This event was a token that the bitterness of the Gentiles would one day be turned into sweetness through the wood of the cross. And when the people had no water to drink, the rock is struck with wood; and it gives by grace what it had not by nature. When the fierce enemy Amalek came against them, Joshua the son of Nun is commanded to hold the rod in his hand, and Moses to stretch out his arms in the manner of a cross; and thus through the figure of the cross the unconquerable enemy is overcome (ibid. 17). Nor was Elisha wholly ignorant of the power of this mystical wood, who, when the axe had slipped from its handle into the deep, called it up from the depths by casting wood into the river (2 Kgs. 6:5-7);
signifying assuredly that the hard hearts and iron necks of men, sunk in the depths of error, were hereafter to be subjugated by the wood of the cross. O cross, from which so great and so noble a fruit is plucked! And the fruit of the cross is the resurrection unto glory. This fruit of the wood was truly planted beside the running waters; for Baptism is ever joined to the cross. This wood gave its fruit in its season, it gave fruit meanwhile in the Lord's resurrection; and it shall give it also when He shall appear from the heavens, He who was seen upon the earth, when He shall come from on high, the shining sign of the cross going before Him:
then shall the bodies of the buried rise again, then shall the saints exult in glory, then shall they rejoice in their resting places, who now are not confounded by the cross of their King and Lord, but rather glory in it. SERMON 33. On Balaam and Balak. 1. Introduction. The reading that was recited to us today, dearly beloved brethren, says that the children of Israel, having set out, pitched their camp to the west of Moab beside the Jordan over against Jericho, and that Balak the son of Zippor saw it, and all the rest that the history full of these matters records concerning Balaam and the ass (Num. 22). But the inner meaning is far more laborious: and I know not whether it be even easy to expound merely the historical statements themselves; yet, God granting, we shall touch briefly on what we can. 2.
Balaam a magician rather than a prophet. This Balaam was most famous in the magic art, and mighty in noxious incantations. For he had no power or skill of words for blessing; but he had it for cursing. For demons are invited to cursing, not to blessing. And therefore, as one experienced in such things, he was in high repute among all who were in the East. For unless very many proofs of his had gone before—that he had frequently turned back an armed enemy by his curses—the king would surely not have presumed that this could be done by words which could scarcely be accomplished by sword and battle-line. Balak, therefore, being sure of this, and having often tested it, laid aside all instruments and aids of war, and sent messengers to him, saying:
'Come now, curse this people for me, for they are stronger than we: if perchance we may be able to smite some of them, and drive them out of the land.' And he added: 'I know,' he said, 'that whom you bless shall be blessed, and whom you curse shall be cursed.' I do not believe that the king knew that those whom he blessed would be blessed: but it seems to me that he said this for the sake of flattery, so that by exalting and extolling his art he might render him more ready for the crime. But at length the messengers come to Balaam. For, it says, there came the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian, with the tokens of divination in their hands. Balaam therefore, having received the tokens of divination—since demons were wont to come to him—found the Lord present, the demons indeed being put to flight.
He came therefore to Balaam: not because Balaam was worthy that God should come to him; but that those might be put to flight who had been accustomed to attend him for cursing and doing evil. And God said to Balaam: 'You shall not go with them, nor curse the people; for it is blessed.' God forbids Balaam to go and to invoke demons for cursing—if only he had ceased from covetousness. But because he persisted in his desire for money, God, indulging the liberty of the will, permitted him to go again. Balaam therefore mounted his she-ass: an angel met him, who kept watch on behalf of Israel, of whom it is written, the Lord saying to Moses: 'My angel shall go with you' (Exod. 32:34). To one bent on going, then, it is granted: on the way he is worn down by the ass.
But the magician sees the demons, yet does not see the angel; the ass, however, sees it: not that she was worthy to see the angel, just as neither was she worthy to speak; but that Balaam might be confounded, and, as Scripture says in a certain place, 'The dumb beast, answering with a human voice, reproved the prophet's madness' (2 Pet. 2:16). This ass, that is, the Church, first bore Balaam, but now bears Christ, from the time when she was loosed by the disciples, and released from the bonds by which she was bound, so that the Son of God might sit upon her, and with her might enter the holy city Jerusalem; and that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, 'Rejoice, O daughter of Zion: behold, your king comes to you, meek, sitting upon a beast of burden' (Matt. 21:5), that is, upon a she-ass.
