How did Moses recover the two tablets on which God wrote the divine law?

214. It is time to draw attention to those who gave themselves up to sin, to know how Moses recovered the two tablets on which God wrote the Divine Law, which fell from Moses’ hand to the ground, and were broken by the fall. The two new tablets were not exactly identical to the ones that had been broken, but the writing was the same. After Moses made the two tablets from earthly materials, he handed them over to the power of God to engrave his law on them, and so he He was carrying stones in his hand, but he regained grace as God himself engraved the words on the stones.

215. From these events it is possible to understand the divine concern for us. If the Apostle Paul calls the two tablets “hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3), that is, the most important part of the soul, and says, “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10), we can know from this that human nature was At its beginning, it was unbroken and enjoyed immortality. Since human nature was shaped by the hand of God and shaped by the unwritten letters of the law, the law was intended to distance our nature from evil and honor God.

The two panels and the divine incarnation

216. When the sound of sin reached our ears - that sound that the Book of Genesis calls “the voice of the serpent” (Genesis 3:4), but in the story of the tablets the book calls it “the sound of drunken singing” (Exodus 32:18, etc.), the two tablets fell to the ground and shattered. But the true Giver of the Law - of which Moses was a symbol - made for himself two tablets of human nature from our earth. His body that received God did not come from marriage, but rather he was the stone-cutter of his body, which was engraved by the finger of God, because the Holy Spirit descended on the Virgin and the power of the Most High overshadowed her (Luke 1:35). When this happened our nature regained immortality and gained it through the letters written by the finger of God. The Holy Spirit is called a “finger” in many places in the Bible. (Luke 11:20; Matthew 12:28; Exodus 8:19; Deuteronomy 9:10).

217. Moses was transformed into a kind of glory that no created eye could see (Exodus 32:29). Certainly, those who have learned the divine mystery of our faith see how the spiritual meaning of this agrees with the literal description. When the Savior restored the broken tablet of our nature to its original beauty - by the finger of God - the eyes of the unworthy were no longer able to look at it, and this Savior became invisible to them in His unparalleled splendor..

218. Because, as the Gospel says, “And when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him” (Matthew 25:31), then the pious will hardly be able to bear to look at him, but the impious and those who follow the Jewish heresy (Arianism) will have no share in seeing him. Because the wicked, as Isaiah says, “does not see the majesty of the Lord” (Isaiah 26:10).

Continuous progress

219. Let us return to our topic, how can a person ask for God to appear to him (Exodus 33:18), and he saw God clearly in such divine appearances - face to face as a man speaks to his friend (Exodus 33:11), as if Moses had not yet reached what The book says he found it?

220. The heavenly voice responded to the request of the petitioner (Moses), and did not withhold this additional blessing from him, but drove him once again to despair when it assured him that what he sought (the vision of God) could not be accommodated in human life. But God says that there is a place with him where there is a rock with a hole (an opening) that God commands Moses to enter (Exodus 33:21), and God placed his hand on the hole and called to Moses while the glory of God was passing through. After passing through the glory of God, Moses came out of the hole and looked. Then he saw God from behind (Exodus 33:23). With this, he believed that he saw what he was seeking, and God did not break his promise.

221. A literal view of these matters will not help those who seek God, but rather make their understanding unclear. For my wordForward" And the"Back“They belong to things that have only visible form, and each form defines an object. It is a mistake to view God as having a form, because physical nature does not apply to Him, and one of the established facts about bodies is that they are composite, and everything that is composite exists through the connection of its various elements. No one can say that what is a compound cannot be decomposed, and that what is decomposed can become corrupted, because corruption is the decomposition of the compound.

222. If someone thinks about God’s back in the literal sense, he will reach the wrong conclusion. The back and the front belong to a form, and the form belongs to a body, and the body by nature can be composite, and everything that is composite can be decomposed, and what is decomposed cannot be incorruptible, so the literal interpretation leads to an understanding that God is corruptible, but in The truth is, God is incorruptible and invisible.

223. Therefore it is best to consider everything that happened in a spiritual sense: the place God assigned to Moses in the rock and the hole in it, Moses entering it, God placing his hand on it, his passing, calling to Moses, and then Moses seeing God from behind.

224. What is the intended meaning then? Objects, if pushed downward, descend with increasing speed without any assistance as long as the surface they are moving on is uniformly sloping and they encounter no resistance. The soul moves in the opposite direction. When it sets off from its ground tether, its agility and speed of movement increase upward, starting from the bottom to catch up with the heights.

225. If nothing comes from above to hinder the movement of the soul in its ascent (the nature of goodness is that it attracts those who look to it), then the soul continues to rise constantly - by virtue of its desire for heavenly things, and here we remember “I reach forward to what is ahead,” as the Apostle says ( In 3:13).

226. The more the soul achieves something, the greater its desire to rise, not to abandon the rise. She continues her upward journey without stopping, and the achievements she achieves help renew her energy to fly. Activity directed towards virtue increases its energy through the effort expended, and this type of activity is the only one that does not decrease due to the effort, but rather increases.[83].

227. This is why we say that the great Moses, as he became more and more great, never stopped ascending, nor did he set a limit for himself on his upward path. Once he set his foot on the ladder that God had established (as James says in Genesis 28:12), he continued to climb and never stopped rising higher, because he always found before him another step higher than the one he had reached..

228. Moses renounced his apparent kinship with the Egyptian queen, avenged the Hebrew, chose the desert for life where he would not be disturbed by humans, grazed a herd of domesticated animals, saw the sparkle of light, and after taking off his sandals and becoming unhindered, he approached the light. He brought his relatives and citizens to freedom, and saw the enemy drowning in the sea.

