Glaphyra in Pentateuchum

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith that is in uncircumcision, so that he might be the father of all who believe through uncircumcision, so that it might be reckoned to them as righteousness, and the father of circumcision to those who are not of circumcision only, but also to those who walk in the footsteps of the faith in uncircumcision of our father Abraham. And in addition to these things, he makes the examination of the mystery even more vigorous. And so he says: For the promise to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, he says, faith has been emptied, and the promise has been abolished. For the law works wrath. For where there is no law, neither is there transgression. For this reason it is of faith, so that according to grace the promise might be firm to all the seed, not to that of the law only, but also to that of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, that I have made you a father of many nations), before the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they were.

You hear him affirming and saying, up and down, not with reservation, that while Abraham did not yet have circumcision but was rather still in uncircumcision, the grace that justifies him through faith was given to him, and indeed that those who wish to trace out the imitation of the faith of our forefather Abraham in uncircumcision have been appointed heirs of the gifts from God—and certainly not those who are accustomed to pride themselves on the shadow ministered through Moses, and who boast of Abraham as a fleshly father, who has been named father of many nations, although Israel is one nation, even if it should extend perhaps to a multitude not measured, because he has become father of those in faith, who, gathered from every city and country, so to speak, have become one body in Christ and have been called into a spiritual brotherhood. For Jews were born from Abraham. Nevertheless, not all who are from Israel are Israel, nor because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But faith makes those who believed in uncircumcision more closely his own. For the promise has been made, and the justifying grace has been given, to Abraham while he did not yet have circumcision, but was rather in uncircumcision, according to the faith of the holy three. And that the gift of righteousness in faith would not come to Abraham alone, even if the promise was made in him, but has gone forth, as it were, to all the rest who have believed, the most wise Paul again confirms for us, adding to what I recently said:

It was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned to him for righteousness, but for our sake also, to whom it is about to be reckoned—to those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered up for our transgressions, and was raised for our righteousness. Therefore the grace that justifies us through faith is a gift of heaven and a gift of the kindness from above; and they would be reckoned among the children of Abraham—not, to be sure, absolutely those who have come from him according to the flesh, but as many as have been enriched with conformity to him, and, thinking as brothers, believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall also be heirs of the gifts from God, since the Israel according to the flesh has been thrust aside because of unbelief. And this too was fashioned for us, very clearly, in the mystery concerning Isaac. But come, let us speak again as best we can, setting forth the writings of Moses themselves for your information. And it is as follows: After these words, it says, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision, saying: Do not fear, Abraham, I will shield you. Your reward shall be exceedingly great. And Abraham says: Master, what will you give me? But I am going forth childless. And the son of Masek of my home-born servant, this is Damascus Eliezer. And Abraham said: Since you have not given me seed, my home-born servant will inherit me. And immediately the voice of the Lord came to him, saying: This one will not inherit you, but he who shall come forth from you, this one will inherit you. And he brought him outside, and said to him: Look up now to the heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to count them. And he said: So shall your seed be.

And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. For the blessed Sarah was joined to him and shared his table (she who, being interpreted, is called "ruling"), a woman most distinguished in appearance and exceedingly fair of face; for the Holy Scripture has testified thus. And the homeborn woman attended them, serving as it were a second and bastard marriage—that is, Hagar (and she too is interpreted as "sojourning"). But Sarah, having not yet the pangs of legitimate children, bewailed her childlessness. And Hagar bore Ishmael. While the matters of the history stood thus, God spoke to Abraham, saying: I will shield you; your reward shall be exceedingly great. And what does he say to this? Master, what will you give me?

But I am dismissed childless; and the son of Masek, of my homeborn woman, this is Damascus Eliezer. Observe the precision of the account. For what will you give me, he says, O Master? You understand how he says he has no need at all of any earthly possessions any longer, nor, even if he were to become master of still more, would he consider the matter a delight, he says, unless he should have a legitimate heir sprung from a free marriage, the true son. But consider that, for knowing clearly what is advantageous, nature is self-taught even without written laws. For although he had a son—I mean Ishmael—the divinely inspired Abraham called himself childless. Nature, then, knows very clearly that he would not reasonably be called a son at all, who has sprung from counterfeit and bastard unions. For he will not give a root into the depth, according to what is written.

But that, even if a child should ever be born to some from a maidservant, the matter is in every way cold and stale, and would not be enrolled among the delights of the freeborn, he further showed, saying: But the son of Masek of my houseborn slave, this is Damascus Eliezer. That is: There shall be to me thereafter the one from the houseborn slave, a kiss of blood. For this is what Damascus means. And he shall be reckoned also for assistance and help that comes from God. For this again is Eliezer. It is therefore as if he says plainly: In place of the blood of the genuine son and the love of the same, a kiss of blood and help from God shall be my houseborn slave, as it were of necessity; and he shall be my heir also. What then will you give me? If I have no genuine son to succeed me, your Abraham, O Master, will be altogether and in every way under reproach. For he departs childless of the true children, even those from a free woman. But God did not allow the righteous man to grieve for long. For immediately the seed in Isaac was promised, which he says shall also be equal in number to the countless multitude of the stars. And he confirmed that he would be called the father of countless nations, though he was alarmed by fears of childlessness. Abraham, he says, believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. He therefore has righteousness as his prize, who by faith honors the Master of all things. For through this he has borne witness that he can accomplish all things; but the unbelieving and negligent man will be boastful and insolent. He will therefore, in this way, thereafter fall under judgment and reckoning. Abraham therefore believed God, and has been justified by him. But he asks in addition for a sign for the confirmation and truth of the things promised beforehand, as they shall be.

Then God, in a manner suited to his providential ordering, makes as if to shake the sworn oath, not permitting the believer to be driven into double-mindedness. For it is written thus: And he said to him: I am God who brought you out from the land of the Chaldeans, so as to give you this land to inherit it. And he said: Lord and Master, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said to him: Take for me a heifer three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtledove, and a pigeon. And he took all these for himself, and divided them in the middle, and set them opposite one another. But the birds he did not divide. And birds came down upon the carcasses, upon their divided halves; and Abraham sat down with them. And about sunset, a trance fell upon Abraham, and behold, a great dark fear falls upon him. And it was said to Abraham: Knowing you shall know that your seed shall be a sojourner in a land not their own, and they shall enslave them, and afflict them four hundred years. But the nation to which they shall be enslaved, I will judge. And after these things they shall come out here with much baggage. But you shall depart to your fathers in peace, having been nurtured in a good old age. And in the fourth generation, they shall return here. For the sins of the Amorites are not yet filled up until now. And when the sun had come toward its setting, a flame came to be. And behold, a smoking oven, and torches of fire, which passed through the midst of these divided pieces. But what exactly is it that has happened, the lover of learning will consider, and will examine closely the manner of the oath-taking: what the divided pieces might wish to signify, he says, and what the flight of the birds, and their rushing together upon them; and what indeed

And the sitting together of Abraham, and what is the flame that darts through the midst of the divided pieces? We shall therefore explain. 4. Necessarily, the passing between the divided animals fulfilled for the Chaldeans the need of an oath, and, as it were, to cry out through the very thing being done thus: May I not become as these. Since Abraham was by race a Chaldean, and was but recently departing from the land that bore him, the Master of all, in a manner suited to his providential ordering, commanded him to do the things customary among oaths, weaving skillfully into the sacrificed victims the mystery of Christ. But since the divided pieces were then spread out in a row upon the ground, as though God were about to pass through the midst, Birds, it says, came down upon them in great numbers, and Abraham sat down with them. That is, he kept watch around them, that no harm might come to them, and that the things brought in for the need of the oath might not lie exposed as food for the unclean birds. And about sunset, it says, a trance and fear fell upon Abraham. And what again the reason for this might be, I would state as best I can. It was a custom among the Chaldeans, and held in good and altogether irreproachable estimation, to observe minutely the flights of birds. God, the God of all, therefore permitted in a manner suited to his providential ordering that future events be learned from the very things which he knew it was the custom of some to do. When, then, the birds of the air had gathered upon the divided pieces, the divinely inspired Abraham was thereafter terrified, having perhaps reflected on this, where indeed and upon whom the sign would fall out. For it seemed a base thing, and not outside of concern, that the most abominable of birds should fly down upon the sacrifices. For those accustomed to eat flesh are always in some way unclean.

But when he had feared concerning his own head, lest perhaps the matter should come even upon him, he releases him from the anxiety about these things. For the things suspected will not come upon you, he says. But knowing, you shall know that your seed shall be a sojourner in a foreign land. And many indeed shall be those who wish to do harm, of whom the birds upon all the sacrifices set before them were a type. Nevertheless, having grieved them but a little, they shall pay the penalty. But you shall go to your fathers, having been nourished in a good old age. Then he says that, when the sun had now come to its very setting, a flame of fire and a furnace and lamps passed through the midst of the divided pieces. And again the Divine is understood in the form of fire, according to the custom of the Chaldeans, fulfilling the oath. Therefore also the inspired Paul receives the matter as the force of an oath, and says: But when God had promised to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying: Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. And so, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men swear by the greater, and the oath is the end of all their dispute, for confirmation. In which, desiring more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, God interposed with an oath, so that through two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong encouragement, who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us. 5. Therefore, most economically, God made the promise with an oath, although he does not know how to speak falsely.

So that, as the divinely inspired Paul writes, we may have strong consolation, no longer doubting that it will come to pass entirely and in every way. Therefore (for I shall bring the account back a little), while Hagar was still in the pangs of childbirth with Ishmael, Sarah was distressed, unable to bear, perhaps, the boasts of the household slave concerning her pregnancy and her immoderate arrogance. Then she drives her from the house, and she commanded her to go wherever she might choose, her husband according to the law, I mean Abraham, having permitted her to do this. But as the sacred Scripture says, an angel of the Lord God found her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, in the way to Shur. And the angel of the Lord said to her: Hagar, slave of Sarah, where have you come from? And where are you going? And she said: I am fleeing from the face of Sarah my mistress. And the angel of the Lord said to her: Turn back to your mistress, and humble yourself under her hands. And Hagar returned, and submitted to the yoke of slavery. And God was already giving the law of circumcision to Abraham, saying: But you shall keep my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. And this is the covenant which you shall keep, between me and you, and between your seed throughout their generations. Every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. And a child of eight days shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations.

The homeborn slave and the one bought with silver, apart from any foreign son, who is not of your seed, shall surely be circumcised, the homeborn slave of your house and the one bought with silver. And my covenant shall be upon your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male, who shall not circumcise the flesh of his foreskin, on the eighth day, that soul shall be cut off from its kindred, because he has broken my covenant. Since it was necessary to submit to the divine laws, the inspired Abraham was circumcised with his whole household. And he circumcised Ishmael together with the others. And thereafter was born the son of the free woman, that is, Isaac. And what happened after this? The bastard son Ishmael was no longer tolerable, playing in the household, and perhaps being honored on an equal footing with Isaac. For Sarah, it says, saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she bore to Abraham, playing with Isaac her son. Then she comes near, in tears, as is likely, and says: Cast out this slave girl and her son. For the son of this slave girl shall not inherit with my son Isaac. And the word, it says, appeared very harsh in Abraham's sight concerning his son. And God said to Abraham: Let not the word be harsh in your sight concerning the child and concerning the slave girl. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her voice, for in Isaac shall your seed be called. And the son of this slave girl too, I shall make him into a great nation, because he is your seed.

Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, and placed it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness, by the well of the Oath. And the water was spent from the skin, and she cast the child under one of the fir trees. And she departed and sat opposite him far off, about a bowshot. For she said, Let me not see the death of my child, and she sat opposite him. And the child cried out and wept. And God heard the voice of the child from the place where he was. And an angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What is it, Hagar? Fear not; for God has heard the voice of your child from the place where he is. Rise up and take the child, and hold him with your hand. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of living water, and she went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the child to drink. And God was with the child, and he grew. For the wondrous Abraham, overcome by the laws of love for his child, was taking thought for Ishmael. But since the divine oracle was calling him to this, that he must cleave to Isaac alone, as the promise having been made concerning him, he was sending Hagar away, and commanded her to depart with the infant from the master's hearth, the type of the law prefiguring beforehand the mystery according to Christ. And indeed let us also speak, necessarily bringing our account back to what was at the beginning. For one might observe most summarily here, that the things through Christ are older than the things in the law.

And the justification in faith has an older prefiguration than circumcision in the flesh. For circumcision was given to Abraham as a sign of the faith he had while uncircumcised, according to the voice of the most wise Paul. The blessed Abraham was therefore distressed that he had not become the father of a free child. And though he had a son by the Egyptian woman, I mean Hagar, he remained in the deepest discouragement, reckoning the illegitimate and unfree offspring as equal to childlessness. But since he received the promises concerning the legitimate child, I mean Isaac, and heard clearly that in him he would be the father of countless and innumerable nations, he was justified by believing. And that he would also come into possession of the land shown to him by God—for God had said, "To you I will give this land"—he earnestly asked for assurance, saying: "Master, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?" For this reason God commanded him to take the divided pieces: a heifer three years old, and a goat together, and indeed a ram, and a turtledove and a pigeon. And Abraham cut the four-footed animals in two and set them opposite one another, that is, in order. But the birds he did not divide. And he drove off the birds that wished to devour them. And when the sun had already sunk to the very western extremities, God passed through the divided pieces in the form of fire. What spiritual meaning, then, should we apply to these things? We will say as best we can. 7. For Israel according to the flesh became, as it were, the first son to the God of all. For he says, "Israel is my firstborn son"—yet as one from a slave woman and redeemed out of Egypt.

