The Exegesis on the Soul
an allegory of the history of Israel
In this text, the female personification of the soul resembles the passion of Sophia, which is a theme pervasively found in Gnostic cosmology.
The text quotes copiously from the Old Testament prophets, from the New Testament gospels, and from the epistles of Paul. Curiously, the text also quotes from Homer's Odyssey. These quotes indicate that the author viewed Greek legend and mythology as a type of scripture, just as the author also viewed large portions of the Old and New Testaments as scripture.
Its purpose is to teach that the soul is a woman which fell from perfection into prostitution, and that the Father will elevate her again to her original perfect state.
This personification of the soul is an allegorical interpretation of the falling away of Israel into sin and is compare to the fall of Sophia or Solomon who is wisdom personified
The story of the fall of the soul begins at the start of the text but at the end of the book the meaning is given
Our repentance
Certainly Israel would not have been visited in the first place to be brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, if it had not groaned to God and wept for the oppression of its labours.
Again it is written in the Psalms (6:6-9),
6 I have grown weary with my sighing; All night long I make my bed swim; With my tears I make my own bed overflow.
7 From vexation my eye has become weak, It has grown old because of all those showing hostility to me.
8 Get away from me, all YOU practicers of what is hurtful, For Jehovah will certainly hear the sound of my weeping.
9 Jehovah will indeed hear my request for favor; Jehovah himself will accept my own prayer.
If we repent, truly God will listen us, he who is long suffering and abundantly merciful, to whom is the glory for ever and ever. Amen!
Our repentance
Certainly Israel would not have been visited in the first place [here at the end of the text instead of speaking about the soul the writer speaks about the nation of Israel instead this is show that the soul is used has an allegory for the sons of Israel], to be brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, if it had not groaned to God and wept for the oppression of its labours.
Again it is written in the Psalms (6:6-9),
6 I have grown weary with my sighing; All night long I make my bed swim; With my tears I make my own bed overflow.
7 From vexation my eye has become weak, It has grown old because of all those showing hostility to me.
8 Get away from me, all YOU practicers of what is hurtful, For Jehovah will certainly hear the sound of my weeping.
9 Jehovah will indeed hear my request for favor; Jehovah himself will accept my own prayer.
If we reform, [we like Israel need to ask for forgieness] truly God will listen us, he who is long suffering and abundantly merciful, to whom is the glory for ever and ever. Amen!
Thus these words here at the end confirm my understanding that the soul here is allegorical of the fall of Israel and are own repentance
Wise men of old gave the soul a feminine name. [the soul in Hebrew, Coptic, and Greek is a feminine noun, here it is used as an allegory for Israel both the natural seed of Israel and the Israel of God the spiritual Israel. The word woman is sometimes used in the Bible to refer to a weak and helpless man (Is.:3:12; 19:16). ] Indeed she is female in her nature as well. She even has her womb. [ Even men can give birth Psalm 7:14 Look! There is one that is pregnant with what is hurtful, And he has conceived trouble and is bound to give birth to falsehood. the natural Israel gave brith to the Saviour and thus the spiritual Israel being the Jerusalem above the mother of us all]
As long as she was alone with the father, she was virgin and in form androgynous. [androgynous being both male and female in that she is the wife of God and she is always called the sons of Israel] But when she fell down [If a fall from heaven to earth is understood figuratively rather than literally, as representing a fall from authority (as Is. 14:12; Jer. 51:53; Lam. 2:1; Matt. 11:23), much more sense can be made of all this] into a body [that is a body of sin, now the Greek word for body Strong’s 4983 can be translated slave and in the AVKJ bible it is translated slave some 146 times and the word body is used of a (large or small) number of men closely united into one society, or family as it were; a social, ethical, mystical body i.e. the church, and also that which casts a shadow as distinguished from the shadow itself and thus a shadow of the truth. so we could translate this however when shell descend from her higher place to a lower she became a "slave" or "servant" to sin or a house of sin] and came to this life [being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Ephesians 4:18 know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God James 4:4], then she fell into the hands of many robbers [Isa 42:22 But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.]. And these shameless men [Reabome, Ahab, Jezebel] passed her from one to another and they violated her. [in setting up the revival baal-worship] Some raped her, [in killing the true prophetess of god and the exiles] while seduced her with gifts. In short, they defiled her, and she lost her virginity. Israel “kept building for themselves high places and sacred pillars and sacred poles upon every high hill and under every luxuriant tree. And even the male temple prostitute [New World Translation Reference Bible, footnote, “effeminate men”] proved to be in the land. They acted according to all the detestable things of the nations whom Jehovah had driven out from before the sons of Israel.
