The Shepherd of Hermas - Parable 9

The Shepherd of Hermas

The Parables (or Similitudes)

 

Similitude Ninth.

The Great Mysteries in the Building of the Militant and Triumphant Church.

 

 

The angel of repentance came again to Hermas and said, “I wish to explain to you what the Holy Spirit that spake with you in the form of the Church showed you, for that Spirit is the Son of God." [1] He was taken to a hill on a plain surrounded by 12 mountains. the place was called Arcadia.  In the plain was a rectangular pillar, larger than the mountains. It looked like it was cut from a white rock; and it was guarded by 12 virgins.

 

Six men leading other large men came to build a tower on the stone. The virgins gave to the men 10 rectangular stones to form the foundation of the tower. The next three layers were built in increasing number of stones: 25, 35 and 40.  Colored stones that became transformed into white were brought to build the wall. The six men rejected some of the stones and returned them to where they had mean got. While the men rested the master to whom the tower was being built for arrived.  He examined it.

 

"And that man examined the building carefully, feeling every stone separately; and holding a rod in his hand, he struck every stone in the building three times. And when he struck them, some of them became black as soot, and some appeared as if covered with scabs, and some cracked, and some mutilated, and some neither white nor black, and some rough and not in keeping with the other stones, and some having [very many] stains: such were the varieties of decayed stones that were found in the building. He ordered all these to be taken out of the tower, and to be laid down beside it, and other stones to be brought and put in their stead." [2]

 

Hermas was told to clean the stones that had been replaced and get rid of any that couldn't be cleaned.  Those that he could clean, along with the help of the virgins and 12 other women dressed in black, were replaced.  When all was completed the tower looked seamless and Hermas rested with the virgins and worshipped the Lord.  The Shepherd now explains to Hermas the meaning of all this:

• The large rock and the gate is the Son of God.
• The rock is pre-existent but the gate is new and that is how the stones enter the Kingdom.
• “If, then, you cannot enter into the city except through its gate, so, in like manner, a man cannot otherwise enter into the kingdom of God than by the name of His beloved Son. You saw,” he added.[3]
• The tower is the Church
• The virgins are holy spirits -- the powers of the Son of God.
• 4 powerful = Faith, Continence, Power and Patience
• 8 others = Simplicity, Innocence, Purity, Cheerfulness, Truth, Understanding, Harmony, and Love.
• To enter the Tower you must have on you the Name of the Son of God, but you must also possess the power of the virgins.
• "If you bear His name but possess not His power, it will be in vain that you bear His name." [4] 
• "The servant of God who bears these names shall see, indeed, the kingdom of God, but shall not enter into it.”[5]
• Those black women are temptresses = Unbelief, Incontinence, Disobedience and Deceit.
• The stones that were rejected initially but after cleaning were received were those who repent.
• "For all these things I gave thanks to the Lord, because He had pity on all that call upon His name; and sent the angel of repentance to us who sinned against Him, and renewed our spirit; and when we were already destroyed, and had no hope of life, He restored us to newness of life.”[6]
• The total of layers are prophets, apostles, teachers, etc. who never had departed from the presence of the spirits.
• The stones came from the pit because they were "obliged" to go through water, sealed with the name of the Son of God and be the preaching of the Apostles and teachers.
• “They were obliged . . . to ascend through water in order that they might be made alive; for, unless they laid aside the deadness of their life, they could not in any other way enter into the kingdom of God. Accordingly, those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. For,” he continued, “before a man bears the name of the Son of God he is dead; but when he receives the seal he lays aside his deadness, and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water: they descend into the water dead, and they arise alive. And to them, accordingly, was this seal preached, and they made use of it that they might enter into the kingdom of God.”[7]

Hermas then asks about the surrounding mountains.   The answer is:

• The mountains = the 12 tribes living throughout the world.
• The color difference = the variance of understanding and purity until some heard of the Son of God
• White - pure understanding. "And they who believed from the twelfth mountain, which was white, are the following: they are as infant children, in whose hearts no evil originates; nor did they know what wickedness is, but always remained as children." [8]

The rejected stones purifies the tower.  Some the Shepherd repaired representing those who repent.

 

"In like manner also shall it be with the Church of God, after it has been purified, and has rejected the wicked, and the hypocrites, and the blasphemers, and the waverers, and those who commit wickedness of different kinds. After these have been cast away, the Church of God shall be one body, of one mind, of one understanding, of one faith, of one love." [9]

 

The Shepherd then makes this appeal: “Heal yourselves, therefore, while the tower is still building. The Lord dwells in men that love peace, because He loved peace; but from the contentious and the utterly wicked He is far distant. Restore to Him, therefore, a spirit sound as ye received it." [10]

 

 

 

 

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1.  Schaff, Philip (2009-06-08). Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 2 - Enhanced Version (Early Church Fathers) (Kindle Locations 2291-2293). Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Kindle Edition.

2. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2370-2374).

3. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2467-2468).

4. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2478-2479).

5. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2517-2518).

6. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2500-2502).

7. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2527-2532).

8. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2666-2667).

9. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2562-2564).

10. Ibid, (Kindle Locations 2702-2704).