Glaphyra in Pentateuchum

She gives them to Rachel, who is seeking them. And Leah, having taken the mandrakes, bears two more sons, Issachar and also Zebulun. Then God remembers Rachel, and her womb being opened, she herself bears Joseph, and finally Benjamin. Now that Leah hints at the Synagogue of the Jews, and Rachel at the Church from the Gentiles, the discourse has frequently indicated to us. So, setting aside as pointless the further repetition of this, let us now relate what the mandrakes, found by the firstborn Reuben, might signify as a type. And what the division into two and equally, perhaps, might mean—for Leah gave to Rachel; and what, besides these, the birth of the children themselves, laboring in the meanings of the names to bring forth the mystery. 11. Mandrakes, then, grow in fields; their fruit is an apple. That the thing is soporific and deeply intoxicates those who partake of it with a heavy stupor, I think no long argument will be needed for proof, since the sleeplessness of the sick is sometimes overcome by the natural efficacy of mandrakes in the experience of physicians. These also hint to us enigmatically at the mystery of Christ, who in a manner slept for our sake, and lowered himself into a kenosis unto death, even though he revived again. For he was God by nature, and became flesh. And wherever death is taken in the order of sleep, there one must also seek the revival to life. The whole mystery of Christ is, as it were, in these things. And indeed, the divine Paul, to those moved by levity toward heterodox opinion, enjoins, saying:

For I delivered to you first what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose on the third day according to the Scriptures. And after other things: But if Christ is proclaimed to have risen from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? For since Christ was the first among men to show death to be sleep (for he was life by nature), he became, as it were, a door and a way for human nature henceforth to defy death itself. For this reason also the most wise Paul repeatedly calls those overtaken by death "those who have fallen asleep," as those who will yet revive through Christ. For he said again: For if we believe that Christ died and rose, so also God will raise those who have fallen asleep with Jesus and will present them with us. The mandrakes, then, are a sign of sleep. And Reuben, being the firstborn, finds them, then conveys them to his mother; and she distributes them to her sister. For the firstborn of Israel in time understood and possessed the mystery concerning Christ; and they brought a brilliant discovery of their inherent acumen to their own mother, I mean Jerusalem, and persuaded her to rejoice. For before the calling of the Gentiles, the divine disciples initiated those throughout all Judea. For even if not all perhaps believed, yet they accepted the account concerning Christ. And the remnant has been preserved, according to the Scriptures.

That the Jews have taken precedence in faith over the Gentiles is surely evident and not unclear to anyone. So Leah, having taken the mandrakes, bore two sons, Issachar and Zebulun. And Issachar is interpreted as "reward"; the other, that is, Zebulun, as "good journey" and "blessing." For, as I have already said, the Synagogue of the Jews, having received the mystery of Christ through the holy apostles as from her own children, was shown to be a mother of children who are well-favored with reward and blessings before God. For that faith in Christ is not without reward, the forgiveness of transgressions would immediately teach. And our Lord Jesus Christ himself confirms this, saying: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me has eternal life." No less does the blessed Paul: "The word is near in your mouth and in your heart"; that is, the word of faith which we proclaim. For if you say with your mouth, "Lord Jesus," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is believed in the heart for righteousness, and confessed with the mouth for salvation. What greater and more acceptable reward is there than to save a soul? For that this matter is exceptional and worthy of all account, the Savior himself persuades us, saying: "For what will a man be benefited if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul? Or what will a man give as an exchange for his own soul?" Therefore, the reward is glorious and saving for those who believe.

That those justified in Christ will certainly also be blessed is not a matter of dispute. For we are sanctified in spirit. And the blessed David says: "The blessing of the Lord is upon you. You are blessed by the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth." And God said somewhere through the voice of Isaiah, to the mother of the faithful, I mean the Church: "I will place my spirit upon your seed, and my blessings upon your children." And the most wise Paul also writes to those justified in faith, saying: "Blessed is God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing." And how could those who have richly partaken of the blessing from above not prosper in every good work? For it is said, "The way of the pious became straight, and the way of the pious is prepared." For the way of the Lord is judgment. For concerning the Synagogue of the Jews, God said somewhere: "Behold, I will block her ways, and her path she will not find." But sending us into the heavenly abodes as if by a smooth and cleared road, He commands the holy ministers: "Open the gates, let the people who guard righteousness enter, and who proclaim truth, who uphold truth, and who keep peace." And again: "Make a way for my people, and cast away the stones of the road; so that stumbling over the obstacles in between, they might not admit hesitation in their good endeavors." Therefore, Leah bore those who prosper with God in reward and blessings. And Rachel, likewise having taken the mandrakes, bore Joseph.

The Church, having received the mystery of Christ through the holy apostles as from a sister of like origin, the Synagogue of the Jews, has appeared as the mother of a people ever in increase and going forth into an unmeasured multitude (for Joseph is interpreted as "addition of God"). And the Church from the Gentiles has been added to the flocks from Israel. Therefore Christ also said: "I have other sheep, which are not from this fold, and I must lead those also, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd." So the flock from the Gentiles has been added, as I just said, to the older flocks, and it has an unceasing and ever more abundant increase, until even in the last times, as it were, Benjamin is born, that is, the people who are the son of pain. 12. And who indeed is this, upon whom even the mother herself will finally cease and will depart, as it were, into another life? For Rachel died in the very birth pangs of Benjamin. Now, to know these things with great precision we will again refer to God and to those of understanding among us; but it is no harm to say what has come to mind. I think, then, that it would reasonably be understood that the people who are the son of pain is the multitude of believers in the last times of the age. For at that time there will also be the son of lawlessness, the Adversary, who exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in the temple of God as a god, showing himself to be God. This one will oppose the saints, and will differ in no way from untamed beasts.

For as the Savior himself has said, there will then be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred from the beginning of the world, nor will it ever occur. And that the effects of his perversity and inhumanity will fall not upon others but rather upon the saints, Christ himself has again indicated by adding: And if those days had not been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened. For since there will be a persecution against every chosen and genuine believer in faith, as a terrible and unbearable excess, and indeed torments will be inflicted upon some, my time will certainly be in contractions, as I think the compassionate God measures the trial according to the strength of those who suffer. The most wise Paul also persuades us to think this way: God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tried beyond what you can bear, but will provide, along with the trial, the ability to endure it. Therefore, when Benjamin is born, that is, the people at the end and in pains, Rachel will also cease. For the Church, that is, we who through faith in Christ have acquired union with God through the Spirit, will be transferred, as I just said, to another life. And do not be surprised if death has removed Rachel from the affairs of this world. For the matter will sometimes disturb some, who are brought to consider the ancient event. So then, the Church will cease at times and will be extinguished, as it were, by death—and is this the transition to better things? To such things we say: When you hear "Church," know that it means the holy multitude of believers.

for which dying in respect of the place of life in the world and the flesh is a path to growth in the polity and life in Christ and a mode of transition to better and higher things. For this reason also the blessed Paul brings a more vehement rebuke to some, saying: If you have died from the elements of the world, why do you, as if living in the world, hold opinions? And again he writes to those who shake off the fleshly and pleasure-loving life: For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Therefore, when Christ is revealed, your life, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. And he said clearly that we must also mortify the members that are on the earth, meaning fornication and impurity and their kindred. Therefore, the death of Rachel signifies somewhere, in any case, the death understood in Christ of the flock of believers, that is, of the Church, bearing away as it were to another life, if indeed it is true that our affairs will be transferred from corruption to incorruption, from death to life, from weakness to power, from dishonor to glory, from measured times to a long-lived life. For thus, thus we shall be together with Christ always; through whom and with whom glory and power belong to God and Father together with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Glaphyra on Genesis, Book Five. On Jacob. 1. In many ways and in manifold forms, the divinely inspired Scripture prefigures the types of salvation through Christ, placing no small benefit from this for those who encounter it. For just as those thoroughly trained in the art of painting on panels embellish with the varied forms of colors, bringing the shadows to a clearer view and pouring much grace over the painting, so also the craftswoman wisdom of this universe, that is, God, through many and varied adornments subtly prefigures the beauty of the mystery, so that those being initiated, understanding as in riddles and making the matter almost a preliminary instruction and an introduction to understanding, might be somehow more ready for the reception of the truth. We dwell, therefore, in this world, differing little, or perhaps even being inferior to the irrational animals, if indeed God made a true reproach against those from Israel, speaking thus: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey the manger of its master; but Israel did not know me, and my people did not understand." But if the multitudes of the Jews were condemned for such terrible ignorance, having the law as a tutor, what account would then be sought concerning the Gentiles, upon whom the deep darkness of polytheistic error had fallen? For always bent downward, as it were, and entangled in the desires of the flesh, they were eager to think only of things on the earth, unable to raise the eye of the mind even so much as to the glories of the love of God.

From this, the blessed prophets, lamenting and all but weeping over us as we lay prostrate, have expended countless words. For the blessed Isaiah says, "Hades widened his soul and opened his mouth, never to cease." For there was no respite from evil; weighed down as if by an unbearable greed of the one who tyrannized us, Satan, the wretched would descend into Hades upon their departure from here, death gulping us down and, as it were, shepherding us into this by the inventor of sin. And indeed, not without tears, as I just said, did the divine David himself recall such a calamity. He spoke thus about us, at one time: "They placed them like sheep in Hades; death will shepherd them"; at another time again: "O Shepherd of Israel, pay heed; O leader of Joseph as of a sheep; O one seated on the Cherubim, appear; rouse your dominion and come to save us." For this reason, we have not remained under death forever. For God the Father sent us from heaven the good shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, not shepherding those under him into Hades, but bearing them away to incorruption and life. For he pastures them among lilies, in good pasture, and in a rich place, according to what is written, setting before us spiritual grass, intoxicating us with streams from above and from heaven, making us fruitful, and, in addition to this, extending us into an immeasurable multitude of peoples.

And again, as if in shadows, one might perceive what I have said: the inspired Jacob, with the account setting forth what is written about him, and whitening, as it were, the apparent obscurity of the history as much as possible. Now it is written thus: "It came to pass, when Rachel bore Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, 'Send me away, that I may go to my place and to my land. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, that I may go. For you know the service I have rendered you, and how many of your cattle were with me. For what you had before me was small, and it increased to a multitude. And the Lord blessed you at my foot. Now, then, when shall I make a house for myself?' And Laban said to him, 'What shall I give you?' And Jacob said to him, 'You will give me nothing. If you do this thing for me, I will again pasture your sheep today and watch them. Let all your sheep pass by today; separate from them every speckled and piebald sheep, and every gray beast among the lambs, and every white-spotted and dappled one among the goats; these shall be my wages, and my justice will hear me on the morrow, because my wages are before you. Everything that is not dappled or white-spotted among the goats, and gray among the lambs, will be considered stolen by me.' And Laban said to him, 'Let it be according to your word.'

And on that day he separated the spotted and white-speckled rams, and all the spotted and white-speckled goats, and everything that was white among them, and everything that was gray among the lambs, and gave them into the hands of his sons, and set them apart a journey of three days between them and Jacob. And Jacob tended the remaining sheep of Laban. Now we must again compress the breadth of the history into brief compass, and add in this way what sense might be fitting for the contemplations upon it. 2. The blessed Jacob, then, served Laban for the sake of his two daughters, Leah, I mean, and Rachel. And having spent long years in this, when Joseph was born to him from Rachel, who was especially and preeminently loved, he naturally becomes restless and eagerly hastens to go home again. And the reason for his departure does not lack plausibility. For, he says, if I am to tend your flocks without pay and perpetually, when shall I also make a household for myself? That is, when shall I gather the necessities of life for my own children, and be called myself master of a house? So says Jacob. But Laban, as of a good shepherd, claims to be blessed at his coming, and says he is blessed by his entry. Yet he does not let him go at all, even though the appointed term of service for his daughters has come to an end. And he promises to provide a pleasing wage. But that he was kind and gentle and most patient, and indeed a source of blessing for him before God, was clearly affirmed. For he said, "God has blessed you at my foot," putting "foot" in place of "entry.

For Laban said this beforehand. He demands wages and promises to distribute Laban's flocks. When the spotted and white-speckled, or rather the white and ash-colored ones, had been set apart and specifically separated for him, Jacob, after this was done, separates the flock allotted to him together with his own children, and himself still shepherds Laban's flocks. It is necessary, therefore, to say what clear and spiritually refined meaning of such things might be for us. 3. Let Jacob, then, be invested with the person of Christ himself, as indeed we have already said. For Christ is the true heel-grabber. He has completely trampled sin, both as he is conceived and as he appeared as man, being the youngest and later-born than those who came before him—I mean the holy prophets and even Moses himself. Nevertheless, he holds the primacy and is the firstborn because the Only-begotten has arrived among many brothers. He is the one blessed by the Father with an abundance of grain and wine. Nations have served him, and rulers have worshipped him. And he who curses him is accursed; he who blesses him is blessed, according to Isaac's blessing. He himself, like Jacob, having left heaven as if it were a paternal home, and having come to Laban—who is to be compared to the world, which never knew who God is by nature, but was excessively sick with polytheistic error, for Laban is an idolater.

Now the world is Christ's own, in that He is by nature conceived as God, Lord and Creator of all; yet it is not His own again because of the apostasy, and because it had somehow come to seem another's due to sin. For it had enrolled Satan as its king. Therefore the Word came down from heaven, having left His father's hearth, as it were. This I said just now. And He was like a stranger in His own world. And the wise John bears witness, saying: "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him." But these things might perhaps fittingly apply to the times of His sojourn. That even before the incarnation He was in His own as God, though unknown to the world, and took thought for our affairs out of innate goodness and godly gentleness, the divine Jacob would immediately demonstrate, as in a type of himself. For he tended Laban's sheep, although he received no wages at all from him; but by hope alone he was led to this, to be united with one of his two daughters, and to become the father of legitimate children. Leah and Rachel were these. For being God by nature, the Son was in the world—for this is Laban. And He shepherded, so to speak, administering as God the means of life, bestowing the fruits of the earth, releasing springs of waters and streams of rivers, causing His sun to rise, as it is written, sending down rains, implanting in human nature its innate prudence. For He Himself is the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world. And He did these things solely, as I said, out of His innate gentleness.

