Книга четвертая

1. It is true that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). For the sons of iniquity attack them like wild beasts, considering the glory of those who are accustomed to live the right as if for some guilt and condemnation of their bad way of life. The worst is always, as it were, exposed by the application of the best to it, and what has the highest dignity almost exposes the ugliness of the worst. So what follows from this? The arrows of envy rise and the fire of indignation ignites in the vanquished - the beginning of rage and a reason for dishonesty against those who have decided to live as best as possible. However, the latter, perhaps, will be in dangers and labors, but will not be completely captured by enemies, because the Primate of the saints will not at all despise those exposed to dangers for Him. On the contrary, He will deliver them, and very easily, and will show them more glorious than before, making their feat an exercise in patience for them. The divine Paul will also agree with this, who wrote: “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but when you are tempted he will also make way for it, so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). And those themselves who have been exposed to dangers, and who have courageously endured the hardships of persecution, exclaim in the book of Psalms: “You have tested us, O God, you have refined us, as silver is refined. You have brought us into a net, you have put fetters on our loins, you have placed a man on our head. We entered fire and water, and You brought us out to freedom” (Ps. 65:10-12). Do you hear how easily they can endure what they are experiencing? They even rejoice, being declared winners, having been known through the very test of what they are, and through patience witnessed in their high love for God. For they say that they passed through the fire; because just as the most famous of incense, when exposed to the action of fire, reveal their characteristic fragrance, so the holy soul, exposed in some way to the action of fire through temptation and labor, presents a clearer proof of the manifold virtue inherent in it. However, the divine David sings and says about every saint that “The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them” (Ps. 33:8). And on the other hand, the Giver of help himself clearly says: “Because he knew My name. He will call to Me, and I will hear him; I am with him in sorrow; I will deliver him and glorify him, I will satisfy him with long days, and I will show him My salvation” (Ps. 90:14-16). What kind of salvation is this of God and the Father? This is God the Word who came from Him, who for our sake carefully became like us and appeared in the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7). This is what the Father called Him and through Isaiah said: “And the nations will see your righteousness, and all the kings will see My glory.” “and his salvation is like a burning lamp” (Is. 62:2,1). The Son became for us righteousness and glory from God the Father, and also salvation; because in Him we are justified and raised to the glory of sonship (fn.: Rom. 3:24; Rom. 8:15). And that we are saved by Him, having escaped the bonds of death and ascending to incorruption, how or why could one doubt? The Son appeared to us as a luminary in the night and in the darkness, emitting Divine light into the souls of believers. That is why He said: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). So, that according to the words of the Savior himself, “blessed are those who were persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (Matthew 5:10), because they will have an inheritance in heaven and will have the God of all and the Savior as their protector, they will also see the very mystery of Christ, anyone can easily understand this from what happened to blessed Jacob. What has been written about him, I think, would be appropriate to offer to readers for a more precise understanding. It is written like this: “And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are approaching, and I will kill Jacob my brother. And the words of Esau her eldest son were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called her youngest son Jacob, and said to him: Behold, Esau your brother threatens to kill you; and now, my son, listen to my words, get up, run... to Laban, my brother, in Haran, and stay with him for a while, until your brother’s wrath is satisfied, until your brother’s anger against you is satisfied, and he forgets what you did to him: then I will send and take you from there; Why should I lose both of you in one day?” (Gen. 27, 41–45). Then she came up with a plausible excuse for her son to leave and, coming to Isaac, said: “I am not happy with life from the daughters of the Hittites; If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of the Hittites, such as these are, from the daughters of this land, then what need is my life?” (Gen. 27, 46). So that blessed Jacob does not make his removal undesirable for his father, and is not the culprit of his grief and anger, the wife skillfully convinces the elder to allow his son to leave. For “Isaac called Jacob, - it is said, and blessed him, and commanded him and said: do not take yourself a wife from the daughters of Canaan; get up, go to Mesopotamia, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother; May Almighty God bless you, make you fruitful and multiply you, and may there be from you a multitude of nations, and may he give you the blessing of Abraham..., to you and to your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land of your wanderings, which God gave to Abraham!” (Genesis 28:1–4). 2. So, as for the literal meaning and what is shown by history, Rebecca herself and blessed Isaac deserve no little surprise. For she brought a prayer to her husband, as a higher person, I mean a prayer for a son; and this one immediately made the law of nature the manager of what was to be fulfilled and commanded the son to abstain from marriage that was undesirable for the mother, in some way persuading the son born of him and piously raised to follow in the footsteps of his father’s virtue. And truly we will find the divine Jacob everywhere, obeying the commands of his parents and presenting clear and undoubted proof of his piety. As for the spiritual meaning, I think we need to return again to the inner path and propose to recall what was said before, because in this way our speculation will be very clear. Even before she experienced the pains of birth, when she was carrying in her womb the twin sons who would be born from her, Rebekah, with great difficulty and even with mortal fear, accepted as a bad omen that the babies were playing very immoderately inside her. Then she asks God what this would mean and says: “If this is so, then why do I need this? And she went to ask the Lord. The Lord said to her: Two nations are in your womb, and two different nations will come out of your womb; one nation will become stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger” (Gen. 25, 22–23). So, we will take Esau and Jacob as prototypes of two nations, Israel and the one that came into being through faith. But “Esau, it is said, hated Jacob” (Gen. 27:41), because he was deprived of honorable advantages, having sold his birthright and transferred his honor to another, and also because the second brought his father the spoils he had caught while hunting, and was deceived about the blessing. By; This is why he began to harbor wild intentions and plot murder against his brother, whom he envied. In a similar way, the firstborn Israel was also hostile and terribly angry at the believers and those who came after him, that is, at the new people, because this too was in the first place with God, was considered in the position of the firstborn and was filled with blessings from above, having been enriched with grace in Christ through the Spirit. Thus Israel attacked those who were in Christ through faith; and as for his intentions and attempts, he also became a cruel murderer, committing persecutions and stinging with arrows of envy. But Rebekah urged Jacob to leave the house, move away from his brother and go to Laban, a man who was an idolater. And the divine Isaac himself, the father of Jacob, exhorted the latter to refrain from marrying a Canaanite woman, but on the contrary, try to make one of Laban’s daughters his concubine. Likewise, the Church, of which Rebecca may be a prototype, prudently advises the new people exposed to dangers and persecuted to avoid the wrath of those who kill. And her fiancé himself, that is, Christ, seems to agree with her, commanding her to avoid spiritual kinship with those who are inflamed with ungodly anger and plotting wild murder (marriage serves as a sign of kinship), but, on the contrary, to prefer those who come from the house of Laban, that is, from the pagans. We will find that the holy Apostles, who were the firstfruits of believers and new nations, tried to carefully fulfill what was commanded to Jacob, because they too were moving away from the crowd of Jews who were plotting murder against them. They wisely tried