Selecta in Exodum

Origen's Selections on Exodus (70). "And I will give grace to this people before the Egyptians. But when you depart, you will not go away empty." This promise had been given to Abraham beforehand. After this, when God speaks, they will go out from here with their baggage.

And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had commanded them. And the Lord said to Moses, 'Pharaoh's heart is heavy, so that he will not send the people away.'" The phrase, "Pharaoh's heart is heavy," spoken by the Lord, after the rod of Aaron turned into a serpent and swallowed the rods of the magicians, is worth examining, to see if it is different from the phrase, "Pharaoh's heart was hardened," which is said many times, and from the phrase, "it prevailed." For indeed this is also said thus: "And Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord spoke." It seems to me that the heart which yields to divine things becomes soft and does not have the strength to resist the divinity, and is not weighed down, nor dragged down to earth and matter; but the heart which resists and opposes the divine will becomes hardened and is like a stone in its resistance, and repels the word, and stands in opposition with a certain false strength. It is necessary that such a heart, being dragged down by evil, which is downward-tending, becomes heavy. These things do not happen to the heart according to the same meaning, even if they happen to one and the same heart that is wicked: to be hardened and to be weighed down. For the heart, as it is said somewhere, becomes stony and is hardened.

But she does not yield to the divine nature as to a superior; rather, she is said to stand against it and to prevail, waging war against God.

And Moses said to him, "As soon as I leave the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord, and the voices will cease, and the hail and the rain will no longer be." For the creator of all things has a nature that yields to command.

Of the same author. It should be noted that Moses does not perform all his wonders with the rod, but also with his hands and with speech, so that many may not suppose the rod to be accomplished by magical deceptions.

Let each one take a sheep according to the houses of the families;" and so forth. From the tenth, he says, one is to take a sheep and keep it until the fourteenth; and to name it, saying, "This sheep is sacrificed on behalf of so-and-so and so-and-so," not exceeding ten names; and on the fourteenth it is sacrificed between the evening hours, at the beginning of the fifteenth; so that from the taking until the sacrifice there are five days, when the light of the moon is full.

A perfect sheep, male, a year old, it shall be for you." A year-old sheep is Christ. For being deficient in nothing and lacking nothing is indicated by the year.

And the whole multitude of the congregation of the sons of Israel shall slaughter it toward evening." We are commanded to slaughter the sheep toward evening, because also at the final hour our true sheep, the Savior, came into the world.

And they shall take from the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, in the houses;" and so forth. We sacrifice, and anoint our houses with the blood; I mean the body, if indeed anointing is the faith in him, through which I believe the power of the destroyer is rendered inoperative. After we are anointed, that is, after we believe in Christ, then we are commanded to come to the eating; neither raw, nor boiled in water, but roasted by fire.

Every one who eats leaven, that soul shall be destroyed from Israel." A man is to be destroyed because of leaven; and the God of all, who ordains the laws, as he destroys an adulterer, as he destroys a fornicator, as he destroys a pederast, so he destroys the one who has leaven in his house on the day of unleavened bread. Is this according to God? Is this according to the heavenly law? But I would say that if you have leaven of wickedness, and you do not destroy every leaven of evil from your ruling principle—for this is your true house—the God of all legislates that you be destroyed for not casting off the old leaven from yourself. For you must, coming into the time of new things, become new and have nothing ancient. "The ancient things have passed away," and so forth. See how one ought to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread in the month of new things.

Sit on the lintel, and on both doorposts, from the blood that is by the door." "Lintel," as one of our predecessors has explained, means the rational part; and "both doorposts" mean the spirited and the appetitive parts.

Of the same. For we do not expel the destroyer by cunning once he has entered within, but we keep guard through the law so that he may not even begin to creep in. And a guard and security is this: that the lintel and the doorposts of the entrance are marked with the blood of the lamb.

It happened at midnight, and the Lord struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt. For God brings these death-dealing plagues through angels, as we also learned in the books of Kings how in one night the angel slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians.

