Книга четырнадцатая

What I should have said at the beginning [of the explanation of] the church of Ezekiel, is, changing the order, I will say at the end, remembering the following verse: “This is the house that is full of labor, with endless wandering,” 91 about which in another place the same poet says: Just like a labyrinth on the high island of Crete, With many dark paths, they say, he was wonderfully entangled; A thousand different roads presented a deceptive exit, Thousands of signs of the same were constantly misleading 92 . So I, too, having entered the ocean of these Scriptures and the mysteries of God and, so to speak, into the labyrinth about which it is written: put darkness for Your shelter and “clouds around Him” (Ps. 17:12-13), although I do not dare to arrogate to myself the full knowledge of the truth, I can however present to those who wish some evidence of the teaching not through my own strength, but through the bounties of Christ, who Himself reveals to us, wandering, deceptive and confused paths church, guiding the feet in the darkness through the Holy Spirit. Following Him, we can reach the haven of interpretation of the prophet Ezekiel, of which this, that is, the fourteenth, is the last book. If, according to your prayers, I, the virgin of Christ Eustochia, bring her to the end and if the Lord prolongs this life; then I will move on to Jeremiah, who remains one of the prophets for us. This interpretation will be the result not so much of my work and your prayers as of the generosity of Christ. Ezek. XLV:10–12. May you have a right balance and a right ephah and a right bath. The ephah and the baht must be equal and of the same measure, so that the baht contains a tenth of a cork and an ephah a tenth of a cork; their measure should be determined by the core. There must be twenty obols in a shekel; and twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall make you a mina. LXX: May you have the right scales and the right measure and the right quinix for the measure and the same quinix capacity. The hinix should be a tenth of an omer and an ephah a tenth of an omer. The gomorah must be the same [and the shekel] must correspond to the weight of twenty obols. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels and fifteen shekels will make you a mina. This passage in LXX is incoherent and completely incomprehensible, since they confused not only the numbers of measures, but even the names. For instead of ephah they translated measure, a general name instead of a specific one, and instead of a bath, hinix; also, instead of the Hebrew homer (homer), which in Greek is called κο’ρος (kor), they translated gomer, and again instead of baht - hinix. Therefore, we will speak in relation to the Hebrew text and the literal meaning, and will present our view through an explanation of particulars. By scales, which in Hebrew are called mozene, is of course what is used for weighing. Ephah, which is incorrectly called ἐφι in Greek, is used to measure various kinds of fruits, such as wheat, oats, and vegetables. Further, the baht, in Hebrew bath, has the same measure as the ephah and is used only for liquid bodies, wine, oil, etc. Kor contains thirty modes 93 and is used in both dimensions, that is, for both solid and liquid bodies. The tenth part of a kor, that is, three modius, relative to what is measured by a modium, is called an ephah, which is three modius, and the tenth part of a kor, relative to liquid bodies, is called a baht or vadus, so that the ephah and baht have the same measure. Further, the shekel, which in Greek is called στατη’ρ, contains twenty obols. Mina, which is called Mina, contains sixty shekels, which make one thousand two hundred obols. As for the words: twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels and fifteen shekels make a mina, they should not confuse the reader. For the difficulty in numbers is posed in order to arouse the attention of the listener. Therefore, many things are also said in parables and mysteriously, so that those who have ears to hear may hear (Luke 8:15). And in every prophecy, the truth is covered in darkness, so that the closest disciples can hear and so that the simple and distant people do not know what is being said. So, the divine Scripture commands that there should be correct scales, saying: Let no measure, great and small, be in your vagina. “You must have accurate and correct scales, and you must have accurate and correct measures” (Deut. 25:13–15). And in Proverbs it says (Proverbs 11): “the greater and the lesser scales are both abominations to the Lord.” We must not only observe this in trade and in the practice of everyday life, but also observe correctness in everything, as Scripture says: with your words create weight and measure (Sir. 28:29), so that in words, and in deeds, and in thoughts, everything in us may be weighed and considered. About the obol, that is, about the twentieth part of the shekel, we read in another place as about the smallest particle: to the faithful the whole world is wealth, but to the unfaithful there is an obol (Proverbs 17:6); in other words: the infidel will not own anything in the world, will not have even the slightest part. The same thing is said in other words in the Gospel: he will not leave there until he pays back the last coin (Matthew 5:26), that is, even the last small coin. We read about ten minas given to each of the slaves for use in circulation (Luke 19:13), and in another parable about talents divided among slaves, and about a debtor who owed five hundred and fifty denarii (Luke 19:13). 7:41), and about those who worked in the vineyard receiving a denarius each (Matthew 20:10), and about the widowed woman who lost a drachma and barely found it after lighting a candle (Luke 15:8). What is the meaning of all this, now is not the time to talk about it. Ezek. XLV:13–14. And these are the firstfruits that you will bring: a sixth of an ephah of a bark of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah of a bark of barley. The measure for butter [should be] a baht of butter, which is a tenth of a bark, and ten baht makes a bark, because there are ten baht in a bark. LXX. And these are the firstfruits which you shall separate: a sixth of a measure of an omer of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah of a bark of barley; and the decree regarding oil: kotilu 94, that is, kiath, from ten kotils of oil, because ten kotils make up an omer. And here in the LXX edition the names of the measures are changed and everything is mixed up, so that it is impossible to understand what is being said. For, as above, instead of ephah they called measure, and instead of bata, hinix, and instead of korah, gomor, instead of shekel, weight (arrendiculum): so here, instead of ephah, they put measure, instead of korah, then gomor, then the very same kor, and regarding the measure of oil, instead of bata, kotilu, (κοτ’λην), that is, kiath. So, let's say first in relation to the literal meaning. Tithes (δεχα’δα), that is, a tenth of all fruits, the people according to the law had to give to the tribe of Levi. Then from these tithes the Levites, that is, the lowest degree of hearers, gave tithes to the priests; this is the so-called second tithe (δευτεροδεχα’η). There were also other tithes that each of the people of Israel set aside in their granaries to eat when they went to the church in the city of Jerusalem and in the vestibule of the church, with the priests and Levites invited to the meal. There were other tithes that were collected for the poor and which in Greek are called πτωχοδεχα’δαι (tithes of the poor). But those firstfruits that were brought from the fruit were not limited to a certain number, but were left to the discretion of those who brought them. We also know the tradition of the Jews, not prescribed by law, but established by the will of the teachers: according to it, how the largest portion was given to the priests forty, and the smallest - sixtieth; within the limits between the fortieth and the sixtieth part, everyone could bring as much as they wanted. Thus, what remained undefined in the Pentateuch is here, in particular, determined due to the greed of the priests, so that when they bring gifts they do not demand from the people more [due], that is, an offering of more than a sixtieth part of what the earth will produce. For if the kor, which in Hebrew is called homer, and in the LXX gomer, contains thirty modii in relation to both solid and liquid bodies, and an epha and a bath, as we said above, constitute a tenth part of a kor, and if it is commanded that when the first fruits are offered, a sixth part of an ephah is given to the priests, so a korah, which of three modii is half a modius; then from this calculation it is clear that the priests should receive the sixtieth part of the firstfruits. For now, it is enough to learn and listen to this in relation to the Hebrew text and literal meaning. Now let us turn to the spiritual meaning, and first of all the question arises; how it is said: Honor the Lord with your righteous labors and give Him the firstfruits of your fruits of righteousness, so that your barns may be filled with an abundance of wheat, and your wine presses may overflow (Prov. 3:9, 10), so that, having brought the firstfruits of your labors and strength and saying: Behold, I have brought you the firstfruits of the fruits of the ground, which you have given me, O Lord (Deut. 26:10), you were worthy to hear: blessed are you in the city and blessed are you in the countryside; blessed are the offspring of your womb and the fruit of your land and the fruit of your oxen (Deut. 28:3-4) and so on, and that you may possess every spiritual blessing in heaven in Christ (Eph. 1:3), while everything that you have, you consider the result not of your strength, but of the bounty of the one who gave the fruit. If we have such knowledge of the Scriptures that we reveal all mysteries and teach people, that is, an intelligent being, then we give the firstfruits of our wheat. If, after the mysterious meaning, we follow only history, which can nourish the simple, in accordance with what is written: O Lord, save men and beasts (Ps. 85:7); then we give the firstfruits of our barley, which barley Isaac sowed, but in the land of foreigners, and it grew a hundredfold (Gen. 26:12). He who gives the firstfruits of barley can say: The Lord feeds me, and will deprive me of nothing; in a hot place, there they settled me; raise me on calm waters (Ps. 22:1-2). He who feeds rational beings changes his judgment and says: You have prepared a table before me to resist those who are cold against me (ibid., Ps. 22:5). And when he brings the firstfruits of oil and wine, he joins in and says: You have anointed my head with oil, and Your cup has made me drunken, like a mighty one (Ps. 22:5), with that pure oil that does not give sediment, which is prepared for the lamp of the Lord. The one who prepared it will have his face rejoiced from the oil - from the oil of joy, with which Christ was anointed more than His partners, and, having become an olive tree, he will sing with the prophet: I am like the olive tree fruitful in the house of God (Ps. 51:10), and from that wine that flows from the true vine in the winepress of the Savior, as the Lord says: I am the vine, you same birth. My Father is a worker (John 15:1-5). We read about these winepresses in three psalms: the eighth, the eightieth and the eighty-third, which all relate to the sacraments of the Church. In the Old Testament law, firstfruits were without measure and number, because God did not give the Spirit according to measure. During the second construction of the church, which is discussed in the prophecy of Ezekiel, a certain measure appears, that is, the sixtieth number, which is fulfilled in the world, as we are told: you measure with the least measure, it will be measured back to you (Matthew 7:2). Ezek. XLV:15–17. And one ram out of the flock of two hundred [rams] that Israel feeds; [this] is for the meal offering (sacrificium), and for the burnt offering, and for the peace offering, for their purification, says the Lord God. All the people are obligated to [bring] these firstfruits to the prince in Israel. And the duties of the prince will be (super principe érunt) burnt offerings, and [flour] offerings, and drink offerings on the feasts, and on the Kalends, and on the Sabbaths, and on all the solemnities of the house of Israel. He will offer a sin offering, a burnt offering, and a peace offering, to make atonement for the house of Israel. It is said above what part of the weight and measure of both solids and liquids should be brought to the prince; Now the same order is observed in relation to the firstfruits of animals: it is commanded to bring one [ram] from the flock of two hundred rams that Israel tended, for an offering (sacrificium), and for burnt offerings and peace offerings to atone for the house of Israel, says the Lord God. Instead of what we translated: from what Israel shepherds, in Hebrew it is written: memmasce, which Aquila and Symmachus translate ἀπὸ τῶν υ’δατων, LXX and Theodotion α’πὸ τῶν ποτιστηρι’ων, of which one means areas filled with water, and others water ditches and reservoirs, that is, that the prince’s firstfruits should graze only in areas abundant in water. And as we read above, the prince should bring a sixtieth part of what is determined by weight and measure; So now it is commanded to offer a two-hundredth part of animals, and the entire people must obey the regulations of this law regarding offerings to the leader or prince, since through it burnt offerings and [flour] sacrifices and drink offerings must be offered for the people on all holidays and the house of God must be cleansed. From this it can be seen that just as the people must bring firstfruits to the prince, so the prince must offer sacrifices for the people, by which (prince) we in an allegorical sense cannot understand anyone else but the Lord the Savior. It is He who takes a ram from two hundred animals, or, as it is more expressively said in the Hebrew text, βο’σκημα, which can be applied to all animals, and not just one ram, and takes an animal or a ram that has grazed in places that have been watered, that is, by the Holy Scriptures, and can say: The Lord feeds me, and will deprive me of nothing; in a green place, there they settled me, in the calm water they brought me up (Ps. 22:1-2). These were those watering places or those watering places to which Jacob led his sheep so that they could drink in them and conceive and, in accordance with the color of the rods, bear fruit to the Lord (Gen. 30:37-39). Instead of sacrificium, that is, θυσι’α, Aquila and Symmachus translate gift, which in the Hebrew text is called manaa and actually refers not to an animal sacrifice, but to what is sacrificed from wheat flour, barley and oil. A burnt offering means that which is offered to God in its entirety and consumed by the sacred fire. A peace offering is offered for reconciliation with God, and the apostle says about us: we pray in Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20), and in another place: God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself (ibid., 2 Cor. 5:19). This prince, to whom the firstfruits of animals are offered, is also the king, as is also indicated in the inscription on the cross in Hebrew, Greek and Latin letters. And when the Jews tried to remove the solemn inscription, Pilate, in the crowd of pagans, answered: “Pisah, pisah” (John 19:22). The prince's responsibilities, he says, will lie. The priestly rank is well reminded of what duty he must perform - so that he knows that he must make sacrifices and drink offerings made from wine for the people on all holidays, both on the Kalends, that is, on the new moon, and on Saturdays - when, with the darkness covering everything, there is the beginning of the moonlight and at the rest of the Sabbath - so that he makes precisely sacrifices for sin and for the cleansing of the house of Israel, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and assertion of truth. For she is precisely the house of the living God and the house of Israel, in need of cleansing of their sins. Ezek. XLV:18–25. Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first [day] of the month, take a bullock without blemish from the herd of oxen and cleanse the sanctuary. And the priest shall take some blood from this sin offering and put it on the ropes of the house and on the four corners of the platform of the altar and on the ropes of the gate of the inner court. Do the same on the seventh [day] of the month for everyone who sins through ignorance and temptation, and thus cleanse the house. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the feast of the Passover: you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. On this day the prince, for himself and for all the people of the earth, will offer a calf as a sacrifice for sin. And [on this] seven-day feast he shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord every day for seven days for seven days seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, and for a sin offering daily a goat of goats, and a [flour] offering he shall make, an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and a hin of oil for each ephah. In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, on a holiday, for seven days he must offer in the same way as said above, both a sin offering, a burnt offering, and a meal offering and oil. I have outlined an entire section so that splitting it into parts does not confuse the reader. But first of all, it should be said about the differences in translation. Where we translated: to the four corners of the platform at the altar, there LXX was translated: to the four corners of the church and to the altar. And where we said: for everyone who sins through ignorance and temptation, there they put: for the ignorant and the child. Also, where we said: and the [flour] offering shall he make an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and a hin of oil for each ephah, there in their edition it is written: and thou shalt give a flour offering, and biscuits for the bull, and biscuits for the ram, and a hin of oil for the biscuits. Also in the last verse, where we said: flour offering and oil, there they said: as manaa, so is oil. In the first month, he says, and on the first day of the month (this, no doubt, means Nisan), you must take a bull from the herd of oxen, which was not fed at home, but which was in the herd of oxen, that is, from the herd and from among the many. [Do] the same on the seventh day of the same month. These two holidays, that is, on the first day of the first month and on the seventh [day] of the same month, are not in the Mosaic Law. The fourteenth day of the month in which the Passover is celebrated is when we eat unleavened bread for seven days, and Moses commands us to keep it. And the fourth feast, about which he says: in the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, on the feast, etc., means, it seems to me, the feast of tabernacles, set here without a name. Let us now move on to particulars and briefly state our opinion. The apostle also teaches about spiritual holidays: let no one condemn you about eating or drinking, or about part of the holiday, or about new moons or about Saturdays, which are the walls of the future (Col. 2:16-17). And God says this through Isaiah: I will not tolerate your new moon, and your Sabbaths, and the great day: fasting, and idleness, and my soul hates the new moon and your holidays (Is. 1:13-14). It is obvious that He who hates the feasts of the Jews loves his own, that is, the Sabbath, reserved for the people of God, so that we may see what is given to us by God, and speak not in the wisdom of men taught in words, but in those taught by the Spirit, spiritual with spiritual understanding (1 Cor. 2:13). For in the present age, which lies in evil, we cannot see good days, but in the new, about which days the Holy Spirit speaks in the song of Moses: remember the days of old, understand the years of generations (Deut. 32:7). The saint spoke about this in the Psalm: I pondered in my heart at night (Ps. 76:7). And again: I remembered and learned from eternal summer (ibid., Ps. 77:6). Whoever does not accept this interpretation, let him answer: how can one explain what Isaiah foretells regarding the future, the new age: there will be a month from a month and a Sabbath from a Sabbath, and all flesh will come to worship before God (Isa. 66:23), when the true worshipers will worship not on Mount Gerizin and not in Jerusalem, but in spirit and truth (John 4:21-23), when there will be a new heaven and a new earth and will all creation be freed from slavery to corruption into the freedom of the children of God, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, and the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun (Rom. 8:21; Is. 30:26)? For we have come to Mount Zion, which in translation means the watchtower, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the company of angels, the triumph (Heb. 12:22). Another prophet also says about this celebration: what will you do in the days of celebration and on the days of the Feast of the Lord (Hos. 9:5)? It is also said in another place: celebrate, O Judah, your holidays, pay off your vows (Nahum. 1:15). So, if we know about spiritual holidays, then we must recognize spiritual sacrifices. A calf is taken from the herd or, as Symmachus translated, an ox, free and not under the yoke of any yoke, that is, the burden of sins, and without blemish, such as sin, flattery is found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22), a young calf, lifting up horns and hooves (Ps. 68:32), so that through him it may be cleansed and sanctified. sanctuary And let, he says, the priest take the blood from this sin offering. In other words, he is called a lamb in Exodus and the Gospel, as John the Baptist says: Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). With his precious blood we are redeemed in the suffering of the Lord Savior; we eat his flesh and drink his blood, the four corners of the platform at the altar are sprinkled with it, instead of which Theodotion put the very word of the Hebrew azara, or church, as the LXX translated, for the consecration of the house and the altar. For all the elements of the world are sanctified by this blood, so that the one who will be cleansed and sanctified will enter the gates of the inner court and may know the mysteries of the Lord and thus reach the seventh day of the first month and rest and offer sacrifice to the Lord, both for ignorance, about which David says: remember not the sins of my youth and my ignorance (Ps. 24:7), so for the child who, having become a man, leaves childhood and he will say with confidence: when he was a child, like a child in the verbs, like a child in wisdom (1 Cor. 13:11), or for one who was carried away by error and sinned not so much intentionally, but as a result of a false concept of good. After the end of the two holidays of the first month, that is, the first and seventh days of it, it reaches the fourteenth day of the month, on which is the feast of the Passover, about which it is written: for our Passover was devoured by Christ (1 Cor. 5:7). Then we, in complete peace and tranquility, eat unleavened bread for seven days, when, having left the leaven of vice and wickedness, we eat unleavened bread of purity and truth when our prince offered all this for us and, first of all, for himself, for He took on the human body and through sin destroyed sin; He is sick for us and bears our infirmities, - then for his house, which is written in LXX, but which is not in the Hebrew text, that is, for the Church, and for all the people of the earth, that is, for the entire human race. For He is the Savior of all people and especially of the faithful, and also serves as cleansing for our sins, and not only for us, but for the whole world. After the bullock has been offered for all the people of the earth, during the remaining seven days of the Lord’s suffering, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish are offered daily as a burnt offering and to be consumed by the fire of the Lord. Seven bulls and seven rams are conformed to the passion of the Lord, so that, like the true bull and the true ram, the blood of the martyrs in seven days will cleanse the sins of the whole world. Also, a male goat is sacrificed for sin daily, that is, for seven days. It is necessary to pay special attention to the fact that the law commands the offering of [flour] offerings of an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil. When offering a goat, there is no ephah or biscuits, as the LXX translated, who translated πε’μμα instead of ephah, that is, biscuits. Hin, which makes up a certain measure of oil, which we have already mentioned before, is taken when sacrificing a calf and a ram, so that, after the reconciliation of sins, we can achieve joyful eternal light, and peace from work and healing from fatigue. Also in the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, that is, tabernacles, the same order of offerings and sacrifices must be observed, both regarding the sin offering, so regarding the burnt offering, and the [flour] offering and oil, so that, after the removal of darkness and after the rising of the light of oil, we reach the feast of the Lord and have brighter feasts on which all sins are forgiven. Ezek. XLVI:1–7. Thus says the Lord God: the gate of the inner courtyard, facing the east, must be locked during the six days in which the work is done, and on the Sabbath day it must be open, and on the day of Kalends it must be opened. And the prince will enter through the porch of the gate from the outside, and will stand on the threshold of the gate, and the priests will make his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he will worship [the Lord] on the threshold of the gate and go out; and the gates will remain unlocked until evening. And the people of the land will worship before the Lord when they enter that gate on the Sabbath and on the Kalends. The prince shall offer the following burnt offering to the Lord on the Sabbath day: six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish, and an ephah offering for the ram, and as much as his hand can afford for the lamb, and a hin of oil for each ephah. And on the day of Kalends, a bull from the herd of oxen without blemish, and six lambs and rams without blemish will be slaughtered. And he will offer an ephah of flour offering for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and for a lamb, as much as his hand can find, and a hin of oil for each ephah. Where we translated ephah, which is a tenth of a kor, there LXX translated πε’μμα, which in our language means cookies. And where we said [flour] offering (sacrificium), there they put the very Hebrew word manaa, which Aquila translated through gift or offering (sacrificium), and Theodotion through offering. Before explaining this, we should set forth the very words of Scripture παραφραστικῶς; (in paraphrase). The gates of the inner court, he says, will be locked for six days, about which it is written: Six days thou shalt do, and thou shalt do all thy works (Ex. 20:9), and not just any gate, but those that face the east, from where the sun of righteousness rises. Then, on the Sabbath day, that is, on the seventh day, when there is rest, they should open weekly, and after thirty days, when there is the end of one month and the beginning of another, that is, the new moon, precisely on the day of the Kalends, they should be opened again, so that the same advantage would be for the beginning of the month, which is the advantage of the Sabbath day in the week. And why on the seventh day and on the day of the Kalends the gates of the inner courtyard are opened, facing the east, this will be clear from the following words. And the prince will enter, he says, through the porch of the gate from the outside, that is, the outer courtyard, and will stand on the threshold of the gate of the inner courtyard facing the east, and will not enter the inner courtyard, but while he is standing, other priests will perform for him the burnt offering, which Symmachus translated through the offering, and peace offerings or those related to salvation, so that after the prince’s sacrifice is burned with sacred fire and after the leader’s reconciliation with God he could worship at the threshold of the gate of the courtyard on which he stood and leave. What then? Are the gates locked immediately upon the prince's exit? No, but they will be open until evening, so that, after the prince, all the people of the earth will worship at the entrance to those gates, and they will worship on Saturdays and Kalends, when the gates are opened. And since he said above: the priests will offer his burnt offerings and his peace offerings and did not indicate the number of burnt offerings, now he adds: the next burnt offering will be offered by the prince to the Lord on the Sabbath day. He will not offer it himself, but through the priests, about whom it is written: the priests will make his burnt offering and his peace offerings: six, he says, lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish, so that the measure of the (flour) offering for a ram is an ephah, which in Hebrew is called ephah, and for six lambs as much of the (flour) offering as the hand of the offerer can bring, and so that for each ephah there is a measure of oil called gin. The day of the Kalends, that is, the new moon, will have another feature before the Sabbath day, that a bull from a herd of oxen or an ox without blemish will be slaughtered. The rest, that is, six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish and the (flour) offerings with them must be according to the ordinance of the Sabbath, but in such a way that, just as an ephah of the (flour) offering, that is, wheat flour, and a hin of oil is brought for the ram, so they would be offered for the bull. This needed to be stated for the sake of clarity. Now, by the gift of the Lord, we will reveal the spiritual meaning. During the six days in which we work in the world, the eastern gate of the inner courtyard is locked for us. But when we reach the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath day, on which there is eternal rest, or the day of the Kalends, when, after a dark night and terrible darkness, light begins, then the eastern gates are opened to us, and if one of us through virtue receives the name and dignity of a leader, he will not enter through the porch of the gate from the outside, that is, through the labors of this world, and the gates of the Church, which are still within the earthly boundaries, - for this is how it is written in the present place, and to the threshold of the inner gate and will stand in them. If the prince in this Scripture does not enter the inner courtyard, but stands on its threshold, then there is no doubt that we now partly see and partly know and do not yet look with an open face at the glory of the Lord. Finally, when the prince stands on the threshold of the gate of the inner courtyard, the other priests who are entrusted with this duty (by which we can mean the angelic powers) will perform burnt offerings and peace offerings for him. For we need the mercy of God and every creation, in comparison with the Creator, is unclean and must be cleansed by divine fire, with which the lips of the prophet Isaiah were cleansed, so that, having reached the world through sacrifice and standing on the threshold, we bow before the omnipotence of God and recognize ourselves as unworthy of entering the inner court and immediately then enter 95. After the first one leaves, the very gates of the inner courtyard will not be locked until the evening of this century, but will remain open, so that the people of the earth will also be at the entrance and worship before Him, and not at all times, but when they have calmed down from their sins and, having removed the darkness of faith, will receive the light of knowledge. The burnt offering itself, which the prince brings on the Sabbath day through the priests, is determined by the number of six lambs without blemish, that is, according to the six days during which we work in the world, and a blameless ram, which