Homilies on Joshua 25.1–26.3

All the sons of Israel received their lots in the land, but for the Levites God alone suffices as their inheritance. But since the Levites receive tithes and first-fruits of the produce from the sons of Israel by the Lord’s command, they ought also to receive tithes, so to speak, of the land and of the dwellings; for this is to have received tithes from everything. And so the chief men among the sons of Levi came to Eleazar the priest and to Jesus son of Nun and to the princes of the tribes of the sons of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said: “The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses that cities be given us to dwell in, and their pasture lands for our animals.” A lot had to be cast for the pasture lands and the cities too, lest the division made among the Levites should seem indiscriminate and by chance. As, then, the distribution by lot made among the sons of Israel had a reason by which one was held worthy of the first lot and another of the second (of which we have already treated as well as we could), and likewise for those who received land through Moses beyond the Jordan and from Jesus in the land of promise, where the first lot fell to Benjamin and afterwards to the others, of whom Dan was last; so there must be some reason also in the order of the priestly and Levitical lot, so that the first lot is drawn for some, the second for others, the third for others, by which this or that place is assigned to each. The sons of Levi are said to be Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; and Kohath is shown to have held the first place in honor, because the sons of Kohath were Amram, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. From Kohath, then, one part of the people was made priestly, namely Aaron and his sons. Moses is to be counted either in the priestly order or, if anything can be higher than the priestly, in that. But his sons are another matter. The rest of the sons of Kohath held the second rank in the tribe of Levi, those from Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Then after these, after Kohath, Gershon among the sons of Levi receives a portion in the third place, and Merari last of all. This is the difference between the first, second, third, and fourth rank that we first observed in Numbers. For after the twelve tribes had been ordered to keep watch around the ark of the covenant of the Lord on the four sides of the world, and three tribes were stationed on the east, three on the southwest or south, three toward the sea, which is to the west, and three toward the north wind, which is the north, these too are assigned there, on the four sides of the world, in the same order. On the east, where the tribe of Judah was, which was first among the others, Aaron and his sons are placed; and the remaining sons of Kohath are appointed to lift the ark of the covenant of the Lord on their shoulders and to sound the trumpets, so that when the first trumpet sounded those on the east would break camp; when the second sounded those on the south would rise; at the third, those on the west; at the fourth, those on the north. You see how great an order and how great a consistency of things is kept in the holy Scriptures: how nothing is done except with measure, reason, and order. Look more carefully, and you will find everything ordered in this way throughout Scripture. But if it is hard for you to lead the watchful eye of the heart through all the books, at least in this place pay closer attention to what is related.

“The first lot,” it says, “came out for Kohath, and it fell to the sons of Aaron the priest, who was among the Levites.” For whom was it fitting that the first lot should come out? To whom should the first place be given, if not to Aaron, the first high priest, first in the merits of his life, first in honor and virtue? Now at least it is certain to you that this lot is not by chance, but that a heavenly power is present, governing it according to the judgment of divine providence. Where, then, does the just lot assign the first dwellings to the sons of Aaron? “In the tribe of Judah,” it says, “in the tribe of Simeon, and in the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities by lot.” You see how dwellings are distributed to chosen men in chosen tribes. And who ought to receive the second lot? “The sons of Kohath,” it says, “who remained after the sons of Aaron.” And what tribes do they receive? “In the tribe of Ephraim,” it says, “and in the tribe of Dan and in the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities by lot.” And who are the third? “The sons of Gershon.” And in what tribes do they receive their lot? “In Issachar,” it says, “and Asher and Naphtali, and in the half-tribe of Manasseh which is in Bashan,” likewise twelve cities. And who are the last among the Levites? “The sons of Merari,” it says. Let us see in what tribes these last receive their portion. “From the tribe of Reuben beyond the Jordan and Gad, which was with it beyond the Jordan, and from the tribe of Zebulun,” which is itself the last among the sons of Leah, “they receive twelve cities by lot.”

