Homilies on Joshua, Homily 14

Before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, when Israel according to the flesh read these same Scriptures, it understood nothing else in them but wars and the shedding of blood, so that their minds were sharpened by them to excessive ferocity and they were always feeding on wars and rebellions. But after the presence of my Lord Jesus Christ poured the peaceful light of knowledge into human hearts — since, according to the Apostle, he himself is our peace — he teaches us peace from the very reading of wars. For peace is restored to the soul if its enemies, sins and vices, are driven away from it. And therefore, according to the tradition of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we read these things we too are armed and roused to battle, but against those enemies that proceed from our heart, namely evil thoughts, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies, and the other similar enemies of our soul, of which we try, as this Scripture relates, if it can be done, to leave none that is saved or that breathes. For if we overcome these enemies, we will fittingly also overcome the powers of the air and drive them out of the kingdom they had set up within us over the seats of the vices. In the previous readings the king of Jerusalem had gathered four other kings with him against Jesus and against the sons of Israel; but now it is no longer one who gathers four or five: see how great a multitude one gathers. “When Jabin king of Hazor heard,” it says, “he sent to Jobab king of the Amorites, and to the king of Symeon, and to the king of Azef, and to the kings who were around great Sidon, and through the hill country, and into the Arabah opposite Chinneroth, and to the plains, and to Faneandor, and to the Canaanites who were along the sea on the east, and to the Amorites who were along the sea, and to the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Jebusites who were in the hill country, and to the Hivites who were below the desert at Masecma; and they went out, they and their kings with them, like the sand of the sea in number, with horses and very many chariots. And all these kings came together and assembled in one place at the water of Maron to fight against Israel. And the Lord said to Jesus: Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this hour I will deliver them wounded before Israel. You must hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire. And Jesus came, and all the people of warriors with him, upon them at the water of Maron, and fell on them suddenly in the hill country; and the Lord delivered them into the hands of Israel, and they pursued them as they fell as far as great Sidon, and as far as Masefoth at the water, and as far as the plains of Masfe toward the east, and slaughtered them until none of them was left who escaped. And Jesus did to them as the Lord had commanded him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire. And Jesus turned back at that time and took Hazor and killed its king with the sword.” You see what great swarms of hostile powers and most wicked demons are stirred up against Jesus and the army of Israel? All these demons, before the coming of our Lord and Savior, possessed human souls quietly and securely and reigned in their minds and bodies. But when the grace and kindness of God our Savior appeared on earth, teaching us to live devoutly and in holiness in this world, separated from every contagion of sin, so that each soul might recover its freedom and the image of God in which it was created in the beginning — for this reason battles and wars arise from those wicked former possessors of souls. And if the first are crushed, many more rise up afterwards, come together into one, and conspire for evil, they who are always at odds with the good. And if they are conquered a second time, other, more wicked powers rise up a third time. And perhaps the more the people of God increases and grows and multiplies, the more of them conspire to attack it.

But let us try, as God grants, to examine each of the kings of the hostile army, and from the meanings of each one’s name to consider also the work he does in malice. First of all, the one named as the instigator of this war, who gathers the others and invites them to the conspiracy of crime, is called Jabin, who was king of Hazor. For he is the one who is said to have summoned the others too. Jabin is interpreted “understanding” or “prudence.” Who, then, is this understanding or prudence, if not the one whom the prophet Isaiah calls “the great understanding”? For he says: “And I will bring it upon the great understanding, the prince of the Assyrians, who said: By my own strength I will do it, and by the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of the nations and plunder their strength.” This, then, is the one who there is called the great understanding, the king of the Assyrians, but here Jabin, understanding or prudence. For the serpent too is written to have been in paradise more prudent than all the beasts that were on the earth. And the steward of iniquity is said to have done prudently what he did. This Jabin, then, is king of Hazor. And Hazor is interpreted “courtyard.” The whole earth, then, is the courtyard of this king, who holds the rule of the whole earth as of a single courtyard, and he is the devil. And do you want to see that the earth is his courtyard? In the Gospels it is written that the strong man sleeps secure in his courtyard until a stronger one comes who binds him and takes away what he possesses. He is, then, the king of the courtyard, the prince of this world: he sends to Jobab; for it is he who sends to all the nations and invites them to battle. He sends also to the king of Maron. Jobab is interpreted “enmities,” and Maron “bitternesses.” The devil, then, sends to another hostile power, undoubtedly one of the renegade angels, a power that is king of bitternesses; by its instigation and actions, of course, come all the