Eclogae on Exodus through Judges

the words “The Lord God hardened Pharaoh's heart,” let them say whether they believe that these words are spoken truly by God through Moses when he was inspired, or falsely. If falsely, then on their view God is no longer just, nor true, and as far as these words go not even God; but if truly, let them consider whether he does not blame Pharaoh as one having free will, when he says, “But if you will not send him away,” and elsewhere, “How long will you not be willing to respect me?” For “How long will you not be willing to respect me?” is said reproachfully to Pharaoh, who did not show respect, not because he could not but because he would not. And what Moses says to Pharaoh, “That you may know that the earth is the Lord's; and you and your servants, I know that you have never feared the Lord,” shows that they will fear; which fits the argument against the heterodox, both about God's goodness and about there being no perishing nature. [Exod 3:21–22] “And I will give this people favour before the Egyptians; and when you depart, you shall not go away empty.” This promise had been given beforehand to Abraham, when God said, “After these things they shall come out here with baggage.” [Exod 7:13–14] “And Pharaoh's heart was strengthened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had commanded them. And the Lord said to Moses: Pharaoh's heart is made heavy, so that he does not send away the people.” “Pharaoh's heart is made heavy,” said by the Lord after Aaron's rod had turned into a serpent and swallowed the magicians' rods: it is worth seeing whether this differs from “Pharaoh's heart was hardened,” which is said often, and from “was strengthened.” For this too is said thus: “And Pharaoh's heart was strengthened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.” It seems to me that the heart that yields to divine things is softened and has no strength to resist the divinity, and is not made heavy nor dragged

down to earth and matter; while the heart that resists and opposes the divine will is hardened and resists like stone, and repels the word, and in desperation resists with a falsely named strength. And such a heart, dragged down by vice, which tends downward, must be made heavy. Yet these things do not happen to the heart in the same sense, even if being strengthened and being made heavy both happen to one and the same wicked heart. In one respect, as is said somewhere, the heart becomes stony and is hardened; in another it does not yield to the divine nature as the better, but standing to fight against God it is said also to be strong. [Exod 9:29] “And Moses said to him: When I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord, and the voices will cease, and the hail and the rain will be no more.” For the creator of all has nature yielding to his command. [Of the same.] It should be noted that Moses works wonders not with the rod alone, but also with his hands and his word, lest the many should think that the rod accomplished them by magical deceits. [Exod 12:3] “Let each take a sheep by fathers' houses,” and so on. From the tenth day, it says, they are to take a sheep and keep it until the fourteenth, and to name it, saying, “This sheep is sacrificed for so-and-so and so-and-so,” the names not exceeding ten; and on the fourteenth it is sacrificed between the evenings, as the fifteenth begins; so that from the taking to the sacrificing there are five days, when the moon's light is full. [Exod 12:5] “A perfect sheep, male, a year old, it shall be for you.” Christ is the year-old sheep; for that he lacks in nothing and has no deficiency is shown through the year. [Exod 12:6] “And the whole multitude of the congregation of the sons of Israel shall slaughter it toward evening.” We are commanded to slaughter the sheep toward evening, since our true sheep, the Saviour, came into the world in the last hour. [Exod 12:7] “And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, in the houses,” and so on. We sacrifice, and we anoint our houses with the blood (I mean the body), if indeed the anointing is faith in him, through which I believe that the power of the destroyer is abolished. After we have been anointed, that is, have believed in Christ, then we are commanded to come also to the eating; neither raw, nor boiled in water, but roasted with fire. [Exod 12:15] “Whoever eats leaven, that soul shall be destroyed from Israel.” A man will be destroyed because of leaven! And the God of all, who issues the laws, as he destroys an adulterer, as he destroys a fornicator, as he destroys a corrupter of boys, so destroys the one who has leaven in his house on the day of unleavened bread. Is this worthy of God? Is this in keeping with the heavenly law? But I would say that if you have the leaven

of wickedness and do not destroy all the leaven of vice from your ruling faculty (for this is your true house), the God of all legislates that you be destroyed if you have not cast the old leaven out from yourself. For having come to the time of new things, you must, having become new, have nothing old: “The old things have passed away,” and so on. See how one ought to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the month of new things. [Exod 12:22] “You shall touch the lintel and both doorposts with the blood that is by the door.” The lintel, as one of those before us explained, is the rational part; the two doorposts, the spirited and the desiring. [Of the same.] For we do not cast out the destroyer by some contrivance once he has got inside; rather, we keep guard through the law so that he may not slip in at all. And the guard and safety is to mark the lintel and doorposts of the entrance with the blood of the lamb. [Exod 12:29] “And it came to pass at midnight, and the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt.” For God brings these death-bearing plagues through angels, as we know also from the Kingdoms how in one night the angel killed a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. [Exod 12:43–44] “This is the law of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat of it. And every servant of anyone, and one bought with money, you shall circumcise him, and then he shall eat of it,” and so on. Following what has been set out, this is a third law, which the Lord spoke again besides the two laws. Attend to the precision of Scripture: the Lord did not speak this law about the Passover at the beginning. For if he had said, while they were still in Egypt, before Israel set out from Egypt, “No foreigner shall eat of it; and every servant of anyone and one bought with money you shall circumcise, and then he shall eat of it,” the great mixed crowd that went out of Egypt would not have gone out. He kept this law back, then, so that after those who wished had gone out, another law might be given. And a little later. If we allegorize these things of our soul, we shall say that the house-born are the reasonings that have grown up with us and been cultivated, having begun to take their stand from innate notions; those bought with money are all that come to us from outside through teaching, from the sciences. He says, then, that all are to be circumcised and cleansed, both the house-born and the bought. But we must take in no foreigner, as those do who admit a foreign doctrine; for he does not accept a foreigner, who would profane the feast of the Lord. And a little later. For if you eat the words of God in the church and eat also in the synagogue of the Jews, you transgress the commandment that says, “It shall be eaten in one house.” And if you partake of the words of God in one house, the church, and then, leaving it, you undertake to partake of God in a heretical synagogue,

although the commandment says, “It shall be eaten in one house,” you do not eat in one house. Understand, then, the one house to be the church; never, then, eat of the sheep when you have gone outside the church. [Exod 12:46] “And you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house.” One must not present the church's teaching outside the church, just as one must not carry the meat outside the house; I mean, into a synagogue of Jews or of heretics; for it is like throwing pearls before swine. [Exod 12:48] “No uncircumcised person shall eat of it.” Every intelligible offspring of the soul that goes beyond material things (the material are the female) must be circumcised and cleansed, so that one may then partake of the flesh of the Passover. And the proselyte becomes like a native of the land; for God does not prefer noble seed, but accepts choice. [Of the same.] He calls uncircumcised in the flesh the one who does not circumcise the things of the flesh, just as uncircumcised in the eyes the one who looks at what he should not. [Of the same.] See that none of you is uncircumcised in heart, that none has failed to be circumcised with the circumcisions which the word teaches. And what are these? Some are reproached for being uncircumcised in their ears; and all who are not circumcised in hearing are unclean. Uncircumcised in lips is the one who does not cut away contrary and unclean words. So also one may call uncircumcised in the flesh the one who does not circumcise the deeds of the flesh; and uncircumcised in the eyes the one who looks at what he should not and does not cleanse his sight; and uncircumcised in the flesh the one who does what he should not. [Exod 13:20] “And the sons of Israel set out from Succoth and camped at Etham beside the desert.” In Numbers it is said that the sons of Israel camped “from Boutha to the mouth of Hiroth, which is opposite Baal-zephon, toward the north.” [Exod 14:7] “And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the cavalry of the Egyptians, and tristatai over all.” Those able to fight against three; or those who stand in the battle line in the third rank, after the front-rank man and the second-rank man. Others say that they made chariots large enough for battle to hold three, so that one drives and two fight; or those mounted on three horses, for in wars the ancients rode out as charioteers drawn by two or three horses. Or he calls tristates the one who stands third when the king is seated, that is, who has the third seat; as David was beside Saul, as you will find in the first book of Kingdoms. [Exod 15:25] “There God set for him ordinances and judgments, and there he tested him.” When God tests, he tests for benefit, not to do harm; therefore it was also said, “God is untempted by evils,” as the word also adds a little later: “If you listen attentively to the voice of the Lord your God, every disease which I brought upon the