But God did not see fit to reckon him among his children for any such reason (for that nature is fond of freedom and fond of offspring); rather he was seeking the people who please him, that is, those who are according to the promise through faith in Christ, among whom also many nations have had fathers—those around the wondrous Abraham. For they have inherited the glory that comes from this, not in the Israel according to the flesh, but in those from the nations who have been saved through faith. And Paul will bear witness, writing: For the promise to Abraham that he should be heir of the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For we who have believed in uncircumcision are inscribed as having Abraham as father, and are justified by God in his likeness. And Paul, being learned in the law, will make the divine mystery very clear to us. For he writes as follows, after the perfection in Christ, rebuking the Galatians as it were for going backwards: Tell me, you who wish to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from the slave woman, and one from the free woman. But the one from the slave woman was born according to the flesh; the one from the free woman through promise. These things are spoken allegorically. For these are the two covenants: one from Mount Sinai, giving birth into slavery, which is Hagar. For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia; and it corresponds to the present Jerusalem, and she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written: Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who do not travail; for the children of the desolate are more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.

But we, brothers, are children of promise according to Isaac. But just as then the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one according to the spirit, so also now. But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son; for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. But we, brothers, are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman, with the freedom with which Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not again be subject to a yoke of slavery. You understand, then, how he speaks clearly of the images of the two covenants, Hagar and Sarah. And he likens the slave girl to the mother of the Jews, that is, to the Jerusalem on earth, since she has been subjected to the laws of slavery and does not shine forth with a free spirit. But the first and free woman, I mean Sarah, whose name is also interpreted as "ruling," he says that the types of the Jerusalem above and on high have been dedicated, and he clearly affirms that she has become the mother of those who have been justified in faith and called by the promise of God, so as to be children of Abraham. For we, he says, are children of promise according to Isaac. For we have been set free in Christ, through whom and in whom, richly possessing the divine and heavenly Spirit, we have been enrolled among the children of God, and we cry, Abba, the Father, and we have become heirs of the good things promised to the saints, with God all but having sworn by himself. For the Son has been taken up as it were in an oath of the Father,

that is, the mystery concerning him. For it is a custom to swear by the Father as by the Son's own power, and this is to swear by himself. Since the Son is not other than him, I mean with respect to the account of essence, and the sameness of divinity. And indeed the inspired Moses, when he showed us God swearing, has brought him in saying very clearly, "I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will swear by my right hand." For the right hand of God and the Father is the Son, through whom he holds sway over all things, and as it were lays hold of the universe, and in a manner befitting God works, calling things that are not into generation, and distributing well-being to things that have already come to be. Therefore, as one confirming by an oath for the assurance of the promise to the heirs, the mystery of our Savior was brought in. And Christ was prefigured rather as in a heifer, and indeed also in a goat, and a ram, and as in two birds, a turtledove, I mean, and a pigeon. And what the meaning of this may be, I will set forth as far as possible. 8. For sometimes, because of his exceeding strength and invincibility in might—clearly that which befits God—he is likened to a calf. But sometimes again, because of his human nature, and since he has been born under the law, he is called a heifer. For the female is always in some way behind and inferior to the male as the leader and the superior. For the Son is beyond all creation, and by incomparable excellences surpasses the nature and glory of created things, having as his root the highest, I mean the Father and God of all. But since he is by nature according to us, he has been called under the law as the leader. Therefore he also said:

I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. And we shall also assign this to the measures of the kenosis, having chosen to think rightly. For this reason Christ is a heifer, since Moses fulfills the person of the law, that is, the law that was defined according to him. And he is also likened to a goat. For what reason? For he has offered himself for our sins, according to the Scriptures. And a kid is the sacrifice for sin according to the law. And he is also compared to a ram, because he leads the rational flocks. For Christ is our one guide. And we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand, according to what is written. But since he was made like his brothers in all things, that is, to us, having lowered himself into kenosis, he is written as a ram, yet he is understood as a leader. For the leaders of the herd are always rams. Therefore the same one is both a heifer, because he is under the law, and indeed also as a goat, a victim for sin. And moreover a ram, as a leader. Having chosen to follow in his footsteps, and hastening, we shall be in a good pasture and in a rich place, according to the voice of the prophet, and we shall lodge in the sacred courts. For he will settle us in the dwellings above, himself being both a ram and the chief shepherd, and as one of us under the law, and above the law, as God himself is all righteousness, even if he was reckoned among the lawless, and endured the slaughter for our sake. And he is also shaped as it were in a turtledove and a dove. For he himself is the only intelligible and most eloquent turtledove, the truly sweet-voiced sparrow, the one from heaven and from above, who by the evangelical proclamations charmed all that is under heaven.

To whom the bride herself has also called out—that is, the Church from the Gentiles: Show me your face, and let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is beautiful. The same is the simple and guileless dove, having no deceit. For no deceit was found in his mouth, as it is written. And the heifer is three years old, and indeed also the other of the cattle. For the Lord is perfectly complete. The age of the cattle subtly indicates the perfection of the Only-Begotten as in Godhead. And the cattle are split apart; for they have been divided in two. But the pair of birds has remained undivided. And what is the reason? In that the Only-Begotten Word of God became flesh, he has, as it were, been divided in two, and the word concerning him is broadened into a twofold contemplation. For sometimes we understand his divine and ineffable generation as from the Father; and sometimes again we speak of the mystery of the incarnation, almost spreading out and unfolding the depth of the economy into knowledge for those who do not know it. But even if the word concerning him has, as it were, become twofold, yet it is surely one and the same, not divided into two after the union with the flesh. Nor indeed is it cut into a duality of sons; for Christ is one and indivisible. And a clear type of this too would be the indivisibility of the birds: For the birds, it says, he did not divide. And he was signified as from the earth through the human element, as in the calf, and indeed also the goat and the ram. But again he is understood as from heaven and above, because God is through the birds.

That, although he endured the voluntary slaughter for our sake, his flesh did not see corruption, according to what is written; and that, according to the voice of the Psalmist, the enemy shall not profit in him, and the son of iniquity shall not add to harm him. The inspired Abraham would also show this very clearly, again as in a type, by driving away the birds that wished to devour from the divided pieces. And when there had been foretold to Abraham the greed that would come in time in Egypt against those of his blood—that is, Israel—and the wondrous redemption, he says: Toward the setting of the sun, a smoking furnace and lamps of fire passed through the midst of the divided pieces. For the law through Moses dawned beforehand for those of the promise, bringing long narratives to its hearers concerning the slavery of those of Israel and indeed also their redemption. But in the last times of the age, and as it were toward evening, the Word became flesh. For this, I think, would be nothing other than that, as in the form of fire, the divine and ineffable nature darts through the very divided pieces. But, he says, there was a flame of fire, and a furnace of fire, and lamps of fire. For truly the venerable mystery of the incarnation has become, for those who have chosen to disobey and have turned aside to what is contrary to the yoke, both a furnace and a flame, and the last judgment, unbearable beyond all others. And indeed concerning those of Israel who, insolently outraging the mystery of Christ without understanding, were caught as evil-minded and arrogant, David says to the Father and God of all: You will set them as a furnace of fire, in the time of your face.

Lord, in your anger you will shake them, and fire will devour them. And the time of the Father's face may reasonably be understood as that of the incarnation, since the Son is both the face and the image of God and the Father. Therefore a fierce flame and a furnace are for those who wish to thrust away the mystery of the Only-begotten's incarnation. But for those who have recognized his appearing, as it is written, a lamp shining in darkness, thinning the thickness of the devilish mist, and not permitting the multitude of those who reverence him to stumble on the stumbling-blocks in between. Thus God and the Father named the Son to us, and through the voice of Isaiah, saying: For Zion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until my righteousness go forth as light. And my salvation shall burn as lamps. For the Son has become salvation and righteousness from God and the Father for us, since it is true that in him we are justified, and conquering the death that long tyrannized over us, we return again to incorruption, and are re-formed into what our nature was in the beginning. 9. That it was necessary, now that Emmanuel had appeared and the mystery concerning him had been displayed in the world, for the types of the Mosaic worship to give way to the teachings of the Gospel, and to yield as to better and more perfect commandments, the matter was again sketched out in shadow, as in a type, in thick outline. And who this is, I will say. For since Sarah did not bear, but Hagar had conceived Ishmael, she was seen lifting her brow against the free woman thereafter.

But Sarah did not regard her contempt as a mere arrow-shot, and indeed she kept maltreating the Egyptian woman. And she fled from the household, and wandered in the desert. But an angel from heaven asked her where she was going and whence she had come again. And to this she says: I am fleeing from the face of Sarah my mistress. What then does the wondrous angel say? Turn back, he says, to your mistress, and be humbled under her hands. For the worship according to the law prefigured Israel in labor. But being a slave (for the free spirit was not in her), she all but bore before her, as it were, the people from Egypt of the new and evangelical instruction. Therefore she also thought great things, and persecuted those in Christ, and lifting high her brow against the evangelical ordinances, she was caught in many ways. For the Synagogue of the Jews rebuked the holy apostles, saying plainly: We strictly commanded you not to teach in this name, and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. Do you see how the Egyptian woman exalts herself over Sarah, and how the little slave girl grows bold against the free woman? But she was conquered in time, and she flees, in a certain way honoring what is under the yoke, and she is commanded by the voice of an angel not to reject the free woman—that is, the instruction that calls to free status—but rather to be humbled under her hands. For the worship through the law, proceeding through figures and types, is in a certain way a slave to the evangelical teachings, showing in herself the faint beauty of the truth.

Therefore the law that was ordained of old through Moses was given through angels, and by the voice of an angel those who are under Christ are, as it were, commanded to submit their neck to the divine decrees, and to bow down to the free woman, and not willingly to yield place. For this, I think, is the spiritual meaning of Hagar coming under the hand of Sarah. But it is necessary to remember that the inspired Paul also set forth these as a pair of covenants—the one bearing children into slavery, corresponding to the present Jerusalem; the other unto the dignity of freedom, which I say is Sarah. And that, now that Christ has appeared, the time of the circumcision in the Spirit rises together with him, the blessed Abraham was clearly taught. For God was laying down the law that circumcision must be fulfilled, prefiguring the spiritual realities through fleshly examples, as I think. For he says, Every male of yours shall be circumcised. And upon those who took this lightly he measured out the penalty of destruction and ruin; for he said that even the uncircumcised male, who shall not be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day, that soul shall be utterly cut off from his kindred, because he has scattered my covenant. Do you see that the type of the circumcision in spirit and truth was prefigured, as it were, in the flesh? For it is performed on the eighth day, on which Christ rose again from the dead. And the time had already come to partake of the Holy Spirit and to receive the circumcision in him—not one that wounds the flesh, but purifies the spirit; not one that frees from bodily filth, but releases us from the diseases of the soul.

For when Christ came back to life, having destroyed the power of death, then indeed, then he also placed in the holy disciples, as it were, a kind of firstfruits of the Holy Spirit. For he breathed on them, it says, and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. And the most wise John will agree with this statement, saying: For the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. For he has been glorified, having been raised from the dead, on the eighth day. Therefore the Spirit has been brought even to us, and in him we have been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands and spiritual. For this manner of circumcision is pleasing to God. And indeed the divinely inspired Paul says somewhere thus: For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is the circumcision outwardly in the flesh, but the Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart in the Spirit, not in the letter. His praise is not from men, but from God. 10. But since the worship in the law was ceasing to operate, and the new worship in Christ was already prevailing, and the peoples in the faith had been shown forth, who also have been placed among the children of the free woman, not having a spirit of slavery (for they have cried out: Abba, the Father), the time had already come to dismiss the assembly and Synagogue of the Jews, and for the people born from it to become, as it were, disinherited from the promise. And indeed, that it will also turn back at the appointed times, and will be acceptable, and will obtain the gentleness from above and from the Father, the

Knowing him wholly as Savior and Redeemer, the sacred Scripture again signifies this. For the boys were playing, leaping upon one another—Isaac, clearly, and indeed also Ishmael. But the manner of their play, I think, was a pursuit; and Ishmael pursued as the pursuer, while Isaac was caught fleeing. But the mind of the free woman—I mean Sarah—was indignant at this. And indeed she also said to the inspired Abraham: "Cast out this slave woman and her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit with my son Isaac." And the word was not untroubled in Abraham's ears. But he heard from God that he must yield to Sarah's words. And so, having provisioned Hagar with bread and water, he commanded her to depart from the master's household together with the child. And she went away distressed and in tears; yet she wandered in the wilderness. And when the child was in danger and crying out, God, it says, opened the eyes of Hagar, and she saw a spring of living water, and gave him to drink. Observe, then, how even this childish play of the little ones is not without profit for the knowledge of the mystery. For Ishmael pursued Isaac. But that the son of the slave woman—that is, Ishmael—would at times pursue the son of the free woman—that is, the people who are in faith and in Christ—the blessed Paul made clear, speaking thus concerning both Ishmael and Isaac: "But just as then the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now.

But since Ishmael, born of the free woman, has waged war against those born of the slave woman, the Synagogue of the Jews is now sent away, having as its gloomy and joyless provision bread and water. That is, a measure of the word of knowledge and piety was, in a sense, apportioned to them, by which it was reasonable that they should not depart entirely to the point of needing to die. For God said somewhere, having left in Israel, as it were, a remnant and a small seed of the equity according to the law: And I will be to them a small sanctuary in the lands into which they shall enter. And he says that a small sanctuary will be given to those of Israel, at least after the dispersion among the nations, because the Jews are not very strong, I mean, so as to be able to fulfill even the law through Moses, and to observe only very few things and with difficulty—perhaps circumcision in the flesh, and rest on the Sabbath. Therefore the one who gives birth into slavery, that is, the Synagogue of the Jews, is provisioned with water and bread only with difficulty. And Abraham was grieved as Hagar ran away, yet he let her go nonetheless, since God commanded it. For Israel's falling away was admittedly painful to the holy apostles and evangelists. Nevertheless they withdrew from it, not willingly, because of what seemed good to God and because of their love for Christ. And indeed the inspired Paul writes, That I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I myself was praying to be accursed from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. But the mother of the Jews, having been sent away, wandered for long times; and she was in danger of being utterly destroyed from then on.