And receiving no reward, as it were, from those in the world at that time—neither doxology, nor adoration, nor right opinion, nor unerring understanding concerning Himself—He knew beforehand that He would have two women in due time, who would be mothers of legitimate children to Him, giving birth spiritually. And who are these? First, the elder, that is, Leah, who completes the type of the Jewish Synagogue. Second, and not long after, the much-desired younger, Rachel, that is, the Church from the Gentiles, who also bore Joseph, interpreted as "addition of God." For the flock from the Gentiles has been added to that from Israel. It is also understood otherwise, as the additions of believers from time to time, going into an immeasurable multitude. But observe the carefulness. For the precision in these matters is very beneficial. Leah gave birth before Rachel; then in between, two handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah. But Jacob remained quiet for a time; he did not yet plan to make his own household. Rachel bore Joseph, and then he longed for a household. "For when," he says, "shall I make a household for myself?" For the Jewish Synagogue gave birth to those under the bondage of the law. But Christ did not yet clearly acknowledge having His own household. For He did not much accept the temple of stones, which Solomon built. And indeed, once, to the Jews who were excessively arrogant about this, He almost rebukes them, saying: "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me," says the Lord, "or what place of my rest?" But neither did Israel become a spiritual house of God. For He did not dwell in them.

Since the Church from the Gentiles has given birth to the new and additional people, the Savior henceforth built for himself a house of his own. And what indeed is this house? We who have believed, concerning whom he says also through the voice of a prophet: "Giving my laws into their mind, and I will inscribe them upon their hearts. And I will be to them a God, and they will be to me a people." He dwells in us through the Spirit, as I have just said, not having dwelt in Israel. For that those before the advent were without a share of the Spirit, as I say in a type concerning us, the most wise John will clarify by saying: "For the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified." For having risen from the dead and refashioning human nature into the divine image, he first breathed into the holy apostles, saying: "Receive the Holy Spirit." And the divine Paul also said somewhere: "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again leading to fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry: 'Abba, Father.'" Therefore, a spirit of slavery was in Israel; but in us, from Rachel, that is, from the Church from the Gentiles, there is the Spirit of God for adoption, making us the spiritual house. For those from Rachel are free, whose eyes are good and beautiful, whereas Leah's are not so. For the Synagogue of the Jews does not see soundly. And the most wise Paul will bear witness, saying: "For until the present day the same veil remains upon the reading of the Old Testament, not being lifted, because it is abolished in Christ. But until today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart.

When she returns to the Lord, the veil is removed. And the Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But all of us, as he himself again said, gazing upon the glory of the Lord with uncovered face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord Spirit. Do you understand that we gaze upon the glory of the Lord with beautiful eyes and uncovered face? For the eyes of Rachel are bright, as I said just now. Since, then, the youngest Rachel has given birth to Joseph, the divine Jacob hastens to go home. But Laban changes his mind, and says that he is blessed with an increase of the entire flock being enlarged. For the world greatly needs God, even if it does not happen to say so, but it knows and confesses that all things, both those that sustain life and those that contribute to well-being, come from God. The blessed Jacob demands a reward, not being liable to be present in vain. And the reward was not undesirable to him: the ashen and tattered things. Now, according to the earlier and past times, although the God Word, through whom all things exist, was administering the world from his innate and godlike gentleness, he allowed those in it to go their own ways, as it is written. But since the Church has given birth to the new and additional people, that is, those who have already obtained spiritual regeneration through faith in him, he demands from the world a reward, as it were, for his providence over it: those more ready to believe, of whom the ashen and tattered things are a type. What then is this?

In the flocks of sheep and goats, the uniform ones are always more desirable to their keepers; the spotted and speckled ones hold a second rank and are not on equal terms with the others. For the wool in them is not uniform, but with a slight variation, it is of a different color and, as it were, mixed in. Christ, then, receives from the world not at all those things in it that are valuable and choice among men, but rather those that seem to be in a lower state and not of equal esteem. The divine Paul will also confirm this word, writing to the believers: "For consider your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many are powerful, not many are well-born; but God chose the foolish things of the world to put the wise to shame, and God chose the weak things of the world to put the strong to shame." This could also be understood in another way, if one wishes to examine such matters precisely, as an ash-colored speckling. For those who have seemliness in Christ are somehow variegated in both deeds and words. For the gray and black could be reckoned as an enigma and shadow of the mystery concerning Christ, and would inscribe the dark and obscure account of it, which is not apparent to the many. For the divine David said somewhere in the Book of Psalms, "He set darkness as his hiding place; around him is his tent." Dark water in clouds of air, likening the difficult-to-grasp nature of doctrines about God to a tent, and naming the darkness and dark water in clouds of air.

And Wisdom promises to bestow richly upon some the ability to understand parables and obscure speech, sayings of the wise, and riddles. Therefore, the deep and, as it were, dark aspect of the doctrines concerning Christ is hinted at by the dusky color. The bright and, so to speak, transparent aspect—that is, the white—will be set alongside the other, namely, that which pertains to works of piety. Hence the Lord of all, through the voice of the prophet, prefigures the purification of faith in Christ, saying: "Learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the wronged, judge for the orphan, and do right by the widow, and come, let us converse," says the Lord. "And if your sins are like crimson, I will whiten them like snow. If they are like scarlet, I will whiten them like wool." Therefore, those who hold a second rank in the world, who are placed as it were among lesser ones, who are disadvantaged in glory, who are, so to speak, variegated—conceptually possessing depth in doctrines concerning God and enriching themselves with a discourse not apparent to others, yet eminently distinguished by the brightness of piety—these are chosen and preeminent in the sight of the Savior of all, Christ. Now, Jacob took the variegated ones as his wages. But let us, if you please, examine how he outwitted Laban and made the chosen ones so numerous, and learn this from the sacred Scriptures themselves. For it goes thus: "And Jacob took for himself a rod of green storax, and of walnut, and of plane tree. And Jacob peeled them, making white strips, scraping off the green. And on the rods appeared the white, which he peeled, variegated.

And he placed the rods, which he had peeled, in the troughs of the watering places, so that when the sheep came to drink, as they came before the rods to drink, the sheep would conceive upon the rods. And the sheep gave birth to white-spotted, variegated, and ash-colored speckled young. And Jacob separated the lambs, and placed before the sheep a white-spotted ram, and every variegated one among the lambs. And he separated flocks for himself, and did not mix them with Laban's sheep. And it happened at the time when the sheep were conceiving, taking in the womb, Jacob placed the rods before the sheep in the troughs, so that they would conceive according to the rods. But when the sheep gave birth, he did not place them. And the unmarked ones became Laban's, and the marked ones Jacob's; and the man became very, very wealthy. Now we say that it is a matter of pastoral science that sheep and goats would produce offspring resembling what they see, in every way and entirely, and that the young would become similar in kind to the colors of what they encounter, if they see it while in heat. And this matter seems somehow to be accomplished according to natural laws. But such things are utterly unspeakable and untrodden by our thoughts. And the inspired Jacob again made the ash-colored and variegated ones his chosen ones according to divine utterance. For he said somewhere to Leah and Rachel: "And it happened when the sheep were conceiving, taking in the womb, and I saw with my eyes in my sleep. And behold, the goats and rams were mounting the goats and sheep, white-spotted and variegated and ash-colored speckled.

And the angel of God said to me in a dream, "Jacob." And I said, "What is it?" And he said, "Lift up your eyes and see the goats and the rams mounting the sheep and the goats, white, and variegated, and ash-colored, and spotted." So says the sacred text. But come, let us run beneath the lowliness of the history and ascend to the spiritual things. 4. The rod again enigmatically signifies for us the Emmanuel. For he is so named in the God-inspired Scripture. For the divine Isaiah says, "And a rod will come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will rise from the root." And to the Father and God in heaven, assuming the person of the faithful, the divine David proclaimed to us, "Your rod and your staff, these have comforted me." For we have been comforted in Christ, and we have made him our support. For it is written that "the Lord will support the righteous." Therefore, to us, the rational flocks of goats throughout the whole inhabited world and in the entire world, Christ presents himself like a rod. And not simply a rod, but one of storax, and of walnut, and as from a plane tree. And this plant is also one of those attested for uprightness. And the storax rod is a sign of death. For the dead body is treated with spices, and storax is the most pleasant of spices. And Christ died for us and was buried, according to the Scriptures. And the walnut rod is a sign of wakefulness and sleeplessness. For such things of nature work in us. And Christ has risen for us. For he was not held fast by the gates of Hades, nor was he ever caught in the bonds of death.

The plane tree, again, seems to suggest the one who is raised to a height and to the upward course, that is, the ascent of Christ into the heavens. For the plane tree is a well-grown tree and among the very tallest. The Son was raised by the Father. For Peter said concerning him, "Having been raised by the right hand of God." And Paul says that he is exalted above, and receives the name above every name, and the worship from all. But if one wishes, one may also take the plant in another sense. And what is the manner? Those who are curious about the etymologies of names say that it is called plane tree because the leaf of the tree is very broad. For we too are broadened through faith and love, almost clinging to Christ. For the law is very narrow and the mind of idolaters is constricted. And indeed, God through the voice of a prophet called out to the flocks from the nations: "Learn to hear, being constrained." And Paul writes to the Corinthians, who chose to return to their ancient error after the breadth of faith, saying: "Our mouth was open to you, Corinthians, our heart was broadened. You are not constrained in us, but you are constrained in your own bowels. And I say to you as children, receive the same recompense: be broadened, do not become yoked with unbelievers. For what share has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what agreement has Christ with Belial?" And indeed, the Psalmist says somewhere in spirit to Emmanuel himself, disparaging the narrowness of the law: "Your commandment is very broad." And again:

I ran the path of your commandments when you broadened my heart. In addition to this: "And I walked in a broadened state, because I sought out your ordinances." That the walnut rod, as I said recently, is by nature productive of sleeplessness, is shown by God speaking to the prophet Jeremiah: "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And he said, "A walnut staff." And the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, because I am awake over my words to accomplish them." Therefore, as if in the form of the rod, Christ presents himself to us, as one who died, and was raised, and is raised into the heavens, and who mentally broadens the hearts of those who receive him through the Spirit. But where did Jacob place the rods? In the troughs of the watering places. Now troughs and watering places of the rational flock, that is, of us, would again be understood as the writings of Moses and the prophetic proclamations, which pour forth for us the word from above and from God, so to speak. For it is written, "And you will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation." There we will find the rod of power of Emmanuel, both as in death for our sake, and as firstborn from the dead, and raised in glory, and broadening the faithful, as I said just now. For the entire discourse of the holy prophets, and indeed of Moses, has nodded toward the mystery of Christ. Therefore the wise Paul said, "The end of the law and the prophets is Christ." However, Jacob peeled the rods into white peelings, stripping off the green; and thus he produced a variegated effect on them for the flocks.

For Christ strips away, as it were, the shadow of the law and the veil, so to speak, of the prophetic writings, and renders the word in them for us quite white and highly transparent, and he offers a spiritual incantation; he almost persuades us to be adorned with the desire for virtue, practicing it in a twofold manner, I mean, in deed and word. And indeed the divine prophets, assuming the person of those justified in faith, have clearly cried out: "Because of fear of you, Lord, we conceived in the womb, and we travailed, and we gave birth to the spirit of your salvation." And again the same blessed Isaiah said somewhere in particular: "Take courage, slack hands and paralyzed knees. Take heart, you who are faint-hearted in mind, take courage, do not fear. Behold, our God renders judgment, and he will render it." And again: "Behold, the Lord comes with strength, and his arm with authority; as a shepherd he will tend his flock, and with his arm he will gather the lambs, and he will encourage those that are pregnant," that is, there will be spiritual encouragement to those already travailing with the divine word, as they are about to be fruitful, and as they are about to give birth, before long, to the glories of the evangelical polity. For this fruit is that of a holy and unadulterated soul. But, it says, Jacob made flocks for himself separately, and did not mix them with Laban's sheep. For the profane is incompatible with the holy, the defiling with the pure. And separately are those of Christ who refuse to mingle with those in the world, and are free from all love of the flesh, and are not obscure in life, but rather are very well known through virtue.

For it came to pass, he says, that the unmarked ones were Laban's, and the marked ones Jacob's. Yet Jacob was not without envy. But when his sons saw him wealthy and prosperous, they were greatly stung. Therefore he considered departing and returning again to his father's hearth. For it is written: And the man became exceedingly wealthy. And he had many cattle, and oxen, and servants, and maidservants, and camels, and donkeys, and mules. And Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons saying: Jacob has taken all our father's possessions, and from our father's possessions he has made all this glory. And Jacob saw Laban's face, and behold, it was not toward him as yesterday and the day before. And the Lord said to Jacob: Return to the land of your father, and to your kindred, and I will be with you. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where the flocks were. And he said to them: I see your father's face, that it is not toward me as yesterday and the day before. But the God of my father was with me. And you yourselves know that with all my strength I have served your father. And your father deceived me and changed my wages of ten lambs. Then he says: And God took away all the cattle of your father and gave them to me. For truly our Lord Jesus Christ has become wealthy to an immeasurable multitude, gathering in the world his own worshipers, who make the confession of service under him a bright offering of good intention, saying: We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

But the children of the world cannot remain quiet about these things. Seeing their own father, as it were, being plundered, and the hand of the good shepherd slipping under the most conspicuous of the sheep, and those born under Christ being variegated with manifold virtues, they mutter, saying: "Jacob has taken all that belongs to our father, and from our father's possessions he has made all this glory." And they are not lying at all. For the statement is true. For Christ gathered all into himself from the world, having enclosed in his own folds the flocks of those who believed, possessing godly wealth and preeminent glory. For he himself said somewhere to the Father and God in the heavens: "All that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine, and I am glorified in them." But let us also see Jacob's reward itself. "And he had," it says, "many cattle, and oxen, and male and female servants, and camels and donkeys." You see Christ also gathering from every kind, according to what is written: "The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, gathering from every kind." For he receives the slave, to make him shine with the boasts of freedom. He receives those under the law as already sacred and suitable for spiritual sacrifice, as in the order of sheep and ox, so that by transferring them to the brightness of evangelical life, he may render them more sacred. He receives, in addition, the unholy and impure kind, as in the order of camel and also donkey, so that by melting away the filth of polytheistic error, he may join them, pure and cleansed, to the choirs of the saints.

