Selecta in Deuteronomium

Origen's Selections on Deuteronomy. Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel according to all that the Lord commanded him. Since God revealed the power, the prophet employed his own tongue for the presentation of what had been made manifest. The prophetic voice is therefore called a movement, as it represents what was said by God.

And I spoke to you at that time. Moses does not simply say, "I spoke to you," but because Joshua son of Nun was to succeed him after his departure, he says the matter is not out of place, but rather consistent. For, he says, I anticipated and exhorted, and, as you assented, I appointed judges; so that you may also obey Joshua son of Nun, who succeeds me by prophetic grace and leadership.

I will not be able to bear you alone. And the forerunners.

I gave to Roubim and to Gad. The inferior ones more quickly attain the promise; the more moderate ones receive it later. For those under Moses first received the inheritance; but those under Jesus later. And it is said concerning all the righteous, not the ordinary ones: for as the Apostle says, "All these, having borne witness through faith, did not receive the promise, God having foreseen something better concerning us, so that they might not be perfected without us.

The voice of words which you heard, and so on. Not that the voice is visible, nor that God has a voice by nature—for this would be characteristic of a composite nature—but because both the trumpets and the voices, as God himself knows, were accomplished from the continuity of visible elements being fashioned, I mean of fire and of darkness; so that a voice is both heard and not seen; yet in the case of God's miracles, even the voice is seen.

And he swore that he would not cross this Jordan. Moses, not having glorified God before the people, was prevented from passing over with them, so that they might not honor him, whom they revered while alive, with divine rites after his departure. For this reason, indeed, after his death he made his tomb invisible.

I solemnly call upon you today, both heaven and earth. God does not permit those who worship him to consort with demons, but commands those who have once known him to be free from any disposition toward them, and, being jealous in the apostasy of the peoples, he foretells to them the punishments that are to come because of the wickedness of their practices.

Out of the house of slavery. For indeed, bodily and material things are a house of slavery, just as, on the contrary, there is a house of freedom.

For you are few in number compared with all the nations. Well has it been said to those of the portion: "You are few in number compared with all the nations." Kindred are the sayings, "Few are those who are saved," and, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate.

That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, and so forth. And again, that the manna was a word, even if bread is indicated in Exodus. "For this," he says, "is the bread which the Lord gave you to eat. This is the word which the Lord commanded." And for this reason the manna "was fine like coriander seed, white, like frost upon the ground"; because that word, of which the manna was a symbol, is fine in its own nature, and penetrates through all intelligent, pure, most fine spirits. And wisdom is also an intelligent, holy, only-begotten, manifold, fine spirit, and so forth. And it was also like coriander seed in being white. They say that the nature of coriander seed has throughout a principle of seed, so that even when the coriander seed is cut up, its power is not destroyed, as if it could no longer be sown. Such throughout is the word; and every part of it is naturally cultivated in a good and noble soul. And the manna is white. For the word is light and bright, and in this respect white, to him who understands it and is nourished by it. And it is also like frost; for it is compact, and nowhere flabby nor dissolved, but solid, which indeed is the word of heaven, and announces to us the heavenly things.

For the Lord your God will lead you into a good and spacious land. Christ promised us not these things, but the kingdom of the heavens, and a good and eternal land, whose stream is Christ, watering with the streams of wisdom. The streams flow through the plains and low and fertile men, and through the high mountains, which stretch up through the height of contemplation into the heavens. There is the wheat that strengthens the heart of man, and the barley that nourishes the inferior. There is the true vine, Christ. There is the oil that anoints the heads of the saints. Likewise also pomegranates, bearing sweetness within, but clothed outwardly with the austerity of conduct. There is the fig tree, not the barren one that flourishes with leaves, but the one rich in the sweetness of the spirit. There is the sweetness of the Savior's throat, desirable, and the lips of the bride in the Song that drip with honeycomb, and the holy stones, rolled on the ground, unyielding to temptations, imitating the nature of iron. There are the mines of copper, from which they fashioned the spiritual panoply. And the crown of these things is to bless God unceasingly.