But if they cry out, calling upon God from time to time, they will be shown mercy in every way and by all means. For he will open the eyes of their mind, and they too will see the fountain of living water—that is, Christ—and having drunk, they will live in him. And having washed, they will become clean, according to the voice of the prophet. That Christ is a fountain of life, the Psalmist will make clear when he says to the Father and God in the heavens: How you have multiplied your mercy, O God! The sons of men will hope in the shadow of your wings; they will be made drunk from the richness of your house, and you will give them to drink from the torrent of your delight, because with you is a fountain of life—no other than Christ. Through him and with him be glory and power to God and the Father, with his holy, consubstantial, and life-giving Spirit, unto the whole and unending ages of ages. Amen. Concerning Abraham and Isaac. 1. And it came to pass after these words, that God tested Abraham, and

He said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he said: Behold, I am here. And he said: Take your beloved son, whom you have loved, Isaac, and go to the high land, and offer him up as a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. Such were the things announced from God. So the righteous man, without delay, saddled his donkey, as it is written, and having instructed only two servants to follow, and having taken up his beloved son, he set out for the sacrifice. But when he had reached that sacred place, scarcely on the third day, he says to the servants: Sit here with the donkey; but I and the boy will go through as far as this point, and after we have worshiped, we will return to you. And having loaded the wood for the whole burnt offering onto his son, and having thus persuaded him to walk, he followed. But when the boy asked his father, saying: Behold the fire and the wood, where is the sheep for the whole burnt offering? God, he says, will see to a sheep for himself for a whole burnt offering, child. And having built that divine altar, he piles up the wood. But when he had also bound the youth upon them, and had indeed taken hold of the knife, the voice of an angel prevented him, saying that it was not right for him to slaughter the boy. For God had already known the good purpose that was in him. Then the righteous man, seeing a ram caught by its horns in a plant called Sabek, completed the sacrifice, offering it up instead of the boy. And so he comes down to the servants, bringing his son to them safe and sound.

Having thus summarized the broad extent of the history, and gathered into a brief account what is profitable for demonstrating that through these things the mystery concerning our Savior was prefigured beforehand, we will not hesitate, again taking up our own subject to the best of our ability, to set it forth. And if not everything contained in the histories follows the argument, let no one find fault. For in the superfluous detail of the history the spiritual meaning is often hidden; just as, indeed, the most fragrant of the flowers in meadows are cloaked outwardly with random leaves, which if one were to cut away, he will find the beneficial and useful part naked. So then let the word of allegory enter in for us. 2. That the blessed Abraham was tempted, and was commanded to sacrifice his beloved son—grieving, as is likely, as a father, and pricked toward affection by the warm goad of nature, yet nevertheless preferring the good that would come from the deed—this again shows us very clearly that saying of the Savior: For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For if one may speak something even human to demonstrate the meaning clearly, God and Father was, in a manner, bitten with grief in sending his Son to death for our sake, even if he knew he would suffer none of the things that cause pain, since he himself was impassible as God. Nevertheless, considering the benefit that comes from death—I mean the salvation and life of all—he disregarded the affection befitting a father. Therefore Paul also marveled at him, saying:

He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all. On what basis, then, could the wonder of the love of God and the Father toward us be justly established, if he did not also seem to endure something of what was not willed, handing over his own Son for us? For Paul persuades us to understand this very thing by saying, "He did not spare." This would never be said of ordinary matters, but only of those who are straining eagerly after some great undertaking, as in "Enlarge your cords, and strengthen your pegs, and spread out still to the right and to the left"; and again, "Fasten it, do not spare." And again, "Rescue those being led to death, and redeem those being killed, do not spare." And these things will be said by us with reference to "Take your beloved son." But the two servants who accompanied the old man and ran along with him even to the third day would be a type of the two peoples called into servitude through the law—I mean Israel and Judah. Who also

They thought it necessary to follow only the ordinances of God and the Father, just as those men followed Abraham, not yet understanding the Son through whom all things exist, nor recognizing the heir of the Father, of whom he would present to us the most beautiful image, small and still lying in the bosom of his own father—Isaac—and not yet wearing the authority befitting a master. For the Son was and always is Lord and perfect God. But because he was not manifest to all, and especially to the impious Jews who look only to the flesh, he was considered small and ordinary. Yet the knowledge of him is measured out in a way analogous to the understanding of all. And he is found small among the small, but great again among the great. At any rate, the prophets say, "He is great and fearful upon all those around him," that is, those who have come near him through great understanding. Paul too is in labor with some, "until Christ is formed in them." That is, until the great and transcendent features of his divinity are gently molded into their mind. And the fact that the servants followed as far as the third day, but were not permitted to return to the land—the high and holy land—but were rather commanded to sit down with the donkey, indicates the following of God by the two peoples through the law, extending even to the third time, that is, the last, in which Christ appeared to us. For the whole age is measured by three times: the past, I mean, the present, and the future. Therefore the end is in the third.

The divine Scripture says that Christ would come in the last times of the age. Israel, then, having followed God through the law, even up to the times of the coming of our Savior, did not wish to follow Christ through faith, who ascends to death for the sake of all—or rather, it was even prevented by many sins. For a hardening has come upon Israel in part, which is signified by the donkey that once consorted with the servants. For the donkey is an image of the last irrationality, and the child of irrationality is hardening. But the fact that the father withdraws and departs from the servants together with the son, and yet says that he will return again—"For I and the boy," he says, "will go on as far as here, and after we have worshiped, we will return to you"—signifies the temporary withdrawal of God from the sons of Israel, and the return to them at the end of the ages, accomplished through faith in Christ. For when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved. But that the blessed Abraham does not say clearly that he is going up to sacrifice his son, but takes as a kind of pretext the words "We will go on as far as here," would be a clear sign that the mystery of Christ was not believed by the peoples of the Jews. And our account of this will appear true when we see Jesus speaking to the Jews as in parables and through riddles, and saying also to his own disciples: "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables.

But the boy—that is, Isaac—was loaded with the wood for the burnt offering by his father's hand, and he reaches the very places of the sacrifice. For bearing his own cross upon his shoulders, Christ suffered outside the gate, not compelled to suffer by human strength, but by his own will and the counsel of God the Father, according to what he himself said to Pontius Pilate: "You have no authority against me at all, unless it had been given to you from above." But Isaac, having been laid upon the wood, is stolen away from death and from suffering. And a ram, given by God, goes up for the sacrifice. For truly the Word, who shone forth from the substance of God the Father, was in his own temple—I mean the one from the Virgin—and was nailed to the wood. But being God, impassible and immortal, he withdraws himself from death and suffering. And he goes up as a sweet-smelling savor to God the Father through his own body, which he himself is said to have received from the Father, according to what is in

As it is said in the Psalms by him: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you did not delight. Then I said, Behold, I have come. In the head of the book it is written of me: I desired to do your will." And that the things from the history set before us will be very well applied to Christ, he himself will testify again, saying somewhere: "In the head of the book it is written of me." For the whole most wise writing of Moses is a book in five parts. And the head, as it were also the beginning, of the whole book is the one titled Genesis, in which these things are written concerning Christ. And that again "head" signifies "beginning" in the divine Scriptures, you will be well assured, understanding that which Paul says: "For the head of every man is Christ. But the head of the woman is the man. But the head of Christ is God." For the beginning of the man is Christ, as having brought him from non-being into being. And again the beginning of the woman is the man, because of what has been said and truly done: "She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of her man." And of Christ, he says, God himself is the beginning, since the Son is by nature from him, and has as his beginning the one who begot him, who is without beginning, together with his being eternally with him. 3. Most excellently, then, as I think, has the mystery been fitted to the words of the history. But it is necessary, I think, for the rest that the wondrous Abraham be adorned by us with extraordinary wonder, and be shown forth as glorious and conspicuous everywhere by the highest praises. And in addition to this, that the depth of the divine craftsmanship be clearly observed by us.

For the divine Abraham was being tested, not because God was ignorant of what was to come. For nothing could escape the mind that knows all things. Therefore he also said: "Who is this that hides counsel from me, and keeps words in his heart, and thinks to hide them from me?" And again through the voice of Isaiah: "For I am God, and there is no other besides me, declaring the last things beforehand before they come to be, and at the same time they are accomplished." Therefore we would be reckoned utterly stricken and among the most discordant of people, even if we think rightly, to suppose that the God of all was ignorant of what was to come, and that for this reason he tested Abraham. But it was necessary that the head of the righteous man be made radiant not only by the knowledge that is with God, but rather that he be enriched with the most glorious renown, and be testified to among the knowledge of all by his own experience in all the best things. It was necessary also that it be cried out through the sacred Scriptures that in him there was the greatest readiness to obey, and that his account of the divine ordinances was great—or rather, that nothing surpassed it. And he came to such a point of resolve and eagerness as to disregard even his love for his child, and not to shrink from the writing of child-slaughter. And, more paradoxically, in this very act the father expected that he would be father of many nations. But he knew that God is also truthful in this. Then he brought the boy as a sacrifice, not having fallen into despair of the promises, but committing to the Master's powers how he would know to fulfill what had been sworn. And the matter was not without gain for him, even though he came to it through such bitter experience.

For he was being taught, in view of what was going to happen, the wonder of the resurrection from the dead, which surpasses every word and is worthy to be heard, and moreover the august and great mystery of the incarnation of the Only-Begotten. And indeed the inspired Paul says: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac shall your seed be called,' accounting that God was able to raise him even from the dead, from which he also received him in a parable." For since God and the Father was going to show him forth, as it were, as a root and origin of countless nations, when Emmanuel died for the world, for this reason the righteous man was usefully taught through his very experience the surpassing and inexpressible love of God and the Father toward us—he who did not spare his own Son, as we have already said, but delivered him up for us all who are justified in faith and reckoned as children of our forefather Abraham. For if one must also infer from human considerations, I would say that God's command to sacrifice Isaac was burdensome and hard to bear for the blessed Abraham. For how do you think the one commanded to do this was then disposed? A man advanced to deep old age, having grown rich in one son born late, deprived by time of the ability to become a father of others as well, and having his wife also well past her prime (for Sarah too was an old woman)—such a thrice-longed-for son he was commanded to slaughter without delay, the only-begotten and much-prayed-for one.

For with what hand did the old man expect to be able to thrust down the young man's sword, and to dare so pitiable a slaughter against his own offspring? Is it not then fitting to consider that a bitter and sharp crowd of thoughts was unbearably ravaging the soul of the righteous man? And at one time nature was being forced toward affection; at another the divine oracle was importuning him, and perhaps was calling him, as it were, out of necessity toward an unwilling obedience. Truly great, then, is the wonder of the righteous man, and henceforth his God-beloved character is worthy of all praise. For he was bringing forward the rational sacrifice, and declaring the laws of nature to be weak, and trampling on the sting of inexorable affection, and setting nothing earthly against his love for God. Therefore he has also been glorified, and was called a friend of God. And what was expected came to fulfillment for him; the things of hope have come to pass. For he became the father of many and innumerable nations in Christ. Through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. Concerning Isaac and Rebekah. 1. To those who have been justified in Christ, and who have been enriched with unity with him through partaking of the Holy Spirit in the good pleasure of the Father, the wise Paul writes: For I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. For the blessed disciples have become, as it were, both summoners and wedding-escorts, bringing those still far off near, and almost gluing them to Christ, and binding them together by the union of the Spirit. And Christ will present the Church to himself.

God and the Father stirring her up, and all but bringing her forward, and betrothing her to his own Son—except that, with holy men mediating, no one would doubt it. For the inspired David, proclaiming the mystery to us beforehand, says somewhere to her: "Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house; for the king has desired your beauty; for he is your Lord, and you shall worship him." And Paul too has confessed, as I said just now, that those who have believed are presented to Christ as a kind of bride. But one may behold this truly venerable and worthy-to-be-heard mystery no less in the following passage as well. For it is written that Abraham was an elder advanced in days, and the Lord blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, the ruler over all that was his: "Put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell. But you shall go to the land where I was born, and to my tribe, and you shall take a wife for my son Isaac from there." When Abraham had thus commanded, the servant immediately swore, placing his hand under his master's thigh. By this one may understand that the oath was made, as it were, over all the offspring that would come from him. And having loaded ten camels with many of Abraham's good things, he arrives at a run into the midst of the rivers. And he comes down to the city of Nahor.

He makes the camels kneel outside the city beside the well of water, in front of it, at the time when the women who draw water come out. So when he had arrived there, he entreated God thereafter to discover the way for him and to point out a maiden of good courage and hospitable, and free from hesitation

in the eyes of one who looks to a better love. For it shall be, he says, that the maiden to whom I shall say, Incline your water jar that I may drink, and who shall say, Drink, and I will water your camels too, until they have finished drinking—this one you have prepared for your servant Isaac. But she came before long, the maiden fair in form and most comely, I mean Rebecca. And when he asked to drink, she brought it readily. She promised also to water the camels themselves, and what was promised was brought to fulfillment. The servant therefore concludes from this that this was now the one, and not another. Accordingly, taking bracelets and earrings, he brought them to the young woman. And he commanded her to come into the house and to follow him at once. When this had happened, he is entertained as a guest there, and he gives a splendid account of his own master's wealth. He added that, having one beloved son, Isaac, he has given all things to him, and the young man is lord of all. But when the bridal guide wished to depart together with the young woman, they ask Rebecca whether she will go along with the one who has called her, and make her departure a welcome one. And she nods assent eagerly. Having arrived in this way, Isaac now willingly takes her into his house; and he was thus greatly comforted, although his mother had died. Long indeed and extensive is the account of the history. Nevertheless, having summarized it as far as possible, we have spoken sufficiently.

