Selecta in Deuteronomium

SELECTIONS OF ORIGEN ON DEUTERONOMY.

12.805 Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel according to all that the Lord commanded him. Since God was revealing the power; but the prophet was using his own tongue for the presentation of the things that had been declared. Therefore the prophetic voice is called a motion, as one presenting the things spoken by God. And I said to you at that time. Moses does not simply say, "I said to you;" but since, when he departed, Jesus the son of Nun was about to succeed him, he says the matter is not out of place, but also consecutive. For, he says, having anticipated, I exhorted, and, as you consented, I appointed judges; so that you also obey Jesus the son of Nun who succeeds me according to prophetic and guiding grace. I will not be able to bear you alone. And remembering the former things, he does not begin from Egypt, but from when he gave them wise judges and instructors. I gave to Reuben and to Gad. The lesser ones 12.808 are sooner in the promise; but the more excellent ones receive it more slowly. For the former received the inheritance first from Moses; the latter later from Jesus. But it is also said concerning all the just, not the random ones; for as the Apostle says: "These all, having been witnessed to through faith, did not receive the promise, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." The voice of words which you heard, and what follows. Not that the voice is visible, nor that God has a voice by nature; for this would be of a composite nature; but since both the trumpets and the voices, as God himself knows, were accomplished, being created from the coherence of the visible elements; I mean of the fire and of the darkness; so that a voice is both heard and not seen; but yet in the wonders of God the voice is also seen. And he swore that I should not cross this Jordan. Moses, not having glorified God before the people, was prevented from passing over with them, lest whom they honored while living, they might honor with the worship of gods when he was gone. For this very reason also, when he died, he made his tomb invisible. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today. God, not allowing those who worship him to be joined to demons, but commanding those who have once known him to be outside the disposition toward them, and being jealous in the apostasy of the peoples, foretells their future punishments on account of the wickedness of their practices. Out of the house of bondage. For truly bodily and material things are a house of bondage, just as from their opposites is a house of freedom. For you are few in comparison to all the nations. It has been well said to those of the portion: "You are few in comparison to all the nations." And related is the, "Few are those who are being saved," and the, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate." That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, and what follows. And again, that the manna was a word, even if it is declared to be bread in Exodus. "For this," he says, "is the bread which the Lord gave you to eat. This is the word which the Lord commanded." For this reason the manna was "fine as white coriander, as frost upon the earth;" since the word, of which that manna was a symbol, is fine in its nature, and passes through all intellectual, pure, most subtle spirits. And wisdom is also an intellectual spirit, holy, only-begotten, manifold, subtle, and what follows. And it was also as coriander in being white. And they say that the nature of coriander has the principle of seed through and through, so that not even when the coriander seed is cut up is its power destroyed, as no longer being able to be sown.

Selecta in Deuteronomium

ΩΡΙΓΕΝΟΥΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΟΝΟΜΙΟΝ ΕΚΛΟΓΑΙ.