229. Moses set up the camp under the pillar of cloud, and quenched the thirst from the rock, and brought bread from heaven, and when he extended his hands they overcame the strangers, and the trumpet sounded, and the mist (darkness) entered, and he entered into the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle that was not made by hand. He learned the secrets of the holy divine priesthood, destroyed the idol, supplicated and interceded for his people to God, and restored the law that had been destroyed by the evil of the Jews.

The need for more glory

230. Moses’ face shone with glory, and although he was lifted higher by these sublime experiences, he was still not satisfied, and he had a desire for more. He was still thirsting for what he had constantly filled himself so completely with, and was asking for it as if he had never had a drink of it. He asks God to appear to him, not according to Moses' ability to comprehend, but according to the true being of God.

Seen beauty and hidden beauty

231. This experience seems to belong to the soul that loves beauty. This soul always makes seeing visible beauty hope to see hidden beauty. Therefore, whoever loves beauty with enthusiasm always sees visible beauty as an image of what he desires and longs for in the original.

232. The bold request with which Moses’ voice rose to the top of the mountain symbolized the rise to Mountains of desire to enjoy beauty, not in mirrors and reflections, but face to face. The divine voice came to give Moses what was desired in the form of a prohibition, while in a few words he revealed an immeasurable depth of thought. God's generosity and generosity agreed to fulfill Moses' desire without promising any termination or complete satisfaction of the desire.

233. God would not have revealed Himself to His servant if that would have ended Moses’ desire to watch after that, since True viewing of God makes those who look to God never stop wanting to see. He says, “You cannot see my face, for man will not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20).

How can the face of life be the cause of death for those who approach it?

234. The Bible does not mean by this that this vision causes death to those who look at it, for how can the face of life be the cause of death to those who approach it? On the contrary, God is by nature a giver of life. But the characteristic of the divine nature is to transcend all properties, so whoever thinks that God is something that can be known has no life, because he has transformed from the real being (God) to what he believes is a being due to his perception of Him with the senses.

235. The real being is the real life, and this being cannot be reached through knowledge. If the life-giving nature goes beyond knowledge, then what can be perceived is certainly not life. It is not in the nature of something that does not have life to be a cause of life. And so on What satisfied Moses' desire were the same things that left his desire unsatisfied.

236. Moses learned that God, by His nature, is infinite, and is not surrounded by boundaries that limit Him. If a person thinks of God as a being limited by something, he must look beyond this limit. A limited thing stops at a certain point. Air is the limit for everything that flies, and water is the limit for everything that lives in it. Air is the limit for what flies and water for what swims. In the same way, if man views God as limited by boundaries, he must be surrounded by something different from himself in nature. It stands to reason that the surrounding thing would be much larger than the surrounded thing.

237. It is agreed that God is good by nature, and since what surrounds him is different from him in nature, then what surrounds God is different in nature from good, and therefore it is viewed as evil and is greater than the good that surrounds him.

238. Since the thing enclosed is smaller than the thing surrounding it, the larger will be stronger and prevail. So the Whoever believes that God is surrounded by limits believes that good is surrounded by its opposite (evil), but this is not possible. It is therefore a mistake to believe that there is anything that can limit and encompass infinite nature. It is not in the nature of the unlimited that it can be touched or perceived. But every desire for goodness that gravitates toward that ascension continually increases as a person advances in his adherence to goodness.

239. This is truly God's vision, that man is never satisfied with the desire to see, but rather by looking at what he can see his desire to see more is kindled. Thus, there will be no limit to stop progress in ascending towards God, as there is no limit to goodness, and the desire for goodness does not end when this desire is satisfied, but rather increases.

What is that place with God?

240. But, what is that place with God? What is a rock? What is the hole in the rock? What is the hand of God covering the entrance to this opening? What is the passage of God past the rock? What is the back of God that God promised Moses to see when Moses asked to see God face to face?

241. Each of these things must be of great importance, worthy of the generosity of a generous God. This promise of God is considered greater and higher than any manifestation that God previously showed to His servant Moses. How can we understand from what was said to Moses that the height that Moses wanted to reach after what he had reached in his previous ascension, and to which all those who love God can easily ascend under God’s leadership, since: “All things work together for good for those who love God.” (Romans 8:28): God says “You have a place with me(Exodus 33:21)

242. This idea is consistent with what we have previously considered, when God spoke about “place“The place is not quantified, and there is no measurement other than the quantitative. On the contrary, by using the word “place“Which means a surface that can be measured, the conversation here leads the listeners to the unlimited and the infinite. The biblical text can be understood in this way: “O Moses, since your desire to extend to what is ahead (Philippians 3:13) has increased and you have not yet reached satisfaction in your progress, and since you see no limit to goodness, but rather your longing is always wanting more, the place I have is so large that Whoever runs in it will never be able to stop“.

Rising with stillness

243. Elsewhere in the Bible we find progress taking place in silence, without movement. This is the most amazing thing about the topic, as we find the book saying:So you stand on the rock“(Exodus 33:21). This is the most amazing thing about the subject, because how can the same thing be stillness and movement? He who ascends cannot certainly stand still, and he who stands still cannot move upward. But we find that Ascension is accomplished here by standing stillAnd by that I mean it The more steadfast a person is in goodness, the further he advances on the path of virtue. As for the person who is not confident in his ideas and arguments, and who is prone to error, since he is not steadfast in what is good, but is “tossed and tossed by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14), as the Apostle Paul says, and who is very doubtful and hesitant in his opinions regarding the truth, such a person does not reach To transcendence in virtue.