Egyptians I will not bring upon you.” The one who bears trials nobly, then, is crowned. But it is otherwise with the devil: he tempts so as to put to death those who obey him. And God tests, not as ignorant of what will be, but as giving man leave to do what he wills, because of his free will. [Exod 16:23] “This is the word which the Lord spoke: Tomorrow is the Sabbath, a holy rest to the Lord.” I set down what is said about the Sabbath, first according to the letter, so that they may see what the letter signifies; and second according to the higher sense, in which I would say that a day of Sabbath has arrived for the righteous man who has put an end to the works of the world and glorifies God and is at leisure: neither departing from the place in which he stands, Christ, nor kindling fire, in the sense of committing no sin, nor lifting burdens. Every sin is a burden heavier than a mountain; therefore the Psalmist said, “Like a heavy burden they weighed upon me.” And another account of the Sabbath would be that in which “a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God,” a sacred and holy rest. The one who has done all his works is judged worthy of that Sabbath, being at leisure for nothing but the contemplation of truth and wisdom. These things we have set forth because Moses here mentions keeping the Sabbath. [Exod 17:6] “And you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it.” Christ is likened to a rock because he is unshaken and immovable; for the divine and supreme nature is firmly fixed in the good. [Exod 20:5–6] “For I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, repaying the sins of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Whom has this text not troubled? If the father sinned, then the son and the third and fourth generation receive the sin; so that some even accuse the God who gave the laws, while others do not accuse him, but truly hope for some such thing and expect that their sons will receive the penalty of their sins. The Jews think this, without exchanging their God for another. The Samaritans suppose this, as they too think they have a share in the one God. Those from the heresies, not content that a God who repays the sins of fathers into the bosom of their children can be good or just, say that the God of the law is not just, is not good, since he repays the sins of fathers upon the sons, but that there is another God greater than he. But the churchman neither hears what is said in a bodily way, like a Jew, nor fashions another God, like a heretic, but stands midway between both and says: These things are well written, but I do not know the meaning of what is written. Lift up your minds, then, all of you, and ask that it may be revealed to you how he is good who repays the sins of fathers upon children. Who are the fathers? Bring the Scriptures as witnesses; let the holy oracles

be examined. The Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ says to sinners: “You are of your father the devil, and you wish to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth.” So if anyone sins, he is of his father the devil, and for this reason the devil's sin is repaid upon the son. He, however, is the first sinner, who suggested the sin to me; and I am the second sinner, who did not cast out his will but accepted his working, when I ought to have stood armed with the full armour of God and holding the shield of faith, so that all the flaming darts of the evil one might be quenched by the shield of my faith. If, then, I sin, I do the things of the devil, who has cast into my heart that I should commit this sin or that. First I accept his dart, and when I have accepted it, then I accept him too. For so it is written in the case of Judas: Satan did not enter into him first, but first the devil had cast into the heart of Judas Simon Iscariot that he should betray him; then, after the morsel, Satan entered into him. So I have a father: if I am holy, God; if I am a sinner, I have the devil as father, and also, say, the one who worked in me directly, the Antichrist, or some angel of the devil, or a demon, whose working I accepted. In short, I have countless fathers if I become a sinner; just as, again, if I become righteous, my father is God, as the Saviour says: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you”; and again, “Daughter, your faith has saved you”; and again, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” So too I know other fathers, according to what is written to Abraham: “But you shall go to your fathers”; not to his fathers according to the flesh, for they were not faithful, they were not holy, as is clear from the history written about them. For if his father had been holy, it would not have been said to him, “Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house.” For the word has the bodily sense, and it has the spiritual too. If you have understood who the fathers are, see now that it is you who receive the penalty, you who accepted the working from the devil, or from one of the spirits under him, and so sinned. Having become their son, then, you receive it from the good God, who visits you. For he does not visit your father, but visits you, and says to you, “Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear,” and so on; and he gives to you as one who is good. For he visits you, the son of the evil father, repaying the sins: “I will visit with a rod the transgressions” of you saints, “and with scourges their iniquities.” Why? So that “I may not scatter my mercy from them.” For when he

abandons someone, he no longer punishes him nor scourges him. For he scourges not all, but “every son whom the Lord receives.” And it is said in the prophet about those who are utter sinners: “I will not punish your daughters when they commit sexual immorality, nor your brides when they commit adultery.” For so long a time, since the creation and foundation of the world, the devil has been sinning, and neither fire nor scourge comes upon him; for he is not worthy of the punishments that come from God. For the devil cannot say, “Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath,” and so on. Let each one, then, who is conscious of sins pray to be punished. It is good to have done nothing worthy of punishment; but if we have done something worthy of punishment, let us be punished in such a way that we receive it here, and after this rest in the bosom of Abraham. [Exod 21:1–2] “And these are my statutes, which you shall set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant,” and so on. It is necessary to examine what law is, and what an ordinance, and what statutes, judgments, testimonies, and commandments are. Statutes, then, are what is said here, “If you buy a Hebrew servant,” and what follows about him; a judgment, that if a priest's daughter commits adultery she is to be burned with fire; commandments, “You shall have no other gods”; an ordinance, “Go down and charge the people, and let them wash their garments”; testimonies, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today.” [Exod 21:2] “Six years he shall serve you; but in the seventh year he shall go out free, for nothing.” The release in the seventh year, and also the rest from works on the Sabbath, signify the freedom given to us in grace through Christ. [Exod 21:6] “His master shall bring him to the judgment seat of God.” Aquila and Symmachus said “to the gods.” They call the judges gods, and their vote God's judgment seat. [Exod 23:14–16] “Three times in the year keep a feast to me. Keep the feast of unleavened bread; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time of the month of new things, for in it you came out of Egypt. You shall not appear before me empty. And you shall keep the feast of the harvest of the first-fruits of your works.” The feasts of God, then, for those who have the Spirit, are spiritual; and no earthy man keeps the feasts spiritually. “For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?” not to quote what follows. An earthy man cannot keep spiritual feasts, just as a spiritual man cannot keep an earthy feast. And a little later. What is the month of new things? If you say the perceptible fruits, the month of new things has not yet come when the year, say, is late. And if there should ever be a year in which the earth bears no fruits at all, can we keep the feast in the month of new things, as God commanded those who keep the feast? Yet the feast must be kept every year. I raise a difficulty again about the second law too, concerning the second feast. For it says, “the feast of the harvest of the first-fruits.” If someone sows, and his fruits come not first but last,

