The Life of Moses
BOOK I The Life of Moses or Concerning Perfection In Virtue Prologue 1. At horse races the spectators intent on victory shout to their favorites in the contest, even though the horses are eager to run. From the stands they participate in the race with their eyes, thinking to incite the charioteer to keener effort, at the same time urging' the horses on while leaning forward and flailing the air with their outstretched hands instead of with a whip. They do this not because their actions themselves contribute anything to the victory; but in this way, by their good will, they eagerly show in voice and deed their concern for the contestants." I seem to be doing the same thing myself, most valued friend and brother. While you are competing admirably in the divine race along the course of virtue, lightfootedly leaping and straining constantly for the prize of the heavenly calling,* | exhort, urge and encourage you vigorously to increase your speed. I do this, not moved to it by some unconsidered impulse, but to humor the delights of a beloved child.
2. Since the letter which you recently sent requested us to furnish you with some counsel concerning the perfect life, I thought it only proper to answer your request.* Although there may be nothing useful for you in my words, perhaps this example of ready obedience will not be wholly unprofitable to you. For if we who have been appointed to the position of fathers® over so many souls consider it proper here in our old age® to accept a commission from youth, how much more suitable is it, inasmuch as we have taught you, a young man, to obey voluntarily, that the right action of ready obedience be confirmed in you.
GREGORY OF NYSSA 3. So much for that. We must take up the task that lies before us, taking God as our guide in our treatise." You requested, dear friend, that we trace in outline for you what the perfect life is. Your intention clearly was to translate the grace disclosed by my word into your own life, if you should find in my treatise what you were seeking. I am at an equal loss about both things: It is beyond my power to encompass perfection in my treatise or to show in my life the insights® of the treatise.
And perhaps I am not alone in this. Many great men, even those who excel in virtue, will admit that for them such an accomplishment as this is unattainable.
4. AsI would not seem, in the words of the Psalmist, there to trembleforfear, where nofear was,° I shall set forth for you more clearly what I think.
5. The perfection of everything which can be measured by the senses is marked off by certain definite boundaries.
Quantity, for example, admits of both continuity and limitation, for every quantitative measure is circumscribed by certain limits proper to itself.'° The person who looks at a cubit or at the number ten knows that its perfection consists in the fact that it has both a beginning and an end. But in the case ofvirtue we have learned from the Apostle that its one limit of perfection is the fact that it has no limit. For that divine Apostle, great and lofty in understanding, ever running the course ofvirtue, never ceased straining toward those things that are still to come.1* Coming to a stop in the race was not safe for him. Why? Because no Good hasa limit in its own nature but is limited by the presence of its opposite,' as life is limited by death and light by darkness. And every good thing generally ends with all those things which are perceived to be contrary to the good.
6. Just as the endoflife is the beginning of death, so also stopping in the race of virtue marks the beginningofthe race of evil. Thus our statement that grasping perfection with reference to virtue is impossible was not false, for it has been pointed out that what is marked off by boundaries is not virtue.
LIFE OF MOSES a said that it is also impossible for those who pursue the life of virtue to attain perfection.) The meaning of this statement will be explained.
7. The Divine One is himself the Good (in the primary and proper sense of the word),'? whose very nature is goodness. This he is and he is so named, and is known by this nature. Since, then, it has not been demonstrated that there is any limit to virtue except evil, and since the Divine does not admit of an opposite, we hold the divine nature to be unlimited and infinite. Certainly whoever pursues true virtue participates in nothing other than God, because he is himself absolute virtue.'* Since, then, those who know what is good by nature desire participation in it, and since this good has no limit, the participant's desire itself necessarily has no stopping place but stretches out with the limitless.'® 8.
It is therefore undoubtedly impossible to attain perfection, since, as I have said, perfection is not marked off by limits:
The one limit of virtue is the absence of a_limit. How then would one arrive at the sought-for boundary when he can find no boundary?'® 9. Although on the whole my argument has shown that what is sought for is unattainable, one should not disregard the commandment of the Lord which says, Therefore be perfect, just asyour heavenlyfather isperfect.1' For in the case of those things which are good by nature, even if men of understanding were not able to attain to everything, by attaining even a part they could yet gain a great deal.
