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QUESTION 65.

In the second book of Kings it is written: “That there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said: On Saul and on his house is the injustice, because he put the Gibeonites to death, and he said to them: What shall I do for you, and with what shall I make atonement, that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord? And they said to the king: The man who consumed us and who plotted to exterminate us, let us destroy him, so that he may not stand in any border of Israel. Give us seven men from his sons, and we will expose them to the sun for the Lord on the hill of Saul. And the king took the two sons of Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, and the five sons of Merob, Saul's daughter, whom she bore to Esdriel, and he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites; and they exposed them to the sun on a mountain before the Lord, and the seven fell there at the same time; and they were put to death in the days of harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest. And Rizpah daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth and spread it for herself upon the rock, until the waters of God dripped on them from heaven. And they did all that the king commanded. And God hearkened to the land after this.” Why after the death of Saul was David required to render justice, when a famine held the land, until he gave seven men from the seed of Saul to be put to death by the Gibeonites. What is the power of these words, and how should we contemplate them spiritually?

(737) Response. The precise knowledge of the oracles of the Spirit is wont to be revealed only

to those worthy of the Spirit; who, through great care for the virtues, having cleansed their mind from the soot of the passions, in the manner of a clean and transparent mirror, at the very first impression, receive the knowledge of divine things as it is imprinted and falls upon them like a face. But for those whose life, like mine, is stained with the defilement of the passions, it is scarcely possible even to establish the knowledge of divine things from certain plausible conjectures, let alone to presume to understand and express it with precision. And I know clearly, O honorable father, that you yourself, through suffering, know divine things better, and having gained it by experience, you have the knowledge of these things, which I only know how to speak of, being able to declare nothing about divine things from having experienced them. Nevertheless, what is according to one’s ability is not to be rejected, and especially by you who have commanded it and laid upon me this labor of speaking about things beyond my ability.

Saul, therefore, in this passage of Scripture, is the law in letter, reigning according to the power of a carnal commandment over the carnal Jews; that is, the corporeal way or reasoning that reigns over those who are led by the letter of the law alone. For Saul is interpreted, according to one understanding, as ‘Hades requested’. For having preferred the pleasure-loving life over the life and kingdom conducted in the Spirit of God according to virtue, the people of the Jews requested Hades, that is, ignorance, to reign over them instead of knowledge. For everyone who has fallen from divine love has the law in the flesh reigning through pleasure, which is able to keep no divine commandment, nor even desires to.

In another way, Saul is interpreted as ‘borrowed,’ or ‘a loan.’ For the written law was not given to those who received it as a possession of substance, but for tutelage toward an expected promise. Wherefore God, in giving the kingdom to Saul, did not promise him in the covenant an eternal kingdom. For every loan does not become for the one who received it a possession of substance, but a pretext for toil and labor [Fr. and labors], for the gathering of another substance. And Saul’s concubine Rizpah is interpreted as ‘a running of the mouth.’ And a running of the mouth is, that according to only the in word

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ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΞΕ΄.

Ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ τῶν Βασιλειῶν γέγραπται· " Ὅτι ἐγένετο λιμός ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ∆αβίδ τρία ἔτη· ἐνιαυτός ἐχόμενος ἐνιαυτοῦ. Καί ἐξεζήτησε ∆αβίδ τό πρόσωπον Κυρίου. Καί εἶπε Κύριος· Ἐπί Σαούλ, καί ἐπί τόν οἶκον αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀδικία· περί οὗ ἐθανάτωσε τούς Γαβαωνίτας, καί εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Τί ποιήσω ὑμῖν, καί ἐν τίνι ἐξιλάσομαι, καί εὐλογήσετε τήν κληρονομίαν Κυρίου; Καί εἶπον πρός τόν βασιλέα· Ὁ ἀνήρ, ὅς συνετέλεσεν ἡμᾶς, καί ἐλογίσατο ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ἡμᾶς, ἀφανίσωμεν αὐτόν, τοῦ μή ἑστάναι ἐν παντί ὁρίῳ Ἰσραήλ. ∆ότε ἡμῖν ἑπτά ἄνδρας ἐξ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ, καί ἐξηλιάσομεν αὐτούς τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν τῷ βουνῷ Σαούλ. Καί ἔλαβεν ὁ βασιλεύς τούς δύο υἱούς Ῥεσφᾶς, θυγατρός Ἀϊᾶ παλλακῆς Σαούλ· καί τούς πέντε υἱούς Μερώβ θυγατρός Σαούλ, οὕς ἔτεκε τῷ Ἐσδριήλ, καί ἔδωκεν αὐτούς ἐν χειρί τῶν Γαβαωνιτῶν· καί ἐξηλίασαν αὐτούς ἐν ὄρει ἐναντίον Κυρίου, καί ἔπεσον ἐκεῖ οἱ ἑπτά ἐπιτοαυτό· καί ἐθανατώθησαν ἐν ἡμέραις θερισμοῦ, ἐν ἀρχῆ θερισμοῦ κριθῶν. Καί ἔλαβε Ῥεσφά θυγάτηρ Ἀϊᾶ τό σάκκον, καί διέστρωσεν αὐτόν ἑαυτῇ ἐπί τήν πέτραν, ἕως ἔσταξαν ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς ὕδατα Θεοῦ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. Καί ἐποίησαν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετείλατο ὁ βασιλεύς. Καί ἐπήκουσεν ὁ Θεός τῇ γῇ μετά ταῦτα." ∆ιατί τί μετά τόν θάνατον Σαούλ ὁ ∆αβίδ ἀπῃτήθη δίκας, λιμοῦ κρατήσαντος τήν γῆν, ἕως ἔδωκε τούς ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος Σαούλ ἑπτά ἄνδρας θανατωθῆναι τοῖς Γαβαωνίταις. Τίς ἡ τούτων δύναμις τῶν λόγων, καί πῶς πνευματικῶς αὐτούς θεωρήσομεν.