to move away from the wrath of their persecutors, changing countries and cities: for they recalled the command and words of Christ: “When they persecute you in one city, flee to another” (Matthew 10:23). And to those from the tribe of Israel, who did not want to believe and treated them with merciless cruelty, they addressed the following speech: “You should have been the first to preach the word of God, but since you reject it and make yourselves unworthy of eternal life, then, behold, we turn to the pagans. For thus the Lord commanded us” (Acts 13:46–47). Do you hear how the Bridegroom of the Church, that is, Christ, commanded his disciples to retire to the company of the Hellenes and there produce children and appear as fathers of nations? Therefore, the wise Paul writes to those among the Gentiles who believed through him in his Epistle, saying: “For although you have thousands of instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers; I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). And that God will be with the believing people and will abundantly bless them, this can be shown, and very easily, by the divine Isaac, Jacob, moving away from his parents’ house, crowning with blessings from above and saying: “May Almighty God bless you, make you fruitful and multiply you, and may there be from you a multitude of nations, and may He give you the blessing of your Abraham” (Gen. 28:3-4). For blessed are those who are in Christ, who have grown greatly, become a multitude and a collection of languages, and have been made joint heirs with the holy Fathers. They “will lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,” according to the words of the Savior Himself (Matthew 8:11). On the other hand, we also receive a blessing from Him, because He said about us: “Holy Father, keep them” in Thy truth (John 17:11, 17). But if we also understand Esau’s mother, Rebekah, in a spiritual sense, then this will not harm our speculations in the least. For we took Esau to be a type of the Israelites; Rebekah was given the importance of the Church. But the Israelites themselves became sons of the Church through faith in Christ, no longer counted among the old and ancient people, but, on the contrary, transformed into a new one, mixed with those who came from the pagans, therefore “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Christ created two peoples “in order to create in Himself one new man out of two, establishing the world,” according to the Scriptures (Eph. 2:15), reconciling “both... and bringing them to the Father, in one Spirit He destroyed and abolished the law of commandments by teaching” (Eph. 2:16, 18, 15). 3. So, having been encouraged by his father’s blessings, Jacob set off on the journey planned in advance. And what then Happened to him, we can learn about this from the Holy Scriptures themselves. It is written like this: “And Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran, and came to a certain place, and stayed there to spend the night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place, and put it at his head, and lay down in that place. And I saw in a dream: behold, a ladder stands on the ground, and its top touches the sky; and behold, the angels of God ascend and descend on it. And behold, the Lord stands on it and says: I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac.... The land on which you lie will I give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants will be like the sand of the earth; and you will spread to the sea, and to the east, and to the north, and to the noonday; and in you and in your seed all families of the earth will be blessed; and behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go; and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you. Jacob awoke from his sleep and said: Truly the Lord is present in this place; but I didn’t know! And he was afraid and said: How terrible is this place! this is nothing other than the house of God, this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob arose early in the morning, and took the stone which he had put at his head, and set it up as a monument, and poured oil on the top of it” (Gen. 28:10-18). So, the name of the city, we say, was: “Birsheba” (Oath Storehouse), because this is what is written about it: “On the same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they were digging, and they said to him: we have found water. And he named him: Shiva. Therefore the name of that city is Beersheba... to this day" (Gen. 26:32-33). And why it is called the “treasury of oaths”, we will also tell you about that, if anyone wants to know. There the leaders of Gerar and Abimelech and those who were with him swore an oath of peace with Isaac. So, the divine Jacob leaves his father’s house and the city itself and moves away from his family. Therefore, he began to become terribly despondent; for he imagined, as was natural, that he would be a stranger and a stranger and would live in a foreign land. Perhaps he will have to obey others and take upon himself the unusual yoke of slavery; because it will be necessary to cede power to those who have and are very noble. But God, who knows “hearts and bellies” (Ps. 7:10), immediately provides help and does not allow the soul of the righteous to be suppressed by such grave despondency. He showed that many Angels ascending and descending easily save the devotees of God. For this, I think, is what Jacob was taught through dreams: he sensually contemplated the ladder leading to heaven. And it was a sign of descent and ascent, although it was depicted in rough images. He also heard the voice of one who commanded the Angels and said that the blessing given to him from his father would pass on to him. “And you will spread to the sea, and to the east, and to the north, and to the noonday; and they will be blessed in you and in your seed” (Gen. 28:14). He also said that he himself would be his protector and savior everywhere. Rising from sleep, the divine Jacob was greatly surprised and said: “Truly the Lord is present in this place; but I didn’t know!” (Gen. 28:16). But what did he want to mean by this? How was this not worthy of knowing? Among the ancients we find only completely insignificant opinions about God. They thought that the Divinity left every other land, but was confined, as it were, only in that one land to which they were called from Him, leaving their homes and rising from the land of the Chaldeans. since the idolaters, suffering from the delusion of polytheism, assigned each of the demons, as it were, their own country and, almost making the demons worshiped in every city tyrants, assumed that they could not all be everywhere and should not be revered everywhere: then the blessed patriarchs, only recently freed from the customs of idolatry and from the delusion of polytheism, and taught to worship the One True and by the nature of God, not yet having perfect thoughts about God, they thought that He was not in every land and not in every place present with them and protecting them. So, Jacob was taught and, as the fruit of his exile from his native country, had faith; for I learned that the Divine is present in every place and in every country, and that although He dwells in heaven, he nevertheless embraces the whole earth and fills the universe, and that everything is subordinate to Him, and the heavenly spirits, receiving from Him the command to ascend to heaven and descend from there, have Him as their head and commander. That is why Jacob was surprised, saying: “The Lord is present in this place; but I didn’t know!” (Gen. 28:16). Thinking that the stone had become the culprit of those dreams, he honored it too by pouring oil on it. And “the house of God, this is the gate of heaven” called this place and “took a stone... and set it up as a monument” (Gen. 28:17-18). 