This is the law of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat of it. And every slave of someone, and one bought with silver, you shall circumcise him, and then he shall eat of it; and so forth. Following what has been set forth, this is the third law, which the Lord spoke again in addition to the two laws. But note the precision of Scripture: the Lord did not speak this law concerning the Passover at the beginning. For if he had spoken it while Israel was still in Egypt before departing from Egypt—"No foreigner shall eat of it. And every slave of someone, and one bought with silver, you shall circumcise, and then he shall eat of it"—the mixed multitude, the great crowd that came out of Egypt, would not have come out. So he kept this law, so that after those who wished had come out, another law might be given. And a little later: If we allegorize these things to our soul, we shall say that homeborn slaves are the reasonings that have grown with us and been cultivated, and have arisen from innate concepts; those bought with silver are those that come to us from teaching, from external disciplines. So he says to circumcise and purify all, both the homeborn and those bought with silver. But no foreigner is to be admitted, that is, one who accepts a foreign doctrine; for he does not admit a foreigner who wishes to profane the Lord's feast. And a little later: For if in church you eat the words of God, but you also eat in the synagogue of the Jews, you transgress the commandment that says, "It shall be eaten in one house." But if you partake of the words of God, it is in one house, the church.

Then, having left it behind, you suppose that you partake of God in a heretical gathering, while the commandment says, "It shall be eaten in one house," but you do not eat in one house. Understand, therefore, the one house to be the Church; so nowhere eat of the sheep when you have gone outside the Church.

And you shall not carry the meat outside the house." It is not right to proclaim the word of the Church outside the Church, just as one must not carry the meat outside the house. I mean, into a synagogue of Jews or of heretics; for it is like casting pearls before swine.

Every uncircumcised person shall not eat of it." Every intelligible offspring of the soul that transcends material things (and material things are the female) must be circumcised and purified, so that one may thus partake of the meat of the Passover. And as a native of the land, even the proselyte becomes; for God does not prefer well-born seeds, but accepts choice.

Of the same author. "Uncircumcised in the flesh" means the one who does not circumcise fleshly things, just as "uncircumcised in the eyes" means the one who looks at what he ought not. Of the same author. See that none of you is uncircumcised in the heart, that none has not undergone the circumcisions which the Word teaches to be circumcised. And what are these? Some are reproached as being uncircumcised in the ears; and all who have not circumcised their hearing are impure. "Uncircumcised in the lips" is the one who does not circumcise contrary and impure words. Thus it is possible to say "uncircumcised in the flesh" of the one who does not circumcise fleshly matters; and "uncircumcised in the eyes" of the one who looks at what he ought not and does not purify the faculty of sight; and "uncircumcised in the flesh" of the one who does what he ought not.

And the children of Israel, having removed from Socchoth, encamped in Othom by the desert. In the book of Numbers it is written, "from Boutha to the mouth of Iroth, which is opposite Beelsepron, adjacent to the north," that the children of Israel had encamped.

And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the cavalry of the Egyptians, and tristatai over all. Those able to fight three, or those stationed in the battle line after the protostates and the deuterostates in the third rank. Others say that they made chariots large for the hands of the enemy, so as to hold three, so that one drives, and the other two fight; or those mounted on three horses. For the ancients in wars rode on two or three horses when going out as charioteers. Or he calls tristates the one who, when the king sits, stands third, that is, having the third seat; such as David was with Saul, as you will find in the first book of Kings.

There God established for him ordinances and judgments, and there he tested him. When God tests, he tests for benefit, not to do harm; therefore it was said that God is untempted by evils, as the text adds a little later: "If you hear with your ear the Lord your God, every disease which I brought upon the Egyptians I will not bring upon you." So the one who bears the trials nobly is crowned. It is different in the case of the devil; for he tempts in order to kill those who obey him. And God tests not because he is ignorant of what will happen, but in giving the human being the ability to do what he wishes on account of free will.

