Latin original · 39 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss · long chapter, split into parts; this part covers 59:1064–59:1102 (1230 verses in all)
'And they took it for an inheritance' — this is true, because they were there and had settled there. Then what is added: 'And the Lord gave them rest round about, as he had sworn to their fathers' — this is true, because while Joshua was still living the remnants of those nations did not indeed yield to them, yet none of them dared to provoke to war those who had settled in the lands. For this reason it was said, and what is then added: 'Not one stood before their face out of all their enemies.' But what follows: 'But the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands' — he willed these to be understood as the enemies who dared to go out to meet them in battle. Then what he says: 'There fell not one of all the good words which the Lord had spoken to the children of Israel' —
'they all came to pass' — this is how he wishes it to be understood: that although those men had already acted against the Lord's command by sparing some of those seven nations and making them subject, still these remained safe among them. Therefore, when he had said 'of all the words,' he added 'good,' because the curses appointed for despisers and transgressors had not yet come. It remains, then, that what he says: 'The Lord gave to Israel all the land which he had sworn to give to their fathers' should be understood in this sense: that even though there still remained of those nations some to be crushed and exterminated, or of others as far as the river Euphrates to be either subjugated
if they did not resist, or to be destroyed if they did resist — nevertheless they were left for their use, that in them they might be exercised, lest, being weak through carnal affections and desires, they should be unable to bear so sudden and great a prosperity of temporal things with moderation and to their benefit, but being lifted up should perish the more quickly; this will be shown in due place in another passage. All the land, therefore, was given to them, because even that portion which had not yet been given into their possession had already been given for a certain usefulness of exercise. As to what he says:
'Not one stood before their face out of all their enemies' — it may be asked how this can be true, since it was written earlier concerning the tribe of Dan that their enemies did not permit them to go down into the valley and prevailed against them in the mountains. But what we said — when Scripture had recorded the twelve sons of Jacob as born in Mesopotamia, where Benjamin had not been born — is to be understood here also: that for the whole people eleven tribes are reckoned by that rule which has become sufficiently known to us in other passages of the Scriptures.
But if the reason is asked why this tribe, in the lot which fell to it, did not obtain sufficient lands and was afflicted by those who held them, it must be believed to lie in the secret counsel of God. Yet nevertheless, when Jacob blessed his sons, he said such things concerning this Dan that from that very tribe the Antichrist is thought to be destined to arise; on which we have not undertaken to say more now. This question can also be resolved thus: that 'not one stood before their face out of all their enemies' when they waged war together under the command of a single leader, before the several tribes were assigned their places to be defended. 'And in the sacrifices of our peace-offerings.'
Because 'sacrifices' is said in the plural, 'peace-offerings' also is in the plural. Here it must be more carefully noted how it is customary to say 'sacrifice of salvation,' since, if we take it of Christ — because he himself was called 'the salvation of God' — it does not appear how this word can be understood in the plural: for our Lord Jesus Christ is one. Although 'anointed ones' are spoken of through his grace, as is read in the psalm: 'Touch not my anointed ones'; yet whether they can be called 'saving ones' or 'salvations' is not to be lightly ventured, for he alone is the Saviour of the body. As to what Joshua says concerning his approaching death: 'But I run back the way, as also all who are upon the earth' — in that interpretation which is from the Hebrew we find: 'I go the way.'
Thus, then, is to be understood what the Septuagint said, 'I run back,' just as it was said to man: 'Until you return to the earth from which you were taken,' so that it may be understood as said with reference to the body. But if we should wish to take it with reference to the soul, in the way it is put in Ecclesiastes: 'And the spirit shall return to God who gave it,' I do not think it can be said of all, but of those who have so lived that they deserve to return to God as to the Author by whom they were created. For neither can this be rightly understood of those of whom it is said: 'A spirit going forth and not returning.' But if this holy man Joshua son of Nun had not added: 'as also all who are upon the earth,' there would be no question;
for we would believe nothing else concerning him than what we read him to be worthy of. But since it was added: 'as also all who are upon the earth,' it is remarkable whether this word, which the Latin translator rendered 'I run back,' ought not rather to be rendered 'I run through' or 'I run out,' if this can be said of what the Greek has, apotrechō. For all run through or run out the way of this life when they have come to its end. But because this word was used where Rebecca's parents say to Abraham's servant: 'Behold Rebecca; take her and run back; and let her be wife of your master's son,' therefore here too this word was so translated. As to what the seventy translators have:
'And I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him into all the land' — the interpretation which is from the Hebrew has: 'And I brought him into the land of Canaan.' It is remarkable, then, if the Septuagint wished to put 'all the land' for 'the land of Canaan' — unless it was looking to prophecy, so that it might rather be taken, out of God's promise, as though already accomplished, what was most certainly foretold as to come in Christ and in the Church, which is the true seed of Abraham, not in the children of the flesh but in the children of the promise. 'And those who dwelt in Jericho warred against you.' It may be asked how this is true, since with their gates shut they only protected themselves within the circuit of their walls. But it was rightly said, because even to shut one's gates against an enemy pertains to war.
