The discourse continues regarding Nineveh. It is unsurprising that your heroes and soldiers, akin to ripe figs, fall directly into the jaws of the devourer, given that your people have grown effeminate and are unable to withstand challenges. Your gates will be thrown open, allowing the foe to enter, and the mightiest gates will be consumed by flame. Therefore, draw water, ensuring that you have ample provisions during the siege of the stronghold; prepare bricks to mend the breaches in the walls, for the siege is imminent. Once you have completed these tasks, you will be consumed by the sword, much like humus is devoured by a caterpillar. However, as you abound like a caterpillar and gather in multitudes like locusts, hoarding your riches as if they were the stars of the heavens, you will be scattered and flee like locusts and caterpillars, akin to the small locust known as "attelabi," which escapes swiftly under the heat of the sun, leaving no trace behind. It is characteristic of locusts to remain motionless in the cold, yet take flight with the heat. The attelabus, which Aquila translates as “devourer,” represents a small locust, a cross between locusts and caterpillars; it has tiny wings and tends to crawl rather than fly, constantly leaping up. Therefore, wherever it appears, it decimates everything down to the last speck of dust, for until its wings fully develop, it cannot depart.
To clarify, I have elaborated and explained this in connection with the Hebrew text, following the precise wording of Scripture. I will now continue the allegorical interpretation I began, presenting it first briefly, as if in a summary, and then addressing each aspect in detail. The people of Nineveh, representing worldly individuals, are so worn down by desires and weakened by vices that they are likened to powerless women; they possess no strength or valor within their souls. Consequently, the enemies, having subdued them, have opened all their senses, invading through the bodily portals. The gates of the land of Nineveh symbolize the bodily senses. Those who are enslaved by vices have, since creation, had the potential to know God, but they are like sturdy locks that barricade the gates of perception. Yet these will also succumb to the consuming fire of searing arrows. Hence, the message to Nineveh is: "Draw water for yourself," nurture yourself with the Word and understanding, and utilize your innate capacity to know God and perform good works to strive against adversities. Nonetheless, you have squandered the strength you once possessed through your lax actions—works motivated by lust; therefore, repent and reclaim your strongholds.
Having once immersed yourself in the mire and become confined within a body composed of flesh, blood, veins, nerves, and bones—elements of earth, straw, and water—bear the offenses and demands of the body. Endure the trampling of your adversaries, embracing all trials that contribute to the perfection of the flesh and are worthy of repentance. Since you have embraced dirt and straw, surrendering to the endeavors of this world, you must willingly endure unjust subjugation; yet do not despair of salvation. Rather, hope and transform your brick, symbolizing your body that has received the Word as water, into a vessel of service, and place yourself in control of your body. Should you fail to do this, the unquenchable flame—whether ignited in Gehenna as punishment or by the fiery darts of the enemy—will consume you, and you will not only be destroyed by fire, but the sword will also devour you, just as locusts consume the foliage of the earth. You will come to know this if you do not elevate yourself above the brick but, burdened by your own weight and devoid of the ability to ascend, sink to the earth, just like a caterpillar that falls when it can no longer fly due to exhaustion. May your strength be as vast as a caterpillar's, ensuring that you do not, weighed down by your own gravity, collapse to the ground like a caterpillar.
You have witnessed all of this because you have multiplied in yourself wealth and trade in diverse doctrines, regarding them as brighter than celestial luminaries and more splendid than the stars. As stated earlier, I have outlined the meaning briefly; now, returning to the outset of the discussion, I will endeavor to explain each point in detail. Who will deny that beautiful Nineveh symbolizes a soul inherently lovely but, indulged in worldly luxuries and pleasures, turns to feminine delights, losing its masculine strength and growing feeble? For if the soul of a righteous person, upon reaching "a perfect man" (Eph. 4:13), retains inherent strength and unites with God to become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:16), why does the soul that cherishes the world not join with it and, having succumbed to feminine pampering, forfeit its inherent power?
I believe this is the rationale behind Pharaoh's command in Exodus (1) to cast every newborn Hebrew male into the river, while allowing the females to live. The king of Egypt, who elsewhere asserts, "My rivers are my own, and I will make them" (Ezekiel 29:3), could decree nothing less than the destruction of all that is strong and manly among the Jews, casting them into the river's depths to be swept away into the sea while allowing what is feminine, frail, and deemed beautiful in the world to thrive and multiply. It is noteworthy, however, that the ruler of Egypt cannot slay grown men nor those who have reached maturity; he can only target the weak and tender infants just beginning to develop their strength. He recognizes that for women to flourish, the men must be eliminated; thus, he seeks to drown the robust and valiant elements of the Jews in the depths of his river, enabling only the feminine to prosper among them.
