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a covenant of the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and from 23.692 the prison house those who sit in darkness.” For those who were long ago bound tight with the devil's bonds, and who had wasted away in polytheistic and demonic error, He led them out, having loosed their bonds, giving remission of sins. But also those who were prisoners in death from of old He raised up with Himself, having loosed the bitter bonds of death. And this He did “in manliness;” for having taken the form of a man, and having acted manfully through a human body, He led out from their bonds those who were mentioned before. These were the achievements of the visitation of the Word of God to men, to which the following is said: “Likewise those who provoke, who dwell in tombs.” Which Symmachus interpreted more clearly, clarifying the meaning and saying: “But the disobedient shall inhabit a scorching dryness;” but Aquila, “But the apostates,” he says, “dwelt in a bare land.” For He Himself willed also to lead out and free from their bonds those who provoke. But these, persisting in disobedience, and in this very thing provoking and embittering God, shall inhabit their own tombs, as it is said of them: “Let the dead bury their own dead;” or “they shall inhabit a scorching dryness;” as being about to go “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” “O God, when you went out before your people, when you passed through the wilderness. Diapsalma.” That not only at the consummation of the ages did the Word of God visit men, but also that He Himself was the one who spoke oracles through Moses before, the present word teaches, saying: “O God, when you went out before your people, when you passed through the wilderness, the earth was shaken, for the heavens also dropped water.” For then, he says, at the time when you led the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, the whole earth was shaken, as the report of the things done in Egypt ran through to all. But the earth was shaken then; either because the report, as has been said, filled the ears of all on earth, or because the element itself rejoiced at the visitation of God. Which indeed another psalm also teaches, saying: “When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people, the mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs of the flock.” The earth therefore, rejoicing, was shaken; and the heavens dropped water. What did they drop, but either the food that was miraculously brought to those in the desert, or the divine words and laws that are food for rational souls? And the earth was shaken, and the heavens dropped water “from the presence of the God of Sinai,” that is, of the one who gave oracles on Mount Sinai. And these things Symmachus also interpreted more clearly, saying: “The earth was shaken, and the heaven dripped from the presence of the God of this Sinai, and from the presence of God, the God of Israel.” Perhaps also the heavenly powers, like certain nurses and wet-nurses dripping milk from the breast for infants, so also did these provide the supply from themselves to those who were then infants in their souls? For which reason also the word spoken through Moses has been called a pedagogue by the Apostle. 23.693 “You will set apart a voluntary rain, O God, for your inheritance, and it was weakened, but you perfected it.” Then, he says, “when you went out before your people, and when you passed through the wilderness, the earth was shaken, and the heavens dropped water;” but at the present time, when you ascended upon the west, you have worked other wonders. For to your inheritance you set apart a voluntary rain. And what was his inheritance after the former people but the Church from the Gentiles, just as He himself teaches, saying in the second psalm: “The Lord said to me: You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession.” For the Son of God, being commanded by the Father