serves as the prince of the flock, but so that for each ram an ephah (flour) offering is brought, that is, a tenth of a kor. For six lambs, a specific measure of the (flour) offering is not indicated, but how much the hand of the offerer will give, that is, according to the quality and measure of the deeds. And a hin of oil will be offered on every ephah, that is, the oil that the five virgins prepared for themselves to anoint the flour or mix with it, and so that every offering to God will be filled with the light of truth and the face of the one who brings the oil will rejoice. And on the day of the Kalends, that is, on the thirtieth day, when, in addition to all Israel, the firstborn and the Levites are counted according to the law, as we said above, a bull without blemish from a herd of oxen is brought, which we spoke about in detail in the first section, and six lambs and rams without blemish, and so on, which are brought on Saturdays, so that we may achieve eternal rest and be worthy of hearing: Well done, good servant, about the little one. If you are faithful, I will set you over many: enter into the rest of your lord (Matthew 25:21), and you may not only reach the gates of the inner court, but also enter inside it, and so that the following words will be replenished over us: the plantings in the house of the Lord in the courts of our God will flourish (Psalm 91:14). Ezek. XLVI:8–11. And when the prince enters, he must enter through the porch of the gate and exit the same way. And when the people of the earth come before the Lord on the feast days, he who enters by the north gate to worship must go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate must go out by the north gate. He should not return by the same gate as he entered, but should exit by the opposite one. And the prince must (be) among them, enter together with those entering and leave together with those leaving. And on festivals (in nundinis) and solemn days the (flour) offering (from him) shall be an ephah for a bull and an ephah for a ram, and the flour offering for a lamb shall be as much as his hand can find, and a hin of oil for each ephah. This is the prince about whom it is written: and the prince will enter through the porch of the gate from the outside and through the same gates he will enter and exit, for he has freedom of choice and has the power to give his life and take it again, and as he comes to us, so ascending into heaven, he uses the same freedom characteristic of his greatness. He has no need for holidays and celebrations and does not observe any difference in days, because for him every time serves as a celebration. But people only come and go on holidays and solemn days, and not in the same way, but now one way, then another. For it is written: And when the people of the land come before the Lord at the feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate. He should not return by the same gate as he entered, but should exit by the opposite one. This is not only commanded to those who come out of Sodom and to whom it is said: do not look back (Gen. 19:17), and not only those who lay their hands on the ploughshare, who should not look back, but also those who are in the house of the Lord are commanded that they should not look back, and not return to the poor and weak material principles, and that, having begun in the Spirit, they should not end in the flesh, but in the realm of the spirit they would prosper more and more and could say with the apostle: forgetting what is behind, reaching out to what is before ( Phil. 3:13), so that they do not know in part and do not prophesy in part, but achieve perfection - such perfection as human nature can achieve in accordance with the meaning of the Gospel words: when you have created everything, say: we are servants without keys; Therefore, the apostle in the same epistle speaks of two perfections; for, as an imperfect person, he writes not something that has already been achieved or has already been accomplished; But I persecute, even if I comprehend, the same thing was comprehended by Christ (Phil. 3:12). And then immediately, like one perfect, he says: forgetting what is behind alone, but reaching out to what is in front, to the intentional flow, to the honor of the highest calling. For those who are perfect, let us be wise (ibid., Phil. 3:13–15). But how can one reconcile with each other the fact that he who said: “I have not already reached or already accomplished”, decides to say: “If we are perfect, let us be wise about this?” From here it is clear that every person and every creation, even if they have achieved perfection, nevertheless need the mercy of God and that they receive complete perfection by grace, and not by merit. So, the people of the land are commanded that if they enter to worship through the northern gate, they must exit through the southern gate. To what people is this commanded? It is precisely the pagans who, having left the gate from the north, from which evil is kindled on the earth, and having entered the temple, must go out no other way than through the southern gate, to the gate of light, to the gate of warmth, to the gate at which the bridegroom rests at noon (Song. 1:6). Therefore, in the same Song of Songs it is said: Arise in the north and come in the south (Song 4:16). And he who enters by the southern gate will go out by the northern gate. What kind of people are these? It is the Jews who, leaving the gates of light, go to the gates of the north, about which it is said: “the north wind is the most cruel” (Proverbs 25:24). For the cauldron in Jeremiah (Jer. 1:13) is lit from the north. We can say it another way: the one who forsakes sins enters through the northern gate, and the one who follows virtues exits through the southern gate, and vice versa, if a righteous person falls into sins, then although he enters through the southern gate, he exits through the northern gate. The prince, he says, will be among them, that is, those entering and leaving, in accordance with what is written: he stands in the midst of you, whom you do not know (John 1:26). And the apostle (says): or do you not know that Christ is in you (2 Cor 13:5)? If it is said to those who do not know that Christ stands among them, how much more to those who know? But when Christ stands among those who know, then the body will be dead to sin, and the spirit will be alive to righteousness. The prince enters with those entering and leaves with those leaving, as a witness to the virtue and sin of both. Thus, on holidays and solemn days, that is, on Saturdays, and on the Kalends, and at every festival about which we spoke above, an ephah (flour) offering is brought for each bull and ram. Regarding the lambs, the number is not determined, but it is not left to the arbitrariness of each, but whoever uses his strength and a good conscience should bring not as much as he wants, but as much as he can, and in addition, a hin of oil for each ephah, so that the meal is anointed and the lamp is kindled before the Lord and so that the one who uses it can say: I am like an olive tree that is fruitful in the house of God (Ps. 51:10). Ezek. XLVI:12–15. And when the prince brings a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offerings to the Lord, then the gates facing the east will open for him, and he will make his burnt offering and his peace offerings in the same way as usually happens on the Sabbath day, and will go out, and the gates will be locked after he leaves. And he shall daily offer a lamb of one year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord; morning and morning he will bring it. And the (flour) offering (or manaah) with it will be brought in the morning, in the morning the sixth part of an ephah (or measure) and the third part of a hin of oil, to dissolve (or according to Symmachus: pour over) the flour offering (or manaah); (this is) the constant and eternal decree of the Lord. Let them offer the lamb, and the (flour) sacrifice, and the oil in the morning, and in the morning for a burnt offering continually. Where we read without blemish and where in Hebrew it is written thamim, there Aquila translates perfect. And where LXX [translated] manaa, there Theodotion translates offering (sacrificium), Aquila and Symmachus gift. Instead of what we said, voluntary was translated δμολογε’αν, that is, confession, and instead of prince - leader, for this meaning is nasi. Hitherto we are talking about the prince, about whom Isaiah says: this is the testimony of the nations of his prince, and the ruler of the tongue (Is. 55:4). And Ezekiel: And the Lord will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them (Ezek. 34:24) So, when that prince brings a voluntary sacrifice, he will say: free or willing, the Lord is pleased with my mouth (Ps. 119:108), but a voluntary burnt offering, to offer all of myself (as a sacrifice) to God, and voluntary peace offerings, which is not in the previous speech, for it is written: and the priests will make his burnt offering and his peace offerings (Ezek. 46:2), but about the voluntary and voluntary [sacrifices] that are now spoken of, they are completely silent, so that they are offered not out of necessity, but voluntarily, and so that after the burnt offering he brings peace offerings and is reconciled with God. Therefore, virginity is higher than marriage (1 Cor. 7), for it is not required and is not rewarded, but is (voluntarily) offered (offertur). Instead of peace offerings, which in Hebrew are called selamim, the LXX translates saving ones, so that the very reconciliation of peace offerings serves as salvation for the offerer. So, when the prince does this, the gate will be opened for him, or, according to LXX, he will open for himself the gate facing the east, precisely the gate about which it is written: this is the gate of the Lord, the righteous will enter into it (Ps. 118:20) and from where the sun of righteousness rises. And he will offer, he says, his burnt offerings and his peace offerings, which we have now spoken about. He will offer, for this sacrifice is voluntary, and not others, not priests, will offer for him, that is, as usually happens on the Sabbath day. Thus, at all times, the burnt offering and the peace offering, offered voluntarily, open the gates of the Lord, and he does not observe the Sabbath, but all days are considered rest for him. For immediately after offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he goes out and the door is locked behind him, or he locks the door, in order to preserve his advantage for the prince and so that his sacrifices do not mix with the sacrifices of the people. And since he generally called voluntary burnt offerings or voluntary peace offerings, and did not add an ox, or a bullock, and a ram, or a sheep and a goat for sin, he reports what this burnt offering consisted of, saying: he will offer a lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and not on certain days, but daily, and not at all times, but in the morning, in the morning he will offer it, that is, every morning, when, after the sun has risen, it's the beginning of the world. David speaks about this morning in the psalm: in the morning hear my voice; in the morning I will appear to You and I will see (Ps. 5:4). And in another place: evening will be mourning and joy will come in the morning (Ps. 29:6). And again: God, my God, I come to You in the morning (Ps. 62:2). And who this lamb is without blemish or perfect and one year old, Isaiah tells us in more detail: like a sheep that is led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers, it is silent and does not open its mouth (Isaiah 53:7). And Jeremiah: I, like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter, did not understand (Jer. 11:19). And John the Baptist: Behold, the lamb of God, take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). This is the lamb that was slaughtered in Egypt and whose blood protected the doors of faith (or the faithful) and drove away the destroyer (Ex. 12:7). One-year old because he preached the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense (Isa. 61:2). And let the reader not be surprised that one and the same is called a prince, and priests, and a calf, and a ram, and a lamb, because in the Holy Scriptures, under various circumstances, we read about him as Lord, and God, and man, and prophet, and rod, and root, and flower, and prince, and judge, and king, righteous and righteous, apostle and bishop, muscle, slave, anointing, shepherd, son and youth, only begotten and firstborn, door, way, angel, arrow and wisdom and much more, and if I wanted to present evidence of all this, a special book would be required. So, at the burnt offering of this blameless and one-year-old lamb, offered every morning, the prince himself will make the offering or manaah and (bring) flour or gift in the morning, in the morning the sixth part of an ephah, meaning flour. The sixth part of an ephah is half a modiah. For if an ephah is a tenth of a kor, that is, three modias, then without any doubt, a sixth of an ephah is half a modius. Also, the third part of the measure of a hin is brought from the oil, so that the flour offering to God is dissolved or poured over - this is an eternal and constant decree that is not omitted on any day, but always, at every time, after the sun rises, an offering is made, so that what stands at the end of this section is fulfilled: let him bring a lamb as a sacrifice and oil in the morning, in the morning for a burnt offering constantly. Ezek. XLVI:16–18. This is what the Lord God says: if a prince (or leader) gives one of his sons a gift, then this will go as an inheritance to his children; they will own it by inheritance. If he gives by will (legatum) from his inheritance to one of his servants; then it will belong to him until the year of liberation (instead of which Theodotion put the very Hebrew word deror), and [then] it will return to the prince; his inheritance shall belong to his son. But the prince should not take from the people’s heritage and their possessions by force; but only from your possessions to give an inheritance to your children, so that none of my people is driven out of their possessions. Hitherto we were talking about the prince, now instructions are given about his heirs or, rather, about gifts, inheritance and bequeathed property, to whom he should give and to whom the property should belong temporarily or forever. If, he says, he gives his sons a gift or an inheritance, then they will own it, because it belongs to them by right of inheritance and ownership cannot pass from one to another. If he gives it under the name of what was bequeathed to one of his slaves, then he will own it until the seventh year of liberation comes, which is called deror, or the jubilee, that is, the fiftieth, when everything sold again returns to the previous owners, so that the slave has temporary use, and the actual ownership belongs to the son of the prince. Through the following: but the prince should not take from the inheritance of the people by force or, as LXX translated, oppressing them, or, like Aquila and Symmachus, oppressing and distressing them, but from his possession to give an inheritance to his children is instilled in the priests and princes not only of that time, but also of ours, who enrich themselves through the priesthood and forcibly take from the poor more than what they should be given by the definition of the Lord, or under a plausible pretext they rob the rich - that they, too, should leave nothing to their children, to whom the paternal inheritance belongs, except what is left to them from their parents. Therefore, if any priest has become richer than he was before receiving the priesthood, then he must transfer all the increase not to his children, but to the poor and holy brothers and his own in the faith, who have more importance than children, and return to his Lord what belongs to the Lord, who says in the Gospel: everything that you alone have done, you have done to Me (Matthew 25:40). For He, in the person of the poor, is received hospitably, visited in prison, clothed with His feet, the thirsty drinks, the hungry is satisfied, so that