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therefore God repents of having anointed as king of Israel the law in letter that is productive of this passion, and transfers the dominion of the kingdom, and gives it to David (that is, to the gospel and the spiritual law), that is, to the son of Jesse. And Jesse is interpreted, God's creation. Therefore the holy Gospel happens to be the offspring of creation, that is, of God's own work through the flesh, which has the kingdom for endless ages; by which we have indestructible exultation, and gladness as a day that has no evening and no end. For it says: This is the day which God has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it; by 'day' meaning the grace of the Gospel, or the mystery of Him who created this grace, in which He wants all of us, according to the divine Apostle, to walk becomingly as in a day of knowledge and truth. For Christ is a day of eternal light, in whom all who have believed in Him must conduct themselves well through the decorum of the virtues. (769) For this is the one made without seed by God alone according to the flesh, and who innovated the laws of the natural ordinances, and prepared in the presence of all peoples, and a light for the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of the people Israel. For our Lord is truly a light to the Gentiles, revealing to them, through true knowledge, the eyes of the mind that were closed in the darkness of ignorance; and again, having prepared Himself by divine training for the faithful peoples as a good exemplar of virtue; becoming for them an outline and a model of the person according to virtue; looking to whom, as the author of our salvation, we achieve the virtues through practice, by imitation, as far as is possible for us. But He Himself, God and Logos, is also the glory of the people Israel, as one who illuminates the mind with the divine light of knowledge through mystical contemplation. Or perhaps by 'peoples' the scripture means the principles according to nature; and by their 'face', the unerring glory, for the preparation of which the Logos himself has become a light for knowledge, as the creator of nature; and 'Gentiles', the passions contrary to nature, which He reveals when they are hidden, bestowing the light of knowledge, and completely expels from nature. And the Logos becomes the glory of Israel, as one who cleanses the mind of the passions contrary to nature, and adorns it with the principles according to nature; and in addition, binding it with the diadem of immutability according to deification. For the true glory of Israel is both the deliverance from the passions contrary to nature, and the achievement of the principles according to nature, and the acquisition of the goods that are above nature. He who receives this intelligible David, even if he is envied by Saul, is not captured; but on the contrary, through great love for mankind, as one free from passion, and though hated, he heals with the harp of the spirit the enemy who is being choked by an evil spirit; and makes him sober-minded, freeing him, as from an evil demon, from the evil seizure of his earthly mindset. For everyone who out of envy hates and maliciously slanders one who is stronger in the struggles for the virtues and in the abundance of the word of spiritual knowledge, is a Saul being choked by an evil spirit, not bearing the fame of the superior person's happiness in virtue and knowledge; and for this reason is all the more frenzied, because he cannot do away with his benefactor. And often he also bitterly sends away his beloved Jonathan; I mean the innate reasoning according to conscience, which convicts his unjust hatred and truthfully recounts the achievements of the one hated, just like the Saul of old who was truly vain; to whom Samuel says, as to a transgressor of the divine commandments: It has become vain for you, because you have transgressed

