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Such a thought was laughable (for the God of all said to Abraham, "I will make your seed as the sand on the seashore, which cannot be numbered for multitude"), for this reason he called such a thought Satan, as being contrary to the divine promise; but this thought came about for the punishment of Israel; "For," it says, "Satan rose up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel and Judah." So also here, "The anger of God was again kindled against Israel; and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah." But if he himself commanded it, why is he angry? He has therefore signified the divine permission through these things. But if the Lord God had commanded this to be done, why does David repent for having fulfilled the divine command? "For," it says, "David's heart smote him after this, because he had numbered the people; and David said, I have sinned against the Lord in doing this thing. And now, Lord, take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly." It is clear, therefore, that he called the permission a command; since, being able to prevent it, he did not prevent it, wishing through this to chastise the lawless. And first he wished to remind them of the promise made to the fathers, and to show its truth; then to teach how from 80.664 one man, Jacob, so many myriads came to be, and that having received such a great benefit they always showed a wicked disposition. For this reason he first permitted them to be numbered; then he punished them, and sent Gad the prophet to the one who had numbered them to propose three choices: either a famine lasting for three years, or an attack of enemies for three months, conquering and pursuing with might, or death from plague occurring in three days; and having said these things, the prophet urged the prophet and king to give his answer; "For now," he says, "know and see what word I shall answer to him who sent me." But the most wise and most just king, reasoning that he himself would be able to escape the famine, having much grain stored up as king, while the punishment would proceed against the poor alone; and that in war it was possible for him to escape the hands of the enemies, first by using the strongest and impregnable fortresses, and then by being fenced about by those excellent warriors; he did not think it right to care for his own safety, but to share in the punishments being brought upon the people; for such is the plague, knowing no difference between rich and poor, nor between coward and brave man; nor between slave and master, nor between commoner and king; but proceeding against all alike. For this reason he chose this punishment above the others, of which the punisher himself is the dispenser; "For," it says, "David said to Gad: I am in a great strait with all three. Yet I will fall into the hands of the Lord; for his mercies are very many; but into the hands of men I will not fall; and David chose death for himself," and he was not disappointed in his hope. For God, having threatened death for three days, brought death in only six hours. And when the nights are counted with the days, it is found that a twelfth part of the threat was brought upon the people. Thus the philanthropic Lord uses greater threats to terrify sinners; but he brings punishments much less than the threats. For, when nine hundred thousand of Israel were found, 80.665 and four hundred thousand of Judah, that is, those of military age, with the youths and the elderly, and indeed the women excluded, and in addition the Levites and the tribe of Benjamin; for when the king repented they were not numbered; only seventy thousand were destroyed by the angel; and this when all of them could have been destroyed in a moment. For a punishing angel did not need time. For in a moment he destroyed both the firstborn of the Egyptians, and the one hundred eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. Of philanthropy, therefore, but not of inability, the

