In conf., Augustine recounts how he was led to Manicheanism, in part, by his repugnance to Old Testament passages in which a human-like body is attributed to God (conf. 3.7). Ambrose helps to release the grip that Manicheanism had on Augustine by showing him that it is not always necessary to read the Old Testament literally (conf. 6.4 and 7.1). In Books 17 and 18 of the ciu. Dei, Augustine both rejects the notion that all of the Old Testament is allegorical (the allegorical cannot negate the literal meaning, and sometimes the text is purely historical) and affirms that the most important meaning of the Old Testament is prophetic (ciu. Dei 17.3). The earthly kingdom in the Old Testament is inherently allegorical and prophetic. It is not a kingdom that is about or for itself; it is about and for the future heavenly kingdom. The work of the prophets is to prevent the earthly kingdom from being taken too literally – as a kingdom whose meaning is wholly in the present and in itself.