ἐθνῶν κλῆσιν, τοῦ τε θεοσεβοῦς πολιτεύματος τὴν σύστασιν καὶ τὴν τοῦ δηλωθέντος γίγαντος καθαίρεσιν μεταβαίνει πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἐκ περιτομῆς λαὸν ὡσπερεὶ πείθων καὶ ἀπολογούμενος, δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ἐπισκοπήσας πάντα τὰ ἔθνη αὐτοὺς ἐκδότους ἐποιήσατο. φησὶν οὖν εἰς αὐτῶν πρόσωπον· Μή μοί τις ὑμῶν καταμεμφέσθω ὡς ἐπιλελησμένῳ, ἧς ἔσῳζον πάλαι πρότερον περὶ ὑμᾶς σπουδῆς μηδέ τις καταιτιάσθω ὡς ἐμοῦ βιβλίον ἀποστασίου δεδωκότος τῇ πάλαι χώραν γαμετῆς ἐπεχούσῃ παρ' ἐμοὶ μητρὶ ὑμῶν, ἀλλὰ μηδ' ἐκβιασθέντα με ὑπόχρεως τῶν τινων πεπρακέναι ὑμᾶς νομιζέτω εἰς ἀπόδοσιν τοῦ χρέους· τούτων γὰρ οὐδὲν ἐξ ἐμοῦ γεγένηται. εἰ δὲ χρὴ τἀληθῆ λέγειν· Ὑμεῖς ἑαυτοὺς πεπράκατε ταῖς ὑμετέραις ἁμαρτίαις, ὅτι δὲ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει, ὁμολογήσετε ἂν καὶ αὐτοί, ὡς ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ ὤκνησα θεὸς ὢν καὶ κύριος τῶν ὅλων ὑποκαταβῆναι τοῦ οἰκείου μεγέθους καὶ μέχρις ὑμῶν αὐτῶν ποιῆσαι τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ παρουσίαν. Ὅθεν καὶ ἦλθον καὶ μέσος ὑμῶν γέγονα καὶ σὺν ὑμῖν ἀνθρώπου δίκην ἐπολιτευσάμην, ἐκάλεσα δὲ πάντας ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ἔπραξα δι' ὑπερβάλλουσαν φιλανθρωπίαν. ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ἦν ὁ ἀπαντῶν πρός με οὐδὲ ὑπακούων βοῶντος καὶ τοὺς πάντας ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ἀνακαλουμένου, ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ τοιαῦτα τετολμήκατε, ὁποῖα οὐκ ἂν ὑπομένοι ἂν ἀκοῇ. ἃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὰ ἀνεξικάκως ἤνεγκα δυνάμενος μηδὲν μηδ' ὅλως παθεῖν μηδὲ ἐπιτρέψαι τοιαῦτα τολμᾶν ἢ οὐ μέμνησθε ὑμεῖς αὐτοί, ὡς καιρῷ τινι «τὴν ἐρυθρὰν