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ing, it is superfluous to say, and he understood that God is the one calling; and he said: "If the one calling calls you, you will say, 'Speak, my Lord, for your servant is listening.'" But nevertheless God has preferred such an age over gray hair; and leaving behind the one who had lived ninety-eight years, and for forty years had been deemed worthy of a twofold authority (for he was both judge and high priest), he spoke to the smallest child; teaching how much better is youth adorned with virtue than gray hair. Eli, however, is clearly adorned with his own good deeds; but because of the wickedness of his children, he received the sentence of utter destruction. His words also reveal his piety. For first, he was not ashamed to ask the youth to report what had been announced from God; but he also bound him with oaths and curses, so that he would hide nothing of what was revealed. Then, upon learning the sentence that had been delivered, he uttered a praiseworthy voice: "It is the Lord; He will do what is pleasing in His sight." And indeed, having learned of the slaughter of his sons, the father and old man did not bear it ignobly; but upon learning that the ark had been captured by the spear, he fell from his chair, and in the excess of his despondency, he met the end of his life. QUESTION 10. Why did God allow the ark to be captured by the spear? The event produced a twofold benefit. For it taught the 80.541 Hebrews, while living according to the law, to trust in the providence of God; but while transgressing the law, to trust neither in Him, nor in the untouchable ark. For why did they, transgressing, take for aid that which had the law stored within it? These, then, received this benefit from it. But the foreigners, who had been afraid when the Hebrews shouted at the appearance of the ark, but became contemptuous after the victory, and dedicated it as a kind of first-fruit to their own idols, learned by experience the strength of God. For first they saw their own god fallen before the ark, and displaying the posture of worship. Then, after setting him up again, they found him on the next day shattered, and deprived of all his extremities. Then, not wishing to recognize the difference, and not rendering due reverence to the ark, they fell into various diseases. For as the Seventy translated, "They were struck in their posteriors;" but as Aquila, "they had the ulcer of gangrene." And Josephus taught that the affliction of dysentery came upon them; but let no one suppose the different versions are a disagreement. For the affliction of the posteriors followed the dysentery. For the frequent discharge burned the part of the discharge; and in time the ulcer turned into gangrene. And they endured the affliction of the posteriors, because they had impiously seated the divine ark beside the falsely-named god. The Ashdodites were the first to receive this punishment. For the Gittites, conjecturing that the plague was not sent from God, but a disease arising from some pestilential condition, moved the ark of God to Gath; but immediately they were subjected to the same calamities. But the phrase, "The Gittites made for themselves golden posteriors," the others interpreted thus, "And their posteriors were dissolved." And when the Gittites tried to move the ark to Ashkelon, those people refused, fearing the plagues sent from God. Then, since no city dared to receive the ark, they left it outside in an open place. For the historian taught this; "For it came to pass," he says, "that the ark of God was in the field of the 80.544 foreigners for seven months." But since they thought that, with the ark remaining outside, they were rid of the plagues sent from God, God the Master brought the punishments even upon inanimate things. For he sent a multitude of mice upon both the vines and the crops, which destroyed all their fruits. And by these things He taught that it was He Himself who had also brought the various plagues upon the Egyptians. For that they had a vivid memory of those things is testified by the things said by them. For indeed in the war, upon seeing the ark, they were filled with fear, and

