Homilies on Judges 1.1–1.5

The reader of today's lesson read it this way: "And the people feared the Lord all the days of Joshua." But our text has: "And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who lived on after Joshua." We must understand, then, that each of us is responsible for himself, whether he lives in good days or in bad, and whether he has the days of Jesus, that is, the days of the righteous, or the days of the ungodly. For if we understand "the true light that enlightens every man coming into this world," and offer ourselves to it to enlighten our souls, or if [the sun of righteousness] rises for us and [lights up] the world of our souls, and we give it lodging, then we too have the days of Jesus Christ, the days of salvation. But if anyone offers his soul to receive that light which will be put out, the light that is opposed to the truth, and is enlightened by it, he too will have days, but evil ones; he will not be in the days of Jesus but in the days of Manasseh, or the days of Pharaoh, or the wicked days of someone else. That, indeed, is why in the days of Ahab, a wicked and most evil king, Isaiah could not see a vision; he could not see the Lord of hosts sitting on a throne high and lifted up. But once that worthless king, whose days were evil, had died, then the prophet could see the vision of God. Do you want to know that when Scripture speaks of the days of this or that man, these days do not mean the time of his life or of his bodily presence? Hear what the prophet foretold about the days of our Lord Jesus Christ: "In his days," he says, "righteousness will rise, and abundance of peace, until the moon is lifted up." If we take this to mean that the days in which the Saviour lived on earth were days of righteousness and days of peace, how shall we prove that days of righteousness rose for those who crucified him and who did not receive his coming or faith in him? Or how will an abundance of peace be seen to have been in his days among those who handed him over to death on false charges? How will days of righteousness and days of peace be seen to have risen for those in whose minds the darkness of iniquity and fury dwelt? And again, if what is written, "In his days righteousness will rise, and an abundance of peace," is referred to the days the Saviour spent in the flesh, then, since those days are no more, his righteousness does not rise now, and the abundance of Christ's peace is not found among the faithful and devout. Rather, each person, by his deeds and the conduct of his life, gains for himself days either of iniquity and war or of righteousness and peace. Hear, then, the prophet saying: "For those who fear your name the sun of righteousness will rise," doubtless to make days of righteousness for them, the days of Jesus. Of the ungodly he says that the sun of righteousness will set for them, doubtless for those in whom righteousness sleeps and for whom the darkness of iniquity has risen. Do you likewise want to learn from the prophet who those are who have an abundance of peace? Hear how he says in the Psalms: "Great peace have those who love your name, and there is no stumbling for them." Days of righteousness, then, and an abundance of peace will rise for those who love the name of the Lord. But the ungodly also have their own light, from which, doubtless, evil days rise for them. Do you want this too proved to you from the Scriptures? Hear what is written: "The light of the righteous is for ever, but the light of the ungodly will be put out." You see, then, that there is a light proper to the ungodly, which is put out, and a light of the righteous, which remains for ever. And I do not suppose anyone would understand this so foolishly as to think that there is some substantial light, one called the light of the ungodly and another that of the righteous. That cannot be at all. For there is one light of the world, made by God, which shines on all in common and alike. But it must be understood in the way we explained above: our soul is enlightened either by the true light, which will never be put out, which is Christ; or, if it does not have in itself that light which is eternal, it is doubtless enlightened with a temporal light that can be put out, by him who transforms himself into an angel of light and enlightens the sinner's heart with a false light, so that the things that are present and perishable seem to him good and splendid. By this light those are enlightened who think pleasure the highest good. By this light those are enlightened who seek riches, worldly honours, and earthly glory as though they were a memorial for eternity. These, then, are in the days of that light which will be put out. All the things they do, desire, and covet are put out. By this light the heretics too are enlightened, who preach a knowledge falsely so called. Enlightened by it, Marcion says that the God of the law is just but not good. If, then, we have rightly understood who are enlightened with the true light by our Lord Jesus Christ, and what the days are that are lit by him who transforms himself into an angel of light, whose light is put out, we can also fitly understand those days of the Lord of which it is said that "the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua." For it is certain that whoever has the days of Jesus in himself serves the Lord. It cannot be that someone who has in himself the days of Jesus and the light of Christ serves the devil or serves avarice; it cannot be that someone is enlightened by the light of truth and serves falsehood; nor can one enlightened by the light of holiness be a slave to lust and impurity. So too the apostle says: "For what partnership has righteousness with iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever?" Let us pray, then, that Christ, who is the true light, may always make good days in us, and that we may never have in us evil days from the devil's enlightening, of which the apostle says: "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." For we have evil days when we seek fleshly things instead of spiritual ones, earthly instead of heavenly, perishable instead of eternal, present instead of future. If ever, then, you see desires of this kind rising in you, know that you have been placed in evil and most wicked days; and so persist in prayer, that you may be freed from that day and, as the apostle says, "rescued from the present evil age." For in the way we explained above, not only do days become evil, but the age too is called evil.