244. This person is like someone who makes an effort to climb up in the sand. He takes long steps but his foot always slides down. He makes a lot of movement but makes no progress. But if a person pulls his foot out of the miry clay - as the Psalm says - and sets it on the rock (Psalm 2:40) (the rock is Christ - as in (1 Corinthians 10:4) - who is the absolute virtue), then he is firmly established and unshakable in goodness. (1 Corinthians 15:58), he was able to complete the course faster. that Unwavering here is like a wing that the heart uses to fly upward through its steadfastness in goodness.

245. God showed Moses the place and urged him to continue on the path, and when he promised him that he would stop him on the rock, he showed him the nature of that divine race. And for For the hole in the rock The Apostle Paul explains it well when he talks about the heavenly tabernacle, not made with hands, which is built by hope and hope for those who have destroyed their earthly tabernacle (2 Corinthians 5:1).

246. As for the one who has completed the course (i.e. the race) as the Apostle Paul says (2 Timothy 4:7) in that wide and wide stadium that the divine voice calls “a place,” and has preserved the faith and established his feet on the rock, then such a person will have the crown of righteousness placed in his hand. Competition referee. The Bible describes this reward in different ways.

247. The hole (the hole) in the rock is called in other subjects of the Bible “a garden” (Genesis 2:15, 3:23), “the eternal tabernacle” (2 Corinthians 5:1), and “a dwelling with the Father” (John 14 : 2, 23), “the bosom of the Father (Abraham)” (Luke 16:22), “the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13), “the waters of rest” (Psalm 23:2), and “the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 13:44), “the reward (reward) of God’s call” (Philippians 3:14), “a crown of grace” (Proverbs 1:9; 4:9), “a crown of beauty” (Proverbs 4:9), and “ A tower of strength” (Psalm 61:3), “a table for the greatest happiness” (Isaiah 65:11), chairs of judgment (to judge the tribes of the children of Israel) (Matthew 19:28, Luke 22:30), and the place of the name (the name of the Lord) (Deuteronomy 12: 5), and “the hidden tabernacle” (Psalm 27:5).

248. Moses entering the rock has the same importance as these descriptions. The rock in the concept of the Apostle Paul is Christ, so we believe that all hope in good things is in Christ, in whom we have learned that all the treasures of goodness are found (Colossians 2:3; Ephesians 1:3), and whoever finds goodness finds it in Christ, who contains all goodness. The good.

The guide's back needs to be constantly visible

249. Whoever reaches this rock will be covered by the hand of God, as the sacred text promises. The hand of God is the creative power of the Being, the only begotten Son through whom all things were made (John 1:18). He is the “place” for those who run toward God, and He is the “way” (John 14:6; Titus 4:7) and He is the “rock” for those who are firmly established. And “home” (John 14:2) is for those who rest. This person is the one who will hear God’s call, and see who is calling him from behind, as God says to him in the law, “You will walk after the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 13:4).

250. When the great David heard this and understood it, he said: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty; he will cover you with his fear” (Psalm 91:1, 4). “By his feet” means “his shoulders” - and this is the same thing as walking after God, because the shoulder is at the back of the body, and David says about himself: “My soul clings to you; your right hand sustains me” (Psalm 63:8). And you see how the Psalms agree with the history in the Bible. The psalm says that the right hand of God helps the person who has joined to God and follows Him, and the history in the book says that the hand touches the person who waits in the rock upon hearing the divine voice, and prays to follow God.

251. When the Lord - who spoke to Moses - himself came to earth to implement his own law, he gave his disciples a clear explanation, and revealed to them the meaning of what had been said previously in symbol. He said to them: “If anyone wants to come after me” (Luke 9:23), and he did not say to them: “If anyone wants to walk before me.” He mentioned the same thing to those who asked about eternal life. He said to him: “Come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). Whoever follows someone sees him from behind.

252. Moses was eager to see God, and God taught him how to see God. God’s vision is for man to follow him and go wherever he directs him. God’s passage alongside man is guidance for those who follow Him. No man can complete a journey in peace without knowing the way unless he follows a guide. The guide shows the path to those who follow him, and whoever follows the guide will not stray from the path if he ensures that the guide’s back is constantly visible to him.

253. If the person turns in another direction or walks facing the guide and not behind him, he will take another path, and therefore the guide says to him, “As for my face, it will not be seen” (Exodus 33:23), meaning, “Do not face your guide.” If he confronts the guide, he will definitely take the opposite path Good does not confront good, but follows it.

254. What confronts good face to face is its opposite. What confronts virtue is evil, and virtue does not stand in the face of virtue, and therefore Moses does not look at the face of God, but sees him from behind. Whoever looks at God face to face cannot live, as the divine voice says, “For man will not see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20).

255. From this you see that it is a great thing to learn how to follow God, for even that man who ascended to those great heights (Moses) and had glorious, awe-inspiring manifestations near the end of his life was hardly considered worthy of this blessing.

Envy against Moses

256. After Moses followed God in this way, there was no longer any sin that occurred through evil that would oppose those who follow God in this way. Afterwards, these things aroused envy against Moses from his brothers. Envy is a feeling that causes evil. It is the father of death. It was the first entry into sin. It is the root of evil and a generator of sorrow. It is considered the father of misfortunes, the basis of disobedience, and the beginning of shame.. Envy is the one that took us out of Paradise after it became a serpent to face Eve. It is the one that blocked us from the tree of life, stripped us of the divine clothes, and led us out in shame, covered in mulberry leaves.

