Homilies on Joshua 3.1–4.4

Moses distributed the inheritance of the land beyond the Jordan to two and a half tribes, that is, to the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. To the remaining tribes not Moses but Jesus divides the land. A pact, however, was made with those two and a half tribes that had received land beyond the Jordan, that, leaving their women and infants in that land beyond the Jordan, they themselves should fight together with their brothers until these too obtained their inheritance. It was necessary, then, since Moses, who had made this pact, had died, that Jesus should demand what was promised and urge them to bring help to their brothers who were about to fight. This the text recounts as history; but since we perhaps have now turned to the Lord, who takes away the veil from the reading of the Old Testament and grants to his servants who believe in him that with unveiled face they may behold the glory of the Lord, let us perceive that all these things which happened to them in figure were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. And therefore, as we said before, let us try to rise from the letter to the spirit, from figures to truth; and let us consider what form these two and a half tribes bear, which receive the land of inheritance through Moses, and what form the remaining nine and a half bear, which receive the promised holy land through Jesus. And first of all I think it could not have happened by chance that those who receive their portion through Moses were all first-born. For Reuben is the first-born of Leah, Gad the first-born of Zilpah, and Manasseh the first-born of Asenath the Egyptian, daughter of Potiphera priest of Heliopolis, whom Joseph took as wife. I can never persuade myself that it happened by chance that all to whom the inheritance was assigned through Moses were first-born; rather I think that in them was already then foreshadowed the form of two peoples: one which seemed to be first-born by the order of nature; the other which would receive the blessing of the inheritance through faith and grace. Nor is rest given to those who receive the inheritance through Moses, that is, those who pleased God through the law, unless they help their brothers. Only the women and infants take their rest through Moses; but the men do not rest, but go out to the aid of their brothers. See, I pray you, how those who were justified in the law before the coming of Jesus Christ my Lord come to the aid of me, who today labor in the contest of this life and have a struggle against enemies, that is, against contrary powers. See how Isaiah stands by me as a helper, when he enlightens me with the words of his reading. See Jeremiah coming girded and ready to our aid, and with the darts of his book putting to flight the fiercest enemies, the darkness of my heart. Daniel too girds himself for our aid, instructing and forewarning us about the presence and kingdom of Christ and the future deceit of the Antichrist. Ezekiel too is present, signifying heavenly mysteries to us in the fourfold circles of the wheels and enclosing a wheel within a wheel. Hosea too leads the twelvefold ranks of the prophetic host, and all go forth with their loins girded in the truth which they proclaim to the aid of their own, so that, instructed by their books, we may not be ignorant of the devil’s wiles. These, then, who are strong, armed and girded about the loins with truth, go out to the aid of their brothers and fight with us. But the infants and the women do not go out to our battle. No wonder: for one who does not speak is called an infant. How could he help me who said nothing? What of his do I find to read? Whose word instructs me? But the apostle calls the woman a weaker vessel. Hence, consequently, the weaker vessel does not come to the battle, lest it be broken and perish. So too it is said of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels: “A bruised reed he will not break.” Since, then, women are commanded to be taught by their husbands at home, and are placed in the rank of disciples rather than of teachers, one who cannot teach me, and in whom I find nothing that I ought to imitate or hold, does not come to my aid.