bitternesses and harsh things inflicted on wretched mortals in this world. These are the various kinds of sin. For nothing can be more bitter than sin, even if some things seem sweet at first, as Solomon writes: “But in the end,” he says, “you will find more bitter than bile what seemed sweet at the beginning, and sharper than the edge of a sword.” The nature of righteousness is the opposite: at the beginning it seems more bitter, but in the end it is found sweeter than honey, when it has borne the fruit of virtue. The devil, then, sent to Jobab, the hostile king of bitterness. And he sends also to the king of Simeon, which is interpreted “hearing.” But hearing seems to be twofold. Sometimes God hears a man, as Simeon, one of the patriarchs, received his name because God had heard his mother’s prayer. It is also called hearing when someone hears the command of the devil. For the devil is accustomed to say: “If you fall down and worship me, I will give you all these things.” But if you follow Jesus, you say to him: I will worship the Lord God, and him only will I serve. But those who are of his party hear him, as this Simeon now did: hearing him, he came to fight against Jesus. He sends also to the king of Ziph. Ziph is interpreted “how it flows!” as in the words of one who wonders; because it is truly to be wondered at how all the carnal things of this world flow away, and how fleeting and perishable are the things that unbelieving men consider lasting and perpetual. But one who considers the nature of things and observes how the things thought good in this life are always dwindling and passing away, says: How it flows! The devil also calls against the sons of Israel those who are around great Sidon. I, for my part, though I have stayed several times in the region of Sidon, have never found that there are two Sidons, one great and the other small, as far as the earthly place is concerned. But if I go back to the interpretation of the name, which means “huntress” or “hunters,” I see that among the adverse powers, among whom there are many differences, some are hunters in small things and some hunters in great things; that is, some deceive souls through small sins, others through great ones. For example, when the soul is deceived by the pleasures of the world and the delights of the flesh, it must be said to have been caught in something small. But when it either denies Providence or worships demons as God, it must be thought to have been deceived in something great. And therefore he now sends to great Sidon, so that they may gather as for a great hunt against the sons of Israel. He sends also to the hill country. The hill country must be understood as every thought that exalts and raises itself against the knowledge of God. He sends also to the Arabah. The Arabah is interpreted “ambushes.” He invites, then, the powers that lie in ambush, which deceive human souls not by force or open attacks but by unforeseen ambushes and cunning; such perhaps as those of whom the prophet says: “He lies in wait in secret like a lion in his den; he lies in wait to seize the poor.” But if anyone is such as Paul, he says confidently: “For we are not ignorant of his tricks.” He sends also to Chinneroth. Chinneroth is interpreted “as if lamps.” Not lamps, but as if lamps. For a lamp is one thing, and “as if a lamp” another. John “was a burning lamp,” because he was an angel of light. But “as if a lamp” is he who “transforms himself into an angel of light.” And if you wish to know still more clearly the difference between the lamps and the things that are as if lamps, which are in Chinneroth, hear the Savior saying to his disciples: “Keep your belts fastened and your lamps burning.” Those in the church, then, who teach the catholic faith and enlighten the people of God with the word of truth are burning lamps. But those who teach heretical doctrines from the testimonies of holy Scripture with false assertions seem to light lamps because they read the Scriptures; but because they use false assertions, they are not lamps, but as if lamps. He sent also to the plains; for he had to call into his fellowship those too who are in the plains and whose minds are set on low and earthly things. He sent also to Faneandor, which is interpreted “turning.” And turning is understood in two ways. For there is a turning by which someone turns to God, or is turned by God to good things. But there is also another turning, by which King Jabin, that is, the devil, turns souls to himself, as we explained above about Simeon; such must be thought that turning which had happened to the Galatians, of which the Apostle says: “You were running well; who hindered you?” that is, turned you from the good course and the straight road. He sends also to those who were in the coastal places, to the Canaanites, neighbors of the waves, who are interpreted “as if moved,” that is, those who are always stirring everything with motions and waves; and to the coastal Amorites. The Amorites are interpreted “growing bitter,” and they are like those of whom we spoke above. Such, then, is the roll of the whole army of invisible enemies gathered by King Jabin to attack us who follow Jesus, our leader and Savior. But what does the Lord say? “Do not be afraid of them,” he says, “for tomorrow at this hour I will deliver them into your hands.” I see that today we cannot crush them all or kill them all, but that tomorrow they will be destroyed, that is, after the completion of this age. For then every hostile power will be destroyed, and then it will be wholly conquered, when you see it said to those on the left: “Go into the eternal fire, which God has prepared for the devil and his angels.” For then we too, if we conquer and are able to prevail, following Jesus our leader, will receive the kingdom that God the Father has prepared for his saints and for those who have fulfilled his commandments and righteous ordinances, through our Lord Jesus Christ himself, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.