257. Envy armed Cain against nature, and established death, which avenges him sevenfold (Genesis 4:24). Envy is what made Joseph a slave. Envy is the deadly sting and the hidden weapon, the disease of nature and the poison, the willful weakness, the bitter arrow, the nail in the coffin, the fire in the heart and the flame that burns from within.

258. The envious person does not consider the disasters that befall him to be an ordeal. Rather, for him, adversity is the good that befalls others. Conversely, success is not about being happy, but rather about adversity befalling others. Envy is saddened by the good deeds of people, and pleased by the disasters that befall them. It is said that the raptors that devour dead bodies are eliminated by the good smell (perfume), as their nature is consistent with what is evil and corrupt. Anyone who falls under the control of this disease (envy) will destroy the happiness of his relatives and neighbors, but if he sees an evil temptation, he flies to it, places his crooked beak in it, and brings out hidden disasters..

259. Envy fought many who lived before Moses, but when it attacked Moses, it broke like a ceramic vase breaks when it hits a rock. This showed in particular the progress that Moses had made in his journey with God. Moses ran into the divine place and stood on the rock, and God kept him in the hole in it, and God covered him with his hand, and he followed his guide, and did not look at his face but at his back.

260. Moses reached a height that made him too high for the arrow of envy to hit him. This shows that he became blessed when he followed God. The bow of evil was too loose to release the emotion of envy so that it could reach the muse of those who had previously been afflicted with the disease. But Aaron and Miriam were affected by the evil influence. They became like the bow of envy, shooting words at Moses instead of arrows.

261. Moses not only refrained from indulging in this evil, but he also provided aid to those afflicted by the disease of envy. Not only did he not try to defend himself against those who caused him grief and sorrow, but he interceded with God, asking for mercy for them. He demonstrated by what he did that a person armed with the armor of virtue will not be harmed by arrows fired at him.

262. Moses broke the sharpness of their spears and made them fly, thanks to the solidity of his armor. The armor that protects against these arrows is God himself, who is worn by the soldier of virtue. The Bible says: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ (as a breastplate) (Romans 13:14), that is, the complete armor that Unbreakable. Moses was well protected in this way, so evil arrows were ineffective against him.

263. Moses did not hasten to defend himself against those who had caused him grief, even though impartial judgment had condemned them, and he knew what he must do. Despite this, he interceded for his brothers before God. Moses would not have done this had he not been following God, who showed him His back (his works) as a safe guide to virtue.

Moses and the spies

264. Let's continue our conversation. When the natural enemy of mankind had no opportunity to harm Moses, he directed the battle against the most vulnerable, and when he shot the arrow of greed's lust at the people, he made them desire what they had found in Egypt, to the point that they preferred the meat that the Egyptians ate to the bread that came down from heaven.

265. But Moses had a sublime spirit beyond that lust, and he was completely devoted to the coming inheritance that God promised to those who went out of Egypt (in the spiritual sense) and made their way to the land flowing with milk and honey, and for this reason he appointed some spies to teach the people about the delights of that land.

266. In my view, spies symbolize two things: on the one hand, those who preached good things symbolize the ideas that stem from faith and confirm hope in the good things prepared for us, and on the other hand, those who reject good hopes and instill doubt in the news preached by the first group symbolize ideas Enemy of goodness. Moses refused to believe what his opponents said, and accepted what he heard from the man who gave a good report about that land.

Joshua and the bunch of grapes

267. It was Yeshua who led the better group, and made the things described trustworthy by his confirmation of them. When Moses looked at Joshua, he was filled with a firm hope for the future, and he found in Joshua’s words about the cluster of grapes evidence of the bounties of the land. Joshua carried a cluster of grapes with him on a wooden staff from that land. And when you hear Yeshua tell of the land and a bunch of grapes hanging on a tree, you realize what Yeshua saw and it filled him with hope.

268. What is the cluster of grapes hanging from the tree except that cluster hanging in the last days, whose blood became a saving drink for those who believe in Him (John 15:1). Moses spoke about this before it happened, when he said, “And the blood of the grapes I drank wine” (Deuteronomy 32 : 14).

Copper snake

269. The people once again made their way through the desert. They lost hope in the promised good things and felt thirsty. Once again Moses made water flow for them in the desert. From a spiritual perspective, this teaches us what the secret of repentance is. Those who turn again to their stomachs and bodies and Egyptian pleasures after having tasted the water of the rock are doomed to be deprived of good things.

270. But if they repent, they can find again the rock they left, and the spring of water can be opened for them again and they can drink to their fill. The rock gave water to Moses, who believed that Joshua’s statements about the Promised Land were truer than what his opponents said. Moses looked at the bunch of grapes - a symbol of the one who was hung on the tree for us and shed his blood - and with the tree he made water flow from the rock again to the people.

271. But the people had not yet learned how to conform to the greatness of Moses. They were still attracted by feelings of slavery and inclined to the pleasures they had enjoyed in Egypt. We see from this that human nature is particularly drawn to these feelings, which are considered illness in a thousand ways.

272- Just as a doctor prevents disease from affecting people by treating it, so Moses did not allow disease to cause death. The unbridled desires of the people caused the emergence of snakes that spewed their deadly venom at those they bit. But the Great Giver of the Law (Jesus) took away the power of the true serpents in a living form.