When Laban’s sons were moved to envy, and Laban himself showed a cheerless and sullen brow not free from malice—for it is said, “His face was not as yesterday and the day before”—God commanded Jacob to return to his own home. He summoned the women, Leah and Rachel, and clearly recounted their father’s injustice. He added, “God has taken all your father’s livestock and given them to me.” And Rachel and Leah answered him, “Is there no portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Have we not been counted as strangers by him? For he sold us and consumed our price in food. All the wealth and glory that God took from our father will be for us and our children. Now, therefore, do whatever your God has told you.” For when the world and its children are sullen toward Christ, consolation from above and from heaven, that is, from the Father, is given to the brides of the Savior, namely, the Churches. Yet the consolation is conveyed through the Son, as if he were ferrying to us the words from the Father. For “the one whom God sent speaks the words of God,” according to the voice of John. Observe how God spoke to Jacob, and he to his brides, Leah and Rachel. The word of consolation was that they must depart together with their own bridegroom from their father’s hearth. So also the blessed Psalmist says in spirit to the Church:

Listen, 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. Therefore Jacob spoke the words from God to his brides. And what was the word? A reproach against Laban, that he was unjust and wicked, and slow to pay the wages he owed. And Christ himself is depicted as reproaching the world for its great insensibility, in that it does not deign to pay to its Master the thank-offerings, and, as if in the manner of a debt and wage, refuses to offer the spiritual gifts for the care bestowed upon it, namely faith and love. Yet all things have been netted under him, with God the Father drawing the net. For the Son said somewhere to him: "Those whom you gave me from the world were yours, and you gave them to me." And this then was the meaning of: "God took away all the cattle of your father, and gave them to me." And the holy brides of the Savior declare that they are ready to follow, but say that they have been sold, as it were, to him by the world. For Emmanuel purchased the Churches with his own blood, and they have been alienated from their former father. For they have no share or portion with the world from which they were called. Rather, their wealth and that of their children is beyond mind and speech; it is their portion and lot, their glory and boast, and everything that contributes to splendor and prosperity.

The world, then, together with its own children, looks sullenly upon Christ and is consumed by the fire of envy, seeing that he who is preeminent in glory has made the whole region beneath the heaven his own and gained mastery over those on earth. And that beyond murmurs and slanders the madness of it extends to deeds, and it persecutes and rages, and as far as the power of its enterprises reaches, it is manifest as most hostile to the glory of the Savior, to the Churches established by him, and to his children—that is, to the multitude of believers—this it is easy to see for those who choose to learn from what follows. For it says: Jacob arose, took his wives and his children upon the camels, and brought all his possessions and all his equipment which he had acquired in Mesopotamia, and all that was his, and went to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. But Laban had gone to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole her father's household gods. And Jacob hid from Laban the Syrian, so that he might not inform him that he was running away. And he himself fled, with all that was his, and crossed the river, and hastened to Mount Galaad. And it was reported to Laban the Syrian on the third day that Jacob had fled. And taking all his brothers with him, he pursued him for a journey of seven days, and overtook him on Mount Galaad. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said to him: Beware of speaking evil to Jacob. And Laban overtook Jacob. And Jacob pitched his tent on the mountain.

Laban stationed his brothers on Mount Gilead. Laban then meets him and vehemently accuses the divine Jacob of having secretly fled, all but having stolen his daughters and the household gods. For he spoke thus: "Now then you have gone; for you desired with longing to go to your father's house. Why did you steal my gods?" But Jacob, it is said, did not know that Rachel his wife had stolen them. Laban searched for his own gods and did not find them with Leah, nor in the house of the maidservants Bilhah and Zilpah. Since Rachel expected to be searched by her father, she cunningly contrives the matter. For she took the idols, it is said, and placed them in the camel's saddle, and sat upon them, and said to her father: "Do not take it hard, my lord; I cannot rise before you, for it is according to the custom of women for me." Laban searched throughout his whole house and did not find the idols. When he was already somewhat at a loss and lamenting, as was natural, the loss of his own gods, the blessed Jacob then justly accused him of having chosen to pursue him in vain and of having nothing at all to charge him with. Then discussions about a settlement were set in motion between them, and an agreement for peace was made by both. For Laban, answering, said to Jacob: "Your daughters are my daughters, and your sons are my sons, and your cattle are my cattle, and everything that you see is mine and my daughters'. What shall I do for them today, and for their children whom they have borne?

Now then, come, let us make a covenant between me and you, and it shall be for a testimony between me and you." And he said to him: "Behold, there is no one with us; see, God is witness between me and you." And Jacob, taking a stone, set it up as a pillar. And Jacob said to his brothers: "Gather stones." And they gathered stones, and made a heap, and ate there upon the heap. And Laban said to him: "This heap bears witness between me and you today." And Laban called it "Heap of Testimony." And Jacob called it "Heap of Witness." 5. We have thus related the events of the history in a cursory and somewhat abridged manner, as far as possible. But it is necessary now to clarify the innermost meaning. That the world raged against Christ when he was rich in the flocks of believers, and attacked him in a frenzy, would require no long words for clear demonstration. For see how, when Jacob departed, Laban pursued him, crying out together with his own children. And Christ departs, as it were, from the world together with his own brides, that is, the Churches, and moves, so to speak, with his whole household, calling out spiritually to his own: "Arise, let us go from here." The manner of this departure would not be accomplished perceptibly, nor indeed bodily from place to place. For it is utterly unaccustomed to think or speak in this way. But it is accomplished usefully from thinking the things of the world to willing what seems good to God. For as the blessed Paul writes, we have no abiding city here, but we seek the future one, of which God is the craftsman and creator. And another of the holy apostles writes:

I exhort you, as sojourners and strangers, to abstain from carnal desires, which wage war against the soul. And while walking upon the earth, let us make our polity as in heaven, striving to live no longer in a fleshly manner, but rather in a holy and spiritual way. Paul, writing to us, rouses us to this: "Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." Since we have not been conformed to the world, we will imitate him in departing from worldly deceit. And knowing this to be so, the Savior declared: "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but since you are not of the world, for this reason the world hates you." Therefore, it persecutes, hating. But when it rages and is crucified in ungovernable wrath, God reins it in, not allowing it to leave us in distress even for a moment with harsh words. For he said to Laban, the text says: "Beware lest you speak any evil against Jacob." But the world accuses, as though it has been plundered and its gods have been lost. Yet Rachel had stolen these. However, observe the attempt. Laban searched for the gods with Leah, and also with the two maidservants, and did not find them, it says. But Rachel was sitting on them, pretending to follow her custom. What then is the meaning? The removal of the idols was not an achievement of the Jewish Synagogue, nor of those born into slavery, but of the younger Rachel—that is, of the Church, which covered the handmade objects with dishonor.

Not only does it fulfill concerning them what was said through the voice of the prophet: "And you shall remove the idols that are plated with silver and covered with gold, and you shall make them thin, and you shall winnow them like water of a settling, and you shall thrust them away like dung." Since Laban's gods were not found, he then made peace agreements with the divine Jacob. For the world, no longer having the falsely named gods, will be a friend; rather, the bond of peace has already come to be for Christ. He is again the most excellent stone, the precious one, the cornerstone, the honored one, the one at the head of the corner and in the foundations of Zion. For Jacob, it says, set up a pillar as a type of Christ. And other stones are gathered together, those of the holy apostles, or of those justified in faith and sanctified in spirit, elegantly prefiguring the gathering around Christ. For concerning the holy apostles, the prophetic word said: "Because holy stones roll upon the earth." For the divine disciples ran throughout the whole earth, carrying the evangelical proclamation to the nations. And to those justified in faith, the wise Paul writes: "In whom you also are built together into a dwelling of God in the Holy Spirit." Therefore, the collection of stones is called by Laban "Heap of Testimony," but the divine Jacob refers the meaning to something still greater and incomparably superior, that is, Christ, naming what happened "Heap of Witness." For Christ himself is the head of those who believe.

That the multitude of angels will be present, serving the Savior Christ who saves his own and leads them out of the evil in the world, and clearly also fulfilling the service assigned to them, one might easily learn again from these words. For when Laban was already departing and returning home peacefully, it says, "Jacob looked up and saw a camp pitched, and the angels of God met him." And Jacob said when he saw them, "This is the camp of God," and he called the name of the place "Camps." And it is written that "the angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and will rescue them." And again, that "he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways." So our Lord Jesus Christ saves all who love him; through whom and with whom glory is to God the Father together with the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. Further concerning Jacob. 1. The way of the saints is not without wonder, at least to those who have chosen to live most excellently; but the glory of their manner of life will be lost to any speech. Yet for those who wish to be pious, it would be a good model, setting forth in various ways in what manner one ought to proceed straight toward what is fitting and pleasing to God. For I say that it is necessary, and indeed the word of inspired Scripture itself says, that when we rightly contemplate the outcome of the conduct of the more ancient saints, we should imitate their faith, but not go exactly in the footsteps of the virtue inherent in them.

It is indeed absurd that those who are skilled in the royal arts should take as their teachers those who preceded them and hasten to emulate those who have most precisely perfected the fitting excellence in these arts, while we ourselves, whose aim is to achieve virtue, do not fix the eye of our mind upon the excellences of the ancients and, as it were, imprint from them the means by which one might become most approved by God and make one's own mind knowledgeable in the holy life. Let us then, no less, set before us the divine Jacob, who walked a blameless path, as far as possible and fitting for that time, I mean in the way of life as a polity, having as his helper and leader the God of all, who sometimes usefully allows him to encounter labors—for one would not acquire the boasts of virtue without sweat—and after the exercises crowns him with cheerfulness and enriches him, like the most robust of athletes, with an abundance of prizes. Do not say to yourself: Why did God not grant the saints a painless enjoyment of well-being? For that would be to leave them untrained, and to assign to them, not the reward of virtue as the fruit of their good fortune, but rather to make the favor toward them the fruit of an untested inclination of the will, and the splendid and acceptable munificence of gifts. Rather, they ought to be seen as approved, and to be shown forth as worthy through their very deeds of the gifts from God.

It is set before them, as also before those who come after them, as a clear example and pattern that they must choose to be most industrious and vigorous, considering that for those who live a life without toil and of reproach, there would be no reward, but the most excellent things of all will surely follow those who are most diligent and who have preferred sweat for good things over the sweetest things in life. Thus one of the wise said: "Child, if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for trial, straighten your heart, and endure." For endurance produces testing, and testing produces hope; and hope does not shame, according to what is written. We shall follow the present purpose. 2. After Laban's departure from Mount Galaad, the divine Jacob hastened to the land that bore him and wished to make haste. Having barely escaped Laban's attack and having taken a brief breath, he immediately falls into more grievous terrors. For when he had to depart from Mesopotamia and run to the land of Canaan, passing through the midst of Seir, where Esau dwelt, he was exceedingly fearful. For he was not unaware that he had grieved him on account of the blessing and also of the birthright itself. But in what manner he cast off the grief over these things and brought his brother to love and gentleness, how is it not worthy to see and, moreover, to admire? It is written then: "And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother into the land of Seir, into the land of Edom, and he commanded them, saying, 'Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob.'

After dwelling with Laban, I remained there until now; and I acquired cattle, and donkeys, and sheep, and male and female servants. And I sent word to my lord Esau, that your servant might find favor before you. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying: We went to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him. And Jacob was greatly afraid and perplexed. And he divided the people with him, and the cattle, and the sheep into two camps. And Jacob said: If Esau comes to one camp and destroys it, the second camp will be for safety. And Jacob said: The God of my father Abraham, and the God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, Return to the land of your birth, and I will do you good, let me be satisfied with all the righteousness and all the truth that you have done for your servant. For with this staff of mine I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and a mother with her children. But you said: I will do you well, and I will set your seed as the sand of the sea, and it will not be counted because of its multitude. You see how he flatteringly ingratiates himself with Esau, almost fawning upon him in his distress, and tries to steal away the unbridledness of his anger by speaking kindly. For although he has obtained a better lot through his father’s blessing, and has been preferred with the honor of the firstborn, and has God as his helper, he humbly submits in a holy manner, having chosen to accomplish that somewhere.

If possible, be at peace with all people from among yourselves. For a word, at times both harsh and steep and full of disdain, will be unbearable to some. As the wise Proverb-writer wrote, "A submissive answer turns away wrath." And observe the righteous man's skill in piety. For he sends messengers to ask for peace, and to convey very gentle words to Esau; both up and down he has commanded them to say: "Your servant Jacob says this." And he himself again turns to prayers, and does not cease from the ever-saving aid of them. And he confirms that the experience of past events clarifies the hope for the future, saying: "With this staff of mine I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps." For he said, "Having only this staff from home, I crossed the Jordan, and I have become master of many, having your favor, O Lord." Through these things, then, we too shall know that we must be gentle and peaceable, and by every means seek to live without strife. For it is said, "A servant of the Lord must not fight, but be gentle toward all," according to what is written. For there is nothing preventing us from also employing human skills for the good, and this would, I think, be among the most praiseworthy things. But it is necessary to seek, even if this is done by us, the care from God and the aid from above, not thinking high thoughts, but rather considering what is written: "As great as you are, so much humble yourself, and you will find grace before the Lord.

Thus, having chosen to think and act in this way, we shall gain the good things that come from peace, and we shall turn those who rage against us into gentleness. For it is said, "Wild beasts will make peace with you." This is what Jacob did. For he did not only soothe his brother with flattering and soft words, but also made him a partner in hospitality and in his possessions, allotting him a very generous portion—sheep and cattle, goats and donkeys, camels and calves. For peace is better than wealth, and the possession of temporal things should yield to brotherly affection. And indeed, as I said, the divine Jacob feared his brother Esau, and was disheartened, expecting to suffer the consequences of his anger at any moment; but Esau, trampling upon his former envy, embraced Jacob, greeted him with tears, and, by the laws of nature, allowed the delay in love to be overcome. For it is written: "And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him and kissed him, and fell upon his neck, and they both wept." And all these achievements of gentleness are the fruit of a humble and unpretentious spirit, and a gift of God's benevolence to those who love Him, smoothing the steep, softening the rough, and fattening with cheerfulness those who are eager to cling to Him. But I think it is necessary for us to transform the narrative into a spiritual contemplation. And let us go back, as it were, and run back to the beginning of the whole account. For the mystery of Christ would become clear to those who have chosen to learn well.