By the she-ass, without doubt, he means those who believe from among the Jews; and by the young colt, assuredly those who from among the Gentiles believe in Christ. 3. Balaam and Balak, whose figures they are. This Balaam, which is interpreted 'a vain people,' seems to me to bear the persona of the Scribes and Pharisees of the Jewish people. But Balak, which is interpreted 'exclusion' or 'devouring,' is himself also to be understood as bearing the persona of some one adverse power of this world, which desires to exclude and to devour Israel. First of all, then, let us inquire concerning Balaam himself, why in the Scriptures he is now set down as blameworthy, now as praiseworthy.
For he is blameworthy when he builds altars, and lays victims upon them for the demon, and with magical apparatus seeks divine counsels: he is culpable when he gives the most wicked counsel, that the people should be deceived through the Midianite women and the worship of idols. Again he is shown praiseworthy, when the word of the Lord is put in his mouth, when the Spirit of God comes upon him, when he prophesies concerning Christ, when he proclaims to Jews and Gentiles the future mysteries of Christ's coming, when in place of curses he bestows blessings upon the people, and honors the name of Israel above visible glory with mystical eloquence. 4. Peroration. Let these few things out of many, brethren dearly beloved, suffice as spoken to you for the present;
but retain all things most diligently in your heart, and ever turn your hearts to the discernment of spiritual things: so that, since the Lord has now revealed to us every prophecy through the Gospel, we may be counted worthy to attain to that joy which the Lord has promised to those who live piously and justly; by the help of Him who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 34. That by the just judgment of God the children of Israel received the land of promise, the Canaanites being cast out. 1. The Canaanites justly expelled from their lands.
In the readings that were recited to us, dearly beloved brethren, we heard that, Moses being dead, Joshua took up the leadership, and, having crossed the Jordan, the Canaanites being expelled or slain, delivered their lands to the children of Israel to possess (Josh. 1, etc.). As often, dearly beloved brethren, as these readings from the Old Testament are recited, the pagans, or most especially the most unclean Manichaeans, are wont to blaspheme with sacrilegious mouth, and to say: 'What justice of God was it, that He should take the children of Israel by violence out of the land of Egypt, and afterwards, the Canaanite nations being expelled, should hand over their lands to them to possess?'
Therefore, lest perchance this profane murmuring should deceive any who are simple or unlearned, I desire, as far as I can, briefly, with God's help, to set forth to your Holiness the most true account handed down from the ancient Fathers; and to show that our God is not only merciful, but also just, and that His judgments are for the most part hidden, yet never unjust. 2. The first reason, unjust possession. The second reason, grave guilt. Our elders hand down that, when the sons of Noah divided the whole earth among themselves, this land which is called that of the Canaanites, in the division of the world, fell by lot into the possession of Noah's elder son, that is, Shem, and that he possessed it for no small time:
but afterwards the Canaanite peoples, increasing (descended assuredly from that son of Noah, Ham, who had been cursed by his father), came to those places; and by violence expelling their brethren, that is, the sons of Shem, possessed their land after a barbarous manner. And because blessed Abraham is read to have been of the race of Shem, his sons, that is, the peoples of Israel, did not overrun a foreign land, the Lord delivering it to them; but they received back their own proper land, which their fathers had lost through violence. And because the Canaanites, apart from that sin whereby they had invaded another's possession, committed many abominable and unheard-of crimes;
to such a degree that, when the Lord was overthrowing Sodom and Gomorrah, He is read to have said, 'For the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet complete' (Gen. 15:16): and the Lord was waiting either that they might be converted and do penance; or at least, if they were unwilling to be converted, that, heaping crimes upon crimes and filling up the measure of their sinning, they might undergo the most just sentence of God. Since therefore the divine judgment found them doubly guilty, in that they had both invaded the lands of others and afterwards committed unheard-of wickedness and crimes; by a just judgment they are punished, and to the people of Israel the possession of their ancient fathers is restored.
And these things indeed according to the letter, as we find in the books of the holy ones, we have thought fit to convey to your Charity in a homely and simple discourse, such as all might understand; that you may have what you can reply to the most unclean and sacrilegious Manichaeans. Since therefore, as has already been said, the children of Israel receive back the land of their ancient parents, they do not take a foreign land as though by injustice. 5. The land of promise: mankind before sin. By virtues, the natural possession of the heart. And these things indeed according to the letter are reported to have been done by the just judgment of God. But because, as the Apostle says, 'All these things happened to them in figure; and they were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come' (1 Cor. 10:11):
if you diligently attend, as by God's inspiration you have been wont to do, you shall recognize by the clearest reason what these things signify spiritually also. The land of promise, which so often God calls a land flowing with milk and honey, was ourselves before Adam sinned; when in us there was nothing else than what the mercy of the Creator had bestowed. But after we all sinned in Adam—of whom the Apostle says, 'All die in Adam' (1 Cor. 15:22); and again, 'By one man all unto condemnation' (Rom. 5:16 and 18)—through the transgression of the first man, the Canaanites had begun to possess the land of promise. For the will of the Lord had by nature assigned the possession of our heart, not to vices, but to virtues.
