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one preaching the coming of the Lord through the Law, while the other, appearing near the end of the world, foretells the coming of judgment.

Regarding the five men who appeared to help the Jews, as recorded in the Book of Maccabees, Georgius Ederus understands them to represent the five books of Moses. Similarly, the "five husbands" of the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John represent the five senses, by which she was ruled before the age of reason; for the husband of this woman was the rational spirit, who was not truly her husband because she did not obey him; or perhaps the "husband who was not a husband" represented the error of adultery in which she was then living. The "twelve men" called Patriarchs denote all the fathers of the twelve tribes who existed in that first state until the time of Christ. Furthermore, the twelve princes who fell in the desert, along with those who departed from Egypt, can be seen as representing the twelve Apostles and their successors. St. Gregory interprets the sixty valiant men in the Song of Solomon, who surround the bed of Solomon, as the Saints who fortify the holy mind with their words and examples—the mind in which Christ the Lord rests. Finally, the thousand men at Mount Bethel who accompanied Saul, as read in the History of Kings, are explained by St. Gregory as the men who defend the Church and remain loyal to their ecclesiastical leader.

There are still other mentions of "men" in the plural that require our attention. For instance, the "men of the army" in the Book of Numbers who went to war are said to be those who have wiped out every kind of vice. In the Book of Maccabees, the "men of virtue" who set themselves against the city of Ephron are explained by Lauretus as the many Doctors of the Church who penetrate the spiritual meaning of scripture so that they might call the criminal back from vice to a fruitful life.

The "men of riches" mentioned in the seventy-fifth Psalm are those who do not truly possess their wealth; rather, they are possessed by it, and for this reason, they are said to sleep their own sleep, and not the sleep of Christ.

The "men of Judah" who, in the History of Kings, went with David to bring back the Ark, can be called the faithful people who daily devote themselves to the expansion of the Church alongside Christ. Similarly, according to St. Jerome, the faithful who provide mutual aid to one another are represented by the "men grasping the hands of their neighbors" in the Book of Zechariah. Conversely, the "men of Nineveh" in the Gospel of Matthew signify the Gentiles.

The "men of blood" in the one hundred and thirty-eighth Psalm can refer to heretics who destroy souls with wicked doctrines, or to those still focused on lustful and carnal acts. Finally, the "men of Anathoth" who sought the life of Jeremiah represent the Jews, but especially the Priests and Scribes, who opposed Christ.

Now we come to the name "man" (*homo*), which is not without its own mystical meanings. Under this name, many perfect and excellent things are understood—namely Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels, the mind, and perfect men—though many evil things are also subsequently declared through this same term. Regarding the first category, the "first man" is said to be Adam, of the earth, earthly; the "second man" is Christ, from heaven, heavenly, as we read in the Epistle to the Corinthians. Therefore, the "man" whom God is said to have chosen in the sixty-fourth Psalm signifies the humanity of the Word of God that was assumed. Or, according to Lauretus in his *Forest of Allegories*, such a man represents the Church, of which Christ is the head.

In this regard, the man in Genesis whom God placed in Paradise was a symbol of Christ, who resides in the Church as its head. Likewise, the man in Luke who possesses a hundred sheep represents Christ, who rules over both angels and men. This same Christ is the "man born in Zion," which he himself founded in the eighty-sixth Psalm. In the one hundred and eighth Psalm, the "redeeming and poor man" is also said to be Christ. He is also the man prepared to lead the goat into the wilderness, as described in Leviticus. He is the man who, in the Book of Numbers, was to rise out of Israel. Indeed, Christ is that same man whose enemies, according to Micah, are those of his own household. Furthermore, Christ was the man whom the paralytic in the Gospel of John was waiting for to lower him into the pool. Additionally, the "man gone on a long journey" in Matthew signifies Christ ascending to heaven, as Origen interprets it. Finally, Christ is that "King" who settled accounts with his servants, and the "father of the household," as we can read in many places in Matthew. Moreover, the Blessed Virgin Mary is often called "man," since Christ is called the "Son of Man"; and Christ is called the Son of Man-