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διαθήκην γένους, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν, ἐξάγειν ἐκ δεσμῶν δεδεμένους, καὶ ἐξ 23.692 οἴκου φυλακῆς καθημένους ἐν σκότει.» Τοὺς γὰρ πάλαι δεσμοῖς διαβολικοῖς κατεσφιγμένους, καὶ τῇ πολυθέῳ καὶ δαιμονικῇ πλάνῃ προστετηκότας, λύσας τῶν δεσμῶν ἐξήγαγε, δοὺς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ δεσμίους ὄντας ἐξ αἰῶνος συνανέστησεν ἑαυτῷ, λύσας τῶν πικρῶν τοῦ θανάτου δεσμῶν. Καὶ τοῦτο ἔπραξεν «ἐν ἀνδρείᾳ·» ἀνδρὸς γὰρ σχῆμα λαβὼν, καὶ δι' ἀνθρωπείου σώματος ἀνδρισάμενος, ἐξήγαγε τῶν δεσμῶν τοὺς προλεχθέντας. Ταῦτ' ἦν τὰ κατορθώματα τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιδημίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου, οἷς ἑξῆς εἴρηται· «Ὁμοίως τοὺς παραπικραίνοντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐν τάφοις.» Ὅπερ ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσε λευκότερον, διασαφήσας τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ εἰπών· «Οἱ δὲ ἀπειθεῖς κατοικήσουσι καύσωνος ξηρότητα·» ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας, «Πλὴν ἀφιστάμενοι, φησὶν, ἐσκήνωσαν λεωπετρίανδε.» Ἐβούλετο μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸς καὶ τοὺς παραπικραίνοντας ἐξαγαγεῖν καὶ ἐλευθερῶσαι τῶν δεσμῶν. Ἐπιμένοντες δὲ οὗτοι τῇ ἀπειθείᾳ, παροξύνοντές τε ἐν αὐτῷ τούτῳ καὶ παραπικραίνοντες τὸν Θεὸν, κατοικήσουσι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν τάφους, ὡς λέγεσθαι περὶ αὐτῶν· «Ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάπτειν τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς·» ἢ «κατοικήσουσι καύσωνος ξηρότητα·» ὡς ἂν μέλλοντες πορεύεσθαι «εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ.» «Ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν τῷ ἐκπορεύεσθαί σε ἐνώπιον τοῦ λαοῦ σου, ἐν τῷ διαβαίνειν σε ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. ∆ιάψαλμα.» Ὅτι μὴ μόνον ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων ἀνθρώποις ἐπεδήμει ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρότερον αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ διὰ Μωϋσέως χρηματίζων, ὁ παρὼν διδάσκει λόγος φάσκων· «Ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν τῷ ἐκπορεύεσθαί σε ἐνώπιον τοῦ λαοῦ σου, ἐν τῷ διαβαίνειν σε ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, γῆ ἐσείσθη, καὶ γὰρ οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἔσταξαν.» Καὶ τότε γὰρ, φησὶ, καθ' ὃν χρόνον ἐξῆγες τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἡ σύμπασα γῆ ἐσείετο τῆς φήμης τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πεπραγμένων διατρεχούσης εἰς πάντας. Ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν γῆ τότε ἐσείετο· ἤτοι τῆς φήμης, ὡς εἴρηται, τὰς πάντων τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀκοὰς πληρούσης, ἢ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ στοιχείου χαίροντος ἐπὶ τῇ ἐπιβάσει τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὃ δὴ διδάσκει καὶ ἕτερος ψαλμὸς λέγων· «Ἐν ἐξόδῳ Ἰσραὴλ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, οἴκου Ἰακὼβ ἐκ λαοῦ βαρβάρου, τὰ ὄρη ἐσκίρτησαν ὡς κριοὶ, καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ ὡς ἀρνία προβάτων.» Ἡ μὲν οὖν γῆ χαίρουσα ἐσείετο· οἱ δὲ οὐρανοὶ ἔσταξαν. Τί δὲ ἔσταξαν, ἀλλ' ἤτοι τὴν τροφὴν τὴν παραδόξως ἐνεχθεῖσαν τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἐρήμου, ἢ καὶ τοὺς θείους λόγους τε καὶ νόμους τροφὴν ὄντας ψυχῶν λογικῶν; Ἐσείετο δὲ ἡ γῆ, καὶ ἔσταξαν οἱ οὐρανοὶ «ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ Σιναῒ,» τουτέστι τοῦ ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σιναῒ χρηματίσαντος. Καὶ ταῦτα δὲ σαφέστερον ἡρμήνευσεν ὁ Σύμμαχος εἰπών· «Γῆ ἐσείετο, οὐρανὸς δὲ ἀπέσταξεν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ τούτου τοῦ Σιναῒ, καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ, Θεοῦ Ἰσραήλ.» Μήποτε δὲ καὶ αἱ οὐράνιοι δυνάμεις ὥσπερ τροφοί τινες καὶ τιθηνοὶ ἀπὸ θηλῆς γάλα νηπίοις ἀποστάζουσαι, οὕτως καὶ αὗται τὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν χορηγίαν παρεῖχον τοῖς τότε τὰς ψυχὰς νηπίοις; ∆ι' ὃ καὶ παιδαγωγὸς ὠνόμασται παρὰ τῷ Ἀποστόλῳ ὁ διὰ Μωϋσέως λαληθεὶς λόγος. 23.693 «Βροχὴν ἑκούσιον ἀφοριεῖς, ὁ Θεὸς, τῇ κληρονομίᾳ σου, καὶ ἠσθένησε, σὺ δὲ κατηρτίσω αὐτήν.» Τότε μὲν, φησὶν, «ἐν τῷ ἐκπορεύεσθαί σε ἐνώπιον τοῦ λαοῦ σου, καὶ ἐν τῷ διαβαίνειν σε ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, γῆ ἐσείσθη, καὶ οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἔσταξαν·» ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ παρόντος, ὅτε ἐπιβέβηκας ἐπὶ δυσμῶν, ἕτερα παράδοξα εἰργάσω. Τῇ γὰρ κληρονομίᾳ σου ἀφώρισας βροχὴν ἑκούσιον. Κληρονομία δὲ αὐτοῦ τίς ἦν μετὰ τὸν πρότερον λαὸν ἀλλ' ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησία, ὥσπερ οὖν διδάσκει λέγων αὐτὸς ἐν δευτέρῳ ψαλμῷ· «Κύριος εἶπε πρὸς μέ· Υἱός μου εἶ σὺ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε. Αἴτησαι παρ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς.» Υἱὸς γὰρ Θεοῦ κελευόμενος πρὸς τοῦ Πατρὸς