Let us see, then, what those from the land that Moses distributed say to Jesus: “As we heard Moses,” they say, “so we will hear you.” Nothing is so true as that everyone who has heard Moses should hear Jesus our Lord as well. For Moses wrote of him. Hence the Lord too in the Gospel, rebuking them because, since they did not believe him, they did not believe Moses either, says: “If you believed Moses, you would surely believe me also; for he wrote of me.” To me, however, this too does not seem idle, that these tribes which are provided for through Moses are not three whole tribes, and those which obtain their inheritance through Jesus not nine whole ones, but two and a half here and nine and a half there; and one tribe is divided into two parts, so that neither here is the number three wholly completed, nor there the number ten perfectly and wholly accomplished. In this I think it is indicated that those earlier men also, who were guided by the law, did touch the knowledge of the Trinity, yet not wholly and perfectly, but in part. For within the Trinity they lacked also the knowledge of the incarnation of the only-begotten of God. For though they believed in his coming, and not only believed but also preached his other dispensations, yet they could not also see and attain what they had believed; as the Lord says of them to his disciples: “Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” For their faith was not whole, because the dispensation of the flesh had not yet been fulfilled in Christ; and what we now believe as already done and fulfilled, they believed only as future. For this reason, then, those tribes are neither two, lest the fathers be outside the faith and salvation of the Trinity, nor three whole and perfect, lest the sacrament of the blessed Trinity should seem already fulfilled in them. But they touched the third number, and, as the Lord said, they desired to see what we see and to hear what we hear, but could not, because the Son of Man had not yet been lifted up, nor had the fullness of the times yet come. Here something further moves me too. I think that perhaps even at the coming of Jesus and his incarnation we do not yet learn what is perfect and whole; and neither when he is led to the cross and is consummated in all things, nor when he has risen from the dead, will he by himself lay open to us all that is perfect. We still need another who may open and reveal all things to us. Hear the Lord himself saying in the Gospels: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. But the Spirit of truth will come, who proceeds from the Father, and he will take of what is mine and will declare all things to you.” You see that not only with Moses is this third number not shown fulfilled, but Jesus too still says to his disciples: You cannot yet hear, unless that Paraclete come, the Spirit of truth; because through him and in him the perfection of the Trinity is fulfilled. For that there are nine and a half tribes which act under the leadership of Jesus, and not a whole ten, the number said to be complete and perfect in all respects, the same reason undoubtedly applies: that what the Lord Jesus says is reserved for the Holy Spirit should seem only half full and halfway. For although through the Lord and Saviour repentance is preached, and conversion from evil to good, and remission of sins is given to all who believe, and all the things that seem to tend toward the perfection of the number ten are completed, yet the perfection and sum of all goods consists in this, that after all these things one is found worthy to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise nothing will be thought perfect in one who lacks the Holy Spirit, through whom the mystery of the blessed Trinity is fulfilled. Do you want me to prove to you still more clearly that among that former people, whom Moses foreshadowed in the two and a half tribes, not all things were whole or perfect? The account written in this very book of Jesus son of Nun shows this too, when it says that the true altar was in the land that Jesus distributed, but those who were beyond the Jordan, that is, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, made themselves an altar — not the true altar, but one that bore the type and form of the true altar which was with Jesus. Do not wonder, then, if those did not receive the whole knowledge of the Trinity who did not build a whole or true altar. And so, too, it is said that not many enemies, nor several kings of the contrary powers, were cast down by them. Only Sihon, it says, king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and the Amalekites they cast down beyond the Jordan. But where Jesus leads the army, now five kings fall together who had fled into caves, and not only fall but are hanged on a tree; now twenty-nine are slain together, and immense multitudes of the hostile army are laid low, and all are exterminated who possess the holy land in uncleanness, who hold the land flowing with milk and honey in the bitterness of malice.

Meanwhile spies are sent by Jesus into Jericho and are received by the harlot Rahab. These spies who are sent before the face of Jesus may also be thought to be angels of God, as it is written: “Behold, I will send my angel before your face, who will prepare your ways.” This was fulfilled invisibly through others, but visibly through John, of whom this very word was written. Indeed, concerning John’s baptism the Lord says that the scribes and Pharisees did not believe him, but the harlots and tax collectors believed and were baptized. So in this too it is fulfilled that the harlot received the spies of Jesus, through whom she is also related to have been snatched away from the destruction of the whole enemy nation.