The same author. "It is not," he says, "to labor and toil in mud and brickmaking, but to have stones, and these very hard, not easily dissolved, so as to suffice for buildings and to endure for a long time." He says these things, wishing their mind to depart from Egypt. For by saying "good," he showed the fertility; by "spacious," the size and breadth. "Where there are torrents of waters" (this is not in Egypt), and springs of abysses; which is a special feature of the land of promise. He added also "through the mountains," which is not present in Egypt; nor does it flourish with vines, nor does it have an abundance of oil; but the land of promise has everything in abundance.

Pay attention to yourself, lest you forget the Lord your God. After the promise of good things, he rouses them to sobriety, to remember the benefactor, and not to become insolent in their satiety, nor to despise the one who bestowed these things, and that he transferred them from slavery in Egypt to freedom.

You shall not do thus to the Lord your God. He censures the sacrificing of their own children by men to the gods of the nations, as cruel and inhuman, as abominable. And those who say to sacrifice to the gods of the nations must not only be turned away from, but one must not even lend an ear to their words.

You shall not add to it, nor shall you take away from it. Human beings who sin sin in a general sense in two ways: either by transgressing the commandments or by falling short. For when we conduct ourselves not from knowledge, nor knowing the measures of justice, we go astray, and sometimes, by transgressing the rule, with the illusion of doing something better, we fall short of the goal.

The same author. Therefore, those who do not do everything, or those who do something more, are lawless.

Every cloven-hoofed animal that chews the cud. The cloven hoof, concerning the hoof, signifies the journey by which we approach any good endeavor whatsoever; and the cud-chewing is to turn the words of the God-inspired Scripture up and down, and, as it were, to ruminate and refine by investigations the hidden matters of the doctrines.

All that among them have fins and scales, you shall eat. Of birds, I think, those that have spurs below the knees above the bases he intends to be clean; but those that do not, unclean. You shall keep the Feast of Tabernacles for yourself seven days.

We find in the Scriptures the name of the feast and of the panegyris, as for example in the prophet who says: "What will you do on the day of the panegyris and on the day of the feast of the Lord?" The difference between feast and panegyris must be investigated. Every, so to speak, joyful day on which it is commanded to do certain exceptional things, as on a holy day, beyond the rest, is called a feast; but not every one is a panegyris, but according to the name, when the Hebrews gather together from all sides to the same place. So that according to this, the panegyris is a feast, but the feast is not necessarily a panegyris; for example, Sabbaths and new moons are feasts; but Unleavened Bread and the days of Weeks and Tabernacles are not only feasts, but also panegyreis, when it is commanded that every male appear before the Lord your God in the place which he shall choose.

You shall not move the boundaries of your neighbor. "Neighbor" is often used to mean every person.

Of the same author. For one must neither take advantage of one's neighbors nor disturb the boundaries of one's fathers as if they were well established. For this will be the cause of all confusion, with those who share borders feeling wronged and those who set the boundaries being disregarded. Some say that "neighbor" means every person.

If an unjust witness should be established against a man. These things the law says to the weak Israelites; but the Lord, who legislated these things, says to his own disciples: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye,'" and so forth, "But I say to you, do not resist the evil one.

Of the same author. These things apply to the perceptible and to matters of the world; but concerning our sins, God has need of no one. For He Himself is the overseer of all and the judge.

Who is the man who is afraid? He who is devoted to earthly things, building a house and planting vineyards, overcome by the fleshly pleasures of delights, will be altogether cowardly and without strength.

If someone has a disobedient son. He does not simply wish them to be put to death for embittering their parents, but only when both parents agree against the child. For if the father becomes angry and is moved to kill the son, the mother restrains him; and if she is provoked, the father does not permit it. And since it will be rare for the parents to agree against their own child, God commands that when both agree against the child, then they are to stone him—not the parents, but the rest of the people.

You shall not sow your vineyard with a different crop, so that the land does not become too weak, so that it yields neither the seed in full nor the fruit of the vine, but each thing on its own.

You shall not plow with a calf and a donkey together. Do not yoke the proud and industrious part of the soul with the pleasure-loving and passionate part.

The same author. Isaiah again writes: “Blessed are those who sow on every water.” What water is it on which one must sow the good seed? May this be the baptism of salvation, the bath of regeneration. Sow on the mystery of the bath, and you become blessed. There an ox and a donkey tread, the ox being the pure Israelite, and the donkey being impure by race, the one from the nations; so that both animals are a symbol of the word proclaimed to the nations. So the ox and the donkey tread, it says, this water where we wish to sow.

