Tractates on the Books of Holy Scripture (Tractatus Origenis) 15.1–16.4

"Elisha said to the people who were in Jericho: 'Bring me an earthen vessel and put salt in it.' And he plunged it into the river, and at once the waters were healed." You have heard the reading, dearest brothers, which tells how the most blessed prophet Elisha, when the people asked him to heal the barren and harmful waters of Jericho, brought those waters to health and fruitfulness by a mystery: "He took," it says, "a new earthen vessel, and put salt in it, and plunged it into the river, and at once the waters were healed." What do we say in this place, dearest brothers? Could Elisha not heal the waters by a word in the name of the Lord, he who was able by a word to call back the rush of the river Jordan to the head of its spring, holding back the ranks of its waves, so as to provide himself a dry path to cross through that river? Or could that earthen vessel full of salt do more than the word of God, by which he even raised the dead and often worked the greatest wonders? We must observe more carefully, then, what cause, what meaning, what power lay in that earthen vessel full of salt. This most blessed prophet Elisha, when he was asked to heal the barren waters, could seek the remedy from nowhere else than from Christ, in the mystery of his baptism. For that earthen vessel foreshadowed the figure of Christ's body, which he was to take from the first-formed, whose image is earthly. That the salt is the Word of God himself, namely the wisdom of the Father, there is no doubt; of this wisdom the blessed apostle Paul says: "Christ," he says, "is the power of God and the wisdom of God"; and so the apostles too, because of the faith they had in Christ, were called the salt of the earth. The prophet, then, knowing what was to come, which afterwards the holy apostle John relates, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," therefore, putting salt, that is, the wisdom of God, into an earthen vessel, that is, into a human body, in the likeness of the Word, plunged it into the water. This signified that all the waters which throughout the world were barren, which could not beget sons of God without Christ, would afterwards, when Christ was baptized, receive fruitfulness and blessing, so as to beget sons of God through the sanctification of the life-giving washing. Hence Christian wisdom ought to notice, most holy brothers, that as much as the truth of baptism in Christ can do now, so much its figure could do then. For from the time when the Lord deigned to go down into those waters and be baptized, carrying in his body the salt of the Word and bearing in the Word itself the material of the earthen vessel, that is, of the body, from then on everywhere, through faith in Christ, waters which formerly were barren began to beget and bring forth sons of God.

But lest perhaps someone ignorant of the heavenly mysteries should say, "Why was Christ baptized, who was God, whose flesh had committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, since the grace of baptism was divinely provided only for the forgiveness of sins?": hear the reason, and understand that our Lord willed to be baptized by John not to receive forgiveness of sins, he who had committed no sin, but deigned to be baptized so that he might sanctify the water itself by his washing, so that whoever was baptized in his name, now made a member of his body, might deserve to be a son of God by adoption, reborn of water and the power from above. Indeed elsewhere too we find this mystery of Christ's baptism similarly foreshown: for in Exodus we read that the bitter waters of the spring of Marah, when wood was thrown in, were turned to sweetness and health; for the prophets sought no other remedy for useless waters than from Christ. That wood clearly showed the mystery of the Lord's passion, by which the thirsty could drink healthfully the sweetened waters of baptism; hence the Lord himself, standing in the temple, said: "Whoever thirsts, let him come and drink the water of power freely." So too, when the people in the desert was in danger from thirst, Moses struck the rock with his rod, that is, with wood, and springs of water flowed: by which it indicated that the mystery of baptism was accomplished. For the blessed apostle proves that that rock bore the figure of Christ when he says: "For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ." There is no doubt, then, that that rock bore the image of the Lord's flesh, which flesh, struck by the wood of the cross, gave living water to the thirsty, as it is written: "Rivers will flow from his belly." He said this of the Holy Spirit, whom believers were to receive. And so those waters, brought forth from the rock, already then showed in typical prefiguration the rivers flowing from Christ's belly in the mystery of baptism, which would run from Christ's side as a healthful drink for the thirsty. For who does not know that our Lord, who is the fountain of living water springing up to everlasting life, when he had been hung on the wood of the cross, poured out from the wound in his side not only blood but also waters flowing in an abundant stream, showing that the bride, that is, the Church, after the example of the first-formed, consists from his side, as Eve too was formed from the rib of Adam, having two baptisms, namely of water and of blood, by which the faithful and the martyrs are made in the Church? But since it was necessary that, together with the mystery of baptism, it should also show the image of the holy apostles prefigured, therefore at Elim, a place read of in Exodus, the figure of the twelve apostles is shown in twelve springs. Of these springs David says in the psalms: "Praise the Lord from the springs of Israel," because these apostle-springs, proceeding from the people of Israel, were to give believers the grace of baptism. And lest anyone think the blessed apostle Paul excluded from their company, he added: "There is Benjamin, the younger," because the apostle Paul was found to be of the tribe of Benjamin, and was to give the gift of baptism to all nations together with the other apostles; he is called "the younger" so that no one should think this was said of the ancient patriarch Benjamin.