But let us see at last who this harlot is who is called Rahab. Rahab is interpreted “breadth.” What, then, is this breadth, if not the church of Christ, which is gathered from sinners as from harlotry? And it says: “The place is narrow for me; make room for me, that I may dwell.” “But these, who has brought them up for me?” And again, to her it is said: “Enlarge your tent-pegs and extend your curtains.” This breadth, then, is the one that received the spies of Jesus. I know that once, when discussing in a certain church the two harlots of whom it is written in the third book of Kingdoms, who came to the judgment of Solomon, one of whom had a living infant and the other a dead one, I examined the matter more carefully and said that the harlot was this one, to whom Solomon — not that Solomon, but this one who came to make peace between the things in heaven and those on earth — ordered the living infant to be returned; while the other, who had the dead infant, was the synagogue of that former people, or of those who have turned aside into heresy. There is also another harlot whom in Hosea the prophet is ordered to take, undoubtedly as a figure of the one gathered from the Gentiles. Such, then, is this harlot too said to be who received the spies of Jesus; but once she has received them, she places them in the upper rooms and establishes them in lofty and exalted mysteries. For no one who is sent by Jesus is found below and lying on the ground, but remains in the upper places; and not only does he himself remain in the upper and lofty places, but this harlot too who received them is made, from a harlot, now a prophetess, for she says: “I know that the Lord your God has given you this land.” You see how she who was once a harlot, impious and unclean, is now filled with the Holy Spirit, and confesses things past, believes things present, and prophesies and announces things to come. So, then, Rahab, which is interpreted “breadth,” is enlarged and advances until her sound goes out into all the earth. Japheth too, in a similar way, is interpreted “enlargement”; and he too bore the form of this people that is saved from the Gentiles, and Canaan the boy is made subject to him as a slave by his father, and to his brother Shem, who bears the form of those saved from the circumcision. In this the kindness and providence of God are to be admired, who, to offer a remedy to the sinner Canaan and to confer salvation on him, made him a slave to his brothers, as Esau was made to serve his brother Jacob: not that he might perish, but that by obeying better men he might gain salvation. For it is of the greatest benefit to the wicked, and to sinners who do not know how to conduct themselves rightly, not to be left to themselves, but to become servants of the saints and be subject to better men, so that they may be ruled not by their own bad judgment but by the good judgment of those others. You see how great is the kindness of God, which he hides and conceals from the ears of the crowd and covers with harsher words, lest perhaps the wicked and ungrateful servant become contemptuous when he has understood the exceeding goodness of his Lord.

But let us see what this wise harlot did with the spies. She gives them mystical and heavenly counsel, with nothing earthly in it. “Go away,” she says, “by the mountains”: do not walk through the valleys, flee what is low and cast down, proclaim what is lofty and sublime. And she herself puts a scarlet sign in her house, by which she was to be saved from the destruction of the city. She was to receive no other sign than scarlet, which bore the form of blood. For she knew that there was salvation for no one except in the blood of Christ. This command too is given to her who was once a harlot: “All,” it says, “who are found in your house shall be saved. But as for those who go out of the house, we are free of your oath.” If anyone, then, wants to be saved, let him come into this house of her who was once a harlot. Even if someone of that people wants to be saved, let him come to this house, so that he may obtain salvation. Let him come to this house, in which the blood of Christ is the sign of redemption. For among those who said: “His blood be on us and on our children,” the blood of Christ is for condemnation. For Jesus had been set for the fall and rising of many, and therefore for those who speak against his sign his blood becomes punishment, for those who believe, salvation. Let no one, then, persuade himself otherwise, let no one deceive himself: outside this house, that is, outside the church, no one is saved. For if anyone goes outside, he becomes guilty of his own death. Here blood is the sign, because here is the purification that is accomplished through blood. And that this sign hangs in the window indicates, I think, that a window is what lights a house, and through it we receive not the whole light, but as much as suffices for our eyes and sight. Since, then, the incarnation of the Saviour did not bring before us a pure and complete sight of the Godhead, but through his incarnation made us see the light of the Godhead as through a window, it seems to me that the sign of salvation was given through the window: by this sign all will obtain salvation who are found in the house of her who was once a harlot, washed in water and the Holy Spirit and in the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

