The discourse regarding Nineveh persists. It is not surprising that your valiant soldiers, much like ripe figs, drop effortlessly into the jaws of the devourer, as your people have grown weak and are unable to resist. Your gates will be opened, and the city will be made vulnerable to the adversary, with even the strongest of gates being engulfed in flames. Thus, gather water, ensuring there is an ample supply during the impending siege; prepare bricks to mend the gaps in the walls, for the siege is imminent. Once you have accomplished these tasks, you will be consumed by the sword, akin to grass overtaken by caterpillars. Yet, when you increase in number like caterpillars, and unite like locusts, accumulating wealth like the stars in the sky, you will scatter and flee akin to locusts and caterpillars, fleeing from locusts known as attelabi, which vanish as the sun grows warm, becoming elusive to find. It is characteristic of locusts to become still in the cold and to take flight when heated. The attelabus, which Aquila referred to vividly as ‘the devourer,’ is a small locust, situated between locusts and caterpillars; with its small wings, it prefers to crawl rather than fly, constantly leaping, thus leaving devastation in its wake, consuming down to the last speck since it cannot depart until its wings are developed. For the clarity of understanding, I have expounded these points sequentially, aligning my explanation with the Hebrew text. I will now carry on with the allegorical interpretation of the LXX translation, first in a brief overview and then delving into the details as needed.
The inhabitants of Nineveh, representative of worldly individuals, have become so wearied by passions and so diminished by vices that they resemble feeble women; they possess no strength, firmness, or courage within their souls. Consequently, the enemies, having triumphed over them, have opened all their senses and invaded through the gates of their bodies. The gates of Nineveh symbolize these bodily senses. Additionally, those surrendered to vices possess the capacity to know God, which serves as powerful locks designed to secure the gates of their senses. Yet, they too shall be consumed by the flames of relentless arrows. Thus, it is advised to Nineveh: ‘Draw water for yourselves,’ immerse yourselves in the Word and sound judgment, employing your innate capacity to know God and perform virtuous deeds to resist. However, you have squandered all the power within you through your lax hands, through works of lust. Therefore, repent, turn back, and reclaim your strongholds. Once you have descended into the mire, confined within a body composed of flesh and blood—earthly elements—you must endure the burdens and limitations of the flesh: be vulnerable to assaults from your enemies, and tolerate all that perfects the flesh and is deserving of repentance. Since you have embraced the earthly and transient, your sins deserve exposure to unjust trampling. Yet, despair not of salvation; instead, hope and turn your body, which has received the Word like water, into service, subjecting it to governance. Otherwise, should you neglect this, the unquenchable fire, either ignited in Gehenna or by the blazing arrows of the enemy, will consume you, not only subjecting you to fiery destruction but also to the sword’s devouring as locusts consume the earth's verdure. You will experience this if you do not rise above the brick (meaning, over your body) but, weighed down by your burdens and stripped of your ability to elevate, fall like a caterpillar that, wearied from flight, can move no farther. Your strength should mirror that of the caterpillar in number, so you do not fall because of the weight of your own sins. This experience arises from your accumulation of wealth and commerce in divers doctrines, which you esteem as brighter than celestial luminaries. With this overview provided, I will now return to the core points and explain each thoroughly as best as I can.
Who can deny that beautiful Nineveh signifies a soul exquisite in nature, which, if indulged in the luxuries and pleasures of the world, succumbs to the desires typical of femininity and loses its masculine strength? For if a righteous soul, upon becoming ‘a perfect man’ (Ephesians 4:13), retains its inherent strength and unites with God, becoming one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:16), why does a soul enamored by the world instead become one with it, ultimately losing its strength? I believe this is the reason that in Exodus it is recorded (Exodus 1) that Pharaoh commanded every male Hebrew newborn to be consigned to the river, while female infants were spared. The king of Egypt, who asserts in another passage, ‘My rivers are my own, and I shall make them’ (Ezekiel 29:3), could decree nothing less than that all things strong and masculine among the Jews—and those journeying through this worldly existence—be submerged in the waters and swept away by the current, while all that is deemed feminine, feeble, and beautiful in this world, be allowed to flourish and multiply.
It is important to realize that the Egyptian ruler is unable to eliminate the adult males of the Jews or those no longer in childhood but can only target those still tender and developing. He understands that the growth of women is contingent upon the destruction of men. Thus, he aims to extinguish all strong and masculine elements among the Jews, drowning them in the depths of his river, granting freedom to the feminine aspect. Regarding the phrase that follows: ‘To your enemies the gates of your land shall be opened wide,’ this is corroborated by Jeremiah, where it states, ‘Death shall enter through your windows’ (Jeremiah 9:21). For what Jeremiah labels as windows, here is attributed the term gates, which we associate with the senses. The Word of God, knowing that feelings manifest in two forms, asserts in Proverbs (chapter 2) that one shall find a divine sense, contrasting it with poorer states of awareness. Here, sense is not referred to in the spiritual or mental context (as νοῦς in Greek), but rather as the faculty of feeling (αἰσθήσει), from which the five senses—sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell—derive their names. Hence, the gates of Nineveh symbolize the bodily senses, while the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem denote every divine faculty from above.