4. And again let us say this in the rougher sense of the stories. But it had to make subtle what in history seems rough. Transferring what was proposed to spiritual contemplation, we will again say that the new and believing people, contemplating as if in the firstfruits - in the holy Apostles, tried very hard to avoid and move away from the wrath of those who kill, I mean the Jews. Moving, as it were, from city to city, he betrothed pagan societies to himself and really wanted to gather them to himself through spiritual and mental communication, just as Jacob strove for the daughters of Laban when Esau struck fear into him and attempted to commit a savage murder on him. When the believing people rested in Christ, who is “the tested stone, the cornerstone, the precious” (Isa. 28:16; cf.: Ps. 117:22; Matt. 21:42) - for this, I think, means that Jacob slept on the stone - then we are taught that only believers will not be alone on earth, but will have holy Angels as allies and helpers, ascending to heaven and descending from there. Christ himself said in one place: “Truly, truly, I say to you, from now on you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (John 1:51). This, I think, means the ladder along which the holy spirits ascended and descended, “sent out to minister to those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). Christ is established on the ladder, and it is as if the holy spirits reach Him and have Him as their Head, not as one similar to them, but as God and Lord. David also said in one place about every person who decided to live in the help of the Most High: “For he will command his angels about you - to guard you in all your ways: they will carry you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone; you will step on the asp and basilisk; You will trample on the lion and the dragon" (Ps. 90:11-13). For we have trampled on serpents and scorpions and are advancing against all the power of the enemy, according to the authority given by Christ. So those who are in Christ are worthy of both the vision of God and the bold hope that He will be with them and protect them, and save them everywhere, and show them fruitful. “And behold, I am,” He says, “with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28, 20). And that the blessed disciples were enriched and became fathers of countless nations, I mean in faith in Christ and, as it were, in a spiritual birth, this is clear to everyone when Paul clearly says to those who believed through Him: “For although you have thousands of instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers; I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). So their seed became equal to the sand; it spread to the east, and to the west, and to the right, and to the left, I mean the south and the north. But there was also a stone, as if in a type of Christ, revered and placed in a pillar, and doused with oil. For Emmanuel was anointed by God and the Father “with the oil of joy more than his fellows” (Ps. 44:8). He was also raised from the dead, although He descended by will even to death. And this, I think, means that the stone was placed in a pillar. It is also preached through the holy Apostles as our Lord Jesus Christ, anointed by the Father in the Holy Spirit and raised from the dead, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. 1. What is best and most pleasing to God is that we strive for Divine words and most of all thirst to learn something useful; who could doubt this? And that this matter is worthy of all attention and will lead us to a useful end, the Savior himself convinces us of this, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for good pearls, who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46). So, we need to first look for “good pearls,” because in this way we will find a single and valuable pearl, that is, Christ. And who could be good pearls, the possession of which is worthy of attention and the search for which leads to the finding of that one (bead, pearl), I would say, in any case and in every way - the saints, about whom it was said through the mouth of the prophet that “like stones in a crown, they will shine on the earth” (Zechariah 9:16). So, we must examine very carefully what was said and done in relation to each of the ancients in particular. For in them we will see the deep mystery of piety, that is, Christ, wisely and skillfully depicted as if in images. And besides, we will find in Him an intelligible economy, although hidden by some obscurity, but not entirely obscure in its indication. Therefore, even now what has been said about the divine Jacob will be presented to our study, and it will also be said about how and in what manner he lived. And we will show the image of the entire economy, I mean the Gospel, as if in it, like bees flying around the most flowering branches of history, and what is useful on each of them, collecting for the explanation of our speech. If not everything written about him is subject to speculation, then let no one therefore be in difficulty, taking into account the fact that one in some way belongs to what actually happened historically, and the other has an inner meaning and is transformed into the power of the sacrament. 2. So, it is also written as follows: “And Jacob arose and went into the land of the children of the east.... And he saw: behold, in the field there was a well, and there were three herds of flocks lying near it, because from that well the flocks were watered. There was a large stone above the mouth of the well. When all the flocks had gathered there, they rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep; then they again put the stone in its place, at the mouth of the well. Jacob said to them...: my brothers! where are you from? They said: We are from Haran. He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” They said: we know. He also said to them: Is he well? They said: Long live; and behold, Rachel his daughter walked with the sheep. And he said...: behold, there is still a lot of day; this is not the time to gather livestock; water the sheep and go and shepherd. They said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the well.” then we will water the sheep. While he was still talking to them, Rachel came... with her father's flock, because she was tending.... When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came up, rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well, and watered the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept. And Jacob told Rachel that he was related to her father and that he was the son of Rebekah. And she ran and told her father... Laban, hearing about Jacob, his sister's son, ran out to meet him, embraced him and kissed him, and brought him into his house; and he told Laban all this. Laban said to him, “Truly you are my bone and my flesh.” And Jacob lived with him for a whole month” (Gen. 29:1-14). Only after this extraordinary vision of God and revelation (he saw a ladder reaching to heaven, and the Lord standing on it, and Angels ascending and descending, he heard clearly that God would be with him and spread his seed to an immeasurable multitude of nations), and only after he placed a stone in a pillar in the image of Christ, only then did he boldly and with firm hope in God regarding the future rush to the goal of his journey to a foreign country and set off to the land that lies to the east. And immediately upon arriving there he made himself known to many shepherds, since he himself was one of the very experienced shepherds. And that this was a familiar matter to him is clear from his words: “This is not the time to gather cattle; water the sheep and go and feed” (Gen. 29:7). He also becomes known to Laban’s daughter, revealing to her, as it were, the first fruit and the firstfruits of his characteristic good character in that he took care of the sheep she grazed and gave them water. For he, as one brought up in the best rules of life, naturally understood that it would be completely indecent for Rachel, who was a maiden and, moreover, in marriage, to wait for a meeting of the shepherds, so that after they had moved the stone, she could water the sheep, yielding to others both because of weakness and because of the modesty befitting a maiden. On the other hand, the law of love encouraged him to provide something useful to those related to him by blood and close to him. So he watered Rachel's sheep, one by one rolling away the stone from the well. At the same time, we must remember that the divine Moses, fleeing from the country of Egypt, arrived in the country of the Midianites; then, having met with the shepherds and finding Jethro’s daughters insulted by them, he made himself known through the same acts of love for mankind. It is written about him like this: “Moses fled from Pharaoh and stopped in the land of Midian, and... sat down by a well. The priest of Midian [had] seven daughters.... They came and drew water and filled troughs to water their father's sheep.... And the shepherds came and drove them away. Then Moses stood up and defended them... and watered their sheep. And they came to their father Raguel, and he said...: why did you come so quickly today? They said: some Egyptian protected us from the shepherds, and even drew water for us and watered the sheep.... He said to his daughters: where is he? why did you leave him? call him and let him eat bread. Moses liked to live with this man” (Ex. 2:15–21). So, you understand how related in some way the thoughts of both (Jacob and Moses) are and how similar is what they mean. It was the divine Moses, having eliminated the violence and resentment on the part of the other shepherds, who drew water and watered Jethro’s flocks. And Jacob alone rolled away the stone, although many usually did this, and even then not without difficulty, and in the same way he watered Laban’s cattle. And just as Moses entered the house of the man who was an idolater, so did the divine Jacob, because Laban was still an idolater and an idolater. since our word has already attributed to Jacob the face and image of the believing peoples, we will now speak about the inner and hidden, removing the outer veil from history. 