he could not keep the beginning of the harvest of first-fruits; for you must have produce in order to be able to keep the feast. And what if I have no land? How could I keep this feast, when the wording says, “And you shall keep the feast of the harvest of the first-fruits of your works, whatever you sow in your field”? I did not sow, I am a builder; I did not sow, I am a weaver; I have no field; how can I keep the second feast? And the same applies to the third: “And the feast of completion at the end of the year.” And after other things. What does the word mean to tell us when it commands us to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the month of new things? Put off the old man with his deeds. And so that you may keep the feast in the month of new things, become new yourself too, so that the month of the feast of new things may be your month as well. For this month belongs to new things, not to old. How, then, will you too need to become new? Having understood the feasts, the feast of new things, the apostle Paul says: “Having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new, which is being renewed unto knowledge according to the image of the one who created him.” So, in order to celebrate the feast in the month of new things, you must become new and put off all oldness. Then, what feast do you keep first? That it is the feast of unleavened bread, learn from the Apostle: “For Christ our Passover,” he says, “was sacrificed for us; so let us keep the feast not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” At the same time gather together what is legislated about the feast of unleavened bread, and you will see the unreasonableness of those who do not attend to the letter as spiritual and who despise spiritual things as useless. [Exod 23:15] “You shall not appear before me empty.” Know that every human being is either empty or full. For if he does not have the Holy Spirit, does not have knowledge of the Creator, has not received the life, Jesus Christ; if he does not know the Father in heaven, does not live according to the Word, is not self-controlled according to the heavenly law, does not act justly, such a one is empty. But if he has made room for the God who said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God,” he is not empty, but full. [Exod 23:17] “Three times in the year every male of yours shall appear before the Lord your God.” What the text means I would say thus: what we do is either female or male. If what we do is female, it is either bodily or fleshly; for when we sow to the flesh, we make the offspring of the soul female, not male, but unnerved, soft and material. If, however, looking at eternal things and having our mind on the better, we bear the fruits of the Spirit, all our offspring are male. The things, then, brought before the

[Exod 20:4] “You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor a likeness of anything.” An idol is one thing and a likeness another. It is a likeness if you make, by craftsmanship or by painting, a likeness of a fish or a quadruped or a wild beast. An idol is whatever the soul makes when it forms images not from existing things as originals; for instance, the animal mixed of man and horse.

[Lev 1:1] “And he called Moses.” The book is named Leviticus because what concerns the priesthood and the sacrifices, and all such things as God commanded, is contained in this Leviticus. Exodus too contains God's legislation; but how the priests were consecrated by anointing, and how the tabernacle was set up and fitted together, and many other things, Leviticus narrates. If it contains some other things as well, that is not surprising; for the title, Leviticus, indicates what is most important in it. [Of the same.] Those who do not look rightly into the account of the sacrifices either despise it as a mean legislation with nothing worthy of the Creator, or impiously condemn the Creator himself as legislating mean things. But one who has understood the words of David and of the Apostle, the one saying, “Uncover my eyes, and I will perceive the wonders of your law,” and the other crying out, “The law is spiritual,” can see that the teachings hidden in these things are worthy of God. [Lev 1:2] “Any man of you, if he brings gifts to the Lord.” We have observed in many places of the Scriptures that “gifts” is used of living creatures and “sacrifices” of things without life, as is said in Genesis: “And God looked upon Abel and upon his gifts, but to Cain and his sacrifices he paid no attention.” This too must be said, that of living offerings it says, “Any man of you, if he brings gifts,” but of lifeless ones, “if a soul.” In the lifeless offering the soul is named, so that of the irrational only the rational is left, and of the lifeless, overcome by the fire, only the living remains. [Lev 1:5] “They shall pour the blood upon the altar.” The altar of burnt offering is the one on which the whole burnt sacrifices are offered; the altar of incense is the inner altar. [Of the same.] Since the Jews delighted in sacrifices, having become accustomed to them in Egypt, as the making of the calf in the desert also testifies, God permitted them to offer these to himself, curbing in this way the disorderly impulses of polytheism and keeping them from sacrificing to demons.

[Lev 4:2] “And if one soul sins unwillingly.” Unwilling is whatever evil one does … It should be noted that Scripture calls unwilling ignorance sin. The blessed Paul also mentions some other things, saying, “For the law had a shadow of the things to come.” [Of the same.] “If a soul sins unwillingly,” it says, “and does anything of all the commandments of the Lord”: this makes good sense. For there are perhaps also some ordinances of the Lord which one ought not to do, according to “I gave them ordinances that were not good.” A soul, then, sins unwillingly when, under pretext of piety, it keeps what it ought not; and it needs a sacrifice for forgiveness. The one who acts so deliberately does not need a sacrifice, like the man who became a Jew to win Jews and circumcised Timothy. [Lev 5:2] “That soul which touches any unclean thing, or a carcass.” By “carcass” he means the man who is dead to God, with whom one must not even eat; for whoever touches him is unclean. And this is unclean: what has been caught by our adversary the devil. Unclean cattle would be those who came to the word in a beastly way, but sinned unto death and did not become worthy to be saved even with the cattle, according to the text that says, “Men and cattle you will save, Lord.” [Lev 6:27] “Whoever touches them shall be sanctified.” Some take “shall be sanctified” to mean “shall be defiled”; not because of the sacrifice, I think, but because of the boldness of the one who touches. For Haggai says, “Whoever touches will be defiled.” [Of the same.] We say that the sacrifices were rather a means of maintenance for the priests and a shadow of piety. And the gain from sacrificing is twofold: honour is offered to God, and one would not worship what one sacrifices, nor think it a god. [Lev 10:9] “And you shall not die.” The word seems to threaten death to priests who drink wine and strong drink when they enter the tabernacle. For the bishops who pray for the people must turn away from drunkenness, not only from wine, but also from that of affairs and of human reasonings. He does not forbid this as absurd in itself, but because he knew the intemperance of the Israelites, that whenever they touched wine they went to excess; so that when they enter the holy places they may keep the soul's precision sober and a clear remembrance of God. [Lev 10:17] “Why did you not eat the sin offering in a holy place?” He shows that if the priests do not eat, the sacrifice is incomplete and the sin remains; for some of the blood should have been brought in, and they themselves should have eaten. [Lev 10:19] “If today they have offered their sin offerings.” Since it happened, he says, that Nadab and Abihu offended God and died, when