10. We should show great diligence not to fall away from the perfection which is attainable but to acquire as much as is possible: To that extent let us make progress within the realm of what we seek. For the perfection of human nature consists perhaps in its very growth in goodness.'®
It seems good to me to make use of Scripture as a counselor in this matter. For the divine voice says somewhere in the prophecy of Isaiah, Consider Abraham your father, and GREGORY OF NYSSA Sarah who gave you birth.1® Scripture gives this admonition to those who wander outside virtue. Just as at sea those who are carried away from the direction of the harbor bring themselves back on course by a clear sign, upon seeing either a beacon light raised up high or some mountain peak coming into view, in the same way Scripture by the example of Abraham and Sarah may guide again to the harbor of the divine will those adrift on the seaoflife?® with a pilotless mind.
12. Human nature is divided into male and female, and the free choice ofvirtue or ofevil is set before both equally. For this reason the corresponding example ofvirtue for each sex has been exemplified by the divine voice, so that each, by observing the one to which he is akin (the men to Abraham and the women to Sarah), may be directed in the life of virtue by the appropriate examples.??
13. Perhaps, then, the memory of anyone distinguished in life would be enough to fill our need for a beacon light and to show us how we can bring our soul to the sheltered harbor of virtue" where it no longer has to pass the winter amid the stormsoflife or be shipwrecked in the deep waterofevil by the successive billowsofpassion. It may be for this very reason that the daily life of those sublime individuals is recorded in detail, that by imitating those earlier examples of right action those who follow them may conduct their lives to the good."
14. What then? Some one will say, "How shall I imitate them, since I am not a Chaldaean as I remember Abraham was, nor was I nourished by the daughter of the Egyptian as Scripture teaches about Moses, and in general I do not have in these matters anything in my life corresponding to anyone of the ancients? How shall I place myself in the same rank with, one of them, whenI do not know how to imitate anyone so far removed from me by the circumstances ofhis life?" To him we reply that we do not consider being a Chaldaeana virtue or a vice, nor is anyone exiled from the life of virtue by living in Egypt or spending his life in Babylon, nor again has God been
LIFE OF MOSES known to the esteemed individuals in Judaea only,"* nor is Zion, as people commonly think,"* the divine habitation. We need some subtlety of understanding and keenness of vision to discern from the history how, by removing ourselves from such Chaldaeans and Egyptians and by escaping from such a Babylonian captivity, we shall embark on the blessed life.
15. Let us put forth Moses as our example for life in our treatise." First we shall go through in outline his life as we have learned it from the divine Scriptures. Then we shall seek out the spiritual understanding which corresponds to the history?" in order to obtain suggestions of virtue. Through such understanding we may come to know the perfect life for men.
History of Moses 16. Moses is said to have been born when the tyrant's law sought to prevent the birth of male offspring.?® Yet in his outward grace he anticipated the whole contribution which he would make in time. Already appearing beautiful? in swaddling clothes, he caused his parents to draw back from having such a child destroyed by death.
17. Thus, when the threat of the tyrant prevailed, he was not simply thrown into the Nile but was placed in a basket daubed along its joints with slime andpitch,*° and so was given to the current. (This was recounted by those who carefully gave a narrative concerning him.)?! Guided by some divine power, the basket moved to a certain place along the sloping bank where it was washed up naturally by the lapping of the waves.
As the king's daughter happened to come to that grassy bank where the basket washed up, she discovered him when he gave a childlike cry in the ark. When she saw the outward grace evident in him, the princess out of her good will immediately adopted him and took him as her son. But when he instinctively refused a stranger's nourishment, he was nursed at his mother's
GREGORY OF NYSSA breast®? through the contrivance of his close relatives.
18. After he had left childhood, and had been educated in pagan learning** during his royal upbringing,** he did not choose the things considered glorious by the pagans nor did he any longer recognize as his mother that wise woman by whom he had been adopted, but he returned to his natural mother and attached himselfto his own kinsmen.** During a fight between a Hebrew and an Egyptian he sided with his countryman and killed the foreigner.*® Then when two Hebrews fought with each other, he tried to restrain them, counseling them that because they were brothers they should make nature and not passion the arbiter of their disputes.
19. Having been rebuffed by the one in the wrong, he made this rejection the occasion for a greater philosophy.*"
Separating himself from association with the people, he thereafter lived alone. He became the son-in-law of one of the foreigners, a man with insight into what is noble, and perceptive in judging the habits and lives of men. This man saw in one act —the attack on the shepherds**—the virtue of the young man, how he fought on behalf of the right without looking for personal gain. Considering the right valuable in itself, Moses punished the wrong done by the shepherds, although they had done nothing against him. Honoring the young man Moses for these acts and judging his virtue in his manifest poverty more valuable than great riches, the man gave him his daughter in marriage and, in keeping with his authority, he permitted
Moses to live as he wished. Moses lived alone in the mountains away from all the turmoil of the marketplace; there in the wilderness he cared for his sheep.