3. “The generation to come,” according to the words of the Psalmist (Ps. 101:19), can, I think, be none other than new and in Christ, that is, a people who, through faith, are elevated to the dignity of the firstborn, after the first, Israel, was rejected and fell. For the one who was the head turned out to be the tail (cf. Deut. 28:13), that is, the predominant one, and the one who was known before others in relation to the calling is now called the subsequent one, since the Israelites are placed behind and come after the pagans. Thus, the people who are in Christ through faith are truly troublemakers and are considered in the same position as the divine Jacob. As the firstfruits of this kind, we can understand the face of the holy Apostles, who were from the tribe and family of Israel; when they were enriched with faith in Christ and, as if with a certain crown, adorned with the grace of the Holy Spirit, they began to be insulted by their relatives. Therefore, they leave those who kill them and those who feel wild rage towards them, and almost rising from their father’s house and from their very native land, I mean Jerusalem, or the country of Judea, they turn their feet to the country of the pagans, having Christ as a helper and accomplice in all good things, and Angels accompanying them, confirmed in their hopes for Heavenly things and expecting that they will be the fathers of “many nations” (Gen. 17:4), and that they will spread to to the east and west, to the north and south are their seed, that is, those who are regenerated through faith in the Spirit and justified in Christ. It was to these latter that they appealed, saying: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people, to proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; once not a people, but now the people of God” in Christ (1 Pet. 2:9-10). And that “fathers of nations” in the Divine Scripture are called those who are appointed to teach them, who could doubt this? So, they withdrew from the land of Judea and, leaving an arrogant and insolent people, turned to the pagans, according to the commandment of our Savior (Matthew 28:19). But that they are spiritual shepherds and people knowledgeable in guiding God, this they show immediately, not allowing themselves to be inactive in what was most appropriate for them; for they immediately offer the word of teaching about Christ and persuade them to do what can be beneficial, as undoubtedly the divine Jacob made it clear to the shepherds from Harran that he himself was a shepherd, saying: “Behold, there is still a lot of day; this is not the time to gather livestock; water the sheep and go and feed” (Gen. 29:7). Do you hear how he orders the shepherds to feed their sheep? The wise disciple commanded the presbyters of the people or bishops to do the same. “Shepherds...,” he says, “I beseech you, a fellow shepherd and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a sharer in the glory that is about to be revealed: feed the flock of God that is among you” of Christ (1 Pet. 5:1-2). Having dispersed throughout the countries and cities, they commanded the peoples to appoint many other shepherds and to take care of the verbal sheep, and to feed them, as it were, on good pasture and in a rich place, and to lead them, as it were, to the most flowering grass—to the God-breathed Scripture; because the word of God is food sufficient for the life of the soul. So, let the following be shown to spiritual shepherds: take care of the greenery in the field, mow the grass and gather hay in due time, so that you may have sheep for clothing. But the Divine disciples in another sense were teachers of the nations, bringing to their listeners much more true instruction than that which their own shepherds, that is, the sages and teachers, gave them. And that they were also stronger and more superior than those, anyone can very easily find out by paying attention to the following: the stone on the treasure trove lay very heavy, so that it was difficult for a large assembly of shepherds to move it; and yet Jacob alone did this. So, what can a treasure mean and what can a stone mean? We will talk about this now as best we can. For in this way we recognize the difference in the strength of the shepherds, and the advantage and superiority of the Savior's disciples in mind. 4. Scripture usually compares the knowledge of God to water. And that this knowledge is life-giving, the Savior testifies to this, saying to the Heavenly Father: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). And He once addressed the Samaritan wife with the following speech: “If you knew the gift of God and Who says to you: Give Me a drink, then you yourself would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). I think that He calls His word and teaching life-giving. The Master himself also called out to the Jews: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37). Likewise, through the mouth of the prophet, he reproaches some who, after being taught in the law, ignorantly turned away from accepting other teachers and turned to the teachings and commandments of men. He said this: “Marvel at this, O heavens, and tremble and be horrified, says the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer. 2:12-13). So, life-giving water is the Divine word. But it is located in great depths, and I do not think that anyone could ever reach it without difficulty. She does not allow herself to be taken over by those who want to make it easy. It is as if a heavy stone has been placed over it and cannot easily be rolled away; this is the obscurity surrounding the word of God, which overcomes the weakness of our mind. And truly, a lot of work and effort is needed by those who shepherd spiritual sheep in order to free the word of God from obscurity and thus finally draw water, as if from the depths, bring it up and out, and clearly offer it to the listeners for life-giving consumption from it. But the shepherds who were among the Hellenes, that is, many of their sages and chosen writers, with the variety of their teachings about God, seem to push back the truth. For they do not rightly teach about Him, recognizing the nature of God, but sharing the glory of the Divine with whomever they want. And yet, even one of the shepherds of Christ is sufficient to remove even a very heavy stone from the well, that is, the cover and obscurity that surrounds the opinion of God, after which they clearly present the truth to the people and do not leave it to show them the one, by nature and truly God. So blessed Paul, having come to Athens, offered living water to the sages there, saying: “Athenians! “I see from everything that you seem to be especially devout,” he says further, “For, passing and examining your shrines, I also found an altar on which it is written “to an unknown God.” This, whom you ignorantly revere, I preach to you” (Acts 17:22-23). See how, although they were leaders of nations, shepherds and teachers, they barely move the heavy stone away from the well, believing that they are acting piously, showing respect to the Divine, and yet they are very far from the truth. Having built an altar, they carved the inscription on it: “To the unknown God,” that is, to a demon not yet known. But they thought they thought great things about God. And the divine Paul wisely interprets this inscription and very skillfully leads them to something useful, saying that the God unknown to them is Christ. “Whom,” he says, “without knowing, you honor, I preach to you” (Acts 17:23). Do you see how he opened the well, rolled away the stone and showed them life-giving knowledge? Thus, the difference in the insight of the shepherds is incomparable. Some, although there were very many of them, did not have a true opinion about God and, overcome by the obscurity of the teaching, are carried away to what they like. The other, although he was alone, nevertheless proposed the truth. For Jacob alone rolled away the stone and gave water to the sheep brought by Rachel. In addition, he considered the young woman worthy of love: “he kissed,” it is said, “Rachel,” and immediately became known to Laban (Gen. 29:11), who finally accepted him into his house, honored his sister’s son with love and embraces, and counted him among his closest relatives; my bone and my flesh” (Gen. 29:14). Then the name Rachel is interpreted as “the sheep of God.” The image of the Church of the Gentiles can be applied to her, and quite rightly. For this Church is the sheep of Christ, united with the most ancient flocks and enclosed in the courts of the Savior. That is why He said: “I have other sheep which are not of this fold, and these I must bring: and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd” (John 10:16). The Divine disciples also shepherded the Church of Christ or the verbal sheep meant by it, nourished love for her and were her grooms, presenting her to God as “a pure virgin, not having spot, or wrinkle, or anything like that, but that she might be holy and blameless” (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:27). 