Turning from Satan to the love of God

Indeed, having arranged myself to the Satan, you loved. Wisdom of the Father is manifestly the Word, yet the obscure and hidden aspects of the Word—the Word of the incarnation—remain concealed. Having neglected all these things, I grew weak and fell. Thus he says: 'You judge, punishing some and crowning others, because you love the truth.'. Loving the truth and knowing the weakness of human nature, you grant indulgence to those who ask for sustenance. For one who has been trained sophistically in the contemplation of the truth, having come to know its magnitude, holds complete love toward herself. Those who have not trained themselves in falsehoods become more observant and behold the admirable beauty of the truth—such as Moses and Daniel. After engaging with sophistical arguments, they ascended to true wisdom and received divine testimony, being recognized as perfect wise persons. God revealed to them the obscure and hidden things of his wisdom, so that nothing remained obscure or shadowed for them. Even David attains this condition through the preceding means. For I did not merely cause you to dwell among the biotic walls, but also deemed you worthy of prophetic grace, foretold the things shortly to come, made the unspeakable things clear to me—both the incarnation of your Only-begotten and the salvation of the world from that source.

They feared destruction or waste, so they cooled themselves with breezes around the camp while meat remained stuck in their teeth, uneaten. The Lord grew angry with the people and struck them with a severe blow, a great plague causing many deaths, as previously stated: he struck down the majority, meaning many. Oh, the lack of understanding! Before they could consume the meat lodged in their teeth, they doubted, having forgotten God’s power. Thus, their desire was fulfilled as a sign of divine providence toward them; yet due to their unbelief and insatiability, they were struck with cholera, by which many perished. This outcome served as a sobering example for them, for observers, and for those looking on, sufficient to promote prudence. Among the more prominent passages, Aquila and Symmachus, in the pious and richer texts, identified the wealthier and strongest individuals of the people by those names. It is plausible they did so because they themselves were prone to insatiable indulgence. According to the Septuagint, among the more, he struck down many—those whom David had chosen and called warriors. These numbered six hundred thousand, five hundred, and fifty, from twenty years old and upward, excluding the younger, the women, and the entire tribe of Levi. God sustained all these to fullness for a long time. For he declared: You shall eat for a month of days, until it comes out of your nostrils. Observing a people desirous and seeking to cleanse them of desire, he saw that mere instruction does not purify, but desire itself, when active, drives forward. For all fullness is,

It is not merely sleep that is at issue, but also the matter of food. Therefore he sent them quail meat for thirty days; yet they, having indulged excessively, were corrupted by a bilious disorder. I find the people having eaten quail meat on two occasions: first, when they had just come out of the land of Egypt; and second, as recorded in the Book of Numbers, when they spoke evil of the bread of God and contemptuously renamed it; at that moment anger rose against them, as if it were poised to fall upon them before they had even sinned. Having endured many trials of divine power, they did not believe the benevolent one could provide them with food; thus he gave them this sustenance and imposed upon them instruction, so that he might be capable of both doing these things and providing good things, as well as imposing punishments. Therefore we must flee gluttony, bulimia, and disordered eating—namely, the excess in food use, the frenzy of the throat, intemperance in eating, and the frenzy of the belly—lest we bury the mind in the mud. It causes no sorrow even to reflect on these histories in their ascent. God continually flows forth for us from the land of Egypt, from the.