20. After he had passed some time in this kindoflife, the history says an awe-inspiring theophany occurred.*® At high noon a light brighter than the sunlight dazzled his eyes.*°
Astonished at the strange sight, he looked up at the mountain and sawa bush from which this light was flaming up likea fire.
When he saw the branches ofthe bush sprouting up in flame as LIFE OF MOSES if they were in pure water,*! he said to himself, "I will go and see this great sight." As soon as he said this, he no longer received the marvel ofthe light with his sight alone, but (which is most astoundingofall) his hearing too was illuminated by the rays oflight. The light's grace was distributed to both senses, illuminating the sight with flashing rays and lighting the way for the hearing with undefiled teachings. The voice from the light forbade Moses to approach the mountain burdened with lifeless sandals.*" He removed the sandals from his feet, and so stood on that ground on which the divine light was shining.
I think that the discussion should not dwell extensively on the bare history of the man. We should give attention to the matters we have proposed. After he was empowered by the theophany which he had seen, he was commanded to release his countrymen from Egyptian bondage. In order that he might learn more fully the strength implanted in him by God he tested the divine command by the things in his hands.*%
This was the test. When the rod fell from his hand, it became alive, a living creature (in fact it was a serpent); when he took it up again in his hand, it became what it had been before becoming an animal. When he withdrew his hand from his bosom, it looked as white as snow, but when he put it back in his bosom, it returned to its natural color.
22. Moses went down to Egypt and he took with him his foreign wife and the children she had borne him.** Scripture says that an angel encountered him and threatened death. His wife appeased the angel by the blood of the child's circumcision. Then he met Aaron, who had himself been brought by God to this meeting.
23. Later, the people in Egypt were gathered by Moses and Aaron into a general assembly and their release from bondage was announced all around to those who were already distressed by the hardships of their labors.*° Report of this came to the tyrant himself. When he heard it his anger at both
GREGORY OF NYSSA the overseers of the work and the Israelites themselves was greater than ever. The levy of bricks to be made was increased*6 and a harsher command was sent down, not only to those slaving with the clay but also to those laboriously gathering chaff and straw.
24. Pharaoh (for this was the Egyptian tyrant's name) attempted to counter the divine signs performed by Moses and Aaron with magical tricks performed by his sorcerers.*7 When
Moses again turned his own rod into an animal before the eyes of the Egyptians, they thought that the sorcery of the magicians could equally work miracles with their rods. This deceit was exposed when the serpent produced from the staff of Moses ate the sticks of sorcery —the snakes no less! The rods of the sorcerers had no means of defense nor any power of life, only the appearance which cleverly devised sorcery showed to the eyes of those easily deceived.
25. When Moses saw that all the subjects agreed with their leader in his evil, he laid a blow upon the whole Egyptian nation, sparing no one from the calamities.** Like an army under orders, the very elements of the universe—earth, water, air, and fire which are seen to be in everything —cooperated with him in this attack on the Egyptians, and changed their natural operations to serve human purposes.*® For by the same power and at the same time and place the disorderly were punished and those free of wrong did not suffer.
26. At the command of Moses all the water in Egypt turned into blood.*° The fish were destroyed because the water thickened, but to the Hebrews alone the blood was water when they drew it. Found among the Hebrews this water provided an occasion for the magicians to use their art in making the water appear bloody.
27. Similarly frogs covered Egypt in large numbers.*?
Their breeding in these numbers was not natural, but Moses' command changed the normal density of frogs. All the land LIFE OF MOSES was in a sorry state, for the Egyptians' houses were being overrun with these creatures, while the Hebrews were free of this hateful plague.
28. Likewise, there was no distinction between night and day to the Egyptians, who lived in unchanging gloom.*? To the Hebrews, however, nothing was out ofthe ordinary. It was the same with all the other things—the hail, the fire, the boils, the gadflies,°* the flies, the cloud of locusts: Each had its natural effect on the Egyptians.°* The Hebrews learned of the misfortune of their neighbors by report, since they experienced no similar attack themselves.