But after the transgression of Adam, the vices growing insolent, like the Canaanite peoples, the holy virtues were driven out from their proper region, that is, from the rational understanding or mind, and the vices remained. But when, by the grace of God, the possession of our soul shall again have been restored to the virtues, we shall be seen not so much to have occupied foreign lands as to have recovered our own. For when, by the Lord's help, the vices have been overcome by the people fighting against them with virtues, the place which the spirit of concupiscence or fornication was holding for itself in our heart, thereafter chastity will occupy; the place which fury had seized, wisdom will possess; the place which sorrow working death had invaded, saving gladness full of joy will obtain;
the place which the sloth of idleness or negligence was laying waste, humility will make honorable; the place which covetousness had darkened, mercy will recall to its former brightness; the place which envy had struck with its poison, kindly simplicity will adorn. Thus, the several vices being expelled, the virtues on the contrary will possess their places, that is, their affections. Yet these virtues are not without reason called the children of Israel, that is, of the soul that sees God: and when, by God's help, they shall have driven out all the passions of their heart, they are to be believed not so much to have overrun foreign possessions, as to have recovered their own lands. 4. It is recovered only through Jesus; and after the crossing of the Jordan, that is, Baptism.
And note this, brethren, which is recognized to pertain especially to the gift of grace. For not through the good of nature, nor through the Law of the letter: because not through Moses, that is, through the Law of the Old Testament, but through Jesus [Joshua] the successor of Moses is the land of promise restored to the people of Israel. For so also the Apostle says: 'The Law,' he says, 'brought nothing to perfection' (Heb. 7:19). Not through the letter of the Law, but through evangelical grace, could the cruel and most wicked nations, that is, original sins or actual crimes, be driven out from the land of promise, that is, from the hearts of Christians, with Jesus [Joshua] leading;
as He Himself says in the Gospel, 'No one can enter the house of a strong man, and spoil his goods, unless he first bind the strong man' (Matt. 12:29): and again, 'Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world' (John 16:33). For as the old Adam, by consenting to the devil, shut us out of the land of promise: so, on the contrary, the new Adam, Christ, by resisting the devil, recalled us to our ancient homeland. 5. The same argument is treated. And attend to this, brethren, that the land of promise is not received, unless first, with Jesus [Joshua] reigning, the river Jordan is crossed. So it is, brethren: for to the spiritual land of promise, that is, to a pure conscience, one comes only through the sacrament of Baptism.
For through that very river Jesus [Joshua] made the people of Israel to pass over, which afterwards the true Jesus consecrated by His own Baptism. 6. Adversity to be borne with equanimity. These things, then, which we have suggested to you, dearly beloved brethren, ruminate spiritually like clean animals. It is written, therefore, 'Whom God loves, He reproves and chastises' (Rev. 3:19); and, 'The furnace tries the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation just men' (Sir. 27:6). As often as, by the Lord's dispensation, we are permitted to be afflicted, or endure some adversities against justice, let us bear them patiently and with equanimity, by the Lord's help, on account of what the Apostle says:
'The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us' (Rom. 8:18). 'When we are afflicted, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with this world' (1 Cor. 11:32). We ought rather to fear, if we suffer either no tribulations or small ones in this age: because if God scourges every son whom He receives, without doubt him whom He does not scourge, He does not receive. If for earthly goods men endure such great labors and such grave perils with an even mind, why for the faith, an eternal treasure, are we sluggish? Why are we timid for those riches which not even shipwrecks can take from us? For the just man escapes shipwreck rich and naked. Of these riches holy Job was full.
Nothing remained in his house; all perished at a single blow, by which a little before he seemed wealthy: suddenly a beggar he sits on the dunghill, from head to foot swarming with worms. What is more wretched than this misery? What richer than this inner felicity? He had lost all those things which God had given: but he had Him who had given all things, God. 'Naked,' he says, 'I came forth from my mother's womb, naked shall I return into the earth. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it is done: blessed be the name of the Lord forever.' Surely he is poor, surely he has nothing. If nothing remained, out of what treasure are these gems of the praise of God brought forth? Afterward the tempter approached the flesh: all being taken away, he left the tempting wife.