And since we are now speaking of the mystery of baptism, we must also show that the grace is one for all who receive it, and that one cannot obtain more and another less in the gift of baptism. Call me a liar if I do not prove that all the servants in the Gospel received one denarius each, and that the manna that was gathered was one measure for all, because "he who gathered more," it says, "will not have too much, and he who gathered less will not lack." For when in baptism all sins are forgiven, and where there is pardon without measure, every measure with its reckoning ceases, nor is it reduced to number, since the divine goodness offers the whole. Therefore the Scripture also tells, as I said, that all the servants received one denarius each, to show that the forgiveness of all sins has one measure, and that the judgments of God's goodness ran equal in all things without injury to anyone, lest goodness fall into the reproach of divine indulgence if there had not been equality toward all. For the Father does not give the Spirit by measure, and so neither is the grace of baptism offered by measure, so as to bestow as much as the abundance or scarcity of water; for it is not water that dissolves offenses, but it is God who through water forgives all sins. And though we all obtain one gift of pardon in baptism, so that no sin is excepted that is not washed away by the sacrament of baptism, yet afterwards we are distinguished by acts, conduct, and works in our way of life. For just as in the Gospel the sower sowed the seed of the divine word equally, but it did not everywhere advance alike to harvest: some fell among thorns and was choked; some on rocky ground, which, though it at once sprang up, yet, since it had neither deep roots nor moisture to be nourished, withered when the sun rose; some by the road, and the birds snatched it away; some on good ground, and it bore fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold. So too the grace of baptism is one for all, as the sowing of the word is one, but afterwards the merits of each will be distinguished at the judgment according to the quality of their deeds.

"The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw against Judah and against Jerusalem." It is indeed a very great and splendid task, dearest brothers, and truly a remarkable kind of discourse, to open into the light of true knowledge the prophetic meanings wrapped in the coverings of allegory. But since this grace does not flow so abundantly into the minds of all that what is magnificent and divine can be quickly recognized, we are rightly tormented in the very search. Yet since our Lord and Savior gave us confidence to search, saying, "Ask and you will receive, knock and it will be opened to you, seek and you will find," and "There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing covered that will not be made known," the one who seeks to understand is therefore carried by this promise to preach on the reading. But before all things we must ask why this title does not agree with the discourse that follows. For it says: "The vision which Isaiah saw in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah." Surely this one vision was not shown in the times of four kings, as though one vision was seen at one time: for it does not say "the visions which Isaiah saw," as if many, but "the vision," it says, to show one vision; if it is one, it was seen, as I said, at one time; yet one and the same vision was not shown in the times of four kings. Then see that in the discourse that follows it does not present the vision itself, but rebukes the people with the gravest intensity. For it says: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth: I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have despised me." This is not to report a vision, but to rebuke the people with great indignation: for to tell a vision is one thing, to utter words of invective another; for a vision is shown to the eyes, words are conveyed to the ears. Indeed the prophet Habakkuk said not that he had seen but that he had heard: "Lord," he says, "I have heard what I heard from you, and I was afraid"; for he had believed what he had heard of God, and he feared because he had heard it of God. In this place, then, we must observe more carefully why he puts "vision" in the title and adds not the words of the vision itself but of invective. Since the title is set down obscurely, while the prophet announces the word of God, it was necessary that he first indicate the word of God for which the prophet had been sent, and so tell his vision at the fitting place and time. For the scribe entitled the head of the book "vision" because the prophet had first seen the vision itself before he heard the word of the one who sent him. For he says: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high throne"; and this is the vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw, that he saw the Lord sitting on a high throne, at which time all things that were to come were shown to him. Hence the scribe rightly put the vision first before indicating the prophet's invective, so that no one should think that Isaiah, not sent by the Lord, rose up to revile the people of Israel rather than to announce the word of the Lord; but the prophet wonderfully conveyed the word of the Lord to the people before setting out the text of his vision. Since this is so, we must nonetheless also discuss the reversed order, since we often find it written in the divine Scriptures that what was done first is placed later, and what is to be later is announced first. Hear the counsel of the Holy Spirit. For in almost all the Scriptures this principle of arrangement is found, that the series is not set out in straight order. For this reason, then, the divine words are put out of order, and many things are also said figuratively: some are related in riddles, or indicated in types, or narrated allegorically, or obscured in parables. For since the serpent once, having seduced him, deceived man in paradise by crafty words, persuading him by bad interpretation of the opposite of what God had simply commanded man to observe, and since the command given to man then was plain, so that the devil himself could understand it, he therefore deceived man by evil persuasion; and so it was necessary that the Holy Spirit should from then on provide for man and speak through parables and figures, and also, as has been said, reverse the order of prophecy, so that the enemy should never again take occasion and bring in sin through the commandment and through it kill man again. For this reason, then, the Scriptures were arranged in parables and obscure words and in a reversed series, so that the enemy himself would not know, would be mocked by the obscurity of the words, and would not know the times because of the reversed order, and so that no one else would understand the sense of the Holy Spirit except him who had the same Spirit that spoke in the prophets, while an alien spirit could not know it. Indeed the Lord himself spoke in parables, so that only his own might recognize what he was saying, while those who were not his, hearing, would not hear, as it is written: "Lest they hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I heal them, says the Lord." Not that God did not wish to heal them if they were converted, but because the enormity of their sins had gone before, they did not deserve to be either converted or healed.