But we have not yet touched on the things in these passages that are most to be observed; and even if we cannot lay open their deeper meaning, it will not be tiresome at least to touch on the main points, so that from them each of the hearers may take occasion to seek a higher and mystical understanding. Since there are four parts of the world, Kohath received the first lot among the sons of Levi on the eastern side, with those tribes that themselves hold the first place of all. See, then, how everything agrees. Of the four parts of the world, it is certain that the eastern region is held to be the nobler, and in it was also the tribe of Judah, nobler than all the rest; and the sons of Kohath the priest draw the first lot in the first tribes and the first part of the world, with Gershon and Merari, who were first among the sons of Levi. So, then, the first three sons of Levi receive the east. But the west, where Reuben, Simeon, and Gad were, Kohath obtains by the second lot from the tribe of Simeon. Merari, however, first obtains Reuben, and again Merari, third in Numbers, received Zebulun from the east, so that justice may be kept, and so that by the lot that is drawn according to the Lord it may also direct the minds of believers to contemplate the mysteries of the age to come. After this, of those who were toward the sea, that is, Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, when Kohath had received Benjamin by the second lot, the rest of his family obtained Ephraim. After this Gershon obtains those of the half-tribe of Manasseh that was in the holy land, and again Gershon himself obtains the other half-tribe of Manasseh as well. But since those who were in the north had to receive something of priestly grace, lest they seem entirely stripped of heavenly gifts, among those whose rank was last in the north, that is, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher, Kohath again — not among the priests, but among the rest — received the first lot in Dan, Gershon the second in Asher, and the same Gershon the third in Naphtali.

Who can follow and comprehend all these things? Who is able even to remember and observe the very order of the ministries? But if even according to the letter alone the text of the narrative itself can hardly be explained, and the intermingling of places and persons contained in the account unravelled, what shall we say of the sacraments that are described through these things, in which the distributions of the future inheritance are foreshadowed, and through which the division of the holy land that the meek will receive as their inheritance will be carried out? Who could explain the different positions of the camps — how in the resurrection the distribution is to be made for each of the saints in priestly or Levitical order, so that, as the Apostle says, in the resurrection all things may not be done in confusion, but “each one comes in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, then those who are Christ’s, who believed at his coming, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has subjected to him every principality and power”? There, without doubt, there will be certain arrangements of the camps of this kind, and priestly distributions and orders, and the signals of the trumpets. For perhaps, just as God has ordered the stars of heaven and placed them according to certain wonderful and ineffable reasons, setting some of them at the axis of the north, others in the parts of the east, others in the southern vault, and others in the west, so I believe that those too who will rise from the dead as such — like the stars in multitude and brightness, coming, that is, from the seed of Abraham — God will order in the kingdom of heaven according to the order of the stars and the parts of heaven: and he will give to some a lot toward the east, to others toward the west, to others toward the south, and those whom he knows he will set toward the north; since “many will come from the east and the west,” from the four parts of the world, “and recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,” through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

It was said above that the sons of Israel gave a lot to Jesus on Mount Ephraim, and that, having received the lot, Jesus built a city there and lived in it. But now Scripture repeats the same things again so as to add this, that the rock swords, that is, the knives of stone with which Jesus had circumcised the sons of Israel in the desert, he laid up in the city that he had built and in which he lived. Hence the exposition must be repeated anew and the addition explained, so that, God granting, the full sense of Scripture may be brought out. For we said above that our Lord Jesus Christ too asks of us a place to build and to live in, and that we ought to become such — so clean of heart, so simple of mind, so holy in body and spirit — that he may deign to receive a place in our soul too, and build it, and live in it. And who do you think in the whole people are so acceptable to God as to be worthy to be chosen for this? Or perhaps not even individuals can be capable of this, but the whole people and the whole church together can scarcely be capable of receiving the Lord Jesus into itself and having him dwell in it? Let us see, then, what this place is in which Jesus is to dwell: “On Mount Ephraim,” it says, that is, on the fruitful mountain. Who do you think are the fruitful mountains among us on which Jesus may dwell? Surely those in whom are the fruits of the Spirit: joy, peace, patience, love, and the rest. These, then, are the fruitful mountains, which bear the fruit of Christ and are always lofty in mind and hope. And though such may be few, yet even if they are few, the Lord God dwelling in them, who is the true light, will send the rays of his light over all the others too, whom he has not yet judged worthy to be his dwelling in the first place.

