The Hymn of the Soul (1897) - Page 24

SYRIAC HYMN OF THE SOUL.

17 And they promised that I should be heir to the power and the shadow,
And that I should be sent again to the kingdom.
In this context, the "shadow" may refer to the protection or the reflected glory of the divine realm that accompanies the soul even in its descent.

18 Through the mystery of a certain faith,
I passed safely through the Midianite thieves.
original: genābē madyānāyē. This is an allusion to the biblical story of Joseph being sold to Midianite merchants. In Gnostic thought, these "thieves" represent the lower planetary powers or spirits that the soul must bypass to enter the world.

19 And I reached the hands of the masters,
And I opened my path in human likeness.
This "human likeness" represents the soul taking on a physical body, essentially putting on a "disguise" to walk among the inhabitants of the material world.

20 I went down toward Egypt original: Meṣren. In this allegory, Egypt is not the historical nation but a symbol for the "noisy" material world of the senses where the soul is in exile.,
And its kings departed from me.

21 And I fell among those who rejoice,
Whose mother had set their joys in order.

22 When the time was right,
And the account of my journey was fulfilled.

23 And it was bright... fragment? for them,
For the children of the sorcerers who might burn.
The "sorcerers" likely refer to the inhabitants of the material world or the deceptive powers that keep the soul from its mission.

24 For my soul, I found a fellow countryman,
From their food and their delicacies I partook.
Eating the "food" of Egypt is a pivotal moment in the hymn; it represents the soul's consumption of earthly desires, which leads to spiritual amnesia.

25 To the holy Persian messenger,
The son of the Anointed ones gap in text?

26 line missing?
...and to me he came, he who had gone out.

27 And in their company, I was as a son of the eye,
A beloved being, a disciple.
The "son of the eye" is a poetic Syriac idiom for something precious or a close companion, similar to "the apple of one's eye."