Let the power of the contemplation now come to what is very skillfully wrought, and let it again set forth the type of the mystery—as yet in faint shadows, but shadows that are in travail with the truth. 2. Abraham did not think it right to join a wife to his beloved—I mean Isaac—from the daughters of Canaan; but he commanded his genuine servant to run off to the country of the idolaters, to take thought for a wife most fitting for him. For God the Father did not wish the Synagogue of the Jews to be joined to Christ, who is signified in Isaac. For Isaac is late-born and beloved. Christ too appeared in the last times, and is beloved, a delight and exultation; for Isaac is interpreted thus. That the Canaanites would be understood as a type of those from Israel would become clear, and very easily indeed, from the interpretation of the name. For Canaanites means "ready for humiliation." And to whom would it be fitting that they are about to come into humiliation—or rather have already come—except to the Jews? For they have been humiliated, having slipped from the glory that is in Christ, and having been cast down into every kind of absurdity. Therefore Isaac's bride is not from Canaan, but from the midst of the rivers. For, as I said, the Church spiritually joined to Christ the Savior is not from the Jews but from the Gentiles. Moreover, it was by the counsel of the Father, with servants as intermediaries—the most faithful and genuine, by whom we are to understand the disciples, who have become both stewards and administrators of the mysteries of Christ our God—and they have, so to speak, all things that are in His house in their hands.

These men, having left Judea—just as indeed the servant of Abraham left Canaan—were going down into the region of the idolaters, having in a manner set aside the good things that come from God and the Father, and having their mind full of the wisdom from above, and laden with the gifts that come through the Spirit. Observe also that the servant of Abraham is nameless, so that the type of the ministry may apply to every faithful and approved disciple. And that one lodged there by the well of water toward evening, and he entreated God through prayer to become his helper, and he wished to test the virgin at the water. And the wondrous disciples also visited, as I said just now, the regions of the Gentiles toward the evening—that is, in the last times of the age—and by waters they tested the virgin in the spiritual sense. For the Church is exceedingly fit, and is strong enough, I say, to draw the life-giving word from the springs of the Savior, according to what is written. And she has no small capacity, as far as pertains to the fitness of mind and understanding, to be able also to supply to others the things that lead to life. For Rebecca gave drink to him

the servant and the camels. And the servant may now be understood as a type of those from Israel. For they are men who already have the Law as a pedagogue, and the mystery of Christ is still, as it were, in shadows, yet they are not altogether uninitiated. But those from the nations differ in nothing from irrational beasts, and they would reasonably be likened to the camels. For the animal was unclean according to the laws. Such indeed are all those who have not yet known God by nature and truly. The Church, then, is most capable of watering with the sacred and divine streams both those who come from the Jews to the necessity of choosing the love toward Christ, and those called from the nations. And since the disciples had beheld the virgin as such, they immediately adorned her with bracelets, and indeed added the ornament for the ears; that is, they made her bright and most distinguished with the boasts that lead to hearing. For an adorned ear would indicate the ready to hear. And they made her conspicuous to be seen, as it were, also by the accomplishments of works, that is, of hands. For I think this is what it means, that he put the bracelets even on her hands. And the servant of Abraham was declaring to those in Haran the wealth of his own master, and that he has only one beloved heir. But the nations and the wondrous disciples have been initiated, proclaiming the wealth of God and the Father—the hope, the life, the sanctification; and they announced clearly that there is one only Son by nature and truly, Christ, who has also been appointed heir of all things. And the virgin was asked whether she would journey with the servant willingly; and she nodded assent at once.

For the Church from the nations is most ready, and, so to speak, warm toward the love that is in Christ. And the inspired David will testify, speaking of the flock from the nations: Your ear attended to the readiness of their heart. And since Isaac was now joined to Rebekah, he says, he was comforted concerning his mother. So then, from this too it is possible to understand that Christ has been grieved, as it were, by the death of the Synagogue of the Jews through unbelief, from which he himself also came according to the flesh; but since he has become bridegroom of the Church from the nations, he has ceased in a certain manner from the dejection over her. For it has been said somewhere through the voice of the prophets to the Church: And it shall be, just as a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, so the Lord will rejoice over you. Through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father, with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen. Concerning Esau and Jacob, that they have been set as a type of the two peoples, both of Israel and of the people through faith in Christ. 1. And these are the generations of Isaac the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Syrian, from Mesopotamia, sister of Laban the Syrian, as his wife. And Isaac entreated the Lord concerning Rebekah his wife, because she was barren. And God heard him, and Rebekah his wife conceived in the womb. And the children leaped within her. And she said: If this is to happen to me, why is this to me? And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her: Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your belly.

And people shall prevail over people. And the greater shall serve the lesser. And the days for her to give birth were fulfilled, and there were twins in her womb. And the firstborn son came out entirely ruddy, like a hairy garment. And she called his name Esau. And after this his brother came out, and his hand was grasping the heel of Esau. And she called his name Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when Rebecca bore them. And the young men grew. And Esau was a man skilled in hunting, a man of the field. But Jacob was a man without guile, dwelling in a house. And Isaac loved Esau, because his game was food for him. But Rebecca loved Jacob. And Jacob cooked a stew. And Esau came from the field, fainting. And Esau said to Jacob: Give me a taste of this red stew, for I am fainting. Therefore his name was called Edom. And Jacob said to Esau: Give me today your birthright. And Esau said: Behold, I am going to die, and what good are these birthrights to me? And Jacob said to him: Swear to me today. And he swore to him. And Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and a stew of lentils; and he ate and drank, and rose up and went away. And Esau despised his birthright. God, not knowing how to speak falsely, was promising that the wondrous Abraham would be the father of many nations, and he insisted that the multitude from him would appear beyond number, both above and below. For it shall be, he says, as the sand that cannot be numbered, and as the stars of heaven in multitude.

But the goal of such manifest glory has come to pass, not in Israel alone, but also among the flocks of the nations. For they have been called through faith, and such people would be rather in Isaac, that is, from promise; and the most wise Paul will testify, writing: Since Scripture foresaw that God justifies the nations by faith, it preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, that all the nations will be blessed in you. So those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, that Cursed is everyone who does not remain in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them. But that no one is justified before God by the law is clear, because the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith, but the one who does them shall live in them. So it is clear that the things promised were being fulfilled; and not altogether through those being trained as children under the law, but through those justified in faith. But the commandment through Moses crept in by way of economy, the promise not being neglected, but in order that it might train as a child and lead back little by little to the calling through faith; and, convicting the weakness of those who had already gone forward, it might demonstrate to all, as now most useful and necessary, the grace through faith and the justification in Christ. And the divinely inspired Paul said again thus: Brothers, I speak after the manner of men, yet no one sets aside or adds to a man's covenant once it has been ratified. But the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one. And to your seed, who is Christ.

But I say this: a covenant ratified by God. The law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul it so as to abolish the promise. For if the inheritance is from the law, it is no longer from the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through a promise. And he immediately adds to these things the reason for the law's introduction, saying thus: What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made, having been ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now the mediator is not of one; but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? By no means. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be from the law. But the Scripture has shut up all things under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up for the glory that was to be revealed. So the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. But when faith came, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore one would least of all doubt that the law was a proof of the weakness of those being tutored, and rather a demonstration of trespasses and sin. For where, he says, there is no law, neither is there transgression. And again: I would not have known sin except through the law. And when the commandment came, he says, sin revived, but I died. And again: Until the law, sin was in the world; for sin is not imputed when there is no law. For the law works wrath.

The law, then, has acted as a pedagogue leading to Christ, convicting those who transgress and teaching by experience itself those on earth that it is impossible to escape the written record of the law, since the inclination to sin is easy. The human being has fallen sick, and he needs altogether the salvation that comes through Christ, who justifies by faith and mercies. 2. It is evident, therefore, that the account of the dispensation concerning us has shown the pre-proclamation, as it were, of the commandment through Moses to be most necessary, of the grace that immediately runs its course afterward in Christ, bringing into the midst the seed fore-announced by the promise of God—that is, those in Christ through faith. For in this way the wondrous Abraham became the father of countless multitudes. Consider, then, consider the shape of the dispensation, fashioned elegantly as in a type again in the pair of brothers from Isaac—I mean Esau and indeed Jacob. So it had been said by God to the wondrous Abraham: "In Isaac shall your seed be called." Interpreting the oracle, Paul, learned in the law, says: "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, 'and to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'and to your seed,' which is Christ." Therefore the things promised were brought to fulfillment in Christ, and Isaac has been set in some way as an image and type of him. Such a calling is interpreted as joy and exultation. And the wondrous David also named Christ "exultation," speaking as from the person of those who thirst for salvation through him: "My exultation, deliver me from those who surround me." For in Christ we have escaped the uprisings of those who murder.

And we who have believed have trodden upon scorpions and serpents in him, and have stepped upon the asp and the basilisk. That Christ is named exultation in the divine Scriptures, the prophetic word will also persuade us. For it reads thus: And the Lord shall rise up as righteousness and exultation before all the nations. For Emmanuel has become righteousness and exultation not only for those of Israel but also for the nations and peoples throughout the whole inhabited world. For we have been justified in him, and we have driven off the ill repute of the ancient curse. For we have been clothed, as it were, with gladness and joy, having been delivered from death and sin, and what good things from above and from God have we not been enriched with? Therefore we have been taught to glorify, saying: Let my soul exult in the Lord. For he has clothed me with a garment of salvation, and a tunic of gladness. And who this tunic of gladness is, the most holy Paul will make clear, saying: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ. And again: Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its desires. Isaac, then, is exultation, having been taken up in the contemplations set before us as a type of Christ most usefully. Rebecca became his wife. And she too may be interpreted as the greatest patience, all that it is. But we shall also take up her person to mean the Church, understanding rightly, whose approval lies in patience. And indeed for her children—of her, I mean, who is in faith and the spirit of salvation—patience has appeared as the way.

For the sacred words have spoken to them, at one time, "In your endurance possess your souls"; and at another time again, "For you have need of endurance, so that having done the will of God, you may receive the promise." Observe, then, Rebecca, who gives birth late and with difficulty (for she was barren), yet nonetheless gives birth through the generosity of God and from the love of Isaac, both Esau the firstborn and Jacob coming immediately after. Through these, the two peoples might very well be depicted for us again—both Israel and, indeed, those from the nations. And the firstborn is Israel (for he was called forth beforehand through the law); but second, and after him, is the one in faith through Christ. One might see the difference between the two peoples in disposition and character, both from the very names, I think, that belonged to both, and from the appearance or constitution of their bodies. For Esau is interpreted as "oak," that is, harsh and inflexible. And somewhere it is said to Israel by God: "I know that you are stiff, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead bronze." But Jacob is a "supplanter," that is, a craftsman, or one who knows how to conquer. He will supplant

For whatever a man is, he will be defeated by it. But he wins entirely—not the people in the law, but the people in Christ through faith—who has run past the accusations that come from sin and blunts the very power of death. And Esau was wholly ruddy; for it is written thus, "And he was hairy like a skin"; but Jacob was a smooth man. The ruddiness, then, is a riddle of rage and anger, since in truth color is always somehow red in those who are in anger. And that the shaggy-haired and hairy is beast-like, how could anyone doubt? Anyone, I think, could see that Israel is in such ways: governed by rage or by the reasoning that is fitting, yet inclined too far toward boldness and savagery. Therefore they have both killed holy prophets and acted impiously even against Emmanuel himself in the last days. But smoothness is a clear indication of a form befitting a human being. For the new people in faith is exceedingly gentle and looks very much toward what is tame. For the refinement of the mouth will be a clear demonstration of the intelligible and inner beauty. Just as, of course, in Esau we have given the hairy and red as a sign of wildness. Yet the mother of both was one, that is, Rebecca. But our Lord Jesus Christ presented to himself the Church as a pure virgin, serving, as it were, for the spiritual regeneration of the two peoples. For as far as concerned the purpose of his visitation, he created them into one new man, making peace, and reconciling both in one Spirit, according to what is written. But Israel was hostile and discordant with the new people, being firstborn in time.

For I think that the leaping of the infants in the womb itself signifies something too, indicating as it were the enmity that was to come. And that the younger would be better, and in more distinguished glory than Israel the firstborn, the one who knows all things straightway signified, saying thus: And the people of a people shall surpass, and the greater shall serve the lesser. For the mystery concerning both was proclaimed beforehand also through the voice of the saints; and that Israel would come after the nations was foretold to us in many ways. But when God was showing the matter in the birth itself, Esau came forth first from the womb, and Jacob followed, because he would trip up and conquer his brother, demonstrating it by having grasped the heel. 3. And let these things be said, the argument for the present taking its starting points from the appearance of the bodies and from the birth itself. But come, let us speak as far as possible of the things concerning both by going through other thoughts as well. For the manner of life itself will be a revelation of each one's mind. For the young men were of equal age with each other, yet not of equal mind, nor in counsels alike. For Esau loved the pursuits of fields and hunting; but the other was city-bred, evidently approachable and sociable, and a guileless man dwelling in a house. And the one was unrestrained toward fleshly desires, and casting the finest of his own privileges behind him like the most worthless things, and buying in exchange the cold and cheap things for the necessary ones. But the other was an insatiable lover of the best things, and seeking out from every side the things through which he might become illustrious.

For he bought the birthright, since Esau threw it away and carelessly preferred the satisfaction of his belly to his own dignities. For this reason, then, his name was called Edom, that is, earthly; for it is a clear proof of an earthly and most lowly mind to have disregarded the glory that was in him and to have made the privileges of knowledge of no account entirely, and rather to have chosen as better and more preferable the temporary pleasure, and to crown with the better vote the immediately delightful, even if it should carry great loss. Therefore also the divine Paul reasonably called him who had chosen to live so shamefully a fornicator and profane, setting forth Esau as a kind of type of those who have slipped into such baseness; and indeed he made the unbridled impulse toward fleshly and, clearly, more earthly desires a charge and accusation, saying: Lest anyone be a fornicator or profane like Esau, who for one morsel sold his birthright. Therefore, setting side by side accurately the manners of the young men and the darkness of the Jewish commonwealth, and the purity and freedom of the multitude from the nations, let us say what is fitting. For Israel was rustic and had a more earthly mind, boastful and fond of war, and very greatly excited to bloodshed, like the rustic and beast-slaying Esau. And indeed a prophetic word reproached them, that they set snares to destroy men. And Christ himself cursed them, saying, that they hid destruction of their snare from me for nothing, they reproached my soul in vain.