He may not be driven out, He says, My people from His possession. For if the prince willfully either takes or steals, or under a plausible pretext withholds what does not belong to him, then the people, gathered in the name of God, will be scattered in parts and ruined, or, according to the law, so that the inheritance does not gradually pass from one to another and so that the way (funiculus divisionis) by which the inheritance passes to each does not disappear. Thus, the people of God are expelled and the eternal possession of faith is taken away from them by the one who, through theft, or through flattery, or through flattery, or under the guise of piety, leaves other people's gifts or property to children or brothers and relatives. Ezek. XLVI:19–24. And he led me through that entrance, which was on the side (or behind) the gate into the treasury of the sanctuary for the priests (or into the rooms and chambers) facing the north, and there was a place facing the west (or towards the sea and, as the LXX translated, separated). And he said to me: this is the place where the priests must boil the offerings for guilt and sin (or for ignorance and therefore), where they must bake the [flour] offering (or manna and gift), so as not to take it out into the outer court and so that the people are not sanctified. And he brought me out into the outer courtyard, and led me around to the four corners of the courtyard, and behold, in the corner of the courtyard there was a courtyard, a courtyard in each corner of the courtyard. At the four corners of the courtyard there were courtyards forty cubits long and thirty wide; [all] four were of the same measure. And around the four courtyards there was a wall and ovens were built under the galleries around or near the dining boxes (assubita), which Aquila translated στιβα’δας (beds), Symmachus περιφρα’γματα (fences), Theodotion put the very Hebrew word turorh (bypass wall). And he said, he said, to me: this is the cook’s house, in which the servants of the house cook the sacrifices of the people (or sacrifice, for this means the Hebrew word zeba). The husband, holding a mason's cane and rope in his hand to measure the building, led me in, he said, through the entrance that was on the side or behind the gate. And he did not set which gate - from the east, south or on the other side, but left it undefined - (introduced me) so that I would go to the place of the sanctuary and to the treasuries or to the chambers of the priests, facing the north and the sea, that is, to the north and to the west, because the Holy Scripture, according to the position of the Jewish country, usually always calls the west the sea. It must be noted that the place of the priests, where the offerings for guilt or ignorance and for sin are boiled, so as not to be offered raw, is in the outer court on the north and west, where the coldest wind begins and where the light of the sun sets. Through this it is made known that everything related to food requires a sacrifice for an offense or for sin. If a sacrifice is made for ignorance, then how much more for conscious guilt! Therefore, Job made a sacrifice every morning for his sons, fearing that they had sinned out of ignorance (Job 1:5). The following: not to take it into the outer court and not to sanctify the people who are prepared for its consecration, means that one should not lightly give holy things to the unsanctified and, according to the Gospel, cast pearls before swine and give holy things to dogs (Matthew 7:6). Therefore, Moses demands that the people sanctify themselves from all uncleanness and from intercourse with women within three days, in order to approach Mount Sinai and, after sanctification, receive holy things (Ex. 19:15). If those who are preparing to begin to hear and perceive the words of God are commanded to sanctify themselves from their wives, then, obviously, the law contains the following apostolic [instruction]: do not deprive yourself of one another, but by consent for the time being, but continue in prayer (1 Cor. 7:5) and that by consent you should abstain from your wives for the purpose of exercising in prayer. After this it is written: And he brought me out into the outer court, and led me around to the four corners of the courtyard, and behold, in the corner of the courtyard there was a courtyard, a courtyard in each corner of the courtyard; There were courtyards located at the four corners of the courtyard. That man, whom he often mentions, brought him out of the place for the priests, which was towards the north, or which was set apart, where the priests boiled sacrifices for sin or for ignorance; He brought him out into the outer court. From here we see that the courtyard from which he came out was inside and that in the Holy Scriptures there are many courtyards about which we read: standing in the church of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God (Ps. 134:2). And in John: and other sheep are imam, even if they are not of this fold, and these must be brought to Me, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16), for the Greek αὑλη’ (courtyard) means what in Latin is simply translated officio (sheepfold or sheepfold). Having said from this court, it makes it clear that there is another, which is indicated in the host of the pagans, in contrast to Israel, or in heaven, in contrast to the earthly court, and according to the quality of merit for each state (officio), a court is assigned, which was discussed in detail above. The same courtyard we are now talking about had a courtyard in each of the four corners, which LXX call smaller, and for ease of understanding we called them courtyards (atriola). They were forty cubits long and thirty wide. Regarding these numbers, I remember, in [the interpretation of] the same prophet, I said that one refers to sorrows and misfortunes, and the other to perfect age. Therefore, Moses, and Elijah, and the Lord and Savior fasted for forty days in the desert (Ex. 34:28; 1 ​​Kings 19:8; Matt. 4:2; Luke 4:2), and they begin to receive the priestly title not after the twenty-fifth year of life, but after the thirtieth. Therefore, the Lord was thirty years old when he came to be baptized, and at the beginning of this same prophet he is thirty years old. So, where there is food, there is sorrow and temptation, with which food comes. And when we reach the age of a perfect man, we must trample on everything and say: having food and clothing, we will be content with these (1 Tim. 6:8), and; If the Lord gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear (Gen. 28:20), or the following: meat for the belly and meat for the belly; God will abolish both this and that (1 Cor. 6:13). For in the future we will not eat and drink, but feed on the bread that comes down from heaven and about which the Psalter sings: the bread of angels is poisonous to man (Ps. 77:25) and: It is my food to eat, that I may do the will of him who sent Me (John 4:34). As for the fact that the four courtyards that occupied the corners of the larger courtyard were of the same size, this means the four cardinal points and the fact that by the sweat of our brow we must eat bread and that all labor is done for the belly and the litter. These four courtyards were either surrounded by one wall and ovens were built under the galleries around them, or they were near the dining boxes, so where there was food, there were preparations 96. And, perhaps, so that the prophet knew what he saw, he was told: this is a cook’s house, in which the servants of the Lord cook the sacrifices of the people. The sacrifices of the people, made for guilt or sin and ignorance, serve as food, reinforcement for the priests, so that they remember that they should not seek anything else, when even in the church meat is prepared to strengthen them. Ezek. XLVII:1–5. And he led me back to the gate of the house, and behold, the waters came out from under the threshold of the house to the east. For the church stood facing east. The waters came down from the right side of the house, on the south side of the altar. And he brought me out through the north gate, and led me around by the outer way to the outer gate, the way facing the east, and behold, the waters came out on the right side, when a man came out to the east, having a rope in his hand, and he measured out a thousand cubits, and led me through the water up to my ankles (or walked through the water with the water of atonement). And again he measured out a thousand, and walked me through water up to my knees (or walked through water up to my thighs). And he measured out a thousand, and walked me through water up to my waist (or walked through water up to my loins). And he [also] measured out a thousand [to] a stream, which I could not cross, because deep waters rose up, streams that could not be crossed. Instead, LXX translated: and he measured out a thousand, and he could not cross, because the water rushed like a swift stream, which cannot be crossed. These waters, which came out from under the threshold of the house, that is, the church, flowed not to the north and west, but to the east and from the right side of the church, that is, on the south side, and, moreover, on the south side not of any other place, but of the altar. From this it is clear that these are holy waters and that they mean the teaching of our Savior in accordance with what is written: out of Zion will come the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isa. 2:3). And in another place: everyone was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, like the sea covered with abundant water (ibid., Isa. 11:9). The prophet Zechariah also prophesied about these waters, saying: on the day he will bring forth living water from Jerusalem, the first half of it in the sea and the last half of it in the sea (Zech. 14:8). The Lord said about these waters and the Samaritan woman: if you knew who you are, you would say to you: give me something to drink, you would have asked Him, and would have given you living water (John 4:10). And one more thing: whoever drinks from this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never thirst (ibid., John 4:13). And in the church He cried out and said: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Believe in Me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living waters will flow out of his belly. This is what we say about Dus, whom those who believe in Him want to receive (John 7:37–39). These are the waters about which the prophet spoke in the psalm: raise me on calm waters (Ps. 22:2). And Ezekiel: I will take you away from the tongue and from the lands, and I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be cleansed from all your uncleanness (Ezek. 36:24–25). For the spring of water appeared (Ps. 17:16). And in the ninety-second psalm it is sung: I raised up the rivers, O Lord, I raised up the rivers with their voices from the voices of many waters. Wonderful are the heights of the sea (Ps. 92:3–4). These are the waters of Siloam that flow quietly and about which Isaiah says: draw water from the fountain of the Savior (Is. 12:3). And the Psalmist: Bless the Lord from the fountain of Israel (Ps. 67:27). And the same Isaiah says about the Lord Savior: this one will dwell in a high cave of a strong stone. His bread will be given and his water will be sure (Isa. 33:16). As water has burst into the desert and wilds into a thirsty land (Isa. 35:6). And the believers are told: do not be afraid, for I have delivered you; You are mine, and even if you pass through water, I am with you (Isa. 43:1-2). And one more thing: if you are thirsty, come to the water (ibid., Isa. 55:1). And through Jeremiah God says: My people have done two evils. You have abandoned me, the source of living water, and dug up for yourself treasures that cannot contain water (Jer. 2:13). Just as we read about waters from the good side, coming out from under the threshold of the church and relating to the teachings of the Church, so there are bitter waters and waters of the worst kind, from which the prophet Jeremiah keeps us from turning, saying: why should you drink the water of Geon (ibid., Jer. 2:18), which in Hebrew is called sior, that is, muddy and dirty. As a result of this, being angry with the heretics, God says: Behold, I will feed them with cramped waters and give them gall water to drink (Jer. 9:15), in which the Egyptian dragon reigns, saying: “The rivers are mine and I made them” (Ezek. 29:3), looking at everything arrogantly and serving as the king of those who are on the waters. Therefore, the church man prays to the Lord and says: save me, Lord, as water came down to my soul. The coal miner is in deep darkness and there is no constancy, and the storm drowns me (Ps. 69:1–3). And one more thing: save me from those who hate me and from the deep waters, so that a storm of water does not drown me; let the depth below devour me; And in another psalm: if the Lord had not been in us, then Israel would say: if the Lord had not been in us, He would have risen as a man against us, for they would have devoured us alive. Sometimes their rage would be angry with us, for the water would drown us (Ps. 124:1-3). And the bride in the Song of Songs: water cannot quench much love, and rivers cannot drown it (Song. 8:7). This is the water that Hosea speaks of: Gilead despises the city of Gilead, making it vain, muddying the waters and the strength of its husband the robber (Hos. 6:7-9). This water is called mara by another name, that is, the bitterness of the tree of the cross is dropped into it, and the bitter turns into sweet. Consider the law of Moses, how bitter it is, if we understand it in the carnal sense of the Jews, when it plucks out eye for eye, tooth for tooth (Ex. 21:24); look at the fornication with Tamar (2 Sam. 13:4–16), at the union of Hosea with the harlot (Hos. 1), at the περι’ζωμα (belt) of Jeremiah (Jer. 13:1–7), at the Ethiopian wife of Moses and at the killing of the Egyptian (Exod. 2:12, 21) and a thousand other things, that if understood by the letter that kills, and not by the spirit that gives life, then it will be bitter, and will not so much edify as seduce the reader. These are the waters that come out of the church of the Lord and flow to the east and descend to the right side of the church, on the south side of the altar, where the bridegroom satisfies his table and rests. The next thing is: and he led me out through the northern gate and led me by the outer path to the outer gate, the path facing the east covertly indicates that we cannot immediately reach the eastern gate unless we go to it by a long detour through the northern gate. For if we do not overcome the coldest wind with the warmth of faith and trample its lands, so that the words of the apostle will be fulfilled over us: God will crush Satan under your feet soon (Rom. 16:20); then we will not be able to enter the gate through which the waters come out and which is on the right side. And note that these waters, flowing through the eastern gate, are so far away from the left sides that they are depicted flowing from the right side of the altar to the south. When, he says, the man, who had a rope in his hand, led me through the northern gate outside by the path facing the east, and was also in the same place, he measured out a thousand cubits of the same water and led me through the water up to my ankles, which Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translated ἀστραγ’λους, instead of which LXX translated: walked on the water with the water of atonement, what can we attribute to the first sins of people, which are forgiven us upon entering the waters of the Lord; these [waters] also indicate the saving grace of baptism and signify the beginning of prosperity, and high prosperity at that. Therefore, they reach to the ankles, which are close to the foot and heel, open to the wounds of the serpent according to the words of the Lord: “You will watch his head, and he will watch your heel” (Gen. 3:15). And the Psalter speaks of Judas the traitor: my poisonous bread has increased my stumbling (Ps. 40:10), or heel, for this means the Greek πτε’ρνη. After a thousand cubits reaching the ankle, he measured out