And in her body [as a slave to the house of sin ] she prostituted herself [here the soul or body of Israel is likened to an adulterous wife who prostituted herself ] and gave herself to one and all, considering each one she was about to embrace to be her husband. [Here the soul is guilty of spiritual adultery which is unfaithfulness to Jehovah on the part of those who are joined to him in a covenant. Natural Israel in the Law covenant was, therefore, guilty of spiritual adultery because of false religious practices, some of which included sex-worship rites and disregard for the seventh commandment. (Jer 3:8, 9; 5:7, 8; 9:2; 13:27; 23:10; Ho 7:4) For similar reasons Jesus denounced as adulterous the generation of Jews in his day. (Mt 12:39; Mr 8:38) Likewise today, if Christians who are dedicated to Jehovah and who are in the new covenant defile themselves with the present age (aeon), they commit spiritual adultery.—Jas 4:4.] When she had given herself to shameless, unfaithful adulterers, [The Assyrians, the Egyptians and the Babylon . Frequent condemnation was made of the reliance placed upon such pagan nations by apostate Israel and Judah, like “a simpleminded dove without heart.” (Jer 2:18, 36; La 5:6; Eze 16:26, 28; 23:5-12; Ho 7:11) The disastrous results of such a course were vividly described. (Eze 23:22-27 ]
Jer 23:10 For the land is full of adulterers forsakes of God, Israel‘s true Husband; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.] so that they might make use of her, then she sighed deeply and repented. But even when she turns her face from those adulterers, she runs to others and they compel her to live with them and render service to them upon their bed, as if they were her masters. [The Assyrians, the Egyptians and the Babylon . Frequent condemnation was made of the reliance placed upon such pagan nations by apostate Israel and Judah, often vacillating between Egypt and Assyria, like “a simpleminded dove without heart.” (Jer 2:18, 36; La 5:6; Eze 16:26, 28; 23:5-12; Ho 7:11) The disastrous results of such a course were vividly described. (Eze 23:22-27 ] Out of shame she no longer dares to leave them, whereas they deceive her for a long time, pretending to be faithful, true husbands, as if they greatly respected her. And after all this they abandon her and go.
She then becomes a poor desolate widow, without help; not even a measure of food was left her from the time of her affliction. For from them she gained nothing except the defilements they gave her while they had sexual intercourse with her. And her offspring by the adulterers are dumb, blind and sickly. They are feebleminded.
But when the father who is above visits her and looks down upon her and sees her sighing - with her sufferings and disgrace - and repenting of the prostitution in which she engaged, and when she begins to call upon his name so that he might help her, and she sighed with all her heart, saying "Save me, my father, for behold I will render an account to thee, for I abandoned my house and fled from my maiden`s quarters. Restore me to thyself again." When he sees her in such a state, then he will count her worthy of his mercy upon her, for many are the afflictions that have come upon her because she abandoned her house.
On the prostitution of the soul
Now concerning the prostitution on the soul, the Holy Spirit prophesies in many places. For he said in the prophet Jeremiah (3:1-4),
If the husband divorces his wife and she goes and takes another man, can she return to him after that? Has not that woman utterly defiled herself? "And you prostituted yourself to many shepherds and you returned to me!" said the lord. "Take an honest look and see where you prostituted yourself. Were you not sitting in the streets defiling the land with your acts of prostitution and your vices? And you took many shepherds for a stumbling block for yourself. You became shameless with everyone. You did not call on me as kinsman or as father or author of your virginity". Judah had had many lovers, yet the Lord still invites her to return.
Again it is written in the prophet Hosea (2:2-7),
Come, go to law with your mother, for she is not to be a wife to me nor I a husband to her. I shall remove her prostitution from my presence, and I shall remove her adultery from between her breasts. I shall make her naked The punishment of an adulterer: to be stripped naked, and stoned (Eze 16:37-40). as on the day she was born, and I shall make her desolate like a land without water, She attributes her prosperity to her own efforts, and to her lovers among the aliens (cp Jer 44:17,18). and I shall make her longingly childless. I shall show her children no pity, for they are children of prostitution, since their mother prostituted herself and put her children to shame. For she said, "I shall prostitute myself to my lovers. It was they who gave me my bread and my water and my garments and my clothes and my wine and my oil and everything I needed." Therefore behold I shall shut them up so that she shall not be able to run after her adulterers. And when she seeks them and does not find them, she will say, 'I shall return to my former husband, in those days I was better off than now."