273. Let us now explain this rhetorical image. There is only one antidote to these evil desires, and that is the purification of our souls which occurs through the sacrament of piety. The basic work of faith in this secret is to look at those who suffered for our sake. The cross is the suffering he endured, and the Bible teaches us that whoever looks at it will not be harmed by the poison of evil desires (Numbers 21:8).

274. Looking at the cross means putting to death the entire human life and crucifying it so that it would die to the world and not be affected by evil desires (Galatians 6:14), because truly, as the prophet David says: “My flesh shudders because of your terror” (Psalm 119:120), as if the flesh had been nailed with nails. It is self-control from the world.

275. Just as the Bible makes clear that evil desires brought serpents out of the earth (because every product of evil desire is a serpent), the Law makes it clear that the serpent is a clear symbol of the wood of the cross. The image of the cross is a resemblance to a serpent and is not itself a serpent - as the Apostle Paul says “In the likeness of sinful flesh“ (Romans 8:3). Sin is the true serpent, and whoever turns to sin takes on the nature of the serpent.

276. So man is liberated from sin by the one who took the form of sin and became like us and transformed into the form of a serpent. He makes the bites of serpents not cause death, but the serpents themselves do not die - and serpents are a symbol of desires. Although the evil of death that results from sin does not affect those who look at the cross, the flesh lusts against the spirit (Galatians 5:16) and the lust of the flesh still exists.

277. In fact, the stings of lust are often active even in believers. But whoever looks at the one who was raised on the tree rejects desires and softens the poison of the stings with fear of the commandment, which is considered a medicine. The voice of the Lord clearly teaches us that the serpent lifted up in the desert is a symbol of the mystery of the cross. He says: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14).

Usurpation of the priesthood

278. Once again... after the excitement of evil desires - sin returned in its evil succession, advancing in the same way as if it were in a chain of evil, and once again the Giver of the Law used the remedy to heal what the evil had caused, when the bites of serpents lost their effectiveness with those who looked at the likeness of a serpent - and you Learn the meaning of the symbol here from what we previously said - the enemy of goodness has resorted to another strategy among his endless means that he continues to invent against us.

279. We can see this happening now on many occasions. When some individuals curb their passion for lust with an upright life, they insert themselves into the priesthood and assume for themselves the status of priests of God. We read in the Bible in the story of Moses how Satan pushed such people into the resulting evil.

280. When those who were bitten by serpents because of the desires they had believed in Him who was hung on the tree, the earth stopped bringing out the serpents that bit them. Then they thought that they were too high to be bitten by serpents, that is, at the time when the desires of lust left them, pride came in to take their place. These people thought that it was not appropriate for them to remain in their places, as it was below their level, and they thrust themselves into the dignity of the priesthood, and continued to expel those who had obtained this priesthood from God. The result was that they were swallowed up by the abyss and destroyed. A lightning bolt also burned all those who remained to the ground (Numbers 16: 31-35). I believe that the Bible teaches us here that when a person exalts himself with pride, he ends up falling underground. From this, pride can be defined as climbing into the abyss.

281. Don’t be surprised if public opinion thinks otherwise, because most people think the word pride means “to rise above others,” but the truth of the story in the Bible confirms our definition of pride. Whoever raises himself above others descends to the bottom where the earth opens a pit for him, so pride is a lowly fall.

282. Moses teaches those who see this to be moderate and not to become arrogant because of their righteous behavior, but to always maintain a good nature. Overcoming a person’s desire for pleasure does not mean that he is no longer vulnerable to being overcome by another type of emotion. Any emotional desire is a fall as long as it is lust, and the diversity of desires does not mean a different type of fall. The person whose foot slips on a slippery emotion has fallen, just like the person Who fell with pride. An intelligent person should not prefer one type of fall over another, but should avoid any fall at all.

283. If you see someone purifying himself from the disease of pleasure to some extent, and throwing himself into the priesthood, considering himself above others, then you realize that he will fall to the ground with his pride and arrogance. In the following part of the story in the Bible, the law teaches us that Priesthood is something divine, not humanHe teaches us this in the following way:

Aaron's rod and the almond fruit

284. After the sticks that Moses received from each tribe were marked with the name of the one who gave the stick, Moses placed the sticks on the altar, and the result was that one stick became a witness to the heavenly consecration (ordination), it was distinguished from the other sticks by a heavenly miracle, and this is what It happened: The other sticks remained the same, but the priest's stick sprouted on its own (not because of water from outside, but through the power that God put into it), and it produced branches and fruits and the fruits ripened, and the fruits were almonds.

285. From this event the whole people learned and received discipline. We must realize that the type of fruit produced by Aaron’s rod represents the type of life worthy of the priesthood. A life characterized by restraint, roughness, and dryness in appearance, but inside it contains fruit that can be eaten (hidden and unseen). This inner part appears when the fruit is ripe and the hard, wood-like peel is removed.

286. And if you discover that the life of a priest of the kind that we mentioned, that he throws himself into the priesthood, resembles the fruit of the quince, fragrant and pink in color - like the life of people who adorn themselves in clothes made of linen and scarlet, and indulge themselves at the tables of the rich, and drink pure wine, and perfume themselves with the finest perfumes (compare Luke 16: 19, Amos 6:6), and they use everything that seems good to those who are inclined to live a luxurious life, then you have the right to apply the word of the Bible to this situation: “Every tree is known by its fruits” (Luke 6:43) And to say to this type: “When I look at your fruits, I do not recognize the tree of the priesthood.” The fruit of the priesthood is not ripened by earthly waters. But the fruit of this type of priesthood has many streams of pleasures flowing from below, through which the fruit of life matures in this way.