Fearing, then, his brother who was raging and savagely wild, as was natural, the divine Jacob set out on his journey to Charran and Laban, with his father Isaac consenting to his departure. For it seemed necessary to evade the attack of the one who was aggrieved. Having arrived, then, at Laban's, he courted the man's daughters, Leah and Rachel I mean, and indeed grew rich in offspring, and herds of cattle, and besides these, other property. When he had reached this point of prosperity, he considered having his own household, and he departed from Charran and Laban's hearth, together with what he had acquired, and also with his wives and children. When Laban pursued, he was overtaken, but he arranged terms of peace, and Christ confirmed the bond of love. For the stone was set up as a type of him. Then after this, when Laban had returned home and gone away, it came about that peace was made even with the one who had formerly raged and was wild, that is, Esau. For they embraced one another, burying, as it were, the ill feeling over past events in their mutual expressions of brotherly love. In these things the whole narrative of the history was completed, and we also have applied to Jacob the person of Christ himself, and in some respects that of those justified in faith. And we have said that Esau typifies the people of the circumcision and the law, especially since the Lord God himself says to Rebecca, who was still in labor with the pair of youths:

Two nations and two peoples shall be separated from your womb, and one people shall surpass the other, and the greater shall serve the lesser. This indeed has been accomplished through Christ. For those from Israel, being first in time, and for this reason called firstborn, have become last and have been placed behind those who through faith are in Christ, who have inherited the glory of the firstborn through the firstborn in them, even though he is only-begotten, and they have become conformed to him, having regeneration through the Spirit into incorruption and sanctification. Therefore, Esau, that is Israel, burned with envy, pursued Jacob, that is Christ. Our discourse, as I said, does not distinguish in these matters, always seeking what is fitting, and sometimes referring Jacob to Christ, sometimes to the new people in faith. Christ, persecuted in a way and not willingly, journeyed to the land of the nations, crying out explicitly: I have left my house, I have abandoned my inheritance, I have given my beloved soul into the hands of its enemies. My inheritance was born to me like a lion in the thicket. It raised its voice against me, therefore I hated it. But also to the women in the garden after the resurrection from the dead, he presents himself manifestly out of gentleness and love for humanity, saying: Go, announce to my brothers that they should go to Galilee, and there they will see me. Having arrived then in Galilee, just as the divine Jacob arrived in Charran, he tended the sheep of Laban, that is, of the world, which had served creation and gone astray, just as Laban had.

There, having become like a bridegroom, he is spiritually united with a pure virgin, the Church from the Gentiles, that is, Rachel, bringing in with her also the one already betrothed to him through the Law, the Synagogue of the Jews, whose type is Leah. For the remnant of Israel has been saved, according to the voice of the prophet, even if perhaps not the whole multitude has honored the grace through faith in Christ. So then, the bridegroom Christ, having been received among the Gentiles and having regenerated by grace very many into adoption in spirit, and having gathered a truly countless flock of rational sheep, was persecuted by the world. For some of those in the world, who were invested with the highest honors and had an almost invincible dominion on earth, made war against the glory of Christ. But even this was appeased by divine grace. And the world came to peace with Christ, just as Laban did with Jacob. But in later times, our Lord Jesus Christ will also win over the former persecutor Israel, just as indeed Jacob greeted Esau after his return from Charran. For that Israel himself will after a time be received into love for Christ through faith, we would least doubt, yielding to the words of the divinely inspired Scripture. For the Lord of all said somewhere through one of the holy prophets:

For the sons of Israel will sit for many days, there being no king, nor any ruler, no sacrifice, nor any altar, neither priesthood nor oracles, and after this the sons of Israel will return and seek their Lord God and David their king, and they will hope in the Lord and in his good things at the end of days. For while our Savior Christ was still gathering those from the nations who had believed, Israel was somehow at rest, having no law of actions as an arbiter, nor offering the prescribed things at the divine altar; but waiting, as it were, for Christ to return from the calling of the nations, so that he too might finally be received through faith and be bound, as it were, to the others by the law of love. For observe that Jacob, rejoicing in the births of children and in many herds of flocks, returns from Charran, and thus finally receives Esau himself into love. Therefore Israel will return at the times after the calling of the nations, and will marvel at the wealth that is in Christ. For it is easy through what has been done historically to perceive this very thing for those who wish. Jacob sent gifts to Esau, turning him to love by the generosity of the presents. And he also sent peaceful messengers to him speaking words. And that he will be present, and that not long after their reconciliation will be established, Christ also clearly brings this to pass at the proper times. For he said somewhere to the Jews through the voice of a prophet:

And behold, I will send you Elijah the Thesbite, before the coming of the great and manifest day of the Lord. He will restore the heart of a father toward his son, and the heart of a man toward his neighbor, not having come to smite the land utterly. He, having come, will turn aside, as is fitting, my recalcitrant Israel, will remove the ancient wrath, will make him a friend and peaceable toward Christ, all but showing even now the gifts of his munificence, that is, the hope of those who believe. For the things of the promise will no longer be carried off into a length of time for those who then believe, but the gift is near, and grace is at hand. For the son of sin is immediately abolished, while our Savior Christ descends from heaven with the holy angels, through whom and with whom glory is to the Father together with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. Again concerning Jacob. a. Human nature was being led down through sin into death. But since it was being wholly estranged from that which knows how to save, the one crafted according to the divine image was all but taken captive by the spear, and was burdened with the weight of slavery. For it was voluntarily submitting its neck to the grasping Satan, who, from his great arrogance (for the evil spirit is overweening), was insolent toward all, so to speak, upon the earth, saying: I will seize the whole world with my hand as a nest, and I will lift it up like abandoned eggs, and there is no one who will escape me or speak against me. For he reigned from greed, as I said, and was named God of this age.

The world has worshipped it, and served the creation instead of the creator. But since God pities those brought into such misery, he promised to send us the Son from heaven, restoring human nature again to what it was in the beginning. A new creation is that which is in Christ, according to the Scriptures. The blessed prophets became the bearers of the good words to us, prophesying concerning the grace toward us, inquiring into what and what kind of time the Spirit of Christ within them indicated, bearing witness beforehand to the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these, to whom it was revealed that they were not serving themselves but us with these things. For the disciple of the Savior writes thus. And there is much among them concerning the incarnation of our Savior, and that at the appointed times the deliverer will come. But for the ease of learning of those who will encounter these things, it is no harm to bring forward a few things that cause pain. It would be fitting to make this a charge against the Jewish peoples, as it is possible to see from the facts themselves. For although it was possible to observe the arrival of the Savior from prophetic words, or rather perhaps even understanding, the wretches, from the shadow in the law itself, they perversely opposed the oracles from God and Christ himself, or as the wise Paul said to us: a hardening came upon Israel in part, so that seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor understand. As the Savior himself said. So then, the divine Isaiah has brought forward, or rather has introduced to us Emmanuel himself in his own writings, speaking clearly:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for which reason He anointed me, sent me to proclaim good news to the poor, to heal those whose heart is broken, to proclaim release to captives and restoration of sight to the blind, to call the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense. For these were the glorious achievements of His advent. Hosea again said somewhere concerning Him: And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall set for themselves one ruler, and they shall ascend from the earth, because the day of Jezreel is great. For there have been very many over time among the Jews who, as teachers, persuade the people under their authority to honor the God of all only with their lips, and teach a doctrine of human commandments. But one rule over all and for all has been established, Christ, and we have ascended from the earth, that is, we have been taught to think of higher things. For truly great is the day of Jezreel, that is, of the sowing of God, or of the Son. And the inspired David also reminded us of this day, saying: This is the day which the Lord made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. And moreover the most wise Paul says to us: Behold now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation, on which, clearly, we have been saved, Christ calling us to this. For as the wise disciple has said: There is no other name under heaven given to men in which we must be saved. And you will also hear Jeremiah saying clearly: Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will raise up for David a righteous shoot; a king will reign, and he will understand, and he will execute judgment and justice on the earth.

In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is his name, which the Lord will call him, Josedech, among the prophets. For a righteous king, Christ, has reigned over us; he has executed judgment and righteousness, releasing those who were deceived from sins and condemning the enemy of the covetous Satan. His name is Josedech, that is, righteousness of God. For we have been justified in him, and not by works of righteousness which we performed, but according to his great mercy. Therefore God and Father also said, "My righteousness approaches quickly, and my mercy will be revealed." For Christ has become mercy and righteousness for us from God and Father, whom the illustrious chorus of saints also called by this very name. For the blessed Samuel, renowned among the prophets, spoke to those from Israel, saying, "And behold, I have passed before you from my youth until this day. Behold me, answer against me before the Lord and before his Christ." And again, "The Lord is witness among you, and his Christ is witness on this day, that you have found nothing in my hand." And more clearly, the blessed David also reproaches the follies of the Jews, their unbridled insolence against Christ, and their vain speculations and childish thoughts, almost saying, "Why did nations swell with pride, and peoples devise empty things? The kings of the earth stood, and the rulers assembled together, against the Lord and against his Christ.

For truly vain are the schemes of Jewish ignorance against Christ. For life would not have died, nor would he who said to the spirits below, "Come forth," and to those in darkness, "Be uncovered," have been held captive at the gates of Hades. And the prophet Jeremiah lamented Jerusalem as unholy, as Christ-killing, as profane, as ungrateful. For he spoke thus: "A spirit before our face, Christ the Lord, was taken in their corruptions, of whom we said, 'In his shadow we will live among the nations.'" For it was necessary to choose the grace through faith as a saving path, but they were caught warring against God. Therefore, the Creator of all, the only-begotten Word of God, lowering himself into kenosis, was anointed by the Father and became like us. And the purpose of the kenosis was to save those on earth. And indeed the prophet Zephaniah proclaimed, saying: "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem; be glad and delight with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has removed your injustices; he has redeemed you from the hand of your enemies. The Lord will reign over Israel in your midst; you will see evil no more." But the disobedient and unyielding, going beyond all boldness, have committed the most shameful outrages against him, acting readily and plotting rashly. Therefore, they have paid the penalties for their transgressions. For the wicked have perished wickedly. Yet not entirely. For a remnant has been taken and saved, according to the voice of the prophet.

That these things will be so at the appointed times, the inspired Jacob was taught, God gracefully shaping the matter. And how, I shall say, necessarily referring to the sacred Scriptures; it runs thus: "And rising up that night, he took his two wives, and the two maidservants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok, and took them, and crossed the winter torrent, and conveyed all his belongings across. But Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until dawn. And he saw that he could not prevail against him, and he touched the flat of his thigh, and the flat of Jacob's thigh became numb while he wrestled with him. And he said to him: 'Let me go, for the dawn has risen.' But he said: 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.' And he said to him: 'What is your name?' He said: 'Jacob.' And he said to him: 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name, because you have prevailed with God, and with men you are mighty.' And Jacob asked and said: 'Tell me your name.' And he said: 'Why do you ask my name?' And he blessed him there, and Jacob called the name of that place 'Face of God.' 'For I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved.' And the sun rose for him when the form of God passed by him. And he limped on his thigh." The inspired Jacob conveyed all his belongings across the Jabbok, that is, the winter torrent, and he himself remained alone. Then the matter—how is it not worthy of contemplation? Come, then, let us examine the reason.

For this word will go straight for us to the spiritual matters. 3. Esau dwelt in Edom and Seir, and held sway over the land, and was in positions of power not inferior to those of Jacob. But when Jacob was departing from the region between the rivers and from Laban's hearth, and was hastening to come to his father's land, it was somehow necessary for him to make his escape through Edom. So he very prudently embraced peace with his brother, and indeed ordered that splendid messengers of hospitality should go ahead, saying that he himself would come to see him, and he commanded them to announce this in advance, taming with gifts and words the one who had long been murderous and savage. When those sent ahead arrived, they said: "We have come to your brother Esau, and behold, he himself is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him." And the inspired Jacob was exceedingly fearful; for he could not know clearly whether he would encounter a friend and a peaceful man, or one no less stirred up to his customary boldness and inclined to act out of envy. Jacob had all his people cross over, and he remained alone, having thought, I suppose, something like this to himself: that if he should appear kind and gentle, there would be no difficulty in having the women and children cross over again and approach. But if he should come harsh and still contentious, and no better than murderous, he would spare the infants and take pity on the tears of the women; but finding him alone, he would vent his anger, and the death of the one who had grieved him would suffice for his satisfaction. Yet this turned out for him beyond hope by the power of God, as we have already said when we reached that point.

They greeted one another. From the event, then, he was taught the power of the mystery. How, or in what manner, I shall say again. For he had crossed over his entire winter torrent. But when he remained alone, a man wrestled with him until dawn. Now we say that the one wrestling with him is a holy angel, a type of Christ for us on account of the human element. And that he himself did not cross the winter torrent together with the others, that is, the Jabbok, which is interpreted as "wrestling," the apparent battle occurred for them. And who again would be understood as the meaning of this, that is, the innermost mind? For to those crossing the Jordan, of which the Jabbok is a type, Christ does not wrestle, nor does he treat those who honor his mysteries as enemies or opponents. Rather, he preserves them and, as having conquered the world, as in a battle, I mean the spiritual one, he crowns them and adorns them with the highest honors. And "Wrestling" is the name of the river. For the kingdom of heaven is violent, and violent men seize it. And, "The gate is very narrow, and the road leading to life is straitened, and few are those who find it." That those who would come from Jacob in due time would neither cross the Jordan, that is, the grace of holy baptism, and impiously dishonor it, and would henceforth have Emmanuel himself as an opponent, the event indicated. For that those who do not honor with faith will be counted entirely and in every way as opponents, the Savior himself will assure us by saying, "He who is not with me is against me." But may those who have believed be with him. And the opposite is true, how could anyone doubt?