it was time for them to eat the sin offering of the people, that what the people had sinned might be forgiven, how shall we, who have today been convicted of being in sins, procure forgiveness by eating? For the priest must first make atonement for himself. [Lev 11:2] “These are the animals which you shall eat.” Wild beasts are in no way clean; for all are unclean according to the law that says, “Everything that goes on its paws among all the wild beasts shall be unclean to you.” In general, the wild beasts would be all the most savage of men, of whom the prophet says, “When evildoers drew near me to eat my flesh,” and so on. [Lev 11:3] “Every animal that divides the hoof.” He calls dividing the hoof the one who lives piously in this age and, for the sake of the age to come, hastens toward it; and besides dividing the hoof, parting the claws, removing what is superfluous and dead from the hands, that is, from his deeds, and from the feet, that is, from his conduct. Besides these, chewing the cud: not only storing up the spiritual food, but also recalling it and meditating on it continually. [Lev 11:46] “This is the law concerning the animals and the birds and every soul.” He makes much account of clean and unclean, first to train the soul to be holy. For if what is natural, such as came to be by God's command, is unclean, how much more what comes from a wicked choice and not from God's command? If anyone should think unclean that of which God is the maker, how much more what is contrary to God's will and does what he has forbidden? [Lev 13:2] “If anyone has on the skin of his flesh a scar …” These things are referred to certain blemishes of the soul. And just as with wounds of the body, after healing, a trace of the places that suffered sometimes remains, in what is called a scar, in the same way the soul that has received a wound of sin, even if it obtains healing, sometimes has, as it were, a scar remaining. One must also know the manner of its cleansing or non-cleansing. [Lev 13:29] “A man or a woman in whom there is a plague of leprosy.” It should be observed in which cases “men” are spoken of: “If anyone has on the skin of his flesh,” and “A man or a woman in whom there is a plague of leprosy”; and in which “flesh”: “Flesh, if there is in its skin an ulcer,” and “Flesh, if there is in its skin a burn of fire.” These are wounds. [Lev 13:45] “His garments shall be loosened.” By this he hints that the one whose soul is leprous must not hide his sins and cover them. Just as the nakedness of one whose garments are loosened is not covered, so he wishes him to be exposed to all, and not to become a whitewashed tomb. The

covering of the mouth is to have no freedom to open the mouth; and departing from the camp, to dwell no longer with the choirs of the saints. [Lev 14:5] “And they shall kill the one bird into an earthen vessel.” The bird is sacrificed into an earthen vessel into which living water has first been put, so that the cleansing may be by water and blood, which indeed came out of the Saviour's side. By the cedar wood he means the wood of our salvation. The spun scarlet was a type of the precious blood by which the whole world is cleansed. I think that the hyssop shows the warmth that comes through the Spirit, and the scarlet thread the Word's union with flesh. [Lev 14:9] “He shall shave his head and his beard.” He shaves his head in respect of the more principal and ruling doctrines; his beard, which is a symbol of the man, by putting off the sins of the man; and his eyebrows, by putting off all conceit and, so to speak, haughtiness. These, he says, are symbols, which have grown on the soul and blossomed there, and are called hairs of deadness. [Lev 14:10] “He shall take two lambs without blemish, a year old.” The word divides the offerings into three: one for the release of earlier sins; one for the whole to be offered up to God; and another offered for the one being cleansed, for what is done by him. Perhaps also the three tenths of fine flour are taken so that one tenth is joined to the slaughtered lamb, the second to the other, and the third to the ewe. At the fifth cleansing, then, he already has not meal but fine flour, which is a symbol of the material of pure bread, and that mixed with oil; which is taken as nourishing light, meeting the need of light and not of fire. And besides the oil taken for mixing the fine flour he has by itself oil which is offered by the priest, a cotyle in measure. And it seems to me that this very much requires a priest: “The priest who cleanses shall set the man being cleansed, and these things, before the Lord.” [Lev 14:35] “And the one whose house it is shall come and report to the priest.” We say that the lawgiver never said one must go to the priest to accuse one's own house, but rather to ask for a remedy, as from a physician, for what has happened. We say, then, that the synagogue of the Jews has become leprous; and the person of the one reporting is the choir of the holy prophets, who report to the great high priest the passions of the Jews' mind, before the indignation, not with hatred nor with enmity, but with reverence toward their benefactor; confessing their offences, yet begging that they may nevertheless be shown mercy,

[From the works of Origen on Leviticus. From the second homily on Leviticus, right after the beginning.] Not having understood the difference between visible Judaism and intelligible Judaism, that is, between outward Judaism and Judaism in secret, those of the most godless and impious heresies at once separated themselves from Judaism and from the God who gave these Scriptures and the whole law, and fashioned another God besides the one who gave the law and the prophets, besides the maker of heaven and earth. But this is not so: he who gave the law gave also the Gospel; he who made the visible things gave also the invisible. And these are so akin that “the invisible things of God are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made.” The visible things of the law and the prophets too are akin to the things of the law and the prophets that are not seen but understood. Since, then, Scripture too consists, as it were, of a body which is seen, of a soul understood and grasped within it, and of a spirit according to the patterns and shadow of the heavenly things, come, let us call upon him who made for Scripture body and soul and spirit (the body for those before us, the soul for us, and the spirit for those who in the age to come will inherit eternal life and will come to the heavenly and true things of the law), and let us search for the present not the letter but the soul. And if we are able, we shall ascend also to the spirit, in the account of the sacrifices that have been read.

[Num 11:6] “Our eyes are on nothing but the manna.” It was named “man” because the Hebrews, on first seeing the strange sight, said to one another in their native tongue, “Man?”, that is, “What is this?” They would not have said this if it had been usual, as some of the Gentiles say, for the nature of those places to produce such things from of old. And even now, if any falls, it is a little, for remembrance's sake. [Num 11:25] “And they did not continue.” “To prophesy” is missing: they no longer prophesied, it says. For they prophesy once only, so as not to be made equal to Moses; but so that it may be known that they had received a share, all prophesy together. For the Spirit in Christ is one, and the working of all is one. [Num 12:15] “And the people did not set out until Miriam was cleansed.” The tabernacle remained seven days in that place in honour of Miriam, so that she should not follow while in such a state. [Num 13:2] “Send for yourself men,” and so on. He commands some to be sent, showing that they are near Palestine; having set before the Hebrews what was readier than Egypt, and having exposed their unbelief, he assigns the desert as a tomb to those whose mind remained hard; for the death of the impious is preferable to their wandering in life. [Num 13:16] “Joshua.” It should be noted that the son of Nun became a type of Christ, who freed the most pitiable people from its wandering and led it up into heaven, not into a land that devours its inhabitants. [Num 14:23] “Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers.” It should be observed that some of those who came out of the land of Egypt entered the land of promise, for God did not forbid this; but he destroyed in the desert only those twenty years old and upward of those who came out of the land of Egypt, who had made the calf; sparing the youth akin to them, those whose lifetime was not yet twenty years, and much more the infants and children up to the age of puberty.