To the sinner, indeed, every land is an enemy, as it is written of the Egyptians: the land fought against them, the rivers fought against them, the very air fought against them. But to the righteous man, things that seem inaccessible are made level and easy. The righteous man crosses the Red Sea as if on dry land; but the Egyptian, if he tries to cross, will be drowned, nor will the water become a wall for him on the right hand and on the left. The righteous man, even if he enters a terrible and vast desert, has food supplied to him from heaven. So too in the Jordan, the ark of the covenant was the leader of the people of God. The priestly and Levitical order stands still, and the waters, as if showing a kind of reverence to the ministers of God, check their course and are heaped up in a mass, granting the people of God a way that does them no harm. And do not wonder when these things done for the former people are told to you; to you, Christian, who through the sacrament of baptism have passed through the streams of the Jordan, the divine word promises things far greater and loftier: it promises you a way and a passage through the very air. For hear Paul saying of the righteous: “We shall be caught up,” he says, “in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” There is nothing at all that the righteous man need fear; all creation serves him. Hear, then, how God promises him through the prophet too, saying: “If you pass through fire, the flame will not burn you, for I am the Lord your God.” Every place, then, receives the righteous man, and every creature renders him due service. And lest you think that these things were done among those of former times, but nothing of the kind is done in you who now hear them: all are fulfilled in you according to their mystical meaning. For you who have recently left the darkness of idolatry and desire to come to hear the divine law, you are now for the first time leaving Egypt. When you were added to the number of the catechumens and began to obey the precepts of the church, you crossed the Red Sea; and, placed in the stations of the desert, you give your time daily to hearing the law of God and to beholding the face of Moses unveiled by the glory of the Lord. But if you come to the mystic font of baptism, and, in the presence of the priestly and Levitical order, are initiated into those venerable and magnificent sacraments which are known to those who are permitted to know them, then too, having crossed the Jordan through the ministry of the priests, you will enter the land of promise, in which Jesus receives you after Moses and himself becomes the leader of your new journey. And you, mindful of such great and mighty works of God, that the sea was divided for you and that the water of the river stood still, will turn to them and say: “What ails you, O sea, that you fled, and you, Jordan, that you turned back? You mountains, why did you skip like rams, and you hills like lambs of the flock?” And the divine word will answer you and say: “At the presence of the Lord the earth was shaken, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water and the cliff into springs of water.”

How many things were done before! The Red Sea was crossed on foot, manna was given from heaven, springs burst out in the desert, the law was given through Moses, many signs and wonders were done in the desert, and nowhere is Jesus said to have been exalted. But where the Jordan is crossed, there it is said to Jesus: “On this day I begin to exalt you in the sight of the people.” For Jesus is not exalted before the mystery of baptism; but his exaltation, and his exaltation in the sight of the people, takes its beginning from there. For if all who are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death, and the death of Jesus is completed in the exaltation of the cross, rightly then is Jesus first exalted for each of the faithful when he comes to the mystery of baptism; for so it is also written that God exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Yet the people is led by the priests and makes its way to the land of promise under the guidance of the priests. And who among the priests today is so great and of such a kind that he deserves to be enrolled in that order? For if there is anyone such, the streams of the Jordan will yield to him and the very elements will revere him: part of the waters of the river will spring back and be held in check behind, while part will flee in rapid flow into the salt sea. Yet I think that even this is not written without a mystical reason, that part of the waters of the Jordan sinks into the sea and flows away into bitterness, while part remains in sweetness. For if all who are baptized kept the sweetness of the heavenly grace they had received, and none turned to the bitterness of sins, it would certainly not have been written that part of the river was plunged into the depths of the salt sea. And therefore it seems to me that in these words the variety of the baptized is signified. For we often see it happen (I mention it with grief) that those who receive holy baptism, when they give themselves again to the affairs of the world and the allurements of lust, and drink the salt cup of avarice, are formed in that part of the waters which flows down into the sea and perishes in the salt waves; while the part that remains steadfast and keeps its sweetness signifies those who hold unwaveringly the gift of God they have received. And rightly is there one part of those who are saved, because there is one bread which came down from heaven and gives life to this world, and one faith, and one baptism, and one Spirit with which all are given drink in baptism, and one God, the Father of all. Meanwhile there is the priestly and Levitical order, to show the way to the people of God which has gone out from Egypt. For they are the ones who teach the people to go out from Egypt, that is, from the errors of the world, and to cross the vast desert, that is, to pass through the various kinds of temptation and not be harmed by the serpents, which are the bites of demons, and to avoid the poisons of evil suggestions. And if anyone perhaps has been struck by a serpent in the desert, they are to show him the bronze serpent hung on the cross: whoever looks on what that serpent signified will escape the devil’s poisons through it. It is the priestly and Levitical order that stands by the ark of the covenant of the Lord, in which, without doubt, the law of God is carried, so that they may enlighten the people of God, as the prophet says: “Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.” This light is kindled by the priests and Levites. But if anyone of this order puts the lamp that has been lit under a bushel, and not on a lampstand so that it may give light to all who are in the house, let him consider what he will do when he begins to render account to the Lord of light for those who, receiving no light from the priests, walk in darkness and are wrapped in the obscurity of sins.