But now let us see what the rock swords are with which Jesus circumcised the sons of Israel. If you pray for us that our word may be living and effective and sharper than any sword, the Lord Jesus will grant us too that the word of God which we speak to you may circumcise all uncleanness, cut away impurities, cut off vices from the hearers, and lop off everything by which the power of the mind and its natural efficacy are covered over. And so, by the word of God, which is now called the rock sword, you too will be circumcised by Jesus and will hear that he has taken away the reproach of Egypt from you today. For what does it profit us to have gone out of Egypt and to carry the reproaches of Egypt about with us? What does it profit to walk through the desert — that is, what does it help us to have renounced the world in baptism, and to keep the former filth of our habits and the uncleanness of carnal vices? After the crossing of the Red Sea, then, that is, after the grace of baptism, the carnal vices of our old habits too must be taken away from us through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that at last we may be free of the reproaches of Egypt. These very rock swords and stone knives, then, with which we have been circumcised a second time by Jesus, are laid up in the place that Jesus asked for and received; in the place he possesses in the soul of the righteous, there he lays up the swords too. We have often shown that the sword means the word of God, by which sins are cut off and purged from the souls of the hearers. This power of the divine word, then, is laid up in the place to which the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom are given, so that at the right time the soul that has been filled by the gift of the Spirit with the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge may bring forth these swords in the church and circumcise a second time those who need the second circumcision. And that it says rock swords, that is, knives of stone and not made of iron by a craftsman’s work, shows that this word of God, which can circumcise uncleanness from the souls of the hearers, does not come from the art of grammar or rhetoric, nor is it tamed by the hammers of teachers or filed on the anvils of study, but comes down from that rock which was cut from the mountain without hands and filled the world, and which bestows spiritual gifts on believers. After this Jesus calls together the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who had fought with him to overcome the enemies of Israel, and sends them away to their inheritance, giving them certain gifts as well, as it is written. In this the following mystery seems to be indicated: that when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, those who had been taught and instructed through Moses, and who brought us help by their prayers and supplications while we were engaged in the contest, will receive what was promised them by the Lord Jesus; for they had not yet obtained the promises, waiting until our calling too should be completed, as the Apostle says; and now at last they may obtain the perfection that had been deferred for them, with the gifts they receive from Jesus, so that each may dwell in peace, when every war and every attack has ceased.

After this it was read to us that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who were beyond the Jordan, built a huge altar; and the rest of the sons of Israel, not knowing why the altar had been built, send Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron with ten men chosen from each tribe: if perhaps they had done this as men departing from God, or had become apostates and were acting against the command of God, they would be attacked by the rest of the sons of Israel; if otherwise, the envoys were to learn the reason. And the others give satisfaction about the altar and say: “We know that the true altar is with you, where Jesus dwells; but we made this altar in the likeness of the altar that is built among you, so that with us too there might be a figure and image of the true altar, lest perhaps tomorrow it should please you to say: The Jordan is the boundary between us and you, and it divides us, and therefore you have no portion in our altar.” This is the answer they sent. But let us see what sacrament the deed contains. The former people of the circumcision is signified in Reuben, who had been firstborn; and also in Gad, who himself is a firstborn, and in Manasseh, likewise a firstborn. When I say firstborn, I am speaking according to time. They built the altar, then, it is said, so that there might seem to be no division or separation between us and those who were righteous before the coming of Christ, but to show that, even if they lived before the coming of Christ, they are nevertheless our brothers. For although they had an altar then, before the coming of our Saviour, they knew and perceived that that altar was not the true one, but a figure of this future and true altar. They knew this, then: that the true victims, which could take away sins, were not offered on the altar which the firstborn people had, but on this one where Jesus was; here heavenly victims, here true sacrifices are consummated. So there comes to be one flock and one shepherd, the righteous of old and those who are now Christians. And as proof of these things I wish to recall a certain account, if the Lord grants that we may find its spiritual explanation. Once the people was falling and dying in the desert. Aaron the high priest came and stood in the midst between those who were dying and those who were living, so that the devastation of death might not advance any further against the living. Now too my true high priest, the Lord, has come and has interceded, standing in the midst between the dying and the living, that is, between those of the Jews who received his presence and those who not only did not receive it but killed themselves rather than him, saying: “His blood be on us and on our children.” Hence also all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom they killed between the temple and the altar, is required of that generation which said: “His blood be on us and on our children.” These, then, are the part of the people that is dead, because they keep neither the unleavened bread nor the feast days fittingly, but their feast days have been turned into mourning and their songs into lamentation; even if they wished, they will not be able to celebrate a feast in the place that the Lord God has chosen. And we indeed have not said to them, “You will have no part in this altar or in the inheritance of the Lord”; but they of their own accord refused the true altar and the heavenly high priest, and have been brought to such misfortune that they have both lost the image and not received the truth; and therefore it is said to them: “Behold, your house will be left to you desolate.” For the grace of the Holy Spirit has been transferred to the Gentiles. The solemn feasts have been transferred to us, because the high priest too has passed over to us, not an imaginary one but the true one, chosen after the order of Melchizedek; and he must offer true victims, that is, spiritual ones, among us, where the temple of God is built from living stones, which is the church of the living God, and where the true Israel is, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.