encampments, and having broken their swords, and henceforth being peacefully minded. The one from the Gentiles, seeing Jerusalem as if blaming her, defends herself concerning herself; because her calling is not in vain; "I am black and beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not look at me, because I am darkened, because the sun has looked upon me. The sons of my mother fought against me; they made me a keeper in the vineyards. My own vineyard I have not kept." I am black; but I am under the sun itself. For even if I am uncircumcised, she says, yet I have renounced idols, and I went out from the house of my mother, just as Abraham did; for I am of that faith. And for this reason I ask, "Bring me into the house of wine, set love in order over me, keep me with ointments, stay me with apples; for I am wounded with love." Pay no attention to my uncircumcision, but in love receive me, O law and prophets. And if I am ill-smelling in my wildness, yet you instruct me, and strengthen me with your fragrance; for I am wounded by love. And for this reason, "I have adjured you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and by the forces of the field, that you stir not up, nor awaken love, until it please." I adjure you, O fathers, not against the powers, for it is not permitted, but in the powers of paradise, so that, looking to that one, as to Adam, you might receive me. For there also there was no circumcision; but now the things of Adam are being renewed. The Word, seeing the faith of the Gentiles, and accepting it, says: "You are beautiful, my neighbor, as good pleasure, lovely as Jerusalem, a wonder as those set in array." For not otherwise, than as Jerusalem must be those from the Gentiles, so that one people may be formed. And this happens, when, along with honoring the law, we believe in Christ. For God is one of the law and of the Gospels. And he who has not become as Jerusalem does not become a neighbor of the Word. Jerusalem, seeing the faith of her children, and the philanthropy of the Word, says: "I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, if the pomegranates had budded; there I will give you my breasts. My soul knew not, it made me the chariots of Amminadab." For into the garden of nuts, that is, into the Scriptures, I came, which are like nuts, hard on the outside, 28.357 but spiritual on the inside. I saw that I must be yoked as in a chariot to the calling from the Gentiles. Both peoples, therefore, having been yoked together, henceforth the proclamation was sent everywhere, and of this the angels become ministers, saying: "Go forth and see in Solomon in the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of the gladness of his heart." For he who comes out from wickedness will also see the immutable union of the Word with the body. For when the wedding of the Word to us took place through the union with the body, then also He made the victory over death, through which He has filled all things with gladness. Such are the dialogues in the Song of Songs; from which one, having taken a starting point, is able from the book itself to connect like things with like things according to the sense. Book 17, Job. The book is titled Job, because it contains the history concerning him, both how he suffered, having been tempted by the devil; and having conquered and having piously endured the afflictions brought upon him, he received everything back twofold again, and became more glorious than he was, and again had ten children. He suffered when he was 70 years old, so that all the years of his life were 240. For after the afflictions he lived another 170 years. And Job was before Moses; for he was the fifth from Abraham, a descendant of Esau. Because of the
