Questions on the Octateuch 5.43–6.14

Why, for a small fault, was Moses ordered to see the land from afar but prevented from bringing the people in? Through these things the Master teaches us that he requires the highest virtue of those perfect in virtue; and while he is patient with other people who commit great transgressions, he does not grant this indulgence to the saints. A certain wise man said this too: “For the least is pardonable in mercy, but the mighty will be mightily tested.” And the Lord in the holy Gospels: “From the one to whom little is given, little will be required; but from the one to whom much is given, much will be required.” This too must be known: the Master arranges some things through others. So too he did not let this great prophet bring the people into the land of promise, so that the Israelites would not worship him as a god; for those who deified lifeless things and called the image of a calf a god would clearly have worshipped much more as a god the man who had been the minister of so many good things to them. For this reason God, who wisely governs our affairs, also made his tomb unknown. One should also know that Moses is a type of the law; hence the law too has the name “Moses”: “They have Moses,” it says, “and the prophets”; and, “To this day, whenever Moses is read”; and, “Death reigned from Adam until Moses.” For as we call “Isaiah” not only the prophet but also his book, and Jeremiah and Ezekiel not only the men but also their books, and “the Apostle” not only the herald of truth himself but also his book, so the law is named Moses, while Joshua son of Nun is a type of the Saviour of the world. As, then, Moses brought the people out of Egypt but Joshua brought them into the promised land, so the law frees those who obey it from impiety, but the grace … of heaven.

[End of question 43:] … of the Gospels brings into the kingdom of … [Question 44:] How are the blessings of the tribes to be understood? First the prophet recalled the divine appearing on Mount Sinai: “The Lord came from Sinai,” he says, “and appeared to us from Seir, and hastened from Mount Paran with the myriads of Kadesh; at his right hand angels with him.” In the wilderness of Paran and in Seir they enjoyed the divine care. Here “Kadesh” does not mean the wilderness but the meaning of the name; for in the Hebrew language “Kadesh” means “holy.” He said, then, that many myriads of holy angels were with the holy Master as he granted them his care. And of necessity he added: “And all the sanctified are under his hands, and these are under you.” For even if they have an invisible nature, they are subject to your lordship, for they have you as their maker. He foretells that the one who has now chosen Israel will shortly call all the nations too, and will himself be ruler and king of both: “For there shall be a ruler in the beloved,” he says, “when the peoples are gathered together with the tribes of Israel.” Having said this, he first blesses Reuben and lifts the father's curse, setting his love for his brothers against his lawless act toward his father; and as lawgiver he was free to change the curse into a blessing. “Let Reuben live and not die, and let him be many in number.” For since his father had said, “Do not boil over like water,” that is, do not grow warm in fruitfulness, fittingly he prayed for a multitude of descendants for him. Then, passing over the order, he gives the blessing to Judah, because of the Master who sprang from there according to the flesh. “For it is evident,” says the divine Apostle, “that our Lord arose from Judah.” He also foretells the kingdom of David: “Hear, O Lord,” he says, “the voice of Judah, and may they come to his people; his hands will contend for him, and you will be a help against his enemies.” Having thus blessed the royal tribe, he passes to the priestly one: “Give to Levi his manifestations and his truth, to the holy man.” The oracle lay on the priest's breast, and it held the manifestation and the truth; for many things were made manifest from it; and truth is joined to manifestation because what was manifested did not lie. “Whom they tested with a test, they reviled him at the water of contradiction.” He recalled what had been done to him and his brother. “He who says to his father and his mother, ‘I have not seen you,’ and did not recognize his brothers, and disowned his sons, kept your oracles and guarded your covenant.” The passage teaches the perfection of the priests. For the priest must despise all the things of this life and devote himself to the divine service. For this reason he gave them no allotment and did not legislate that they have property, but that they receive the firstfruits and the tithes from all the people, so that, freed from the cares of life, they might perform the sacred office entrusted to them in holiness. Thus Aaron, the first high priest, was not even allowed to bury his dead sons. And he says this: “Having made themselves perfect, they will make known your judgments to Jacob and your law to Israel; they will put incense in your wrath continually on your altar.” This also happened when the people were being punished: Aaron, by offering the incense, stopped the death sent by God. Then he asks the divine blessing for them: “Bless, O Lord, his strength, and accept the works of his hands.” For those who minister need bodily strength too, so that nothing may hinder their eagerness. “Break the loins of the enemies who rise against him, and let those who hate him not rise up.” By these words he curbs the boldness of those who seize power, and recalls what Korah, Dathan and Abiram suffered when they stirred up rebellion against the priests.

