Questions on the Octateuch 4.19–4.46

Why did the prophet doubt when God promised to give meat? Because he was not only a prophet but also a man. But he was taught by God the Master not to hesitate when God promises. For he said to him, “Will the hand of the Lord not suffice? Now you shall know whether my word will overtake you or not.” In promising to give, however, he joined punishment to the generosity. For having said, “You shall eat meat for a month, until it comes out of your nostrils,” he added, “and it shall be to you for cholera,” or, as Symmachus has it, “for indigestion.” For the gluttony brought on the disease, and the stroke sent by God brought death to many. This is why the divine David also said, “While the food was still in their mouth, the wrath of God also came upon them and killed many of them.” Fittingly, then, the all-wise Paul urges, “Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

For what reason did the seventy prophesy as soon as they were appointed, but not afterwards? Because he appointed them not for prophecy but for administration; and this too is one of the gifts of the Spirit. Hence the blessed Paul ranked helps and administrations with the apostles and the prophets and the teachers and the gifts of healing. The seventy were granted this gift. But so that it would be clear to the people that they had indeed received the divine gift, they at once foretold certain things.

Why did Eldad and Modad prophesy, though they were not counted with the seventy? It is likely that they were equal in rank to the seventy and for that reason received the gift. The account also hints that he who knows hidden things often knows to be approved those whom men think unapproved. So too in the case of Cornelius the divine generosity anticipated the ministry of men: for before baptism he gave him the grace of the Spirit. Here too the lawgiver's freedom from envy was shown. For when Joshua said, “My lord Moses, stop them,” he replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, when the Lord gives his spirit upon them!” Nor did the all-praiseworthy Joshua feel the passion of envy; but thinking the matter presumption and a grab for power, he used these words. That he was free of this passion his praise bears witness, for it says, “And Joshua the son of Nun, who attended Moses, the chosen one, answered and said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them.’”

Who is to be understood as the Ethiopian wife whom Moses took? Josephus said that while he was being brought up in the palace, he was appointed general for the war against the Ethiopians, and then, having won, he married the daughter of that king. And Apollinarius made up a tale much more fabulous than this. For he said that after Zipporah Moses married another, an Ethiopian woman, so that, he says, he might become a type of Christ the Master, who after the Israelite woman betrothed the church from the nations. But Zipporah too was a foreigner. To make up tales, then, is the work not of the divine Spirit but of the opposite one. For the lawgiver cared for purity so much after his calling that he even left Zipporah behind when he went into Egypt. After the departure from there, his father-in-law came to him bringing her with the children, and he added that he brought her after she had been sent away. So he called Zipporah the Ethiopian; for the nation of Saba is Ethiopian. For the Evangelist says, “The queen of the Ethiopians will rise up and condemn this generation,” but the history of the Kingdoms called her the queen of Saba. Saba is the name of the nation of the Homerites, and the Midianites border on them. Since, then, Aaron had married an Israelite woman, but Moses a foreigner, in a fit of pettiness they brought this reproach against him. The brothers' insolence in fact bears witness to the lawgiver's most perfect virtue: plainly at a loss for any other charge, they brought against him the reproach about his wife. And the verdict of the most just judge bears witness to my account, for he said: “If there is a prophet among you, I will be known to him in a vision and speak to him in sleep. Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. Mouth to mouth I will speak to him, in visible form and not in riddles, and he has seen the glory of the Lord. And why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” True, then, is that saying: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” For we are taught by these things and by those not to retaliate against those who wrong us, but to await the divine verdict, since it takes great care for the wronged, just as then, while Moses kept silent, he brought leprosy on Miriam.

Why, when two had spoken abusively, did she alone pay the penalty? First, because the woman's fault was greater: for both nature and the law subject the female to the male. Then Aaron had some measure of excuse, both as older in years and as one honoured with the high priesthood. Besides this, since the leper was held to be unclean according to the law, and Aaron was the root and foundation of the priests, so that the disgrace would not pass to the whole family, he did not bring the same punishment on him, but through his sister he both frightened and corrected him. For the affliction grieved him so much that, before she who had received it, he himself begged the man he had wronged to end the calamity by his intercession; and Moses did not neglect it, but at once offered the supplication. Then the loving Lord taught that he had corrected her not as a judge but as a father. For he said, “If her father had spat in her face, would she not be ashamed? She shall be put out of the camp for seven days, and after that she shall come in.” Honour too was joined to the dishonour: for the people did not set out until she was freed from the affliction.