King's Road

287. When the people were purified from the emotion of pride, they crossed over to life in foreign countries. The law led them on the path of kingship without deviating from it at all (Numbers 20:17). It is easy for a traveler to get sidetracked. Let us assume that there are two cliffs with a narrow passage between them in the middle. Anyone who crosses this if he deviates from the middle in any direction exposes himself to danger, because the chasm on both sides swallows whoever deviates to the side. In the same way, the law requires those who follow it not to turn to the right or to the left from the path - which the Lord says is narrow and difficult (Matthew 7:14, Deuteronomy 7:14).

The middle path to virtue

288. We learn from this that virtue is found in the middle. Therefore, all evil exists in the deficiency or excess of virtue. In the case of courage, cowardice represents a lack of virtue and recklessness represents its excess. Virtue is the pure and pure state that exists in the middle of these two opposing evils. In the same way, every matter that involves striving for the best takes the middle path between two adjacent evils.

289. Wisdom stands in the middle between cunning and simplicity. Do not praise the wisdom of serpents or the simplicity of doves (Matthew 10:16), if a person were to choose one of them alone, but the nature that combines them and is in the middle is virtue. A person who lacks moderation is idleAnd those who go beyond the limits of moderation, the Apostle Paul says of them, “their consciences are marked” (1 Timothy 4:2). The lax person gives himself up to pleasure without limits or restrictions, and his opposite criticizes marriage as impurity and as if it were adultery. The characteristic that we notice in the middle between these two is moderation.

290. As the Lord says, the world is immersed in evil (1 John 5:19), and everything that is contrary to virtue (which is evil) is alien to those who follow the law, so the person who makes his way in this world will complete the necessary journey of virtue in peace if he follows the main path that He was guided by virtue and under no circumstances was he turned aside into a side path by evil.

Balaam and Moab

291. Since the attack of our enemy (Satan) accompanies the ascent toward virtue and looks for opportunities to turn the ascendant toward evil, when the enemy finds that people are progressing in a life of piety, he launches another attack like those skilled in the arts of war, when they estimate that their opponent is excelling on the fields of open battles. They resort to making plans for ambushes. In the same way The evil leader stops using his power openly against those who gain strength from law and virtue, but carries out his attack secretly by ambushing them.

292. Satan uses magic as an ally against those he attacks. In the Bible, we see magic in the form of a soothsayer who derives his harmful power from the actions of demons. The ruler of Midian paid him money to curse those who live with God, but in reality he turned the curse into a blessing. We realize from this that magic is ineffective against those who live in virtue. Indeed, those who are strengthened by divine help are victorious over every attack.

293. The Bible tells us about bird-watching divination when it mentions that Balaam had the power of divination[84]He took advice from birds. Before that, he said that he knew things about the mission he was going on from the braying of his donkey. Because he usually derived advice from the voices of irrational animals under the influence of Satan, the book clearly describes what the donkeys spoke. He thus shows that those who were previously deceived by Satan have reached the point where they have replaced logical thinking by accepting the teachings they derive from the voices of irrational animals. When Balaam listened to the donkey, he received instructions from the things that had deceived him, and he learned that the strength of the people whom Balak had hired to curse was immeasurable.

294. We also know from the book that Legion - the flock of demons - was prepared to oppose the authority of the Lord. When the Lord, who has authority over all things, approached, Legion acknowledged the Lord’s supreme power and did not hide the fact that this was the divine nature that punishes those who sin - at the appropriate time. Then the voice of the demons says: “Oh, what do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth, you have come to destroy us!” I know you who are you? Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24) and “What has it to do with you, Jesus, Son of God, that you have come here before the time to torment us?” (Matthew 8:29). The same thing happened before that when the demonic power taught the soothsayer Balaam that God's people were invincible.

295. In order to draw a conclusion from what we have previously said on this point, we say: Whoever wants to speak his language against those who live in virtue will not be able to make a harmful sound at all, but rather the curse will turn into a blessing, and this means that blame and mockery do not affect those who live in virtue.

296. In this matter, how can we condemn a man who has no property for greed? How can we preach to a man who lives a life of loneliness and isolation from decadence? Or do we preach to a calm and moderate man about nervousness? Or a man who is moderate in his habits and abstains from excessive luxury? Or do you preach to people about wrong things that bring blame when we know they are doing the opposite? The goal of these people who live in virtue is to live a blameless life, as the Apostle Paul says: “So that the one who opposes you may be put to shame, because he has nothing bad to say about you” (Titus 2:8). Therefore, Balaam - who was summoned by Balak to curse the people - says: “How can I curse someone whom God has not cursed” (Numbers 23:8), which means: “How can I censure someone who has not done anything worthy of censure and whose life is immune to evil, because he looks to God?”

The evil weapon of carnal desires

297. When the inventor of evil failed in this, he did not entirely cease plotting against those he was attacking, but resorted to his characteristic deception, and attracted nature once more to evil through pleasure. Pleasure is truly like bait used in fishing. Evil uses it to hunt. When thrown lightly, it attracts greedy souls to the hook of doom. Depraved pleasure in particular attracts nature to evil, when it is not careful. This is what happened to the children of Israel with the Moabites.

298. What happened is that the children of Israel who overcame the enemy’s weapons and who subdued the attacks launched against them with iron weapons, and who with their strength changed the line of battle of their enemies, were themselves wounded by the arrows of pleasure along with the women. Those who were stronger than men were defeated by women. Once women appeared to them with their beauty instead of weapons, they forgot their strength as men and indulged in pleasures.