[Of the same.] This is a type of the truth: “For unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom.” [Num 16:37] “Take up the bronze censers.” Just as the bronze serpent was a sign of their unbelief, so also the censers of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, which became a covering for the altar. [Num 18:21] “And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given every tithe in Israel.” Fittingly the first-fruits are assigned to the priests, since the tribe of Levi does not inherit nor take a lot as the others do. This lot, sharing with the altar, procures poverty for the priests. The people gave tithes to the Levites, and the Levites to the priests. [Num 20:10] “Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Because Moses did not glorify God before the people, he was prevented from crossing over with them. And so that they should not honour with divine worship after his departure the one whom they had honoured while he lived, God made the place unseen. [Num 22:4] “Now this congregation will lick up all who are around us.” He took this example: as the calf takes the green things into its mouth, so the holy people, waging war with their lips, have their weapons in their mouths through their prayers. And Balak, knowing that this had plainly happened in the earlier wars, wishes himself to make war with the weapons of the lips, and calls Balaam, who had on his lips the weapons of the opposing power, the curses. For the holy angels work together with the righteous toward what saves and toward good works, and the wicked demons with impious and sinful men toward wicked works, harmful to men's salvation. The saints make war with words of prayers, the impious and sinners with words of magic. [Of the same.] Even the history of events according to the senses is full of great benefit. From the present history we learn many things: that it is possible to wage war with words, and to manage and accomplish great things through words; and that the saints make war with words of prayers, the impious with words of magic. [Of the same.] The opposing power never does a good work, but works all that is worst; and the evil it works it cannot restore to the better, for it does not have the rank of the better. But to the better power all things are possible. For our God causes pain and restores again, but he cannot work evil; for he is good not only by disposition but also by essence. [Of the same.] Among human things there are also some divinations performed, and sacrifices, and certain gifts offered to the demons, so that through these offerings those who wish may divine. Each such thing is divination, for it is not true prediction. [Num 22:9] “The Lord came to him.” In truth

a divine power came to Balaam, though not called by him. It came, then, to avert the demons called by Balaam and to manage the divine predictions. [Num 22:22] “And the angel of God rose up to oppose him on the way.” The angel who opposed Balaam on the way: is he perhaps the one of whom God said to Moses, “My angel goes before you, guarding you on the way”? [Num 22:35] “Go with these men.” God did not permit Balaam to go to Balak; but since he wished to go, God allows it. He charges him to say only what is revealed; and the angel, by appearing and frightening him, confirms this. [Num 23:1] “Build me seven altars.” There are also works done through a body other than God's, both among the better and among the worse, such as what was done in Egypt by Moses and Aaron and by the enchanters. But when the divine power is compared with the opposing one in the presence of those in doubt, the divine power wins, as the rod of Moses swallowed the rods of the enchanters. [Of the same.] Balaam used to summon the demons by serving them with these same sacrifices; for such were the sacrifices performed in the world to demons. For this reason God required sacrifices of the first people, so that, by offering to God, offering to demons might be abolished; even though the sacrifices were above all symbols. [Of the same.] The Saviour, then, having become man, sent his disciples to loose the donkey, that is, from the bonds with which the opposing power, the intelligible Balaam, had bound it; and having loosed it they brought it to Jesus and put their garments on the donkey, that is, the virtues of the Gospel; and the Saviour, sitting on it, entered the holy city. [Num 23:28] “And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor.” Balak supposed that Balaam's art was limited by places. Therefore he took him to the top of Peor, thinking that the magician Balaam could curse the people of God from there. Peor is interpreted “sweetening” or “skin of the mouth,” that is, the height of the love of pleasure and the deadness of reason, by which Balaam tried to curse the people of God. [Of the same.] There are two summits, that of the highest virtue and that of vice; Moses ascended to the summit of virtue, and Balaam to the summit of vice. [Num 24:1] “He did not go, as was his custom, to meet the omens.” This Balaam is a symbol of the people from the Gentiles, who formerly followed omens but, knowing that this is not pleasing to the Lord, did not continue. And indeed Balaam is interpreted “vain”

people,” and “son of Beor” is interpreted “made of skin.” He was “vain” in the former state of the Gentiles, and Beor refers to one in vanity and in deadness, plainly in that former state. [Num 24:3] “The man who truly sees.” I, once Balaam, the vain people, having opened the inner eyes of my mind and having seen the spiritual Israel and the economy concerning him, am counted worthy of the Holy Spirit. “Says the man who truly sees,” and so on, does not fit the former Balaam, but fits the present Balaam. [Num 24:5] “How fair are your houses, Jacob, your tents, Israel.” The name Jacob belongs not to the one who dwells but to the house; the name Israel belongs to the one who dwells; for “Jacob” belongs to the bodily state. [Num 24:6] “Like shady glens.” Intelligible glens are those that shade the place in which rational plants bear fruit and are leafy with practical virtue. Gardens by a river are intelligible: a place in which rational plants are planted, watered either by the contemplation of the things that have come to be or by the contemplation of the Holy Trinity. [Of the same.] Those who dwell in tents belong to those who are travelling, and outside this world there is a great road and many tents. Those who dwell in houses are not of the travellers but of those who stand still. “Like cedars by waters.” Intelligible cedars are rational souls grown by waters, watered by the knowledge of the truth. [Num 24:7] “And he shall rule over many nations.” A lord is one who commands with authority; a slave, one who obeys slavishly. A lord is one who has acquired lordship by his own toils and has been formed by it, free from passion. A slave is one subject to passion, who lacks the better and needs the oversight of his own lord. There are many lords; but blessed are those who have our Lord Jesus Christ as their lord. “And the kingdom of Gog shall be exalted.” Gog is interpreted “roofs.” In one interpretation the roofs are the gifts of the Holy Spirit; in another, “Let him who is on the roof not go down into his house.” There is, then, a kingdom of such a condition. [Num 24:8] “God led him out of Egypt.” Both the Saviour, according to “Out of Egypt I called my son,” and Israel: the one he casts out, the other he calls. [Of the same.] The oracle that the Lord would come into Egypt showed the journey of our Saviour Jesus Christ that was to take place with his parents. And this world too is compared to Egypt. [Num 24:8] “His glory is like a unicorn's.” The unicorn is

in an intelligible sense Christ, by accident, as it were; from him come many unicorns. For from one Jesus Christ many have come to share in being christs. Some say the deer too is a unicorn. [Num 24:8] “He shall eat the nations of his enemies.” This concerns Christ: we were once the nations of his enemies. Christ, then, will eat us, essential virtue feeding on us, as he says: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.” “And he shall suck out their marrow.” Then, it says, when he changes the fleshly state into the spiritual through the practical life. [Num 24:9] “Those who bless you are blessed.” He signifies two persons in these words, the faithful and the unfaithful, with regard to Christ. And a little later. In these words, then, both the enterprise of those opposing Israel and the evil art of magic are overturned. [Num 25:1] “And the people were profaned by committing sexual immorality.” The plan that the Hebrews should commit sexual immorality and worship Baal-peor was the diviner's. Therefore Moses says: “These were to the sons of Israel, according to the word of Balaam, to make them revolt and despise the word of the Lord because of Baal-peor.” [Num 34:3] “And your side toward the south shall be.” He promised Abraham from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates. Why then did he not give it to them? For Numbers indicates a smaller portion. I think he would have given it if they had been faithful like the one who received the promises. And this fittingly; for often, having threatened evils, he did not bring them, because they repented, as with the Ninevites. [Num 36:6] “Only they shall be wives from the clan of their father.” God commands, then, that except for the tribes of Judah and Levi it is not permitted to be joined from tribe to tribe, so that “a king and priest according to the order of Melchizedek” might not be shown to be foreign to the Saviour who comes from above.