If, however, a child is a virgin betrothed to a man. He calls the woman already betrothed in this way, and it was said concerning Joseph and the Theotokos.

And forever. Because these too are from the daughters of Lot, born of fornication; not only are they excluded from the assembly of Israel up to the tenth generation, but also forever. Thus he intends their enmity to be everlasting. According to the meaning and the true reason of divine Scripture, because they hired Balaam to curse the Hebrews, but also their own wives and daughters, as many as were fair in appearance and beautiful in form, they prostituted before the nation, so as to give them over to fornication with the Israelites, and through this to procure the most grievous fornication for the Hebrews. This was to abandon God and to be initiated into Beelphegor, which indeed happened.

You shall not take a mill or an upper millstone as a pledge. Because a single stone, it says, is unable to grind the grain; for a mill is constructed as a twin, male and female. Since the Jews have only one testament, and likewise every heresy that thinks it has only this new one, they do not grind in this mill, so that they might taste the heavenly bread; for if, it says, the grain is not crushed and ground, they remain without bread. Starting from this, then, I myself clarify the law before us: "You shall not take a mill as a pledge," that is, you shall not profane the old and you shall not cast it out of your house; "nor an upper millstone," that is, the new, "because this pledges the soul," that is, the soul is nourished by these, enjoying intelligible foods.

They shall flog him forty times. We have always observed that the number forty is punitive; whence the great Moses fasted forty days, and after him Elijah; but also our Savior, when tempted by the devil, did not eat for forty days and forty nights; and the great flood upon the earth occurred, with God sending rain, for forty days and forty nights. You shall not put iron to them. It must be investigated why he does not allow iron to touch the stones that are used for the construction of the altar. But also after this, for the construction of the temple, he orders unhewn stones to be gathered and built with. For if it is improper for iron to touch the stone that is suitable for building, how then were the columns, how then were the planks and their capitals worked? Or how were all the things made of bronze or gold or silver constructed without iron? And how is it possible? Through these things it is clear that he does not simply forbid iron to touch the stones. What then is the reason? We say this without being dogmatic. So then, this: to apply hard iron—how much more must one forbid applying and striking hard things together? For great evils are wont to be born from the mixing and striking together of hard things. Or he banishes murder as far as possible from the hearts of men, and quite justly. For if one must not apply iron to the stone being built for the construction of the altar or the temple, how much more must one forbid seizing iron and raging murderously against one's neighbor?

These shall stand to bless the people. It must be observed that those appointed to bless were born from free women and relatives of Jacob; thus those set apart to curse from Mount Ebal were from the handmaids, except for Reuben and Zebulun. Reuben is placed among the cursers, as also cursed by his father. And if he also cursed Levi, yet Levi is redeemed by his priestly dignity. For it is especially the role of a priest to bless the people. But also Simeon, having dwelt in the midst of the tribe of Judah and having become, as it were, a part of it, is for this reason counted wherever Judah is.

And this is the blessing which Moses blessed. The prophecies from Jacob were not all blessings, nor all curses; but those from Moses are all blessings.

And he hastened from Mount Pharan. That is, no longer to be called Israel, but to those from the nations, and he established the law. For this, "he hastened from Mount Pharan," or "he ceased," which another text contains, instead of, he will diligently leave the shadow and reveal the truth to us.

With myriads of Kades. Now Kades does not mean the place, but the holy ones. For Kades is called "holy" in the Hebrew tongue.

And he spared his people. That is, he saved, by coming, those who were not peoples before, but now are peoples of God, those who were not pitied, but now are pitied. "For in this," says the apostle Peter, "the love of God was manifested among us." And the holy John says in the Catholic Epistle that "God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." And the blessed Paul says: "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for all of us." So he spared the people.

And all those who are sanctified are under your hands. For he holds sway over all, as king of heaven and earth. As they stand before a king, as they serve God, as they worship the Creator, they are also under him: "for he himself has subjected all things under his feet.