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λῶν, περιττὸν μὲν εἰπεῖν, καὶ ὑπέλαβεν ὡς ὁ Θεός ἐστιν ὁ καλῶν· ἔφη δέ· "Ἐὰν καλέσῃ σε ὁ καλῶν, ἐρεῖς, Λάλει, Κύριέ μου, ὅτι ἀκούει ὁ δοῦλός σου." Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ τὴν τοιαύτην ἡλικίαν τῆς πολιᾶς προτετίμηκεν ὁ Θεός· καὶ τὸν ὀκτὼ καὶ ἐνενήκοντα ἔτη βεβιωκότα, καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη ἀρχῆς ἀξιωθέντα διπλῆς (καὶ κριτὴς γὰρ ἦν, καὶ ἀρχιερεὺς) καταλιπὼν, τῷ σμικροτάτῳ διειλέχθη παιδίῳ· διδάσκων ὅσῳ πολιᾶς ἀμείνων νεότης ἀρετῇ κοσμουμένη. Ὁ μέντοι Ἡλεὶ δῆλός ἐστιν οἰκείοις μὲν κοσμούμενος κατορθώμασι· διὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν παί δων πονηρίαν τῆς πανωλεθρίας τὴν ψῆφον δεξάμε νος. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ αὐτοῦ τὴν εὐσέβειαν καὶ τὰ ῥήματα. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ᾐσχύνθη παρακαλέσαι τὸν νέον μηνῦσαι τὰ θεόθεν ἀπαγγελθέντα· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅρκοις αὐτὸν κατέδησε καὶ ἀραῖς, ὥστε μηδὲν ἀποκρύψαι τῶν δηλωθέντων. Εἶτα τὴν ἐξενεχθεῖσαν ψῆφον μα θὼν, τὴν ἀξιέπαινον ἀφῆκε φωνήν· "Κύριός ἐστι, τὸ ἀρεστὸν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ποιήσει." Καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῶν υἱῶν τὴν σφαγὴν ἐγνωκὼς, οὐκ ἀγεν νῶς ἤνεγκεν ὁ πατὴρ καὶ πρεσβύτης· τὴν δέ γε κι βωτὸν δορυάλωτον γεγενῆσθαι μαθὼν, κατέπεσε μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ δίφρου, τῇ δὲ τῆς ἀθυμίας ὑπερβολῇ τοῦ βίου τὸ τέλος ἐδέξατο. ΕΡΩΤ. Ιʹ. Τί δήποτε συνεχώρησεν ὁ Θεὸς δορυάλωτον γε νέσθαι τὴν κιβωτόν; ∆ιπλῆν τὸ γεγονὸς ὠφέλειαν ἐβλάστησε. Τοὺς 80.541 μὲν γὰρ Ἑβραίους ἐδίδαξεν, ἐννόμως μὲν βιοῦν τας τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ προμηθείᾳ θαῤῥεῖν· παρανομοῦν τας δὲ μήτ' αὐτῷ, μήτε τῇ ἀψαύστῳ κιβωτῷ πε ποιθέναι· τί δήποτε γὰρ εἰς ἐπικουρίαν ἔλαβον παρανομοῦντες τὴν τὸν νόμον ἔνδον ἔχουσαν ἀποκεί μενον; Οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ταύτην ἐντεῦθεν τὴν ὠφέ λειαν ἐδέχοντο. Οἱ δέ γε ἀλλόφυλοι, δείσαντες μὲν ἡνίκα φανείσης τῆς κιβωτοῦ ἠλάλαξαν οἱ Ἑβραῖοι· καταφρονήσαντες δὲ μετὰ τὴν νίκην, καὶ οἱονεὶ ἀκρο θίνιον ταύτην τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀνατεθεικότες εἰδώλοις, ἔμαθον τῇ πείρᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἰσχύν. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ εἶδον πρὸ τῆς κιβωτοῦ πεπτωκότα τὸν οἰκεῖον θεὸν, καὶ τῆς προσκυνήσεως ἐπιδεικνύντα τὸ σχῆμα. Εἶτα τοῦτον ἀναστήσαντες εὗρον τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ συν τετριμμένον, καὶ τῶν ἄκρων πάντων ἐστερημένον. Ἔπειτα τὸ διάφορον γνῶναι μὴ βουληθέντες, καὶ τῇ κιβωτῷ τὸ προσῆκον μὴ ἀπονείμαντες σέβας, ποι κίλοις νοσήμασι περιέπεσον. Ὡς μὲν γὰρ οἱ Ἑβδομήκοντα ἡρμήνευσαν, "Εἰς τὰς ἕδρας ἐπλήγησαν·" ὡς δὲ ὁ Ἀκύλας, "τὸ τῆς φαγεδαίνης ἐσχήκασιν ἕλκος." Ὁ δέ γε Ἰώσηπος τὸ τῆς δυσεντερίας αὐτοῖς ἐγγενέσθαι πάθος ἐδίδαξεν· ἀλλὰ μηδεὶς δια φωνίαν νομιζέτω τὰς διαφόρους ἐκδόσεις. Τὴν γὰρ δυσεντερίαν τὸ τῆς ἕδρας διεδέξατο πάθος. Τὸ γὰρ συχνὸν τῆς ἐκκρίσεως τὸ τῆς ἐκκρίσεως κατ έκαυσε μόριον· εἰς φαγέδαιναν δὲ τῷ χρόνῳ τὸ ἕλ κος μετέπεσε. Τὸ δὲ τῆς ἕδρας ὑπέμειναν πάθος, ὡς δυσσεβῶς τὴν κιβωτὸν τὴν θείαν ἑδράσαντες παρὰ τὸν θεὸν τὸν ψευδώνυμον. Ταύτην οἱ Ἀζώτιοι πρῶ τοι τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐδέξαντο. Τοπάσαντες γὰρ οἱ Γετ θαῖοι, μὴ θεήλατον εἶναι τὴν πληγὴν, ἀλλὰ νό σον ἐκ λοιμικῆς τινος καταστάσεως γενομένην, μετ έθεσαν εἰς τὴν Γὲθ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ κιβωτόν· ἀλλὰ παραυτίκα ταῖς αὐταῖς ὑπεβλήθησαν συμφοραῖς. Τὸ δὲ, "Ἐποίησαν ἑαυτοῖς οἱ Γετθαῖοι ἕδρας χρυσᾶς," οἱ λοιποὶ οὕτως ἡρμήνευσαν, "Καὶ περιελύ θησαν αὐτῶν αἱ ἕδραι." Τῶν δὲ Γετθαίων εἰς Ἀσκάλωνα μεταθεῖναι τὴν κιβωτὸν πειραθέντων, ἀντεῖπον ἐκεῖνοι, δείσαντες τὰς θεηλάτους πληγάς. Εἶτα μηδεμιᾶς πόλεως δέξασθαι τολμώσης τὴν κι βωτὸν, ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ ταύτην ἔξω κατέλιπον τόπῳ. Τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ ἱστοριογράφος ἐδίδαξεν· "Ἐγένετο γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ κιβωτὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ τῶν ἀλ 80.544 λοφύλων μῆνας ἑπτά." Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ᾠήθησαν ἔξω μενούσης τῆς κιβωτοῦ τῶν θεηλάτων ἀπηλλάχθαι πληγῶν, ἐπήγαγεν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ∆εσπότης, καὶ τοῖς ἀψύχοις τὰς τιμωρίας. Μυῶν γάρ τι πλῆθος καὶ ταῖς ἀμπέλοις, καὶ τοῖς ληΐοις ἐπέπεμψεν, οἳ πάντας αὐτῶν ἐλυμήναντο τοὺς καρπούς. Ἐδίδαξε δὲ διὰ τούτων, ὡς αὐτὸς καὶ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις τὰς δια φόρους ἐπενήνοχε πληγάς. Ὅτι γὰρ ἔναυλον εἶχον ἐκείνων τὴν μνήμην, μαρτυρεῖ τὰ παρ' αὐτῶν εἰρημένα. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ τὴν κιβωτὸν θεα σάμενοι, δέους ἐπλήσθησαν, καὶ