But, it says, the man wrestled with Jacob until dawn, and saw that he could not prevail against him. Do you hear how the wrestling took place in the night? He was being refuted, falling and being defeated, because he was seeking the unattainable, having chosen to fight against God and to surpass the all-powerful God. This, I think, is what the divine David also said in his psalm concerning those from Israel, that they were devising terrible things against their own head, not to say against Christ: "They devised a plan which they could not accomplish." So Israel fought against Christ, having been in darkness, that is, not having the divine mind for enlightenment, nor the brightening day, nor the spiritually rising morning star in the hearts of believers. For he remained disobedient, and as the prophet says, "While they waited for light, darkness came upon them; while they waited for dawn, they walked in the night." But the divine Paul, writing to those justified in faith and who have fully acquired the wealth through the Spirit, says: "We are not of night nor of darkness, but sons of light and of day." And that they have become better than the ignorance of the Jews and have surpassed the darkness befitting them, he indicated by adding: "The night has advanced, and the day has drawn near." Therefore, let us put aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us walk decorously as in the day. So then, those who have believed are in the day, while the disobedient, as in night and darkness, fight against Christ. This is what those from Jacob did, but they have become weak and have been defeated, and they cannot stand upright.

He touched, it says, the wrestling man the breadth of Jacob's thigh, and the breadth of Jacob's thigh became numb while he wrestled with him. What then we shall learn from this as well, come, let us say. The thigh, as a rule, in the God-inspired Scripture indicates the parts of the body necessary for the generation of children, and indeed generation itself from this. For the procreative members lie in the region of the thighs for all. And indeed the blessed Abraham, when he sent the faithful servant to take a wife for Isaac into the midst of the rivers, commanded him to swear, speaking thus: Place your hand under my thigh; that is, Swear by God, and by those who will come from me, and by the master's lineage. The thigh, therefore, signifies those from the thighs. So Jacob's thigh became numb. For those born from his thighs became lame, that is, those from Israel. And the Saviour himself is witness through the voice of David, speaking thus: Alien sons lied to me; alien sons grew old, and became lame from their paths. And that Israel has suffered a spiritual lameness, the wise Paul also knew. He himself writes therefore: Therefore straighten the relaxed hands and the paralyzed knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be turned aside, but rather be healed. Healing of such lameness could never come otherwise, except only through faith in Christ and love. And those who have not accepted faith have remained in lameness, and in the turning aside of the affliction, according to the voice of the blessed Paul.

A riddle, then, of the spiritual lameness of Israel is the incident that happened to Jacob concerning his thigh while he was wrestling. Yet we would not be speaking falsely anywhere, I think, in affirming and saying that Christ in a certain way contends and wrestles with those who have a dark mind in the night, paralyzing them into spiritual lameness, as one might readily learn also from what follows. For the wrestling man said to Jacob: "Let me go, for the dawn has risen." Do you understand how he does not endure wrestling when the day is breaking? For he does not fight with those who have come into the light. To those who have passed into this most brilliant state, it would be fitting to say: "O God, my God, I rise early for you." And with regard to this, the saying: "Early you will hear my voice; early I will stand before you, and you will look upon me." For when the light of righteousness, that is Christ, rises in our mind and sends a spiritual ray into our hearts, then, indeed, then we will stand before him most brilliantly through complete gentleness, and show ourselves worthy of his oversight from above. For it says: "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous." So when the dawn has already risen, he ends the wrestling. See then how skillfully and very artfully he teaches Jacob, who wishes to depart, to change and to desire greatly to provide what is necessary for his salvation. For the one who has completely conquered and is able to withdraw, even if the conquered one does not happen to change, yet granting authority, as it were, to him, if he should choose, to hold on tightly, says: "Let me go.

We will find something similar to this in what was wisely and economically said by God to Moses. For He wished to exact punishment from the demented Israel, who were idolatrous in the desert (for they had made the calf). But, as if instructing the blessed Moses to restrain the anger, if he wished, and to make supplication on behalf of the sinners, He says, "I have spoken to you once and twice, saying, 'I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people; let me alone, I will destroy them, and I will wipe out their name from under heaven, and I will make you into a great nation.'" But when Moses understood the economy of the divine gentleness, he proceeds to restrain Him and says, "If you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, then erase me also from this book which you have written." Therefore, in a similar manner, the words "Send me" were said to Jacob by the one wrestling with him. But he, quickly understanding who the wrestler was, and having come to a perception of the whole matter, changes his attitude greatly and says, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." He was blessed, and the manner of the blessing for him was the transfer of his name from the first to the other. For it says, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but rather Israel will be your name," Jacob meaning "the one who supplants," that is, the one vigorous and sober in ability to accomplish what must be done, and Israel being interpreted as "one who sees God." What then is the meaning? Come, let us say, briefly drawing the narrative back.

Jacob wrestled and was defeated, and having suffered numbness in the dark—that is, in the thigh—he then clung to the wrestler as to a peaceful one, as light was dawning and morning had already come. He was compelled, as it were, to receive blessings from him, and indeed he was blessed; for he was renamed Israel. For Israel, as it were, brought forth to Emmanuel the disobedient and unruly, yet as in ignorance and darkness—that is, the darkness of ignorance, I mean. He was hardened; he barely recognized the divine light as it rose in his mind. And he was blessed by Christ, even if not entirely, yet at least in some portion of those who believed. For a remnant was left to Israel by election of grace, according to what is written, and not a few of the Jews in number believed. And before the others, the divine disciples, who once were Jacob, having weakness in the law and, as it were, tripping, swiftly breathing, and especially avoiding offense to God—for they were blameless according to the righteousness of the law—after this became also Israel, that is, they passed over into a mind that now sees God. For to know Christ—who he is, and whence he came among us, or what manner of his economy with flesh—this, I say, is to receive the light of true contemplation of God into the mind. And that the knowledge of God is greater, more excellent, and incomparably better than the way of life under the law, he himself will confirm through one of the prophets, saying: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice; and knowledge of God, rather than whole burnt offerings.

And Paul, though he had become according to the righteousness of the law, brilliant and blameless, considers such things a loss because of the surpassing knowledge of Christ. That the unadulterated knowledge concerning Christ is superior even to the brightness of works will again be clarified by Paul writing to Timothy, that he should train himself for piety. For bodily training is beneficial for a short time, but piety is beneficial for everything, having a promise of life both now and in the future. For as the Savior himself said to the Father in the heavens, "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent." Therefore, even if someone were perhaps Jacob—that is, if he were able to trip up and cleverly and vigorously escape everything that is prone to paralyze and call to sin—he will advance through Christ to a holy understanding. And he will be called Israel, that is, seeing God. Then indeed, then he will be mighty among men, having grown strong with God. For it would not be the work of a cowardly and enfeebled person to know God and to grasp the knowledge of him, even if he sees as in a mirror and enigma; but rather of one who has been brought to such a point of weakness for this that he makes no account of the fleshly and worldly things, and is able to dart with a swift and irresistible mind toward what is pleasing to God. For such a one will be mighty among men and will grow strong with God. Therefore the divine Jacob was blessed, and he continued to entreat, saying, "Tell me your name." And he said, it says, "Why do you ask my name?

The name "God" does not announce that He is according to nature, and through this it shows this. For there would be no name for God as there is for a man, as it were individually; but from the things He is by nature, He is named in many ways. For He is called light, and life, and power, and truth, only-begotten, and radiance, and character of the begetter, mercy, and wisdom, and justice, and redemption. And again the blessed Jacob, understanding that He was God, to whom no name would be individually applied, called the name of that place "Form of God." For he says, "I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved." Observe then how he became Israel, that is, "seeing God." As a man wrestling, he says, he saw God face to face, and his own soul was saved. For knowledge concerning Christ is a saving thing. Therefore the Word is God even with flesh. For the patriarch Jacob says he saw God face to face. And when the sun rose, he says, "The form of God passed by," and he himself limped on his thigh. For as I have already said, when the Jews were enlightened, the wrestling ceased. And the form of God also passed by, that is, Christ ascended into the heavens. But Israel is not freed from lameness. For he is not entirely saved. And he suffers, as it were, through those who disobey, so as not to walk straight in every respect. Therefore he was renamed Israel, and the supplanter was changed into one who sees God in mind. And what again after this? And Jacob departs, it says, to tents, and he made houses for himself, and for his cattle he made tents. For this reason he called the name of that place "Tents.

You hear how he dwelt in tents. And this too would be a clear sign of the improvement of the mind of Israel, of its change for the better. For he had already made tents and dwelt in them. For when the mind already sees and has been deemed worthy of the vision of God, and has been nurtured and raised up to perfection by advances toward the better, it would be a fruit precious to God to make no account at all of the things in this world, but rather to consider life in the body a sojourn. For this mind is holy and an accurate indication of an exceptional and elevated way of life. You would be persuaded of this, finally, by one who has reached such a height and who sings, the blessed David: "Let me go, for I am a sojourner on the earth and a stranger, as all my fathers were." And Paul writes to those who have reached the measure of the fullness of Christ and have arrived at perfect manhood: "We have no abiding city here, but we seek the future one, whose craftsman and maker is God." Therefore, the choice of the inspired Jacob, or Israel, to dwell in tents would be a sign, and one not obscure to any of the right-minded, that it is fitting to consider the things in this world a sojourn for those who are already awakening to God and whose mind has been purified. Then he goes to Salem, a city of the Shechemites, which is in the land of Canaan; where again the righteous man was tested, having suffered the wrongs concerning his daughter Dinah. For she, being a young girl and still a maiden in her youth, went out from her father's tent to see the daughters of the locals.

The female sex is always prone to be eager to love one of like age. So the young woman fled; but Emmor the Sichemite did not violate her with violence. For she remained a virgin, and he, already somehow caught in the grip of desire, sought to make the girl his wife. Then indeed, then Symeon and Levi, the brothers of the young woman, were provoked to anger, and considered the outrage unbearable, and thereafter planned to commit unholy acts against the wrongdoers. For they persuaded the men of Sicima to undergo the circumcision customary and ancestral to them. And they killed them, utterly devoid of any mercy or compassion. But the divine Jacob was greatly indignant at this, and rebuked them, saying: "You have made me hateful, so that I am considered wicked by the inhabitants of the land." For those who killed in anger did not act with moderation, nor, as men raised under a just father, did they think anything that was not entirely perverse. For they sacked and killed those who had agreed to think the same as they did and had trusted in good faith. What benefit, then, might come to us from this? (For the divinely inspired Scripture is never frivolous), come, let us speak as best we can.

For we have been born a spiritual birth, and have been numbered among the children of God through Christ. Therefore, if it should happen that a soul already reborn through holy baptism and placed as a daughter of God should be corrupted, perhaps by those accustomed to doing this, or be led away to choose fleshly thoughts, or be turned aside into distorted notions concerning God (such indeed are the doctrines of the impious heretics), the brothers of the injured party in faith, even if they hold the priestly order, as indeed Levi did, or even if they be understood as Simeon, that is, those placed in the order of subjects (for Simeon is interpreted as obedience), would be indignant that one of their own in faith has been defrauded, but would not yet proceed to bloodshed, nor demand savage penalties from the corrupters, lest they hear Christ saying to them: "You have made me hated, so that I am considered wicked by the inhabitants of the earth." For it is necessary to remember that the Savior himself once rebuked the divine Peter when he was baring his sword, saying: "Put your sword back into its sheath; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword." For it is not fitting for us, who have chosen to contend for piety toward God, to arm ourselves with swords against enemies; but rather to be patient, and if some choose to persecute, to bless when reviled, not to cry out when suffering, but to entrust the matter to the one who judges justly.

Those who decline corruption must be on guard lest they ever depart from the paternal tent, that is, from the house of God, nor fall in with the flocks of foreigners, that is, of heterodox thinkers. For Dinah, having gone out of her father's tent, was carried off to the house of Shechem. But she would never have been outraged had she remained within her father's chambers and dwelt in the tents of the saints. For that this matter is good and not unprofitable for benefit, the blessed David will persuade us by singing: I asked one thing of the Lord, and this I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may behold the delight of the Lord and visit his holy temple. For he hid me in his tent; in the day of my troubles he sheltered me in the secret place of his tent. Therefore, God commanded Jacob, who had become exceedingly fearful and despondent, to depart. And it reads thus: And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to the place Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from the face of your brother Esau. And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Remove the foreign gods from among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments, and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and let us make there an altar to the God who heard me in the day of distress, who was with me and preserved me on the road by which I traveled.

And they gave to Jacob the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears, and Jacob hid them under the terebinth in Shechem, and they destroyed them until this day. Now the God of all summoned the righteous man from Shechem to Bethel. And he was not disobedient. Then, having been in Luz in the meantime, and deemed worthy of a vision of God, and being confirmed by the promises that he would be the father of many nations, he goes up to Bethel, and there, it says, Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God spoke with him, a stone pillar, and he poured a libation upon it, and poured oil upon it. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel. Many things together provide not obscure proof that Jacob was transformed into Israel, and that he made a change for the incomparably better. For he dwelt in tents, showing through this almost that the race of the saints is sojourning in the world. Then, in the meantime, having suffered what befell his daughter, and being greatly distressed, he severely rebuked those ignobly overcome by passion, I mean Simeon and Levi, declaring through actions that forbearance and endurance in trials are befitting to a holy man. But when he was called by God and went up to Bethel, that is, to the house of God (for Bethel is interpreted thus), he performs a sacred rite for God and is shown to be a mystagogue. For he makes clear to those who follow him in what manner it is fitting to enter the house of God.

He commanded them to cast away the foreign gods like some kind of refuse and filth, and to change their garments. This is indeed what we are accustomed to do when we are called into the presence of God and enter his divine temple, especially at the time of holy baptism. For we must, as it were, put the foreign gods out of the way, and, departing from such error, say: "I renounce you, Satan, and all your pomp, and all your worship." And we must all also change our garment, putting off, as it were, the old man, who is corrupted by the desires of deceit, and putting on the new man, who is renewed in the image of his creator. And the women with Jacob also cast away the earrings from their ears. For women, when they enter the house of God, having no bodily ornament, and even letting down their hair, free their heads from the charges, so to speak, that come from braiding. This, I say, is what it means for the women to remove the ornament from their ears. Therefore, when we go up to Bethel, that is, to the house of God, we shall there recognize the stone, the chosen stone, which has become the head of the corner, that is, Christ. And we shall see him anointed by the Father for the joy and exultation of all under heaven. For the Son, our universal joy, the worldwide exultation, has been anointed, as I said, by God the Father, according to the voice of the Psalmist. And you would also see this prefigured in what we have just said. For Jacob set up the stone, watering it with oil and wine.