5. And that the beginning of the race and, as it were, the first sprouts of the root of the Israelites came from the pagans, we can understand this from the words of Laban. For he, being an idolater, kissed Jacob and says that he was born of his half-blood, that is, of Rebekah; he also called it his flesh and his bone. The Divine Abraham, as we know, was called uncircumcised, having been raised in the land of the Chaldeans in the customs and laws of the pagans, “a seal of righteousness through the faith which he had in uncircumcision,” according to what is written (Rom. 4:11). Thus, the firstborn Israel is akin to those who come from the pagans, although in law it differs so much that it seems different. But in Christ “he made both one.” For He destroyed “the barrier that stood in the middle..., the law of the commandments” in his writings and the circumcision that separated them (Eph. 2:14-15). We have been renewed into “one new man” (Eph. 2:15), and the pagans have become, as it were, one body and one soul with the Israelites, even finally seeming almost brought to identity with them through communication in the spirit. For on one occasion Christ said to the Heavenly Father and God: “I will... that they may be one, even as We are one,... and that they may be one in Us” (John 17:24, 22, 21). “For He is our peace, making both one and destroying the barrier that stood in the middle” (Eph. 2:14), as I said recently, removing what separated us and connecting us, as it were, into unity through the Spirit. So, a very clear sign of the unity of both peoples in faith and spirit is that Laban embraced Jacob and confessed that he was his bone and flesh. And what else was there besides this, we will say now, extracting words from the Holy Scriptures themselves. It is written “And Laban said to Jacob: Will you serve me for nothing, because you are a relative? tell me what to pay you? Laban had two daughters; eldest name: Leah; youngest name: Rachel. Leah was weak-eyed, but Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in face. Jacob fell in love with Rachel and said: I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your youngest daughter. Laban said...: It is better to give her to me for you than to give her to someone else; live with me. And Jacob served for Rachel seven years; and they appeared to him in a few days, because he loved her. And Jacob said to Laban: Give me my wife, because the time has already passed for me to go in to her. Laban called all the people of the place and held a feast. In the evening he took... his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and [Jacob] went in to her. And Laban gave his maid Zilpah to be a maid for his daughter Leah. In the morning it turned out that it was Leah. And... he said to Laban: what have you done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? why did you deceive me? Laban said: in our place they don’t do this, to give the younger one away before the older one; Finish this week, then we will give you that week for the service that you will serve with me for another seven years. Jacob did so and ended the week. And [Lavan] gave Rachel his daughter to him to wife. And Laban gave his maid Bilhah as a maid for his daughter Rachel. [Jacob] went in to Rachel, and loved Rachel more than Leah; and his friends served for seven more years” (Gen. 29:15–30). 6. The historical meaning of this story does not require anything for its explanation; because there is absolutely nothing difficult about it. However, if someone who is accustomed to weighing every word would say that among us it is considered very incongruous to live at the same time in a marriage with two wives, and with sisters at that, we will say to this that for the ancients the whole purpose of life was to have many children. And this latter was considered the highest happiness, and it was by no means considered a vice to share a bed with not only two, but also a large number of wives, as long as they increased the family to an immeasurable number. And they accepted childbearing as a sign of God’s blessing. And the Lord of all things himself promised to give this gift both to the ancient saints who lived before Moses, and to those who themselves received instruction through the law. For He says, “there will be neither barren nor barren” widow among the children of Israel (Deut. 7:14). And we will not accept this saying as a law, but rather call it a promise; because what depends on us is brought under the law, and very justly, but what does not depend on us, but takes place according to the laws of nature, does not have the law as its manager. So, it is clear, and no one doubts, that the Creator did not give a command that there should be no barren or childless among the children of Israel, but that if they are keepers of the law, they will turn out to be fruitful, as God promised. Thus, the matter of many children was considered a subject of great care and highest glory in the eyes of the ancients. We in Christ are committed to being more fruitful in the spirit, not thereby dishonoring the marriage, but choosing that which is much higher than this and is crowned with the highest praise in the inspired Scripture, I mean that in order to cleave to God, not being distracted by anything and not being divided between God and the world. For “the unmarried man,” says Paul, “is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife” (1 Cor. 7:32-33). 7. So, enough has been said about this. Let us now turn our minds to spiritual speculation, taking into account, and quite rightly, that the work undertaken by the holy Apostles in the work of preaching was not without reward, and their feat did not remain uncrowned. For Laban said to Jacob: “Will you serve me for nothing” (Gen. 29:15). And the Divine disciples provided the basis for their glorious deeds and praise for the multitude of believers at the beginning. So Paul cried out to them: “my joy and crown” (Phil. 4:1). But it is necessary, I think, to recall with great benefit what we suggested at the beginning. I said that in the person of James in spiritual speculation, on the one hand, the face of the holy Apostles appears, as having become the firstfruits of those sanctified in the Spirit and justified in faith, and on the other, also Christ Himself, as the firstfruits of humanity renewed into incorruption, as “the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29), as the second Adam and the second root of the race after the first. So, speech always changes the goal of speculation, which it should strive for; because an error in proper reasoning makes the explanation of those speculations more absurd. So in the present case, Emmanuel, this Heavenly Bridegroom, will appear in the person of Jacob, as if he had easily taken Laban’s daughters. For it is the nature of the highest of all beings to do whatever he wants to do without difficulty. For the blessed prophet Isaiah said about Him in one place that It “does not become weary or faint, His understanding is unsearchable” (Is. 40:28), since the Divinity is in no way lacking in anything, but is all-perfect in itself, does not possess power as having come from outside and does not have vital tension, strengthened with the help of food or drink according to the law of bodily life, but itself by nature there is power. That is why It establishes the heavens and shares power and authority with whomever it wants. But not having the ability to grieve, It grieves, according to the words of the Holy Scriptures; because he says in one place to the mother of the Jews, obviously to the synagogue: “and you have made me sad in all these” (Ezek. 16:43). The divine Paul also writes: “and do not offend the Holy Spirit of God” who lives “in you” (Eph. 4:30; 1 Cor. 6:19). Likewise, although it is said that It works, we say this not in the sense of sensual labor, but in the sense that It works, if it is usual for it, doing great and significant things, moreover, even those in which it probably lifts the most important and most difficult of all that any of us could lift. So, ascending from human considerations to the highest, we perceive the care of immortal nature for us, almost burdened through labor and feat. And therefore, we must necessarily free Him from labor in the sense that It is not like us, but on the contrary, being above every creature, it abides and stands firmly in this superiority. Thus, not without reward, but also not without difficulty, Christ led the first Jewish synagogue, which we will receive in the image of Leah. For the name of the latter is interpreted as “working and renewable.” The synagogue labored, being burdened by the predominance of the Egyptians and burdened with the unbearable yoke of slavery. But she was also renewed when she regained her ancestral dignity. It was as if she had been changed from frantic service to idols to the knowledge of who is by nature and truly God. For He cried out to them through Moses: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4), and also: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3; Deut. 5:7). But Christ at first desired to have Rachel as his wife, that is, the Church of the Gentiles. That is why He speaks about the Jewish synagogue to the sacred keeper Moses: “And the Lord said to me...: I see this people, behold, they are a stiff-necked people; do not hold Me back, and I will destroy them and blot out their name” under the firmament of heaven, “and from you I will make a nation that will be... stronger and more numerous than