299. It was expected that some of them would be filled with the desire for forbidden relations with strange women, but knowing evil meant separation from good, so God immediately began war against them. However, the jealous Phinehas did not wait for sin to be cleansed by a heavenly decision, but immediately assumed the role of judge and jury.

Phinehas' jealousy

300. Phinehas's wrath arose against the men who were filled with lust, and he performed the work of the priest by cleansing sin with blood, not with the blood of an animal that had committed no sin and had not shared in the shame of depravity, but with the blood of the two who had united in evil. Freedom penetrated both bodies together, maintaining divine justice, punishing lust with the death of those who sinned.

301. The historical story provides us with useful advice for people, and it teaches us that among the emotions that influence people’s thinking, there is nothing stronger than the disease of lust. We see that the Israelites, who were clearly stronger than the Egyptian knights and defeated the Amalekites, terrorized the next nation they faced after that, and overcame the forces of the Midianites - were enslaved to the disease of lust as soon as they saw strange women, which shows, as I said, that lust is an enemy for us that is difficult to fight and defeat.

302. Lust triumphed by its appearance only over those who had not been defeated by weapons, stigmatized them, and publicly declared their disgrace. Lust showed that it was turning people into animals. The irrational animal tendency to degeneration made them forget their human nature. They did not try to hide their excessive lust, but rather they adorned themselves with the shame of lust, and beautified themselves with shameful shame, while they wallowed like pigs in the mire of filth in public, with everyone seeing them.

303. What then do we learn from this story? We learn that after knowing the great power of the disease of lust, we must distance our lives from it as much as possible. Otherwise, disease can find a loophole through which it can sneak up on us, like fire, whose proximity to a person causes a harmful flame. Solomon teaches us this in the Book of Proverbs when he says that a person should not walk on hot coals and have his feet burned, or take fire into his bosom (Proverbs 6: 27-28). We can protect ourselves from being affected by emotion as long as we stay away from what ignites its fire. If we get close enough to step on the scorching heat, the fire of desire will ignite in our chests, and the result will be that our feet and chests will burn.

304. In order to keep us away from this evil, the Lord, with his voice in the Gospel, cuts off the root of evil itself - which is the lust that arises from looking - when he teaches us that the person who welcomes the lust by looking is opening a loophole for the disease to harm him (Matthew 5:28 et seq.), for the evils of lust are like an epidemic. If you can reach critical parts of the body, you will not stop until death.

Moses the Prophet and the path of perfection (continuous growth of life)

305. I think there is no need to go on at length by presenting the reader with the entire life of Moses as an example of virtue. For whoever seeks a higher life, what we have said is sufficient for him to reach true wisdom, but whoever is too weak to strive for virtue will not benefit even if we write much more than what we said.

306. We must not forget the definition that we mentioned in the introduction, where we emphasized that there is no limit to the virtuous life or description of perfection at which one can stop and progress on the path of virtue stops. The soul's path to perfection is the continuous growth of life towards what is better. In our discussion, we will reach the end of Moses’ life to clarify the definition of perfection that we mentioned.

307. He who elevates his life above earthly things by ascending higher, as Moses did, will never stop rising higher until everything in his life becomes above the cloud that surrounds and envelops a mere spiritual ascension.

308. Moses was born at a time when the Egyptians considered the birth of a Hebrew child undesirable. The tyrant who was ruling at that time had issued a law punishing every Hebrew male born, but Moses triumphed over the deadly law, as he was saved by his parents. Again by the same people who made the law, and those who wanted him dead by law were actually the ones who took great care for his life, and took care of his education, as he received as a young man an education in all branches of wisdom.

309. After that, Moses stood above human dignity and royal greatness. Considering that being keen on virtue and beautifying oneself with its adornment was stronger and more appropriate for royalty than being a spear thrower and wearing royal adornments.

310. After that, Moses saved his fellow Hebrew and killed the Egyptian, who in our contemplative interpretation symbolize the friend and enemy of the soul, and he isolated himself in the wilderness and made his isolation a teacher of sublime matters, and in this way his understanding was enlightened by the light that shone from the bush. Then he hastened to share with his fellow Hebrews the good things that God had given him.

311. On that occasion Moses demonstrated his power in two ways, by repulsing his enemies with one skillful blow after another, and by doing good to his Hebrew countrymen. He led this people across the sea on foot without building a fleet of ships, but instead Their faith made a ship to cross the sea, it made the bottom of the sea dry land for the Hebrews and the dry land a sea for the Egyptians.

312. Moses sang a song of victory, walked under the guidance of the pillar of clouds, was illuminated by the heavenly fire in the bush, prepared a meal table that descended on him from above, brought water from the rock, stretched out his hands to destroy Amalek, ascended the mountain and entered into the darkness (darkness), heard the trumpet, and approached The divine nature, he surrounded the divine house, adorned the priesthood with priestly garb, built the house (on the earth), commanded the people to live according to the law, and fought his last wars in the manner we have described.

313. His last good deed was to punish dissoluteness through the priesthood, with the anger shown by Phinehas against lust. After all these works, he went to the Mount of Rest, and did not set foot in the Promised Land that had been promised to the people and which they longed for. This is a symbol that Moses, who preferred to live on what came to him from above, no longer tasted earthly food, but was like a skilled statue maker. He fashioned a fine statue with his life, and not only finished the statue, but put the finishing touch on it.