For what reason did God order spies to be sent? So that, learning in advance the fertility of the land, they would desire to share its praised fruits; and if they shrank back and faltered, they would have no excuse when punished.

Why, when he sent Hoshea as a spy, did he call him Joshua? Because he was a type of the true Jesus, who imitated the guise of the spies when he administered our salvation. For as spies use the dress and the language of the nations they are spying on, so too God the Word, putting on human nature and using its tongue, administered our salvation.

What does he mean by the race of Anak? He was very famous and much talked of, probably because of the size of his body; and the race no doubt resembled its ancestor.

What is the meaning of “The glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth”? He foretells the rejection of the Jews and the salvation of the world, and he adds an oath to the prediction: “For as I live,” he says, “and as my name lives, the glory of the Lord will fill the whole earth.” Then he pronounces the sentence against all who were counted, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun, who, besides the truth of their report, gave the people pious counsel. With this sentence one should compare the one spoken in the Gospels: “The kingdom will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits.” For those who fell in the wilderness through unbelief were a type of the Jews who did not believe, and the uncircumcised children, who in their place received through Joshua the land promised to their forefathers, were a type of the nations who believed.

Why did he legislate so much about the same sacrifices? So that by the repetition of the legislation he would make the memory of the laws firm.

What is the meaning of “A soul that acts with a high hand in arrogance”? Having legislated what sacrifice those who sinned involuntarily must offer, he also legislates about those who have sinned voluntarily. Sins differ. Some, because of weakness of soul, cannot bear the uprising of the passions, and give way and are defeated; others fall into sins from some other circumstance. And there are some who are disposed contemptuously toward the divine laws: these he said sin out of arrogance, as despising the laws willingly. Such a one, he said, will be blotted out, and he added the reason: “Because he has despised the word of the Lord and scattered his commandments, that soul shall be utterly destroyed; its sin is upon it.” For the one who is overcome by the passions through weakness, and then groans and laments, has at least some small excuse; but the one who embraces evil and despises the divine commandments is deprived of every defence.

Why did he order the man who gathered wood on the Sabbath to be stoned? As the first to have transgressed this law, so that he would not become a model of lawbreaking; for his punishment put fear into everyone.

Why did God order them to put a hyacinth-blue thread on the very tassels of their garments? The hyacinth thread imitates the colour of heaven. It reminded them, then, of the lawgiver, who fills all things but is thought to dwell in heaven. For “the heaven of heaven,” it says, “belongs to the Lord”; and, “He who dwells in the heavens will laugh at them.” The law too teaches this: “For you shall see the tassels,” it says, “and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, and you shall not turn aside after your thoughts and your eyes, after which you go whoring.”

Korah's rebellion against the lawgiver has some reason, for he was of the Levitical tribe. But Dathan, Abiram and Eliab, who traced their descent from Reuben, what pretext had they for rebellion? Reuben was the firstborn; and they thought that the priesthood belonged to the firstborn. They did not consider that their ancestor had lost the rights of the firstborn because of his lawlessness.

What does “Do not regard their sacrifice” mean? A contest about the priesthood was taking place, and since both sides were about to offer incense, they had God the Master as judge. The prophet, then, disheartened because of the leaders of the rebellion, begged the Judge not to accept what the rebels were unlawfully offering, and he calls him to witness to his own fairness: “Do not regard their sacrifice,” he says; “I have not taken the desirable thing of any one of them, nor have I harmed any one of them.” And the Judge confirmed their testimony by deed: “Separate yourselves,” he says, “from the midst of this assembly, and I will consume them at once.” Again the all-praiseworthy Moses showed his own gentleness. For, falling down before the Judge, he cried, “O God of the spirits and of all flesh, if one man has sinned, is the wrath of the Lord on the whole assembly?” The loving Lord, accepting his servant's supplication, commands the others to separate themselves from the rebels; and commanding the earth to open, he sent the tents with their men to the depths; and those who had walked through the midst of the sea were swallowed up in the earth. For it is easy for the Maker both to make a dry road in the sea and again to use the earth instead of the sea for punishment. On the Egyptians he brought destruction by water, but Dathan and Abiram and the others he covered with waves of earth. These, then, he sent alive to Hades, and he consumed Korah's company with fire.