Then the death of the firstborn made the distinction between Egyptians and Hebrews still sharper.**> The Egyptians were dismayed, lamenting the loss of their dearest children, while the Hebrews continued to live in total serenity and safety. Salvation was assured to them by the shedding of the blood.*® At every entrance both the doorposts and the lintel joining them were marked with blood.
29. While the Egyptians were downcast at the fate oftheir firstborn and each individual was lamenting his sufferings and those of everyone else, Moses led the exodusofthe Israelites.°"
He had previously prepared them to take away with themselves the wealth of the Egyptians on the pretext that it was a loan.** The history goes on to say that when they were three days out of Egypt, the Egyptian was angry that Israel did not remain in slavery, and after mobilizing all his subjects for war, he pursued the people with his cavalry.°®
When they saw the deployment of the cavalry and infantry, they were panic-stricken since they were inexperienced in war and untrained in such sights, and they rose up against Moses. Then the history tells the most marvellous thing about Moses. He did two distinctly separate things at once: By spoken word he encouraged the Israelites and exhorted them not to abandon high hopes, but inwardly, in his thoughts, he pleaded with God on behalf of those who cowered in fear and GREGORY OF NYSSA he was directed by counsel from above how to escape the danger. God himself, the history says, gave ear to his voiceless ory.*° "
30. By divine powera cloud led the people.*! This was no ordinary cloud, for it was not composed of the vapors or exhalations as normal clouds are. The winds did not press the vapors of the air into a misty composition; it was something beyond human comprehension.
*® Scripture testifies that there was something amazing about that cloud. When the rays ofthe noonday sun shone with great heat, the cloud was a shelter for the people, shadowing those below it and moistening with a light dew the fiery heat of the atmosphere. During the night it becamea fire, leading the Israelites as in a procession with its own light from sunset to sunrise.®* 31. Moses himself watched the cloud, and he taught the people to keep it in sight.°* When the cloud had guided them along their course, they came to the Red Sea, where the Egyptians coming from behind with their whole army surrounded the people. No wayof escape from their terrors was open to the Israelites in any direction, because they were trapped between their enemies and the water. It was then that Moses, urged on by divine power, performed the most incredible deedofall. He approached the bank and struck the sea with his rod. The sea split at the blow, just as a crack in glass runs straight across to the edge whena break occurs at any point. The whole sea was split like that from the top by the rod, and the break in the waters reached to the opposite bank. At the place where the sea parted, Moses went down into the deep with all the people and they were in the deep without getting wet and their bodies were still in the sunlight. As they crossed the depths by foot on dry bottom, they were not alarmed at the water piled up so close to them on both sides, for the sea had been fixed like a wall on each side of them.
32. When Pharaoh and the Egyptians ran after them headlong into the sea along that newly cut path, the walls of LIFE OF MOSES water came together again and the sea rushed in upon itself to assume its previous form, becoming to the eye a single body of water.°® By that time the Israelites were already resting on the opposite bank from the long and strenuous march through the sea. Then they sang a victory song to God for raising a monument®' unstained with blood on their behalf since he destroyed in the water the whole army of the Egyptians—their horses, infantry, and chariots.
33. After that, Moses pushed on, but when he had traveled three days without water he was at a loss how to relieve the thirst of the army.®* They pitched camp near a pool of salty water, more bitter than the sea itself. While they were resting close to the water and were parched with thirst, Moses, acting on the counsel of God, found a piece of wood near that place and threw it into the water. Immediately it became drinkable, for the wood by its own power changed the nature of the water from bitter to sweet.
34. As the cloud moved forward, the Israelites followed their guide closely. They always rested from their march wherever the cloud indicated by stopping, and they departed again whenever the cloud led the way on.®® By following this guide, they arrived at a place irrigated with drinkable water."°
It was watered all around by twelve bountiful springs and shaded by a grove of date palms. There were seventy date palms which, even though few in number, madea great impression on those who saw them, because of their exceptional beauty and height.
35. Again their guide, the cloud, rose up and led them forth to another place.7! But this was a desert with arid, scorching sand and not a drop of water to moisten the country.
Here once more thirst exhausted the people. But when Moses struck a prominent rock with his rod, it gave forth water which was sweet and drinkable in greater abundance than was needed by even so large a host.