they” (Deut. 9:13-14). But it was necessary that those who still have a mind that is frivolous and receptive to evil should not immediately move on to perfection and to instruction that exceeds their mind and thought, that is, to the Gospel, but rather to be taught in advance in the lower sciences and, as a preliminary exercise to life in Christ, to have a life under the law. So, from the beginning, the Heavenly Bridegroom desired to have the youngest wife, that is, the Church of the pagans. But in some ways he achieved cohabitation with his elder sister, not without difficulty. For Jacob worked for Leah. And that Israel was delivered from many and great labors, freed from Egyptian slavery, is not in doubt. For all creation fought against them. Thus, the sign that Israel was redeemed not without labor and finally began to belong to God through service in the law was the slavery of Jacob, which in any case was not accomplished without labor. When the weeks of work for the eldest were completed, he entered into marriage with Rachel, that is, with the younger one, whom he initially desired to have as a wife. For the second after the first Church was called from the Gentiles, this is the “sheep of God”: this is how the name Rachel is interpreted, which I have already said before. And that Christ labored in some way for her, this was again pointed out to us by the divine Jacob, who undertook seven years of labor for Rachel as well. For if it was possible for the Son, although God by nature, to work, then was it not hard for Him that He first suffered persecution from Herod, then endured slander from the Pharisees, sneaking from those in authority, spitting, strangling, blows on the shoulders, insults from soldiers, and finally death itself on the tree? Meanwhile, Leah and Rachel were the daughters of Laban, a man of idolatry, because from the pagans both the Jewish synagogue, whose forefather the divine Abraham came from the Hellenic root and family, and the second and youngest after the first, that is, the Church, were called. Further, Leah's eyes were diseased and weak; Rachel was beautiful to look at and beautiful in face. And Christ once said to the holy Apostles about the Jews: “Leave them: they are blind leaders of the blind. Blessed are your eyes for seeing, and your ears for hearing” (Matthew 15:14; Matthew 13:16). Thus, the powerlessness of the Jewish synagogue to see God could rightly be signified by the eyes of Leah, and the wisdom and prudence, and the complete maturity of the mind of believers in Christ, as well as their decoration in deeds, was foreshadowed by the beauty of Rachel. And the prophetic word cried out to the mother of the Jews: “Behold, your eyes are not what your heart is good at” (Jer. 22:17); The church of the pagans will be called by Christ and will speak about it with the words: “thy eyes are like a dove” (Song. 4:1); because He desired her “kindness,” according to the word of the Psalmist (Ps. 44:12). So, first Christ made the Jewish synagogue his concubine, and Moses was the groom’s friend, and the Angels were the intermediaries; and after that, as it were, the second - the Church of the pagans, and the blessed Baptist was taken as a kind of mediator. That is why he said, denoting this mental and Divine marriage to us: “He who has a bride is the groom, and the friend of the groom, standing and listening to him, rejoices with joy, hearing the voice of the groom. This is my joy fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30). Mercy and faith constitute the bride's dowry; because in one place, through the mouth of the prophets, the Gentile Bridegroom of the Church coming from above and from heaven said: “And I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and judgment, in kindness and mercy. And I will betroth you to Me in fidelity, and you will know the Lord” (Hosea 2:19-20). For before the Church of the Gentiles He entered into marriage with its elder. But the method of this betrothal and the power of this marriage union were not eternal; because in one place He again spoke about her, “for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband” (Hosea 2:2). And again: “I gave her the book of absolution in her hand” (Jer. 3:8; Isa. 50:1), since she is rejected as having given herself over to fornication and exposed in very indecent deeds. He said about her in one place: “If a husband lets his wife go, and she leaves him and becomes the wife of another husband, can she return to him? Wouldn't that country be defiled by this? 'But you committed fornication with many lovers, and yet return to Me, says the Lord. Raise your eyes to the heights and see where they have not committed fornication with you? You sat by the roadside for them, like an Arabian in the desert, and you desecrated the land with your fornication and your wickedness. Therefore the rains were withheld, and there was no latter rain; but you had the forehead of a harlot, you threw away shame. Will you not cry to Me from now on: “My Father! You were the guide of my youth! Will He always be angry? and will she really keep him in herself forever?'" (Jer. 3:1-5.) But the eldest was convicted of this; He betroths Rachel the Younger, that is, the Church of the Gentiles, to Himself, and forever. The expression: To yourself (Os. 2:19) should be understood as follows: He became engaged to the Jewish synagogue, but through the mediation of Moses; with the Church of the pagans he entered into marriage, as it were, calling her to this with his own voice and appearing as one of the people living on earth. For He expressed his consent to the bride, who cried out: “Show me your face, let me hear your voice” (Song 2:14). Moreover, the ancients heard Him speaking, but only through Moses or the prophets; in the last times of the century, the Son Himself spoke to us through Himself, as the wise Paul also testified (Heb. 1:2). 8. Moreover, the birth of the sons descended from Jacob is worthy of study; It is worthy of consideration how many of them were born and from whom exactly they originated. Leah was the first to give birth to four sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. Since Rachel was still barren and childless, she was very sad and perplexed about this, and thought about ways to save herself from childlessness. She convinces Jacob, saying: “Here is my maid Bilhah; come in to her; let her give birth on my knees, so that I may have children by her” (Gen. 30:3). When this was carried out, two more sons were born to Jacob: Dan and Nephealim. Then Leah, bringing her maidservant Zilpah to Jacob’s bed, makes him the father of two other sons, Gad and Asher. And what after this? It is said, “Reuben went during the wheat harvest and found mandrake apples in the field and brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah...: Give me the mandrakes of your son. But she said to her: Is it really not enough for you to take possession of my husband, that you also covet my son’s mandrakes? Rachel said: So let him lie with you this night, for the mandrakes of your son. Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah came out to meet him and said: Come in to me...; for I bought you with my son’s mandrakes” (Gen. 30:14–16). When Leah's desire was fulfilled, she gave birth to Issachar, and after him Zebulun (Gen. 30, 17-20). When the number of the sons of Israel reached such a number, it is said: “Then she gave birth to a daughter and called her name Dinah. And God remembered Rachel, and God heard her, and opened her womb. She conceived and gave birth to... a son” (Gen. 30:21–24). In addition, she also gave birth to Benjamin. What is written about her again reads like this: “And they set out from Bethel.... And while there was still some distance of land left to Ephrath, Rachel gave birth, and her labor was difficult. When she suffered in childbirth, the midwife said to her: Do not be afraid, for this is your son. And when her soul left her, for she was dying, she called him Benoni. But his father named him Benjamin” (Gen. 35:16–18). So, having given birth to a child with difficulty, Rachel was delivered by death from sufferings very similar to ours. Such was the birth of the sons of Jacob; and what the inner meaning of what is written could be, He Himself who knows everything can know this, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” as it is written (Col. 2:3). We will examine this with a subtle gaze, and trying, as much as possible, to dispel the density of darkness that envelops it, let us turn to the One who makes the blind wise with the following words: “Open my eyes, and I will see the wonders of Your law” (Ps. 119:18). So (I will return to what was said at the beginning and remind again what I said before) Leah, the eldest, can very easily be likened to the Jewish synagogue; We will take Rachel in the sense of the Church itself from the pagans; and, having first laid faith in this as the foundation of our speech, we will now build the remaining parts of the argument. 