At the close of forty years an angel [of the Lord] appeared to him in the flames of a burning thorn-bush, in the desert of mount Sinai.

This was the man who at the assembly in the desert intervened between the angel who spoke to him on mount Sinai and our fathers; he received living Words to be given to us.

Now this is an allegory. The women are two covenants. One comes from mount Sinai, bearing children for servitude; that is Hagar,

for mount Sinai is away in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for the latter is in servitude with her children.