It was also there that the provisions which they had GREGORY OF NYSSA laid in for the journey out of Egypt failed, and the people were famished.'? Then the most incredible marvel of all occurred:
Food did not grow out of the earth in the customary manner but fell like dew from heaven. For the dew was poured out upon them at daybreak and became food for those who gathered it. What was poured out was not drops of water as in the case of dew but crystal-like drops in the shape of coriander seed, tasting as sweet as honey.
37. With this marvel was seen also another: Those who went out to gather the food were all, as one might expect, of different ages and capacities, yet despite their differences one did not gather more or less than another. Instead, the amount gathered was measured by the need ofeach, so that the stronger did not have a surplus nor was the weaker deprived of his fair share. In addition, the history tells another marvel. Each one, when making provision for the day, laid up nothing for the morrow, but when some stingy person did store up some ofthe daily food for the next day, it became inedible, being changed into worms.
38. The history offers yet another astounding feature of this food, for one of the seven days of the week was observed by rest in keeping with a mystical ordinance. On the day before the day of rest, the same amount of food flowed down as on other days and the effort of those gathering it was the same, yet what was gathered was found to be double the usual amount, so that their need for food was no excuse for breaking the law of rest. Divine power was shown even more in that, whereas on other days the excess became worthless, on the day of Preparation for the Sabbath (which is the nameofthis dayofrest) alone did what was stqred up remain imperishable so that it in no way appeared to be less fresh than the new.
39. Then they waged war against a foreign nation.'*The text calls those combining against them Amalekites. For the first time the Israelites were drawn up fully armed in battle array. The full army was not moved into battle; only picked
LIFE OF MOSES troops chosen for their merit undertook the war. Here Moses showed a new piece of strategy. While Joshua (who was to succeed Moses in leading the people) led the army out against the Amalekites, Moses, standing ona hilltop away from the furor of battle, was looking up toward heaven with a friend stationed on either side of him.
40. Then we hear from the history the following marvel:
When Moses raised his hands to heaven, those under his command prevailed against their enemies, but when he let them down, the army began to give in to the foreigners' assault.
When those who stood with him recognized this they stationed themselves on either side of him and supported his hands, which for some unknown reason had become heavy and hard to move. When his helpers became too weak to hold him in an upright position, they provided him a stone to sit on, thus helping Moses to raise his hands to heaven. From then on the foreign army was mightily defeated by the Israelites.
41. When the cloud which led the people in their journey continued to remain at the same place, the people could not move on, since there was no one to lead them to depart. All the necessities oflife were provided for them without toil. The air from above rained bread already prepared for them, and the rock from below provided drink. The cloud in turn tempered the unpleasantness of being out in the open, forming a shelter from the heat by day and at night dispelling the darkness by shining with a torch-like radiance. So they experienced no discomfort in that desert at the foot of the mountain where they had pitched camp.
42. Here Moses guided them in a most secret initiation."* The divine power itself by marvels beyond description initiated all the people and their leader himself in the following manner. The people were ordered beforehand to keep themselves from defilements"® ofall kinds which pertain to both soul and body and to purify themselves by certain lustrations. They were to keep themselves pure from intercourse for a stated
GREGORY OF NYSSA number of days so that, pure of passion, they might approach the mountain to be initiated, cleansed of every emotion and bodily concern. (The name of the mountain was Sinai.) Persons alone were allowed at that time to approach the mountain, and of them men alone, and of them, in turn, those purified from every pollution. Every safeguard and precaution was taken against the approachofany animals to the mountain."¢ If somehow it did happen that any animal at all showed itself at the mountain, it was stoned by the people.
43. Then the clear light of the atmosphere was darkened so that the mountain became invisible, wrapped in a dark cloud.'7 A fire shining out of the darkness presented a fearful sight to those who saw it. It hovered all around the sides of the mountain so that everything which one could see smouldered with the smoke from the surrounding fire. Moses led the people to the slope, not without fear himself at the sight. His whole being so trembled with fright that his faintness of soul was not concealed from the Israelites, but he was terrified, as they were, at what he saw and his body shook violently.
44. The manifestation was of such a nature that it not only caused consternation in their souls through what they saw but it also struck fear in them through what they heard. A terrible sound ripped down from above upon everything below. Its first impact was harsh and intolerable to every ear. Its sound was like the blaring of trumpets, but the intensity and terribleness of the sound surpassed any such comparison. As it drew nearer, its blaring steadily increased to a more terrifying volume. This sound was sharp and clear, the air articulating the word by divine power without using organs of speech."®
The word was not articulated without purpose but was laying down divine ordinances. As the sound drew nearer, it became louder, and the trumpet surpassed itself, the successive sounds exceeding in volume the preceding ones.
45. The people as a whole were incapable of enduring what was seen and heard. Therefore, a general request from all LIFE OF MOSES was brought before Moses that the Law be mediated through him,' on the ground that the people would not doubt that whatever he commanded in keeping with the teaching from above was a divine command. So when all went down to the foot of the mountain, Moses alone remained and showed the opposite of what was to be expected of him. Whereas all other men feel confidence in the face of fearful things when in the companyoftheir associates, Moses was more courageous after he had been left by himself. From this it became clear that the fear which had encompassed him at the beginning was an emotion not in keeping with his character but was experienced out of sympathy for those who were terrified.
46. Since he was alone, by having been stripped as it were of the people's fear, he boldly approached the very darkness itself and entered the invisible things where he was no longer seen by those watching. After he entered the inner sanctuary of the divine mystical doctrine,®° there, while not being seen, he was in company with the Invisible. He teaches, I think, by the things he did that the one who is going to associate intimately with God must go beyond all that is visible and (lifting up his own mind, as to a mountaintop, to the invisible and incomprehensible) believe that the divine is there where the understanding does not reach.*?
47. While there he received the divine ordinances.*?
These were the teachings concerning virtue, the chief of which is reverence and having the proper notions®® about the divine nature, inasmuch as it transcends all cognitive thought and representation and cannot be likened to anything which is known. He was commanded to heed none of those things comprehended by the notions with regard to the divine nor to liken the transcendent nature to any of the things known by comprehension. Rather, he should believe that the Divine exists, and he should not examine it with respect to quality, quantity, origin, and mode of being, since it is unattainable.**
48. The word also adds what are right moral actions, GREGORY OF NYSSA presenting its teaching in both general and specific laws. General is the law which is destructive ofall injustice, namely that one must love his neighbor.®* If this law were observed, it would certainly follow in consequence that no one would do any evil to his neighbor.** Among the specific laws was established honor for parents, and there was listed a catalogue of prohibited deeds.8"
49. With his mind purified by these laws, as it were, he was led to the higher initiation, where a tabernacle was all at once shown to him by divine power.8* The tabernacle was a sanctuary with beauty of indescribable variety —entrances, pillars, and curtains, table, candlestick, and altar of incense, the altar of holocaust and the propitiatory, and the inaccessible and unapproachable holy of holies.®® So that their beauty and arrangement might not be forgotten and might be shown to those below, he was counseled not to represent these things in mere writing but to imitate in material construction that immaterial creation, employing the most splendid and radiant materials found on earth. Among these the most abundant was gold, with which the pillars were overlaid. With the gold, silver also made its contribution by beautifying the capitals and bases of the pillars so that by the changesofcolor at each end, I think, the gold might shine forth more brightly. There were also places where brass was considered useful, namely at the head and base of the silver pillars.
50. The draperies and the curtains and the outer wall of the sanctuary and the coverings stretched out in succession over the columns—each was finished out of an appropriate material by the weaver's art. The dye of these woven fabrics was violet, purple, and fiery scarlet, and some material had its natural brightness. For some things linen was used and for other things hair, in keeping with the purposes of the fabrics.
There were also places where skins dyed red were suitable to the beauty of the structure.
51. After his descent from the mountain Moses, employLIFE OF MOSES ing workmen, constructed these things according to the pattern shown to him.®° While he was in that sanctuary not made with hands,*! he was commanded how the priest should be adorned when he entered the sanctuary. The law prescribed the details of the under and outer garments.
52. The first in order of the garments was not the hidden but the visible. There was an ephod embroidered of different colors with gold thread predominating. (The veil was alsomade ofthese colors.)°* Clasps held the ephod together on both sides and provided a setting of gold for emeralds.®* The beauty of these stones was due partly to their natural radiance—from them a green brightness was given forth—and partly to the marvellous skill of the engraving. (This was not the skill which carves out images ofidols, but the adornment was the names of the patriarchs engraved six on each stone.)
53. From the clasps down the front the little shield-like ornaments hung loosely.®® There were also intertwined cords plaited through one another in a netlike pattern hanging from the clasps on each side. They dropped down below the shieldlike ornaments so that the beautyofthe plaiting might, I think, be more conspicuous being enhanced by the background.
54. The ornament®® made out of gold which hung down from the chest had on it stones of different kinds equal in number to the patriarchs.°' These were arranged in four rows set three to a row, with the namesofthe tribes written on them.
The tunic beneath the ephod extended from the neck to the toes and was suitably adorned with fringes. The hem was decked out beautifully, not only by the variety of skilled weaving but also by the hanging of gold ornaments. These were golden bells and pomegranates distributed alternately along the hem.
55. The fillet for the head was solid violet, and the metalleaf frontpiece was of pure gold engraved with the ineffable letters.°* There was also a girdle which held together the loose folds of the garment, as well as an adornment for the hidden parts of the body, and the other articles of clothing which GREGORY OF NYSSA symbolically instruct concerning priestly virtue under the form of clothing.
56. After he was instructed in these and other such things by the ineffable teaching of God while he was surrounded by that invisible darkness, and having surpassed himself by the aid of the mystical doctrines, he emerged again out ofthe darkness.
He then went down to his people to share with them the marvels which had been shown to him in the theophany, to deliver the laws, and to institute for them the sanctuary and priesthood according to the pattern shown to him on the mountain.
57. He carried in his hands the holy tablets, which were a divine invention and gift that needed no human cooperation to be brought into existence.°® Both the material and the writing on them were equally the work of God. The writing was the Law. But the people prevented grace: Before giving heed to the lawgiver they rebelled in idolatry.'
58. Some considerable time had elapsed while Moses devoted himself to conversation with God in that divine initiation. He participated in that eternal life under the darkness for forty days and nights, and lived in a state beyond nature,*™for his body had no need of food during that time. It was then that the people, like a little child who escapes the attention of his pedagogue, were carried along into disorderliness by uncontrolled impulses, and, banding together against Aaron, forced the priest to lead them in idolatry.
59. When the idol had been made out of gold (it was a calf), they exulted in their impiety; but Moses came to them and broke the tablets which he had received from God so that they might suffer a punishment worthy of their transgression by having no share in the God-given grace.
60. He then purified his people's guilt with their own blood when the Levites slew them,*°? and appeased the divine by his own anger against the transgressors. Thereupon he utterly destroyed the idol. Once more applying himself to the LIFE OF MOSES matter for forty days, he received the tablets. The writing on them was done by divine power, but the material was fashioned by the hand of Moses.'°? He received them while for the same number of days he again lived beyond nature in a manner different from that to which we are accustomed and admitted to his body none of those sustenances which our nature requires.
61. Moses accordingly erected for them the tabernacle, delivered to them the laws, and established the priesthood in keeping with the teaching given to him by God. The workmanship on all the material objects was done according to the divine directions—the tabernacle, the entrances, and everything inside —the altar of incense, the altar of holocaust, the candlestick, the curtains, the propitiatory within the holy of holies; the adornment of the priesthood, the myrrh, the different sacrifices —the purifications, the thank-offerings, the offerings to avert evil, the propitiations for trespasses.'°* As he arranged everything in the required manner, among his family he aroused against himself envy, that congenital malady in the nature of man.
62. Even Aaron, who was endowed with the honors of the priesthood, and his sister Miriam, driven by a most femalelike jealousy against the honor given to Moses by God, so railed against him that deity was provoked to punish their trespass.*°
Here Moses showed patience most worthy of admiration, because, when God punished the irrational envy of the woman, he made his nature prevail over anger and appeased God on behalf of his sister.
63. The multitude again fell into disorderliness.'°® What led to their transgression was a lack of moderation in regard to the pleasures of the table, for they were not satisfied to live healthfully and painlessly on the food which flowed down from above, but the craving for meat made them prefer slavery in Egypt to their present good circumstances. Moses took counsel with God concerning the passion which had overcome them,
GREGORY OF NYSSA and God instructed that they should not have such desires because he would give what they longed for. He sent flocks of birds like a cloud to fly close to the ground near the camp. The ease with which they could catch the birds led them in their craving for meat to stuff themselves.
64. Their immoderation at once became destructive to their bodies, and their satiety ended in sickness and death. This example became to them and to those watching thema sufficient cause for moderation.
65. Next, Moses sent spies into that region which they hoped to inhabit according to the divine promise.!°" When not all of them reported the truth, but some gave false and discouraging information, the people again rose in anger against Moses. God decreed that those who had no confidence in divine help should not see the promised land.