[Deut 1:3] “Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel according to all that the Lord commanded him.” Since God revealed the power, while the prophet used his own tongue to set forth what had been made known, the prophetic voice is called a movement, as setting forth what was spoken by God. [Deut 1:9] “And I said to you at that time.” Moses does not simply say, “I said to you”; but since Joshua son of Nun was to succeed him after his departure, he says that the matter is not strange but consistent. For, he says, I exhorted you beforehand, and when you consented I appointed judges; so obey Joshua son of Nun too, who succeeds me by prophetic and guiding grace. “I shall not be able to bear you alone.” In recalling earlier events he does not begin from Egypt, but from the time when he gave them wise judges and instructors. [Deut 3:12] “I gave to Reuben and to Gad.” The lesser

come sooner into the promise, while the better receive it more slowly. For the former received their inheritance first, under Moses; the latter later, under Joshua. But it is said also of all the righteous, not of ordinary people; for, as the Apostle says, “These all, having been attested through faith, did not receive the promise, God having foreseen something better for us, so that they should not be made perfect without us.” [Deut 4:12] “You heard a sound of words,” and so on. Not that the voice is visible, nor that God has a voice by nature, for that would belong to a composite nature; but since the trumpets and the voices, as God himself knows, were produced, being fashioned from the continuity of the visible elements, I mean the fire and the darkness, a voice is both heard and not seen; yet in the case of God's wonders the voice too is seen. [Deut 4:21] “And he swore that I should not cross this Jordan.” Because Moses did not glorify God before the people, he was prevented from crossing with them, so that they should not honour with the worship of gods after his departure the one whom they honoured while he lived. For this reason, when he died, God made his tomb unseen. [Deut 4:26] “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today.” God, who does not permit those who worship him to be joined to demons, but commands those who have known him to keep clear of attachment to them, and who is provoked to jealousy by the apostasy of the peoples, foretells the punishments to come upon them for the wickedness of their practices. [Deut 5:6] “Out of the house of slavery.” For truly bodily and material things are a house of slavery, just as their opposites are a house of freedom. [Deut 7:7] “For you are the fewest of all the nations.” It is well said to those who are the Lord's portion, “You are the fewest of all the nations.” Akin to it are “Few are those being saved” and “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” [Deut 8:3] “That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word,” and so on. Again, the manna was the word, even if it is called bread in Exodus: “This,” it says, “is the bread which the Lord gave you to eat. This is the word which the Lord commanded.” For this reason the manna was “fine as coriander seed, white, like frost on the ground”: since the word of which that manna was a symbol is fine in its nature and passes through all intelligent, pure, and most subtle spirits. Wisdom too is “a spirit intelligent, holy, only-begotten, manifold, subtle,” and so on. And it was like coriander in being white. They say that the coriander has throughout the nature of seed, so that even when the coriander seed is cut up its power is not destroyed, so as no longer to be capable of being sown. Such throughout is the word; and every part of it is of a nature to be cultivated

in a noble and good heart, that is, soul. And the manna is white; for the word is light and bright, and in this respect white to one who understands it and is nourished by it. And it is like frost; for it is compact, nowhere moist or running apart, but firm, since it is the word of heaven and announces heavenly things to us. [Deut 8:7] “For the Lord your God brings you into a good and broad land.” Christ promised to give us not these things but the kingdom of heaven, and a good and eternal land, whose torrent is Christ, watering it with the streams of wisdom. The torrents go out through the plains, the humble and fruitful people, and through the high mountains, those who stretch up to heaven by the height of their contemplation. There is the bread that strengthens man's heart, and barley that feeds the lesser. There is the true vine, Christ. There is the oil that anoints the heads of the holy. Likewise pomegranates, bearing sweetness within, but clothed outwardly with the austerity of their way of life. There is the fig tree, not the barren one luxuriant with leaves, but the one rich in the sweetness of the Spirit. There is the desirable sweetness of the Saviour's throat, and the lips of the bride in the Song dripping honeycomb, and the holy stones which, rolled upon the earth, do not yield to temptations and imitate the nature of iron. There are the mines of bronze, from which they made the intelligible full armour. And the sum of these is to bless God unceasingly. [Of the same.] It is not, he says, toiling and suffering with clay and brick-making, but having stones, and those very hard and not easily dissolved, so as to suffice for buildings and to last a long time. He says this because he wishes their mind to turn away from Egypt. By saying “good” he showed its fertility; by “broad” its size and breadth. “Where there are torrents of waters” (this is not in Egypt) “and springs of the deeps,” which is special to the land of promise. He added also “through the mountains,” which does not belong to Egypt; nor is Egypt luxuriant with vines, nor does it have abundance of oil; but the land of promise has all things richly. [Deut 8:11] “Take heed to yourself, lest you forget the Lord your God.” After the promise of good things he rouses them to sobriety: to remember their benefactor, not to grow insolent from satiety nor to despise the one who gave these things, and to remember that he brought them from slavery in Egypt to freedom. [Deut 12:31] “You shall not do so to the Lord your God.” He condemns the sacrificing of their own children by men to the gods of the nations, as cruel and inhuman, as abominable. And those who say, “Sacrifice to the gods of the nations,” one must not only turn away from, but must not even lend an ear to their words.

[Deut 12:32] “You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.” People who sin, generally speaking, sin in two ways: either by exceeding the commandments or by falling short of them. For when we do not live by knowledge, nor know the measures of righteousness, we go wrong; and sometimes, exceeding the rule in the fancy of doing something better, we fall away from what is set before us. [Of the same.] Those, then, who do not do everything, or who do something more, are transgressors. [Deut 14:6] “Every animal that divides the hoof and chews the cud.” Dividing the hoof shows the course by which we come to all good pursuits whatever; chewing the cud is to turn over and over the words of the God-breathed Scripture and, as it were, to chew them again, and to grind fine by inquiry the hidden contemplations. [Deut 14:9] “All that have fins and scales you shall eat.” Of the winged creatures, I think, he wishes those to be clean which have shanks below the knees, above the feet; those that do not, unclean. [Deut 16:13] “You shall keep the feast of tabernacles for yourself seven days.” We find in the Scriptures the name of feast and that of festival assembly, as in the prophet who says, “What will you do on the day of assembly and on the day of the feast of the Lord?” We must seek the difference between feast and assembly. Every joyful day, so to speak, on which certain special things are commanded to be done, as on a holy day, beyond the rest, is called a feast. Not every one is an assembly, but, as the name says, when the Hebrews from everywhere gather together; so that in this sense the assembly is a feast, but a feast is not necessarily an assembly. For example, sabbaths and new moons are feasts; but unleavened bread, the days of weeks, and tabernacles are not only feasts but also assemblies, when every male is commanded to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses. [Deut 19:14] “You shall not move your neighbour's boundaries.” In many places every human being is called a neighbour. [Of the same.] For one must neither take advantage of those near nor disturb the boundaries of the fathers, which were well fixed. For this would be the cause of all confusion, the neighbours being wronged and those who fixed the boundaries despised. Some say that “neighbour” means every human being. [Deut 19:16] “And if an unjust witness rises against a man.” These things the law said to the weak Israelites; but the Lord who legislated them says to his own disciples: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye,” and so on; “but I say to you, do not resist the evil one.” [Of the same.] These things concern what is perceptible and the affairs of the world; but with regard to our sins God needs no one, for he himself is the overseer and judge of all.