Why did God order the censers of those who offered incense to become a covering for the altar? To convict those who were insolent against the priesthood and to confirm those appointed to perform the sacred rites. For he added this: “A memorial for the sons of Israel, so that no outsider who is not of the seed of Aaron may come near to offer incense before the Lord.” For this reason he also ordered the rod that had budded to be placed in the ark; and he legislated again that the priests should perform the sacred rites and the Levites assist, approaching neither the altar nor the sacred vessels. Then he also teaches what the priests ought to receive. He commanded them to eat the firstfruits of wine and grain and oil and bread offered to him. And he also directed that they receive the votive offerings and the firstborn, setting the ransom for the unclean animals: “Its redemption,” he says, “from a month old, the valuation is five shekels, by the holy shekel; they are twenty obols.” Of the clean firstborn he ordered the blood to be poured out at the base of the altar, the fat to be offered, and the meat to be taken by the priests, just as they receive the breast and the shoulder from the other victims. He called the sharing a “covenant of salt,” since, according to the divine Apostle, “those who attend the altar share with the altar.” Some say that, since God ordered salt to be put on the sacrifices, he called what was consecrated to the priests a covenant of salt. Then he teaches both priests and Levites that he does not want them to receive an allotment of land like the other tribes, but that the Levites should receive from all the people the tithes of what grows from the ground, of the profits from flocks and herds, and of trade or any other occupation; and the Levites should offer the tithes of the tithes to the priests. He commands that they partake of these in any place, but eat what is set apart for them from the sacrifices inside the sanctuary. He also calls the tithes a wage for the people's benefit: “While you farm, or trade, or stay at home,” he says, “these attend on my service in place of all of you.” For he said this: “This is your wage in return for your services in the tent of witness.”

How are the directions about the red heifer to be understood? He legislated that it be offered for the sin of the people; but it prefigures the saving passion, which took away the sin of the whole world. He commands a red heifer to be brought, to prefigure the earthly body; for the name of Adam too hints at the red earth from which his body was formed. The heifer's being without blemish foreshows the sinlessness of Christ the Master. And the heifer's never having borne a yoke hints at our Saviour's freedom: for the yoke signifies slavery, and the Lord, when the didrachm was demanded of him, said, “Then the sons are free.” The slaughter of the heifer outside the camp is the Saviour's passion that took place outside the gate. The divine Apostle teaches this more clearly in the Letter to the Hebrews. He ordered the whole heifer to be burned with its hide and the rest, since all that belongs to Christ the Master is pure. The cedar wood was a symbol of the cross: for as cedar does not rot, so the cross gives life. The scarlet was a symbol of the Lord's blood, and the hyssop of the fact that life-giving warmth dissolved the coldness of death. He says, however, that the one who burns the heifer is unclean until evening, as a type of those who crucified Christ the Master. He commanded those who came near a dead person, or touched bones, or were defiled by anything else of the kind, to be sprinkled with this ash mixed with water. “And a man,” he says, “who is not purified, that soul shall be destroyed from the midst of the assembly, because the water of sprinkling was not sprinkled on him.” So also the Lord said in the holy Gospels, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Why does he say that both the one who sprinkles and the one who is sprinkled are unclean until evening? Since according to the law the one who touched a dead man's bone was unclean. So the cleansing belongs to the reality, for the cleansing is through Christ; but being unclean belongs to the law, and the law prefigured grace. And these were unclean until evening, that is, until the end of the law. For the Lord's coming resembles dawn: “To those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death a light has dawned,” as the prophet Isaiah says. And elsewhere God himself said, “But to those who fear me a sun of righteousness will rise, and healing in its wings.” And again, “Behold a man, Dawn is his name.”