The death of Moses, the servant of the Lord

314. What does the book tell us here? “So Moses died there Servant of the Lord In the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord... and no man has known his grave to this day... nor has his eye dimmed, nor has his freshness gone away” (Deuteronomy 34: 5-7). from From this we know that a person who does such noble deeds deserves to be called “the servant of the Lord” (Numbers 12:7), which means that he is better than all others. A person does not serve the Lord unless he is distinguished from everyone else in the world.. This is his goal and goal of a virtuous life and the end of life determined by a word from God. The death that we read about in the story of Moses is the death of life, after which there is no grave, does not fill a grave, extinguish the light of the eyes, or bring old age to a person..

315. So what do we learn from the above? To have one goal in life, to deserve the name “servants of the Lord” by virtue of the life we live. That is when we follow the example of Moses, defeat all enemies (the Egyptians, Amalek, Edomites, and Midianites), cross the sea, be guided by the pillar of clouds, sweeten our waters with the tree, drink from the rock, taste the food coming down from above, ascend the mountain in purity and holiness, reach the top, and learn the divine secret from The sound of the trumpet, and we approach God in the impenetrable darkness through our faith, there we learn the secrets of the house and the dignity of the priesthood.

316. And when you engrave - as an example - the divine revelation that you received from God in your heart, and when you destroy the golden idol, that is, when you destroy from your life the desire for greed, and when you rise to heights that Balaam’s magic cannot reach (magic here is a symbol of the cunning deception to which we are exposed in life, Which makes people fall as if it were the magic drink that the witch in ancient legends used to warn people with and make them turn into irrational animals and abandon their healthy nature), when you go through all these trials and the priesthood staff blooms in your hand without water from the ground, but with its unique power to bear fruit (the fruit is the almond that Its peel tastes bitter and hard, but inside it is sweet and edible), and when you eliminate everything that belittles you, just as the earth swallowed up Dathan and fire burned Korah - then you will approach the goal.

317. By “goal” I mean the goal for which everything is done. The goal of agriculture is to enjoy its fruits, the goal of building a house is to live in it, and the goal of competing in competitions is to obtain a prize. The goal of a sublime life is to deserve the name of servants of the Lord, and with this dignity in deserving this name there is another goal, which is a simple life free of evil..

318. The Bible describes another characteristic of serving the Lord: the eye does not tire and the person does not grow old. For how can an eye that is always in the light be tired of the darkness that is always far from it? A person who prevents corruption in his entire life by all means does not allow corruption to enter his life. He who has truly attained to be in the image of God and has not in any way deviated from the divine path bears within himself the distinctive signs of the divine personality and shows in everything his adherence to the divine model. He beautifies himself with everything that is imperishable, unchangeable, and does not participate in any evil at all.

Conclusion

319. O Cesarius, man of God, I have written to you briefly on matters pertaining to the perfection of a life of virtue and have drawn something like a pattern of the life of the great Moses so that each of us may imitate the image of the beauty shown to us in it by imitating the pattern of life of Moses. There is no greater evidence that Moses had attained perfection than the divine voice that said to him: “For you have found favor in my eyes, and I know you by name” (Exodus 33:12, 17), and also that he was called a friend of the Lord: “And the Lord will speak to Moses face to face, just as he speaks The man is his friend” (Exodus 33:11), and that he preferred to perish with the others if God, in His mercy, did not pardon their sins and calm the wrath of God against the Israelites. God changed his judgment on the Israelites so that his companion would not be sad. All of these things are clear testimony and evidence that Moses reached the highest peaks of perfection.

320. Since the purpose of our conversation is to reach the path of virtuous life, and since we have found our goal, therefore, my noble friend, you must look to this example and apply in your life the spiritual interpretation of the literal events we talked about: That a person becomes known to the Lord and a friend of Him. This is true perfection, not avoiding a life of evil because we fear punishment like slaves, nor doing good because we hope to obtain a reward, as if we are getting the price of a virtuous life, as if it were the procedures of a commercial transaction. On the contrary, we do not look at all the things we hope for. In it, which is reserved for us according to the promise, we consider falling from the Lord’s friendship to be the only fearful thing, and we consider the Lord’s friendship to be the only thing worthy of our desire and honor, and this is perfection in life.

321. When your understanding rises to things high and divine, what you will find (and I am sure you will find much) will be for mutual benefit in Christ Jesus, Amen.

[83] Saint Gregory says: “[The groom said: ‘It is not enough for you to rise from your fall on the ground, but you must advance in doing good and reach the end of the path in virtue.’” We learn this from the example of the paralytic in the Gospel (Matthew 9:6). Jesus Christ did not only tell the paralytic to carry his bed, but also commanded him to walk. I believe that this text shows progress and progress towards perfection. Christ says: “Arise and come.” What power lies in this matter? Truly, God's voice is the voice of power (Psalm 68:34). He says: “Give strength to God over Israel, his majesty and strength in the clouds.” Then he says: “For he said, and it was done. He commanded, and it came to pass” (Psalm 33:9). See also what the groom says to his bride: “Arise and come,” and immediately his command turns into reality, and at the same time the bride receives the power of the word of God, so she stands and comes toward him. And running away from the light. He bears witness to the Word of God when he sees it and says: “My beloved answered and said to me: Arise, my beloved, my beautiful, and come” (Song 2:10).] Sermon 5 on the Song of Songs, translated by Dr. George Nawar.

[84] Pope Gregory believes that Balaam used birds and animals in Maarat Al-Unseen.