Again he said in Ezekiel (16:23-26),
It came to pass after much depravity, said the lord, you built yourself a brothel and you made yourself a beautiful place in the streets. And you built yourself brothels on every lane, and you wasted your beauty, and you spread your legs in every alley, and you multiplied your acts of prostitution. You prostituted yourself to the sons of Egypt, those who are your neighbors, men great of flesh.
But what does "the sons of Egypt, men great of flesh" mean, if not the domain of the flesh and the perceptible realm and the affairs of the earth, [the presnt age of the flesh and its lust thereof and the things in the world which defile the soul in this order of things] by which the soul has become defiled here, receiving bread from them, as well as wine, oil, clothing, and the other external nonsense surrounding the body - the things she thinks she needs.
But as to this prostitution, the apostles of the savior commanded (Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25; 1Th 4:3; 1 Co 6:18; 2 Co 7:1): "Guard yourselves against it, purify yourselves from it," speaking not just of the prostitution of the body but especially that of the soul. For this reason the apostles write to the churches of God, that such prostitution might not occur among us.
Yet the greatest struggle has to do with the prostitution of the soul. From it arises the prostitution of the body as well. Therefore Paul, writing to the Corinthians (1Co 5:9-10), said, "I wrote you in the letter, 'Do not associate with prostitutes,' not at all (meaning) the prostitutes of this world or the greedy or the thieves or the idolaters, since then you would have to go out from the world." - here it is speaking spiritually - "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood - as he said (Ep 6:12) - but against the world rulers of this darkness and the spirits of wickedness."
Restoration of the soul
As long as the soul keeps running about everywhere copulating with whomever she meets and defiling herself, she exists suffering her just deserts. But when she perceives the straits she is in and weeps before the father and repents, then the father will have mercy on her and he will make her womb turn from the outside back to the inside, so that the soul will regain her proper character. For it is not so with a woman. For the womb of the body is inside the body like the other internal organs, but the womb of the soul is turned to the outside like the male genitalia which is external.
Philo: Now the female offspring of the soul are wickedness and passion, by which we are made effeminate in every one of our pursuits; but a healthy state of the passions and virtue is male, by which we are excited and invigorated.
Philo: But the passions are female by nature, and we must study to quit them, showing our preference for the masculine characters of the good dispositions.
James 3:15 Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible: this wisdom is not one from above coming down, but is earthly born of the soul demoniacal”
therefore it is within our souls that we give birth to desire, sin, and death.
James: 1 : 13-15 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
SIN... GIVES BIRTH TO DEATH: 1Co 5:54-56; Rom 5:12; 1Jo 2:16,17.
Psalms: 7:14 Look! There is one that is pregnant with what is hurtful, And he has conceived trouble and is bound to give birth to falsehood..
The psalmist metaphorically pictures the typical sinner as a pregnant woman, who is ready to give birth to wicked, destructive schemes and actions.
Job 15:35 They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
The wicked's iniquity is as his children: he nourishes them, and at last they turn on him.
The language of child-bearing in connection with lust and sin is echoed by James (Jam 1:13-15). So wicked men bring forth "children" (that is sin) after their own "likeness" (Gal 5:19-21; Rom 1:29-31; 1Co 6:9,10), and are thus known by their "fruits" (Mat 7:16,20). The melancholy litany of birth, procreation, and death in Gen 5 ("and then he died") is the result of Adam's "likeness" being distorted, in his descendants, into the likeness of the serpent.
So when the womb of the soul, by the will of the father, turns itself inward, it is baptized and is immediately cleansed of the external pollution which was pressed upon it, just as garments, when dirty, are put into the water and turned about until their dirt is removed and they become clean. And so the cleansing of the soul is to regain the newness of her former nature and to turn herself back again. That is her baptism.
Then she will begin to rage at herself like a woman in labor, who writhes and rages in the hour of delivery. But since she is female, by herself she is powerless to beget a child. [After the Exile the retruning Jews were like a woman trying to give brith ] From heaven the father sent her her man, who is her brother, the firstborn. Then the bridegroom came down to the bride. She gave up her former prostitution and cleansed herself of the pollutions of the adulterers, and she was renewed so as to be a bride. She cleansed herself in the bridal chamber; she filled it with perfume; she sat in it waiting for the true bridegroom. No longer does she run about the market place, copulating with whomever she desires, but she continued to wait for him - (saying) "When will he come?" - and to fear him, for she did not know what he looked like: she no longer remembers since the time she fell from her father's house. But by the will of the father <...> And she dreamed of him like a woman in love with a man.
