XXXVII. (202) We have now then said as much as the time will permit us to say on the subject of the fountains, and it is with great accuracy and propriety that the sacred scriptures represent Hagar as found at the fountain, and not as drawing water from it: for the soul has not as yet made such an advance as to be fit to use the unmixed draught of wisdom; but it is not forbidden from making its abode in its neighbourhood. (203) And all the road which is made by instruction is easy to travel, and most safe, and most solid, and strong, on which account the scripture tells us that she was found in the road leading to Shur; and the name Shur being interpreted means a wall or a direction. Therefore its convicter, speaking to the soul, says, “Whence comest thou, and whither goest thou?” And it says, not because it doubts, and not so much by the way of asking a question, as in a downcast and reproachful spirit, for an angel cannot be ignorant of anything that concerns us, and a proof of this is, (204) that he is well acquainted even with the things that are in the womb, and which are invisible to the creature, inasmuch as he says, “Behold thou art with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;” for to know that that which is conceived is a male child does not belong to human power, any more than it does to foretell the destruction of life which the child who is not yet born will adopt, namely, that it will be rude life, and not that of a citizen or of a polished man. (205) The expression, “Whence comest thou?” is said by way of reproving the soul, which is fleeing from the better and dominant opinion, of which she is the handmaiden, not in name more than in fact, and by remaining in subjection to which she would gain great glory. And the expression, “And whither goest thou?” means, you are running after uncertain things, having discarded and thrown away confessed good. (206) It is well, therefore, to praise her for rejoicing at this admonition. And she shows a proof of her delighting in it, by not bringing any accusation against her mistress, and by attributing the cause of her running away to her own self, and by her making no reply to the second question, “Whither goest thou?” for it is a matter of uncertainty; and it is both safe and necessary to restrain one’s self from speaking of what is uncertain.
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