Let us earnestly endeavor, therefore, to flee every crooked and tortuous act, and let us keep our mind and the judgment of our soul as straight as a rule, in order that the praise of the Lord may be permitted to us since we are upright. In the same way the serpent, which is the author of sin, is called crooked, and the sword of God is drawn against the dragon, the crooked serpent, which makes many twists and turns in its progress. . . . Therefore one who follows the serpent shows that his life is crooked, uneven and filled with contrarieties; but one who follows after the Lord makes his paths straight and his footprints right.

For Leviathan is interpreted to be their addition.^[1] Whose addition, then, but the addition of people? And it is properly styled their addition, for since by his evil suggestion he brought into the world the first sin, he never ceases to add to it day by day by prompting to worse things.

Or indeed it is in reproach that he is called Leviathan, that is, styled the addition of men. For he found them immortal in Paradise, but by promising the divine nature to immortal beings, he as it were pledged himself to add somewhat to them beyond what they were. But while with flattering lips he declared that he would give what they did not have, he robbed them cunningly even of what they had. And hence the prophet describes this same Leviathan in these words, Leviathan, the serpent: even Leviathan that crooked serpent. For this Leviathan crept near to people with tortuous windings through the false promise of what he would give them; for while he falsely promised things impossible, he really stole away even those which were possible.

For who is described by the designation of the serpent but our old enemy, at once slippery and crooked, who for the deceiving of humankind spoke with the mouth of a serpent? Of whom it is said by the prophet, Leviathan the serpent, the crooked one; who was for this reason allowed to speak with the mouth of a serpent, that by Leviathan’s vessel humanity might learn what he was that dwelt within. For a serpent is not only crooked but slippery as well; and so because he stood not in the uprightness of truth, he entered into a crooked animal. . . . He spoke to man by means of a slippery animal because if one does not resist him, he secretly slips into the interior of the heart. Now the dens of this serpent were the hearts of wicked people.

It is the soul, too, that says, I am a strong city, a city besieged. The city is besieged through Christ, the city is that heavenly Jerusalem,^[1] in which there are interpreters of God’s law and men skilled in doctrine in great abundance; through them one seeks the Word of God.

Therefore let us flee these evils and elevate our soul to the image and likeness of God. The flight from evils is the likeness of God, and the image of God is gained through the virtues. And so, like a painter, he has painted us with the colors of the virtues. See, I have painted your walls, Jerusalem.^[1] Let us not wipe away with the brush of neglect the props of the painted walls of our soul. And so I have painted the walls,^[2] with which we can turn away the enemy. The soul has its walls; from them it stands forth and concerning them it says, I am a strong city, a city besieged. By these walls it is guarded, and by them it is protected under siege. And truly the soul is a wall, which stretches forth over the camp. And therefore the bride says in the Song of Solomon, I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers.^[3] The wall that the Lord painted is good, even as he says: On my hands I have painted your walls, and you are always in my sight.^[4]

You have in Isaiah the speech made by the soul of a just man or of the church: I am a strong city, I am a city besieged, defended by Christ and besieged by the devil. But one whom Christ aids ought not to be fearful of a siege. [Such a person] is defended by spiritual grace and is besieged by the perils of this world. Hence also it is said in the Song of Songs, I am a wall, and my breasts are as a tower.^[1] The wall is the church, and the towers are her priests, who have full power to teach the natural and the moral sciences.

That the women were to see his resurrection, while the scribes and Pharisees and the people disbelieved, this also Isaiah foretold in these words, You women, who come from beholding, come: for it is a people that has no understanding.

The women, returning from the sepulcher and from this vision of the angels, were foreseen by Isaiah, when he says, Come, you women, who return from the vision, that is, come to report the resurrection of the Lord. It was well, however, that the unbelief of the disciples was so persistent, in order that to the last we might consistently maintain that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples as none other than the Christ of the prophets.