Homilies on Joshua, Homily 1

Rufinus’s preface to Chromatius

The divine books tell us that for the construction of the tabernacle each person made an offering according to his means: the powerful and the people’s leaders offered gold, silver, and precious stones; others bronze and wood, but wood that does not decay; some also scarlet, purple, and fine linen, and others flax, which would serve for the garments of the priests and the robe of the high priest. The poorer, too, who offered red-dyed skins and goats’ hair, are not rejected. For this reason Bezalel is said to have been filled with all wisdom by God, so that, understanding for what uses each of these things was suited, he might reject nothing that the devotion of the givers offered. Since, then, you too, Father Chromatius, whom I always respect, instruct and command us to contribute something to the building and construction of the divine tabernacle from the wealth and resources of the Greeks, I have translated for you from Greek into Latin, within the limits of my ability, the twenty-six modest sermons on Jesus son of Nun which the aged Adamantius delivered spontaneously in church. As the Bezalel of our time, you must judge and weigh the things we offer: even if no pure gold is found in them that would serve for the altar, nor silver that would make the bases of the columns of the church or adorn their capitals, and if none of those stones can be found among them which, set into the breastplate, might adorn your high-priestly breast, conscious of divine things, you can at least see whether something of purple and of royal adornment is in them, or whether the color of scarlet and of mystic blood is woven in; whether anything imitates the purity of fine linen and the strength of flax, and has anything worthy of the priestly garments; and finally, whether you find red-dyed skins among us, that is, the modesty of a blushing brow; or at the very least, whether you find goats’ hair, with which we may cover our poverty, or, if we incur any faults, purge them by repentance. Let the whole of this, then, depend on your judgment. If there is anything that can please, let it be credited to the author; for we do not think it right to plunder what others have won by their labor and apply it to our own praise. But if my unpolished wording blunts the force of the thoughts, hold me responsible for this, or, if you will pardon my saying so, hold yourself responsible, since you demand from the unlearned a work that ought to have been assigned to the learned.

God has given the name that is above every name to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The name that is above every name is “Jesus.” Because this name is above every name, at the name of Jesus every knee bows, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. Because it is the name above every name, for many generations no one was called by it. Moses wrote the book of Genesis, in which we read of Abraham and of his descendants, many of whom were righteous; but none of them was found worthy to be called Jesus. Abel was not called Jesus, nor was the man who first began to call on the name of the Lord God, nor the man who pleased God and was taken away, whose death no one could find evidence of, nor Noah, the only person in his generation found righteous before God; not even Abraham, who had received the promises of the covenant, nor Isaac, who was born from him; nor Jacob the supplanter, nor any of his sons. Moses was faithful in all of God’s house, and yet he was not called Jesus. I first find the name Jesus in Exodus, and I want to examine when it is first given. “Amalek came,” it says, “and fought against Israel, and Moses said to Jesus in Rephidim.” This is the first mention of the name Jesus: “Choose for yourself mighty men from all the sons of Israel, and go out and fight with Amalek tomorrow.” Moses acknowledges that he cannot lead the army; he acknowledges that he cannot win, although he had led them out of the land of Egypt. So, it says, he called Jesus and said: “Choose for yourself men and go out.” You see to whom he handed over the war against Amalek. We first learn the name Jesus when we see him as the army's commander. Moses did not impose the command on him; he yielded the leading role to him. Moses cannot choose mighty men: “You,” he says, “choose for yourself mighty men from all the sons of Israel.” So, when I first learn the name Jesus, I immediately also see the sacred sign of the mystery: Jesus leads the army.

“When he raised his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he let down his hands, Amalek prevailed.” So Jesus gains strength and wins when Moses raises his hands. But that people was conquered by Amalek because he no longer raised his hands, but they were let down; for they are the ones to whom it is said: “If you believed Moses, you would surely believe me also. And look, you want to kill me, you who do not keep the law.” For since the law and the works of the law have ceased among them, because, seeking to establish their own righteousness, they were not subject to the righteousness of God, the hands of Moses were let down, unbelief prevailed, the people are defeated. But Nadab and Abihu and Eleazar are left in the camp to judge the people. Jethro too is left, to judge the people with them. Jesus, however, is not left behind, but follows Moses up the mountain, with the addition of a remarkable word: it says that he “stood by” Moses. How did he stand by him? Not as someone second in rank or inferior, but as a helper and protector. But what does this mean, that when he was first named, the name of his father was not indicated, nor the second time, nor the third; but when his father Nun is named, then he himself is called not Jesus but Hoshea? For among those who were sent to spy, his name is written Hoshea. And perhaps, as it seems to me, because of his role as a spy he was called not Jesus but Hoshea, and named son of Nun. But when he returns with the task completed, and, when all were terrified, alone raises up the fallen and alone lifts the people out of despair, then he is named Jesus by Moses; nor is he called son of Nun, but the one to whom Moses had said: “Lead out the army and fight against Amalek.” Considering this too, we perceive his greatness: that when at the transfiguration of Moses’ face the sight of all the sons of Israel was dazzled and no one could look at his face, Jesus not only looked at his face but also remained within the inner parts of the tabernacle, sharing in its mysteries.

Why, then, are all these things set before us? Surely because this book does not so much show us the deeds of the son of Nun as depict for us the mysteries of Jesus my Lord. He is the one who took command after Moses died; he is the one who leads the army and fights against Amalek; and what was there foreshadowed on the mountain by outstretched hands, he fastened to his cross, triumphing over principalities and powers in himself. Moses, then, is dead; for the law has ceased, since “the law and the prophets were until John.” Do you want me to bring proofs from the Scriptures that the law is called Moses? Listen to what he says in the Gospel: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them,” where he undoubtedly calls the law Moses. Moses the servant of God is dead, then; for the law is dead, and the commands of the law now cease. Or if you think my authority is too weak when I present these things, follow the authority of the Apostle, who says that a woman is bound to the law while her husband lives, and will be called an adulteress if she is with another man; but if her husband dies, she is freed from the law of the husband, so that she is no longer an adulteress if she is with another man. By the woman he undoubtedly means the soul which was held under the law of Moses, of which he says: “While the husband lives she is bound to the law. But if her husband dies” — undoubtedly the law — he declares the soul that seemed subject to it free. Therefore the law must die, so that those who believe in Jesus may not be charged with adultery.

Jesus, then, my Lord and Savior, has taken up the command; and, if you wish, let us compare the deeds of Moses with the command of Jesus. When Moses led the people out of the land of Egypt, there was no order among the people, no ceremonial observance among the priests. They pass through the water of the sea, salt water with no sweetness in it, and the water was a wall to them on the right and on the left. These things we know were done under Moses’ leadership. But when my Lord leads the army, let us see what is done, things which even then were foreshadowed. The priests go before; the ark of the covenant is carried on the shoulders of the priests; nowhere is there a sea any longer, nowhere does a salt wave meet us; but under the leadership of my Lord Jesus I come to the Jordan, and I come not in the confusion of flight, nor terrified by fear, but I come with the priests, who carry on their necks and shoulders the ark of the covenant of the Lord, in which the law of God and the divine writings are kept. I enter the Jordan not in stealthy silence, but to the songs of trumpets sounding something mystical and divine, so that I may advance to the proclamation of the heavenly trumpet. There it was said that the water was divided into two parts, and one wall of water was made on the right, another on the left. But here he who came to break down the middle wall of partition made both one: for on one side the water was raised up, while the other part flowed down into the sea. Then he says here: “Prepare provisions for yourselves for the journey”; and today, if you listen, Jesus says to you: If you follow me, prepare provisions for the journey. For the provisions are works, which accompany us to the journey to come like a faithful supply for the road. Let us see, however, since it is not fitting to read the divine writings carelessly and as if in passing, why he orders them to prepare provisions when they had no grain. For manna was their food. But when we have crossed the banks of this river, the manna ceases; and therefore if each one has not prepared provisions for himself, he will not be able to follow Jesus as he enters the land of promise. But see what fruits he first takes in the land of promise: “Then,” it says, “they ate first the fruits of the region of palms, and ate first unleavened bread.” You see, then, that for us who have left the road of this world, if we follow Jesus our king, the palm of victory meets us first, and, the leaven of malice and wickedness cast away, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth is prepared for us. Our Jesus, however, sends spies to the king of Jericho, and they are received as guests by a prostitute. But that prostitute who received the spies sent by Jesus received them so that she might no longer be a prostitute. And the soul of each one of us was a prostitute as long as it lived in the desires and lusts of the flesh. But it received the spies of Jesus, the angels whom he sent before his face to prepare his way. Yet if each soul receives them in faith, it does not place them in low or lower places, but in upper and lofty ones, because we have received the Lord Jesus not from lowly and earthly things, but as proceeding from the Father and coming from heaven.