[Deut 20:8] “What man is fearful?” The one who is devoted to earthly things, building a house and planting vineyards, overcome by the pleasures of the flesh, will certainly be cowardly and weak. [Deut 21:18] “If anyone has a disobedient son.” He does not simply wish those who embitter their parents to be killed, but only when both parents agree against the child. For since, if the father is angry and rushes to kill the son, the mother restrains him, and if she is provoked, the father does not allow it, and it will be rare for the parents to agree against their own child, God commands that when both agree against the child, then he is to be stoned, not by those who begot him, but by the rest. [Deut 22:9] “You shall not sow your vineyard with a different seed.” So that the land may not become weaker, yielding neither the seed in full nor the fruit of the vine, but each by itself. [Deut 22:10] “You shall not plough with a calf and a donkey together.” Do not yoke the proud and toil-loving part of the soul with the pleasure-loving and passionate. [Of the same.] Isaiah again writes: “Blessed are those who sow by every water.” What water is it, beside which one must sow the good seed? It would be baptism of salvation, the washing of regeneration. Sow upon the mystery of the washing, and you become blessed. Where ox and donkey tread: the ox, the clean animal, is the Israelite, and the donkey, unclean by race, is the one from the Gentiles; so that both animals are a symbol of the word preached to the Gentiles. Ox and donkey, then, it says, tread this water where we wish to sow. [Deut 22:23] “If there is a virgin girl betrothed to a man.” He means the woman already betrothed; and so it was said also in the case of Joseph and the Mother of God. [Deut 23:3] “And even forever.” Since these too are born of sexual immorality, from Lot's daughters, they are excluded from the congregation of Israel not only until the tenth generation but forever. So he wishes their enmity to be eternal; according to the sense and the true reason of divine Scripture, because they hired Balaam to curse the Hebrews, and also set before the people their wives and daughters, as many as were fair to look upon and beautiful in form, so as to give them to the Israelites for immorality, and so to procure for the Hebrews the most grievous immorality: this was to depart from God and be initiated to Baal-peor, which indeed happened. [Deut 24:6] “You shall not take a mill nor an upper millstone in pledge.” Because it is impossible, he says, to grind grain with a single stone; for a mill is made double, male and female. Since, then, the Jews have one covenant, and likewise every heresy that thinks it has this new one only, they do not grind in this mill, so as to taste the heavenly bread. For if

the grain, he says, is not crushed and ground, they remain without food. Starting from this, then, I myself too explain the present law, “You shall not take a mill in pledge”: that is, you shall not profane the old covenant nor thrust it out of your house; “nor the upper millstone,” in place of “the new”; “for this man takes a soul in pledge,” that is, by these the soul is nourished, enjoying intelligible foods. [Deut 25:3] “With forty stripes they shall beat him.” We have always observed that the number forty is one of affliction. Hence Moses the great fasted forty days, and after him Elijah; and our Saviour too, when he was tempted by the devil, did not eat for forty days and forty nights; and the great flood also came upon the earth when God rained forty days and forty nights. [Deut 27:5] “You shall not lift iron upon them.” We must ask why he does not allow iron to touch the stones used for building the altar. Afterwards too, for building the temple, he commands unhewn stones to be gathered and built. For if it is absurd for iron to touch stone suitable for building, how were the pillars made, how the boards and their capitals? Or how was everything made of bronze or gold or silver produced without iron? And how could it be? From this it is clear that he does not forbid iron to touch stones absolutely. What, then, is the reason? We say it without insisting. He forbids putting hard against hard and striking them together; for great evils tend to arise from the mixing and clashing of hard things. Or he casts murder as far as possible from the hearts of men; and very justly. For if it is not right that a stone being built into the construction of the altar or of the temple … [Deut 27:12] “These shall stand to bless the people.” It should be observed that those appointed to bless were born of Jacob's free wives, his kinswomen, while those set apart to curse from Mount Ebal were from the maidservants, except Reuben and Zebulun. Reuben is ranked with those who curse because he was cursed by his father. Jacob cursed Levi too, but Levi was redeemed by the priestly dignity; for it belongs above all to a priest to bless the people. And Simeon, since he dwelt in the midst of the tribe of Judah and became as it were part of it, is therefore counted where Judah is. [Deut 33:1] “And this is the blessing with which Moses blessed.” The predictions of Jacob were neither all blessings nor all curses; but those of Moses are all blessings. [Deut 33:2] “And he hastened from Mount Paran.” That is,

by no longer giving oracles to Israel but to those from the Gentiles, and he established the law. For “he hastened from Mount Paran,” or “he rested,” which another reading has, stands for: he will earnestly leave the shadow and reveal the truth to us. “With myriads of Kadesh.” Here Kadesh does not mean the place but the saints; for “Kadesh” means “holy” in the Hebrew tongue. [Deut 33:3] “And he spared his people.” That is, when he came he saved those who were once not peoples but are now God's peoples, those once not shown mercy but now shown mercy. “For in this,” says the apostle Peter, “the love of God was manifested in us.” And holy John says in the catholic letter that “God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” And the blessed Paul says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.” He spared, then, the … “And all the sanctified are under your hands.” For he rules all things, as king of heaven and earth. Standing before him as king, serving him as God, worshipping him as maker, they are also under him; “for he has put all things under his feet.” [Deut 33:5] “Rulers of peoples gathered together.” These are the divine disciples, in whose person David too says, “He subjected peoples to us, and nations under our feet”; and again, “Rulers of peoples gathered together with the God of Abraham.” It shows, then, the calling of the Gentiles, since God was to rule both Israel and the Gentiles together. And the Son is called “the beloved”: “This,” it says, “is my beloved Son.” And for this reason the Father rules and reigns over us.

[Josh 1:2] “You, and all this people.” He promised to give what he had foretold to those who keep the law, not to Joshua son of Nun; for the Israelites did not keep it and did not receive it, as what follows shows. [Josh 1:3] “Every place on which you tread.” The people of Ai resisted because of Achar's transgression. And in another way: because, when God had delivered the nations into their hands, they did not destroy them utterly, and these became a thorn to them. [Josh 2:1] “And they went into the house of a harlot, whose name was Rahab.” The spies entrust their safety to a harlot, and very fittingly; for it is shown from what the harlot says that she alone was faithful and feared God; therefore her kindred too is saved through her. [Of the same.] Rahab is interpreted “broadening,” being a symbol of the church from the Gentiles, which says, “The place is narrow for me; make room for me that I may dwell.” [Of the same.] She is saved not by her hospitality alone, but first of all by her faith and her disposition toward God. [Josh 2:6] “And she hid them in the flax stalks.” She hid them among the stalks of flax which she had on the roof, preparing to work the fine linen for them, as being worthy of high-priestly clothing; for flax produces the fine linen from which the priestly garment is made. [Josh 2:15] “And she let them down through the window.” One must know that her house was in the wall. The new things are sisters of the old; for what happened to Paul is similar, when they let him down in a basket through the wall. [Of the same.] The Apostle was saved a second time from his enemies in the same way, as he says in his second letter to the Corinthians: “And through a window in a basket I was let down through the wall and escaped.” Again in the Acts: “They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.” [Josh 2:22] “And they stayed there three days.” Not that the road was three days long, for the Jordan is very near

