八書卷問答（創世記至路得記） 第 1 章 第 13/17 段

'If you remove the names of the Baals from your mouth, and swear, "As the Lord lives," in truth.'

And here too, having said, 'You shall fear the Lord your God, and serve him alone, and cleave to him, and swear by his name,' he added:

'You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the nations that are round about you.'

How is one to understand, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God'? The Lord himself interpreted this in the holy Gospels.

For when the devil had said, 'Throw yourself down from here,' he replied:

'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'

And one who acts recklessly, without reflection, tempts God.

Why in the world does the law forbid intermarriage with the neighboring foreign peoples? The law needs no clarification here.

For it says, 'they will turn your son away from me, and he will serve other gods.'

Necessarily, however, he also teaches them the cause of the divine care.

For it was not, he says, because you were more numerous than the nations that God preferred you, but because of the piety of your ancestors and the promise that had been made to them.

Then, showing the truth of this, he added:

That God is faithful, keeping covenant and mercy for those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.

And since they were immature, and needed milky food, and were unable to hear about the eternal goods, he promises them abundance of offspring, fruitfulness of the land, thriving flocks and herds, bodily health, victory in wars, and other such things.

Then again he reminded them of their sojourn in the wilderness, and taught them the reasons for it.

'For he afflicted you,' it says, 'and made you hunger, and fed you with manna, so that he might declare to you that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'

By these things, then, we too are taught not to be vexed when we fall into certain difficulties, but to embrace the divine dispensations, and to await the resolution of trials; and he also points out the other benefits:

'Your garments did not wear out on you, your feet did not become callused — behold, forty years.'

'And you shall know in your heart, that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you; and you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to fear him.'

After the trial comes consolation:

Together with discipline comes refreshment of soul:

Well-being of body, scarcity of necessities, and the durability of perishable garments and sandals.

Then he exhorts them, when they are victorious, not to ascribe the victory to their own strength, but to God who is their helper and champion.

Who does he mean by 'the sons of Anak'? They were descendants of giants, as the history teaches.

'A people great and tall, the sons of Anak, whom you know and of whom you have heard:'

'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?' Now he has inserted the phrase 'you know and have heard' in order to recall to their minds the words of those who had spied out that land.

For those men had said, 'We were in their sight like grasshoppers.'

Having thus put down their pride over bodily strength, he teaches them not to think highly of themselves even for the achievements of the soul.

'Do not say in your heart,' he says, 'that because of my righteous deeds the Lord has brought me in to inherit this good land.'

'For it is because of the impiety of these nations that the Lord will destroy them from before you; it is not because of your righteousness, nor because of the uprightness of your heart, that you go in to inherit the land.'

He said this, accomplishing two things at once: teaching them to be humble, and to ascribe everything to the help of God.

And foretelling that they would suffer the same things as those nations, if they should do similar things.

And opportunely he reminded them also of the transgressions committed in the wilderness, thereby confirming that word, that it is not because of their righteous deeds that they will inherit the land:

'Remember,' he said, 'and do not forget how much you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness.'

He brought up also the worship of the calf, and how, because of their impiety, he broke the tablets given by God.

And how, by offering earnest supplication, he propitiated God, who was exceedingly angry both against them and against Aaron:

'And the Lord was exceedingly angry with Aaron also, so as to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at that time.'

Having thus gone through the other events as well, he says:

'And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart?' And lest they should suppose that God legislates these things as though he needed sacrifices, he added:

'Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth and all that is in them.'

'Yet the Lord chose your fathers, to love them.'

'And he chose their seed after them, you, above all the nations.'

By these things we are taught that children enjoy good things because of the piety of their ancestors.

He also taught what kind of circumcision is pleasing to God:

'Circumcise, therefore,' he said, 'the hardness of your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.' And this was said to those who had not yet been circumcised in the foreskin.

For Joshua the son of Nun, after crossing the Jordan, circumcised them at Gilgal.

But nevertheless, even while they were still uncircumcised, he did not command that the foreskin be circumcised, but rather the hardness of heart and the stiff neck.

Therefore the circumcision of the heart is more precious.

This same accusation against them the Lord God also made through the prophet Jeremiah:

'For all the nations,' he said, 'are uncircumcised in flesh, but the house of Israel is uncircumcised in their hearts.'