9. The first, as we know, Leah gave birth to four sons. Over the next period of time, four more sons were born from two maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah. And after the mandrakes found by Reuben in the fields were divided between Leah and Rachel, they both became mothers: and Leah gives birth, in addition to those four, to Issachar, which means “reward” (Gen. 30:18), then to Zebulun, whose name can be interpreted as meaning “blessing” and “good journey.” And Rachel also gave birth to Joseph, which means: “addition of God” (Gen. 30:24); and after him finally Venoni (Benjamin), which means: “son of illness.” The first to give birth to God a multitude of Jews was the oldest in time, that is, the synagogue. And that God called the children born from her sons, you can understand very well from His words to Moses: “My son is the firstborn Israel” (Ex. 4:22), as well as from what was said through the mouth of Isaiah: “Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, because the Lord says: I have raised and raised up sons, but they rebelled against Me” (Is. 1:2). Then, that they were born of free people, since the yoke of the law did not lie on their fathers, the divine Paul himself pointed out this to us, saying: “I once lived without the law” (Rom. 7:9). He attaches the word “az” to the root of the family and attributes it to the heads of the fathers. And that, although they were born of free men, they nevertheless had to fall under the yoke of slavery according to the law, this is indicated to us by the adjacent and associated birth of four sons descended from handmaids. But there is some mystery in them too. For the birth of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali, are attributed to Rachel, and those born of Zilpah, Gad and Asher, are attributed to Leah; and, moreover, these latter were born later than those born from Bilhah. But, I think, someone, of course, can object, and quite rightly: how are those born of a slave, I mean Bilhah, attributed to Rachel, when they should represent the image of the Church of the Gentiles? What do we say to this? - The fact that the blessed prophets at the beginning were numbered among the children of enslaved Jerusalem, and yet they are in some way the sons of the Church from the pagans. For they thought about what related to it, saying that in time the mystery of Christ would be revealed and shine, and in countless forms pre-depicting this mystery, even almost presenting it before the very eyes of ancient people. And those who came after them were born again into slavery and did not accept Christ, the giver of freedom. But that the first are better than those who came after them, this can be easily seen from the words of God spoken through the mouth of Isaiah: “How the faithful capital, full of justice, became a harlot! Truth dwelt in her, but now murderers” (Isa. 1:21.) Do you understand how he says that Jerusalem or Zion was full of judgment, that is, righteousness, and was the abode of the righteous; subsequently filled with murderers? 10. And from the names themselves, anyone can, if they want, see, and it is very clear that those born from Bilhah are the children of the Church, and those born from Zilpah, on the contrary, are her enemies. For the name Dan means “judgment,” and Naphtali means “breadth.” This was the content of the sermon for the prophets. That Christ had to judge the universe in truth, and condemn Satan as tyrannizing over us and killing us, and save us and lead our hearts out of very great narrowness, as it were, into breadth, this again is not difficult to prove. For the blessed Psalmist exclaimed, speaking as if on behalf of those who are in Christ and sanctified in the Spirit: “I will flow in the way of Your commandments, when You enlarge my heart” (Ps. 119:32). The wise Paul wrote to those of the Corinthians who, having believed, wanted to wear a different yoke, saying: “Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians, our heart is enlarged. You are not cramped in us; but your hearts are tight. In equal retribution, I say, as to children, you too will spread. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:11-14). And that the judgment of Christ is right and just, this will again be clear to blessed David himself, who takes upon himself the appearance of those suffering violence from tyranny and says to the Savior of all, Christ: “Move, awaken to my judgment, to my litigation, my God and my Lord!” (Ps. 34:23). And the Savior himself clearly represents this, saying: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:31-32). You see that the prophets foreshadowed the righteous judgment that would happen to us and the breadth of heart, thereby pointing to the sacrament of Christ. So from Bilhah were born Dan and Naphtali, which means “judgment” and “breadth”: and from Zilpah Gad and Asher: Gad means “temptation”, and Asher means “wealth”. Was this not the last nation of Judah after the first? In what respect is this questionable? Anyone can see this already from what has happened in relation to Christ. For some of them tempted Him along with the so-called Herodians, saying: “Teacher! we know that You are just, and You teach truly the way of God, and do not care about pleasing anyone, for You do not look at any person; So tell us: what do you think? Is it permissible to give tribute to Caesar or not?” (Matthew 22:16-17.) They began, tempting, “how to catch Him in words,” as the divine Evangelist testifies (Matthew 22:15). But others, for the sake of profit and covetousness, did not accept the Son; therefore “they said to each other,” it is said, “this is the heir; let’s go, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance” (Matthew 21:38; Luke 20:14; Mark 12:7). And that the Pharisees and the wicked crowd of scribes were very attached to wealth and covetous, anyone can see this, and very easily, by paying attention to what is written about them. Our Lord Jesus Christ says that those who want to think about heavenly things must sell earthly wealth and give their possessions to the poor in order to acquire the highest treasure. But, as the Evangelist says, the scribes and Pharisees, who were lovers of money, listened to this and ridiculed Him. And that they went down to even the most insignificant things in this, and treated the little things with the greatest care, not omitting anything from the tithes established by the law, although caring little about the law itself, the Lord makes it absolutely clear to them, saying: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you tithe mint, anise and cumin, and have left the most important things in the law: judgment, mercy and faith” ( Matthew 23, 23). So, Gad means “temptation”, and Asher means “wealth”. And both of them were born of Zilpah the maidservant, after Dan and Naphtali, who were descended from Bilhah. But in them the time of the coming of our Savior was prescribed for us, in which Rachel, that is, the Church of the Gentiles, was still barren. And that she was to give birth to many and to be the nourisher of countless nations, this was foretold by Isaiah, saying: “Rejoice, O barren, unbearing one; shout and shout, you who have not suffered from childbirth; because the one who is abandoned has many more children than the one who has a husband” (Isa. 54:1; fn.: Gal. 4:27). The divine David himself explained this, saying: “He brings a barren woman into the home as a mother who rejoices over children” (Ps. 112:9). On one occasion, the Lord of all and God also said to her: “Lift up your eyes and look around” (Is. 49:18; sn.: Is. 60:4). And again: “Behold, some will come from afar; and behold, some are from the north and the sea, and others from the land of Sinim” (Is. 49:12) Let us now, if you wish, see when and how the barren woman gave birth. After the birth of those who descended from the maidservants, Reuben, the firstborn son of Jacob, finds mandrakes in the field and brings them to his mother Leah. She gives them to Rachel who asked for them. And Leah, having received the mandrakes, gives birth to two more sons, Issachar and Zebulun. Then God remembers Rachel: her womb opened, and she gave birth to Joseph and, dying, Benjamin. That Leah divinely points to the Jewish synagogue, and Rachel to the Church of the Gentiles, we have often spoken about this before in our discussion. Therefore, leaving behind the useless repetition of the same thing, let us now explain what the mandrakes found by the firstborn Reuben could serve as a prototype, and also what could mean dividing them equally between the common ones, because Leah gave Rachel; and what, moreover, means the very birth of children, which contains a mystery in the very signs of names. 