Jericho; but because of the careful search for the spies: “For the pursuers,” it says, “searched all the roads and did not find them.” [Josh 4:13] “Forty thousand light-armed.” It should be noted that the number four, whether of units, of hundreds, or of some greater number, stands for affliction. [Josh 5:2] “Make for yourself knives of stone from sharp rock.” We must ask why those born in the desert were not circumcised; or why, under Moses, someone who gathered wood on the Sabbath was stoned by God's command, while so great a multitude that remained uncircumcised in the desert was not even blamed, although God had declared that the soul not circumcised on the eighth day should be destroyed, and had made no such decree about those who transgressed the Sabbath. From this, then, it is already quite clear that circumcision and the Sabbath are not good in themselves, but because they were useful for a time. One must know that he wished them to be known by circumcision as by a sign, and not to appear to have departed from the faith; just as irrational sheep marked by the branding iron, even if one strays, are easily found again; so he wished the Jews, when they mixed with the Gentiles, to be recognizable by circumcision. A proof of this is that in Egypt they were circumcised, but in the desert, since they were alone and separated from the Egyptians and from the other nations of Palestine, they remained uncircumcised. When, having crossed the Jordan, they were about to be in the midst of the nations, they were again commanded to be circumcised. Therefore he said “a second time,” since they were circumcised not at eight days old but as grown men, and some as they were nearing old age. The stone knife shows us the Lord, who gave us the intelligible circumcision, that of mind and heart. For this reason the Apostle too spoke to us of the circumcision of Christ, in the putting off of the body of our flesh. [Josh 5:14] “I, the chief captain of the power of the Lord, have now come.” One must remember that when they made the calf, God said to Moses: “Lead this people up, for I will not go up with you, because the people is stiff-necked. And behold, I will send my angel before your face. Take heed to yourself, then, and do not disobey.” And Moses said to him, “If you do not go up with us, do not lead me up from here.” By saying this he persuaded him, and God was with the people until the death of Moses. After his death he appears and speaks to Joshua son of Nun. After the leadership of the people passed to Moses' disciple, then, he hands the people over to the chief captain Michael. This angel was ruler of the people, as appears in Daniel, where another angel says so. [Josh 6:20] “Blowing the trumpets.” The trumpets are a symbol of the things of the last day: “For the Lord himself,” it says, “will descend from heaven with a command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God,” from

… having become able to look rather on more divine things and having become purer, showing … that knowledge is not … ; since some look at the letter of the words and at the names, as at the body of Moses, while others discern the meanings and the things signified by the names, inquiring into the Moses who is with the angels.

[From the works of Origen on Joshua son of Nun. From the twentieth homily on Joshua son of Nun.] The highest benefit from such readings comes to one who is able to understand the true distribution of lots made by Jesus to the sons of Israel, and to one who has become able to go up to the holy land, the true land, the land that is truly good, and to fit what is said about the places, from the names of the places mentioned, to the differences among those who inherit … such readings. [And soon after:] We wish to encourage the hearers

what is said. But since it is hard to find one who is so benefited, we wish to encourage the hearers not to lose heart at the readings. What, then, is the encouragement, so that the hearer of such readings may not lose heart? It must be said. Just as incantations have a certain natural power, and the one who is being enchanted, without understanding, receives something from the incantation according to the nature of its sounds, whether for harm or for the healing of his body or soul, so consider with me that the significance of the names in the divine Scriptures is more powerful than any incantation. For there are certain powers in us, of which the better are nourished by these as it were incantations, being akin to them; and even when we do not understand, those powers, which understand what is said, become stronger in us to help our life. That there are invisible things in us, and many of them, the psalm will show which says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, his holy name.” There is, then, a multitude of powers in us to which our souls and bodies have been allotted; and these, if they are holy, are benefited when Scripture is read and become stronger, even if our mind is unfruitful, as is written about one who speaks in a tongue: “For my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” Consider, then, that sometimes, when the mind in us is unfruitful, the powers that work together with the soul, the mind, and the whole of us are nourished by the rational food from the holy writings and these names, and being nourished become more powerful to help us. And just as the better powers are, as it were, enchanted and benefited and become stronger through such writings and names, so the powers in us that are opposed to them are, as it were, drawn down and overcome by God's incantations, and being overcome are put to sleep. And if any of us has ever seen an asp, or some other venomous creature, put to sleep by incantations, let him take that as an example for Scripture, when it is read and not understood and the hearer sometimes grows weary and loses heart; and let him believe that the asps and vipers within him become weaker through the charms of the charmers, such as wise Moses, wise Joshua, and the wise holy prophets. Let us not lose heart, then, when we hear Scriptures that we do not understand; but let it be done to us according to our faith, by which we also believe that “every Scripture, being God-breathed, is useful.” For you must accept one of two things about these Scriptures: either that they are not God-breathed, since they are not useful, as the unbeliever might suppose; or, as a believer, that since they are useful, they are God-breathed. One must know, however, that the benefit often comes to us without our perceiving it; for instance, we are often prescribed to eat some food

that sharpens the sight, and while eating we do not at all perceive that we are benefiting the eye; but when a second and a third day have passed, the distribution of the food that benefits the eye makes us believe by experience that the eye is being benefited. One can see this also with other foods that benefit certain members of the body. So, then, believe also concerning the divine Scripture that your soul is benefited, even if the mind does not receive the fruit of the benefit from the writings, from the bare reading alone. For the things within us are enchanted: the better are nourished, and the worse are abolished.

[Judg 11:30] “And Jephthah vowed a vow to the Lord.” If the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, how does he vow what is not fitting? For even a dog could have met Jephthah on his return. Did the Spirit, then, err? Not at all; the Spirit came to help, not to suggest the absurd vow; he himself erred, by promising thoughtlessly. [Judg 12:6] “And they said to him: Say ‘stachys.’” They said “stachys”: it signifies shibboleth, that is, “ear of grain.” “And they said ‘sebēlō’ and could not say it distinctly.” For even if they were Hebrews, they differed slightly in the pronunciation of their speech. The password, then, was “sebēla,” and those who, when questioned, said “sebēlō” were exposed as not belonging to Jephthah's people but to those who had risen against him. [Judg 13:2] “And his wife was barren and had not borne.” He calls her barren for the present not by nature but because of the divine dispensation. [Judg 16:17] “Iron has not come upon my head, for I am a Nazirite of God.” Throughout the whole story of Samson his hair appears to secure all his strength. [Of the same.] In the Syrian tongue he calls “Nazirite” what is guarded. God commands Samson not to follow the practice of the Israelites, who at that time shaved the head, so that he might be recognizable to all. [Judg 17:5] “And he made an ephod and teraphim.” The ephod was a priestly woven garment; when the priest wore it, the grace of the Holy Spirit came upon him. The teraphim was something of the same kind, yet not divine but idolatrous, as is shown in the Kingdoms. [Judg 20:21] “And the sons of Benjamin came out.” Why are those who attacked justly defeated? Clearly because of an earlier cause. And the psalm says, “When I take the appointed time, I will judge uprightly.” Then, after they had been defeated once and a second time, wrath came upon the wrongdoers, and they win a just victory.