This word which the Lord spoke: "Sabbaths, a holy rest for the Lord tomorrow." I record the things said about the Sabbath: first according to the literal sense, so that they may see what the letter signifies; second according to the anagogical sense, according to which I would say that the day of the Sabbath has come for the righteous man who has set aside the works of the world, and who glorifies God, and who is at leisure, neither departing from the place where he stands of Christ, nor kindling fire, according to committing no sin, nor lifting burdens. Every sin is a heavier burden than a load of a mountain; therefore the Hymnodist said: "Like a heavy burden, they were weighed down upon me." Another record of the Sabbath would be according to which "a sabbath observance remains for the people of God," a sacred and holy rest. And he who has done all his works is judged worthy of that Sabbath, being at leisure for nothing other than the contemplation of truth and wisdom. These things we have set forth because Moses here makes mention of sabbatizing.

And you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it." The rock is likened to Christ because of its unshaken and immovable nature. For the divine and supreme nature is firmly established in good things.

For I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, repaying the sins of fathers upon children, to the third and fourth generation for those who hate me, and showing mercy for thousands to those who love me and to those who keep my commandments." Who has not been disturbed by this saying? If the father sinned, but the son and the third and fourth generation receive the sin, so that some have accused even the God who gave the laws, while others, though not accusing, truly hope and expect such things, that their sins are received by their sons. The Jews think these things, not positing another god. The Samaritans suppose these things, as they too believe they have partaken of the one God. Those from the heresies, not being pleased that God can be good or just, the one repaying the sins of fathers into the bosom of their children, say that the God of the law is not just, is not good, repaying the sins of fathers upon sons, but there is some greater god than that one. But the churchman neither hears the sayings literally as a Jew, nor fashions another as a heretic, but stands in the middle of both, and says that these things are well written, but I do not know the meaning of what is written. Raise up your minds, all of you, and ask that he might reveal to you how he is good, the one repaying the sins of fathers upon children. Who are the fathers? Bring the Scriptures as witnesses; let the oracles be examined.

the sacred things. The Savior and Lord Jesus Christ says to those who sin, "You are from the father of the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one is a murderer from the beginning, and he has not stood in the truth." Therefore, if someone sins, he is from the father of the devil, and for this reason the sin of the devil is repaid upon the son. However, that one is the first sinner, who suggested the sin to me; but I am the second sinner, who did not cast out his intention, but received his activity. I must stand armed with the full armor of God, having the shield of faith, so that all the fiery arrows of the evil one may be quenched in the shield of my faith. If, then, I sin, I do the things of the devil who has shot into my heart, so that I might commit this or that sin. First I receive his arrow, and when I receive it, then I also receive him. For in the case of Judas it is written thus, that Satan did not first enter into him, but first the devil shot into his heart so that Judas Simon Iscariot would betray him, then after the morsel Satan entered into him. Therefore, I have a father: if I am holy, God; but if I am a sinner, I have the devil as father; but also the one who recently, so to speak, acted, the Antichrist, or some angel of the devil, or a demon, whose activity I received. And in general, I have countless fathers if I become a sinner.

Again, if I become righteous, my father is God, just as the Savior says, "Little children, I am still with you for a little while." And again, "Daughter, your faith has saved you." And again, "Child, your sins are forgiven." Thus I also know other fathers, according to what was written to Abraham: "You shall go to your fathers"—not to your fathers by flesh, for they were not faithful, they were not holy, as is clear from the history written about them. For if his father were holy, it would not have been said to him, "Go out from your land, and from your kindred, and from the house of your father." For the word has the bodily sense, and it also has the spiritual sense. If you have understood the fathers, then see that you, who have accepted the activity because of having sinned, receive from the devil or from one of the spirits under him. Having become a son of those, you receive from a good God who visits you. For he does not visit your father, but he visits you, and says to you, "Listen, daughter, and see, and incline your ear," and so on; and he gives to you as a good one. For he visits you, the son of an evil father, paying back the sins. "I will visit with a rod the iniquities" of you, the saints; and I will visit "also with whips the injustices of them." Why? So that "I may not scatter my mercy from them." For when he abandons...

someone, no longer punishes him, nor does he scourge him. For he does not scourge everyone, but "every son whom the Lord accepts." And it is said in the prophet concerning the very sinful: "I will not look upon your daughters when they fornicate, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery." For so long a time the devil has sinned from the creation and foundation of the world, and neither fire nor scourge—for he is not worthy of the punishments from God. For the devil cannot say, "Lord, do not convict me in your wrath," and so forth. Therefore, each person, conscious of his own sins, should pray to be punished. For it is good to have done nothing worthy of punishment. But if we have done something worthy of punishment, let us be punished in such a way that we receive it here, and thereafter rest in the bosom of Abraham.