For what reason did he put Benjamin, the last, in fourth place? The capital belonged to this tribe, and the temple was built in it. Fittingly, therefore, he ranked the sacred place with the priestly tribe. The blessing too foretells this: “Beloved by the Lord,” he says, “he will dwell in confidence.” He also showed the cause of the confidence: “And the Lord overshadows him all the days, and he has rested between his shoulders.” For being near the divine temple he continually enjoyed the divine care. “He has rested between his shoulders” he said of God, who, having commanded the temple to be built in Jerusalem, made his own appearing there. After these tribes he blessed Joseph, and offered the blessing to the two tribes together: “From the blessing of the Lord is his land: from the seasons of heaven and dew, and from the springs of the deep below, and from the produce of the sun's turnings in their season, and from the conjunctions of the months, and from the top of the ancient mountains, and from the top of the everlasting hills.” He asked for him the good things given from heaven, the fruits supplied by the earth, which the rains water, the dews nourish and the sun ripens through the cycles of seasons and months; and not only the plain bears them but the mountain land too. To confirm the blessing he recalled the God who appeared in the bush. He says that Joseph also obtained the birthright, and that for this reason the tribe was divided in two and the one became two, since the firstborn received a double share. Teaching the strength of the tribes, he likened them to a unicorn and a bull; and he put Ephraim before Manasseh according to the forefather's blessing. For Zebulun and Issachar, the one living on the coast and the other as its neighbour, he prayed for victory in war, divine help and the good things of the sea: “For they will destroy nations,” he says, “and call there, and offer a sacrifice of righteousness, and they will suck the wealth of the sea and the trade of those who live on the coast.” For those near the sea enjoy not only their own fruits but also the goods brought from everywhere. He likened Gad to a lion; for so too the patriarch Jacob said: “Gad, a raiding band shall raid him, and he shall raid them at their heels.” He called Dan a lion's whelp leaping out of Bashan, since they suddenly attacked the city of Laish, took it, killed its inhabitants and made it their own dwelling. To Naphtali too he announced plenty from land and sea; for he too was a neighbour of the sea, having Galilee to the south. This the prophet and the evangelist also said: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, and the rest who live on the coast, and Galilee of the nations: the people who sat in darkness saw a great light.” “Fullness of acceptable things” Symmachus rendered “fullness of good pleasure”; it has the same sense, for acceptable things are those that please. For Asher too he asks both fruitfulness of land and plenty from the sea. For “He will dip his foot in oil, and his sandal will be iron and bronze” shows the abundance of good things.

Why did he not bless Simeon? Reuben had his brotherly love as an occasion for blessing, for through it he was freed from that curse; and Levi obtained the blessing because of the great Moses, for the one who lifted the curses from others much more lifted his own. But Simeon had no ground for obtaining the blessing. I think he was also the ringleader of the plot against Joseph; evidence of this is that that admirable man let all the others go but ordered this one alone to be seized, bound and imprisoned. Yet he too shared in the blessing; for he gave not only a particular blessing to each tribe, but also a common one to the whole people: “For Israel will dwell in confidence, alone, on the land of Jacob, on a land of grain and wine, and the heaven will be cloudy with dew for you.” And he added much else to the common blessing. After the blessings, God the Master showed the prophet the whole land but prevented him from entering it. This prefigures what was said by our Saviour: “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.”

And how does the name “minister” fit our Lord Jesus Christ? For it said about Joshua son of Nun, “The Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, the minister of Moses.” We also hear the Apostle saying, “For I say that Christ Jesus became a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises given to the fathers.” And again: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” As one born under the law, then, he was also shown to be a minister of the circumcision. So too he said to the Jews, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me.” And indeed they had said to Joshua son of Nun, “In everything that we heard from Moses, we will hear you too.”

Why, when God promised to give them every place on which the sole of their feet would tread, and the wilderness and the Anti-Lebanon as far as the great river Euphrates, did he not fulfil the promise? The text is clear and does not need much interpretation. First it is said, “Every place on which you tread with the sole of your feet I will give you.” It is likely, then, that under Joshua's command they did not tread on the rest of the land. And what follows settles the question completely. For he added, “As I said to Moses”; and he did not make the promise to him unconditionally, but “if you keep my commandments and my judgments.” They, then, as having transgressed the law at once, did not obtain the promise in full. But the divine apostles took possession not only of the places on which they trod, but also of those in which their all-wise writings were read; and they made the former wilderness a divine paradise. Of this wilderness the prophet Isaiah also said, “Rejoice, thirsty wilderness; rejoice, wilderness, and its villages.” And God the Master promised through his tongue that he would make the wilderness into marshes and the thirsty land into water channels; and he said that this wilderness would again become like Carmel. The heralds of the truth also inherited the Anti-Lebanon; and this too hints at the salvation of the nations, since Jerusalem was called Lebanon: “The great-winged eagle,” it says, “which has the leading to enter Lebanon, and he cropped the tender shoots of the cedar and the cypress.” He called the Babylonian an eagle, Jerusalem Lebanon, and the king and the rulers the tender shoots of the cedar and the cypress. These our Jesus sent out not only as spies but also as generals. And as the spies sent by Joshua son of Nun saved the harlot who believed, giving her the scarlet cord as a sign of salvation, so the apostles of our Saviour turned the church, once a harlot devoted to various idols, from its former licentiousness and granted it eternal good things, using not a scarlet cord as a sign but procuring salvation by the all-holy blood. Let no one think that Rahab is a type unworthy of the church; let him hear the Apostle saying, “For we too were once senseless, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” And again: “But then, not knowing God, you were slaves to those that by nature are not gods.” And elsewhere: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” And in another place: “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor men who lie with men, nor idolaters, nor the greedy, nor thieves, nor revilers, nor drunkards, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Then he added, “And such were some of you; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” So too Rahab was formerly a harlot, but she received the spies faithfully, and when the king ordered them to be handed over she did not yield but hid them; for she believed in the God of the Hebrews, and her words show her faith: “For I know,” she says, “that the Lord your God has given you the land; for the fear of you has fallen upon us. For we have heard that the Lord God dried up the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it our hearts were astonished, and there is no spirit left in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” True, then, is that word which God the Master spoke about Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I raised you up, to show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” For through what was done to him the God of the Hebrews became known to all. And the agreement of the spies agrees closely with the reality: “Anyone,” they said, “who goes out of the door of your house shall be responsible for himself, and we shall be guiltless of this oath of yours.” For us too salvation comes through the church; those outside it do not enjoy eternal life. And the rest of the history too sketched the reality in advance. For when they were about to cross the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “On this day I begin to exalt you before the sons of Israel.” This happened in the reality too. For as Joshua son of Nun was shown by the miracle at the Jordan to be a man dear to God, so also our Jesus, after the Jordan and John's baptism, began his teaching and his miracles. But perhaps to some it seems unfitting that “On this day I begin to exalt you” should be applied to our Lord and Saviour. Let them hear him saying to the Father, “Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” And the Apostle says: “Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.” But in being exalted he did not receive what he did not have; he showed what he had. For, while it was not known that he is the Son of the God of all, he was shown to be this when the Father said at the Jordan, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord also prefigured John the Baptist; for he too was a priest and a high priest's son. As, then, when the priests carrying the ark had gone first into the Jordan, the whole people crossed over with Joshua the prophet and general, so, when the illustrious John began to baptize and Jesus the Saviour sanctified the nature of the waters, the pious people enter the kingdom of heaven through all-holy baptism. And the twelve men and the twelve stones prefigured the divine company of the apostles; for the same men are both builders and foundations: “Built,” it says, “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” And again the same Apostle said, “As a wise master builder I have laid a foundation.” The “heap” Symmachus rendered “swelling”: for the rush of the waters, held back, as it were swelled up and rose to a crest; for the boundary set by the Creator held it back more strongly than any wall of adamant. The crossing took place before the Passover: they crossed on the tenth and celebrated the feast of the Passover on the fourteenth. For in the reality too, the partaking of the spotless lamb follows saving baptism.

How is “He circumcised the sons of Israel a second time” to be understood? This saying foreshadows the reality above all. For to those who had received the Mosaic circumcision the heralds of the Gospels brought the spiritual circumcision: “Believe,” they said, “and let each of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.” The divine Apostle called this the circumcision made without hands; and elsewhere: “For circumcision is of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter.” Those of the Jews, then, who believed in the Saviour, having the Mosaic circumcision, received the spiritual one besides. The “second time,” then, prefigures the reality, for it is impossible for the flesh to be circumcised twice. The surface meaning of the letter shows this: as God had given this law to Abraham at the beginning, so a second time he commanded Joshua to circumcise the uncircumcised. The Jews deserve to be lamented, since they cannot see that the circumcised were destroyed, falling into various punishments, while the uncircumcised were saved; the fathers perished, while the children received the promise. So we too, being children, receive the kingdom of heaven, while the Jews, who have the rank of fathers, have fallen from the eternal good things and been cast out of kinship with the patriarchs. They should have learned from this that circumcision is not always necessary. For God the Master, having foretold to Abraham the time of the sojourning, commanded circumcision; but when they had been freed from slavery in Egypt and were living in the wilderness, he did not require the keeping of this law nor exact a penalty for its transgression. For since they were living by themselves, free from mixing with foreign nations, they did not need the sign of circumcision. But when at last he brought them into the promised land, he commanded them to be circumcised, so that mixing would not ruin their piety. For if anyone happened to be led astray by deceit, it was easy to see the sign and to recognize the flock; for marked sheep, even if they get lost, are easily found.

Why did he order them to be circumcised with knives of stone? The crowd being circumcised was very great, and they had to be circumcised quickly and celebrate the feast of the Passover. It was likely, then, that people who had spent so long in the wilderness did not have many knives made of iron. Besides, the stone knives prefigure our circumcision. For Christ the Master is a rock: “For they drank,” it says, “from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” And the same is also called a sword: “For the Word of God,” it says, “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.” His saving teaching brings us the spiritual circumcision. The history taught that many of those born in Egypt too had not received circumcision, their parents, as is likely, being afraid to circumcise them because of the killing of the infants; and all, one might say, except a few of those born in the wilderness remained uncircumcised. The place was named Gilgal, and the name means freedom. Then the God of all said, “This day I have taken away the reproach of Egypt from you.” The saying signifies release from Egyptian slavery and impiety, and the taking of the promised land. And we learn that the one who is granted all-holy baptism and receives the spiritual circumcision puts off the reproach of sin.

Who is to be understood as the commander of the army of the Lord? Some say it was God the Word who appeared; but I think it was Michael the archangel. For when they sinned, the God of all said, “I will not go up with you, because the people is stiff-necked; but I will send my angel before your face, ahead of you.” I think it was he who now appeared to Joshua, encouraging him and signalling the divine help.

How then did he use the divine words, “Loose the sandal from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy”? Since the God of all had said to him, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you,” for this reason Joshua hears what Moses heard, so that he might become bolder, as having obtained the same dignity.

Why did he order the city of Jericho to be devoted to destruction? This was the first city they took after crossing the river. As, then, he commanded them to offer the firstfruits of their crops, so he ordered them to offer the first share of the spoils. Besides this, he exercises them through these laws in keeping the necessary laws. And showing them his own power, he arranged for them to take the first city without weapons or siege engines, and destroyed it by the sound of the trumpets alone, so that whenever they were defeated in battle they would know that they themselves had given the occasion for defeat by despising the divine laws.

Why did Rahab, though a foreigner, live among the sons of Israel, as the history teaches? This too prefigures our situation. For the Master said, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them too, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” For this reason, when he gave the law, he said, “There shall be one law for the proselyte and for the native.” And for this reason Moses the lawgiver did not prevent those of the Egyptians who wished to set out with them. And the wild olive had to be grafted into the cultivated olive, as the blessed Paul says.

What is the meaning of “With his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and with his youngest he will set up its gates”? Since he had dedicated the city to God, he fittingly razed it, thinking it improper that what had been assigned to God should become a common dwelling. And he cursed those who would rebuild it, so that the one who tried to cross the boundary would lose the firstborn of his sons when laying the foundations, and the last when setting up the gates. The history of the Kingdoms also mentions the curse.

Why, when Achan stole, was the whole people chastised? The thief supposed that he would escape God's notice as he escaped men's. God wished, then, both to expose him and to put fear into all, so that those who keep the divine laws would expose those who transgress them, since they would share in the punishment that would follow. Aquila rendered the “mantle” as “robe,” and Josephus as “cloak”; and the “tongue” as “a mass of gold.” It is clear from this that the valley the prophets call the valley of Achor is the one in which Achan was stoned; for “Emekachor” means “valley of Achor.”

Why did God order an ambush to be laid against Ai? He teaches them to use human ingenuity too, trusting, of course, in the divine influence. For since they had taken the first city by the sound of the trumpets alone, they very fittingly learn to struggle and toil and to wait for the divine help. And indeed, when they fought, he helped them and destroyed all who fled with thunderbolts and hail. The javelin with which Joshua roused the men in ambush Josephus rendered “shield,” and Symmachus likewise.

Some accuse the prophet of cruelty, because he killed everyone without exception and hanged the kings. Whoever accuses the prophet accuses the one who commanded these things. For the God of all himself, through Moses the lawgiver, commanded that all who had lived in that land be killed without exception, since they had done deeds worthy of utter destruction and had driven on to the extremity of lawlessness. For this reason too he brought the flood long ago, and consumed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire. And the prophet ordered the leaders to put their feet on the necks of the kings, so that, taking courage, they would draw up for battle more eagerly. This our Lord Jesus also commanded: “Behold,” he said, “I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.” May we too, then, put our feet on the necks of the hostile spirits.

Why did he make the Gibeonites hewers of wood and drawers of water? They deceived both by their appearance and by the falsehood of their words. And when they should have asked God the Master and only then made agreements with them, they trusted their false words, were persuaded, and confirmed the agreements by oath. But the God of all had commanded that all those peoples be put to death. Caught, then, between the divine command and the oaths, he made them servants of the sacred ministry. To serve God is not a dishonour but the greatest honour. And Noah's prediction had to reach its fulfilment: for he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant he shall be to his brothers.” In the Gibeonites the prediction reached its fulfilment.

What is the meaning of “Is this not written in the book that was found”? Having taught us the prophet's power, that by a word alone he stopped the great lights from moving until he had won a complete victory, the writer, suspecting that someone might not believe the account, said that it was found in the old writing. It is clear from this too that someone else of a later time wrote this book, taking its materials from another book. This too prefigures the Saviour's wonder-working. For as the sun stood still while the prophet fought, so when our Saviour was destroying death by death, the sun held back its rays and filled the world with darkness at midday.