Further, it is for this reason that the scribe put the times of four kings in the title, namely Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, so that it might be known for how long a time and how plainly the prophet rebuked the people of Israel and preached the birth and coming of Christ. And even so they would not believe him, as the apostle says: "Or do you despise the patience and forbearance of God, not knowing that God's patience leads you to repentance? But by the hardness of your heart you store up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath of the just judgment of God." And since a transgression of so long a time was going to profit the people nothing, the Lord is found to have spoken against it through the prophet: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken." "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth," as though this heaven or earth had ears of its own, so as to be able to hear. But when he named heaven, he was calling the heavenly powers, that is, the holy angels, and when he named earth, holy men, to hear the word of the Lord, because the sons of Israel were hastening to despise God and were entirely unwilling to return to repentance after such great crimes and misdeeds. So he calls heaven and earth to witness, that is, the heavenly angels and the holy men who consist of the substance of the earth, that they might hear what the Lord God had bestowed and what they themselves had done in contempt of the Godhead. "I have begotten and exalted sons," he says, "but they have despised me." O grave sin, and pardon almost beyond entreaty, that God testifies he has been despised by those whom he said were begotten and exalted by him! He had begotten them through the law and exalted them through grace, since power over all nations had been granted ... to them. And so they should not have despised him but followed and heard him: for in him is the substance of things and the principle of virtues and the fountain of all good things. For what is greater than God in power, or more perfect in reason, or more brilliant in glory? Since he had begotten them for wisdom and righteousness, it was not right for them, forsaking their God and the giver of life, to serve vain and fragile images and idols, nor, serving gluttony and lust, to depart from innocence and piety. For these vicious and deadly pleasures, which used to snare the soul of man with rich things, have been condemned to eternal death. And so here too he reproaches them, saying: "I have begotten and exalted sons," that is: I begot you by the seed of the word and the instruction of the law, and exalted and lifted you above all nations; for your sake I killed wonderful kings; I freed you from the land of Egypt with a strong hand and an uplifted arm; I went before you in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night; and, breaking the ... while mountains of water stood around him, I made you cross through the middle of the sea with dry feet; I also killed your enemies, the waves returning on themselves; I fed you with the bread of angels in the desert, and, splitting the hardest rock, I gave abundant water to the thirsty: see with what benefits I exalted you, and you have forsaken me!