The rulers of the peoples were gathered together. The inspired disciples, as David also says from their perspective: "He subjected peoples to us, and nations under our feet." And again: "The rulers of the peoples were gathered together with the God of Abraham." So this indicates the calling of the nations, since God is about to rule over both Israel and the nations at the same time. "Beloved" is said of the Son. "For this is," he says, "my beloved Son." And for this reason the Father rules over us and reigns. Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel according to everything that the Lord commanded him. Since God revealed the power, the prophet used his own tongue to set forth what had been indicated. So the prophetic voice is called a movement, as it represents what was said by God. And I spoke to you at that time. Moses does not simply say, "I spoke to you," but because after his departure Joshua the son of Nun was to succeed him, he says the matter is not out of place, but even fitting. For, he says, having anticipated, I exhorted, and, as you assented, I appointed judges; so that you may obey both by prophetic grace and by guiding succession Joshua the son of Nun, who succeeds me. I will not be able to bear you alone. And of the predecessors. I gave to Reuben and to Gad. The inferior ones become quicker in the promise, while the more moderate receive later.

Some received their inheritance first under Moses, others later under Joshua. But it is said concerning all the righteous, not the ordinary ones: as the Apostle says, "All these, having borne witness through faith, did not receive the promise, God having foreseen something better for us, that they might not be perfected without us." "A voice of words which you heard," and so forth. Not that the voice is visible, nor that God naturally has a voice—for that would belong to a composite nature—but because both the trumpets and the voices, as God himself knows, were accomplished from the continuity of visible things, being fashioned from elements—I mean fire and darkness—so that a voice is heard but not seen; yet in the case of God's wonders, even the voice is seen. "And he swore that they should not cross this Jordan." Moses, not having glorified God before the people, was prevented from passing over with them, lest they honor him after his departure with the rites of gods, whom they honored while alive. For this reason, he also made his tomb invisible upon his death. "I call heaven and earth to witness to you today." God does not permit those who worship him to consort with demons, but commands those who have once known him to be outside of any disposition toward them, and, being jealous in the apostasy of the peoples, he foretells the punishments that will come upon them because of the wickedness of their practices. "From the house of slavery." For truly, bodily and material things are a house of slavery, just as, on the contrary, there is a house of freedom. "For you are few among all the nations.

Well said to those of the portion: "You are few among all the nations." And akin to this is, "The saved are few," and, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate." That a person will not live by bread alone, but by every word, and so forth. And again, that the manna was a word, even if bread is indicated in Exodus. "For this," he says, "is the bread which the Lord gave you to eat. This is the word which the Lord ordained." And for this reason the manna was "fine as coriander seed, white, as frost upon the ground"; because the word, of which that manna was a symbol, is fine in its own nature, and pervades all intelligent, pure, most subtle spirits. And wisdom is also an intelligent, holy, only-begotten, manifold, subtle spirit, and so forth. And it was also like coriander seed in being white. They say that the nature of coriander seed has throughout a principle of seed, so that even when the coriander seed is cut up, its power is not destroyed, as if it could no longer be sown. Such is the word throughout; and every part of it is naturally cultivated in a good and noble soul. And the manna is white. For the word is light and bright, and accordingly white, for the one who understands it and is nourished by it. And it is also like frost.

For he is compact, nowhere slack, nor flowing apart, but steadfast—this is the word of heaven, announcing to us the heavenly things. "For the Lord your God will bring you into a good and spacious land." Christ promised us not these things, but the kingdom of the heavens, and a good and eternal land, whose torrent is Christ, watering with the streams of wisdom. The torrents flow through the plains and low and fertile men, and through the high mountains, those stretching up through the height of contemplation into the heavens. There is the wheat that strengthens a man's heart, and the barley that nourishes the inferior. There is the true vine, Christ. There is the oil that anoints the heads of the saints. Likewise also pomegranates, bearing sweetness within, but clothed outwardly with the austerity of conduct. There is the fig tree, not the barren one abounding in leaves, but the one rich in the sweetness of the Spirit. There is the sweetness of the Savior's throat, desirable, and the lips of the bride in the Song dripping honey, and the holy stones, rolled upon the earth, unyielding to temptations, imitating the nature of iron. There are the metals of bronze, from which they fashioned the spiritual panoply. And the chief of these is to bless God unceasingly. Of the same. It is not, he says, to labor and toil in mud and brickmaking, but to have stones, and these most unyielding, not easily dissolved, so as to suffice for buildings and to endure for a long time. He says these things, wishing their mind to depart from Egypt.