(737) Ἀπόκρισις. Ἡ μέν ἀκριβής γνῶσις τῶν λογίων τοῦ Πνεύματος, μόνοις ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι

πέφυκε τοῖς ἀξίοις Πνεύματος· οἵ διά πολλήν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπιμέλειαν, τῆς τῶν παθῶν αἰθάλης τόν νοῦν ἐκκαθάραντες, ἐσόπτρου δίκην καθαροῦ τε καί διαυγοῦς, ἅμα τῇ πρώτῃ προσβολῇ καθάπερ πρόσωπον ἐντυπουμένην αὐτοῖς καί ἐμπίπτουσαν, τήν τῶν θείων ὑποδέχονται γνῶσιν. Οἷς δέ κατ᾿ ἐμέ τήν τῶν παθῶν κηλῖσιν ὁ βίος κατέστικται, μόλις κἄν ἐξ εἰκότων τινῶν στοχασμῶν τεκμηριῶσαι τήν τῶν θείων γνῶσίν ἐστι δυνατόν· μή ὅτι γε νοῆσαί τε καί φράσαι ταύτην δι᾿ ἀκριβείας ἀπαυθαδιάζεσθαι. Καί οἶδ σαφῶς ἔγω γε, ὅτι πάσχων αὐτός γινώσκεις τά θεῖα μᾶλλον τίμιε πάτερ, καί πείρᾳ λαβών ἔχεις τούτων τήν ἐπιστήμην, ᾔπερ ἐγώ λέγει ἐπίσταμαι, μηδέν ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν ἀποφήνασθαι περί τῶν θείων δυνάμενος. Πλήν καί τό κατά δύναμιν οὐκ ἀπόβλητον, καί μάλισθ᾿ ὑμῖν τοῖς ἐπιτάξασι, καί τόνδε μοι περί τῶν ὑπέρ δύναμιν τοῦ λέγειν πόνον ἐπιθεμένοις.

Σαούλ τοίνυν ἐστί κατά τόνδε τῆς Γραφῆς τόν τόπον, ὁ βασιλεύων κατά δύναμιν ἐντολῆς σαρκίνης τῶν σαρκικῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐν γράμματι νόμος· ἤγουν ὁ βασιλεύων τῶν ἀγομένων μόνῳ τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου σωματικός τρόπος ἤ λογισμός. Αἰτητός γάρ ᾅδης κατά μίαν ἐπιβολήν Σαούλ ἑρμηνεύεται. Τῆς γάρ ἐν πνεύματι Θεοῦ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν διεξαγομένης ζωῆς τε καί βασιλείας, προτιμήσας τήν φιλήδονον ζωήν ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαός, ᾐτήσατο τόν ᾅδην, ἤγουν τήν ἄγνοιαν, ἀντί τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ βασιλεύειν. Πᾶς γάρ ὁ τῆς θείας ἐκπεπτωκώς ἀγάπης, τόν ἐν τῇ σαρκί νόμον ἔχει διά τῆς ἡδονῆς βασιλεύοντα· τόν μηδεμίαν θείαν ἐντολήν φυλάξαι δυνάμενον, ἤ μηδέ βουλόμενον.

Κατ᾿ ἄλλον δέ τρόπον Σαούλ ἑρμηνεύεται, δεδανεισμένος, ἤ δάνειον. Οὐ γάρ ἐδόθη ὁ γραπτός νόμος τοῖς λαβοῦσιν εἰς κτῆσιν περιουσίας, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς παιδαγωγίαν προσδοκωμένης ἐπαγγελίας. ∆ιό καί δούς τῷ Σαούλ τήν βασιλείαν ὁ Θεός, ἐν τῇ πρός αὐτόν διαθήκῃ, αἰώνιον οὐ καθυπέσχετο τήν βασιλείαν. Πᾶν γάρ δάνειον, οὐ γίνεται τῷ λαβόντι κτῆμα περιουσίας, ἀλλά πρόφασις καμάτου καί πόνου [Fr. καί πόνων], εἰς ἄλλης περιουσίας συλλογήν. Ἡ δέ τοῦ Σαούλ παλλακή Ῥεσφά, δρόμος ἑρμηνεύεται στόματος. ∆ρόμος δέ στόματός ἐστιν, ἡ κατά μόνην τήν ἐν λόγῳ