How is this to be understood: 'For the Lord your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords'? He calls the judges 'gods':

'You shall not revile the gods,' it says, 'nor speak evil of a ruler of your people.'

And where the Seventy said 'you shall bring him to the tribunal,' those around Aquila and Symmachus translated 'you shall bring him to the gods,' calling the judges 'gods.'

He called him God of these 'gods' — not, of course, of the falsely-named ones.

And we have already explained these matters at greater length elsewhere.

How is this to be understood: 'You shall not do all that we do here today, each man whatever is right in his own eyes'? In all the places where they encamped, they offered sacrifices to the Lord God; before the tabernacle was constructed, they built altars out of natural, unhewn stones.

Performing their services, they did not perform these in one single place, but at every encampment.

Inasmuch as they spent a period of forty years in the wilderness.

He therefore forbids them to do similar things in the land of promise, lest they take occasion thereby to sacrifice to falsely-named gods.

He commands that the divine services be performed only in that one place which the Lord God shall choose.

He enjoins that both the sacrificing and the feasting take place in that place:

'The place,' it says, 'which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name be called there — there you shall bring all that I command you today: your whole burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands,' and so on.

The other translators rendered 'gifts' as 'voluntary offerings,' that is, whatever you are willing to offer of your own accord.

Then, having forbidden the offering of sacrifices in every place, he nevertheless permitted them, if they should desire to partake of meat, to do so in the cities in which they dwelt — the priest performing the slaughter, and the blood being poured out upon the ground.

He also commanded that the unclean person, together with the clean, might partake of such meats without distinction, teaching that such offerings are common, and not sacred.

For indeed it was not permitted for the unclean to partake of the [proper] sacrifices; hence he fittingly added:

'You shall eat it as a gazelle or a deer.'

These animals were indeed clean, but they were not offered as sacrifice.

And one part was to be offered to the Levites, while the other was to be sold, and its price spent on their own feasting and on the care of widows, orphans, and sojourners.

He commanded that they feast beside the divine temple.

These things the all-wise Lord legislated, in order to free them from the error of the falsely-named gods.

For since the teacher of impiety, enslaving the human race through gluttony and love of pleasure, had mixed many sportive amusements into the festivals of the demons, the resourceful Lord, in delivering Israel from that error, both legislated concerning the festivals, and permitted the sacrifices, and tolerated musical instruments, and ordained feasting — by such diversions cutting off the impiety of idols.

Why on earth does he continually forbid the eating of blood? The lawgiver himself said that its blood is its life.

Nevertheless, I think the law is also accomplishing another purpose.

For it heals their murderous disposition; for if to eat the blood of irrational animals is to eat life, much more unholy is it to separate the rational soul from the body.

By what power does the prophet who teaches contrary things work wonders? The demons operate by God's permission.

Thus also Pharaoh's magicians accomplished the sign of the rod, and that of the river, and that of the frogs:

The all-wise God having permitted it, on account of the folly of him who gave the command.

For he [Pharaoh] commanded them to intensify the God-sent plagues, but they were not able to remove the punishments, nor indeed were they able to bring forth the gnats.

For they wrought only the things which God permitted.

This too he has shown here.

For having said, ‘If there arise among you a prophet, or one who dreams a dream, and he give a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass which he spoke to you,’

‘and he says, Let us go and serve other gods, whom you have not known,’

‘you shall not listen to that prophet or to him who dreams that dream, for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind’ —

accordingly, it is by God's permission that the false prophet works wonders.

And we are taught not to heed signs whenever the one performing them teaches things contrary to piety.

He also commanded that the false prophet be put to death, and that the people be delivered from his wicked teaching.

For he says, ‘Put away the evil one from among yourselves.’

And since it happened that a brother, or friend, or kinsman, having become enslaved to error, would attempt to deceive others as well, he necessarily made law concerning this too, and ordained that the teacher of impiety be made manifest, and that the one who had listened to such words should be the first to cast a stone;

then thus all the people should stone the wretch to death, so that by his punishment the others might be brought to their senses.

What is meant by, ‘You shall not gash yourselves, nor make a baldness between your eyes for the dead’? He forbids the customs of the impious nations;

and by the words, ‘you shall not gash yourselves,’ he cast out divinations.