For by saying "good," he indicated fertility; and by "spacious," the magnitude and breadth. "Where there are winter torrents of waters" (this is not in Egypt), and springs of abysses—which is a special feature of the land of promise. He also added through the mountains, which is not present in Egypt, nor does it flourish with vines, nor does it have an abundance of oil; but the land of promise has all things abundantly. Pay attention to yourself, lest you forget the Lord your God. After the promise of good things, he rouses them to sobriety, to remember the benefactor, and not to become insolent in satiety, nor to despise the one who bestowed these things, and that he transferred them from slavery in Egypt to freedom. You shall not do thus to the Lord your God. He censures the sacrificing of their own children to the gods of the nations as cruel and inhuman, as abominable. And those who say to sacrifice to the gods of the nations must not only be shunned, but one should not even lend an ear to their words. "You shall not add to it, nor take away from it." Men sinning in a general sense sin in two ways: either by exceeding the commandments or by falling short. For when we conduct ourselves not from knowledge, nor knowing the measures of justice, we err, and sometimes, exceeding the rule with a notion of doing something better, we fall short of the goal. The same author. Therefore, those who do not do everything, or who do something more, are lawless. Every cloven-hoofed animal that chews the cud.

The cloven hoof indicates the gait by which we proceed toward any good endeavor. Rumination signifies going up and down through the words of the divinely inspired Scripture, and, as it were, chewing over and refining through inquiries the hidden meanings of the contemplations. All the fins and scales that are in them, you shall eat. Of birds, I think, those that have spurs below the knees above the feet are considered clean; those that do not are unclean. You shall keep the Feast of Tabernacles for yourself for seven days. We find in the Scriptures the name of feast and of festival assembly, as in the prophet who says: "What will you do on the day of festival assembly and on the day of the Lord's feast?" The difference between feast and festival assembly must be investigated. Every cheerful day, so to speak, on which it is commanded to do certain exceptional things as on a holy day beyond the rest, is called a feast; but not every one is a festival assembly, but, according to the name, when the Hebrews gather together from everywhere in the same place. So in this respect, the festival assembly is a feast, but the feast is not necessarily a festival assembly; for example, Sabbaths and new moons are feasts; but Unleavened Bread, the days of Weeks, and Tabernacles are not only feasts but also festival assemblies, when it is commanded that every male appear before the Lord your God in the place which he shall choose. You shall not move the boundaries of your neighbor. "Neighbor" is often used to mean every person. By the same author. For one must neither take advantage of those nearby nor disturb the boundaries of the fathers as if they were well fixed.

For this will be the cause of all confusion, when those who border on one another consider themselves wronged, while those who have made the boundaries think otherwise. Some say that "neighbor" means every human being. But if a false witness is established against a person. These things the law says to the weak Israelites; but the Lord, who legislated these things, says to his own disciples: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye,'" and so forth, "But I say to you, do not resist the evil one." From the same author. These things apply to the perceptible and to worldly matters; but concerning our sins, God needs no one. For He Himself is the overseer of all and the judge. Who is the man who is afraid? He who is engrossed in earthly things, building a house and planting vineyards, overcome by the lusts of the flesh, will surely be cowardly and weak. If someone has a disobedient son. He does not simply wish them to be put to death when they provoke their parents; but only when both parents agree against the child. For if the father becomes angry and moves to kill the son, the mother restrains him; and if she is provoked, the father does not allow it; and it will be rare for the parents to agree against their own child. God commands that when both agree against the child, then he is to be stoned—not by the parents, but by the rest. You shall not sow your vineyard with a different crop.

so that the land may not become too weak, neither yielding the seed in full nor the fruit of the vine, but each according to itself. You shall not plow with a calf and a donkey together. Do not yoke the proud and industrious spirit to the pleasure-loving and passionate one. Of the same. Isaiah again writes: "Blessed are those who sow upon every water." What water is it upon which one ought to sow the good seed? Let this be the baptism of salvation, the bath of regeneration. Sow upon the mystery of the bath, and you become blessed. There the ox and the donkey tread, the ox being the pure Israelite, and the donkey being impure by race, the one from the nations; so that both animals are a symbol of the word proclaimed to the nations. The ox and the donkey tread, it says, this water where we wish to sow. But if a child is a virgin betrothed to a man. He calls the woman already betrothed in this way, and it was said also of Joseph and the Theotokos. And unto eternity. Since these also are from fornication, from the daughters of Lot; not only until the tenth generation are they inadmissible to the synagogue of Israel, but also unto eternity. Thus he wishes their enmity to be everlasting; according to the meaning and the true cause of the divine Scripture, because they hired Balaam to curse the Hebrews, but also their own wives and daughters, as many as were beautiful in appearance and fair in form, they prostituted before the race, so as to give them for fornication to the Israelites, and through this they procured the most grievous fornication for the Hebrews.