See, then, what it says: “The people,” it says, “was two thousand cubits away from the ark of the covenant.” But the priests and Levites were near, very near indeed, so that the ark of the Lord and the divine testimony were carried on their shoulders. Blessed are those who are found worthy to be near to God. But remember what is written: “Those who draw near to me draw near to fire.” If you are gold or silver and draw near to the fire, you will shine forth through the fire far more splendid and bright. But if you are aware that on the foundation of faith laid in you, you have built wood, hay, straw, then if you draw near to the fire with such a building, you will be consumed. Blessed, then, are those who are near, who are so near that the fire gives them light and does not burn them. Yet Israel too will be saved, but it will be saved from afar, and will make its way not by its own strength but by the help and providence of the priests.

When, then, do they come to the crossing of the Jordan? For I have noticed that this too is not marked without cause, that the time should also be marked: “On the tenth day,” it says, “of the first month.” This is the very day on which the mystery of the lamb was commanded in Egypt. On the tenth of the first month these things were celebrated in Egypt; on the tenth of the first month they enter the land of promise. This seems to me very blessed: that on the very same day on which one has escaped the errors of the world, he should be found worthy to enter the land of promise too, that is, on this day on which we live in this world. For our whole present life is designated as one day. And therefore we are taught through this mystery, that we should not put off our acts and works of righteousness until tomorrow, but today, that is, while we live, while we remain in this world, let us hasten to fulfill all that pertains to perfection; and so at last we will be able to enter the land of promise on the tenth day of the first month, that is, the blessedness of perfection. And if you observe carefully, you will find that very many other things in the narrative of the Scriptures are summed up in this day. Not to extend our sermon about each of them further than we wish, this is to be understood about the fact that this day is so often repeated: that although there is for us one general perfection, yet each single kind of virtue that we undertake to develop, if we can fulfill it wholly and perfectly, has also its own perfection. For example, if one who is irascible desires to acquire the virtue of gentleness, he will doubtless stumble at first in many things, until by long meditation he turns the practice of a long time into nature. And when he has obtained what he set out to obtain, he attains the perfection of gentleness, yet he does not thereby possess the perfection of all the virtues. So, then, many perfections are found in the single virtues. But the general perfection is that which contains in itself the sum of all perfections. That is why many things done on this day are summed up, to signify that many perfections tend to one end, as the prophet too says: “My soul has long been a sojourner.” And again: “While they say to me every day: Where is your God? I remembered these things and poured out my soul within me; for I shall go into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God, with the voice of exultation and confession, the sound of those who feast.” For after the labors and temptations we have endured in the desert of this life, after the crossing of the Red Sea, after the streams of the Jordan, if we are worthy to enter the land of promise, we shall come there with joy and exultation, following the priests of the Lord Christ our Saviour, to whom is glory. Amen.