For they called the Pythian, the false diviner, ‘Phoebus.’

and by the words, ‘you shall not make baldness between your eyes for the dead,’ he forbade excess in mourning.

For some of the foreign nations used to shear off the hair of their heads and offer it to the dead;

others, the hair of their beards; others, that of their eyebrows.

The divine law forbade these things to be done.

That he ordered two tithes of everything to be set apart, he has clearly shown here — that he legislated for the people to bring two tithes, one for the Levites, and one for the account of hospitality and feasting.

For he says, ‘You shall surely tithe a tenth of all the produce of your seed;’

‘the produce of your field, year by year;’

‘and you shall eat it before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God shall choose for his name to be called upon there.’

But if there were only one tithe, how could both the Levites receive it and those who brought it feast on it? It is clear, then, that he assigned one tithe to the Levites, and another to the feasting of those who offered it.

This is also shown by what follows.

For he says, ‘If the way is too far for you, sell it, and taking the price, go to that place which the Lord your God shall choose, and give the silver for whatever your soul desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for anything that your soul desires;’

‘and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, you and your household, and the Levite who is in your cities, because he has no portion or inheritance with you.’

Then he legislates concerning what is owed to be given to the Levites.

‘After three years, you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year;’

‘and you shall lay it up within your cities, and the Levite shall come, because he has no portion or inheritance with you;’

‘and the sojourner, and the orphan, and the widow who are in your cities shall come and eat and be filled, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands that you do.’

One should know that Josephus, taking his starting-point from this — or rather, also knowing the custom of the Jews, being himself a Jew — said that the law prescribed three tithes to be offered: one for the Levites, one for the orphans and widows, and another for the feasting of those who offered it.

What is the reason for the unleavened bread? The law itself has taught us.

For it says, ‘Seven days you shall eat the bread of affliction, because you came out of Egypt in haste.’

We have already spoken sufficiently about this too, when interpreting Exodus.

What is meant by, ‘You shall pursue justice justly’? According to the aim proper to what is just, he says — not for empty glory, not to court human favor, but for the sake of the good itself.

For there are some who in their intention do not honor justice, but on account of those who truly honor justice, pretend to honor it.

What is meant by, ‘If a matter is too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between stroke and stroke,’ and so forth? If, he says, in giving judgment you are unable to find the truth, or in examining the body afflicted with leprosy,

and cannot discern whether it is a scab or leprosy,

instruct the priest about it, or the one entrusted at that time with the leadership of the people, and fulfill what is commanded.

If, then, anyone out of arrogance should contradict what is said by the high priest or the judge, let him be punished with death, and let him become a model of benefit for others.

Why does he command that the ruler should not multiply horses? He wishes them to trust in God alone.

‘A king is not saved by a great army, nor shall a giant be saved by the abundance of his strength.’

‘A horse is a false hope for safety, and by the abundance of its strength it shall not save.’

For this reason he ordained that she should have a period of thirty days for mourning, and then, having thus been released from her mourning, partake of the marital union.

And besides this, he also restrains that man's desire, commanding that not the passion of pleasure, but reason, should govern the union.

And if, after the union, he should reject the marriage, he ordained that she be set free, receiving freedom as the wage of that union.

For it often happens that, when the father accuses in vain, the mother contradicts him, or when the mother lays blame, the father contradicts her.

But when both accuse of the same things, the truth of the accusation will be evident.

For this reason he commands that the one thus accused be put to death.

Why does he command that the one who has found the young of birds should take these, but let the parents go? He is teaching humanity.

For if he should take the parents and leave the young, they would certainly perish, there being no one to feed them.

But if he should catch both the one and the other, the race of birds would evidently be destroyed, should everyone do the same.

For what reason did he command that a parapet be made for the roof? What follows explains it.

For it says, ‘and you shall not bring bloodguilt upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.’

For having honored us with reason, he wishes us to make proper use of it, and to take forethought for everything, and not foolishly to leave everything to God;

but, while contributing our own part, to await the help that comes from him.

Thus, when we sow, we do not put our trust in the earth, but wait for the divine loving-kindness;

and when we make use of physicians, we know that it is God who heals through them.

For the art can do only as much as the one who gave it wills.

What is meant by, ‘You shall not sow your vineyard with diverse seed, lest the produce be made holy, both the seed which you sow and the produce of your vineyard’?