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οὖν τούτου τοῦ πάθους περιποιητικόν ἐν γράμματι νόμον μεταμελεῖται χρίσας εἰς βασιλέα τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ὁ Θεός, καί μεταφέρει τό κράτος τῆς βασιλείας, καί δίδωσι τῷ ∆αβίδ (τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ δηλαδή καί πνευματικῷ νόμῳ), τουτέστι, τῷ υἱῷ Ἰεσσαί. Ἑρμηνεύεται δέ Ἰεσσαί, Θεοῦ ποίησις. Οὐκοῦν τό ἅγιον Εὐαγγέλιον, γέννημα τυγχάνει τῆς ποιήσεως, ἤγουν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ διά σαρκός αὐτουργίας, τῆς ἐχούσης εἰς τούς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας τήν βασιλείαν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἔχομεν ἀγαλλίασιν ἀκατάλυτον, καί τήν εὐφροσύνην ὡς ἡμέραν οὖσαν ἀνέσπερον καί ἀτελεύτητον. Φησί γάρ· Αὕτη ἡ ἡμέρα ἥν ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεός· ἀγαλλιασώμεθα καί εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐτῇ· ἡμέρα λέγων, τήν εὐαγγελικήν χάριν, ἤ τό μυστήριον αὐτοῦ τοῦ ταύτην ποιησαμένου τήν χάριν, ἐν ᾧ βούλεται πάντας ἡμᾶς, κατά τόν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον, ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ γνώσεως καί ἀληθείας εὐσχημόνως περιπατεῖν. Ἡμέρα γάρ ἀϊδίου φωτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός, ἐν ᾧ δεῖ πάντας τούς αὐτῷ πεπιστευκότας, διά τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν εὐσχημοσύνης καλῶς πολιτεύεσθαι. (769) Οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ πεποιημένος ἄνευ σπορᾶς ὑπό Θεοῦ μόνος τό κατά σάρκα, καί τῶν κατά φύσιν θεσμῶν καινοτομήσας τούς νόμους, καί κατά πρόσωπον πάντων τῶν λαῶν ἡτοιμασμένος, καί φῶς εἰς ἀποκάλυψιν ἐθνῶν καί δόξαν λαοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Φῶς γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθῶς ἐθνῶν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, ἀποκαλύπτων αὐτοῖς, διά τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως, τούς τῷ ζόφῳ τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐπιμεμυκότας ὀφθαλμούς τῆς διανοίας· καί θείας ἀγωγῆς πάλιν ἑαυτόν ἑτοιμάσας τοῖς πιστοῖς λαοῖς ἀγαθόν ἀρετῆς ἐξεμπλάριον· προσώπου τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ὑπογραμμός αὐτοῖς γενόμενος καί ὑποτύπωσις· πρός ὅν ἀφορῶντες, ὡς ἀρχηγόν τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, τάς ἀρετάς κατά μίμησιν, ὡς ἡμῖν ἐστι δυνατόν, κατορθοῦμεν διά τῆς πράξεως. Ἀλλά καί δόξα λαοῦ Ἰσραήλ αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ θεός καί Λόγος, ὡς τῷ θείῳ τῆς γνώσεως φωτί διά τῆς μυστικῆς θεωρίας καταφαιδρύνων τόν νοῦν. Ἤ τυχόν λαούς φησιν ὁ λόγος, τούς κατά φύσιν λόγους· πρόσωπον δέ τούτων, τήν ἄπταιστον δόξαν, ἧς ἑτοιμασία, φῶς πρός ἐπίγνωσιν αὐτός καθέστηκεν ὁ λόγος, ὡς κτίστης τῆς φύσεως· ἔθνη δέ, τά παρά φύσιν πάθη, ἅπερ ἀποκαλύπτει λανθάνοντα, φῶς δωρούμενος γνώσεως, καί παντελῶς ἐξωθεῖται τῆς φύσεως. ∆όξα δέ γίνεται τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ὁ Λόγος, ὡς τῶν παρά φύσιν παθῶν ἀποκαθαίρων τόν νοῦν, καί τοῖς κατά φύσιν λόγοις κατακοσμῶν· πρός δέ, καί τῷ διαδήματι τῆς κατά τήν θέωσιν ἀτρεψίας ἐπισφίγγων. ∆όξα γάρ ἀληθῶς ὑπάρχει τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ἥ τε τῶν παρά φύσιν ἀπαλλαγή παθῶν, καί τῶν κατά φύσιν λόγων κατόρθωσις, καί τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἐπίκτησις ἀγαθῶν. Ὁ τοῦτον τόν νοητόν ∆αβίδ προσδεχόμενος, κἄν φθονῆται ὑπό τοῦ Σαούλ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ἁλίσκεται· ἀλλά καί τοὐναντίον, διά πολλήν φιλανθρωπίαν ὡς ἀπαθής, καί μισούμενος θεραπεύει τῇ κιθάρᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος, τόν ἐχθρόν πονηρῷ καταπνιγόμενον πνεύματι· καί ποιεῖ σώφρονα, λύων αὐτόν, καθάπερ δαίμονος πονηροῦ, τῆς κακῆς τοῦ χοϊκοῦ φρονήματος ἐπιληψίας. Πᾶς γάρ διά φθόνον μισῶν, καί κακῶς διαθρυλλῶν ταῖς διαβολαῖς τόν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί τῇ περιουσίᾳ τοῦ λόγου τῆς πνευματικῆς γνώσεως δυνατώτερον, Σαούλ ἐστι πονηρῶ καταπνιγόμενος πνεύματι, μή φέρων τό κλέος τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν εὐδαιμονίας τοῦ κρείττονος· καί διά τοῦτο πλέον μαινόμενος, ὅτι μή δύναται τόν εὐεργέτην διαχειρίσασθαι. Πολλάκις δέ καί αὐτόν ἀποπέμπεται πικρῶς τόν φίλτατον Ἰωνάθαν· τόν ἔμφυτον λέγω κατά συνείδησιν λογισμόν, τόν ἄδικον μῖσος ἐλέγχοντα, καί τοῦ μισουμένου φιλαλήθως ἀφηγούμενον τά κατορθώματα, κατά τόν πάλαι καί μάταιον ὄντως Σαούλ· πρός ὅν φησι Σαμουήλ, ὡς παραβάτην τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν· Μεματαίωταί σοι, ὅτι παρέβης