For they did not send envoys to sue for peace. Hence, if it had been said: 'They fought against you,' it would be false. For war does not consist of continual fighting, but sometimes of frequent, sometimes of rare, sometimes of no fighting at all. Yet it is war when there is, in a manner, armed dissension. What is the meaning of this, that among the other things which Joshua son of Nun records the Lord to have done for the Israelites, he says: 'He sent hornets before you and drove them out from your face'? This is also read in the book of Wisdom, and yet nowhere is it found to have actually happened in the things which were done.
Or did he perhaps, using the word 'hornets' figuratively, wish to be understood the sharpest stings of fear, by which — as though by flying rumours — they were goaded so as to flee; or the airy hidden spirits, of which he says in the psalm: 'through evil angels'? Unless perhaps someone should say that not all things which were done have been written down, and that this too was done visibly, so that he would have real hornets understood. What is the meaning of what Joshua said to the people: 'You will not be able to serve the Lord, for God is holy'? Was it because to be in a manner made conformable to his holiness by a perfect service is impossible to human frailty? On hearing this they ought not only to have chosen his service but also to have presumed upon his help and mercy:
which he understood who says in the psalm: 'Enter not into judgment with your servant, for in your sight shall no living man be justified.' But these men chose rather to presume upon themselves, that they could serve God without any offense, so that they might begin even then. This the Apostle expressed concerning them: 'For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish their own, they have not been subject to the righteousness of God.' Thus the law was already entering in among them, so that the offense might abound, and afterwards grace might much more abound through the Lord Christ, who is the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone who believes. What is the meaning of what the same Joshua says, speaking to the people: 'And now put away the strange gods which are among you, and direct your hearts to the Lord God of Israel'?
For it is not to be believed that they still had among them any idols of the nations, since he had earlier praised their obedience; or indeed, if they did have them, that after such threats of the law those prosperous things would follow them, when such vengeance had been taken upon them because one of them had committed theft from the accursed thing. Moreover, Jacob said this to those who had gone out with him from Mesopotamia, where idols were so worshipped that even Rachel stole her father's; but after Jacob's admonition they gave up what they had: whence it appeared that this was said to them in such a way because he who had spoken knew that they had them. But now, after this admonition of Joshua son of Nun, no one produced any such thing. Nor, however, is it to be thought that he gave this command in vain; for he does not say:
'And now put away the strange gods, if there are any among you,' but altogether as one who knows there are such, he says: 'which are among you.' Accordingly the holy prophet discerned that in their hearts there were thoughts of God alien to God, and he admonished that these themselves be put away. For whoever thinks of God such as God is not, certainly carries a strange and false god in his thought. But who is there who thinks of God such as he is?
And by this it remains for the faithful, so long as they journey away from the Lord, to put away from their heart the vain phantasms which rush in and thrust themselves upon those who think, as though God were such or such as he certainly is not, and to direct their heart to him faithfully, so that — in what manner and to what degree he knows to be profitable for us — he may himself make himself known through his Spirit, until every lie is consumed (whence it is said: 'Every man is a liar') and, not only impious falsehood but even the mirror and the riddle itself being done away, we may know face to face, even as we are known, as the Apostle says: 'We see now through a mirror in a riddle, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known.'
'And Joshua made a covenant with the people in that day, and gave them law and judgment in Shiloh before the tabernacle of the Lord God of Israel. And he wrote these words in the book of the laws of God; and Joshua took a great stone and set it up under a terebinth before the Lord. And Joshua said to the people: Behold, this stone shall be to us for a testimony, because it has heard all the things which were said by the Lord, whatever he spoke to you today; and this shall be to you for a testimony in the last days, when you shall have lied to the Lord your God.'