Let a snare come upon them which they do not know, and let the hunt which they hid seize them. For they sent some of the Pharisees with those called Herodians (these are tax-collectors), testing him and saying: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? So then Israel too is a hunter. But the new people, who are in faith, according to the inspired Jacob, are city-dwelling and fond of home, gentle and settled, simple and guileless, dwelling in a house, as it is written. For it is true to say that the most gentle multitude of those justified in faith has inscribed the Church as though some bright and well-governed city, and a house firmly established, and unshaken by those who test them, they have made their citizenship and life in Christ. And their mind is simple, and freed from all perversity. But they make it something utterly abhorrent to seem to be deceived in judgment and in character. And I think the inspired David said somewhere concerning them: The Lord settles the single-minded in a house. For the one who is simple in Christ is single-minded, and he is settled in a house. And yet one of the holy prophets cries out against Israel: You have grown weary in your many ways. Therefore those in Christ dwell as in a house—the citizenship and life in holiness and sanctification. But they themselves, weaving the matter as a kind of crown for their own heads, would be caught, and indeed reckoning it a manner of prosperity. In this way they say, at one time: I was glad when they said to me: Let us go into the house of the Lord; and at another time: One thing I asked of the Lord, this I will seek. And what is the request? And what is the one grace?

To dwell in the house of the Lord, he says, all the days of my life, to behold the delightfulness of the Lord and to visit his holy temple. Do you hear how he counts it a matter of bright and excellent grace to dwell in the house of God and to make one's abode in the divine courts? And this dwelling is not bodily, but would be understood rather as in steadfastness of mind and a life of virtue. But, he says, Isaac loved Esau, because his hunt was food for him. For the firstborn Israel had been deemed worthy of love from above, because he brought to God as it were food the right conduct of his citizenship under the law and the labors for this. For there have been holy men also in Israel, lovers of God and keepers of the law. And indeed the prophet Isaiah lamented Jerusalem as having played the harlot. And he said that righteousness at times slept in her, that is, rested and lodged there, because many in her had taken up the boasts of citizenship under the law. Israel, then, was in glory with God as the firstborn, yet he did not preserve to the very end the honor assigned to his own privileges as firstborn. But he has yielded up, as it were, the birthright to the new and later people, that is, to those from the nations, having turned aside very greatly to the things of the flesh and of the world. And indeed, as was read in the Gospel parables, the king made a marriage for his son. Then the dinner-guests were present, announcing to the banqueters the things from God, that is: Behold, I have prepared my breakfast, my bulls and my fattened beasts have been sacrificed, and all things are ready; come to the marriage.

But they were not willing to come, he says. Yet each had his own preferred excuse. For one kept saying, "I have married a wife; have me excused." And another, "I have bought a field, and I cannot come." Do you see, then, how

they have imitated Esau, having preferred the enjoyment of things temporary and fleshly to the glory that comes from God, and all but offering the birthright to others to take. For immediately those who believed from among the Gentiles have been called in instead, and have gained the glory owed to Israel, and indeed also the blessing, because of their readiness for obedience, and their great promptness and alertness with respect to fulfilling what is pleasing to God. And the inspired David would be a witness to us of this too, speaking thus concerning them: "You have heard the desire of the poor, O Lord; your ear has attended to the preparation of their heart." For the people who are in faith are always in some way more ready for obedience, even though those from Israel had first grown rich in the instruction of the law. But even if the multitude of the Gentiles was weak in the poverty of divine teachings, yet it became more easily persuaded in faith, and, as it were, sharply pricking up its ear to the oracles given through Christ, which is testified by his own voice. For he spoke thus through the lyre of the Psalmist: "A people whom I did not know served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me." But concerning Israel, as having already fallen into estrangement, and no longer deigning to walk uprightly, but with the leg of its mind, so to speak, maimed, he says: "Foreign sons lied to me; foreign sons grew old and limped from their paths.

For straight and unerring paths lead to Christ, both the instruction through the law and the foretelling of the holy prophets. But since they had reached the end of the law and the prophets—that is, Christ—they went lame from foolishness, raving against him not from a sound mind, and they dared to put to death the author of life. That, then, the new people in faith has seized the blessing owed to Israel, having a disposition more readily inclined to submit to the divine nod—from this too it will be possible for us to understand. For it is written as follows: And it came to pass after Isaac had grown old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see; and Esau called his son, his firstborn, and said to him, "My son." And he said, "Here I am." And he said, "Behold, I have grown old, and I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your equipment, both the quiver and the bow, and go out into the field, and hunt me a hunt, and make me dishes, as I love; and bring them to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die." These things, then, the father said to Esau. And he immediately set out from the house for the labors by which he would succeed in the hunt, and he equipped himself vigorously. And what after this? Rebecca persuades Jacob to get ahead of Esau, and indeed to snatch the blessing. But he had feared from the beginning to do this; yet with his mother urging him on, he brings in two kids from the fields, good and tender, and began the cooking.

Having put the skins on his shoulders and clothed the bare parts of his neck, he was finely imitating the shagginess of Esau and his exceedingly hairy condition, as if to mock his father's hands, should he perhaps touch him. Then, taking the dish in his hands, he went in to his father, and indeed he said, "Father." And he said, "Behold, I am here. Who are you, child?" And Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; just as you told me, I have done. Rise, sit, and eat of my catch, so that your soul may bless me." And when the old man had consumed what had been brought, he said to the youth, "Come near to me and kiss me, child." And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said to him, "Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field full of which the Lord has blessed, and may the Lord give you from the dew of heaven and from the richness of the earth, abundance of grain and wine. And let nations serve you, and let rulers bow down to you, and become lord of your brother. And let the sons of your father bow down to you. The one who curses you is accursed, and the one who blesses you is blessed." So then Jacob had already gained beforehand the blessing from his father; then afterward Esau comes second from the fields, having taken his catch.

When he had brought it to his father, he was still conspicuous, and he was being taught what had happened. For he heard at once: "Your brother came and with deceit took your blessing." And when he said with tears, "Will there not be one blessing for me also, father? Bless me too," Isaac said again: "Behold, your dwelling shall be from the fatness of the earth, and from the dew of heaven above, and you shall live by your sword, and you shall serve your brother. But it shall be when you cast off and loose his yoke from your neck." Having gathered the breadth of the narrative, then, we have set it before those who will read it, as in very few words. But I think it necessary to apply the spiritual things to what happened perceptibly. 4. We say, then, that even before the others—I mean those called in faith and in Christ—the Master and Father of all gave command to Israel, as it were some bright guest-gift, and fruits of equity, and, so to speak, discoveries of good labors, to hasten to bring the citizenship and life pleasing to him, which was pre-inscribed for the ancients through the life in the Law, all but hidden in the types, and like matter concealed by the superfluity of the letter, yet not unconsumable for those willing to hunt it out through the precise contemplation in the Spirit. This, I think, is Isaac's desiring the hunt of Esau. But Israel was commanded, as I said, and indeed promised to accomplish it. For he said at Horeb, when the assembly was gathered, and God had descended upon Mount Sinai in the form of fire: "All that the Lord God says, we will do, and we will hear.

But he was very clearly detected as negligent through his actions, although he was ready to promise. For this reason he will also be separated in between, and thus the supplanter arrives first, Jacob, that is, the new people and, as it were, the people in faith. For he has brought to God what was sought, while the firstborn people was drawing back and delaying; he bore fruit beforehand in faith, which the divine nature also makes into food, as it were. And indeed the Savior thus foretold to the holy apostles the conversion of the Samaritans, saying: "I have food to eat that you do not know." And making clear what was said, he says, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work." But that the readiness for the promise became unprofitable for those from Israel, since the matter did not proceed for them to completion, and that hesitation toward the necessity of believing did no injustice at all to the Gentiles, who had recognized the Redeemer and had already honored him with obedience in everything good—Christ taught us this through a parable. For he spoke thus: "A certain man had two children, and he came to the first and said: 'Child, go today and work in my vineyard.' But he answered and said, 'I do not want to.' But later he repented and went. And he came to the other and said likewise. But he answered and said, 'I will, Lord,' and he did not go. Which of the two did the will of the Father? Clearly the one who went into the vineyard, even if for a short time in between sluggishness crept in, persuading him to hesitate over what he had promised.

See, then, in these things Esau going out most readily to the hunt, and promising to do this, but Jacob arriving first, although at the beginning he refused to do this, yet he was blessed by his father. Thus also the new people snatches the blessing, having the form of the Jewish polity all but molded upon it. Just as, of course, Jacob also wisely imitated the shagginess of Esau with the skins of the kids. But he heard his father immediately crying out: The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau. In what way, then, should we apply to the peoples in faith both that they came to be in appearance, and that as in imitation of the Jewish polity they also have a different voice from them? So then we say this, that there is always in the divine Scriptures a hand as a sign of deed and of accomplishments, that is, of practical activity. To whatever extent, then, it pertains to identity of activity and the richness of accomplishments, those who are spiritually and pneumatically consecrated in Christ also fulfill the law, and for a savor

bringing ourselves to God and the Father as a sweet fragrance. And indeed Christ, having plainly laid down evangelical laws for us, says: Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or one stroke shall pass from the law, until all things come to be. You understand, then, that those in Christ fulfill the law by receiving the circumcision in the spirit instead of the circumcision in the flesh. And entering also into the rest of Christ, and keeping sabbath in Christ, and showing the Jew who is in secret and within. This, I think, is to have the hands of Esau, yet a voice other than his. For we have not employed the thick-tongued speech of the Jews; nor indeed are we accustomed to deny and speak ill of the Master who bought us; but rather we glorify together with God and the Father the Son, and we name him Lord, and Savior, and Redeemer. 5. I think it is also worth carefully examining the power of the blessing upon both, as far as it comes to mind to speak. For the matter would be for the benefit of those who will read it. The blessed Isaac said, then, concerning Jacob: Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed. And may the Lord give you from the dew of heaven, and from the fatness of the earth abundance of grain and wine. And let nations serve you, and let rulers bow down to you, and be lord over your brother. And let the sons of your father bow down to you. Cursed be the one who curses you, and blessed be the one who blesses you.

In these words the historical narrative is somehow mingled with the spiritual meaning, and through two persons it comes to one truth, which is also attested by the events themselves. For such things are fulfilled not only, surely, in Jacob, but also in Christ, and in those who have been justified by faith, who have also become children according to promise in Isaac. Therefore the meaning of the prophecy will fit both the new people and Christ himself, who is the beginning and the leader. It has also been reckoned to the second Adam, and a second root, as it were, of humanity has sprung up. For the things in Christ are a new creation, and we have been renewed in him for sanctification, incorruption, and life. The word of blessing signifies, I think, the spiritual fragrance that is in Christ, like that of a field and a most blooming meadow sending forth a beautiful and pleasant scent from spring flowers. For thus Christ named himself to us in the Song of Songs, saying: I am the flower of the field, a lily of the valleys. For he was a lily and a rose springing up from the earth, because of the human nature. Yet he knew no sin, but rather sent forth, in a manner most befitting God, the fragrance of his good deeds throughout the whole inhabited world. Therefore he likens Christ to a field blessed by God, and very reasonably so, since he is the fragrance of the knowledge of God and the Father. For thus again the inspired Paul said: But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and makes manifest through us the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. And our Lord Jesus Christ was made manifest through the holy apostles as the fragrance of the knowledge of God and the Father.

For if anyone has known the Son, he has surely also known the Father, because of the sameness of nature and because the Son is in all respects alike and without difference. Such things, then, will fit Christ, and would reasonably be fitting also for the new people: "May the Lord give you from the dew of heaven and from the richness of the earth, abundance of grain and wine." For the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth are this: the Word from God the Father has been given to us, clearly through participation through the Spirit, and through him we have become partakers of the divine nature. And we have had abundance of grain and wine, that is, of strength and indeed also of gladness. Since the saying is true which says, "Bread strengthens the heart of man, and wine gladdens." So then, bread is a sign of the intelligible and spiritual strength; wine is a sign of the other. And these things have been given to those in Christ through him. How, or in what manner, have we become steadfast in piety and, in a certain way, immovable, knowing how to think rightly, and firmly established without being shaken? For we have received authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy. This, I think, is the abundance of grain. But we have received wine as well. For we rejoice in hope and have become glad, according to what is written. For we await the mansions above, the life in incorruption, the long-lived life, the reigning together with Christ himself. And let such things be said also concerning us. For the Word reasonably calls us to this. Then the power of the blessing will pass over again to Emmanuel himself.

For let nations serve you, it says, and let rulers bow down to you, and become lord over your brother. For Emmanuel has been declared firstborn, when he became as we are, and among many brothers. But not for this reason would he slip away from being also God and Lord of all things; for we worship him as Master, and as God he has taken lordship over those called to brotherhood through grace. For who, it says, shall be compared to the Lord among the clouds? And who shall be likened to him among the sons of God? Therefore Emmanuel has taken lordship as God over those brought into brotherhood, and every knee of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth shall bow to him, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And the one who curses is accursed; but the one who blesses is blessed. And the statement is clear. For those who blaspheme him are accursed and hateful to God; but those who bless, that is, those who proclaim his divine glory, are partakers of the gifts from above and from God. This, then, is the blessing of Jacob, having the force of its reference to Emmanuel himself, and to those justified in faith. But let us also see the other, that is, the one that came upon the firstborn, clearly meaning Israel, of whom Esau was also a type. For behold, it says, your dwelling shall be from the fatness of the earth, and from the dew of heaven above, and you shall live by your sword, and you shall serve your brother. But it shall be when you cast off and loosen his yoke from your neck; for the blessing has been given to Israel, the law through Moses.