This was to depart from God and to be initiated into Beelphegor, which indeed happened. You shall not take a mill or an upper millstone as a pledge. He says that a single stone cannot crush the grain; a mill is constructed as a twin, male and female. Since the Jews have only one testament, and likewise every heresy that thinks it alone holds this new one does not grind in this mill, so as to taste the heavenly bread. For, he says, if the grain is not crushed and ground, they remain without bread. From this, then, I myself, starting from this point, clarify the law at hand: "You shall not take a mill as a pledge," that is, you shall not profane the old nor cast it out of your house; "nor an upper millstone," that is, the new, "because this one pledges the soul," that is, the soul is nourished by these, enjoying spiritual foods. They shall scourge him with forty lashes. We have always observed that the number forty is afflictive; hence the great Moses fasted forty days, and after him Elijah; but also our Savior, when tempted by the devil, did not eat for forty days and forty nights; and the great flood upon the earth occurred, with God sending rain, for forty days and forty nights. You shall not apply iron to them. It must be inquired why he does not allow iron to touch the stones that are used for the construction of the altar.

But also after this, he commands to gather unhewn stones for the construction of the temple, and to build. For if it is improper for iron to touch the stone that fits for construction, how then were the columns worked? How then were the planks and their capitals worked? Or how were all the things made of bronze or gold or silver constructed without iron? And how is it possible? Through these things it is clear that he does not simply forbid iron to touch the stones. What then is the reason? We say, not insisting. These things then. To apply hard iron, how is it not rather to be forbidden to apply and clash hard things? For great evils are wont to be born from the mixing and clashing of hard things. Or he casts murder as far as possible from the heart of men, and justly so. For if it is not necessary to apply iron to the stone being built for the construction of the altar or the temple, how is it not rather to be forbidden to seize iron and to murder one's neighbor? These shall stand to bless the people. It must be observed that those appointed to bless were born from the free women and relatives of Jacob; thus those set apart to curse from Mount Gerizim were from the handmaids, except for Reuben and Zebulun. And Reuben is placed among those cursing, as also cursed by his father. And if he also cursed Levi, yet he himself is redeemed by the priestly dignity. For it is especially the priest's role to bless the people.

But also Symeon, having dwelt in the midst of the tribe of Judah and having become as it were a part of it, is for this reason numbered wherever Judah is. And this is the blessing which Moses blessed. The prophecies of Jacob were neither all blessings nor all curses; but those from Moses are all blessings. And he hastened from Mount Paran. That is, by no longer being called Israel, but by being from the nations, and he established the law. For this, "he hastened from Mount Paran," or "he ceased," which another scripture contains, meaning that he will diligently leave the shadow and reveal the truth to us. With the myriads of Kadesh. Now Kadesh does not mean the place, but the holy ones. For Kadesh is called holy in the Hebrew tongue. And he spared his people. That is, he saved by coming to those who were never peoples, but now are peoples of God, those who were not pitied, but now are pitied. "For in this," says the apostle Peter, "the love of God was manifested in us." And the holy John says in the Catholic Epistle that "God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." And the blessed Paul also says: "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for all of us." So he spared the people. And all the sanctified are under your hands. For he holds all, as king of heaven and earth. Standing before him as king, serving as God, worshipping as creator, and they are under him.

For he himself also subjected everything under his feet. The rulers of the peoples assembled. The divine disciples, as David also says from their perspective: "He subjected peoples to us, and nations under our feet." And again: "Rulers of peoples assembled with the God of Abraham." Thus it reveals the calling of the nations, as God is about to rule both Israel and the nations at the same time. "Beloved" is said of the Son. "For this is," it says, "my beloved Son." And for this reason the Father rules over us and reigns.