Those who hear these words not merely on the surface but search them out somewhat more deeply ought by no means to think so great a man so foolish as to have believed that a lifeless stone heard the words of God which he spoke to the people; for even if it had been fashioned by a craftsman into the likeness of a man, it would surely be reckoned among those of whom it is sung in the psalm: 'They have ears and shall not hear.' For not only do the nations' idols of gold and silver not hear, but even if they be of stone, do they hear? But through this stone he assuredly signified him who was 'a stone of stumbling' to the unbelieving Jews and 'a rock of offense,' who, when he was rejected by the builders, was made the head of the corner.
Him also that rock prefigured which, being struck with wood, poured forth drink for the thirsting people, of which the Apostle says: 'And they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ.' Hence too this excellent leader circumcised the people with knives of stone; which stone knives were even buried with him, that they might show to posterity a profound mystery to be of profit. So then this stone also, though set up visibly, we ought to receive spiritually as a testimony to come against the unbelieving Jews — that is, the lying ones — of whom the psalm says: 'The enemies of the Lord have lied to him.'
For not without reason, although the servant of God Moses — or rather God through him — had already made a covenant with the people, which was in the ark that is called the ark of the covenant, and although in the books of the law so great a manifold variety of sacraments and precepts had been written, yet here too it was said: 'Joshua made a covenant with the people in that day.' For the repetition of the covenant signifies the new covenant; which Deuteronomy also signifies, which is interpreted 'the second law'; which the tablets renewed, after the former were broken, also signify. For in many ways that had to be signified which in one way was to be fulfilled. And now, as to the stone being set up under a terebinth, this signifies the same as the rod to the rock, that water might flow forth.
For neither here was the stone set up without wood. And it was set 'under' the tree, because he would not have been exalted on the cross unless he had first been subjected in humility; or because at that time, when Joshua son of Nun was doing this, the mystery still had to be kept in shadow. The terebinth wood also exudes a medicinal tear; this tree was placed here by the seventy translators, although according to other translators 'oak' is read. It is indeed remarkable that even in his very last words, in which Joshua the man of God addressed the people, he in no way rebuked them for having spared those nations which the Lord had commanded to be destroyed even to utter extermination with the curse. For thus it is written:
'And it came to pass, after the children of Israel had grown strong, that they made the Canaanites subject, but did not utterly destroy them with destruction.' For at first Scripture testified that they could not do it; but now, after they had prevailed so as to make them obedient, that they did not also utterly destroy them was surely done against the Lord's command — which was done by no one while Joshua led the army. Why, then, did he not rebuke them in his final address, that in this they had neglected the Lord's precepts?
Or was it perhaps because Scripture first said that they could not do it — surely before they had prevailed — that even when they had prevailed they are to be believed to have feared lest, if they should refuse to spare those who were ready to obey, they might drive them out of very desperation to fight the more fiercely against them, and might not be able to overcome them? This human fear, then, the Lord was unwilling to impute to them, even though a certain slight defect of faith appears in it: for if their faith had been strong in them, those things would have followed which followed Joshua himself when he warred. But because there was not so great a faith in them, even when they had prevailed over their adversaries, out of fear they did not dare to fight with them even to their utter destruction.
This fear, as I have said, coming not from malice nor from pride nor from contempt of the Lord's precept, but from weakness of soul, the Lord was unwilling to impute to them, when he spoke to them through the last words of the laws. Whence the Apostle also says: 'Alexander the coppersmith showed me much evil; the Lord will repay him according to his works.' But concerning those who had deserted him in his peril not from malice but from fear, he spoke thus: 'At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me; may it not be imputed to them.' BOOK SEVEN. QUESTIONS ON JUDGES. QUESTION I. At the end of the book of Joshua son of Nun, the narrator briefly extended the history up to the point where the children of Israel turned aside to worship strange gods;
but in this book he returns to the order, telling how the events followed in sequence after the death of Joshua son of Nun. The book, therefore, does not begin from that time when the people slipped away to worship idols, but from earlier interposed times, in which those things were done, after which it comes to that point. 'And it came to pass, after Joshua died, that the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying: Who shall go up with us against the Canaanite as leader, to war against him? And the Lord said: Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.' Here it is asked whether some man was called Judah, or whether he so named the tribe itself, as is customary. But those who inquired of the Lord were seeking a leader after the death of Joshua son of Nun:
whence it is thought that the name of a single man is expressed. But because Scripture is not accustomed to name leaders when they are appointed without also recording the origin of their parents, and since it is established that after Joshua the people of Israel had leaders — of whom the first is Othniel son of Kenaz — it is more rightly understood that by the name of Judah the tribe of Judah was signified. For the Lord willed the crushing of the Canaanites to begin from that very tribe. And when the people had inquired about a leader, the Lord's response availed to this, that they might know God did not will war to be waged against the Canaanites by the whole people. He said, therefore: 'Judah shall go up.' And Scripture follows, narrating: 'And Judah said to Simeon his brother' — namely, tribe to tribe.