For it was the word of Christ that was ministered through angels. For that he himself spoke to those of older times, the most wise Paul will confirm, writing: God, having spoken in many parts and in many ways long ago to the fathers in the prophets, in these last days spoke to us in his Son. And the Savior himself also showed that the law is his own words, saying: Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or one stroke shall pass away from the law, until all things come to be. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. If, then, it is true that the law given through angels was the word of Christ, it has come about as a blessing for Israel in its order, and we understand Christ to be the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth. For just as the multitude of the angels revels, being watered by the dew from above and spiritual, so also the earth, growing rich, luxuriates in the intelligible rains for spiritual fruitfulness. But we who are in Christ through faith have been enriched with bread and wine. But Israel has no share in these; for this has not been brought into the blessings of Esau. And in another way too the wretched Jews have no share in the mystical blessing, since this has not been given to the worship according to the law either, but has been reserved rather for the peoples in Christ and in faith. And we are in peace through Christ, but Israel is in wars, and we have inherited in a perceptible way the land of the promise, which has the type of the land above and intelligible, of which the Savior himself also made mention, saying: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land.

And we are among the children through the free Spirit, and as being both according to us and a brother, we approach Christ, making our subjection good and willing. But Israel is again yoked beneath, and has been made subject to the laws of Moses, undergoing death as the penalty for transgressions. For Esau heard: And you shall serve your brother; that is, you shall be subjected, and not willingly, to him who is by nature according to you. But Moses too is a man according to us, having nothing more, as far as it pertains to the account of humanity. And indeed the Master of all called Israel the people of Moses; for they had made a calf in the wilderness. Then God says to Moses: Go, come down quickly from here; for your people has transgressed, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt. Paul, then, the inspired, also attributed the law in the letter to the blessed Moses himself. For he said thus: Anyone who has rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on two or three witnesses. And that Israel was going to cast off the yoke through the all-wise Moses, when Christ called him to the grace through faith, he foretold beforehand, saying: And it shall be, when you take down and loosen his yoke from your neck. For those from Israel who believed loosened from their necks the yoke of the law, which is very hard to bear. For they have been called to a free status through faith in Christ. Through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK 4 OF THE GLAPHYRA ON GENESIS.

Concerning the patriarch Jacob. 1. It is true that all who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. For the sons of lawlessness leap upon them like wild beasts, setting down as a kind of record and accusation of their own perversity the splendor of those accustomed to be held in esteem. For in some way the worse is always refuted by the comparison of the better. And what possesses the more excellent vote all but inscribes the ugliness of the defeated. What then follows from this? The arrows of envy, and the fire of malice is kindled against those who have been overcome, an origin of madness and an occasion of impiety against those who have chosen to live in the best possible way. And even if they should happen to be in struggles and labors, they would not be altogether capturable by those who war against them. For the one who stands before the saints will by no means overlook those who are in danger for his sake. But he will rather rescue them, and very easily, and will show them more radiant, setting before them their sweat as a training in endurance. And the inspired Paul will concur with the account, having written thus: But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way out, that you may be able to bear it. And those who have had dealings with struggles and have borne the labors of persecutions not ignobly have themselves cried out in the book of Psalms: For you have tested us, O God, you have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the snare; you laid afflictions on our back; you set men over our heads. We went through fire and water, and you brought us out into a place of refreshment.

You hear how they have resolved to be in no way distressed by the things in which they are tested, but rather to rejoice, as having shown themselves better, and having been known for what they are through experience itself, and having been testified to for their love of God to the utmost through suffering. For they said, "We passed through fire." For just as, I think, the most approved of incenses, having been brought into contact with fire, then make the display of the fragrance that is in them, so also a holy soul, being in a manner set on fire through being tested and suffering, makes the manifestation of the manifold virtue that is in it more vivid. Moreover, concerning every saint, the inspired David somewhere sings and says, "The angel of the Lord will encamp round about those who fear him, and will deliver them." And again the provider of help himself says plainly: "Because he hoped in me, I will deliver him. He will cry to me, and I will hear him; I am with him in affliction, I will rescue him, and I will glorify him; with length of days I will fill him, and I will show him my salvation." What

What, then, is the salvation of God and the Father? The God Word who is from him, who for our sake became in our likeness and in the form of a servant by the economy. Thus the Father named him, also speaking through Isaiah: And the nations shall see my righteousness, and kings my glory. But my salvation shall burn as a lamp. For the Son has become for us righteousness and glory from God and the Father, and indeed also salvation. For we have been justified in him, and have been brought back to the glory of adoption as sons. And that we have also been saved, having escaped the bonds of death and running back up to incorruption, how could it any longer be, or from where could it be, doubtful? For the Son has appeared to us as a lamp in night and in darkness, sending the divine light into the souls of those who believe. Therefore he also said: I am the light of the world. Since, then, according to the Savior's own voice, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. For they shall have their lot in the heavens, and God and Savior of all himself defending it. And they shall see the very mystery concerning Christ; and from these things one may learn nothing less, from the things concerning the blessed Jacob. And I think it fitting to set alongside the things written about him, for the more precise knowledge of those who will read. And it is thus: And Esau was angry with Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And Esau said in his mind: Let the days of mourning for my father draw near, that I may kill Jacob my brother. And the words of Esau her elder son were reported to Rebekah. And she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him:

Behold, Esau your brother threatens to kill you. Now therefore, my child, listen to my voice, and arise and flee to Mesopotamia, to Laban my brother, to Harran. And dwell with him for some days until the wrath and anger of your brother turn away, and he forgets what you have done to him, and I, having sent, will summon you from there, lest I be bereaved of you both in one day. Then she provided a specious pretext for her son's departure, and indeed she came to Isaac and said: I have become weary of my life because of the daughters of the sons of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of this land, why should I live? For so that the blessed Jacob might not make his flight against his father's will, and be shown to be the cause of grief and anger, the woman craftily persuades the old man to permit his son's departure. For, it says, Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and commanded him, saying: You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise and flee to Mesopotamia, to the house of Bethuel the father of your mother, and take for yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. And may my God bless you and increase you and multiply you, and you shall become assemblies of nations, and may he give you the blessing of Abraham your father, to you and to your seed after you, to inherit the land of your sojourning, which God gave to Abraham. 2.

As far as the letter and what is indicated by the history are concerned, it would be fitting to regard both Rebekah herself and the blessed Jacob with no small wonder. For she, as to one who excelled, brought a plain request to her husband—the one concerning her son, I mean. And he made the law of nature the immediate arbiter of what was fitting, and he commanded his son to decline the marriage that was unwanted by his mother, in a certain way flattering the one born from him and reared piously, to walk in the track of his father's virtue. For everywhere we shall find the inspired Jacob yielding to the nods of those who begot him, and making the matter a manifest and unambiguous indication, as it were, of his piety toward God. But as far as the account of contemplation is concerned, I think we must again go the innermost way, and I suppose it necessary to recall that point. For in this way the contemplation would be very easily made clear. For Rebekah, before the pangs of childbirth—I mean the pangs of delivery—carrying in her womb the pair of those born from her, the ill-famed report, altogether hard to bear—

She received it, and was already in the very terrors of death, since the movements of the unborn children were not moderate. Then why did she wish to escape the matter, questioning God and saying, "If it is to be so with me, why is this to me?" And what is God's answer to these things? "Two nations and two peoples shall be separated from your womb, and one people shall surpass another," he says, "and the greater shall serve the lesser." Therefore let us accept as a type of the two peoples—the one from Israel and the one through faith—Esau and Jacob. But "Esau hated Jacob," it says, because he had been deprived of the birthright, having sold his firstborn rights and yielded his own honor to another, and because, having brought the things from the hunt second, he missed the blessing. For this reason he was already in savage thoughts, and meditated the murder that agreed with his envy, against his brother. And in like manner the firstborn Israel hated and raged fiercely against those in faith and after him, that is, the new people. For he had come to be in the first rank before God, and was reckoned in the portion of the firstborn, and was filled with blessing from above, having richly gained the grace in Christ through the Spirit. So then Israel was naturally hostile to those in Christ through faith; and as far as it seemed to him and to the power of his undertakings, he became a bitter murderer, bringing persecutions and wounding with the arrows of murder and envy. But Rebekah persuaded Jacob to let go of the things at home and avoid his brother, and to go to Laban, a man who was an idolater.

The divinely inspired Isaac himself, the father of Jacob, also urged him to decline marriage from Canaan and rather to desire to make a household from the daughters of Laban. For the Church has wisely advised the new people, when in danger and pursued, to avoid the anger of those who would kill them; Rebecca would be a type of her. And just as Rebecca's bridegroom himself, that is Christ, consents, so too he pushes aside spiritual kinship with those who have burned with rage unto impiety and have practiced murdering savagely. For marriage is a sign of kinship. But he chooses rather those from the house of Laban, that is, those from the Gentiles. And we will find the holy apostles, who became the firstfruits of the new peoples in faith, eagerly carrying out what was commanded to Jacob. For they withdrew from the flock of the Jews, since it raged against them. And changing regions and cities, they earnestly and sensibly sought to evade the anger of their persecutors. For they remembered Christ's injunction when he said: "When they persecute you from this city, flee to the next." And they also spoke to those of the blood of Israel who had chosen to disobey and who insolently reviled: "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles." For thus the Lord has commanded us. You hear how the bridegroom of the Church, that is Christ, has commanded his own to go to the multitude of the Greeks and to bear children from there and, as it were, to appear as fathers of peoples.

Therefore the most wise Paul also writes to those of the Gentiles who believed through him, saying: For though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus through the Gospel I begot you. And that God will also be with them and will bless richly the peoples who are in faith, the divinely inspired Isaac would very easily show as well, crowning Jacob as he hastens away from his father's house with blessings from above and saying: And may my God bless you, and increase you, and multiply you; and you shall be for gatherings of nations. And may he give you the blessing of Abraham your father. For those in Christ have been blessed, and have increased greatly, and have become a multitude, and have been appointed gatherings of nations and co-heirs with the holy fathers. For they will recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and in the kingdom of the heavens, according to the voice of the Savior himself. And we have been blessed by him again; for he spoke on our behalf: Holy Father, keep them in your truth. But if Rebecca is also understood as the mother of Esau, this will not at all confuse the contemplations. For we have received Esau as a type of those from Israel; but to Rebecca we have given the person of the Church. But those from Israel have themselves also become sons of the Church through faith in Christ, no longer reckoned as that former and ancient people, but rather transformed into a new one, mingled together with those from the Gentiles. For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

He who also created the two peoples into one new man, making peace, according to the Scriptures, and reconciling both in one Spirit to the Father. For he has broken down the middle wall of partition, and has abolished in his decrees the law of commandments. 3. So then Jacob, furnished with the blessings from his father, was carried by his feet to the goal of his journey set before him. And what things happened in between, we shall learn from the sacred Scriptures themselves. It reads as follows: And Jacob went out from the well of the oath, and journeyed to Harran, and came upon a place, and slept there. For the sun had set; and he took of the stones of the place, and put them at his head, and slept in that place, and dreamed. And behold, a ladder set up on the earth, whose top reached to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord was established upon it, and said: I am the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac, do not fear. The land on which you are sleeping, I will give it to you and to your seed; and your seed shall be as the sand of the sea. And it shall be widened out toward the sea, and the south, and the north, and toward the east. And in you all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed, and in your seed. And behold, I am with you, guarding you in every way wherever you may go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not forsake you, until I have done all that I have spoken to you. And Jacob awoke from his sleep, and said, The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.

And he was afraid, and said: How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone which he had set there at his head. And he set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on the top of it, and called the name of that place, House of God. We say, then, that the name of the city is the Well of the Oath. For it is written thus concerning it: And it came to pass in that day, and the servants of Isaac came and reported to him concerning the well which they had dug, and said, We have not found water. And he called it an oath. Therefore he called the name of the city, Well of the Oath, until this day. And if one should choose to learn why the Well of the Oath, we say again on what account. For there the leaders of the Gerarites, Abimelech and those with him, made an oath of peace with Isaac. So then the wondrous Jacob departed from his paternal hearth and his own city, and was separated from his family. For this reason indeed he began to be terribly distraught. For he considered, as was likely, that he would be a wanderer and a stranger, and would dwell in a foreign land. And perhaps he would even be under others, and would receive the unaccustomed yoke of slavery. For even those of very noble birth must yield to those who rule. But God, who knows the heart and the reins, immediately took hold of him, and does not allow the soul of the righteous man to be choked by such bitter forebodings. For he showed that a multitude of angels, speeding above and below, easily preserves those who are devoted to God. For this, I think, and nothing else, was what he was taught through the dreams.

For he was seeing in a perceptible manner the ladder that reached up on high. And it was a sign of descent and ascent, even if it was depicted, as it were, in cruder forms. And he heard His voice saying—the voice of the One who commands the angels—that He Himself would be the fulfillment of the blessing given to him by the father. For your seed, He says, will be spread out to the east and the west, the north and the south. And He said that He Himself would have Him as helper and preserver everywhere. And having become awake, the wondrous Jacob was in no small amazement, and indeed he said: The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. But what would he wish to make clear by this? How is it not worth seeing? We will find the opinions concerning God among the more ancient to be altogether small. For they thought that the divine abandoned all the rest of the earth, and was, as it were, confined to that land alone, to which they had also been called by Him, leaving their home and departing from the land of the Chaldeans. For since the worshippers of idols, afflicted with the polytheistic error, assigned as it were a particular territory to each of the demons, and set up almost as tyrants those worshipped in each city, they supposed that not all could be present everywhere and be honored. Therefore the blessed patriarchs also, having just been freed from the customs of idolatry and the polytheistic error, and having been persuaded to worship the God who is by nature and truly God, thought that He was not in all the earth and in every place, present with them and defending them, still thinking altogether small things. The blessed Jacob, then, is instructed, and he grew rich in the fruit of his journey, in what was lacking in faith.

