Homilies on Joshua, Homily 26

It was said above that the sons of Israel gave a lot to Jesus on Mount Ephraim, and that, having received the lot, Jesus built a city there and lived in it. But now Scripture repeats the same things again so as to add this, that the rock swords, that is, the knives of stone with which Jesus had circumcised the sons of Israel in the desert, he stored in the city that he had built and in which he lived. So the explanation must be repeated and the addition explained, so that, God granting, the full sense of Scripture may be brought out. For we said above that our Lord Jesus Christ too asks of us a place to build and to live in, and that we ought to become such — so clean of heart, so simple of mind, so holy in body and spirit — that he may graciously choose to receive a place in our soul too, and build it, and live in it. And who do you think in the whole people are so acceptable to God as to be worthy to be chosen for this? Or perhaps not even individuals can be capable of this, but the whole people and the whole church together can scarcely be capable of receiving the Lord Jesus into itself and having him dwell in it? Let us see, then, what this place is in which Jesus is to dwell: “On Mount Ephraim,” it says, that is, on the fruitful mountain. Who do you think are the fruitful mountains among us on which Jesus may dwell? Surely those in whom are the fruits of the Spirit: joy, peace, patience, love, and the rest. These, then, are the fruitful mountains, which bear the fruit of Christ and are always lofty in mind and hope. And though such may be few, yet even if they are few, the Lord God dwelling in them, who is the true light, will send the rays of his light over all the others too, whom he has not yet judged worthy to be his dwelling in the first place.

But now let us see what the rock swords are with which Jesus circumcised the sons of Israel. If you pray for us that our word may be living and effective and sharper than any sword, the Lord Jesus will grant us too that the word of God which we speak to you may circumcise all uncleanness, cut away impurities, cut off vices from the hearers, and lop off everything by which the power of the mind and its natural efficacy are covered over. And so, by the word of God, which is now called the rock sword, you too will be circumcised by Jesus and will hear that he has taken away the reproach of Egypt from you today. For what good does it do us to have gone out of Egypt and to carry the reproaches of Egypt about with us? What good does it do to walk through the desert — that is, what does it help us to have renounced the world in baptism, and to keep the former filth of our habits and the uncleanness of fleshly vices? After the crossing of the Red Sea, then, that is, after the grace of baptism, the fleshly vices of our old habits too must be taken away from us through Jesus Christ our Lord, so that at last we may be free of the reproaches of Egypt. These very rock swords and stone knives, then, with which we have been circumcised a second time by Jesus, are stored in the place that Jesus asked for and received; in the place he possesses in the soul of the righteous, there he stores the swords too. We have often shown that the sword means the word of God, by which sins are cut off and purged from the souls of the hearers. This power of the divine word, then, is stored in the place to which the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom are given, so that at the right time the soul that has been filled by the gift of the Spirit with the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge may bring out these swords in the church and circumcise a second time those who need the second circumcision. And that it says rock swords, that is, knives of stone and not made of iron by a craftsman’s work, shows that this word of God, which can circumcise uncleanness from the souls of the hearers, does not come from the art of grammar or rhetoric, nor is it shaped by teachers’ hammers or polished on the whetstones of study, but comes down from that rock which was cut from the mountain without hands and filled the world, and which bestows spiritual gifts on believers. After this Jesus calls together the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who had fought with him to overcome the enemies of Israel, and sends them away to their inheritance, giving them certain gifts as well, as it is written. In this the following mystery seems to be indicated: that when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, those who had been taught and instructed through Moses, and who brought us help by their prayers and supplications while we were engaged in the contest, will receive what was promised them by the Lord Jesus; for they had not yet obtained the promises, waiting until our calling too should be completed, as the Apostle says; and now at last they may obtain the perfection that had been deferred for them, with the gifts they receive from Jesus, so that each may dwell in peace, when every war and every attack has ceased.

After this it was read to us that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, who were beyond the Jordan, built a huge altar; and the rest of the sons of Israel, not knowing why the altar had been built, send Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron with ten men chosen, one from each tribe: if perhaps they had done this as men departing from God, or had become apostates and were acting against the command of God, they would be attacked by the rest of the sons of Israel; if otherwise, the envoys were to learn the reason. And the others explain the altar and say: “We know that the true altar is with you, where Jesus dwells; but we made this altar in the likeness of the altar that is built among you, so that with us too there might be a figure and image of the true altar, for fear that tomorrow you may decide to say: The Jordan is the boundary between us and you, and it divides us, and therefore you have no portion in our altar.” This is the answer they sent. But let us see what mystery the deed contains. The former people of the circumcision is signified in Reuben, who had been firstborn; and also in Gad, who himself is a firstborn, and in Manasseh, likewise a firstborn. When I say firstborn, I am speaking according to time. They built the altar, then, it is said, so that there might seem to be no division or separation between us and those who were righteous before the coming of Christ, but to show that, even if they lived before the coming of Christ, they are nevertheless our brothers. For although they had an altar then, before the coming of our Savior, they knew and perceived that that altar was not the true one, but a figure of this future and true altar. They knew this, then: that the true sacrificial offerings, which could take away sins, were not offered on the altar which the firstborn people had, but on this one where Jesus was; here heavenly sacrificial offerings, here true sacrifices are completed. So there comes to be one flock and one shepherd, the righteous of old and those who are now Christians. And as proof of these things I wish to recall a certain account, if the Lord grants that we may find its spiritual explanation. Once the people was falling and dying in the desert. Aaron the high priest came and stood in the midst between those who were dying and those who were living, so that the devastation of death might not advance any further against the living. Now too my true high priest, the Lord, has come and has interceded, standing in the midst between the dying and the living, that is, between those of the Jews who received his presence and those who not only did not receive it but killed themselves rather than him, saying: “His blood be on us and on our children.” Hence also all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom they killed between the temple and the altar, is required of that generation which said: “His blood be on us and on our children.” These, then, are the part of the people that is dead, because they keep neither the unleavened bread nor the feast days fittingly, but their feast days have been turned into mourning and their songs into lamentation; even if they wished, they will not be able to celebrate a feast in the place that the Lord God has chosen. And we indeed have not said to them, “You will have no part in this altar or in the inheritance of the Lord”; but they of their own accord refused the true altar and the heavenly high priest, and have been brought to such misfortune that they have both lost the image and not received the truth; and therefore it is said to them: “Look, your house will be left deserted.” For the grace of the Holy Spirit has been transferred to the Gentiles. The solemn feasts have been transferred to us, because the high priest too has passed over to us, not an imaginary one but the true one, chosen according to the order of Melchizedek; and he must offer true sacrificial offerings, that is, spiritual ones, among us, where the temple of God is built from living stones, which is the church of the living God, and where the true Israel is, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.