another thousand cubits in the water and walked me up to the knees. For after the remission of sins and the path of prosperity, trying little by little to ascend from the earthly to the higher, we bow our knees before the Lord, as the Apostle says: Let every knee bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess, as Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:8-11). The third time he measured another thousand cubits in the water and walked me, he says, through the water up to the waist. For by these steps we reach a height: however, this same height reaches to the loins and waist, so that all shameful lust is mortified in us and so that we receive the sanctification of the body, without which no one can see God. Therefore, with this same prophet (Ezek. 8:2) God was visible in fire from his feet to his loins. For the deeds of the loins need fire and cleansing, in accordance with the words of the righteous: for my soul is filled with reproaches (Ps. 37:8), through which the enemy mocks us both by day and in the ghosts of the night. From the loins to the head and above, the shine of the most precious metal, electr, shines, so that there is nothing despicable here. Therefore, now for the fourth time it is said and he measured out a thousand - meaning: cubits - to the stream (this LXX was not translated), which I could not cross. This is much better than what LXX said: and he could not cross. For the prophet and all human nature after the loins cannot pass through the stream of thoughts and vices arising in the heart. But, without a doubt, the man who was dressed in baddim and who led the prophet passed over - the one who did not commit iniquity, but flattery was found in his mouth (Is. 53:9). The Prophet also indicates the reasons why he could not cross the fourth thousand cubits: because, he says, the deep waters of a stream rose up, which cannot be crossed. How did the prophet write, setting himself in praise: the stream has passed over our soul (Ps. 123:5)? But this is easily solved if we know that in Hebrew it is written instead: a stream passed over our soul. Isaiah also speaks of this stream: Behold, I turn away unto him, like a river of peace, and like a flooded stream, glory (Isa. 66:12). And in the thirty-fifth psalm it is said about the saints: in the shelter of Thy wing they have hope. They will be drunk with the fatness of Thy house, and I will give Thy stream of sweetness to drink. For you are the fountain of life (Ps. 35:8–10). And in the one hundred and twenty-fifth: return, O Lord, our captivity, like the floods of the south (Ps. 126:4). And about the Savior: he drinks from the stream along the way (Ps. 109:7). For which of the people can boast that he has a pure heart (Prov. 20:9), or into whose soul the death of lust and (to put it weaker) the captivity of the spirit (Jer. 9) did not penetrate through the windows of his eyes? For the world lies in evil (1 John 5:19), and from childhood the human heart is inclined towards evil, so that from his very birth a person is not a single day without sin (Job 14:4). Therefore, David confesses in the psalm: Behold, I was conceived in iniquity, and in sins did my mother give birth to me (Ps. 50:7). In the iniquities not of my mother or mine, but in the iniquities inherent in humanity. Therefore, the apostle says: royal death from Adam even to Moses and on those who have not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s crime (Rom. 5:14). That we call elbows in the masculine gender - cubitus, and not in the middle - cubita, according to the rule of grammarians, I have already said about this above, that we do this not out of ignorance, but usually for the sake of all simple and uneducated people, who make up the majority of the church congregation. Ezek. XLVII:6–12. And he said to me: have you seen, son of man? And he took me out and went back to the bank of the stream (or river). When I came (or he brought me) back, then on the bank of the stream (or river) there were a lot of trees on both sides. And he said to me: These waters that flow to the sandy hills of the east and descend into the desert plains (or this water that flows into Galilee, which faces the east, and descends into Arabia) will enter the sea and come out, and the waters will become healthy. And every living (or animate) creature, reptile where the stream (or river) passes will be alive, and there will be a lot of fish when these waters enter there, and everything will be healed and come to life where [this] stream (or river) will enter. And fishermen from Engaddi to Engallim will stand by them, drying their nets. Quite a few species of fish will be there; just like in a big sea, there will be a lot of fish. In the same [parts] that protrude from the banks and make up swamps, they will not become healthy, but will be designated for salt. By the stream (or river), along its banks on both sides, every fruit tree (or fruit-bearing tree) will grow; its leaf will not fall (or grow old) and its fruit will not be exhausted. Every month it will bring forth firstfruits (or everything will be renewed), because its waters will flow from the sanctuary, and its fruit will be used for food, and its leaves for healing (or its ascent for healing). This whole section, although it is long, I have decided to present together, so as not to interrupt the reader’s thoughts, and so that the order of the reading, divided into parts, will not confuse the listener’s understanding. First of all, it should be said that instead of a stream, which in Hebrew is called nehel, and in Greek is called χειμα’ῤῥους, LXX was translated river. Then, instead of Galilee, which in Hebrew is called Galila, Aquila translated θίνα, which means sandy hills, Symmachus μεθο’ριον, which we can translate through the adjacent country (confinium); also, instead of Arabia, Symmachus translated: uninhabited, Aquila lowland or plain, Theodotion; Araba. Now we will say what we consider necessary about the particulars. The man who led Ezekiel instructs the prophet to carefully peer and examine and listen with mental eyes to the innermost secrets. He calls him the son of man either in the image of the Lord Savior, for Ezekiel also means the power or command of God, or to remind him of the frailty of man, so that he does not forget his condition when great [mysteries] are shown to him. After [this] reminder, the husband leads him and brings him back to the bank of the stream, so that, not being able to pass through the depths, he at least knows what is on the banks. When I, he says, came, or he brought me back, who was the leader and adviser, then on the bank of the stream or river there were many trees or very many trees on both sides. This stream, which, due to the abundance of waters, rushes like a stream and receives the heavenly rains and which we talked about in the previous reading, is called a river in LXX, because it has constant water and, moreover, it is collected from everywhere from the rains, and flows from a living and constant source. We read a lot about this river in the Holy Scriptures, but at present little needs to be said, and first of all this: the river's aspirations make the city of God glad (Ps. 46:5). And in another place: the river of God is filled with water; Thou hast prepared food for them, as Thy preparation eateth (Ps. 65:10). And also in the plural: you raised up the rivers, O Lord, you raised up the rivers with their voices, from the voices of many waters; marvelous are the heights of the sea (Ps. 93:3–4). And in Isaiah: I will make a way in the desert and in a dry river (Is. 43:19). And in another place it is clearer: “a river will appear in Zion, flowing with glory in a thirsty land” (Is. 44:3). By this river there were quite a lot of trees on both sides of the bank, so that the river flowed, being concluded between two covenants, the old and the new. Many trees, or very many trees, mean those trees that, according to Scripture, abounded in various fruits in paradise. The leader and teacher who walked ahead of the prophet also informs him and says: these waters, which flow into the Galilee of languages ​​along the LXX or (as it is more correctly stated in Hebrew) to the eastern sandy hills and descend into the desert plains or into Arabia, will enter the sea or the outlets of the sea, and the waters will become healthy. We have already said that the waters mean either the grace of baptism or the teaching of the Gospel. If they flow from under the threshold of the church of the Lord and contain the apostolic teaching, then they make the sandy hills, which were previously barren and barren, fertile, and all the desert plains are so filled that they manifest in themselves the mystery of the Jericho River (2 Kings 2:21), which Elisha, through the gospel and apostolic salt, made so healthy that where previously there was barrenness and death, there fertility and life appeared. And they not only made the deserts healthy, but they entered the eastern sea, that is, the Dead Sea, in which nothing could be alive, and a very bitter sea, which in Greek is called λι’μνην ἀσφαλτῖτιν, that is, an asphalt lake. And miraculously, through the gospel waters, the dead waters, which received their name from death because they had nothing living in them, are healed. For they did not know the One who says: I am the life and the truth (John 14:6). And indeed, according to the literal meaning, hitherto nothing that breathes and can move can be found in this sea due to its extreme bitterness - [not even found] snails, small worms, eels and other kinds of animals or reptiles, of which there are more bodies than we can know the names. Therefore, if the Jordan, having increased due to the rains, flows in and brings in fish, they immediately die and swim on the surface of the thick waters. Although, in a literal sense, they cannot be of any use even if what the unreasonable superstition of the Jews believes in were fulfilled; but in a spiritual sense, having been healed by the stream of the Lord, they will have very many fish, and everything will live where this stream reaches; so that the fishermen will be stationed on the banks from Engaddi to Engallim, of which the first means the source or eye of the goat, and the second the source and eye of the bulls. For Engallim is at the beginning of the Dead Sea, where the river enters it, and Engaddi is at its end and completion. I consider the dead sea to be the one about which Zechariah says: on the day of the day living water will come out of Jerusalem, and the first half of it will be in the sea (Zechariah 14:8). In accordance with this, Daniel speaks in the following words: I saw, and behold the four winds of the heaven lay upon the great sea (Dan. 7:2). And David: wondrous are the heights of the sea (Ps. 93:4). And from the face of the Savior in the psalm: I came into the depths of the sea, and the storm drowned me (Ps. 68:3). Also, the king of Egypt in the same Ezekiel (Ezekiel 32:2) is called a dragon living in the sea and shaking the rivers, as if with his horns. And one more thing: this sea is great and spacious (Ps. 103:25). Until it accepts the waters of a river or stream, until then it kills everything contained in it; but the Lord, about whom it is said: He will wound us and heal us in two days, on the third day we will rise again, and we will live before Him (Hosea 6:3), Himself says in the same prophet Hosea: I bound Ephraim, took him upon My arm, and did not understand, for I healed the corruption of mankind (Hosea 11:3-4). He was ulcerated for our sins and tormented for our iniquities; The punishment of our peace is upon Him; by His wound we are healed (Isa. 53:5). Also, this very salty and dead sea, due to its extreme bitterness, was healed by the One who speaks through Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, and for His anointing, My messenger brought good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted (Isa. 61:1). Therefore, through Jeremiah He cries: return, you returning sons, and I will heal your grievances (Jer. 3:22). For the impatient people, no longer able to bear the pain of their wounds, said: summer is past, the harvest is past, and we are not saved (Jer. 8:20). Therefore, the Lord answered them: either there is no ritina [healing resin] in Gilead, or there are no doctors there? For some reason the wound of the daughter of My people was healed (ibid., Jer. 8:22). And Jeremiah himself calls out and says: Heal me, O Lord, and I will heal; save me and I will be saved (Jer. 17:14). Therefore, the angels who guarded the Jewish people, at the time when the mad crowd shouted and said: His blood be on us and on our children (Matthew 27:25), and the veil in the church was torn and all the sacraments of the Jews were revealed, responded to the command of the Lord and said: Babylon is a physician, and is not healed: let us leave it (Jer. 51:9), that is, the city of confusion and vices. Therefore, Joseph in his History narrates that when the Lord was crucified and the veil in the church was torn or the threshold (liminare) of the church was broken and collapsed, a voice was heard inside the church of the heavenly virtues: “let us come out of these places.” All this is not superfluous, but it had to be said, because it is said that the Dead Sea became healthy when the river of the Lord flowed into it. In this sea, from Engaddi, the eye and source of the goat, always sacrificed for sin, to Engallim, the source of the calves, which are sacrificed to the Lord and are likened to a calf raising horns and hooves and slaughtered on the altar in the image of the Savior, there will be fishermen to whom the Lord Jesus says: He is coming after Me, and I will make you a fisher of man (Matthew 4:19) and about whom Jeremiah says: Behold, I will send fishermen (Jer. 16:16). And very many species or genera of fish will be in the sea, which was previously dead. At the command of the Lord, Peter pulled out these fish on the right side, and there were one hundred and fifty-three of them, so that the nets were torn apart from their multitude (John 21:11). Those who wrote about the nature and properties of animals and studied ἁλιευτικὰ (writings about fish) both in Latin and in Greek, among whom is Oppian of Cilicia, a very learned poet, say that there are one hundred and fifty-three kinds of fish, which were all caught by the apostles and nothing remained uncaught when both nobles and nobles were drawn from the sea of this age for salvation. the humble, the rich and the poor, and the whole human race. The following: on its banks and in swamps or in those [parts] that protrude from the banks, the waters will not become healthy, covertly indicates that whoever is not in Noah’s ark will perish from the prevailing flood, and to whom that river does not reach will not receive healing, but will be assigned to salt according to what is written: I will accept the wounds of the destroyer, the foolish will be more prudent (Prov. 19:25 ). For the examples of the worst teach the good. Or they will be assigned to salt in accordance with what is written: good is salt, but if salt overwhelms, nothing will come to anyone (Mark 9:50; Matt. 5:13), so that they will never have fruits and greenery. This is also shown by the sprinkling of salt on the city after the destruction. By the stream or river, along its banks on both sides, every fruit tree will grow, or, as everyone translated it in agreement, βρω’σιμον (edible), which provides food and feed and that which can be eaten, and is called in Hebrew mashal. And nothing, according to the Seventy, will grow old on it, but its fruit will be renewed daily, or its leaf will not fall, and its fruit will not be exhausted, according to what is written in the first psalm: and it will be like a tree planted by the coming of waters, which will yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall away (Ps. 1:3). Every month, he says, it will bear firstfruits, or as it is written in LXX: its fruit, when renewed, will bear firstfruits, so that all the fruits of believers will be firstfruits, and so that each month we refer to one of the apostles. This will happen because its waters will flow from the sanctuary. And so that we do not think that such