Regarding the statement that "to your enemies the gates of your land shall be opened wide," it finds support in the testimony of Jeremiah, where it is declared, "Death shall enter through your windows" (Jeremiah 9:21). What Jeremiah refers to as windows can be understood here as gates, which correspond to the senses. The Word of God, knowing that the senses manifest in two forms, remarks in Proverbs (2) that in contrast to the wicked senses, "you will find a divine sensation." Here, the term sense should not be interpreted in the spiritual or intellectual context, called νοῦς in Greek, but rather as the capacity for feeling (αἰσθήσει), which gives rise to the five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. Thus, the gates of Nineveh represent the bodily senses, while the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem signify every divine perception that descends from above.
These gates of Nineveh are being opened by the inhabitants, who, through their sight and hearing and other faculties, seek the path to death, desiring only corporeal pleasures (Matthew 7). In contrast, the people of God shut their gates, covering their ears to avoid hearing the cry for blood, closing their eyes to evade witnessing iniquity, stifling their noses to avoid the scent of the finest incense that nourishes the soul, silencing their mouths from consuming, and restraining their hands from gentle touch to prevent the lust-driven heart from leading the passionate soul to the embraces of women. Yet these servants of God open their senses, that is, the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, allowing the Word of God to permeate them. An illustration of the narrow gate is found in Psalm 9:14: "You raised me from the gates of death"; conversely, a reference to a good outcome appears in "that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion" (Ps. 9:15).
When you observe a man who loves pleasure more than God and is devoted to indulgence, it is appropriate to conclude that he has opened the gates of his land to his enemies; for such individuals become allies to their souls but open the gates of Nineveh to those who would oppose them. Similarly, if those who are regarded as leaders among the people act likewise, it is not inappropriate to declare that "the elders of my people have been expelled from the houses of their delights" (Micah 2:9). But if you find that they, ensnared in the chains of pleasure and luxury on every side, exhibit no compassion for the poor and show no care for the people of God, apply the words: "They lie upon beds of ivory, lounging on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall; who drink wine from the bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph" (Amos 6:4, 6).
As for the phrase, "the fire devoured your constipation," its implication is that if there existed any semblance of natural goodness in your soul, which, like a blockade, could repel invading enemies through the gates of your senses, it has been obliterated by the fire of Babylon. Additionally, when it is said, "draw water for yourselves to be fortified," it refers to the Word of God, instructing Nineveh to surround itself with the teachings and understanding from Scriptures, creating a strong defense against invaders. "Hold firmly," it is declared, "to your fortresses." All the innate goodness you possess, reflective of your divine creation, should be zealously retained, O unfortunate soul of Nineveh, for your protection, and allow it not to be lost from the focal point of your heart.
The subsequent words, "enter into filth, be trampled down with straw," may be interpreted as referring to the soul being ensnared by the impurities of the body, wholly revolving in the superficiality of this world, becoming subject to demonic trampling. However, I believe it is more appropriately articulated as: Endure the trials, the injustices to which you are subjected, and the just punishments you deserve; for if you elevate yourself above the vanity and transience of the world, recognize that these tribulations will serve as a remedy for you, provided you master the brick and submit your flesh to the authority of your soul.
Finally, the statement follows: "the fire will consume you." If you do not find elevation above the brick and yield dominion over the flesh but remain within it, loving the straw and residing according to the flesh, then not only will the fiery darts of your adversaries devour you, but their swords will also annihilate you. Like locusts that will devour, all that which seemed to flourish within you through the favorable action of nature will be consumed; and like a caterpillar that has lost its capacity to fly and is burdened by its mass, you will, weighed down by sin, descend into despair. Therefore, to avoid this fate, strive to abound like the caterpillar and cultivate as many virtues as it has numbers. As you have gathered wealth and trade in various doctrines—seeking to possess heavenly treasures—balancing the multitude of sins with an equal multitude of good works.
Above, I reached the point in the Hebrew text where it states, "The sun rose, and she flew away, and you shall not know where she went." I expressed what I thought necessary regarding that text. However, as the LXX translation initiates what appears to be a new thought, I shall continue the explanation that I have begun after providing their testimony. LXX: "The caterpillar has invaded and departed; your mixer has leaped like a grasshopper, like the locust that sat on the fence during the cold: the sun has risen, and it has leaped, and you do not know its place." Woe to them! The inhabitants of Nineveh, described as a mixed assembly, amassed from every direction, lacking leadership and order, and perpetually restless, are compared to a caterpillar—small but numerous, barely lifting from the earth. Likewise, the mixture, known as "attelabus" in Greek and "sommixticius" in Latin, suggests a crowd drawn from various tribes, a collective of non-citizen strangers.
THEOSIS