For he was learning that the divine is in every place and every region. And He dwells in heaven, but encompasses the whole earth, and has filled the inhabited world, and all things are under Him—the spirits in heaven, which are commanded to run to and fro, above and below, and they have Him as their head and presiding over them. For this reason he marveled, saying, "The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." And thinking that the stone was the cause of their dreams, he honored it too with what was available, anointing it with oil. And indeed he called it the House of God, and the place the gate of heaven, and he set up the stone. 4. And let these things be said by us again as in rather crude narratives. For one had to strip away what seems to be the lofty part of the history. But now transferring the subject to spiritual contemplation, we say again that the new people in faith, understood as in firstfruits among the holy apostles, was eager to run away from and utterly beg off the anger of the murderers—I mean of the Jews. But departing as it were from city to city, it wooed the flocks from the Gentiles, and greatly desired to gather them as to itself through spiritual and noetic communion. Just as, of course, Jacob also hastened to the daughters of Laban, while Esau was terrifying and had undertaken to murder savagely. But since the people in faith rested upon Christ, who is a chosen stone, a cornerstone, precious—for this, I think, is what was sleeping upon the stone—we have learned that they alone will not be on the earth, but they will have the holy angels as helpers and defenders, running to and fro above and below.

For Christ said somewhere: "Amen, amen, I say to you, from now on you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." This, I think, is the ladder—the running up and down of the holy spirits, who are sent for ministry because of those who are about to inherit a kingdom. And Christ was set firmly upon the ladder, since the holy spirits reach as far as Him and have Him as their overseer—not as one who is among them, but as God and Lord. And David too said somewhere to every man who chooses to dwell in the help of the Most High: "For He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon." For we have trodden upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy, since Christ gives the authority. Therefore those in Christ are worthy both of the vision of God and of being confidently disposed that He will be with them and will defend them, and will preserve them everywhere, and will make them fruitful. For behold, He says, I am with us all the days, until the consummation of the age. And that they have also become rich—those who

Blessed are the disciples, and they have become fathers of innumerable nations—I mean in the faith that is in Christ, and, as it were, in the spiritual birth, which is clear everywhere, since Paul says plainly to those who believed through him: "For though you have countless guides in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the Gospel." Their seed, then, has become equal in number to the sands. And it has been extended to the east and the west, and to the right and the left—I mean the south and the north. But the stone also was honored and set up as a type of Christ, and moistened with oil. For Emmanuel has been anointed by God the Father with the oil of gladness beyond his fellows. And he has been raised from the dead, although he willingly descended into death. And this, I think, is what it means that the stone was set up. And our Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed through the holy apostles as having been anointed by the Father in the Holy Spirit and raised from the dead. Through him and with him be glory to God the Father, with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen. Still concerning the patriarch Jacob. 1. That we desire divine words, and thirst most of all to learn something good—since this is the best of all things and has been crowned by God with the highest honors—how could anyone doubt? And it is worthy, because the matter is of the whole account and will bring it to a necessary conclusion for us, and the Savior himself has fully assured us, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls.

He who found one precious pearl went and sold all that he had, and bought it. It is necessary, then, that beautiful pearls be sought out beforehand by us. For in this way we shall find the one precious pearl, that is, Christ. And who might the beautiful pearls be, possessing a possession worth taking up, whose inquiry brings the one into the midst? I would say, altogether and in every way, the saints, concerning whom it has been spoken through the prophet's voice, that Holy stones are rolled upon the earth. It is necessary, then, that what was said and done in the case of each one, especially of the more ancient, be thoroughly examined. For in them we shall behold the deep mystery of piety, that is, Christ, wisely and skillfully shadowed forth as yet in types. And in addition to this we shall find the economy understood in him, overshadowed by certain obscurities, yet not entirely without manifest indication. And now the account will set forth the things concerning the wondrous Jacob, and how and in what manner he lived his life shall be told. And we shall demonstrate the figure of the whole economy—I mean the evangelical one—as in him, flitting around the most blooming parts of the history like bees, and gathering what is useful in each case for the clarification of the account. But if not all the things written about him are admitted into the contemplations, let no one be vexed, considering this, that some things are in a certain manner proper to what has happened historically, while others proceed through the innermost thoughts and are shaped into the power of the mystery. 2.

It is written thus again: And Jacob lifted up his feet and went to the land of the east, to Laban the son of Bathuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. And he looked, and behold, a well in the field. And there were three flocks of sheep resting at it. For from that well they watered the flocks. And a great stone was upon the mouth of the well, and all the flocks were gathered there, and they rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep, and they restored the stone to the mouth of the well, to its place. And Jacob said to them, Brothers, where are you from? And they said, We are from Harran. And he said to them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. And he said to them, Is he well? And they said, He is well. And behold, Rachel his daughter was coming with the sheep. And Jacob said, It is still much day; it is not yet time for the cattle to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go and pasture them. And they said, We shall not be able

until all the shepherds are gathered together, and they will roll away the stone from the mouth of the well, and we will water them. While he was still speaking to them, Rachel the daughter of Laban was coming with the sheep of her father. For she was shepherding the sheep of her father. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, the brother of his mother, that he came near and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep of Laban, the brother of his mother. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and cried out with his voice and wept, and told Rachel that he was the nephew of her father, and that he was the son of Rebekah. And she ran and told her father according to these words. And it came to pass, when Laban heard the name of Jacob the son of his sister, that he ran to meet him, and embracing him, kissed him, and brought him into his house, and he recounted to Laban all these words, and Laban said to him: You are of my bones and of my flesh. After that extraordinary vision of God and revelation—for he had seen a ladder reaching up to heaven, and the Lord standing upon it, and the angels running up and down, and he had heard clearly that God would also be with him, and that he would spread out his seed into a measureless multitude of peoples—after setting up the stone as a type of Christ, then indeed, then with confidence, and having his hope for the future firmly grounded in God, he strains toward the goal of his journey, and arrives in the land that lies toward the east.

And he immediately makes himself known to many shepherds, showing that he too was one of those thoroughly trained in shepherding. And he makes it clear that he is a man of experience, saying: "It is still much day. Now then, having watered the sheep, go and feed them." He is also made known to the daughter of Laban, giving as it were a firstfruit and an offering of the nobility of soul within him—his deeming the flock she tended worthy of care and watering the sheep. For he understood, as was likely, having been raised in the best habits, how utterly unseemly it was for Rachel, being a maiden and in the season of marriage, to wait for the gathering of the shepherds so that, once the stone had been moved, she might water the sheep—yielding to the others both because of her weakness and because of the modesty befitting a maiden. And besides, the law of natural affection called him to this, that he should henceforth prove useful to those of his blood and to near kinsmen. So then he watered Rachel's sheep, having alone rolled away the stone from the well. But it is necessary to recall that the inspired Moses also, having fled from the Egyptians, arrives in the land of the Midianites. Then, encountering shepherds and finding the daughters of Jethro being wronged, he was made known through the same zealous deeds. And what is written concerning him is as follows: "But Moses withdrew from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And having come into the land of Midian, he sat upon the well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, tending the sheep of their father Jethor. And having come, they drew water until they filled the troughs, to water the sheep of their father Jethor.

But the shepherds came and drove them away. And Moses rose up and rescued them, and watered the sheep of their father. And they came to Jethro their father. And he said to them: Why is it that you have made haste to come today? And they said: An Egyptian man rescued us from the shepherds, and he drew water for us, and watered the sheep. And he said to his daughters: And where is he? Why have you thus left the man? Call him, then, that he may eat bread; and Moses dwelt with the man. You understand, then, how in a manner the thoughts are akin, and how very closely related are the things signified by them. Moreover, the inspired Moses, having removed the greed of the other shepherds, drew water and gave drink to the flocks of Jethro. And Jacob alone rolled away the stone, although very many are accustomed to do this not without sweat, and he likewise gave drink to Laban's flocks. And just as Moses came down to the household of a man who was an idolater, so too did the inspired Jacob. For Laban was still a worshipper and servant of idols. But since the word has invested Jacob with the person and figure of the people who are in the faith, come, let us speak the innermost and hidden things, searching out the thickness of the history. 3. The people, then, that is being built up, according to the voice of the Psalmist, would be, I think, no other than the new people in Christ, that is, the one brought over through faith to the glory of the firstborn, since the first people, Israel, was thrust aside and slipped. For he who was the head has become a tail, that is, he who was foremost; and he who was foreknown is said to be a follower of the calling of others.

For they have been placed for a back, and they go behind the nations. Therefore the people in Christ through faith are a supplanter, and have been reckoned as in the rank of the inspired Jacob. And one might understand as firstfruits of such a race the choir of the holy apostles, who were indeed from the blood and race of Israel; but since they had grown rich in the faith in Christ, and had bound around themselves as a kind of crown the grace from the Holy Spirit, they have clashed with those of their race. For this reason they leave behind those who murder and indeed rage savagely, and, so to speak, rising up from their ancestral hearths and from the very land that bore them—I mean Jerusalem, that is, the country of the Jews—they press on to the nations, having Christ as a bulwark and as a helper toward every good thing, and the angels running alongside, and being established in hopes from above, and expecting to become fathers of many nations, so that to east and west, north and south, the seed from them extends—that is, those who are reborn through faith in the Spirit and justified in Christ. To whom they also proclaimed, saying: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, that you may declare the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Those who once were not a people, but now are the people of God in Christ. And that those appointed by the divine Scripture to teach them have been called fathers of peoples, how could anyone doubt?

They were withdrawing, then, from the land of the Jews, and leaving behind the boastful and insolent people, they turned to the nations, according to the commandments of our Savior; but because they are spiritual shepherds and knowledgeable in the pedagogy according to God, they show this at once, not tolerating to be idle in the matter that is most fitting for them. For they bring forward immediately the word of the teaching in Christ, and they persuade them to do what is naturally beneficial. Just as indeed the inspired Jacob also made it clear to the shepherds from Harran that he too was a shepherd, saying: "It is still much day; it is not yet time for the cattle to be gathered. Water the sheep, and go and feed them." Do you hear how he commanded the shepherds to pasture the sheep? This is what the most wise disciple also commanded the elders of the people—that is, the bishops—to do. "I exhort the elders among you," he says, "I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed: shepherd the flock of Christ that is among you." And going through country and city, they appointed countless other shepherds also to preside over the peoples and to take care of the rational sheep; and to feed them down, as in a good pasture and in a rich place, and to carry them, as it were, to the most blooming grass—the God-inspired Scripture. For the word of God is a life-sustaining food for the soul. Let it be said, then, to the spiritual shepherds: take care of the green things in the field, and you will shear grass, and gather ripe hay, so that you may have sheep for clothing.

The wondrous disciples also became, in another way, among the nations, and were shown to be leaders of the shepherds among them—that is, of the wise and the teachers—bringing a truer pedagogy to their hearers. And that

they were far more powerful and better than those men, one could know, and very easily, by considering this. For a hard-to-move stone lay upon the well, which the largest possible gathering of shepherds could scarcely budge. Yet Jacob did this alone. What, then, the well, and again what the stone might signify, come, let us say as best we can. For in this way we shall know both the difference in the shepherds' strength and the preeminence and superiority in understanding of the Savior's disciples. 4. Scripture is accustomed to likening the knowledge of God to water. For that it was life-giving, the Savior has testified, saying to the Father in the heavens: "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent." He also spoke to the woman from Samaria—I mean when he said: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." I think he names his own word and teaching life-giving. And the Master also addressed them: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." Moreover, also through the voice of the prophet, he reproaches certain ones who foolishly turned aside to the point of needing to accept other teachers after the instruction in the law, and who had swerved aside to teachings and commandments of men. And he spoke thus:

Heaven was astonished at this, and shuddered greatly, says the Lord: for my people have done two evil things. They abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water. The life-giving water, then, would be the divine Word. Yet it lies in a great depth, and I do not think anyone could ever obtain it without sweat. For it is not ready to be grasped by those who wish for it casually. Like a heavy and hard-to-carry stone, the obscurity surrounding it covers it over, the dullness of our understanding being overcome by its inertness. And so there is need of toil and much sweat for those who apportion the spiritual flocks, to rid the Word of obscurity, and thus to draw it up and, as it were, bring it from the depth into the upper and visible realm, and set it clearly before those who will encounter it for life-sustaining enjoyment. But the shepherds among the Greeks—that is, the wise and eminent among them, many and running together in crowds—somehow make the truth slip away in their doctrines about God; for they do not hold right opinions about him, acknowledging a divine nature but distributing the glory of the Godhead to whomever they happen to choose. Yet even one alone of the shepherds in Christ is sufficient to move the stone from the well, although the stone is altogether hard to carry away—that is, the covering and obscurity cast over opinions about God—and from there they set the truth clearly before the nations, and by showing the one God both in nature and in truth, they have not ceased. And indeed the blessed Paul, having come to Athens, set before the eminent men there the living water, saying:

Men of Athens, in all things I perceive that you are very religious. For as I passed by and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar on which was inscribed: To an Unknown God. What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. For see how, though they are leaders of peoples and shepherds and guides among their own, they scarcely pry the stone a little away from the well—the stone hard to lift—thinking that they are pious, at least through their reverence toward the divine, but having gone far astray from the truth. For having built an altar, they engraved an inscription: To an Unknown God—that is, even to the deity not known. But they thought they had grasped the best opinion concerning God. Yet the inspired Paul outwits the inscription, and very skillfully leads it to what is useful, saying that the God not known to them is Christ. For whom you worship in ignorance, he says, this I proclaim to you. Do you see how he uncovered the well, rolled away the stone, and showed them the life-giving knowledge? Incomparable, then, is the difference of the shepherds' understanding. For they, though they were very many, were going behind the true opinion concerning God and the doctrines

Overcome by obscurity, they were carried off toward whatever seemed right. But he, though alone, set forth the truth. For Jacob alone rolled away the stone and watered the sheep under Rachel. And indeed he considered the girl worthy of love. For he loved Rachel, it says, and he was immediately recognized by Laban, who thereafter made him a member of his household and deemed his sister's son worthy of love and embraces, and counted him among his nearest kin. For he said: You are from my bones and from my flesh. Rachel is interpreted as God's sheep. And one might quite reasonably apply to her the figure of the Church from the Gentiles. For this is the sheep of Christ, mingled with the older flocks and penned in the courts of the Savior. Therefore he also said: And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. Those too I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. And the divine disciples also shepherded the Church of Christ, that is, the rational creatures understood to be under her, and indeed they became her lovers and bridesmaids, presenting her to God as a pure virgin, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but rather holy and blameless. 5. That those of Israel also had the origin of their race, and as it were the first shoots of their root, from the Gentiles, we shall understand from Laban's words. For the idolatrous man embraced Jacob and says he was born from his own blood—clearly meaning Rebecca—and he called him his own flesh and bone.