He dismissed Eve, but that Adam he was not. And there, what manner of man was he found? How did he answer his wife suggesting blasphemy? 'You have spoken,' he said, 'like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evils?' (Job 1 and 2). O man rotten yet whole! O foul yet beautiful! O wounded yet sound! O man sitting on the dunghill, yet reigning in heaven! If we love him, let us imitate him: that we may imitate him, let us labor. He who has appointed the contest helps the one contending. God does not watch you contending in the arena as the crowd watches the charioteer. For the crowd knows how to shout; to help it does not know: it can prepare a wreath of iron, but cannot supply strength. For it is man, not God.
And perhaps, while it watches, it labors more by sitting than the other by wrestling. But God, when He watches His combatants, helps those who call upon Him. For the voice of His athlete is in the Psalm: 'If I said, My foot is moved, Your mercy, O Lord, helped me' (Ps. 93:18). Let us not therefore be sluggish, my brethren; let us seek, ask, and knock. He who seeks, finds; he who asks, receives; and to him who knocks it shall be opened (Luke 11:10); by the bounty of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 35. On what Jesus [Joshua] commanded the people, that they should be ready to cross the Jordan; and on the overthrow of the walls of Jericho. 1. Moses a figure of the Law.
Joshua a figure of the true Jesus. The faith of the Trinity unto Baptism. As we have frequently suggested to your Charity, dearly beloved brethren, Moses is understood to have had not only the type of Christ, but also the figure of the Law. Indeed, on the mountain where the Lord was transfigured, Moses and Elijah were speaking with Him (Matt. 17:3): and in those two the Law and the Prophets were signified. Moses being dead, therefore, Joshua took up the command; and, the Law ceasing, our Lord the true Jesus obtained the sovereignty of the whole world. That Jesus [Joshua], then, who bore the type of the Lord, coming to the Jordan, said to the people, 'Prepare for yourselves provisions for the third day' (Josh. 1:11).
The third day, dearly beloved brethren, we recognize to be the mystery of the Trinity. What provisions, then, ought we to prepare, that we may come to the third day? It seems to me that this provision ought to be understood as faith: for to Christians faith is that through which the Trinity is believed, and one arrives at the sacrament of Baptism. What that Jesus [Joshua] then said to his people, this now the true Jesus also says through His ministers to the Christian people. For what else is it to say, 'Prepare for yourselves provision for the third day,' but 'Receive the sacrament of the Trinity'? After these things, the Jordan being crossed, as though the mystery of Baptism being completed, the people of Israel enters the land of promise.
It is true, dearly beloved brethren, unless one shall have passed through the sacrament of Baptism, he shall not see the land of the true promise, that is, eternal blessedness. 2. Two spies, two precepts. Yet Jesus [Joshua] sends two spies to the city of Jericho, and they are received by a harlot (Josh. 2). In these two who were sent are understood the two precepts of the twofold love. For indeed what else do those whom the true Jesus sends announce to us, but that we should love God, and love our neighbor? Jesus [Joshua], then, said, 'Prepare for yourselves provisions, and be ready on the third day.' For just as then, the provisions being prepared, on the third day they came to the river Jordan;
so also now, in the catholic Church, the spiritual provisions of faith, hope, and charity being taken up, one arrives at the mystery of the Trinity and the sacrament of Baptism. 3. The stones in the Jordan, the Patriarchs; those set in the camp, the Apostles. Now Jesus [Joshua] took twelve stones, and set them in the Jordan: and from that same Jordan he took another twelve, and fixed them in the place of the camp (Josh. 4). Those twelve which were sent into the Jordan seem to me to have had the type of the Patriarchs: but those which were lifted up out of the Jordan, to have had the figure of the Apostles. For after the death of Moses, the Patriarchs being buried, the Apostles arose. So also in the Psalm we read: 'Instead of your fathers,' it says, 'sons are born to you:'
'you shall make them princes over all the earth' (Ps. 44:17). Thus, the Patriarchs being buried, the Apostles arose. Jesus [Joshua] sends two spies: because the true Jesus was about to teach how, the older people being buried in the desert, the younger people, with Jesus [Joshua] as leader, is led into the land of promise. 4. The figure of the Jews and of the Gentiles. For that older people had the type of the Jews; but the younger people had the figure of the Gentiles. That older people, having crossed the Red Sea, is buried in the wilderness: but the younger people crosses the river Jordan for this, that it may receive the kingdom. It is true, brethren: no one receives the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom, unless he first has passed through the sacraments of Baptism.