The thing that was done was a type of the mystery concerning Christ, through which and with which glory is given to God the Father together with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. From the Glaphyra on Genesis, Book Six. Concerning Joseph. 1. Great indeed, as all agree, is the mystery of piety, that is, Christ; and very deep is the discourse concerning him, and the purpose of the economy with flesh. But it would be least accessible to those who wish to take it simply, and would not be clear without effort to those of sound mind, since, illuminated by divine grace, they are wise and shrewd, and knowledgeable in the writings of the law and the prophets. And indeed the divine Peter, the foremost among the disciples and superior to the others, confessed the faith rightly; but he heard from Christ: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven." For God the Father initiates us into the discourse concerning the Son; and thus he presents him as Savior and Redeemer. For he says, "No one comes to me unless my Father who sent me draws him." Therefore, so that through all of sacred Scripture, so to speak, we may understand the discourse concerning him and gather an unerring faith, not shaken by accursed double-mindedness as if our heart were intoxicated, nor falling into disturbances from ignorance, let us then hear God speaking through the voice of the prophets: "They loved to move their feet, and they did not spare themselves, and God did not take pleasure in them.

Through countless images, this text grounds us in the truth and usefully prefigures faith in him, setting forth as it were brilliant icons of the knowledge concerning him through events that occur in due time. Let us therefore see whether, in the matters concerning the inspired Joseph, what I have said would not again prove true. The account concerning him runs as follows: "These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, having become seventeen years old, was shepherding the sheep with his brothers, being a youth with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father. Joseph brought an evil reproach against Israel his father. And Jacob loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was a son of his old age. And he made him a variegated tunic. When his brothers saw that their father loved him beyond all his sons, they hated him and could not speak any peaceful word to him." For the author of the book has made a precise enumeration of those born from Esau. For the sacred Scripture has taught us who sprang from whom, and where on earth each of them dwelt, and over whom they obtained rule; but it has recorded no noble deed, nor anything worthy of memory, done by any of them. The narrative almost passes over those named, and descends as it were to the inspired Joseph, and makes a splendid account of those of Jacob's blood. Now Joseph was the youngest of the others (for he was seventeen years old), yet he did not neglect the toil of shepherding; but mingling with his other brothers, he engaged in the same labors, not prizing the ease most gratifying to youth and always somehow dear.

not abandoning the premature care of life, nor preferring rather to be at ease, even while still among youths; but like an old man, already in the calm of reason, and having his mind well grounded; using speech that is hoary, and prefiguring the beauty of the coming splendor, he was naturally admired by his blessed and affectionate father, and was especially deemed worthy of love and care. For he was, it says, a son of his old age. And what is this? The word inquires into the dispositions within us. For the affections of parents for their children are equal in all respects among some, and in no way less. But nature often prevails and overcomes the mind, persuading it to assign something small beyond the others to those who are more deficient, since they are in need of more urgent care. Moreover, when many have been born, the excess of love somehow comes to an end and finally settles on the last, the affection for those who came before being somehow drawn to itself by the one after them. For the human mind is fond of novelty, and while it does not shake off satiety with what has already occurred, it greatly changes what is not yet present, or what has just been provided, and receives a more intense desire for them. Therefore the divine Jacob loved Joseph beyond the others, because he was a son of his old age. But it must be noted that, although he had first taken Leah in Haran, he loved Rachel, who bore Joseph, and finally Benjamin. To this we say that both were sons of his old age.

Now Joseph's natural aptitude for everything was not equal in all respects; but the old man showed himself leaning aside, as it were, and inclining toward him. For he reasoned, presumably, that he would be brilliant and renowned. And one who had not been mindful of the friskings of youth, already being a man, how could he not become one of the admired? The blessed Jacob also did something novel in his case beyond the others: he wove a variegated tunic and honored him with the most splendid garments. What then follows from this? The sons of Zilpah and Bilhah were provoked to anger, and those of the free woman, I mean Leah, were carried along with them into extreme grief and thereafter admitted envy toward the youth. For the young man wronged them in nothing; but the father's love and the child's natural aptitude kindled in them the fire of unjust malice. And for a time they shot at him with their tongues, reviling and disparaging him in ways that might naturally cause the youth to be reproached by enemies. This, I think, is the meaning of, "They brought an evil reproach against Joseph to Israel their father." So then, these were like preliminary skirmishes of their unholy designs, slanders and jests from an unbridled tongue now appointed to serve envy. And their hostility was inflamed to greater intensity from some such cause: for God reveals beforehand to the youth that he will in time be brilliant and admired, superior to his brothers, and crowned with glorious renown. And this, I think, was a challenge, sharpening the youth's desire for virtue.

Just as trainers, when anointing young men, sharpen them for the most daring ventures and persuade them to choose endurance as honorable, proclaiming the prizes that accompany the glory of victory—the generosity of the contest-givers, the acclamations of the spectators, the praises, the applause—so also the God of all, when he sees a soul that is naturally gifted, distinguished by a genuine and unalloyed mind, and suitably disposed toward everything excellent, then he calls it to choose to do the good, revealing beforehand what will be, and rousing it providentially to zeal, clearly for virtues. So a vision and some divine utterance from above once visited the young man, I mean Joseph; and he, I think, marveling, communicated it to his brothers, speaking thus: "Hear this dream which I dreamed. I thought we were binding sheaves in the middle of the plain, and my sheaf stood up and was raised; and your sheaves, turning around, bowed down to my sheaf." And his brothers said to him: "Will you rule as king over us, or will you be master over us?" And they added further to hate him, because of his dreams and because of his words. Observe then that for them the matter of envy proceeds to increase, and they make the things indicated by the dreams, as it were, food for their jealousy. For those who were from the beginning not moderately distressed, especially that he had been honored, how could they have endured that he be chosen and bowed down to, and that they keep for him the rank that is here revered and exceedingly elevated?

But it is worth observing how envy always makes its assault in an unholy manner and comes through equal evils. We will find that the beast is particularly blind and hostile to God. For observe: when God announces to Joseph the splendor of his future glory, it would be necessary to consider clearly that the God who judges justly would not impose the highest honors on those unworthy to receive them, and then to rejoice over a brother who has the most brilliant hope and is honored by divine decree. This they did not do; rather, they stirred up the sting of envy more fiercely, and like wild beasts they raged, almost even rebuking God, who promised the glory and foretold that he would be conspicuous. We will find this to have happened in the case of Cain and Abel. For when the God of all deemed Abel's sacrifice worthy of praise, and sending down fire from heaven, accepted his offering, while paying no heed to Cain's, the murderer immediately admitted envy, and as if setting his own anger against the divine decrees, he treacherously attacked his brother and indeed destroyed him. For envy always ends somehow in such things. But what would be the meaning of the visions? We will accept the sheaf as a sign of the time. The raising of the one in conspicuous glory would indicate something. That a time would come when the blessed Joseph would be glorious, and the multitude of his brothers would be subjected and brought low before him, was symbolically prefigured by his sheaf being bowed down to by the others. But Joseph's dreams did not stop at these things.

But having observed something else as well concerning this, he again reports about him to his blessed father and his brothers. For he saw, it says, another dream, and he related it to his father and his brothers, and said: "Behold, I dreamed another dream: how the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." And his father rebuked him and said to him: "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Are we, then, I and your mother and your brothers, to come and bow down to you on the earth?" And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. The old man is skilled and preeminent in the highest acumen. For he understands the meaning of the visions, but he rebuked the boy, saying: "Are we, then, I and your mother and your brothers, to come and bow down to you on the earth?" And who would not perceive it? Yet how wise and necessary is the manner of the rebuke. For it skillfully checks the envy of the hearers and tames the young man, who is pouring forth with unbearable arrogance, in a certain way, and calls him to gentleness; nor does it allow the youth to boast arrogantly over his brothers because of the hope from the dreams, nor to thoughtlessly neglect honor toward his father, as if he were prematurely seizing in himself the preeminence of the future glory. For see how skillfully he diverts the meaning of the visions to an impossible outcome. For Rachel, who bore Joseph, being already dead, he says: "Shall I and your mother bow down to you?

He did this, as I just said, both to humble the pride of the young man's mind and to calm the envy of his brothers that had been aroused against him. Yet he himself expects that the matter will come to pass. For he has not heard carelessly, nor does he consider the words worthy of forgetfulness, even though he recorded their triviality. He has preserved them, because he has trusted that they will perhaps come to fulfillment. After the narration of the dreams, the brothers departed to pasture the flocks together in Shechem. Then, after a short interval of time, the father urges the youth to go and visit his brothers. "For are not your brothers," he says, "shepherding in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." And he said to him, "Here I am." And Israel said to him, "Go and see if your brothers and the sheep are well, and report back to me." So he very eagerly promises to go, and indeed he departs and has gone away from the valley of Hebron. As he was going around the wilderness, someone met him and asked on what business he had come, and where to, and to whom he was going. And he immediately replied to this, "I am seeking my brothers; tell me where they are pasturing." And the man said to him, it says, "They have departed from here. For I heard them saying, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" And having arrived there, he was unexpectedly plotted against. For at that moment, as it were, envy was doing what it had long intended. So the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids, desired to kill him outright; for they said, "Look, that dreamer is coming. Now then, come, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits, and we will say,

A wicked beast devoured him; and we shall see what his dreams will come to. When Reuben heard this, he rescued him from their hands, saying, "We will not strike him mortally." And Reuben said to them, "Do not shed blood; throw him into one of these pits in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him." He spoke thus in order to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father. So they took off the variegated tunic and lowered Joseph into a pit, not yet dead, but as one who would die and that soon. But when some Ishmaelites, merchants of spices, were hastening toward Egypt, at the advice of Judah (for he had clearly cried out that they should not destroy their brother), they sold the young man, receiving twenty gold pieces from those who wished to buy him. And Joseph was taken away to Egypt. Reuben, not knowing what had happened, came again to the pit. When he did not see the boy, thinking he had perished, he tore his garment and made an accusation against the others concerning Joseph, saying thus: "The boy is not here; where then shall I go?" He says, in effect, "How could I return to my father, or how could he receive us at all, not having his beloved? And what shall we say when our father demands the boy?" And they, having soaked the variegated tunic in goat's blood, brought it to the father, having composed words steeped in deceit and guile. "We found this," they say; "recognize whether it is your son's tunic or not.

The father laments, and perhaps he cried out against the malice and unholy designs of his sons, saying, "A wicked beast has devoured Joseph." He was utterly restless and unteachable, and in his grief over the boy's misfortune he gave way to despondency. For he did not wish, it says, to be consoled, saying, "I will go down to my son mourning to Hades." Now that the narrative of the history has been brought to completion, the mind will again be transferred to the innermost investigation. And as if coloring the truth with certain shadows from the things that have happened perceptibly, it produces the beauty of the contemplation as fittingly as possible. 3. Now the younger Rachel gave birth to Joseph, she who was beautiful in form and gleaming with bright glances of her eyes, charming; whereas Leah was not so. Why? For it is written that Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and exceedingly lovely in appearance. But we said that Leah is the mother of the Jews, that is, the Synagogue, gathering the proofs for this from both the eyes and the interpretation of the name. For the inner and intellectual vision of the Jewish Synagogue is indeed uncomely and greatly afflicted with weakness. For they have eyes, but do not see, according to the voice of the prophet. For they have not understood the writings of Moses, nor have they become able to behold the mysteries in him, through which Emmanuel was depicted in manifold ways. And Leah is interpreted as "wearying," as we have also said elsewhere. For the Jewish Synagogue has wearied, bearing the law through Moses as a slow and hard-to-bear burden.

Therefore Christ also, seeing them weary and burdened, called them to the rest that comes through faith, saying, "Come all to me, you who are weary and laden, and I will give you rest." But Leah is among these. The eyes of Rachel are very pure. For the Church from the Gentiles has beheld the glory of Christ, and in him the Father; and she has been called to union with the spiritual bridegroom, that is Christ, after the first. For this youngest one has no wrinkle, although the first has grown old, and since she has aged, she has come near to disappearance. And Rachel is interpreted as "flock of God." For the Church is the flock of the Savior; who said to the Jews through one of the holy prophets: "And I said, I will not shepherd you. Let the dying die, and the failing fail, and the rest; let each devour the flesh of his neighbor." But concerning us: "My sheep hear my voice and follow me, and I give them eternal life." He is therefore a good shepherd, and in all things he himself takes the lead. But he has also been called a sheep, since he became like us. And indeed the wise John pointed him out to the multitudes of the Jews, saying, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." For countless were slaughtered according to the type of the law, but no one wiped away the sin of the world. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to remove sin. But the lamb without blemish, the true one, the unblemished sacrifice, has taken away the sin of the world. Therefore he has also been counted as a sheep among us.

For this reason he might also be called a son of the Church, as firstborn among brothers. And it should be known that Joseph is interpreted as "addition and increase of God." For the holy multitude is always given over to the increase of the children of the Church. Therefore it is also said to her: "Lift your eyes in a circle, Zion, and see all. Behold, they have gathered and come to you." And again: "Behold, these come from afar, these from the north, and these from the sea, and others from the land of the Persians." And it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: on the one hand, that the Lord added the saved day by day to the same; on the other hand, that multitudes of men and women were rather added, believing in the Lord. By this, as I have already said, the spiritual Joseph might reasonably be understood, that is, those in Christ, an addition of God. And our discourse would not be off the mark in calling those who have believed in him, as it were, by the same name in an economic sense. For he is the head; we are the body and members, from a part. And he is the vine; we are grafted in like branches, bound together by spiritual union through sanctification. But it says, "Joseph was seventeen years old." And that he was quite young, the Scripture would, I think, show us also through these words. And we say that Emmanuel himself is the youngest of the others, linking him in time to those older than him who came before, such as Moses and the prophets; and examining the force of what is written, we will suppose that something else is also signified by this.