Why was God the Master angry with Moses and Aaron when they brought the water out of the rock? While they were disheartened over their sister's death, the people pressed on them, rebelling over the lack of water. Vexed, then, at their great lack of self-control, they used ambiguous words when they brought out the water. For the lawgiver said, “Listen to me, you disobedient ones: shall I bring water for you out of this rock?” For this reason God the Master pronounced the sentence against them, speaking thus: “Because you did not believe me, to sanctify me before the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” The divine David too said this in song: “And Moses was afflicted on their account, because they embittered his spirit,” and, “He made a distinction with his lips.” Being angry with them, he uttered the word ambiguously; and the ambiguity was not of the soul but of the tongue. This is what “he made a distinction with his lips” means. It must be known, however, that God pronounced this sentence in managing something else, which we shall show in due time.

Why did God order the snakebites to be healed through the bronze serpent? This too prefigures the saving passion. For sin sprang up through the serpent, which is why it received the curse from the God of all. The serpent, then, is a type both of sin and of the curse. Since Christ the Master appeared “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” as the divine Apostle says (for he truly took a body, but “did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth”), the saving passion is prefigured in the bronze serpent. For as the bronze serpent was an image of the serpents but did not have the serpents' venom, so the only-begotten Son had a human body but had no stain of sins. And as those bitten by the serpents were saved by looking at the bronze serpent, so those struck by sin, believing without hesitation in our Saviour's passion, are shown to be stronger than death and enjoy eternal life.

If Balaam was a diviner, why did he ask the Lord? He did not ask the true God; yet it was not the one he called upon who answered him, but the one unknown to him. “For God came to Balaam,” it says, “and said to him, ‘Who are these men with you?’” Not because he did not know the reason for their coming, but so that, taking his occasion from the diviner, he might command what was to be done.

For what reason, having commanded him not to go, did he command him again to go? Since Balaam, in love with the money promised, asked again whether he should go with those sent to him, supposing that God the Master had changed his mind, he permitted him to go, all but saying, “Go, then, since you long to do this; but know that you will say whatever I wish.”

Why, having commanded him to go, does he hinder the journey through the angel? He frightens him both by the voice of the donkey, which came about against nature, and by the sight of the angel, so that he would know how much care God takes of the people. Some say that the angel was Michael, the protector of the people.

And what power did the diviner's curse have if God did not will it? It had none, for the opinion held about him was false. But since the people, continually breaking the law, were suffering blows sent by God, God the Master arranged the affair of Balaam to suit their weakness. So that, when they were being chastised by God, they would not think they were falling into calamities because of the diviner's curses, he did not let the diviner use his curses, cutting off the pretexts of the foolish. For it is clear to those instructed in divine things that, even if the diviner's curses had some power, it was easy for the one who fashioned all things to show them to be empty. “For the Lord,” it says, “scatters the counsels of nations; he frustrates the reasonings of peoples, and frustrates the counsels of rulers; but the counsel of the Lord abides for ever.” Balaam, however, though he had learned God's care, tries to change his mind by sacrifices, supposing him to be one of the falsely named gods, whom their worshippers also call changeable. “He went straight on” shows that he truly wished to learn what was to be done. For this reason his unclean mouth received the working of the all-holy Spirit, and he utters what he does not wish, and cries out, “How shall I curse whom the Lord does not curse, and how shall I denounce whom God does not denounce?” And he foretells what will be: “Behold, a people will dwell alone and will not be reckoned among the nations. Who has counted exactly the seed of Jacob, and who the clans of Israel?” Then he asks to share their lot: “Let my soul die among the souls of the righteous, and let my seed be like their seed.” And when Balak, vexed and supposing that he had given the blessing because he saw the multitude of the Hebrews, took him to another place from which only part of the people could be seen, fittingly the all-holy Spirit again says through him: “God is not like a man, to waver, nor like a son of man, to be threatened. Has he said, and will he not do? Will he speak, and not abide by it?” The nature of God, he means, O Balak, is unchangeable and unalterable; it does not have a changeable will like human beings. “Behold, I have been taken to bless; I will bless, and I will not turn back.”