For of that older people no more than two were counted worthy to enter the land of promise: and in these two we recognize that something was figured. For as was said above, they are the two precepts of love, which invite the Christian people to attain eternal life. So those two were they who gave counsel to the people of the Jews, that if they believed in God, they would happily enter the land of promise. 5. Jericho a type of the world. The priestly trumpet. The sound of the trumpet is of terror, not of delight. After these things they came to the city of Jericho, and its walls, by the shout of the people and the sound of the trumpets, were cast down to the foundations (Josh. 6). Jericho, brethren, had the type of this world.
For as then, the trumpets sounding, the walls of that city fell; so also now it is fitting that the city of the world, that is, pride, with its towers, namely avarice, envy, and luxury, together also with its peoples, that is, all evil concupiscences, be destroyed and perish by the constant preaching of the priests. It is not fitting, therefore, that priests be silent in the church; but let them hear the Lord saying, 'Cry aloud, cease not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their crimes' (Isa. 58:1). We are commanded, therefore, to cry out; and to cry out vehemently and not to spare the voice, that we may spare salvation. 'Spare not,' He says, that is, the sinner's iniquity:
lest by keeping silent you perish, and while you consult his shame, you do not consult his healing, lest the wounds of his which you might have cut away by crying out, you foster to a worse state by keeping silent. We are commanded, therefore, to cry out; and, lest anyone say he did not hear, or lest the voice of the priest escape anyone, to cry out vehemently. And lest perhaps this itself should not suffice, He added, saying: 'Lift up your voice like a trumpet.' You know that the sound of the trumpet is wont to be not so much of delight as of terror; nor to present pleasure so much as to instill dread. The trumpet, therefore, is necessary for sinners, which may not only penetrate their ears, but also shake their hearts: nor delight by its music, but chastise by its hearing:
that it may exhort all the vigorous unto good, and terrify the slack on account of their offenses. For as in battle the trumpet casts down the mind of the fearful soldier, and kindles the spirit of the brave man; so also the priestly trumpet humbles the mind of the sinner, and strengthens the mind of the just: and by one and the same sound this exhortation, just as, if a man be stronger, it instills into him terror for overcoming; so, if he be more sluggish, it relaxes him unto sinning. For this is the custom of the trumpet, that it scatters the works of offenders, and confirms the deeds of the saints. 6. Through the trumpets the walls of Jericho fall; through preaching, iniquity. In short, through the priestly trumpets the walls of Jericho, which contained within themselves the sinful people, fell down.
No battering-ram struck them, no siege-engine stormed them; but—which is wondrous—the priestly sound and the terror of the trumpet overthrew them. Walls which had stood impregnable against iron were shattered by the sacred voice of the trumpets. For who would not be astonished that at that deed the rocks were burst asunder, the foundations of irrational things shaken by the clangor; and thus all things collapsed, so that, while the victors harmed nothing with their hand, among the adversaries nothing remained standing? Yet, although no one touched those walls, they were nevertheless stormed—from without by the sound of the just, from within by the sound of the sinners. For thus by the just judgment of God they both opened the way to the just, and denied all defense to the perishing. But that all these things were done in figure, there is no doubt.
For what else do we believe those trumpets of the priests of that time to have prefigured, than the preachings of the priests of this time, which cease not to announce to sinners with terrible sound the stern judgment, to proclaim the sorrowful destruction of Gehenna, and with a certain clamor of threatening to strike the ears of offenders? For as then the clangor of the trumpets, the walls of masonry being destroyed, reached to the inner parts of the people; so now the preaching of the priests, evil thoughts being destroyed, passes through to the bare parts of the soul. And as the sound of the sacred voice destroyed and took captive the obstinate people; so also now the priestly preaching subjugates and takes captive the sinful people: as the blessed apostle Paul says, 'The weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the destruction of fortifications, casting down counsels, and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ' (2 Cor. 10:4-5). See, therefore, whether the tongues of the priests be not, according to the Apostle's saying, certain weapons of words, by which vain thought is destroyed, and puffed-up pride is taken captive. Seven days, then, as Scripture says, the walls of Jericho, encompassed by the priestly trumpets, fell. Wherefore we, comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1 Cor. 2:13),