For the divinely inspired Abraham was called in uncircumcision, having been raised in the land of the Chaldeans and in Greek customs and laws, and he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the faith that was in uncircumcision, according to what is written. So then Israel the firstborn is also a kinsman of those from the nations, although he was set apart by the law, at least in seeming to be other. But in Christ the two have become one. For he removed what stood in between, having abolished the law that is in letters, and the circumcision that separates. For we were renewed into one new man, the nations being of the same body and of one soul with those from Israel. And they are seen henceforth as having been brought, so to speak, even into sameness through the fellowship in the Spirit. For Christ said somewhere to the Father and God in the heavens: I will that just as I and you are one, so also they may be one in us. For he himself is our peace, who has broken down the middle wall of the fence, as I said just now, and has set aside what separates, and binds us together, as it were, into unity through the Spirit. Therefore a sign, and a very clear one, of the union in faith and in the Spirit of the two peoples is that Laban was entwined with Jacob, and confessed that he was both bone and flesh of him. And that, in addition to these things, there is another, come now, let us speak, taking it from the sacred Scriptures themselves. For Laban said, it says, to Jacob: Because you are my brother, you shall not serve me for nothing. Tell me what your wage is. And Laban had two daughters, the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. And the eyes of Leah were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and exceedingly lovely in appearance. And Jacob loved Rachel, and said:

I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter. And Laban said to him, It is better that I give her to you than that I give her to another man. Dwell with me. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel. And they were before him as a few days, because he loved her. And Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her. And Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a marriage feast. And it came to be evening. And Laban took Leah his daughter and brought her in to Jacob. And Jacob went in to her. And Laban gave Zilpah his maidservant to Leah his daughter as a maidservant. And it came to be morning, and behold, it was Leah. And Jacob said to Laban, What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? And why have you deceived me? And Laban said, It is not so in our place, to give the younger before the elder. Fulfill then the week of this one, and I will give you this one also for the service which you shall serve with me another seven years. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled the week of this one. And Laban gave him Rachel his daughter as a wife. And Laban gave Bilhah his maidservant to Rachel his daughter as a maidservant, and he went in to Rachel. And he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with him another seven years. Now the things from the history would need no word for clarification, for there is nothing at all steep in them. Except if one were to say that which those who are accustomed to examine such matters closely are wont to say.

For it has not been reckoned among us as one of the most utterly abhorrent things to have immediate intercourse in two marriages, and indeed to bring into one's house a pair of wives, and that of sisters. To this we say that for the more ancient, the whole aim of life was directed toward having many children; and indeed the matter was reckoned as a share of the highest of all prosperity. And it was free from all blame to lie with not only two but even more women, extending one's race to a measureless multitude. And at any rate they received childbearing from God in the order of a blessing. And the Master of all Himself promised to bestow this gift both on the saints from above and before Moses, and also on those who obtained the tutelage through the law. For He said, There shall not be a barren one nor a widow among the sons of Israel. And we will not accept the utterance in the order of a law, but we say it is rather a promise. For all things that are in our power are brought under ordinances, and quite rightly; but all things that are not in our power, but have their accomplishment in the laws of nature, have no law as their arbiter. It is evident, then, and clear to none of beings, that the Creator would not have commanded that there be no sterile or barren one among the sons of Israel. But if they should become keepers of the law, He promised as God to make them fruitful. Therefore for the more ancient, the matter of having many children was pursued with zeal and reckoned in the order of good repute. But we, being transferred in Christ, are so as rather to bear fruit in the Spirit.

We do not dishonor marriage, but we choose that which is far beyond it and is crowned by the highest decree, both in the God-inspired Scripture—namely, to attend upon God without distraction, I mean, and not to be divided anywhere toward the things in the world. For the unmarried man, says Paul, cares for the things of the Lord; but the married man cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and is divided. Z. Surely then our account of these matters is sufficient. Come now, let us consider, applying our mind to spiritual contemplations, pondering this—and quite rightly—that the labor of the holy apostles in their preaching was not without reward, nor indeed was their sweat without honor. For Laban said to Jacob: You shall not serve me for nothing. And the divine disciples also made the multitude of those who believed in the beginning the basis of splendid boasts. At any rate Paul addressed them: My joy and crown. But I think it necessary to remind you of what was most needful among the things we received at the beginning. For I said that the person of Jacob, as it were in spiritual contemplations, sometimes takes on the choir of the holy apostles, since it became the firstfruits of those sanctified in the spirit and justified in faith; and at other times it is Christ himself, as the firstfruits of humanity being renewed to incorruption, as the firstborn among many brothers, as the second Adam, and a second root of the race after the first. The account, then, always turns the aim of the contemplations to wherever it is fitting to go. For to miss the fitting reasoning will make the exposition of the contemplations less beautiful.

For the present, then, Emmanuel, the bridegroom from heaven, will wear the face of Jacob—he who took Laban's daughters, as it were, not without sweat. For it is proper to the highest of all essences to accomplish without effort whatever it chooses to do. For the blessed prophet Isaiah said somewhere concerning it: Because he shall not hunger, nor labor, nor is there any finding out of his understanding. For in no way is the Divine deficient, but it is perfect in itself, not having its being made strong as something adopted from anyone, nor indeed strengthened by the law of bodies through foods or drinks; but it is itself, by nature, power. Therefore it both establishes the heavens and distributes the power to act with authority to whomever it may choose. But just as, although it is not naturally disposed to be grieved, it is said to be grieved (for it says somewhere to the mother of the Jews, clearly meaning the Synagogue: And you grieved me in all these things. And the divine Paul writes somewhere: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who dwells in you)—so even if it were said to labor, we say such things not because it has come into a perception of pain, but because, if it were accustomed to labor, it would have suffered, accomplishing the exceedingly great and excellent things, and those very things for which it was fitting to endure terrible and bitter labors, if one of those according to us were doing them. Therefore, going from human thoughts to the highest conceptions, we might behold, all but drunk with labor and sweat, the care of the undefiled nature for us. Yet we shall necessarily release it from laboring, since it is not according to us, but rather even above all creation, delighting and established in its own excellences.

Not without recompense, then, nor even without sweat, did Christ first take to himself the Synagogue of the Jews, which we shall understand under the figure of Leah. For her name is interpreted as "laboring" and "being renewed." And she had labored, weighed down by the greed of the Egyptians and bearing the unbearable yoke of slavery. Indeed, she was also renewed toward the worship of the fathers. She was transformed, as it were, from idolatrous servitude to knowing thereafter who is by nature and truly God. For he proclaimed to them through Moses: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord"; and, "You shall have no other gods besides me." But Christ desired Rachel in the beginning—that is, the Church from the Gentiles. Therefore he said concerning the Synagogue of the Jews to Moses the hierophant: "I have spoken to you once and twice, saying: I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Let me alone to destroy them, and I will blot out their name from under the firmament of heaven, and I will make you into a great and mighty nation, and much more than this." But it was necessary that those who still had a mind light and easily led astray in their own regard should not immediately dart off to perfection and to the instruction that is beyond mind and beyond the understanding that comes from it—I mean the evangelical instruction—but should rather be first catechized through lower things, making the law, as it were, a preliminary exercise for the life in Christ. So then, the bridegroom from heaven desired the younger in the beginning—that is, the Church from the Gentiles. But he brings in the older first, as it were, not altogether without toil. For Jacob served for Leah.

That Israel was delivered from the slavery of the Egyptians by many great labors is not unclear. For the whole creation fought against them. A sign, then, that Israel was not redeemed without sweat, and that Jacob's slavery, which was being accomplished surely not without toil, became God's thereafter through the worship in the law. And when the seven years of the elder were completed, he took Rachel, that is, the younger, who was also desired in the beginning. For the Church from the Gentiles, the sheep of God, has been called second after the first; for Rachel is interpreted thus, as I have already said before. And that Christ also labored in a certain way on her behalf, the divine Jacob again showed us, having endured the seven-year toil for Rachel's sake. For if it was possible for the Son to labor, though being God by nature, how would he not have done so in this, having endured Herod's persecution in the beginning, the plots of the Pharisees, the slanders of the rulers, the spittings, the blows, the stripes on his back, the drunken insolence of the soldiers, and finally death itself on the wood? And Laban, a man still an idolater, had daughters, Leah and Rachel. For they have been called from the Gentiles, first the one of the Jews

Synagogue; for the wondrous Abraham himself was also of Greek root and lineage; and the second after the first is the younger, that is, the Church. And Leah's eyes were paralyzed and weak; but Rachel was beautiful in form and exceedingly lovely in appearance. And concerning the Jews Christ somewhere said to the holy apostles: Leave them; they are blind guides of the blind. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. Therefore the incapacity for the vision of God of the Synagogue of the Jews would reasonably be signified through the eyes of Leah. But the wise and intelligent, and the exceedingly beautified for understanding of those who are in faith in Christ, and indeed also the distinguished in works, was prefigured through the beauty of Rachel. And to the mother of the Jews let the prophetic word cry out: Behold, your eyes are not, nor is your heart beautiful; and let Christ call the Church from the Gentiles, and say concerning her: Your eyes are of doves. For he desired her beauty, according to the voice of the Psalmist. Therefore Christ first made the Synagogue of the Jews his consort, with Moses acting as bride-leader and angels as mediators; but to that one, as a second, the Church from the Gentiles, with the blessed Baptist taken as a kind of mediator for her also. And so he also said, signifying to us this intelligible and divine marriage: He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the voice of the bridegroom. This joy of mine, therefore, has been fulfilled.

That one must increase, but I must decrease. Mercy and faith are the bridal gift for the bride. For he said somewhere through the voice of the prophets—the bridegroom who comes from above and from heaven, to the Church from the nations: And I will betroth you to myself forever, and I will betroth you to myself in righteousness and judgment, and in mercy and in compassion. And I will betroth you to myself in faith, and you shall know the Lord. For he married, just as I said a moment ago, the elder before the Church from the nations. But the manner of the betrothal, and the power of the union, did not last forever. For he said somewhere again concerning her: This one is not my wife, and I am not her husband. And again: I gave a bill of divorce into her hands. For she has been cast off as one who has played the whore, and condemned for the most abominable things. For he said somewhere concerning her: If a man sends away his wife, and she departs from him, and becomes another man's, will she not return to him any more? Will that woman not be utterly defiled? And you have played the whore with many shepherds, and yet return to me, says the Lord. Lift up your eyes straight ahead, and see where you have been defiled. You sat upon those roads like a deserted crow, and you defiled the land with your whoredoms and with your wickednesses, and you took many shepherds as a stumbling block for yourself. You became a harlot's face; you grew shameless toward all. Did you not call me your own, and father, and leader of your virginity? Will it not remain forever? But in these things, the elder...

But Rachel he betroths to himself as the younger, that is, the Church from the Gentiles, and this continually. And let “to myself” be understood in some such way as this. For he betrothed to himself the Synagogue of the Jews, but through Moses as a mediator. But he was joined, as it were, to the Church from the Gentiles, calling her to this by his own voice, and being seen as one of the men upon the earth. For he nodded assent to the bride as she cried out: Show me your face, and let me hear your voice. For those of old also heard him speaking, yet through Moses or the prophets. But in the last times of the age, the Son himself has spoken to us through himself, as also the wise Paul has testified. 8. In addition to these things, it is worthwhile to examine closely the birth of the sons who came from Jacob—how many they were, and from whom they sprang forth to see the light. Leah, then, first bore four: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. But since Rachel was still barren and childless, greatly distressed and at a loss, she devises a clever scheme for her childlessness. For she persuades Jacob, saying: Behold my maidservant Bilhah. Go in to her, and she shall bear upon my knees, and I too shall have children by her. When this had been carried out to its completion, two sons were born to Jacob, Dan and Naphtali. Leah, moreover, bringing her own household slave Zilpah to lie beside him, makes her the mother of two others, Gad and Asher. And what after this? And Reuben went, it says, in the days of the wheat harvest, and found mandrake apples in the field, and brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah her sister: Give me of the mandrakes of your son. And Leah said:

Was it not enough for you that you took my husband, that you would also take my son’s mandrakes? And Rachel said, Not so; let him lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes. And Jacob came in from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, You will come in to me today, for I have hired you in exchange for my son’s mandrakes. When this had happened, Leah bore Issachar again, and after him Zebulun. But when the number of those from Israel had now at last come to this, God remembered Rachel, it says, and the Lord heard her and opened her womb, and she conceived and bore a son to Jacob. And Rachel said, God has taken away my reproach; and she called his name Joseph, saying, God has added to me another son. And in addition to this she bore Benjamin. And what is written concerning her again stands thus: And it came to pass, when she drew near to Chabratha to come into the land of Ephratha, that Rachel was in labor, and she had a difficult delivery in her labor; and it came to pass, while she was giving birth with difficulty, the midwife said to her, Take courage, for this also is a son for you. And it came to pass, as she was giving up her soul (for she was dying), she called his name Son of my sorrow; but his father called him Benjamin. Having therefore had a difficult delivery at the end, Rachel was departing amid the very pangs of those who are ours. Such, then, is the generation of those from Jacob; but what the innermost meaning of what is written might be, he himself would know who knows all things, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, according to what is written.