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γελίαις ὁ τοιοῦτος ἦν λογισμὸς (τῷ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἔφη Θεὸς, "Ποιήσω τὸ σπέρμα σὸν ὡς τὴν ἄμμον τὴν παρὰ τὸ χεῖλος τῆς θαλάσσης, ἥτις οὐκ ἀριθμηθήσεται ἀπὸ τοῦ πλήθους"), τούτου χά ριν Σατᾶν τὸν τοιοῦτον ὠνόμασε λογισμὸν, ὡς ἐναν τίον τῇ ὑποσχέσει τῇ θείᾳ· ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἰσ ραὴλ τιμωρίαν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐγένετο λογισμός· "Ἀν έστη γὰρ, φησὶν, Σατᾶν ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐπέσεισε τὸν ∆αβὶδ, τοῦ ἀριθμῆσαι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τὸν Ἰούδα." Οὕτω κἀνταῦθα, "Προσέθετο ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ θυμωθῆναι ἐπὶ Ἰσραήλ· καὶ ἐπέσεισε τὸν ∆αβὶδ εἰς αὐτοὺς, λέγων, Πορεύθητι, ἀρίθμησον τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τὸν Ἰούδα." Εἰ δὲ αὐτὸς προσέταξε, τί δήποτε χαλεπαίνει; Οὐκοῦν τὴν θείαν συγχώρη σιν διὰ τούτων δεδήλωκεν. Εἰ δὲ ὁ ∆εσπότης Θεὸς τοῦτο προσετετάχει γενέσθαι, τί δήποτε μεταμελεῖται ὁ ∆αβὶδ τὴν θείαν πεπληρωκὼς ἐντολήν; "Ἐπάταξε γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ καρδία ∆αβὶδ αὐτὸν μετὰ ταῦτα, ὅτι ἠρίθμησε τὸν λαόν· καὶ εἶπε ∆αβὶδ, Ἡμάρτηκα τῷ Κυρίῳ τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο. Καὶ νῦν, Κύριε, περίελε τὴν ἀδικίαν τοῦ δούλου σου, ὅτι ἐματαιώθη σφόδρα." ∆ῆλον τοίνυν, ὡς τὴν συγχώρησιν ἐκάλε σεν ἐντολήν· ἐπειδὴ κωλῦσαι δυνάμενος οὐκ ἐκώ λυσε, παιδεῦσαι διὰ τούτου τοὺς παρανόμους βου λόμενος. Καὶ πρῶτον μὲν αὐτοὺς ἠθέλησε τῆς πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας γεγενημένης ἐπαγγελίας ἀναμνῆσαι, καὶ δεῖξαι ταύτης τὸ ἀληθές· ἔπειτα διδάξαι, ὡς ἐξ 80.664 ἑνὸς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ τοσαῦται μυριάδες ἐγένοντο, καὶ ὅτι τοσαύτης τετυχηκότες εὐεργεσίας ἀεὶ πονηρὰν ἐπεδείξαντο γνώμην. Τούτου χάριν ἀριθμηθῆναι συνεχώρησε πρῶτον· εἶθ' οὕτως ἐκόλασεν, Γὰδ δὲ τὸν προφήτην πρὸς τὸν ἀριθμήσαντα πέπομφε τρεῖς αἱρέσεις προστῆναι· ἢ λιμὸν τρισὶ συμμετρού μενον ἔτεσιν, ἢ πολεμίων ἔφοδον ἐπὶ μησὶ τρισὶ κατακράτος νικώντων καὶ διωκόντων, ἢ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ λοιμοῦ θάνατον ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις γινόμενον· ταῦτα δὲ εἰπὼν ὁ προφήτης τῷ προφήτῃ καὶ βασιλεῖ, ἤπειξε λαβεῖν τὴν ἀπόκρισιν· "Καὶ νῦν γὰρ, φησὶ, γνῶθι καὶ ἴδε τί ἀποκριθῶ ῥῆμα τῷ ἀποστείλαντί με." Ὁ δὲ σοφώτατος καὶ δικαιότατος βασιλεὺς, λογισά μενος ὡς τὸν λιμὸν αὐτὸς διαφυγεῖν δυνήσεται, πο λὺν ὡς βασιλεὺς ἔχων ἀποκείμενον σῖτον· κατὰ μόνων δὲ τῶν πενήτων ἡ τιμωρία χωρήσει· καὶ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ δὲ δυνατὸν αὐτὸν διαφυγεῖν τῶν πολε μίων τὰς χεῖρας, πρῶτον μὲν τοῖς ὀχυρωτάτοις καὶ δυσαλώτοις φρουρίοις χρησάμενον, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἀριστεύουσιν ἐκείνοις περιφραττόμενον· οὐκ ᾠήθη δίκαιον τῆς οἰκείας σωτηρίας φροντίσαι, ἀλλὰ συμμετασχεῖν τῶν ἐπιφερομένων κολάσεων τῷ λαῷ· τοιοῦτος δὲ ὁ λοιμὸς, διαφορὰν πλουσίου καὶ πένητος οὐκ εἰδὼς, οὐδὲ δειλοῦ καὶ ἀνδρείου· οὐδὲ δούλου καὶ δεσπότου, οὐδὲ ἰδιώτου καὶ βασιλέως· ἀλλὰ κατὰ πάντων ὁμοίως χωρῶν. Τούτου χάριν ταύτην τὴν τιμωρίαν τῶν ἄλλων προείλετο, ἧς αὐ τός ἐστιν ὁ κολάζων διανομεύς· "Εἶπε γὰρ, φησὶ, ∆αβὶδ πρὸς Γάδ· Στενά μοι σφόδρα ἐστὶ καὶ τὰ τρία. Πλὴν ἐμπεσοῦμαι εἰς χεῖρας Κυρίου· ὅτι πολλοὶ οἱ οἰκτιρμοὶ αὐτοῦ σφόδρα· εἰς δὲ χεῖρας ἀνθρώπων οὐ μὴ ἐμπέσω· καὶ ἐξελέξατο ἑαυτῷ ∆αβὶδ τὸν θά νατον," καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος οὐκ ἐψεύσθη. Τριῶν γὰρ ἡμερῶν ὁ Θεὸς θάνατον ἀπειλήσας, ἐν ἓξ μόναις ὥραις τὸν θάνατον ἐπήνεγκε. Συναριθμουμένων δὲ τῶν νυκτῶν ταῖς ἡμέραις, τὸ δωδεκατημόριον εὑ ρίσκεται τῆς ἀπειλῆς ἐπενεχθὲν τῷ λαῷ. Οὕτως ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Κύριος μείζοσι μὲν κέχρηται ταῖς ἀπει λαῖς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας δεδιττόμενος· πολλῷ δὲ τῶν ἀπειλῶν ἐλάττους ἐπιφέρει τὰς τιμωρίας. Καὶ γὰρ, ἐννακοσίων χιλιάδων τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ εὑρεθεισῶν, 80.665 καὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα τετρακοσίων, δηλονότι τῶν τὴν στρα τεύσιμον ἡλικίαν ἀγόντων, καὶ τῶν προώρων καὶ τῶν ἐξώρων, καὶ μέντοι καὶ γυναικῶν ἐξῃρημένων, προσέτι δὲ καὶ τῶν Λευϊτῶν, καὶ τῆς Βενιαμίτιδος φυλῆς· μεταμεληθέντος γὰρ τοῦ βασιλέως οὐκ ἠρι θμήθησαν· ἑβδομήκοντα χιλιάδες ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἀνῃρέθησαν μόναι· καὶ ταῦτα πάντων ἐν ἀκαρεῖ διαφθαρῆναι δυναμένων. Οὐ γὰρ ἐδεῖτο χρόνου τι μωρὸς ἄγγελος. Ἐν ἀκαρεῖ γὰρ ἀνεῖλε καὶ τὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων πρωτότοκα, καὶ τὰς ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα πέντε χιλιάδας τῶν Ἀσσυρίων. Τῆς φιλανθρωπίας τοίνυν, ἀλλ' οὐ τῆς ἀδυναμίας, ὁ