For somehow the number of years will also inscribe for us the deep mystery of the economy with the flesh. And in what manner, I will attempt to make clear as far as possible. For as I have already said elsewhere, I will recall. 4. It is a custom of holy Scripture to make the numbers that go backward after their appointed fulfillment symbols of perfection. What do I mean? If one were to measure out the number ten and choose to go beyond it, he will begin again from the unit, as if arriving at its end. Similarly with the number seven. For beginning from the first, he goes up successively to the seventh; then, having closed the number of days at its end, he will return again to the first. Therefore, holy Scripture makes these numbers that are so constituted signs of perfection. And indeed, in the distribution of the talents, it says that the one who has come to the end of labor according to God received ten talents and was set over ten cities, because the rewards will share equally in the perfection of the achievements, as the distributor of these, that is, Christ, shows through this. And one of the holy writers said that a barren woman bore seven, placing the number seven instead of "many" and as many as might be counted as a perfect number by one who chooses to measure. When, therefore, it is said about Joseph that he was seventeen years old, we will grant that Emmanuel is compounded into one Christ and Son from two perfections, divinity and humanity. For we will not accept the opinion of some who think that the divine temple, which God the Word bore from the holy Virgin, was empty of a rational soul.

But just as he was perfect in divinity, so also in humanity, yet combined into one ineffably and beyond understanding. Therefore, the number ten signifies and somehow hints to us the perfection in divinity. And that which is thus, in humanity again the number seven would indicate, being inferior as in a triad to the ten, yet brought upon it and, as it were, added to it. For after the number ten, the number seven occurs. In the preeminence of the triad, that is, of divinity, is the Word of God from the Father; in the lowering is the human element, and in a lesser degree of divine glory. And the Word of God is conceived as preexisting, while the human element has been added to him. Therefore, necessarily the number ten is placed first, and the number seven is brought upon it. For Joseph, it says, was seventeen years old. Observe, then, in this the temporal and the eternal, as indeed in time, I mean, of Emmanuel. For a count of years has been made as in a type in Joseph; but "was" has been brought upon it. For he has been called into generation understood as ours, and into a number of years because of the humanity, although the Word is God. But the "was" will certainly follow him. For he is conceived and truly is coeternal with God the Father, and, as the divine John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Therefore, I will say again: The divine Joseph was seventeen years old, and he tended his father's flocks together with his brothers, I mean those from Zilpah and Bilhah, that is, those from the handmaids.

For the Word from God, having become man, traversed the land of the Jews up and down, gathering together, as it were into a love for God and Father, the lost sheep of the house of Israel. For as the blessed Paul writes, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. So Emmanuel shepherded those born into slavery, and those who, as it were from two handmaidens, had obtained a spurious and not a free birth. For after the reign of Jeroboam, the ten tribes revolted from Jerusalem, and went off and settled in Samaria, Jeroboam leading them astray in this. And they went astray and worshipped the golden calves there. Whence also through the voice of Ezekiel, God accused them as two women who had committed fornication, speaking thus: Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother, and they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they committed fornication, and their breasts fell. There they were deflowered. And their names are Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her sister. And they became mine, and bore sons and daughters; and their names are Samaria, Oolla, and Jerusalem, Ooliba. So the Son, having become like us, shepherded together those born from slavery and from fornication. For those who stood over Israel according to the law still led, even though Christ was already teaching and initiating those who approached him, and conveying them onto the path of truth. And this path was he himself. Therefore he also said: I am the way.

But the Scribes and Pharisees, and those who held the reputation of the law, were grazing on thistles, on thorns, on error, on teachings and commandments of men; but he [led them] to good pasture, and to grass as it were most flourishing, the noble and admirable knowledge of evangelical teachings. And the former were shepherds both idle and supine, and, in addition to this, overcome by gains and afflicted with the utmost love of profit, eating the milk, putting on the wool, and slaughtering the fat, according to the voice of the prophet: hirelings and arrogant, and deeming the need to labor for the sheep as a matter of utterly little account. But just as those from Zilpah and Bilhah brought an evil reproach upon Joseph, so also the most perverse multitude of the impious Pharisees slandered Emmanuel, and dared to calumniate his glory, calling him a Samaritan, and a wine-drinker, and moreover a demoniac, and one aided by the energies of Beelzebul for the ability, I mean, to drive out the evil spirits of those who were sick, impiously naming him. Therefore, also through the voice of a prophet, Emmanuel himself cried out against the shamelessness of the Jews, saying: Woe to them, because they have sprung away from me. They are wretched, because they have impiously acted against me. I redeemed them; but they spoke falsehoods against me. And again: Their rulers will fall by the sword, because of the ignorance of their tongue. So the throng of the Pharisees, bold and illiberal, has babbled against Christ.

And this, I think, is what it means to bring a wicked reproach against Joseph by his brothers. But he was loved, it says, by his father, because he was a son of his old age. For there were also other shepherds, good and noble, before the revelation of our Savior in the world and in the flesh; and before all others, the divine Moses, and those who successively tended the rational flocks. Yet the Father loved the Son preeminently, even though he came last after the others, and appeared in the final times of the age. Now it would be fitting for Jacob to have Joseph as a son of his old age. But God is ageless, without beginning and without increase, and always perfect. Therefore, wisely not allowing the argument to miss the mark of what is fitting, we say that Emmanuel was born to God the Father as a son of old age, so to speak, since he came in the final times of the age, that is, of the present one, and because after him there is no other. For we do not expect salvation in another. He alone will suffice, since we say that the salvation and life of the world rest in no other. He himself, then, will shepherd us for ages, according to the voice of the Psalmist, and we will lie under him, the beloved, who appeared in the final times of the age, as I just said, in the flesh, but who pre-existed as God. For we say that he is coeternal with the Father. Therefore, Joseph was preeminently loved by his father; and he gave him a variegated tunic, as a special gift, making the thing a clear indication of the affection present in him. But this too was a provocation of malice to the brothers, and a pretext for envy.

Just as the outcome of events themselves will teach. The Pharisees also raged against the beloved one, that is, Christ, because he was clothed by God and Father with a certain variegated glory. For he was admired, I think, in many ways: on the one hand as life-giver, on the other as light and able to illuminate those in darkness, as cleansing lepers, and raising the dead even when already stinking with ease, as rebuking the seas and riding upon the waves with authority. And indeed the Jews, already perplexed and unbearably consumed by the fire of envy, said to one another: "What are we doing? For this man works many signs." So the variegated coat is for us a riddle of the manifold glory which God and Father is said to put around the Son who became like us for the sake of humanity. For as to what pertains to his own nature, he himself is the Lord of glory, even if he should say, by way of economy on account of his likeness to us, "Father, glorify your Son." So the sons of the handmaidens were provoked to grief by what I have just mentioned. And in addition to this, they became suspect because of the narration of the dreams. For learning in advance that they themselves would in time be under foot and worshippers, while the other would be far superior and would rise to such glory as to become an object of worship even to his own parents, they already gnashed their teeth and entertained thoughts of murder.

The Jews also were provoked and greatly distressed, learning that Emmanuel would surpass even the holy Fathers themselves, and would be worshipped by the whole people, indeed by the whole earth. And understanding this, they said, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take possession of his inheritance." Yet the blessed David openly says to the incarnate Only-begotten, "All the nations that you have made will come and worship before you, Lord"; and elsewhere he also clearly sets forth the envy and unholy anger of the Israelites themselves against Christ, saying, "The Lord has reigned; let the peoples be angry." Having thus sufficiently demonstrated the harsh and untamed envy of the Jews, let us now speak in due course of the restless and murderous outrages, everywhere pressing the narrative of the history and directing its purpose toward the incarnation of the Only-begotten. For the argument again brings us back to this.

For Joseph the inspired went to Shechem, persuaded by his father's command, if they were in good health, and to observe how and in what manner his brothers were pasturing the flocks. He went, but found them with difficulty, not in Shechem, but rather they had departed to Dothaim. When they saw him approaching, they smiled bitterly and hatefully, saying, "Look, that dreamer is coming." And though Reuben prevented them from wanting to kill him, they cast him into one of the pits, disregarding Reuben's advice. Not long after, drawing the young man up from the pit, they sold him to the Ishmaelites going down into Egypt. Reuben, returning to the pit and then not finding the youth, supposing him already dead, and that the deed of the murderers' impiety had been accomplished, was greatly distressed. And Joseph was carried off to Egypt; his father mourned and continued lamenting for a long time. And from God the Father was sent our Lord Jesus Christ himself, to visit those from Israel, if they were in good health, clearly in the spiritual sense, and if the flocks under them had remained in good condition, not having been deprived of the gentleness of the shepherds. But they were found not in Shechem, but in Dothaim. Shechem is interpreted as "shoulder." The limb would be a sign of industriousness. For inspired Scripture is accustomed sometimes to make the shoulder a symbol of strength, sometimes of a type of work. For example, we say, "Put your heart into your shoulders," that is, into industriousness. Dothaim, again, means "sufficient cessation.

The Israelites were therefore caught, not being engaged in labors of virtue, nor in commendable acts according to the law, but in great deficiency, namely of justice and all gentleness. For there was not a single just man, not one doing kindness, not even one; but, as God says somewhere through the voice of the prophet, they offered him only the honor from the tongue, having set their mind elsewhere, and having moved their heart far away from the need to fulfill the ordinances through Moses. For they clung only to teachings and commandments of men. But they recognized the beloved one present in the flesh, the spiritual Joseph. For the blessed evangelist John said how indeed many of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess. Having recognized him, therefore, they committed outrage against him. For they killed him, and the wretches lowered him as if into some pit, the deep and dark abyss of death, that is, Hades. For thus the inspired David also signified him to us, saying as to the Father and God in heaven, as from the person of Christ: "Lord, you brought up my soul from Hades, you saved me from those descending into a pit." And observe for me the strength of the Holy Scriptures, and their very great refinement to precision: "The pit," it says, "was empty, it had no water," so that Hades might be clearly and manifestly signified to us through this. And in what manner, I will say: for water would be a symbol of life, as life-giving. And it says there was no water in the pit. For Hades would reasonably be understood as the house and dwelling of those deprived of life.

Yet the child was brought up. And Christ also rose from the dead. For he was not held captive in the pit. Nor did Christ remain in Hades, but rather he emptied it. For he said to those in bonds: "Come out." And when he was brought up, not long afterward the divine Joseph went to the land of the Egyptians, being purchased by the Ishmaelites; and they were merchants of spices. For Christ also rose, and ascended from the pit. And he migrated, leaving Judea for the land of the nations, being carried about by the spiritual Ishmaelites, that is, by those in obedience to God; for the word is interpreted thus. And who might these be? Again, the blessed disciples, lending their ear to the teachings through Christ, and having become the firstfruits of those who excel in obedience and faith, and in the boasts beyond the law. For such would reasonably be understood also as merchants of spices, diffusing the fragrance of the mystery of Christ, and generally imprinting every form of virtue in their own souls. These, in a manner, purchased Jesus, leaving behind all that was splendid in the law, and trading for the one and precious pearl, according to the parable of the Savior himself. These conveyed Christ to the nations, ministering the Gospel, and proclaiming him throughout the whole world under the sun as God and Lord, and as a choice stone, rejected by those under the law and by the spiritual builders, but chosen and honored by God, and placed at the head of the corner. Yet Reuben prevented the murderous brothers; and Judas also was distressed. And Reuben was the firstborn.

Judas indeed was from the tribe called to the kingdom. Therefore, all who have been enriched with the form of the firstborn, if they were from the Jews, and all who have been called to the kingdom of the heavens, having accepted the proclamation through Christ, were greatly distressed at the outrages committed against him. For there were, there were not a few at that time, both in Jerusalem and in the rest of the Jewish country, who were grieved and sympathized with Christ in his dishonor. And the father mourned for Joseph; for he would not be comforted, it says. It is therefore possible to see from this that the outrage against Christ and the murderous attempts of the Jews grieved not moderately the Father and God in the heavens. And they have offended so terribly that he refuses consolation, and almost does not tolerate anyone, if one should choose to make prayers on their behalf. For the prophets often entreated and begged for Israel to be saved, even though they had done things beyond all account against the prophets. And God often considered their gentleness; for they were servants who had been in danger. But since they have committed outrages against Christ himself, the Father is inconsolable, his wrath is hard to turn aside. For it is no longer some prophet who has been insulted, but the Savior of all, the Master of the prophets, that is, Christ, through whom and with whom glory is to God and Father together with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Concerning Judas and Thamar. a. The aim of the God-inspired Scripture is to signify to us the mystery of Christ through countless events. One might compare it to a splendid and admirable city, which has not one image of the king, but very many, set up conspicuously in every place. For observe how it passes over none of the narratives that serve this purpose, but proceeds through all of them. Even if the account has something unseemly in its history, it makes such things through nothing at random, so that its intended purpose may be well woven together. For it is not its aim to make a denunciation of the lives of the saints—far from it—but rather to form for us the knowledge of the mystery, through whatever means the account concerning it may become clear and true, and having nothing that ought to be censured as having missed the truth. So it is written for us, again in Judas and also in Thamar, the mystery of the economy of the Savior. For it says, it happened at that time, Judas went down from his brothers, and came to a certain man, an Odollamite, whose name was Hiras. And there Judas saw the daughter of a Canaanite man, whose name was Saba. And he took her, and went in to her, and she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Her. And she conceived again, and bore a son, and called his name Aunan. And further, she bore yet another son, and called his name Selom. So these were three sons born to Judas. And when the young men reached puberty, he took Thamar and joined her in marriage to the firstborn, that is, to Her.

Since he was wicked in the eyes of God, he was removed before the generation of children among us. For God killed him, it says. Then the father urges Onan to lie with his brother's wife and raise up seed for the departed. But he, since the offspring would not be his, it says, violated the law of union, spilling on the ground and not rather giving the seed. And this one too perishes immediately by divine wrath. After this happened, Judah was afraid to give his third son, I mean Shelah, to her in marriage. And the reason for his fears in this matter was, lest perhaps he too might perish, it says. He made the excuse that the boy's age was extremely young, so that the marriage should not be fulfilled. For he said, it says, to his daughter-in-law: "Sit as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." For he said: "Lest this one also die, just like his brothers." So Tamar went and sat in her father's house. Then, after some time had passed, Tamar grew indignant at the delay of the marriage. She now somehow understood that her father-in-law would not bring the promised matter to completion for her. Rather, he was making a pretext, deferring and holding out hopes that would not be realized for what was expected. And so what does she contrive in response to this? It was reported, it says, to Tamar his daughter-in-law, saying: "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." And taking off the garments of widowhood from herself, she put on a veil, adorned herself, and sat at the gates of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah.