And these are my ordinances, which you shall set before them. If you acquire a Hebrew slave," and so forth. It is necessary to examine what is law, and what is decree, what are ordinances, and judgments, and testimonies, and commandments. Now ordinances are what is here said, "If you acquire a Hebrew slave," and the things said about him; a judgment is that if a priest's daughter commits adultery, she is burned with fire; commandments are, "You shall have no other gods"; a decree is, "Go down and solemnly warn the people, and let them wash their garments"; testimonies are, "I call heaven and earth to witness today.

He shall serve you for six years; and in the seventh year, he shall go free without payment." The liberation in the seventh year, and also the cessation of work on the Sabbath, signify the freedom in grace that we have through Christ.

The master shall bring him before the judgment seat of God." Aquila and Symmachus said, "before the gods." They call the judges "gods," and the judgment seat of God, their verdict.

Three times of the year you shall celebrate for me. Keep the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time of the month of new grain. For in it you came out of Egypt. You shall not appear before me empty-handed, and you shall make the feast of harvest of the firstfruits of your works." The feasts of God, therefore, for those who have spirit, are spiritual; and no earthly person celebrates the feasts spiritually. "For what harmony is there between justice and lawlessness?" not to mention the rest. An earthly person cannot celebrate spiritual feasts, just as a spiritual person cannot celebrate an earthly feast. And a little later: What is the month of new grain? You will say the perceptible fruits; the month of new grain has not yet arrived, the year being, so to speak, later. But if ever a year occurs such that the earth bears no fruits, can we then celebrate in the month of new grain, as God commanded those who celebrate to do? Therefore, the feast must be celebrated each year. I am again perplexed also about the second law, concerning the second feast. For it says, "the feast of harvest of the firstfruits." If someone sows, and the fruits do not become first but last, that person would not be able to celebrate the beginning of the harvest of the firstfruits. For you must have produce in order to be able to celebrate.

What then, if I have no land, how could I celebrate this feast, when the text says, "And you shall make a feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of your works, which you sow in your field"? I have not sown; I am a builder. I have not sown; I am a weaver. I have no field; how can I celebrate the second feast? And indeed also concerning the third, "And a feast of completion at the end of the year.

And after other matters. What does the word that commands us to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread in the month of new things intend to tell us? Put off the old man together with his deeds. And in order that you may celebrate the feast in the month of new things, become new yourself, so that the month of the feast of new things may also be your month. For this month is of new things, not of old things. How then must you become new? Understanding the feasts, the apostle Paul says concerning the feast of new things, "Having put off the old man together with his deeds, and having put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of the Creator." Therefore, in order to celebrate the feast in the month of new things, you must become new and put away all oldness. Then what first feast do you celebrate? That it is the feast of unleavened bread, learn from the Apostle: "For our Passover," he says, "Christ was sacrificed for us; so let us celebrate not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of vice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Now gather together the things legislated concerning the feast of unleavened bread, and you will see the irrationality of those who attend to the literal as if it were spiritual, while despising the spiritual as useless.

You shall not appear before me empty." Know that every person is either empty or full. For if one does not have the Holy Spirit, does not have knowledge of the Creator, has not received life—Jesus Christ—if one does not know the Father in the heavens, if one does not live according to the Word, according to the heavenly law, is not temperate, does not act justly—such a person is empty. But if one has made room for the God who said, "I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them, and I will be God to them," this one is not empty, but full.