11. Mandragoras grow in the fields; they look like an apple. And that they have the ability to lull and induce, as it were, intoxication and deep sleep on those who eat them, this, I think, does not require many words to prove, since in order to overcome the insomnia of patients, doctors use the natural effect of mandrakes from experience. And fortune-telling they point us to the mystery of Christ, who in some way falls asleep for us and allows himself to be exhausted even to the point of death (cf. Phil. 2:7), although He came to life again. For He was God by nature, although He was made flesh. And where death is generally accepted in the meaning of sleep, there must also be a search for rebellion to life. This seems to be the whole mystery of Christ. Likewise, the divine Paul reproaches those who are frivolously carried away by foreign opinions, saying: “And after all he appeared to me also, as to a certain monster, and that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:8,4). And a little later: “If it is preached about Christ that He rose from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Cor. 15, 12.) For after Christ was the first among people to show that death is a dream (because He was by nature life), He became for human nature like a kind of door and path to courageously fight against death itself. Therefore, the wise Paul everywhere calls the dead “asleep” (1 Cor. 11:30; 1 Cor. 15, 20, 18, etc.), as only those who have yet to be made alive through Christ! It was he who said: “if we believe that Christ died and rose again, then God will raise up those who have fallen asleep with Jesus and present them with us (1 Thessalonians 4:14). So, mandrakes are a sign of sleep. And the firstborn Reuben finds them, then brings them to his mother; and she gave a few of them to her sister. For the Israelites, the first in time, understood the First-Born and assimilated the mystery of Christ and, bringing the glorious invention of their inherent wit to their mother, I mean Jerusalem, brought her joy through this. Before the calling of the pagans, the Divine disciples taught the mysteries to those who lived throughout Judea. For even if not everyone believed, it was nevertheless possible for everyone to receive the word about Christ. "Only a remnant" is saved, according to the Scriptures (Rom. 9:27; Isa. 10:22). And that the Jews accepted the faith before the pagans is clear to everyone. So, having received the mandrakes, Leah gave birth to two sons, Issachar and Zebulun. Issachar means “reward,” and the other, that is, Zebulun, “good way” and “blessing.” For, as I have already said, the Jewish synagogue, through the holy Apostles, as if receiving the sacrament of Christ from their children, appeared as the mother of children, guided by reward (reward) and blessings from God. That faith in Christ does not remain without reward is directly proven by the remission of sins. In addition to this, our Lord Jesus Christ himself will assure you of the same thing, saying: “Truly, truly, I say to you... whoever believes in... Me has eternal life” (John 5:24; John 6:35, 40). No less so does Blessed Paul: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith, which we preach. For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes leading to righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses leading to salvation" (Rom. 10, 8–10) What reward is greater and more pleasant than the salvation of the soul? That this is very important and worthy of all attention, the Savior himself convinces us of this, saying: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? or what ransom will a man give for his soul?” (Matt. 16, 26. cf.: Mark 8, 36–37.) So, the reward is glorious and salutary for believers. And that those who are justified in Christ will in any case be accompanied by blessing, there can also be no doubt about this. For we are sanctified in the Spirit. And blessed David says: “The blessing of the Lord is upon you; We bless you in the name of the Lord!” (Ps. 128:8; Ps. 113:23). In one place God said to the mother of believers, I mean the Church, and through the mouth of Isaiah: “I will pour out My spirit on your descendants and My blessing on your descendants” (Is. 44:3). Therefore, the wise Paul writes to those justified in the faith, saying: “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). And how will richly received blessings from above not be directed towards a good path in every good deed? “The path of the righteous,” it is said, “is straight; You make the path of the righteous smooth. And in the way of Your judgments" (Is. 26:7-8). About the Jewish synagogue, God said in one place: “I will block its path..., and it will not find its paths” (Hosea 2:6). Letting us into the highest abodes in an easy and open way, He commands the holy servants: “Open the gates; let a righteous people enter in, keeping the truth” (Is. 26:2). And again: “Level, level the road, remove the stones, raise the banner for the nations!” (Isa. 62:10) so that, stumbling over temptations encountered along the way, they would not be delayed in their good aspirations. So, Leah gave birth to rewards and blessings from God; Rachel, having similarly received mandrakes, gave birth to Joseph. For the Church, as if having received the sacrament of Christ through the holy Apostles in some way from a similar sister, from the Jewish synagogue, appeared as the mother of a people constantly arriving and reaching an immeasurable multitude, since Joseph means: “applying God.” To the multitude of converts from the Israelis, the Church from the pagans was added. That is why Christ says: “I have other sheep which are not of this fold, and these I must bring: and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one Shepherd” (John 10:16). So, as I said recently, the flock of pagans was added to the ancient flocks, and now has an ongoing increase of more and more, until in the last times Benjamin himself, as it were, is born, that is, the people called “the son of sickness.” 12. But who is this one, after whose birth the mother herself will finally cease to exist and, as it were, move into another life? For Rachel died during the very throes of the birth of Benjamin. We will leave this to God and to those who are wiser than us to know this with certainty; but there will be no harm if we say what comes to our mind. So, I think that by “son of sickness” one can rightly understand the society of believers in the last times of the age; since at the same time there will also be a son “a man of sin, a son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God or that is holy, so that in the church of God he sits as God, showing himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). He will take up arms against the saints and will be no different from the untameable beasts, as the Savior himself said: “for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor will there be” (Matthew 24:21). And that not so much on others, but on the saints, his cruelty and inhumanity will fall, Christ Himself again pointed out this, adding: “And if those days had not been shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). For, since the persecution will be directed against the faith of every chosen and true Christian, since the violence will be too terrible and unbearable, so that it will even threaten some with danger: therefore, of course, this time will be shortened, because the merciful God, I believe, will proportion the temptation to the strengths of those exposed to the latter. The wise Paul also urges us to think this way: “God is faithful,” he says, “Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation will also give you the way of escape, so that you can endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). So, with the birth of Benjamin, that is, who will be at the end and in the illnesses of the people, Rachel will also cease to exist. For, as I said recently, the Church will pass into another life, that is, through faith in Christ we have been enriched by the union with God granted through the Spirit. And do not be surprised if death freed Rachel from the things of this world; because it sometimes frightens some who turn to contemplation of the long past. Perhaps someone will say: the Church will cease to exist over time and with its death will in some way fade away: is this a change for the better? To this we will answer the following: when you hear the name of the Church, then know that we are talking about a holy society of believers, whose death in relation to life in the world and the flesh is the way to an increase in residence and life in Christ and a type of change for the better and most excellent. Therefore, blessed Paul makes a strong reproach to some, saying: “if... you have died to the elements of the world, then why do you, as those living in the world, hold fast to the ordinances” (Col. 2:20). He again writes to those who reject the carnal and voluptuous life: “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” So, “When Christ, your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4). He also spoke clearly about the fact that we must mortify our “earthly” members, meaning “fornication, uncleanness” and the like (Col. 3:5). So, the death of Rachel in any case means the death of the community of believers, imaginable in Christ, that is, the Church, transferring it, as it were, into another life, if only it is true that we will be changed from corruption to incorruption, from death to life, from weakness to strength, from dishonor to glory, from measured time to long-lasting life. For in this way we will always be with Christ Himself, through whom and with whom be glory and power to God and the Father with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: