Traduction Masquer
Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

92.

It would take too long to go through all the wars of Moses. It is enough to refer to what has already been said, as sufficient for the purpose in this reply to Faustus of the prophetic and symbolic character of the war with Amalek. ¹ There is also the charge of cruelty made against Moses by the enemies of Scriptures, or by those who have never read anything. Faustus does not make any specific charge, but speaks of Moses as commanding and doing many cruel things. But, knowing the things they are in the habit of bringing forward and of misrepresenting, I have already taken a particular case and have defended it, so that any Manichaeans who are willing to be corrected, and all other ignorant and irreligious people, may see that there is no ground for their accusations. We must now inquire into the prophetic significance of the command, that many of those who, while Moses was absent, made an idol for themselves should be slain without regard to relationship. It is easy to see that the slaughter of these men represents the warfare against the evil principles which led the people into the same idolatry. Against such evil we are commanded to wage war in the words of the psalm, "Be ye angry and sin not." ² And a similar command is given by the apostle, when he says, "Mortify your members which are on earth fornication, uncleanness, luxury, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." ³

Edition Masquer
Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

92.

Iam porro de bellis, quae per Moysen gesta sunt, nimis longum est omnia pertractare. p. 698,10 Satis ergo sit, quod de illo bello gesto cum Amalech iam superius in hoc ipso opere, quo Fausto respondeo, quantum satis pro suscepto negotio videbatur, quid prophetiae praemitteret, quid mysterii contineret, exposui. Nunc illud videamus, in quo crudelitatis vitium solent obicere Moysi vel inimici harum litterarum vel expertes omnium litterarum. Quod quidem Faustus non expresse posuit, cum diceret, quod crudelia multa et mandarit et fecerit, sed quia novi, quid maxime et invidiose iactare consueverint, ideo ipse hoc commemoravi superiusque defendi, ne quicquam in eo facto esse criminis vel ipsi Manichaei, qui corrigi vellent, vel quisquam alius imperitorum aut impiorum putaret. Nunc autem quid etiam propheticae significationis habuerit, requirendum est, quod ex eis multos, qui sibi absente ipso idolum fabricaverunt, sine ulla cuiusquam necessitudinis distinctione iussit interimi. p. 698,26 Facile est, ut intellegatur hominum illorum interemptionem significare vitiorum talium, qualibus illi ad eandem idolatriam defluxerunt. In talia quippe vitia saevire nos iubet psalmus, cum dicit: Irascimini et nolite peccare; in talia vitia saevire nos iubet apostolus, cum dicit: Mortificate membra vestra, quae sunt super terram, fornicationem, immunditiam, luxuriam, concupiscentiam malam et avaritiam, quae est idolorum servitus.