an abundance of fruits depends on the banks, trees or months, he indicates the reasons for the abundance, adding: because its waters will be from the sanctuary. Thus, this is the work of neither a willing nor a current, but a merciful God (Rom. 9:16). The first place among these trees is occupied by the tree of life, meaning wisdom, about which it is written: the tree of life is for all who hold on to it (Proverbs 3:18). The words are; and its fruits will serve as food, and its leaves for healing signify the sacraments of the Divine Scriptures; of these, one refers to the letter, and the other to the spirit, so that by leaves we must understand simple words, and by fruits the meaning hidden in them. For, as the knowledge of the Scriptures leads to the kingdom of heaven and gives us bread, saying: I am the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:41); Thus, its leaves contain moral teaching and give health, healing the wounds of those who sin. Instead of leaves, called in Hebrew ale, LXX, due to the similarity of the word and sounds, they translated ascension, which can also be explained in the sense that after eating fruits, we ascend to heaven through verbal instructions. Ezek. XLVII:13–14. Thus says the Lord God: This is the distribution according to which you will possess the land, according to twelve tribes. For Joseph has a double inheritance; and each of you will own it equally with his brother. Having lifted up My hand [I swore] to give it to your fathers; and this land will fall into your possession. Instead of what we said: for Joseph has a double inheritance, LXX, taking the name as a common noun and confusing the spirit of the reader, translated increase in inheritance, because Joseph means increase. For with the exception of the tribe of Levi, appointed for the sacraments of the church, there remained eleven tribes. Of these, the tribe of Joseph was divided into two: Ephraim and Manasseh, who said to Jesus son of Nun 97: Why did you inherit me by lot and alone? I am many people and God bless me. And Jesus said to them: if you are many people, go up into the oak grove and carve out a place for yourself there in the land of Perizzea and Raphaim, if Mount Ephraim oppresses you (Joshua 17:13-14). And again: “And Jesus said to the house of Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are many people and your strength is great; You will have more than one lot, but you will go over to the mountain and cut down for yourself and clear a place to live, and you will be able to go further when you destroy the Canaanite, about whom you say that he has iron chariots and that he is very strong" (ibid., Josh. 17:17-18). I considered it necessary to say this because now Scripture mentions the receipt of a double inheritance by Joseph, that is, Ephraim and Manasseh. Each of the [other] tribes receives, according to its volume, an equal amount of land and not according to the arbitrariness of the one who makes the division, but according to the lot, which is in the power of the Lord. Therefore, Jesus himself, who was a divider of the land, did not set aside a special land for himself, so that it would not seem that he had chosen the best [for himself], but received from the elders of all the tribes Tamnathsareth on Mount Ephraim. Ezek. XLVII:15–17. And this is the limit of the land: on the north side, starting from the great sea through Ephalon on the road to Sadadah, Hamath, Berotha, Sabarim, located between the region of Damascus and the region of Hamath, the court of Tikon, which is located on the borders of Avran (or Avrantida). And the border from the sea to the court of Aenon (or Seraranan) will be the border with Damascus, and from north to north the border of Hamath; [this is] the northern region. Between the division of the holy land to the twelve tribes by Jesus, the son of Nun, and that which is now commanded through Ezekiel, the difference is that there the land is divided among the tribes by lot, but here it is assigned by the will of the commanding Lord. Thus, in the book of Numbers, in which the entire promised land is briefly divided into four sides, from the north, that is, from the northern side, there is such a distribution: “further on the north side there will be borders from the great sea, reaching to a very high mountain, from which you will go (or will go) to Hamath to the borders of Sadadah, [from there] the borders will go to Zephron and the city of Enam or Asher-Enon.” The Jews say that the northern side begins from the great sea, which adjoins the shores of Palestine, Phenicia and Syria, called Celje, and Cilicia, and through Egypt extends to Libya. The words: the limits have been reached to a very high mountain indicate, in the opinion of the same Jews, either Mount Haman or Taurus, which, in our opinion, is more correct. From which, he says, you will go to Hamath, which is now called Epiphania due to the renaming after the most cruel of tyrants, Antiochus, who had the nickname Επιφανη’ς. To the limits, he says, Sadada, which is the same place in the present reading of Ezekiel, the borders will go to Zephron, which city is now called Zephyr, the city of Cilicia. The following is then: and the city of Enam, instead of which in Hebrew it is written Aser-Enon or Enan, is also in the present place. For now, it will be enough to briefly say what we have said in relation to the literal meaning and the comparison we have made of the distribution [of the land] according to the book of Numbers and Ezekiel, so that the prudent reader can see where their presentation is the same, or close to one another, or different. Now we will interpret each of the names, following the mysterious meaning, and with the help of the Lord we will explain in particular what we consider necessary. Ephalon means the cradle of sorrow, Sadad - its side (latus), - understand a latere (from the word side), and not a latiudine (from the word wide); Hamath - rage, which in Greek is called χο’λος; Berota – wells; Savarim - circumambulation of the mountains, Damascus - blood of sackcloth and kissing or cup. The house or courtyard of Tikon Symmachus translates into the middle courtyard, which extends to the borders of Avran, therefore Tikon means the middle; Avran, which LXX translated into Greek through Avrantis, is anger. Aser Aenon, which forms the border with Damascus, is called in our language the courtyard of the spring. Thus, the northern side begins from the great sea through Ephalon, meaning the cradle of sorrow, and through repentance reaches Sadadah, where there is a deviation from the side [that is, to the sides]. For we understand the Hamath that threatens us, that is, the wrath of God, or, when we recognize Hamath as the truth, then the wells of Beroth, dug by the forefathers (principes), Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, open for us, and after a long detour we reach the mountains of Sabarim, located between Damascus, that is, the blood of hair shirt, and the border of Hamath, [that is], as we said above, the truth. For, as through grief we turn away the disasters that threaten us and turn aside; so after the blood and sackcloth of a bloody life, before reaching the borders of Hamath, we make a detour and reach the mountains about which it is written: the mountains are around it and the Lord is around His people (Ps. 124:2). This place is called the courtyard of Tikon, that is, the middle courtyard, as Symmachus translated, on the borders of Avran, which means wrath, and together with the prophet we can say: I will endure the wrath of the Lord because those who have sinned against him (Mic. 7:9). And from the sea to the borders of Damascus, in which the Apostle Paul, after the Jewish rage and the shedding of church blood, saw the light in blindness and, having accepted the hair shirt of the old persecution, preached the gospel in order to arrive in the courtyard of the eternal source and, having previously been in the north, to reach the region of truth. Ezek.XLVII:18. Next is the eastern side between Avran, and between Damascus, and between Gilead and between the land of Israel; Jordan demarcates [it]; to the eastern sea, measure the eastern side. Instead, in the book of Numbers we find the following written: “then let the boundaries be measured on the east side from the city of Anan, that is, Asher-Enon, to Sepham, and from Sepham the boundaries will go to Reblah to the source, then they will go east to the Sea of ​​Heneret and reach the Jordan and, finally, be blocked by the sea” (Num. 34:10-11). Above he said: and there will be a border from the sea to Aser-Enon, a border with Damascus. Thus, from the end of the northern side, that is, the court of Enan, the borders go according to the book of Numbers to Sepham, which the Jews call Apamia, and from Apamia the borders go to Rebla, which is now called Syrian Antioch. And so that we know that Rebla means this city, now the most famous in Cela-Syria, then it follows: to the source, obviously meaning Daphne, from which source the above-mentioned city uses water in great abundance. This place, with the help of an army, was built up by Gnaeus Pompey, who was the first to subjugate Judea to Roman power; From him, according to the poets' fable, Daphne received the name because of the laurel and cypress trees, which are very numerous in this place. Then, he says, the borders will go to the eastern side to the Sea of ​​Generet, to Lake Tiberias. Although it has fresh water, it is called a sea in accordance with the peculiarity of the Scriptures that in them collections of waters are called seas. And, he says, the borders will go as far as the Jordan and will finally be blocked by the sea, either by the Dead Sea or, as others believe, by the Gulf of the Red Sea, on the shore of which Aguila is located, where the Roman legion and garrison are now located. This is said in reference to the book of Numbers. According to Ezekiel, the border [of the eastern side is] between the city of Abran, located in the Damascus desert, and between Mount Gilead, which is connected to the hills of Lebanon and was inherited by Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh, and is located behind Phenicia and Arabia. Jacob reached this mountain, setting out from Harris, and was overtaken by Laban (Gen. 31:25). Jeremiah also says about her: Gilead, you are the head of Lebanon to me (Jer. 22:6). Gilead the son of Machir the son of Manasseh took her from the land of the Amorites. The limit of this side is the Jordan River, dividing it and the eastern sea, by which in this place we mean the Dead Sea, and not the Gulf of the Red Sea. Let's say in relation to the allegorical meaning. After the northern side, by a long detour through Ephalon and Sadadah and Berotha, also Savarim, Tikon and Avran, and Damascus, and the court of Aenon to Hamath, the eastern side goes between the wrath of Abran and between the blood of Damascus, that is, repentance, and between Gilead, meaning revelation or the hill of testimony, so that after wrath and repentance to indicate the hope of salvation, and between the land of Israel, containing the vision of peace, reaching to the very sweet waters of the Jordan; being at a great distance from the sea, it reaches the light from the east, so that it ends in the Jordan River, meaning the stream of judgment, and the eastern border. What was said by the Seventy: φοινικῶνος, that is, palm trees, is not in Hebrew; instead, we translated measure, because this is an obvious mistake that occurred due to the fact that they, deceived by the similarity of the letters Dalet and Resh, read thamorru instead of thamoddu. Ezek.XLVII:19. And the southern side by noon from Tamar to the waters of wrangling (or to the waters of Maribot, for this means wrangling or διαδικασμο’ς, that is, dispute). Also Kadesh, and the stream to the great sea, is the south side at noon. Instead, in the book of Numbers it is written as follows: “It will begin from the wilderness of Sin near Edom and will have the sea as its borders on the east; they will bypass the southern side through the rising of Scorpio, so that they will pass through Senna and go south to Kadesbarne, from where the borders will go to a city called Addar, and will reach Asemon, and there the border will turn from Asemon to the stream of Egypt, and will end at the shore of the great sea" (Num. 34: 3-5). This briefly means (we say briefly so that it does not seem that we are moving on to a detailed interpretation of Numbers with regard to Ezekiel) that the border from the desert of Sin, which is near Edom, and from the Red Sea and through the ascension of Scorpio, and through Senna and Kadesbarne, and the court of Addar and from Asemon, reaches the stream of Egypt, which flows into the sea at the city of Rhinocorur. This boundary of the south, that is, the midday side, begins from the city of Tamar, which is in the desert, in which Solomon also erected beautiful buildings, and which is now called Palmyra, and in the Hebrew language is called Tamar, which in our language means a palm tree, - to the waters of the dispute of Kadesh, which is undoubtedly in the desert, and to the stream that flows into the great sea, which adjoins the shores of Egypt and Palestine, and this is the south side by midday. Thus, after the northern and eastern side, when the sun of righteousness rises for us, we reach the midday side, when the light spreads over us, and we, together with Abraham, take part in the meal, and with Joseph and his brothers we become drunk with wine, which gladdens the heart of man (Ps. 103:15). This possession begins from Tamar, that is, from the palm tree and the victory of vices, [and extends] to the waters of discord. For virtues are always subject to controversy. Therefore, during the preaching of the Gospel, Jews, disagreeing with Paul, began to argue throughout the world (Acts 15). And in the Gospel we read that Simeon said: “This one is destined for the fall and rising of many, and for a sign it can be reproached” (Luke 2:34). Holiness is subject to any dispute, which means Kadesh, as the psalmist says: The Lord will shake the Kaddian desert (Ps. 28:8); of course, because she did not have holiness at first, but she was shocked and shaken to receive God as a guest who says: “On whom will My Spirit rest? only on the humble, and meek, and trembling at My words” (Isa. 66:2). After the desert of Kadesh to the great sea by noon, on the north side there is a stream about which we spoke above and which has rains not earthly, but heavenly, collected from various virtues. Ezek.XLVII:20. And the sea side 98 is the great sea from the border straight to the entrance to Hamath; this is the sea side. It is written about it more clearly and concisely in the book of Numbers: “and the western side will begin from the great sea and will end with the same border,” that is, it will be from sea to sea, namely from (or to) the stream Rinokurura, which flows into the sea, to the place that is located opposite the Syrian city of Hamath, which we mentioned above. The West, according to the laws of allegorical speech, is always at sea, always on the open sea and waves, where shipwrecks and the killing of the unfortunate, and the loss of wealth and goods occur every day; but if we overcome all this through patience, then we directly reach Hamath, that is, the truth of the Lord, who promised eternal rewards to those of us who emerge victorious from persecution. Ezek. XLVII:21–23. And you shall divide this land for yourselves according to the tribes of Israel and take (or measure) it as an inheritance for yourself and for the strangers who came to you and begat children among you, and let them be to you as natural inhabitants among the children of Israel, and let them share with you the possession among the tribes of Israel. In which tribe the stranger will live, give him possession in that, says the Lord God. This section lets us know (and brings down the pride of the Jews) that there is nothing divided between Israel and the Gentile people. For if the land is divided among strangers and foreigners, together with those who belong to the people of Israel, that is, with the natural inhabitants, then there is no doubt that the same heritage