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παρεμβολὰς, καὶ συντρίψαντες τὰς μαχαί ρας, καὶ λοιπὸν εἰρηνικὰ φρονοῦντες. Ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ὁρῶσα τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ὥσπερ μεμφομένην, ἀπολο γεῖται περὶ ἑαυτῆς· ὅτι μὴ ἀργὴ αὐτῆς ἐστιν ἡ κλῆσις· «Μέλαινά εἰμι καὶ καλὴ, θυγατέρες Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ὡς σκηνώματα Κηδὰρ, ὡς δέῤῥεις Σαλομῶν. Μὴ βλέψητέ με, ὅτι ἐγὼ μεμελανωμένη εἰμὶ, ὅτι παρέβλεψέ με ὁ ἥλιος. Υἱοὶ μητρός μου ἐμαχέσαντο ἐν ἐμοί· ἔθεντό με φυλάκισσαν ἐν ἀμπελῶσιν. Ἀμπελῶνα ἐμὸν οὐκ ἐφύλαξα.» Μέλαινά εἰμι· ἀλλ' ὑπ' αὐτὸν τὸν ἥλιόν εἰμι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀκρόβυστός εἰμι, φησὶν, ἀλλ' ἀπετα ξάμην εἰδώλοις, καὶ ἐξῆλθον ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τῆς μητρός μου, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ Ἀβραάμ· ἐκείνης γάρ εἰμι τῆς πίστεως. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀξιῶ, «Εἰσάγαγέ με εἰς οἶκον τοῦ οἴνου, τάξατε ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἀγάπην, τηρήσατέ με ἐν μύροις, στοιβάσατέ με ἐν μήλοις· ὅτι τετρωμένη ἀγά πης ἐγώ.» Μὴ τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ προσέχητε, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀγά πῃ προσλάβου με, ὦ νόμε καὶ προφῆται. Καὶ εἰ δυσ ώδης εἰμὶ τῇ ἀγριότητι, ἀλλὰ σύ με παίδευε, καὶ εὐωδίᾳ σου στήριξον· τέτρωμαι γὰρ τῇ ἀγάπῃ. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, «Ὥρκισα ὑμᾶς, θυγατέρες Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἐν ταῖς δυνάμεσι καὶ ταῖς ἰσχύσι τοῦ ἀγροῦ, ἐὰν ἐγεί ρητε, καὶ ἐξεγείρητε τὴν ἀγάπην, ἕως οὗ θελήσῃ.» Ὁρκίζω ὑμᾶς, ὦ πατέρες, οὐ κατὰ τῶν δυνάμεων, οὐκ ἔξεστι γὰρ, ἀλλ' ἐν δυνάμεσι τοῦ παραδείσου, ἵν', εἰς ἐκεῖνον βλέποντες, ὡς τὸν Ἀδὰμ, οὕτως με προσδέ ξησθε. Καὶ γὰρ κἀκεῖ οὐκ ἦν περιτομή· ἄρτι δὲ τὰ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἀνακαινίζεται. Ὁ Λόγος ὁρῶν τὴν πίστιν τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ ἀποδεχόμενος λέγει· «Καλὴ, ἡ πλη σίον μου, ὡς εὐδοκία, ὡραία ὡς Ἱερουσαλὴμ, θάμ βος ὡς τεταγμέναι.» Οὐ γὰρ ἄλλως, ἢ ὡς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ δεῖ εἶναι τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἵνα εἷς λαὸς γένηται. Τοῦτο δὲ γίνεται, ὅταν μετὰ τοῦ τιμᾷν τὸν νόμον πιστεύωμεν τὸν Χριστόν. Εἷς γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων. Καὶ ὁ μὴ ὡς Ἱερουσαλὴμ γενόμενος οὐ γίνεται πλησίον τοῦ Λόγου. Ἡ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ὁρῶσα τῶν τέκνων τὴν πίστιν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Λόγου φιλανθρωπίαν, λέγει· «Εἰς κῆπον καρύας κατ έβην ἰδεῖν ἐν γεννήματι τοῦ χειμάῤῥου, εἰ ἤνθησαν αἱ ῥοιαί· ἐκεῖ δώσω τοὺς μαστούς μου. Οὐκ ἔγνω ἡ ψυχή μου, ἔθετό με ἅρματα Ἀμιναδάβ.» Εἰς γὰρ τὸν κῆπον τῆς καρύας, τοῦτ' ἔστιν εἰς τὰς Γραφὰς, ἐγενόμην, αἵτινες ὡς καρύαι εἰσὶν, ἔξωθεν μὲν σκλη 28.357 ραὶ, ἔσωθεν δὲ πνευματικαί. Εἶδον, ὅτι ζευχθῆναί με δεῖ ὡς ἐν ἅρματι τῇ ἐξ ἐθνῶν κλήσει. Ζευχθέντων τοίνυν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν λαῶν, λοιπὸν πανταχοῦ τὸ κή ρυγμα ἀπεστάλη, καὶ τούτου γίνονται διάκονοι οἱ ἄγγε λοι, λέγοντες· «Ἐξέλθετε καὶ ἴδετε ἐν τῷ Σαλομὼν ἐν τῷ στεφάνῳ, ᾧ ἐστεφάνωσεν αὐτὸν ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ νυμφεύσεως αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εὐφρο σύνης καρδίας αὐτοῦ.» Ὁ γὰρ ἐξερχόμενος ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας ὄψεται καὶ τὴν τοῦ Λόγου πρὸς τὸ σῶμα ἄτρε πτον ἕνωσιν. Ὅτε γὰρ γέγονε νύμφευσις τοῦ Λόγου πρὸς ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς τοῦ σώματος ἑνώσεως, τότε καὶ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου νίκην πεποίηκε, δι' ἢν εὐφροσύ νης πάντα πεπλήρωκε. Τοιαῦτα ἐν τῷ Ἄσματι τῶν ᾀσμάτων τὰ τῶν διαλόγων ἐστίν· ἐξ ὧν ἀφορμήν τις λαβὼν, δύναται ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ βιβλίου τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς ὁμοίοις συνάπτειν κατὰ τὸν νοῦν. Βιβλίον ιζʹ, Ἰώβ. Ἰὼβ ἐπιγέγραπται τὸ βιβλίον, ἐπειδὴ τὴν κατ' αὐτὸν ἱστορίαν περιέχει, πῶς τε πέπονθε, πει ρασθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου· καὶ νικήσας καὶ ὑπομείνας εὐσεβῶς τὰς ἐπενεχθείσας αὐτῷ πληγὰς, διπλᾶ πάλιν πάντα ἀπέλαβε, καὶ γέγονεν ἐνδοξότερος ὑπὲρ ὃ ἦν, καὶ ἔσχε πάλιν τέκνα δέκα. Πέπονθε δὲ ἐτῶν ὢν οʹ, ὡς εἶναι πάντα τὰ ἔτη τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ σμʹ. Μετὰ γὰρ τὰς πληγὰς ἔζησεν ἕτερα ἔτη ροʹ. Γέγονε δὲ Ἰὼβ πρὸ Μωϋσέως· ἀπὸ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ πέμπτος ἦν, ἔκγονος τοῦ Ἠσαῦ. ∆ιὰ τὴν
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