These gates of Nineveh are opened by its inhabitants, who, through sight, hearing, and all other senses, pursue carnal pleasures along the wide and easy path leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13). In contrast, the people of God close their gates, shielding their ears from hearing the bloodshed’s judgment, shutting their eyes to prevent seeing iniquity, blocking their noses from inhaling the fragrant incense that nurtures the soul, refraining from indulgent meals, and withholding their hands to avoid passionate entanglements that might draw their souls into temptation. The faithful instead open their senses—the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem—so that the Word of God may penetrate their beings.
For reference, there is an example of a good gate: ‘For thou hast raised me up from the gates of death’ (Psalm 9:14), while a negative example follows, ‘That I may tell of all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion’ (Psalm 9:15). When you observe a person who cherishes pleasure over God and is devoted to sensuality, immediately recognize that he has opened his land’s gates to his foes, as these individuals align themselves with their soul's enemies rather than its allies. If those esteemed among the people do similarly, we may proclaim, ‘The elders of my people are expelled from the cozy homes’ (Micah 2:9). Conversely, if you witness those ensnared by the chains of indulgence and luxury, lacking compassion for the poor, and showing no concern for the people of God, you must apply to them the words: ‘They lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph’ (Amos 6:4-6).
Regarding the notion that ‘the fire consumed your constipation,’ it implies that if there was some semblance of natural goodness within your soul, akin to a restraint that could repel the enemies attempting to breach through the gates of your senses, it would be vanquished by Babylon’s fire. Moreover, in the instruction to ‘Draw water for yourselves to be strengthened,’ it speaks of the Word of God, urging Nineveh to surround itself with the teaching and understanding of Scripture as a formidable wall against invasion. ‘Hold fast,’ it exhorts, ‘to your fortresses.’ Whatever natural goodness you possess, stemming from the divine Creator’s design, hold onto it as a defense, so it does not vanish from the core of your heart.
When the directive states ‘enter into the filth, be trodden down with the straw,’ some may interpret this as the soul being entangled with the filth of the body and swirling in the transient straws of the earthly realm, thus trampled by demons. However, I believe it is directed as such: Endure the trials and tribulations to which you are subjected, recognizing that these challenges will serve as remedies if you strive to transcend the world’s vanity and perishability, ruling over the flesh and yielding to the force of the soul.
The conclusion states: ‘the fire shall consume you’—if you do not elevate yourself above the flesh, love the worldly straw, and dwell according to the flesh, you shall not only be consumed by the adversary's fiery arrows, but also by the sword, which, like locusts, will devastate all that appeared flourishing within you through nature’s grace. Like a caterpillar deprived of its flight and burdened by its weight, you will collapse under the weight of your sins. To prevent such a fate, you must multiply in virtues as the caterpillar does in numbers. For having amassed wealth and commerce through various righteous and unrighteous means, and seeking to grasp corruptible riches while desiring heavenly ones, you ought to offset the multitude of sins with a multitude of virtues.
I have reached the point in the Hebrew text that states, ‘The sun rose, and she flew away, and you shall not know the place where she was.’ I have conveyed my thoughts aligned with the text itself. Yet, as the translation of the LXX appears to commence a distinctive thought, I shall continue my explanation based on their testimony. The LXX states, ‘The caterpillar has invaded and flown away; your grasshopper has leaped like a locust; it sat on the fence throughout the cold, but when the sun rose, it leaped and you shall not recognize its place.’
Woe to them! The inhabitants of Nineveh, a mixed multitude comprised of various elements and lacking order, are likened here to a caterpillar—small yet numerous—barely lifted off the ground. By the grasshopper, which is called συμμμιλτὸς in Greek and sommixticius in Latin (suggesting a mixed or blended composition), we may refer to the rabble—a populace formed of various tribes; in other words, outsiders rather than native citizens. The Scriptures recount (Exodus 12) that among the Israelites who left Egypt was ‘a mixed multitude’ encompassing Egyptians, Ethiopians, and assorted tribes. Thus, this so-called mixed Nineveh is compared to the leaping grasshopper and locust, which, in colder times, could not fly and instead remained settled on a fence, but upon sunlight emerged and flew off to distant lands, forgetting the fence upon which it rested during the cold.
This comparison intends to express the folly of those who indulge solely in earthly pursuits and are led astray from reflections on loftier things. Observe the great cities—Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria—and recognize that, amidst chaos brought on by bread shortages or the emptiness of entertainment, the people allow their lives to be consumed by vices, rushing about like caterpillars. At such moments, one might rightly proclaim: ‘the caterpillar swiftly departed and soared away.’
THEOSIS