He both cuts off greed, and takes forethought for the farmers themselves.

For the earth, receiving too many seeds, produces feeble fruits.

He therefore commands neither to cast down mixed seeds, nor indeed to sow them among the vines.

Then he imposes a penalty on the transgressor, punishing his desire for gain.

For he commanded that such things be offered up to him.

Hence he also called her ‘wife.’

For it says, ‘he humbled the wife of his neighbor.’

Thus also the holy Virgin was called the wife of Joseph.

For it says, ‘Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife.’

For fruitlessness in good works is alien to God.

Moreover, he forbids such things to be done not only in the case of men, but also in the case of cattle.

For the generative organs were fashioned for the increase of the race.

And just as he forbids barrenness, so too he casts out the evil fruit.

for, it says, 'One born of harlotry shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord.'

Why on earth does he forbid intermarriage with the Moabites and the Ammonites—not for some fixed period, but forever? First, because of their unlawful root:

for they were begotten of an unlawful union.

Then, because of the impiety in which they also caused the Israelites to share, adorning their women and thereby ensnaring the Israelites into the worship of idols.

The Edomite, however, and the Egyptian, he commands to be admitted after the third generation:

the one as a brother, the other as one who had proved a benefactor in a time of need.

For when famine fell, their fathers went into Egypt and were nourished there; the law thus teaches us not to forget even an ancient kindness.

What is meant by, 'the Lord your God walks about in your camp'? It is known that the air, when filled with foul stench, often produces pestilence.

He therefore commanded them, while encamped, to bury the excrement that was discharged.

And so that they might not disobey and thereby incur harm, he necessarily added:

'that the Lord your God walks about in your camp,' and he teaches the reason:

'to deliver you and give up your enemy before your face.'

By this he teaches them to do nothing unlawful.

'And your camp shall be holy, and there shall not be found in you the shame of anything indecent.'

What is meant by 'the initiator,' 'the man initiated,' and 'the woman initiated'? Just as we call 'the faithful' those who partake of the divine mysteries, so the nations called 'the initiated' those who were taught the mysteries of certain demons.

He therefore calls the one who leads another into the mysteries 'the initiator,' and the one who is led in 'the one being initiated.'

What is meant by, 'you shall keep what proceeds out of your lips'? When you make a promise to God, regard the promise as a debt; be diligent, then, to pay it promptly.

'You shall not delay to pay your vow, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it will be sin for you.'

Then, teaching that it lies within the authority of one's own will whether to make a vow or not, he added:

'But if you do not wish to vow, it shall not be sin for you.'

'I will pay you my vows, which my lips uttered and my mouth spoke in my affliction.'

Again, having laid down the law concerning leprosy, he recalled the case of Miriam, saying:

'Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way'—teaching that the plague was sent by God, and that God brought it upon them when they sinned.

And again, when they repented, he made it cease.

Moreover, he also resolved the ambiguity concerning the threat regarding children.

'Fathers shall not die for their children, nor children for their fathers;'

'each shall die for his own sin.'

For it is likely that fathers may counsel their children in what is beneficial,

yet profit nothing because of the children's disobedience;

and that children may turn out better than their fathers.

Why on earth, though God commanded that the offender receive forty stripes, do the Jews inflict one stripe fewer? Because a greater number dishonors the one being flogged:

'for if they add to beat him further, your brother will be dishonored before you.'

They give one stripe fewer, so that, in keeping the exact number, they might not unintentionally dishonor the one being struck by inflicting one stripe too many.

What is meant by, 'You shall not muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain'? The divine apostle has clearly taught us the meaning of its higher, allegorical sense;

yet the plain, literal sense is itself also pious:

for it is unjust that the one who plowed the ground and cut the sheaves with toil should not share in the fruit.

Why on earth does he command that the man who is unwilling to marry the wife of his childless brother be spat upon? By this he imposed on them, through the shame of it, the necessity of brotherly love, for it would have been better for a man to provide for the deceased out of natural affection alone;

but since not everyone reveres the law of nature, he imposed upon them the compulsion of disgrace.

though descended from them, they were the first to undertake war against Israel, even though Israel was still far off and had not approached their borders.