Marriage of the soul to her beloved
But then the bridegroom, according to the father's will, came down to her into the bridal chamber, which was prepared. And he decorated the bridal chamber.
For since that marriage is not like the carnal marriage, those who are to have intercourse with one another will be satisfied with that intercourse. And as if it were a burden, they leave behind them the annoyance of physical desire and they turn their faces from each other. But this marriage [...]. But once they unite with one another, they become a single life. Wherefore the prophet said (Gn 2:24) concerning the first man and the first woman, "They will become a single flesh." For they were originally joined one to another when they were with the father before the woman led astray the man, who is her brother. This marriage has brought them back together again and the soul has been joined to her true love, her real master, as it is written (cf. Gn 3:16; 1 Co 11;1; Ep 5:23), "For the master of the woman is her husband." [After God told the serpent, He would provide a Redeemer who would bruise its head and release man from its power (sin). sentence was than pronounced upon the woman: Gen 3:16 And to the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pains and thy groanings; in pain thou shall bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Your desire... to Your husband: Woman's desire to man, Christ: Song 2:16; 6:3. Man's pre-eminence over his wife: Eph 5:22-24. "Desire" is "teshuwqah", found in the OT only here and in Gen 3:16; 4:7; Song 7:10. Eve’s desire was for what she had lost, but hoped to regain it through him. This expresses a desire to return, a desire for oneness, a desire that the individual will (even HIS will!) should be subordinated to the needs of the unit which is the couple: "And the two will become one flesh" (Eph 5:31; cp Jn 17:21; Act 4:32; 27:23; 1Co 6:19,20). Instead "teshuwqah" some read "teshuwbah" return. Thus the Concordant translation renders: “By your husband is your restoration and he shall rule over you”. the LXX and the Syriac also render it as “return.” all these meanings are most significant. Eve was reminded that her restoration, return, was subject to her husband, and that he must exercise the rule over her. Eve, however, was typical of the bride of Christ, and these words spoken to her have an added significance when related to the bride. The restoration of the bride is subject to her husband (Christ), and he must bear rule over her, if she would attain unto it.
What is the restoration?
That unity for which Christ prayed the Father when he declared: John: 17:20,21 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
This expresses the complete union of marriage; that oneness that shall only be experienced when the marriage of the lamb hath come. For the moment, the bride is espoused as a “chaste virgin” to Christ, and in this relationship, there is partial restoration. Thus, Paul wrote: Galatians: 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Paul taught that in Christ there is a restoration of oneness. We experience that initially at baptism, for no matter of which sex we might be, we are than made personally responsible to Christ. But the “oneness” there indicated, is but a token of the complete restoration in the future, when Christ’s prayer will be fulfilled, and when, taking her to himself in the bridal chamber, he will acknowledge that they are “one flesh” (Eph 5:31). Meanwhile, the second Eve remains in subjection to her husband (1Tim 2:11-12 Eph 5:22 Col 3:18) ]
Then gradually she recognized him, and she rejoiced once more, weeping before him as she remembered the disgrace of her former widowhood. And she adorned herself still more so that he might be pleased to stay with her.
And the prophet said in the Psalms (Ps 45:10-11): "Hear, my daughter, and see and incline your ear and forget your people and your father's house, for the king has desired your beauty, for he is your lord."
For he requires her to turn her face from her people and the multitude of her adulterers, in whose midst she once was, to devote herself only to her king, her real lord, and to forget the house of the earthly father, with whom things went badly for her, but to remember her father who is in heaven. Thus also it was said (Gn 12:1) to Abraham: "Come out from your country and your kinsfolk and from your father`s house"
Rebirth of the soul
Thus when the soul had adorned herself again in her beauty [...] enjoyed her beloved, and he also loved her. And when she had intercourse with him, she got from him the seed that is the life-giving spirit, so that by him she bears good children and rears them. For this is the great, perfect marvel of birth. And so this marriage is made perfect by the will of the father.