"So the people served the Lord all the days, and all the days of the elders who were after Joshua." Blessed is he who serves the Lord in the days of Jesus, who is enlightened by his Word and wisdom, made bright by his commandments, and receives the light of knowledge from his teaching. In the second place, and after him, that person too is blessed who serves the Lord in the days of the elders who were after Jesus. Who are the elders who were with Jesus or after him, if not the apostles? They too enlighten our hearts by their writings and precepts, and they too make certain days in us from that light which they received by sharing in the true light. Whoever, then, is enlightened and taught by the apostles' precepts and is trained for the Lord's service by the apostolic rules is the one who is said to serve the Lord in the days of the elders who were after Jesus. Do you want to see that, just as the Saviour was "the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world," so the apostles too were the light of the world? It is written in the Gospel, where the Lord says to them: "You are the light of the world." If, then, the apostles too are the light of the world, they doubtless light up days for us by their precepts and commandments, days in which we may serve the Lord.

As for the words "all the days of the elders who lived on after Joshua," these too do not seem to me to be said idly: that the elders who were after Jesus are called long-lived, or "of longer days." It belongs to God alone to know which of the elders after Jesus made the longest day, that is, sent out the most light from himself, whether Peter or Paul, Bartholomew or John; yet the saints are said to be "of longer days." On the other hand, when this world is filled with evils, when "because iniquity increases the love of many grows cold," and when "the Son of Man coming will hardly find faith on earth," then the days are not said to be going to be long; rather they are said to be shortened, as the Lord said: "Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would be saved." Evil days, then, are said to be shortened, but the good days, in which we serve the Lord, are long-lived, of much time and, in a way, of great extent. Notice, though, that he also indicated this in the Gospel, that "for the elect's sake those days will be shortened." For the elect, then, evil days, days of iniquity and stumbling, will be shortened; and, as I think, once evil days begin to be shortened for the elect, they are shortened and lessened continually until they are brought to nothing, utterly fade away, and at last perish. One of these, I think, was the day of which he said: "Let the day perish on which I was born." So for the elect evil days are shortened and perish, but the days of the holy elders are long-lived and extended. But what occurs to us as we speak (and may it occur at the Lord's prompting!) must not be passed over: it says that "the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua." It did not say that Jesus had one day, but that the days of Jesus are many. Which, then, do we set down as the many days, in the line of interpretation we have laid out? I think that one of his days is righteousness, another holiness, another prudence, another mercy; and so the days of Jesus are counted by the separate gifts of the virtues. In them the Lord is served, because by these virtues of the soul the Lord is pleased. Count patience too as a day, and gentleness, and piety, and goodness; and call everything that belongs to virtue a day of his. And so you will serve the Lord in all the days of Jesus, that is, in all these virtues. For the teaching of Holy Scripture does not want you to have some of these virtues in you and neglect others, but to serve the Lord adorned with all these virtues and engaged in their works. In the same way one also has the days of the elders in himself and serves the Lord in their days, fulfilling what the apostle Paul says: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."

"In the days," it says, "of their elders, who knew all the works of the Lord." Who knows all the works of the Lord, if not the one who does them? It was said of the sons of Eli that they were sons of pestilence, not knowing the Lord. This was not because they did not know the Lord, since they were in fact teachers of others, but because they acted as those act who do not know the Lord. In the same way we must understand what is said here: "who knew every work of the Lord." Not only did they know the work of the Lord, it says; it added "who knew every work of the Lord," that is, who knew the Lord's work of righteousness, and the work of holiness, of patience, of gentleness, and of piety. And everything that comes from God's commandments is called the work of the Lord. But just as there is a work of the Lord, there is doubtless a work of the devil opposed to it. For it is certain that, as righteousness is the work of God, so unrighteousness is the work of the devil; and as gentleness is the work of God, so anger and fury are the work of the devil. Those, then, are said to have known the work of God who do his work. That it may be made clearer from the authority of the Scriptures how Scripture is accustomed to use "know" or "not know," see how it is written elsewhere: "Whoever keeps the commandment will not know an evil word." Can it be that someone who keeps the commandment does not know evil words? He does know them, but he is said not to know them because he guards against them and avoids them. So also of the Lord and Saviour himself it is said that "he knew no sin"; it is certain that he is said not to have known sin because he did not do the work of sin. In this way, then, he is said to know the works of the Lord who does the works of the Lord. But he does not know the work of God who does not do the work of God.

But how shall we pass over what it added: "who knew the great works of the Lord, which he did in Israel"? What then? Are there some small works of the Lord, to distinguish from which these are called great? I think that every work of God is great, but that, according to the capacity of those who work, if they are compared with one another, the works of the Lord are called either great or small. For example, he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, after Egypt had been struck by wonders from heaven; he made a way in the sea, gave the people manna in the desert, spoke to Moses from heaven, and gave the law written on tablets of stone. Are these not great works of God? But if you compare with them the fact that "God so loved this world that he gave his only-begotten Son" for the salvation of the world, you will find all those things small beside the greatness of this work. This work we too must both know and believe, and we must do the works of the Lord. Not carelessly, then, but faithfully and attentively, so that we too may be found in the days of Jesus Christ and in the days of his holy elders the apostles, with whom we may be counted worthy to receive fellowship in the heavenly inheritance, through our Lord Jesus Christ himself, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.