66. As they were crossing the desert, water again failed them—as did their memory of the divine power,'°8 for the _ earlier miracle'°® of the rock did not give them confidence that their present necessities would be provided for. Abandoning their hopes for better things, they reviled Moses and God himself, so that the disbelief of the people seemed to intimidate even Moses. Nevertheless he performed for them again the miracle of changing that jutting rock'?® into water.
67. Again the pleasures of the table enslaved them, and their desires led them to gluttony. Although they lacked none of the necessities of life, disorderly youths were dreaming of the Egyptian plenty. They were disciplined by very severe scourges: Serpents within the encampment as they bit them injected deadly poison in them.*"4
68. When deaths caused by the serpents followed in rapid succession, the lawgiver, at the urging of divine counsel, cast a bronze likeness of a serpent and placed it on a height to be seen by the whole camp. In this way he stayed the harm done among the people by the serpents and delivered them from destruction. For he who looked on the bronze image of the serpent did
LIFE OF MOSES not fear the bite of the real serpent, since looking at it counteracted the poison by some mysterious antidote.
69. Some of the people again rose up against Moses' leadership and put pressure on him to transfer the priesthood to themselves.'!? Although he made supplication to God on behalf of the rebels, the righteous judgment of God was stronger than the compassion of Moses for his people. For the earth, opening up like a chasm at the divine will and closing up again, swallowed all those who set themselves, together with all their kinsmen, against the authority of Moses. When two hundred and fifty of those who raved about the priesthood were consumed by fire, the people were brought to their senses.
70. In order to persuade men that the grace of the priesthood comes from God to those who are worthy, Moses received rods from the most eminent man in each tribe, each man bringing a rod marked with his own name.'?* Aaron's rod was among them. Moses placed the rods before the sanctuary, and by them he made God's choice concerning the priesthood clear to the people. Aaron's rod alone budded and produced ripe fruit from the wood—and the fruit was the almond.
It seemed a very great marvel to the unbelievers that what was dried, polished, and rootless all at once produced the growth natural to things which are planted. Instead of earth, bark, moisture, roots, and time, it was the divine power at work in the wood.
72. Thereupon, when he led the army through foreign nations who blocked their passage, he swore an oath that the people would not pass through the fields and vineyards but would keep to the royal road, turning aside neither to the right nor to the left.!1* When the adversaries would not make peace on these terms, he prevailed in battle against the enemy and became master of the route.
73. Next, a certain Balak who ruled a greater nation known as the Midianites, panic-stricken at the experience of those who were destroyed and expecting to undergo nothing
GREGORY OF NYSSA less calamitous at the hands ofthe Israelites, brought in support not arms and men but magical arts in the person of a certain
Balaam.'15 He was commonly reputed to be skilled in these things and was believed by those who employed him to be powerful in such matters. His augury came from watching the flight of birds,'!® yet he was a hard man to deal with, for with the cooperation ofdemons'?" he could bring utter ruin on men through this magical power.
74. As he followed those who were leading him to the king of that nation, he learned by the voice of his ass that the way was not propitious for him. Having learned in a vision what was to be done, he found that any harm to be inflicted by working magic was impotent against those who have God as their ally. Moved by divine inspiration instead of by demonic power, he uttered such words as were a clear prophecy of better things which would later come to pass. What prevented his making use of his skill for evil also brought him an awareness of divine power. Leaving divination aside, he acted as an interpreter of the divine will.118
75. Then the foreign nation was destroyed. The Israelites had the upper hand in the battle, but they in turn were overcome by licentious passion for their female captives.'1® When
Phineas then with one blow ran those through who were entangled in dishonor, the wrath of God against those raving for unlawful unions abated. Then the lawgiver, ascending a high mountain, surveyed from afar the land which was prepared for Israel by the divine promise made to the fathers.1?°
He departed from this human life, leaving behind no sign on the earth nor any grave as a memorial of his departure.*?* 76. Time had not harmed his beauty, neither dimmed his brightness of eye nor diminished the graciousness of his appearance.'?? Always remaining the same, he preserved in the changeableness of nature an unchangeable beauty. '?*
77. Those things which we have learned from the literal history of the man we have retraced in summary for you, LIFE OF MOSES although we have of necessity so amplified the account as to bring out its intention. Now we must adapt the life which we have called to mind to the aim we have proposed for our study so that we might gain some benefit for the virtuous life from the things mentioned. Let us now begin the account of this life.
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