I do not think the stalks of flax in which the spies hid lack a mysterious meaning either. For linen is a priestly garment, by which is signified either that the summit of the priesthood was conferred on those who were to be invited, as the apostle Peter says: “But you are a holy nation, a royal priesthood”; or else that in the mystery of the law, where it is written about the priests, the calling of this people from the Gentiles lay hidden. At once, then, the prostitute became an enemy of the king of Jericho. Why, unless because the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh? And again he says: “This world hates you, because it hated me before you.” There is, then, a certain king hostile to this prostitute, who is the prince of this world, who pursues the spies of Jesus and wants to seize them, but cannot catch them, because they make their way through the mountains: they do not walk through low places nor take delight in valleys, but seek the tops of the hills and the heights of the mountains; for this prostitute says: “I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help will come.” The prince of this world cannot climb there, nor can he come to Jesus by the lofty road; indeed even if, tempting him, he set him on the heights, he says to him: “Throw yourself down”; for he always loves what is low and falling; in these he reigns, in these he sets his throne, in which he may even go down to hell. Moses did not say, “Let the sun stand still,” nor did he command the greatest elements, as Jesus did. “Let the sun stand still,” he says, “over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Elom”; and therefore Scripture adds and says that “never did God so hear a man.” My Jesus, then, made the sun stand still not only then, but much more now at his coming. Indeed, while we wage war against our enemies and wrestle against principalities and powers and the rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, the Sun of righteousness stands by us unceasingly, never deserts us, nor hastens to set, because he himself said: “Look, I am with you every day.” And he is with us not only for a doubled day, but all days, until the end of the age, until we too overcome our adversaries.

But let us see also what Jesus promised his soldiers: “Every place,” he says, “which you tread under the soles of your feet will be yours.” He had said this to those who were then living, about the regions of the Canaanites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and the other nations whose regions they took as an inheritance after the unworthy inhabitants had been driven out. But let us see what is promised to us in these words. There are certain diabolical nations of the adverse powers against which we fight and struggle so hard in this life. As many of these nations, then, as we put under our feet, as many as we conquer in the contest, we will take their regions, their provinces and kingdoms, as the Lord Jesus distributes them to us. For they were once angels; they were glorious in the kingdom of God. Do we not read what Isaiah says of one of them: “How has Lucifer fallen, who rose in the morning?” This Lucifer undoubtedly had his seat in heaven; but since he has become a renegade angel, if I can conquer him and put him under my feet, if I am found worthy that my Lord Jesus should crush Satan under my feet, I will consequently be found worthy to receive the place of Lucifer in heaven. So, then, we understand it to be promised us by Jesus our Lord that every place which we put under the soles of our feet will be ours. But let us not think that we will come into this inheritance through idleness and negligence, yawning and drowsing. Anger has an angel of its own nation; unless you conquer it in yourself and cut away from yourself every impulse of anger and fury, you will not be able to take as your inheritance the place which that angel once held, because through your laziness you have not driven him out of the land of promise. Likewise pride and envy and greed and lust have certain angels who incite and instigate these evils; unless you conquer their vices in yourself and exterminate them from your land, which has now been sanctified through the grace of baptism, you will in no way receive the fullness of the promised inheritance.

Under Moses it was not said, as it is said under Jesus, that “the land rested from wars.” It is certain that this land of ours too, in which we have our struggles and endure our contests, will be able to rest from wars only by the power of the Lord Jesus. For within us are all these nations of vices, which attack the soul constantly, without stopping. Within us are the Canaanites, within us are the Perizzites, here are the Jebusites. How, then, must we labor, how keep watch, how long persevere, so that, when all these nations of vices have been driven out of us, our land may at last rest from wars? And therefore the prophet urges us to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. This meditation on the divine words is like a trumpet rousing your mind to battle, so that you do not sleep while the enemy is awake. Therefore the day is not enough for meditation, but the night too is added. But what will you do, you who not only sleep at night, but also spend the whole day serving either the business of the world or the pleasures of the flesh, and scarcely come together to church on feast days? Some of you, indeed, even when you come, do not come, because when they come they give their time not to the word of God but to idle stories. For this reason the divine word says to you: “Arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and you will touch Christ.” “Rise from the dead” is said to those who remain in dead works, persisting in their uncleanness and crimes, which, though they are not manifest to men, are known to God. But at least from this point repent, and come together to God with your whole heart; give yourselves to prayers, give yourselves to the word of God. What good does it do if we fast for our sins and then commit sins again? What good does it do to have washed and to wallow in the mud again? You have fasted for some time? That is as if you had left Egypt for a while. You have crossed the Red Sea, you have followed Moses, that is, keeping the instructions and commandments of the law; but now Jesus has taken you over from Moses, to circumcise you a second time, in the place called the hill of foreskins. You must therefore cut away not only the worship of idols, which you cast off at the beginning, but now greed too must be circumcised from you, which is a subtler worship of idols. Finally Jesus, circumcising the people with the second circumcision, says this: “Today I have taken away from you the reproach of Egypt.” As long as we sin, as long as the vices of the passions reign in us, even if we seem to have left Egypt by abandoning idols, the reproach of Egypt has not yet been taken away from us. If, then, you receive this second circumcision with knives and cut off from yourself every vice of anger, pride, envy, lust, greed, iniquity, and the rest like them, then the reproaches of Egypt will be wiped away from you, and, carried over into the land of promise, you will receive the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, through the true Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, to whom is glory for ages of ages. Amen.