Again he taught more clearly, in that he ordained that two tithes be set apart:

'And when you have finished tithing all the tithe of the produce of your land, in the third year, you shall give the second tithe to the Levite, the sojourner, the widow, and the orphan, and they shall eat within your cities and be satisfied.'

That the prophet did not deliver this teaching to the people in a single day, this too makes clear:

'For Moses,' it says, 'and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying:'

'Keep and do all these commandments that I command you today.'

Then the Lord God commanded that, after crossing the Jordan, two great stones be set up and plastered with lime, and these commandments inscribed upon them:

then, out of natural, unhewn stones, to build an altar on Mount Ebal, and to offer the prescribed sacrifices;

and, besides the others, the peace-offering as a kind of thank-offering;

and after this, to feast, hymning God their benefactor.

Why on earth did he subject them to curses and blessings? The Lord Christ, when he brought perfect teachings to the perfect, promised the kingdom of heaven to those who fulfill them, but threatened gehenna to those who transgress them;

but to the Jews, who possessed a mindset that groveled low and clung to earthly things, he apportioned curses and blessings suited to the earth.

For those who did not even believe the wonders they saw with their own eyes—how would they have accepted the things pertaining to the life to come? It should also be noted that he assigned the blessings to the tribes sprung from the freeborn wives, and here reckoned the priestly tribe together with the people, and ordained that the tribe of Joseph, although it was double, be blessed as one.

but the curses he allotted to the tribes of the half-servile mothers:

assigning to them, for the sake of the number of the tribes, Reuben and Zebulun,

the one as having fallen into sin, the other as the youngest of the sons of Leah.

He commanded that, before all others, a curse be pronounced upon those who are impious toward the divine and who worship images made by human hands;

then upon those who transgress against their parents,

for after what pertains to the divine, it is right to honor those through whom we were brought into being.

then upon those who mock those deprived of sight, and who attempt to lead them astray from the straight path;

and, in short, upon those who transgress the aforesaid commandments.

And when the priests said these things, he commanded the people to respond, 'So be it.'

receiving this utterance from them as though it were a kind of signature upon a contract.

But to those who keep the divine commandments he gave manifold blessings: to those dwelling in the cities and villages, good offspring, many children, abundant increase of flocks and herds, the fruitfulness of the earth, a life spent in peace, and victory in wars;

and to the bodily blessings he added also a spiritual one: 'that the Lord may raise you up for himself as a holy people, as he swore to your fathers.'

And he added also this qualification:

'if you shall hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways.'

For these things, some seeing them and others hearing of them, will be afraid, considering the divine care of which you partake.

As for 'to become the head and not the tail,' he means one who rules, and not one who serves.

And you shall then be above, and not below.

Then again he brings forth the curses, having the opposite of the aforementioned blessings: barrenness, ill fortune, want, diseases, misery, famine, plague, war, defeat, drought, and the earth's unfruitfulness.

For this is what the iron earth signifies, and the bronze heaven.

Then follow the things that happen during a siege:

"You shall take a wife, and another man shall have her;"

"You shall build a house, and not dwell in it;"

"You shall plant a vineyard, and not gather its grapes;"

"Your calf shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat of it" — and what follows carries the same meaning as these.

enslavements, and the harshest of all things:

"The stranger," he says, "who is among you, shall rise above you higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower."

By these words he hints at the piety of the nations, and foretold to them their own unbelief, as well as the siege brought about by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Macedonians, and finally the siege brought about by the Romans, together with the calamities of that siege.

"For," he said, "you shall eat the offspring of your own womb, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the distress and the affliction with which your enemy will afflict you" — and the other things which, after experiencing this, the prophet Jeremiah recorded when he composed his Lamentations.

And he threatened them not only with these things, but also that he would bring upon them many times greater punishments still, if they transgressed the divine commandments.

He also threatened them with the slavery of the Egyptians, of which, having had experience, they kept a vivid memory.

"For those who enslave you," he says, "these are the very ones who will sell you."

These curses and blessings he had not given to the fathers of these people.

This book, then, contains a certain teaching that is new in comparison with the others.

The prophet also indicated this.

For having completed his discourse concerning the curses and the blessings, he added:

"These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to establish with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb."

For since he was about to lead them into the land he had promised, he necessarily both urges them on by promises of good things, and terrifies them by threats of punishments, and sets in motion every means for the healing of their souls.