What is the meaning of “Like the glory of a unicorn to him”? The unicorn is an animal with one horn on its head. About it God the Master also said to Job, “Will the unicorn be willing to serve you?”, teaching by this both the animal's strength and its untameableness. Some have likened God the Master to it; but I think this was said about the people: as the unicorn has one horn, so the pious people worships one God. Hence the blessed David also says, “In you we will gore our enemies.” How the one God is to be understood we have said many times. And “There shall be no augury in Jacob, nor divination in Israel; in due time it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God will accomplish” is to be understood thus: that neither divination nor the observation of birds has power to foretell what God will accomplish against Israel. For God the Master both foretells to Israel what will be through his own prophets and suggests what is to be done.

What is the meaning of “Balaam did not go as usual to meet the omens”? Having learned by experience that he gained nothing by using his vain art, since the one who turned his tongue to whatever he wished was immeasurably more powerful, he no longer used the customary signs but set his tongue apart for the service of God. It must be known, however, that some thought he foretold nothing about our Saviour. They ought to have noticed that God revealed the coming of our God and Saviour even to Nebuchadnezzar, who was very impious. For he saw a stone cut without hands, striking the image and crushing the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the clay, and becoming a great mountain and covering the whole earth. He who foretold those things through him also foretold the salvation of the world through this man, so that such predictions might be preserved among the nations too. The outcome of events bears witness to this prediction. For he who sprang from Judah according to the flesh plundered not only the leaders of Moab but all the sons of Seth; and all human beings are sons of Seth, for Noah was a descendant of Seth, and the whole of human nature is from Noah. He also foretold the victory of the Macedonians over the Persians: “For one shall come out,” it says, “from the hand of Kittim, and they shall afflict Asshur, and they shall afflict the Hebrews.” Alexander indeed destroyed the kingdom of the Persians; and Antiochus, campaigning against the Jews, took their capital and made the divine temple desolate. These predictions, however, do not belong to false divination but to the working of the all-holy Spirit. For he who commanded the donkey to use a human voice against nature also foretold the future through the diviner's tongue: “For the Spirit of God,” it says, “came upon him.” This happened also in the lawless Saul; hence, because of the strangeness of it, the proverb arose, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” Having had such experience from God, the false diviner devised other schemes against God. Realizing that, walled about by God, they had invincible power, he contrived for them impiety through licentiousness, so that, stripped of divine help because of their impiety, they would be easily taken. He advised the Midianites to arm against them not their men but their women, and to make the beauty of their bodies and the bait of their words their weapon, so that, enticed by their beauty and charmed by their words, they would worship their idols. This the blessed Moses taught us, when after the victory over the Midianites he rebuked those who had taken the women alive. For he said, “Why have you saved every female alive? For these were, by the word of Balaam, the cause of the sons of Israel's falling away and disregarding the word of the Lord for Phogor's sake, and the plague came on the assembly of the Lord.” Phogor is the name of the idol. Of this impiety the divine David also made mention: “And they were initiated into Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices of the dead.” For this reason God also ordered them to be hostile to the Midianites, “because they are hostile to you,” he says, “by deceit, through Phogor.” When the people had sinned, the leaders were hanged, as Symmachus said, as not having removed the evil from among them. And “The kingdom of Gog will be exalted” Symmachus rendered thus: “And his king will be exalted above Og.” The saying shows that even when Og attacked they would prevail, because of the king who would spring from them according to the flesh.

For what reason did God order the people to be counted again? Since he had already pronounced sentence against those who had been counted, and was about to bring their children, of whom they had said that they would become captives, into the promised land, he ordered these too to be counted, to show the power of his own blessing: even though the fathers had been destroyed, the number remained the same.

Why did God order the land to be divided by lot? So as to quench all strife and contention, since God was distributing the land through the lot; for he did not order the matter to be entrusted to some chance. The divine apostles also did this before the all-holy Spirit came upon them: casting lots, they begged the one who knows all things clearly to show the worthier man. So too the divine Paul said about us: “In whom we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.”