Three times in the year every male of yours shall appear before the Lord your God." What the literal meaning is I would say. What we do is either female or male. If, then, what we do is female, it is either bodily or fleshly. For sowing into the flesh, we make the offspring of the soul female, not male; but enervated, soft, and material. If, however, looking to eternal things and having our mind directed toward better things, we bear the fruits of the spirit, all our offspring are male. Therefore, the things brought before God, and which will be seen by the sight of the Creator, are male, not female. For God does not deign to look upon female and bodily things. "And I will give grace to this people before the Egyptians. And when you depart, you shall not go away empty." This promise had been given beforehand to Abraham. After these things, with God speaking, they will go out from here with baggage. "And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had commanded them. And the Lord said to Moses:

The heart of Pharaoh is weighed down, so that he would not send out the people." The statement, "The heart of Pharaoh is weighed down," spoken by the Lord, after the rod of Aaron turned into a serpent and swallowed the rods of the magicians, is worth examining, whether it is different from "the heart of Pharaoh was hardened," which is said often, and from "it prevailed." For indeed this also is said thus: "And the heart of Pharaoh prevailed, and he did not listen to them as the Lord spoke." It seems to me that the heart which yields to divine things becomes softened and is not strong enough to resist the divinity, and is not weighed down, nor dragged down to earth and matter; but the heart which resists and opposes the divine will becomes hardened and strikes back like a stone, and repels the word, and stands in defiance with a certain false strength. It is necessary that such a heart, being dragged down by evil which is downward-tending, be weighed down. These things do not happen to the heart according to the same meaning, even if both prevailing and being weighed down happen to one and the same heart that is wicked. For one heart, as it is said somewhere, becomes stony and hardened; the other does not yield to the divine nature as to something stronger, but is said to stand against it and to fight against God and to prevail.

Moses said to him, "As soon as I leave the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord, and the voices will cease, and the hail, and the rain will no longer be." For the creator of all things has nature yielding to his command. Of the same author. It should be noted that Moses does not perform all his wonders with the rod, but also with his hands and his word, so that many may not think the rod is accomplished by magical deceptions. "Let each one take a sheep according to households of families;" and so forth. From the tenth, he says, they are to take a sheep and keep it until the fourteenth; and they are to name it, saying, "This sheep is sacrificed for this one and that one," not exceeding ten names; and on the fourteenth it is sacrificed between the evening hours, at the beginning of the fifteenth; so that from the taking until the sacrifice there are five days, when the light of the moon is full. "The sheep shall be perfect, male, a year old." A year-old sheep is Christ. For being deficient in nothing and lacking nothing is signified by the year. "And the whole multitude of the assembly of the sons of Israel will slaughter it toward evening." We are commanded to slaughter the sheep toward evening, because at the last hour our true sheep, the Savior, came into the world. "And they will take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts, and on the lintel, in their houses;" and so forth. We sacrifice, and we anoint our houses with the blood; I mean the body, if indeed anointing is faith in him, through which I believe the power of the destroyer is rendered inoperative.

After we have been anointed, that is, have believed in Christ, then we are commanded to come to the food—neither raw, nor boiled in water, but roasted with fire. "Whoever eats leaven, that soul shall be cut off from Israel." A man shall be cut off because of leaven. And the God of all, who ordains the laws, as he destroys an adulterer, as he destroys a fornicator, as he destroys a pederast, so he destroys the one who has leaven in his house on the day of unleavened bread. Is this according to God? Is this according to the heavenly law? But I would say that if you have leaven of wickedness, and you do not destroy every leaven of evil from your ruling principle—for this is your true house—the God of all legislates that you be destroyed for not casting out the old leaven from yourself. For you must, coming into the time of new things, having become new, have nothing old. "The old things have passed away," and so forth. See how one ought to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread in the month of new things. "You shall place it on the lintel and on both doorposts, from the blood that is by the door." The lintel, as one of our predecessors has explained, is of the rational; both doorposts, of the spirited and the appetitive. For we do not, once the destroyer has entered within, expel him by contrivance, but rather, so that he may not even creep in at the start, we keep guard through the law. And guard and security consist in marking the lintel and the doorposts of the entrance with the blood of the lamb.