For those sons of Jacob who were called Judah and Simeon, named among their other brothers by their proper names, were no longer living; but the tribe of Judah said to the tribe of Simeon: 'Go up with me into my lot, and let us war against the Canaanite, and I too will go with you into your lot.' It is clear that the tribe of Judah asked the help of another tribe for itself, which it would repay when those too began to have need in their own lot. 'And Caleb said: Whoever shall strike the City of Letters and take it first, to him I will give my daughter Achsah for a wife.' This was already recorded in the book of Joshua son of Nun; but whether it was done while Joshua was living and is now repeated by recapitulation, or after his death — since it was said:
'Judah shall go up,' and Judah began to make war on the Canaanites, in which war all these things are narrated to have been done — this is rightly asked. But it is more credible that it was done after Joshua's death, and there recorded by prolepsis, that is, by anticipation, as also other things. For now, when the deeds done against the Canaanites by the tribe of Judah were being set forth, the order of the narrative thus holds together, among the other warlike deeds of Judah, concerning whom after Joshua's death the Lord had said: 'Judah shall go up.' 'And afterwards the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanite who dwelt in the hill country and the south and the lowland.'
'And Judah went against the Canaanite who dwelt in Hebron, and Hebron came out to meet him — now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath-arba (Sepher) — and he struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the sons of Anak. And they went up thence to those who dwelt in Debir. Now the name of Debir before was City of Letters. And Caleb said: Whoever shall strike the City of Letters and take it first, to him I will give my daughter Achsah for a wife.' It is established, then, from this so clear an order of the events that were done, that this took place after Joshua's death. But then, when the cities given to Caleb himself were being recorded, the narrator, advancing as occasion offered, anticipated what was done afterwards.
Yet I think it was not without purpose that Scripture wished to record twice this matter of Caleb's daughter given as a reward to the victor. Another question arises concerning Caleb's daughter, because in the book of Joshua son of Nun it is said of her thus: 'And it came to pass, as she was going in, that she took counsel with him, saying: I will ask my father for a field; and she cried out from the ass,' and so on, where she asks a field of her father and it is granted; but here it says: 'And it came to pass, as he was going in, Othniel urged her to ask a field of her father.' But in that it was there said, 'as she was going in,' and here it is said, 'as he was going in,' there is nothing contrary; for they were going in on the road together. As to what was there said:
'She took counsel with him' — that is, with her husband — 'saying: I will ask my father for a field; and she cried out from the ass,' and she asks — in that she took counsel there she was urged to ask: of which the one was said there, the other here. Both, however, might thus be stated: 'And she took counsel with him, saying: I will ask my father for a field; and he urged her. And she cried out from the ass.' Moreover, whereas there she is reported to have asked a field, and the name of that field is not passed over in silence, here, when she had been urged by her husband to ask a field, she is said to have asked, not a field, 'crying out from the beast of burden' — which was there said 'from the ass' — but the redemption of water, because she had been given over into the land of the south; and Scripture added:
'And Caleb gave her, according to her heart, the redemption of the high places and the redemption of the low places' — what this means is obscure; unless perhaps the field itself was asked for this reason, that she might have from its fruits wherewith to redeem water, of which there was scarcity in those regions to which she was being led as a bride. But 'Caleb gave her the redemption of the high places and the redemption of the low places' — I do not see what we should understand except 'of the streams,' of the high places evidently in the hill country, of the low places in the plains or in the valleys. 'And Judah did not inherit Gaza and its border, and Ashkelon and its border, and Ekron and its border, and Ashdod and its adjacent parts. And the Lord was with Judah.'