belongs to the pagan people and the Jewish people, if, however, they turn to the service of the God of Israel, which actually belongs to Christians, because the Jews have the letter of the law, and we are the spirit, and they adhere to the books, and we what is written in books. Also for Moses, the land is divided by lot, but here, as we said, it is assigned by determination of the Lord; Moreover, each possession belongs to the strangers and to Israel, and in each of the tribes an inheritance is given [to them] according to the command of the Lord God. Ezek. XLVIII:1–7. These are the names of the tribes: from the northern borders along the road to Ephalon in the direction of Hamath, the court of Aenon, the border of Damascus on the north near Hamath, and from the east side [to] the sea there will be one [destiny] for Dan. And from the border of Dan, from the east side to the sea side, 99 Asher has one [seat]. And beyond the border of Asher, from the east side to the sea side, Naphtali has one [destiny]. And beyond the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the sea side, Manasseh has one [destiny]. And beyond the border of Manasseh, from the eastern side to the sea side, Ephraim has one [destiny]. And beyond the border of Ephraim, from the east side to the sea side, Reuben has one [individual]. And beyond the border of Reuben, from the east side to the sea side, Judah has one [destiny]. After describing the possession of the holy land, both according to the present prophecy of Ezekiel, and according to the book of Numbers, the possession of each of the tribes is now described from the east side to the west side, that is, to the [side of] the sea, and first of all, the borders are determined from the north along the road to Ephalon in the direction of Hamath, to the court or Aser - Enom and the border of Damascus from the north near Hamath, which we have already spoken about. It begins first of all with the tribe of Dan, the second is Asher, the third is Naphtali, the fourth is Manasseh, the fifth is Ephraim, the sixth is Reuben, the seventh is Judah, that is, on the left side, and the total number is seven. Then [follows] the firstfruits of the priests and Levites, and the sanctuary of the Lord in the midst and the holy of holies. The city itself is described as having four thousand five hundred canes on each of the four sides. The suburbs of the priests and Levites and the possession of the prince are also described in order. Then on the right side follow the five tribes in the same way - from the east side to the west side, of which the first place is occupied by Benjamin, the second by Simeon, which has its own special possession, and not together with Judah, as before, the third by Issachar, the fourth by Zebulun, the fifth by Gad, and three gates on each side of the city and the name of the city itself, which is written on a golden tablet located on the forehead of the high priest. We will talk about all this in its own place. It should also be noted that here there is silence about the names of the forty-eight cities, which, according to the Book of Numbers, were given along with their suburbs for residence to the tribe of Levi, and about the cities for the fugitives, of which three, namely Bozor, and Ramoth and Gavlon, were given beyond the Jordan in two and a half tribes, and three on this side of the Jordan, namely: Kadesh, Shechem and Cariatharbe. For with the mysterious image and together with the dwelling of the saints and the perfect life, it was not necessary to describe what served to save the fugitives and what Israel needed, while still on earth and among many labors and dangers, hastening to reach this city and saying through each of the saints: I am a stranger and a stranger, like all my fathers (Ps. 39:13). And in another place: I have moved from the village of Kedar, my soul is much a stranger (Ps. 119:5-6). Ezek. XLVIII:8–9. And beyond the border of Judah from the east side of the sea there will be a first fruit 100 which you will separate, the breadth of which will be twenty-five thousand [reeds], and the length equal to each of the portions from the east side to the sea side, and in the midst of it will be a sanctuary. The firstfruits that you will set aside for the Lord will be twenty-five thousand long and ten thousand [reeds] wide. It would be unnecessary to explain what has been explained and again deal with what we were doing above, as if we were not talking about it. After the borders of the seven tribes, a first fruit is described from east to west, which is twenty-five thousand reeds in width, and in length equal to each of the tribes from east to sea, the length of which is unknown. For even when describing each knee, its size is not indicated. But if it is twenty-five thousand canes wide, then we can assume that the length was much larger, because it is always greater than the width. In the middle stands the sanctuary, near the firstfruits set aside for the Lord, twenty-five thousand reeds long and ten thousand wide. Reading this, I cannot say anything else other than what the apostle said: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and understanding of God! For His judgment has not been tried, and His ways have not been searched (Rom. 11:33)! And in another place: that you may be able to understand with all the saints what is breadth and length and depth and height; understand the love of Christ, which surpasses understanding, so that all the fulfillment of God may be fulfilled (Eph. 3:18–19). That the number twenty-five refers to the feelings about which it is written: “you will have a divine feeling,” and ten thousand to complete and perfect virtue, reaching through the ten-words of the Old Testament to the Gospel sacrament, we have briefly talked about this before and here we will partially recall. For if by application you reach from one to the number four; then you get the full number ten 101, and thus what happens is that the Old Testament is reduced (consrtingatur) through the New, and the New is expanded through the Old. Ezek. XLVIII:10–12. And this will be the firstfruits of the sacred place (primitiae sanctuarii) for the priests: towards the north the length is twenty-five thousand and towards the sea the breadth is ten thousand, also towards the east the breadth is ten thousand and towards the noon the length is twenty-five thousand [reeds], and in the midst of it will be the sanctuary of the Lord. There will be a sacred place for the priests from the sons of Zadok, who performed my services and did not wander during the wandering of the children of Israel, as the Levites wandered. And the firstfruits of the firstfruits of the earth, the holy of holy things, will belong to them, near the border of the Levites. The four sides of the firstfruits of the sacred place are described, which is not to the people, and not to the mob, and not to the Levites, as to a lower degree, but, in fact, refers to the ministry of the priests, namely the northern, and western, and eastern, and southern, and the description goes in the order of gradual prosperity, so that, leaving the cold of the north, we go to the west, that is, so that our vices will decline and disappear, and then we They moved to the east, and after the sun of righteousness rose among us, they came to noon, at which there is the clearest and most perfect light, and both from the north to the sea, so from the east to noon, the length was twenty-five thousand, and the width was ten thousand [reeds], so that the same measure of length and width was observed everywhere. The sanctuary, that is, the church of the Lord, will be in the middle of the priestly firstfruits and will have equal sides on all sides. And since he said: this will be the firstfruits of a sacred place for priests, so that, as a result of this general name, all the priests do not arrogate to themselves the possession of this place and the performance of services, he speaks more specifically, adding: the sacred place will be for priests from the sons of Zadok, meaning righteous, about whom it is said: the Lord is righteous and you love righteousness, you have seen righteousness in His face (Ps. 10:7). Instead of this Zadok LXX they write Sadduc. This Zadok says in the Gospel: The Father judges no one, but all judgment is given to the Son (John 5:22). About him, under the name of Solomon, the prophet mysteriously sings: God, grant Thy judgment to the king and Thy righteousness to the king’s son (Ps. 72:1). Those priests who did not wander during the wandering of the sons of Israel and the Levites, about whom it was said above, will possess the sanctuary of the Lord and perform His services, and who do not offer sacrifices, but, content with the advantage of the name and humiliation for their error, always say in their hearts: I know my iniquity, and I will take away my sin before me (Ps. 51:4). Let the priestly rank heed this, and, having been carried away by the Arian persecution, and after that by the true faith, let him not shy away from deeds, but submissively bowing his mighty necks and being content with the fact that he is not expelled from the church and retains some shadow and image of his former name, let him, proudly vomiting what gives him pleasure, and being, as it were, unsullied and pure, do not vomit to us from high the throne of the vomit of its ignorance and barbaric talkativeness. He says that the firstfruits of the firstfruits of the earth will belong to them, that is, to the priests, and precisely to those who did not wander during the wandering of the sons of Israel and the Levites. The firstfruits of the firstfruits, as well as the tithe of the tithes and the holy thing of the holy things, is located near the border of the Levites, so that although the Levites occupy the border adjacent to the priestly, they cannot occupy the center (umbilicum), that is, the middle of it and the possession itself [theirs]. Ezek. XLVIII:13–15. And the Levites will [belong] also near the priestly borders, twenty-five thousand in length and ten thousand [reeds] in breadth; the entire length is twenty-five thousand and the width is ten thousand [canes]. And from this [part] they will neither sell nor exchange (or measure), and the firstfruits of the land will not be given (or taken away), because it is dedicated to the Lord. The remaining five thousand in width by twenty thousand in length will be an unholy [place] for the settlement of the city and for the outskirts, and the city will be in the middle of it 102. Instead of what we translated profanum, instead of which Aquila translated βὲβλον (unsacred), Symmachus and Theodotion λαϊκὸν (secular), LXX said: προτει’χισμα, which we can express through antemurale (presentence). Unholy and profane, that is, common to the whole people (vulgare), is called that which can be inhabited everywhere by the whole people. What was said by the Seventy: will not be measured and selected, instead of which we translated: will not be exchanged and transferred, obviously does not make sense. The domain of the Levites is also described, which, although it is adjacent to the boundaries of the priests and has the same extent in length and breadth, according to the number of Levites, as the few priests occupy, however, it has its own special limits in order to make it known that it is separated from the priestly rank, to eliminate the arrogance of those ministers who, not realizing their low position, are prouder than the priests, that is, the elders, and judge dignity not by merit, but by wealth. He who was the first of the ministers, because he sometimes preached publicly and did not leave the bishop (a pontificis latere), considers it an insult to himself if he is appointed presbyter, and the minister of tables and widows does not remember that he is appointed to obey and serve not only priests, but also widows and the poor. And they will not, he says, sell or barter from this [part], so that the plot of the Levites remains in eternal possession, so that no one is given preference over the deserved dignity, and so that it does not pass from one to another; for what is dedicated to the Lord belongs not to those to whom it is given, but to him in whose name it is owned. The remaining five thousand in width with twenty-five thousand (meaning: in length) will be an unholy place of the city, so that all the Israelites and each of the people can settle here, not because it is unclean or that anything in the villages of the holy land is considered defiled, vile and dirty, but because everyone except the priests is allowed to live here. From this we see that everything related to the senses, that is, to bodily pleasures perceived by sight and hearing, touch, smell and taste, does not constitute anything sacred, and does not have the holiness of the church and does not serve as an advantage for the priests, but is characteristic of a low worldly state. In the middle there will be that city about which it is written: the rush of the river makes the city of God glad (Ps. 45:5), and: the city cannot hide, but the top of the mountain is a table (Matthew 5:14). What is the meaning in this place of προτει’χισμα, that is, the prestinium, and δια’στημα, that is, distance, as LXX translated, instead of suburbs, we do not know. Ezek.XLVIII:16. And here are its dimensions: on the north side four thousand five hundred, and on the south side four thousand five hundred, and on the east side four thousand five hundred, and on the west side four thousand five hundred. In the words: and its measurement should imply: cities. For at the end of the previous section it is stated: and the city will be in the middle of it, that is, the earth. First of all, he starts from the north side and contrasts it with the south side. And again he adds equal to equal, contrasting the eastern side with the western side, that is, the sea. And each of the sides of the city has four thousand five hundred canes, which, according to calculation, is eleven thousand eighty-five steps, so that the whole city, as it is written at the end of this book, has around eighteen thousand canes, making up forty-four thousand three hundred and forty steps. Therefore, the forty-fourth psalm, inscribed at the end, about what will be changed, and relating to Idid, that is, the beloved of the Lord, or, as Aquila translated, about lilies and Symmachus: about flowers, contains the sacraments of the Church, which serves as the city of the Lord and about which in the same psalm it is written: the queen appears at your right hand, in robes of gilded garments overspread (Ps. 44:10), and also: all the glory to the princess’s daughter within (Ps. 44:14), so as not to be like tombs, whitened on the outside, but to wash the entire inside and outside of the dish (Matthew 23:25–26). And when we leave the north, the coldest wind, we move to the south and, as the light of knowledge rises in us, we fear the loss of strength, turning our gaze not to the past, but to the future, and not having confidence in the possession of virtue, but daily saying in prayer: do not lead us into temptation, which we cannot endure (Luke 11:4). Ezek.XLVIII:17. And the outskirts of the city will be two hundred and fifty to the north, two hundred and fifty to the south, two hundred and fifty to the east, and two hundred and fifty to the sea. Instead of suburbs, which in Hebrew are called magras, LXX again translated δια’στημα, that is, distance. In the words two hundred and fifty on each side there is meant reeds, which have six cubits and one span, which on each side is about six hundred and seventeen steps, and in total one thousand canes, making two thousand four hundred and sixty-eight steps. These places are surrounded on all sides by city walls to separate the city from the rest [of space]. From this it is clear that in none of these places can city work be carried out and fruits obtained, but they remain unused and free from human work, so that the space surrounding the city walls presents the beauty of randomly growing bushes and herbs and other products of the earth. Ezek. XLVIII:18–20. And what remains of the length near the sacred firstfruits, ten thousand to the east and ten thousand to the west, this