It happened at midnight, and the Lord struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt. For God inflicts these deadly plagues through angels, as we also learned in the books of Kings how in one night the angel slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. "This is the law of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat of it. And every slave of someone, and one bought with silver, you shall circumcise him, and then he shall eat of it," and so forth. Following the passages set forth, this is the third law, which the Lord again spoke in addition to the two laws. But note the precision of Scripture, that the Lord did not speak this law concerning the Passover at the beginning. For if he had said, while Israel was still in Egypt before departing from Egypt, "No foreigner shall eat of it. And every slave of someone, and one bought with silver, you shall circumcise, and then he shall eat of it," the mixed multitude, the great crowd that came out of Egypt, would not have departed. Therefore he reserved this law, so that after those who wished had departed, another law might be given. And a little later. If we allegorize these things to our soul, we will say that homeborn are those reasonings that have grown together with us and been cultivated, and have begun to arise from innate concepts; but those bought with silver are those that come to us from teaching, from external learning. So he says to circumcise and purify all, both the homeborn and those bought with silver. But no foreigner should be admitted, that is, no one should accept a foreign doctrine; for he who wishes to profane the feast of the Lord does not admit a foreigner. And a little later.

If you eat the words of God in the Church, but also eat in the synagogue of the Jews, you transgress the commandment which says, "It shall be eaten in one house." If you partake of the words of God in one house, the Church, and then, leaving it, you suppose you partake of God in a heretical synagogue, while the commandment says, "It shall be eaten in one house," you do not eat in one house. Understand, then, the Church as the one house; therefore eat of the lamb nowhere after having gone outside the Church. "And you shall not carry the meat out of the house." The word of the Church must not be preached outside the Church, just as the meat is not to be carried outside the house; I mean into a synagogue of Jews or heretics, for it is like casting pearls before swine. "Every uncircumcised person shall not eat of it." Every mental offspring of the soul that transcends material things (material things being the female) must be circumcised and purified, so that one may thus partake of the meat of the Passover; and the native-born of the land and the proselyte become alike, for God does not prefer noble lineages but accepts intention. The same author: "Uncircumcised in the flesh" means one who does not circumcise the fleshly things, just as one is "uncircumcised in the eyes" who looks at what he ought not. The same author: See that none of you is uncircumcised in heart, that none has not performed the circumcisions which the word teaches to be performed. And what are these? Some are reproached as being uncircumcised in the ears; and all who have not circumcised their hearing are impure.

Uncircumcised in lips" means one who does not cut off contrary and impure words. Thus it is also possible to say "uncircumcised in flesh" of one who does not cut off fleshly things, and "uncircumcised in eyes" of one who sees what he ought not and does not purify his faculty of sight, and "uncircumcised in flesh" of one who does what he ought not. "And the sons of Israel, having set out from Sokchoth, encamped in Othom beside the desert." In the book of Numbers it is written, "from Boutha to the mouth of Iroth, which is opposite Beelsepron, adjacent to the north," that the sons of Israel had encamped. "And he took six hundred chosen chariots and all the cavalry of the Egyptians, and tristatai over all." The tristatai are those able to fight against three, or those who in the battle line stand after the protostates and the deuterostates in the third rank. Others say that they made large chariots for the hands of the enemy, so as to hold even three, so that one drives and two fight, or those mounted on three horses. For the ancients in wars rode on two or three horses when they went out as charioteers. Or "tristates" means the one who, when the king sits, stands third, that is, has the third seat, such as David was beside Saul, as you will find in the first book of Kings. "There God set for him ordinances and judgments, and there he tested him." When God tests, he tests for benefit, not to do harm; therefore it was also said that "God is untempted by evils," as the text adds a little later: "If you hear with your ear the Lord your God, every disease which he brought upon the Egyptians.

To the Egyptians, I will not bring it upon you." So the one who bears the trials nobly is crowned. But it is different in the case of the devil; for he tempts in order to kill those who obey him. And God tempts, not being ignorant of what will happen, but giving to the human being the power to do what he wishes because of free will. "This is the word which the Lord spoke: 'Sabbaths, a holy rest for the Lord tomorrow.'" I set down the things said about the Sabbath: first according to the literal sense, so that they may see what the letter means; second according to the anagogical sense, according to which I would say that the day of the Sabbath is present for the righteous person who has dissolved the works of the world, and glorifies God, and is at leisure, neither departing from the place where he stands of Christ, nor kindling fire, according to committing no sin, nor lifting burdens. Every sin is a burden heavier than a mountain; therefore the Hymnodist said: "Like a heavy burden, they were weighed down upon me." Another account of the Sabbath would be that according to which "a sabbath rest remains for the people of God," a sacred and holy rest. And the one who has done all his works is judged worthy of that Sabbath, being at leisure for nothing other than the contemplation of truth and wisdom. These things we have set forth because Moses here makes mention of sabbatizing. "And you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it." Christ is likened to a rock because of his unshakable and immovable nature. For the divine and supreme nature is fixed in good things.

I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, repaying the sins of fathers upon children, to the third and fourth generation for those who hate me, and doing mercy to thousands for those who love me and for those who keep my commandments." Who has not been disturbed by this saying? If the father sinned, but the son, and the third, and the fourth generation receive the sin, so that some accuse even the God who gave the laws, while others do not accuse but truly hope for something of the sort and expect that their sins are received by their sons. The Jews think this, not positing another god. The Samaritans suppose this, as they too believe they have shared in the one God. Those from the heresies, not being pleased that God can be good or just, the one repaying the sins of fathers into the bosom of their children, say that the God of the law is not just, is not good, repaying the sins of fathers upon sons, but that there is some greater god than that one. But the churchman neither hears the words corporeally like a Jew, nor fashions another like a heretic, but stands in the middle of both, and says that these things are well written, but I do not know the meaning of what is written. Therefore, lift up your minds, all of you, and ask that he might reveal to you how he is good, the one repaying the sins of fathers upon children. Who are the fathers? Bring the Scriptures as witnesses; let the oracles be examined.

the sacred things. The Savior and Lord Jesus Christ says to those who sin, "You are from the father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one is a murderer from the beginning, and he has not stood in the truth." Therefore, if someone sins, he is from the father the devil, and for this reason the sin of the devil is repaid upon the son. Yet that one is the first sinner, who suggested the sin to me; but I am the second sinner, who did not cast out his purpose but received his energy. I must stand armed with the full armor of God, having the shield of faith, so that all the fiery darts of the evil one may be quenched in the shield of my faith. If, then, I sin, I do the deeds of the devil, who has shot into my heart that I should commit this or that sin. First I receive his dart, and when I receive it, then I also receive him. For in the case of Judas it is written thus, that Satan did not first enter into him, but first the devil shot into his heart that Judas Simon Iscariot should betray him, and then after the morsel Satan entered into him. Therefore, I have a father: if I am holy, God; but if I am a sinner, I have the devil as father; and also, so to speak, the one who immediately energized, whether Antichrist or some angel of the devil or a demon, whose energy I received. And in a word, I have countless fathers if I become a sinner.

Just as again, if I become righteous, my father is God, just as the Savior says, "Children, I am still with you a little while." And again, "Daughter, your faith has saved you." And again, "Child, your sins are forgiven." Thus I also know other fathers, according to what was written to Abraham: "But you will go to your fathers"—not to your fathers according to the flesh, for they were not faithful, they were not holy, as is clear from the history written about them. For if his father were holy, it would not have been said to him, "Go out from your land, and from your kindred, and from the house of your father." For the word has the bodily sense, and it also has the spiritual sense. If you have understood the fathers, then see that you, who have accepted the activity because you have sinned, receive from the devil or from one of the spirits under him. Having become a son of those, you receive from a good God who visits you. For he does not visit your father, but he visits you, and says to you, "Listen, daughter, and see, and incline your ear," and so on; and he gives to you as a good one. For he visits you, the son of an evil father, paying back the sins. "I will therefore visit with a rod the lawless deeds" of you, the holy ones; but I will visit "also with whips the injustices of them." Why? So that "I may not scatter my mercy from them." For when he abandons...