'And he inherited the mountain, because he could not inherit those who dwelt in the valley, because Rechab withstood them, and they had iron chariots.' When in the book of Joshua son of Nun I was treating that passage where it is written: 'And the Lord gave to Israel all the land,' although they did not yet possess many parts of it, I said that 'all the land was given' can be understood thus, because that which was not given into possession was given for a certain usefulness of exercise: this appears here much more evidently, since the cities which Judah did not inherit are recorded, and it is said: 'And the Lord was with Judah. And he inherited the mountain, because they could not inherit those who dwelt in the valley.'
For who does not understand that this very thing also pertained to that, that the Lord was with Judah, lest by suddenly obtaining everything he should be lifted up? For what he adds: 'because Rechab withstood them, and they had iron chariots' — which chariots he feared, it was said: not the Lord who was in Judah, but Judah himself. But if it is asked why he feared, with whom the Lord was, this is what must be prudently understood: that God, being propitious, checks even in the hearts of his own the excesses of too much prosperity, so that he may turn enemies to their use, not only when the enemies are conquered but also when they are feared — the one to commend his own bounty, the other to repress their exaltation.
For surely the enemy of the saints is the angel of Satan, whom nevertheless the Apostle says was given to him to buffet him, lest he should be exalted by the greatness of the revelations. 'And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken; and he inherited thence the three cities of the sons of Anak, and took away thence the three sons of Anak.' This was already said in the book of Joshua son of Nun, since it was done while he was living; but here it is recorded by recapitulation, when Scripture was speaking of the tribe of Judah, from which Caleb was. It is asked how it was said: 'And the children of Benjamin did not inherit the Jebusite dwelling in Jerusalem;'
'and the Jebusite dwelt with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this present day,' when earlier it is read that the same city was captured and burned by Judah, the Jebusites in it having been slain. But it must be recognized that this city was common to two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, as the very division of the lands shows, which was made by Joshua son of Nun. For it is the same Jebus which is Jerusalem. Therefore these two tribes remained by the temple of the Lord, when the others — except Levi, which was priestly and did not receive lands in the division — separated themselves from the kingdom of Judah with Jeroboam.
It is to be understood, then, that the city was indeed captured by Judah and burned, those being slain who were found there, but that not all the Jebusites were destroyed — either because they were outside that city, or because they were able to flee: and that the remaining Jebusites were admitted by the children of Benjamin — with whom, together with Judah, that city was common — to dwell there together. Therefore what was said, 'the children of Benjamin did not inherit the Jebusite,' is to be understood to mean that they could not, or would not, make them tributaries. Or certainly 'he did not inherit the Jebusite' was said because he did not hold, without him, the land which was possessed by him. 'And Manasseh did not inherit Beth-shan, which is the city of the Scythians.' This is today said to be called Scythopolis.
But it may cause perplexity how in those parts, so far different from Scythia, there could be a city of the Scythians. But similarly it may cause perplexity how, so far from Macedonia, Alexander the Macedonian founded the city of Alexandria — which indeed he did by waging war far and wide. So too, when the Scythians at some time advanced far in warfare, they were able to found this city. For it is read in the history of the nations that the Scythians at one time held almost all of Asia, when those who had of their own accord declared war upon them went out to meet the king of the Egyptians, at whose coming he, being terrified, withdrew into his own kingdom. 'And Manasseh did not inherit Beth-shan, which is the city of the Scythians, nor its daughters.'
By 'its daughters' he means the cities which it, as a mother-city, had established. 'And it came to pass, when Israel prevailed, that they put the Canaanite to tribute, and driving out did not drive him out.' Something of this kind was already said in the book of Joshua son of Nun in almost the same words. Accordingly, either it is said here by recapitulation, or it was said there by prolepsis — that is, either here by recounting again, or there by anticipating. 'And the Amorite pressed hard upon the children of Dan in the mountain, because he did not permit them to go down into the valley.' This too likewise was either recorded in the book of Joshua son of Nun by anticipation, or here by recapitulation. 'And the angel of the Lord went up over Clauthmon (the Place of Weeping).' The writer of the book called the place by this name because he wrote afterwards;
for when the angel of the Lord went up over it, it was not yet so called. It received its name indeed from weeping, because in Greek klauthmos means 'weeping.' For there the people wept, when they had heard from this angel the words of the Lord taking vengeance upon them, because they had been disobedient, in that they had not exterminated the peoples according to his command — the peoples over whom they prevailed — choosing rather to make them tributaries than to slay and destroy them, as the Lord had commanded.