And hear what comparison he added because of this: "The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's manger, but Israel has not known me, and the people has not understood me." Why does he say this, setting dumb animals, lacking reason, before that people? For they recognize and follow those who feed them and their masters, and give voice when they see or hear them; but the people of the Jews refused to recognize its begetter and lord and the giver of all good things. For it is not said that they did not recognize because they could not, but because they willfully refused, as he says through Jeremiah: "The turtledove and the swallow have known the times of their coming, but my people has not known me." O wretched and detestable stupidity of the people, before whom the ox and the donkey, dumb animals, and the turtledove and the swallow, sweet birds, are set! So too in the Gospel the Lord himself testified with his own voice, saying: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!" He did not say "and you could not," but "you would not." For inability has pardon; unwillingness is contempt. But you are accustomed to ask why our Lord wished to compare himself to a hen in the Gospel, when in the law and the prophets he is compared to the eagle, the king of birds. For so it is written of him: "As an eagle protects its nest and will be renewed, as an eagle will carry its young on its shoulders, the Lord God protected them." We must therefore discuss why the Lord in the Gospel said he was like not an eagle but a hen. He was rightly then called an eagle, because he deigned to protect one nest and chicks of one kind, that is, the people of Israel alone, against all races and nations. But now he said he was like a hen, because of all kinds of birds none hatches by sitting on and warming the eggs of another kind, none either feeds or keeps and nourishes under its wings the chicks of another kind placed beneath it, except the hen alone. So too no one else could gather the peoples of different nations and foreign races under the wings of his cross and under the feathers of his powers, and animate them for eternal life by the warmth of the Spirit and satisfy them with heavenly food, except Christ, the Son of the living God, who not only wished to gather the sons of Israel under the wings of his cross, but also, as I said, deigns to defend all races and nations, bringing them under the protection of his wings, from every injury and danger, as it is written: "In the shadow of your wings I will hope until iniquity passes." This begetter, then, this defender and savior of the human race, the people of Israel refused to recognize when he preached with the voice of the Gospel, whom formerly too it had refused to hear through the prophets.

Therefore he added, saying: "Woe to the sinful nation, a people full of sins! Wicked sons, you have forsaken the Lord the Father," when you denied his Son, "you who still add iniquity, adding iniquity to iniquity": that is to say, you who heap crimes on these crimes, "you have forsaken God the Father and provoked to anger the seed of Israel." Not that they provoked to anger the Israel of the patriarchs themselves, who had gone before in peace many years before these things were said; but they provoked to anger the holy Israel, that is, Christ, by not believing him. For Israel, from the Hebrew language, is interpreted in Latin as "a man seeing God": and what man is there who has seen God, since it is written to Moses, "You cannot see my face, for no one has seen God and lived"? The Savior too in the Gospel: "No one," he says, "has ever seen God except the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father." So, since no one has seen God except the only Son, he himself is rightly Israel, who was both born a man according to the flesh and alone, being the Son of God, has seen and sees God the Father. This is Israel, the man seeing God, whom they provoked to anger by not believing him. But he added further: "Every head is in pain and every heart in grief." By head he means their rulers and priests, by heart the scribes and Pharisees, who conveyed the secrets of the sacred mysteries to the peoples. He said they were turned to grief and pain because they had not recognized Christ as their head, and the heart, which is wisdom, had despised Christ as the Son of God. "There is no place," he says, "to apply a poultice, nor oil, nor bandages": truly and rightly were all these things said of that people, whose soul, not body, lay wounded by the vice of unbelief. For a poultice, oil, and bandages are remedies of the body, not the soul: so their souls were sick; they could not apply these medicines to the cure of the soul. But if you want to make a poultice for a wounded soul, to reduce its swellings and cure its vices, take repentance for your offenses, with which a poultice made of the pigment of good works, so that you give alms to the needy; pour in diligently oil too, that is, the richest grace of the chrism; and bind on bandages, that is, the bonds of gospel discipline. Since that people would not use these, their souls could not be cured, as the wounded man of the Gospel was cured, who, going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among robbers; when the gospel Samaritan, gathering up his wounds, had soothed them with wine and oil, that is, bestowing the grace of the chrism and the redemption of his own blood, and had bound them with the bonds of the Gospels, he set him on the beast of the law, brought him to the inn of the Church, entrusted him to the innkeeper, that is, the angel of the Church, giving two denarii for his care: two royal coins, that is, bearing the inscription of the Father and the Son. This is the perfect medicine, this the method of cure that can free both body and soul from every sickness. With it, most holy brothers, let us cherish our soul and mind with as much good and benefit as we can, so that you may be truly healthy and happy before the face of God the Father almighty.