Now it is fitting that the soul regenerates herself and become again as she formerly was. The soul then moves of her own accord. And she received the divine nature from the father for her rejuvenation, so that she might be restored to the place where originally she had been. This is the resurrection that is from the dead. This is the ransom from captivity. This is the upward journey of ascent to heaven. This is the way of ascent to the father. Therefore the prophet said (Ps 103:1-5):
"Praise the lord, O my soul, and, all that is within me, (praise) his holy name. My soul, praise God, who forgave all your sins, who healed all your sicknesses, who ransomed your life from death, who crowned you with mercy, who satisfies your longing with good things. Your youth will be renewed like an eagle's."
Then when she becomes young again, she will ascend, praising the father and her brother, by whom she was rescued. Thus it is by being born again that the soul will be saved. And this is due not to rote phrases or to professional skills or to book learning. Rather it is the grace of the [...], it is the gift of the [...]. For such is this heavenly thing. Therefore the savior cries out (Jn 6:44), "No one can come to me unless my Father draws him and brings him to me; and I myself will raise him up on the last day."
It is therefore fitting to pray to the father and to call on him with all our soul - not externally with the lips, but with the spirit, which is inward, which came forth from the depth - sighing; repenting for the life we lived; confessing our sins; perceiving the empty deception we were in, and the empty zeal; weeping over how we were in darkness and in the wave; mourning for ourselves, that he might have pity on us; hating ourselves for how we are now.
Again the savior said (cf Mt 5:4, Lk 6:12): "Blessed are those who mourn, for it is they who will be pitied; blessed, those who are hungry, for it is they who will be filled."
Again he said (cf. Lk 14:26), "If one does not hate his soul he cannot follow me." For the beginning of salvation is repentance. Therefore (cf. Acts 13:24), "Before Christ`s appearance came John, preaching the baptism of repentance."
And repentance takes place in distress and grief. But the father is good and loves humanity, and he hears the soul that calls upon him and sends it the light of salvation. Therefore he said through the spirit to the prophet (cf. 1 Cl 8:3), "Say to the children of my people, 'If your sins extend from earth to heaven, and if they become red like scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, and if you return to me with all your soul and say to me 'my Father!', I will heed you as a holy people.'"
Again another place (Is 30:15), "Thus says the lord, the holy one of Israel: "If you return and sigh, then you will be saved and will know where you were when you trusted in what is empty."
Again he said in another place (Is 30:19-20), "Jerusalem wept much, saying, 'Have pity on me.' He will have pity on the sound of your weeping. And when he saw, he heeded you. And the lord will give you bread of affliction and water of oppression. From now on, those who deceive will not approach you again. Your eyes will see those who are deceiving you."
praying with all our
Therefore it is fitting to pray to God night and day, spreading out our hands towards him as do people sailing in the middle of the sea: they pray to God with all their heart without hypocrisy. For those who pray hypocritically deceive only themselves. Indeed, it is in order that he might know who is worthy of salvation that God examines the inward parts and searches the bottom of the heart. For no one is worthy of salvation who still loves the place of deception.
Therefore it is written in the poet (Homer, Odyssey 1.48-1.59), "Odysseus sat on the island weeping and grieving and turning his face from the words of Calypso and from her tricks, longing to see his village and smoke coming forth from it. And had he not received help from heaven, he would not have been able to return to his village."
Again Helen <...> saying (Odyssey 4.260-261), "My heart turned itself from me. It is to my house that I want to return."
For she sighed, saying (Odyssey 4.261-4.264), "It is Aphrodite who deceived me and brought me out of my village. My only daughter I left behind me, and my good, understanding, handsome husband."
For when the soul leaves her perfect husband because of the treachery of Aphrodite, who exists here in the act of begetting, then she will suffer harm. But if she sighs and repents, she will be restored to her house.
Our repentance
Certainly Israel would not have been visited in the first place [here at the end of the text instead of speaking about the soul the writer speaks about the nation of Israel instead this is show that the soul is used has an allegory for the sons of Israel], to be brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, if it had not groaned to God and wept for the oppression of its labours.
Again it is written in the Psalms (6:6-9),
6 I have grown weary with my sighing; All night long I make my bed swim; With my tears I make my own bed overflow.
7 From vexation my eye has become weak, It has grown old because of all those showing hostility to me.
8 Get away from me, all YOU practicers of what is hurtful, For Jehovah will certainly hear the sound of my weeping.
9 Jehovah will indeed hear my request for favor; Jehovah himself will accept my own prayer.
If we repent, truly God will listen us, he who is long suffering and abundantly merciful, to whom is the glory for ever and ever. Amen!
Thus these words here at the end confirm my understanding that the soul here is allegorical of the fall of Isreal and are own repentance
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