For he saw that his son Selom had grown great, yet he did not give her to him as a wife. And when Judas saw her, he thought her to be a prostitute. For she had covered her face, and he did not recognize her. Then he was seized with desire; and when the woman asked for payment, he promised to send a goat, and when she asked for a pledge of the promise, he gave his staff, his ring, and his necklace—that is, some ornament for the neck (and one might reasonably suppose, since Judas was a Chaldean, that he was not careless in the matter of reclining to kiss; for the Chaldeans are fond of adornment, and they brighten both hands and neck with gold, and sometimes even crown the hair. This is customary among them and considered manly, and it is a mark of the highest nobility, not lacking in praise for courage). When these things were accomplished, Judas went off to where his original purpose lay. But she was brought back to her father’s hearth, and indeed she was now pregnant with good hope. When Judas learned of this, he said the woman must die as having committed fornication. But when she was at the point of death, she showed him the staff and the rest, saying, “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” And she said, “Recognize whose ring, necklace, and staff this is.” Judas recognized them and said, “Thamar has been justified, or I have. Why then did I not give her to my son Selom?” And he did not approach her again. And it happened, it says, that when she gave birth, she had twins in her womb.

It happened that when she was giving birth, one of them put forth his hand first. The midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This one will come out first." But when he drew his hand back, his brother immediately came out. She said, "Why has a barrier been broken through because of you?" And she called his name Phares. After this his brother came out, on whose hand was the scarlet thread; and she called his name Zara. These things I have said from the literal text. But again the hidden meaning of the necessary matters lies concealed. We shall examine what it might be and how it stands, and not at length. 2. I think it necessary, before all else, to say this: even if those who have a conspicuous reputation in the divinely inspired Scripture should somehow be involved in matters not entirely decorous, with God managing something necessary for benefit very well, we will drive far away the harm from being scandalized, if we make it our business to be wise and shrewd, and not ignorant of things done economically and most necessarily. For we consider that the blessed prophet Hosea once hired a harlot as a wife for himself, and did not refuse such a reproachful marriage, and became the father of abhorred children, whose names were "Not my people" and "Not pitied." And what this matter was and for what reasons it was done, we will not hesitate to explain. For since the most conspicuous among the Israelites opposed the proclamations of the prophets, and the divine word was unacceptable to them,

These things were done through the saints at various times, so that, at least by observing in the very actions what was to come, as if clearly and openly written on a tablet, they might apply their mind to discovering what was beneficial, and, choosing what was necessary, they themselves might be converted to what was profitable, and also persuade others. For they learned that they would be a people at various times, and would be ranked among those not pitied, being hard and disobedient, and afflicted with every such failing and convicted to the end. And the prophet's dwelling with the harlot, as it happened, was a type of God, as it were, having cohabited in a certain way with the synagogue of the Jews, a harlot and most abominable woman, and having chosen from her the birth of children, which was abhorred. Therefore, considering the modes of the economy at various times, we will rightly free both Tamar herself and also Judah from blame and reproach for the fornication, as it is called; rather, we say that it was an economic union. For she desired free offspring, being deprived of the one who had cohabited with her according to law; and he was already not under great blame if he should choose to unite with another, his first wife being dead. And a spiritual communion and indeed a union of intellectual birth would surely inscribe for us the types of bodily union and childbirth. For the human mind would be led by the hand here and not otherwise to the truth.

Judas therefore went down and came to a man named Heras, a goatherd and a skilled shepherd. And having seen Saba there, he made her his consort, and she became the mother of three children: Her, Aunan, and Selom. Now Her is interpreted as "leathern," that is, "fleshly"; Aunan as "stricken in heart"; and the third as "a drawing out," that is, "a loosening and a pacification." And the only-begotten Word of God, the truly hymned one, who is naturally invested with the glory of the kingdom, has also come down from the heavens, as from some holy land. For this the person of Judas would signify to us: the meaning of the name denotes "praise." And the tribe of Judah is set as the most royal of all, and in the highest preeminence. Therefore the divine Jacob, making his blessing over him, says, "Judas, let your brothers praise you." And the most wise Paul has testified that Christ, who is hymned by all creation, sprang from the tribe of Judah. So the only-begotten Word of God came down and visited the wilderness of Midian, when the blessed Moses was then shepherding. For he appeared to him in the form of fire in the bush, and was joined through him, as it were, to the foreign Canaanite woman, the Synagogue of the sons of Israel in Egypt—just as, indeed, Judas through the shepherd was joined to Saba, which is interpreted as "elevation" and "exaltation." For the Synagogue of the Jews, having been called as if into intimacy with God, was no longer lowly and trodden down, possessing the meanness of slavery, but became high and conspicuous.

For she has been redeemed as from a fiery furnace and from a house of slavery, according to what is written. Then from the Synagogue in Egypt, which was once both alien and idolatrous, three peoples came into being, fulfilling the order of sons to God, having sprung as from one mother, yet divided in their generation in time. And how this is so, we will say shortly. Then Judas joined Thamar first to Her, who was the firstborn. But since he was wicked, God destroyed him, and Aunan, who was second both in birth and in time, immediately succeeded to the marriage. But since he did not wish to raise up seed for his brother, he perished along with the first, divine wrath also overtaking him for this. Then the father did not permit the third, that is, Selom, to take up the marriage, fearing lest he too be destroyed along with the first two. And what this matter is, I will attempt to explain, with God instructing. For the first Synagogue in Egypt, which we have granted to be alien, because it was then exceedingly savage in Greek ways and customs, God, by reshaping it through a polity from law, showed forth a new Synagogue, as it were, and another, so to speak, besides the first. And this is Thamar. But observe how the mystery is also found in the interpretations of the names. For Thamar is interpreted as "eclipse" or "shaken." And the Synagogue of the Jews has indeed been shaken and has suffered eclipse. How or in what way? For the worship according to law has not remained entirely unshaken, but has yielded to that in spirit. And thus the worship through Christ was introduced, accusing the first as not being blameless.

And Christ betrothed the Church as a pure virgin, having dismissed that ancient and first one. Therefore the Synagogue of the Jews is rightly understood as an eclipse and a shaken thing. That no one is justified before God by the law, nor was there participation in the serenity of God in the Synagogue of the Jews (for the law produces wrath, according to what is written), the birth of Judah's children who lived with Tamar would indicate enigmatically. For Er, the firstborn, is leathery, that is, earthly. Since he was wicked, he was condemned to death. And the first people truly appeared wicked, murmuring against God and saying: Cannot God prepare a table in the wilderness? For he struck a rock, and waters flowed, and torrents were overwhelmed; can he not also give bread? But also when those sent to spy out the land of promise returned, they lamented childishly as if about to perish immediately, insulting the all-powerful God with their disobediences. Therefore they perished, and no one entered the land of promise, but their bodies fell in the wilderness, according to what is written. So the firstborn Er, that is, the wicked and fleshly one, perished first, having no fruit of piety. For this would indicate to us again as in a type the childlessness; for sensible things are images of things in thought. Then after that one, a second people, as it were a son of the God who redeemed and led out of the house of slavery.

He who was conveyed across the Jordan under the command of Joshua inherited the land of promise. After this, he came under the judges, but he too fell subject to indignation from above. For he was truly Aunan, that is, smitten in heart. He turned excessively to polytheism, having abandoned the one who is by nature and truly. Therefore he perished and was enslaved by foreigners. For this the book of the so-called Judges taught us. So he too died childless, just as Er did, sowing into nothing, that is, into the ground. Hence it was natural that no fruit at all was gained, nor was seed raised up for his brother. The middle people, the second in time, also hesitated, through the equity according to the law, to raise themselves up for God instead of the disobedient, and to display a new people, as it were, springing up through deeds. For this, I think, is enigmatically the raising up of seed for his brother. Since the two had been destroyed on reasonable grounds (for one was wicked, the other smitten in heart), he excludes the third from intercourse with Tamar, the father fearing lest he too be destroyed along with those already lost. For the third people, the newest, as it were, at the final time of the holy prophets (with whom the divine Baptist is immediately neighbor, pointing out the one from heaven, that is, Christ), God did not permit to be somehow caught in the arms of the Jewish Synagogue, nor does he wish to have fruit from her, lest he too perish. For the law produces wrath, and no one is justified in it at all.

Observe how Selom, the last and as it were faithful of the people, would exhibit the type upon himself exceedingly well. For it is interpreted as "a drawing out" or "a release." For as divine wrath was consuming those of the blood of Israel on account of their impious deeds against Christ and their unbearable outrage, the faithful were drawn out as from a wild beast and are in a manner released from the bonds that had necessarily seized them for punishment. For the remnant has been saved, according to the Scriptures. And indeed God said somewhere through the voice of a prophet: "Just as when a shepherd draws two legs or an earlobe from the mouth of a lion, so will the sons of Israel be drawn out." Therefore Selom is "a drawing out," and for this reason it is so named. And that the faithful, having been drawn out from the multitude of the perished, decline intercourse with Thamar—that is, bearing fruit under the law—you would learn without difficulty, the blessed Paul saying concerning boasts under the law: "But if I had any gains, I have considered these as loss for Christ." For he desired not to have his own righteousness—I mean again that under the law—but righteousness from faith in Christ Jesus. Therefore Selom the youngest is unconnected with Thamar. And because of this she remained a widow and continued thus for long times. For since God no longer permitted the Synagogue of the Jews to bear fruit, she has been and has truly become like a widow, bereft of children and deprived of a husband, the spiritual bridegroom. For Christ said somewhere: "She is not my wife, and I am not her husband." So then, has no account at all been taken of her after this? Has she been deemed worthy of no care from God? Do not suppose this.

For even though she is condemned for the most extreme impieties of all, God, by innate gentleness, will have mercy on her in the last times of the age; and she herself will also bear the marks of Christ. And that she will walk behind the nations, we shall learn no less from what is written. For Judah, having gone up to shear his sheep, made his meeting with her as a bywork of the journey; and he permits her to have the staff, the ring, and the necklace, promising also to send a goat. For Christ, having as his own and most necessary care the receiving of the fruits of the rational flock—that is, of those who have believed and been sanctified in spirit—will make his communion with the Synagogue of the Jews in spirit, as it were occasional and not altogether earnest, at certain times; and he will show her as fruitful, travailing with wisdom from him. And he will present himself to her, as also to us, as a staff of power, as an image and likeness of God the Father (for this is the ring), as beautiful in form beyond the sons of men. For this, I think, the necklace signifies. For every article that serves as an ornament would be understood as a sign of beauty. And he also sends her the goat, that is, he will grant remission of sins. For a goat was sacrificed according to the law for sin, and it hints at remission of transgressions. And Thamar is saved, although she had received a sentence of death and had already been subjected to the most extreme penalties. For Thamar had been condemned as having committed fornication. Yet she is saved; for she showed the staff, the ring, and the necklace.

She has clearly confessed that she conceived from Judah and bore his fruit. Christ will also release the Jewish Synagogue from the necessity of being punished in due time, as she bears the symbols of communion with him and manifestly shows that she has conceived his offspring. For in this way even they themselves speak, those who have chosen to be distinguished through faith in Christ: "Because of fear of you, Lord, we conceived in the womb, and we travailed, and we gave birth to a spirit of your salvation, which we begot upon the earth." And Tamar, travailing with a pair of infants, was already at the very point of birth. Then the firstborn puts forth his hand; but when she draws it back, although she had already taken the scarlet thread, the second leaps forth first, as if through a broken barrier, and then the first comes down last. This too would be for us a not obscure sign that the nations have been summoned before those of the blood of Israel, and that those honored in later times have seized the glory of the firstborn. And he will note that he himself, beyond dispute, has accepted the sacrifice of Christ; for the scarlet would be a type of the holy blood. Who then is it that has broken down the middle wall of the barrier, and has called the second in the order of the firstborn, while placing the first behind? It is clearly Christ; through whom and with whom glory is to God and Father together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Further concerning Joseph. We must proceed to the remaining parts of the discourse, which we have already reached, concerning Joseph, since the intervening narrative, which was inserted, has now come to its appropriate end for us. I mean the narrative concerning Judah and also concerning Tamar. For, having transferred the inspired Joseph into the person of Christ, we said that he was cast into the pit by his brothers, and that he was then brought up and sold to the Ishmaelites, who were merchants of the most fragrant spices and transporters to those who did not have them. And we added that he was carried by them into the land of the Egyptians. That the Only-begotten, having lowered himself into emptiness and having become among us, and having been called a brother to those on earth, and especially to those from Israel, endured death and suffered the cross, and descended into Hades, of which the pit is a type. Yet he revived again, and was separated from those of the blood of Israel. And he was given, as it were, to the merchants of the spiritual spices, that is, to the holy apostles, who, making his myrrh fragrant, arrived in the land of the nations, carrying him, who was clothed in the form of a servant, through the evangelical proclamations to those who did not know him. For he is proclaimed as having become incarnate for our sake, and in the form of a servant. This, I think, is what it means for Joseph to be carried by the Ishmaelites into Egypt. What then happened to him when he was there, and what needed to be done about this, let us examine, if you please.

For while he was still young and among the youths, he overcame the licentiousness of the Egyptian woman, being almost forcibly thrust into desiring to do what is not lawful. For she clung to his garments tenaciously and shamelessly, and he was violently pressed into an unwilling sin. But he, leaving even his garment behind, escaped from the wild wanton woman and was untouched by passion. After this he was falsely accused, the woman turning the charges against him, and the chaste and freedom-loving man was under accusations of shamefulness. Nevertheless, he prevailed over the prison, it says. And Christ was also among the nations, as in the person, I mean, of the holy apostles, who said they bore his marks on their own bodies. For they refused to conform to those who chose to think worldly thoughts, and they were far removed from fleshly desires. For such is always the life of the saints. But they were plotted against for this reason, and indeed, being falsely accused by those accustomed to considering burdensome those who wish to live in Christ, they fell into trials and became prisoners. Yet they remembered Christ saying: If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but since you are not of the world, for this reason the world hates you—just as, of course, the wanton woman hated Joseph. Nevertheless, even in their labors they were enlarged, the grace of God softening those whom it was most likely would cause them hardship. For the jailer, as I said, was well-disposed toward Joseph. Then, when the eunuchs of Pharaoh—I mean the cupbearer and also the baker—were imprisoned, he interpreted their dreams.