will be like the sacred firstfruits, and the products of this [part of the earth] will serve as food (or for bread) for the servants (or workers) in the city. The servants (or workers) from all the tribes of Israel will serve (or work). The entire firstfruits, twenty-five thousand [lengths] by twenty-five thousand [widths], quadrangular, will be set apart as the sacred firstfruits and as the possession of the city. After describing the holy city and its suburbs, he wants the rest of the sacred firstfruits, stretching ten thousand reeds to the east and another ten thousand to the west, to be assigned to those who perform work in the city for the various needs of the city, so that it is sown and so that the workers who build the walls of the city, or restore those that have collapsed and collapsed, are fed with the products of this part of the land, so that the city has a decent appearance and so that the roofs are repaired, in case of need. resumed. And this not only among Israel or in the possession of the Holy Land is spiritually accomplished in the sacrament of the Church, but, as we know, is also done in the Roman Empire, so that there are some villas that came into the possession of the cities, either by royal generosity, or by inheritance and as a gift from many, precisely for the purpose that little by little the buildings should not be destroyed and that public buildings, which serve as the decoration of the city, would not be deteriorated through long-term neglect. The workers, he says, or those who serve in city work will be from all the tribes of Israel, so that no one considers himself free from city work, but so that everyone zealously builds the Church. The same, as we read, was done regarding the tabernacle, so that, depending on the difference in strength, one brought gold and silver, saffron, fine linen, purple and various kinds of multi-colored fabrics, others brought skins and goat's hair, and although the gifts were different in nature, the reward was the same for those who brought them; but, on the contrary, the highest reward was for those who, although they brought a little, but more than what corresponded to their strength, like the poor widow, who, having put into the treasury a gift of two mites, was praised by the judgment of the Lord, who said: Truly I say to you, for this wretched widow is more prolific than all others. All of these, out of their abundance, were turned into gifts of God; This, because of its deprivation, all the life that we had was thrown away (Luke 21:3-4). As we have said about the work in the city, we should briefly say that the entire sacred site and the possession of the city, according to calculations on four sides, comprise two hundred forty-six thousand and one third [steps]. For if twenty-five thousand canes, containing six cubits and one span, make up sixty-one thousand six hundred and sixty-seven of our, that is, Roman steps, then there is no doubt that when this [number] is multiplied by four, the above number is obtained. From here we see that everything must be understood in a spiritual sense, that the possession of the Church is much more extensive than what was once in Judea [the priests and Levites], who did not even receive inheritance in the holy land, but from each tribe received forty-eight cities, not for complete possession, but for residence and for shelters (hospitia), so that also those who, although they seem to be laymen and have not reached the degree of priesthood and Levitehood, nevertheless, work in city of the Lord, they fed from the holy land, the land of the meek and the land of believers, one of whom said: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. 27:13). Ezek. XLVIII:21–22. And what remains will belong to the prince, on all sides, on both sides of the sacred firstfruits and possession of the city against twenty-five thousand [reeds] of the firstfruits to the eastern border, and on the sea side against twenty-five thousand to the sea border will be the prince's inheritance, and there will be a sacred firstfruits and the sanctuary of the church in the middle of it. And from the possession of the Levites and from the possession of the city, in the middle of the parts belonging to the prince, the part between the border of Judah and between the border of Benjamin will belong to the prince. Above we talked in detail about this prince and the fact that he alone received as much as one knee. Now we learn something else, namely, that he alone will receive everything that remains from all the tribes, that there is not a single tribe that does not bring gifts to the prince, not from any other place, but from the firstfruits assigned to the church and sanctuary and selected parts of the city. For this is what the words mean: against the twenty-five thousand firstfruits to the eastern border or to the sea border, so that the firstfruits is between the seven and five tribes, and on the very firstfruits is the city and its suburbs, and in the middle of the city is the sanctuary of the church. Also, from the possession of the Levites and from the possession of the city, everything that remains will be set aside for the prince, and the outermost part of the seven tribes will be adjacent to the firstfruits and the city and the church in the tribe of Judah, and the outermost part of the five tribes will be the same in the tribe of Benjamin, and the very edge will belong to the prince. Therefore, the sacraments of Holy Scripture should evoke wonder and reflection rather than be expressed verbally. For at the first division of the lands beyond the Jordan, through Moses, the land was divided into two tribes - Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:8); on the same side of the Jordan, Judah received from Joshua, the son of Nun, and Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the southern part (ibid., Josh. 15), and Ephraim and half of the tribe of Mebassa the northern (ibid., Josh. 18). Subsequently, when spies from each tribe were sent from Shiloh and when a description of the land was brought to Joshua and Eleazar, Benjamin received an inheritance near Judah from the south and near Ephraim and half the tribe of Manasseh. The second tribe, Simeon, received an inheritance among the tribe of Judah, so that what was written about Levi and Simeon would be fulfilled: I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel (Gen. 49:7). The third, Zebulun, received Galilee, in which Mount Tabor is located. Fourth, Issachar - where Jezreel is located, to the Jordan. Fifth, Asher, to Mount Carmel, which slopes towards the great sea, and to Tire and Sidon. The sixth, Naphtali, in Galilee, to the Jordan, where Tiberias is located, which was once called Henereth. The seventh, Dan, to Joppa, where are the towers of Ailon, and Selebi, and Hamus, now called Nicopolis, although later, as we read, [the sons of Dan], having crossed over to other tribes, took for themselves the city of Lesem in the tribe of Dan, which is now called Panea. If this is so, and if there is such a significant difference between the first distribution of the tribes and the one we now have, then we must pay attention to how, both in the previous distribution and in the present, the city and church are placed between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. And precisely, according to the previous distribution, Judah was from the south, and Benjamin from the north; here, on the contrary, Judah is from the north, and Benjamin is from the south; followed by Simeon second, Issachar third, Zebulun fourth, and Gad fifth, that is, the five tribes, as it is further said, for it is written: Ezek. XLVIII:23–29. And to the rest of the tribes: from the eastern region to the western region, Benjamin alone. Beyond the border of Benjamin, from the eastern edge to the western edge, Simeon is alone. Beyond the border of Simeon, from the eastern edge to the western edge, Issachar is alone. Beyond the border of Issachar from the eastern edge to the western edge, Zebulun is alone. Beyond the border of Zebulun from the eastern edge to the edge of the sea, Gad is alone. Beyond the border of Gad to the southern edge at noon there will be a border from Tamar to the waters of dispute of Kadesh, an inheritance against the great sea. This is the land that you will distribute (by lot) to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, says the Lord God. With the word one (una), which is always placed at the end with five and seven tribes, either an inheritance, or possession or inheritance is implied, although Aquila and Symmachus translate in the neuter gender τὸ δριον, which means limit. It should also be briefly noted that the last of the five tribes, the tribe of Gad, which in the former distribution was beyond the Jordan, is placed in the part that Judah formerly occupied, that is, to the southern edge at noon, and the border goes from Tamar to the waters of dispute of Kadesh, the inheritance against the great sea. This is the same Tamara about which we have already spoken, which is now called Palmyra and which was once built by Solomon; for the palm tree in Hebrew is called thamar, and from it, as some believe, this name was given, because there are very many palm groves there. Regarding the following words: to the waters of dispute of Kadesh, inheritance against the great sea, instead of which the LXX was translated: from Teman and from the waters of Mariboth-Kadiz, inheritance to the great sea, it should be noted that in Hebrew the same word nehela, as ambiguous, means both inheritance and stream, and that here one should understand the stream rather than the inheritance. For this is the stream that flows into the great sea at Rinocurur, as we have already said before. Kadesh, called Kadesh-barnea in the book of Joshua, is located in the desert extending to the city of Petra. Marivoth, meaning quarrel, is the name not of a place, as many believe, but of the waters, at which the people reproached the Lord and Moses offended God, according to the words of the psalm: He angered Him on the water of quarrel and Moses became embittered for their sake (Ps. 105:32). And the entire inheritance of the holy land on the southern side ends near the borders of Egypt with the Rhinocurora and the stream. And, since Gad means temptation, then in its possession from the palm groves we come to the waters of strife as far as Kadesh, meaning holy, so that we can understand that even after victory in the world we must constantly be in anxiety and fear, and remember the following verse: temptation is the life of man on the earth (Job 7:1), and in the confrontation of enemies to achieve holiness and thus gain victory, in order to closely contemplate a stream full of rains. Ezek. XLVIII:30–35. And [here are] the exits of the city: from the north side you measure four thousand five hundred. And the gates of the city according to the people (or names) of the tribes of Israel. There are three gates on the north: one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, and one gate of Levi. And on the east side there are four thousand five hundred, and three gates: one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan. And on the south side you measure four thousand five hundred, and three gates: one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun. And on the west side there are four thousand five hundred and three gates on them: one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali. [In total] there are eighteen thousand around. And the name of the city from that day is: The Lord is there. About the volume of the city in the previous speech it was said that on each of the four sides it had four thousand five hundred reeds, which amount to eighteen thousand reeds, as also stated in the present section, that is, forty-four thousand steps and three hundred and forty steps. Now it is written that on each side, that is, at eleven thousand steps and at eighty-five steps there were three gates, which Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion call διεξο’διυς, LXX διεκβολα’ς (passages), we translated the exits (egressus et exitus) of the city. First of all, it should be briefly recalled that the same tribes were so encamped around the tabernacle that to the east were Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, the sons of Leah, and to the south were Reuben, Semeon, Gad, the two sons of Leah, and the third son of Zilpah, Leah's handmaiden. To the west is Ephraim, and Manasseh and Benjamin, that is, the two sons of Rachel, because the tribe of Joseph, instead of Levi, appointed for sacrifices, was divided into two tribes: Ephraim and Manasseh. To the north is Dan, and Asher, and Naphtali, of whom the first and third, as the sons of Balah, Rachel's handmaiden, and the second, as the son of Zilpah, Leah's handmaiden, are of low birth and are placed from the north, because they were born from the offspring of handmaidens who were at odds with each other. So according to the book of Numbers and according to the description of the tabernacle, which, according to the command of God, was spoken by the mouth of Moses. Our city, the city of the great king, whose organizer and creator is God and about which the psalmist sings: Is not Zion, says man, and man was born in it, and that is the foundation and the Most High (Ps. 87:5), has a different distribution of tribes in the holy land, and the size of the city, and the order of ownership and sides of each of the tribes. For, first, facing the north side there are three gates, or three exits from the city, at which are the firstborn Reuben, and Judah, the founder of the royal family, and Levi, about whose name in the description of the tabernacle and the sanctuary (sacrorum) nothing is said, so that we, having the firstborn, as a royal and priestly family, despise the cold of the north. Then, to the east are Joseph, Benjamin and Dan, two sons of Rachel and one of her maids, Bala. To the south are Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun, all three sons of Leah. Further to the west are Gad, Asher and Nephealim, of whom the first two are the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaiden, and the third the son of Balah, Rachel's handmaiden. Who is wise and understands this? and meaningful, and this message? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but the wicked will fail in them (Hos. 14:10). These twelve gates or exits, as I believe, are assigned, according to the quality of merits and virtues, to each of the tribes under the names of apostles and patriarchs, as is more clearly written in the Revelation of John, where also evidence of many mysteries of the divine Scriptures is contained (Rev. 21). It is also necessary that such a city have a circumference of eighteen thousand reeds, under which number and in the eighteenth psalm it is written about the natural law and grace of the Gospel, on which the Church, that is, the city of the Savior, was erected. Also, the name of this city will not be, as before, Jerusalem, which means the vision of the world, but Adonai sama, which is translated into Latin through Dominus ibidem (the Lord there), who will never leave it, as He first left the people, saying to the disciples: Arise, let us go from here (John 14:31), and to the Jews: your house is left to you empty (Matthew 23:38), but will have an eternal possession in him and will Himself be a possession for him, in accordance with His promise to the same disciples: Behold, I am with you to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Virgil. Aeneid I. VI v. 27. Virgil. Aeneid. I.V.v. 588–591. Modium (modus) is the Roman basic measure of bulk solids, equal to our approximately 2.5 garnets. Kotyla is a Greek and Roman measure for liquids, equal to approximately 1 5 damask. You should probably read not іngrediatur (enter), but еgrediatur (exit). That is, the elbows (cubita); because in ancient times they usually dined while reclining on sofas or soft couches (accubita) and leaning their elbows or resting the elbow (cubitus) of their left hand on the knees of a neighbor or on the couch. That is, by adding the numbers 1†2†3†4 the sum is 10. That is: land (see below article 16). You might be interested in: