Homilies on Joshua, Homily 3

Moses distributed the inheritance of the land beyond the Jordan to two and a half tribes, that is, to the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Jesus, rather than Moses, divides the land among the remaining tribes. A pact, however, was made with those two and a half tribes that had received land beyond the Jordan, that, leaving their women and infants in that land beyond the Jordan, they themselves should fight together with their brothers until these too obtained their inheritance. It was necessary, then, since Moses, who had made this pact, had died, that Jesus should demand what was promised and urge them to bring help to their brothers who were about to fight. The text recounts this as history; but since we perhaps have now turned to the Lord, who takes away the veil from the reading of the Old Testament and grants to his servants who believe in him that with unveiled face they may see the glory of the Lord, let us perceive that all these things which happened to them in figure were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. And therefore, as we said before, let us try to rise from the letter to the spirit, from figures to truth; and let us consider what form these two and a half tribes bear, which receive the land of inheritance through Moses, and what form the remaining nine and a half bear, which receive the promised holy land through Jesus. And first of all I think it could not have happened by chance that those who receive their portion through Moses were all first-born. For Reuben is the firstborn of Leah, Gad the firstborn of Zilpah, and Manasseh the firstborn of Asenath the Egyptian, daughter of Potiphera priest of Heliopolis, whom Joseph took as wife. I can never persuade myself that it happened by chance that all to whom the inheritance was assigned through Moses were firstborn; rather I think that in them was already then foreshadowed the form of two peoples: one which seemed to be firstborn by the order of nature; the other which would receive the blessing of the inheritance through faith and grace. Nor is rest given to those who receive the inheritance through Moses, that is, those who pleased God through the law, unless they help their brothers. Only the women and infants take their rest through Moses; but the men do not rest, but go out to the aid of their brothers. Please see how those who were justified in the law before the coming of Jesus Christ my Lord come to the aid of me, who today labor in the contest of this life and have a struggle against enemies, that is, against hostile powers. See how Isaiah stands by me as a helper, when he enlightens me with the words of his reading. See Jeremiah coming with his belt fastened, ready to help us, and with the darts of his book putting to flight the fiercest enemies, the darkness of my heart. Daniel too fastens his belt to help us, instructing and forewarning us about the presence and kingdom of Christ and the future deceit of the Antichrist. Ezekiel too is present, signifying heavenly mysteries to us in the fourfold circles of the wheels and enclosing a wheel within a wheel. Hosea too leads the twelvefold ranks of the prophetic host, and all go forth with truth fastened around their waists which they proclaim to the aid of their own, so that, instructed by their books, we may not be ignorant of the devil’s tricks. These, then, who are strong, armed, and have truth fastened around their waists, go out to the aid of their brothers and fight with us. But the infants and the women do not go out to our battle. No wonder: for one who does not speak is called an infant. How could he help me who said nothing? What of his do I find to read? Whose word instructs me? But the apostle calls the woman a weaker vessel. Hence, consequently, the weaker vessel does not come to the battle, so that it will not be broken and destroyed. So too it is said of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels: “A bruised reed he will not break.” Since, then, women are commanded to be taught by their husbands at home, and are placed in the rank of disciples rather than of teachers, someone who cannot teach me, and in whom I find nothing that I ought to imitate or hold, does not come to my aid.

Let us see, then, what those from the land that Moses distributed say to Jesus: “As we listened to Moses,” they say, “so we will listen to you.” Nothing is so true as that everyone who has listened to Moses should listen to Jesus our Lord as well. For Moses wrote of him. Hence the Lord too in the Gospel, rebuking them because, since they did not believe him, they did not believe Moses either, says: “If you believed Moses, you would surely believe me also; for he wrote of me.” To me, however, this is not a meaningless detail either, that these tribes which are provided for through Moses are not three whole tribes, and those which obtain their inheritance through Jesus not nine whole ones, but two and a half here and nine and a half there; and one tribe is divided into two parts, so that neither here is the number three wholly completed, nor there the number ten perfectly and wholly accomplished. In this I think it is indicated that those earlier men also, who were guided by the law, did gain some knowledge of the Trinity, yet not wholly and perfectly, but in part. For within the Trinity they lacked also the knowledge of the incarnation of the only-begotten of God. For though they believed in his coming, and not only believed but also preached the other parts of his plan, yet they could not also see and attain what they had believed; as the Lord says of them to his disciples: “Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” For their faith was not whole, because his coming in the flesh had not yet been fulfilled in Christ; and what we now believe as already done and fulfilled, they believed only as future. For this reason, then, those tribes are neither two, so that the fathers will not be outside the faith and salvation of the Trinity, nor three whole and perfect, so that the sacred mystery of the blessed Trinity will not seem to have been fulfilled in them already. But they touched the third number, and, as the Lord said, they desired to see what we see and to hear what we hear, but could not, because the Son of Man had not yet been lifted up, nor had the fullness of the times yet come. Another point strikes me here too. I think that perhaps even at the coming of Jesus and his incarnation we do not yet learn what is perfect and whole; and neither when he is led to the cross and brings all things to completion, nor when he has risen from the dead, will he by himself lay open to us all that is perfect. We still need another who may open and reveal all things to us. Listen to the Lord himself saying in the Gospels: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. But the Spirit of truth will come, who proceeds from the Father, and he will take of what is mine and will declare all things to you.” You see that not only with Moses is this third number not shown fulfilled, but Jesus too still says to his disciples: You cannot yet hear, unless that Paraclete comes, the Spirit of truth; because through him and in him the perfection of the Trinity is fulfilled. For that there are nine and a half tribes which act under the leadership of Jesus, and not a whole ten, the number said to be complete and perfect in all respects, the same reason undoubtedly applies: that what the Lord Jesus says is reserved for the Holy Spirit should seem only half full and halfway. For although through the Lord and Savior repentance is preached, and conversion from evil to good, and forgiveness of sins is given to all who believe, and all the things that seem to tend toward the perfection of the number ten are completed, yet the perfection and sum of all good things consists in this, that after all these things one is found worthy to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise nothing will be thought perfect in one who lacks the Holy Spirit, through whom the mystery of the blessed Trinity is fulfilled. Do you want me to prove to you still more clearly that among that former people, whom Moses foreshadowed in the two and a half tribes, not all things were whole or perfect? The account written in this very book of Jesus son of Nun shows this too, when it says that the true altar was in the land that Jesus distributed, but those who were beyond the Jordan, that is, Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, made themselves an altar — not the true altar, but one that bore the type and form of the true altar which was with Jesus. Do not wonder, then, if those did not receive the whole knowledge of the Trinity who did not build a whole or true altar. And so, too, it is said that not many enemies, nor several kings of the hostile powers, were cast down by them. Only Sihon, it says, king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and the Amalekites they cast down beyond the Jordan. But where Jesus leads the army, now five kings fall together who had fled into caves, and not only fall but are hanged on a tree; now twenty-nine are killed together, and immense multitudes of the hostile army are laid low, and all are exterminated who possess the holy land in uncleanness, who hold the land flowing with milk and honey in the bitterness of malice.

Meanwhile spies are sent by Jesus into Jericho and are received by the prostitute Rahab. These spies who are sent ahead of Jesus may also be thought to be angels of God, as it is written: “Look, I will send my angel ahead of you, who will prepare your ways.” This was fulfilled invisibly through others, but visibly through John, of whom this very word was written. Indeed, concerning John’s baptism the Lord says that the scribes and Pharisees did not believe him, but the prostitutes and tax collectors believed and were baptized. So in this too it is fulfilled that the prostitute received the spies of Jesus, through whom she is also related to have been snatched away from the destruction of the whole enemy nation.

But let us see who this prostitute is who is called Rahab. Rahab is interpreted “breadth.” What, then, is this breadth, if not the church of Christ, which is gathered from sinners as from prostitution? And it says: “The place is narrow for me; make room for me, that I may dwell.” “But these, who has brought them up for me?” And again, to her it is said: “Enlarge your tent-pegs and extend your curtains.” This breadth, then, is the one that received the spies of Jesus. I know that once, when discussing in a certain church the two prostitutes of whom it is written in the third book of Kingdoms, who came to the judgment of Solomon, one of whom had a living infant and the other a dead one, I examined the matter more carefully and said that the prostitute was this one, to whom Solomon — not that Solomon, but this one who came to make peace between the things in heaven and those on earth — ordered the living infant to be returned; while the other, who had the dead infant, was the synagogue of that former people, or of those who have turned aside into heresy. There is also another prostitute whom in Hosea the prophet is ordered to take, undoubtedly as a figure of the one gathered from the Gentiles. Such, then, is this prostitute too said to be who received the spies of Jesus; but once she has received them, she places them in the upper rooms and establishes them in lofty and exalted mysteries. For no one who is sent by Jesus is found below and lying on the ground, but remains in the upper places; and not only does he himself remain in the upper and lofty places, but this prostitute too who received them is made, from a prostitute, now a prophetess, for she says: “I know that the Lord your God has given you this land.” You see how she who was once a prostitute, impious and unclean, is now filled with the Holy Spirit, and acknowledges the past, believes in the present, and prophesies and announces what is to come. So, then, Rahab, which is interpreted “breadth,” is enlarged and advances until her sound goes out into all the earth. Japheth too, in a similar way, is interpreted “enlargement”; and he too bore the form of this people that is saved from the Gentiles, and Canaan the boy is made subject to him as a slave by his father, and to his brother Shem, who bears the form of those saved from the circumcision. In this the kindness and providence of God are to be admired, who, to offer a remedy to the sinner Canaan and to confer salvation on him, made him a slave to his brothers, as Esau was made to serve his brother Jacob: not that he might perish, but that by obeying better men he might gain salvation. For it is of the greatest benefit to the wicked, and to sinners who do not know how to conduct themselves rightly, not to be left to themselves, but to become servants of the saints and be subject to better men, so that they may be ruled not by their own bad judgment but by the good judgment of those others. You see how great is the kindness of God, which he hides and conceals from the ears of the crowd and covers with harsher words, for fear that the wicked and ungrateful servant may become contemptuous when he has understood his Lord’s extraordinary goodness.

But let us see what this wise prostitute did with the spies. She gives them mystical and heavenly advice, with nothing earthly in it. “Go away,” she says, “by the mountains”: do not walk through the valleys, avoid what is low and fallen, and proclaim what is high and exalted. And she herself puts a scarlet sign in her house, by which she was to be saved from the destruction of the city. She was to receive no other sign than scarlet, which bore the form of blood. For she knew that there was salvation for no one except in the blood of Christ. This command too is given to her who was once a prostitute: “All,” it says, “who are found in your house will be saved. But as for those who go out of the house, we are free of your oath.” If anyone, then, wants to be saved, let him come into this house of her who was once a prostitute. Even if someone of that people wants to be saved, let him come to this house, so that he may obtain salvation. Let him come to this house, in which the blood of Christ is the sign of redemption. For among those who said: “His blood be on us and on our children,” the blood of Christ is for condemnation. For Jesus had been set for the fall and rising of many, and therefore for those who speak against his sign his blood becomes punishment, for those who believe, salvation. Let no one, then, convince himself otherwise, let no one deceive himself: outside this house, that is, outside the church, no one is saved. For if anyone goes outside, he becomes guilty of his own death. Here blood is the sign, because here is the purification that is accomplished through blood. And that this sign hangs in the window indicates, I think, that a window is what lights a house, and through it we receive not the whole light, but as much as is enough for our eyes to see. Since, then, the incarnation of the Savior did not bring before us a pure and complete sight of the divine nature, but through his incarnation made us see the light of the divine nature as through a window, it seems to me that the sign of salvation was given through the window: by this sign all will obtain salvation who are found in the house of her who was once a prostitute, washed in water and the Holy Spirit and in the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.