12.805 Ἐλάλησε Μωϋσῆς πρὸς πάντας υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἐνετείλατο Κύριος αὐτῷ. Ἐπειδὴ ὁ μὲν Θεὸς τὴν δύναμιν ἀπεκάλυπτεν· ὁ δὲ προφή της τῇ ἑαυτοῦ γλώσσῃ ἐκέχρητο πρὸς παράστασιν τῶν δεδηλωμένων. Κίνησις οὖν λέγεται ἡ προφητικὴ φωνὴ, οἷα παριστῶσα τὰ ὑπὸ Θεοῦ εἰρημένα. Καὶ εἶπα πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὁ Μωϋσῆς φησιν, «εἶπον ὑμῖν·» ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἔμελλεν αὐτοῦ ἀναχωρήσαντος διαδέχεσθαι αὐτὸν Ἰη σοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ, οὐκ ἄτοπόν φησι τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑπόμενον. Προλαβὼν γὰρ, φησὶ, παρεκάλεσα, καὶ, ὡς ἐπενεύσατε, ἐπέστησα κριτάς· ὥστε καὶ τῷ κατὰ προφητικὴν χάριν καὶ ὁδηγητικὴν διαδεχο μένῳ με Ἰησοῦ τῷ τοῦ Ναυῆ πείθεσθε. Οὐ δυνήσομαι μόνος φέρειν ὑμᾶς. Καὶ τῶν προ τέρων μεμνημένος, οὐκ ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου ἄρχεται· ἀλλ' ἀφ' οὗ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς δικαστὰς σοφοὺς καὶ παι δευτάς. Ἔδωκα τῷ Ῥουβὶμ καὶ τῷ Γάδ. Οἱ ὑποδεέστεροι 12.808 τάχιον ἐν τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ γίνονται· οἱ δὲ ἐπιεικέστεροι βράδιον ἀπολαμβάνουσιν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως πρῶτοι εἰλήφασι τὴν κληρονομίαν· οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὕστερον. Ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ πάντων δικαίων λέγεται, οὐ τῶν τυχόντων· ὡς γὰρ ὁ Ἀπόστολός φησιν· «Οὗτοι πάντες μαρτυρηθέντες διὰ τῆς πίστεως οὐκ ἐκομίσαντο τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν κρεῖττόν τι προβλεψαμένου, ἵνα μὴ χωρὶς ἡμῶν τε λειωθῶσιν.» Φωνὴν ῥημάτων ἣν ὑμεῖς ἠκούσατε, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Οὐχ ὅτι ὁρατὴ ἡ φωνὴ, οὐδ' ὅτι φύσει φωνὴν ἔχει ὁ Θεός· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ συνθέτου φύσεως ἂν εἴη· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ καὶ αἱ σάλπιγγες, καὶ αἱ φωναὶ, ὡς αὐτὸς οἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἐπετελοῦντο ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὁρωμένων συν εχείας δημιουργούμεναι στοιχείων· τοῦ πυρὸς λέγω καὶ τοῦ γνόφου· ὥστε καὶ ἀκούεται φωνὴ, καὶ οὐχ ὁρᾶται· ἀλλ' οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ θαυμάτων καὶ ἡ φωνὴ ὁρᾶται. Καὶ ὤμοσεν ἵνα μὴ διαβῶ τὸν Ἰορδάνην τοῦτον. Μωϋσῆς, μὴ δοξάσας τὸν Θεὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ λαοῦ, ἐκωλύθη παρελθεῖν μετ' αὐτῶν, ἵνα μὴ ὃν ἐτίμων ζῶντα, ἐν θεῶν θεραπείαις τιμήσωσιν ἀπελθόντα. ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ ἀποθανόντος ἀφανῆ τὸν τάφον ἐποίησεν. ∆ιαμαρτύρομαι ὑμῖν σήμερον τόν τε οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς αὐτὸν προσκυνοῦντας οὐ συγ χωρῶν δαίμοσι συνάπτεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἅπαξ αὐτὸν ἐγνωκότας ἐκτὸς εἶναι κελεύων τῆς πρὸς ἐκείνους δια θέσεως, καὶ παραζηλῶν ἐν τῇ ἀποστασίᾳ τῶν λαῶν, τὰς μελλούσας αὐτοῖς προλέγει τιμωρίας διὰ τὴν πονηρίαν τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων αὐτῶν. Ἐξ οἴκου δουλείας. Καὶ γὰρ ἀληθῶς τὰ σωμα τικὰ πράγματα καὶ ὑλικὰ, οἶκός ἐστι δουλείας, ὥσπερ ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων οἶκός ἐστιν ἐλευθερίας. Ὑμεῖς γάρ ἐστε ὀλιγοστοὶ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἔθ νη. Καλῶς τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς μερίδος εἴρηται· «Ὀλι γοστοί ἐστε παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη.» Συγγενῶς τε τὸ, «Ὀλίγοι οἱ σωζόμενοι,» καὶ τὸ, «Ἀγωνίζεσθε εἰσελθεῖν διὰ τῆς στενῆς πύλης.» Ὅτι οὐκ ἐπ' ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Πάλιν τε αὖ ὅτι τὸ μάννα λόγος ἦν, εἰ καὶ ἄρτος δηλοῦται ἐν τῇ Ἐξό δῳ. «Οὗτος γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ ἄρτος ὃν ἔδωκε Κύριος ὑμῖν φαγεῖν. Τοῦτο τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ συνέταξε Κύριος.» ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δὲ τὸ μάννα «λεπτὸν ἦν ὡσεὶ κόριον λευ κὸν, ὡσεὶ πάγος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς·» ἐπειδήπερ ὁ λόγος οὗ σύμβολον ἦν τὸ μάννα ἐκεῖνο, λεπτόν ἐστι τῇ αὐτοῦ φύσει, καὶ διῆκον διὰ πάντων πνευμάτων νοερῶν, καθαρῶν, λεπτοτάτων. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἡ σοφία πνεῦμα νοερὸν, ἅγιον, μονογενὲς, πολυμερὲς, λεπτὸν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἦν δὲ καὶ ὡσεὶ κόριον πρὸς τὸ εἶναι λευκόν. Φασὶ δὲ τὴν τοῦ κορίου φύσιν ὅλην δι' ὅλων λόγον ἔχειν σπέρματος, ὡς μηδὲ ἐν τῷ κατακόπτεσθαι τὸ τοῦ κορίου σπέρμα, ἐξαφανίζεσθαι αὐτοῦ τὴν δύ ναμιν, ὡς οὐκ ἔτι δυναμένην σπείρεσθαι.