he no longer punishes him, nor does he flog him. For he does not flog everyone, but "every son whom the Lord accepts." And it is said in the prophet concerning the very sinful: "I will not look upon your daughters when they commit fornication, nor upon your brides when they commit adultery." For so long a time the devil has sinned from creation and the foundation of the world, and neither fire nor lash—for he is not worthy of the punishments from God. For the devil cannot say, "Lord, do not convict me in your wrath," and so forth. Therefore each one, conscious of his own sins, should pray to be punished. For it is good to have done nothing worthy of punishment. But if we have done something worthy of punishment, let us be punished in such a way that we receive it here, and thereafter rest in the bosom of Abraham. "And these are my ordinances, which you shall set before them. If you acquire a Hebrew slave," and so forth. It is necessary to examine what is law, and what is decree, and what are ordinances, and judgments, and testimonies, and commandments. Ordinances, then, are what is said here: "If you acquire a Hebrew slave," and so forth, concerning him; a judgment is that if a priest's daughter commits adultery, she is burned with fire; commandments are, "You shall have no other gods"; a decree is, "Go down and solemnly warn the people, and let them wash their garments"; testimonies are, "I testify to you today heaven and earth." "He shall serve you for six years; in the seventh year he shall go forth free without payment.

The release on the seventh day, and also the cessation of work on the Sabbath, signifies the freedom we have through Christ by grace. "His master shall bring him to the judgment seat of God." Aquila and Symmachus said, "to the gods." They call the judges "gods," and the judgment seat of God, their verdict. "Celebrate for me three seasons of the year. Keep the feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time of the month of new ears. For in it you came out of Egypt. You shall not appear before me empty-handed, and you shall make the feast of harvest of the firstfruits of your works." The feasts of God, therefore, for those who have spirit, are spiritual; and no earthly person celebrates the feasts spiritually. "For what harmony is there between justice and lawlessness?" not to mention the rest. An earthly person cannot celebrate spiritual feasts, just as a spiritual person cannot celebrate an earthly feast. And a little later: What is the month of new ears? You will say the perceptible fruits; the month of new ears has not yet arrived, if the year is, so to speak, later. But if ever a year occurs such that the earth bears no fruits, can we then celebrate in the month of new ears, as God has commanded those who celebrate to celebrate? Therefore, the feast must be celebrated each year. And I am again perplexed about the second law, concerning the second feast. For it says, "feast of the harvest of the firstfruits." If someone sows, and the fruits do not become first, but last,

He would not be able to celebrate the beginning of the harvest of the firstfruits. For you must have produce in order to be able to celebrate. But what if I have no land, how could I celebrate this feast, when the text says, "And you shall make a feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of your works, which you sow in your field"? I have not sown, I am a builder; I have not sown, I am a weaver; I have no field, how can I celebrate the second feast? And indeed concerning the third, "And a feast of completion at the end of the year." And after other matters. What does the word mean that commands us to celebrate the feast of unleavened bread in the month of new things? Put off the old man together with his deeds. And in order that you may celebrate the feast in the month of new things, become new yourself, so that the month of the feast of new things may also be your month. For this month belongs to new things, not old. How then must you become new? Understanding the feasts, the apostle Paul says concerning the feast of new things, "Having put off the old man together with his deeds, and having put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of the creator." Therefore, in order to celebrate the feast in the month of new things, you must become new and put away all oldness. Then which feast do you celebrate first? That it is the feast of unleavened bread, learn from the Apostle: "For our Passover," he says, "Christ was sacrificed for us.

so that we may celebrate not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of vice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Now gather together the laws concerning the feast of Unleavened Bread, and you will see the irrationality of those who attend to the literal text as if it were spiritual, while despising the spiritual as useless. "You shall not appear before me empty." Know that every person is either empty or full. For if one does not have the Holy Spirit, does not have knowledge of the Creator, has not received life in Jesus Christ, does not know the Father in heaven, does not live according to the Word, according to the heavenly law, is not temperate, does not act justly—such a person is empty. But if one has received the God who said, "I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them, and I will be their God," that one is not empty, but full. "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God." What the literal text means, I could say. What we do is either female or male. If, then, what we do is female, it is either bodily or fleshly. For by sowing into the flesh, we make the offspring of the soul female, not male—but enervated, soft, and material. If, however, we look to eternal things and have our mind set on better things, and we bear the fruits of the spirit, then all our offspring are male. Therefore, what is brought before the Lord

of God, the things that will be seen by the sight of the Creator are male, not female. For God does not deign to look upon the female and the bodily.