Joshua 3

But Jesus [Joshua], son of Nave [Nun], was a type of him in many things; for when he began to rule the people, he began from the Jordan; thence also did Christ begin to preach the gospel after he was baptized. The son of Nave [Nun] appoints the twelve to divide the inheritance;2 and Jesus sends forth the twelve apostles, heralds of truth, into the whole world. He who was the type saved Rahab, the harlot, who had believed;4 the true Jesus … says, Behold: "the publicans and the harlots are entering the kingdom of God before you." With but a shout, the walls of Jericho collapsed in the time of the type;6 and because of these words of Jesus, "There will not be left here one stone upon another," the temple of the Jews just opposite us is fallen; not that this sentence was the cause of its ruin, but rather the sin of the transgressors.

I will pass to Joshua the son of Nun, who was previously called Ause, or better, as in the Hebrew, Hoshea, that is, Savior. For he, according to the epistle of Jude, saved the people of Israel and led them forth out of Egypt and brought them into the land of promise.

See, finally, what is said: "the people," it says, "so as to be far from the ark of the Covenant, two thousand cubits." But the priests and Levites are near, and quite near, so that upon their own shoulders the ark of the Lord and the divine legislation are carried. Blessed are they who deserve to be near to God. But remember what is written: "those who draw near to me draw near to fire." If you are gold or silver and "draw near to the fire," you will shine forth through the fire far more splendid and gleaming; but if, upon the foundation of faith "laid" in you, you are conscious to yourself that you have "built up wood, hay, stubble," then with such a building, if you "draw near to the fire," you will be consumed. Blessed, therefore, are they who are near, and who are so near that the fire illumines them and does not burn them. Israel too, however, will be saved, but placed far off it will be saved, and it makes its journey not by its own strength, but by the supports and providence of the priests.

In the spirit of this passage let us also pray that we may receive from God to understand the spiritual meaning of Joshua's passage through Jordan. Of it, also, Paul would have said, "I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that all our fathers went through Jordan, and were all baptized into Jesus in the spirit and in the river." And Joshua, who succeeded Moses, was a type of Jesus Christ, who succeeds the dispensation through the law, and replaces it by the preaching of the Gospel. And even if those Paul speaks of were baptized in the cloud and in the sea, there is something harsh and salt in their baptism. They are still in fear of their enemies, and crying to the Lord and to Moses, saying, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou brought us forth to slay us in the wilderness? Why hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt?" But the baptism to Joshua, which takes place in quite sweet and drinkable water, is in many ways superior to that earlier one, religion having by this time grown clearer and assuming a becoming order. For the ark of the covenant of the Lord our God is carried in procession by the priests and levites, the people following the ministers of God, it, also, accepting the law of holiness. For Joshua says to the people, "Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow; the Lord will do wonders among you." And he commands the priests to go before the people with the ark of the covenant, wherein is plainly showed forth the mystery of the Father's economy about the Son, which is highly exalted by Him who gave the Son this office; "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

After these things it says: "and all Israel," it says, "and the presbyters and the judges and the scribes went before, on this side and on that, the ark of the covenant of the Lord." "The ark of the covenant of the Lord" is that in which the tablets of the law, written by the hand of God, are kept. And around this "ark of the covenant" everyone who is "truly Israel" walks and is not far from it; but the Levites and priests even carry it upon their shoulders. For whoever live in priestly religion and holiness — not only those who seem to sit in the priestly assembly, but rather those who act in a priestly manner, whose "portion is the Lord" and who hold no share on earth — these are truly the priests and Levites of the Lord, who carry the law of God upon their shoulders, that is, by doing and fulfilling through their work the things that are written in the law.

Meanwhile there is a priestly and Levitical order which is to show the way to the people of God who have gone out from Egypt. For it is they who teach the people to go out from Egypt, that is, from the errors of the world, and to pass through the vast wilderness, that is, to traverse the various kinds of temptations and not to be harmed by the serpents, which are the bites of demons, and to avoid the poisons of evil suggestions. And "if" perhaps "someone has been struck" in the wilderness "by a serpent," that they may show him the "bronze serpent" hung upon the cross, "which whoever shall look upon," that is, whoever believes in him whose figure that serpent displayed, shall through this flee from the diabolical poisons. There is a priestly and Levitical order which stands by the ark of the Covenant of the Lord, in which the law of God is carried, doubtless so that they themselves may enlighten the people concerning the commandments of God, as the prophet says: "your word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths." This light is kindled through the priests and the Levites. But if perhaps someone of this order has "put a kindled lamp under a bushel" and not "upon a lampstand, that it may give light to all who are in the house," let him consider what he must do, when he shall begin to render account to the Lord of light for those who, receiving no illumination from the priests, walk in darkness and are blinded by the obscurity of sins.

How great were the things done before! The Red Sea was crossed on foot, manna was given from heaven, fountains were broken open in the wilderness, the law was given through Moses, many signs and wonders were done in the wilderness, and nowhere is Jesus said to be "exalted." But where the Jordan is crossed, there it is said to Jesus: "on this day I begin to exalt you in the sight of the people." For Jesus is not "exalted" before the mystery of baptism, but his exaltation and "exaltation in the sight of the people" takes its beginning from there. For if "all who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized into his death," and the death of Jesus is fulfilled in the exaltation of the cross, then rightly for each of the faithful Jesus is first "exalted" then, when one arrives at the mystery of baptism, because thus also it is written that "God exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things heavenly and earthly and infernal."

And he commands the priests to go before the people with the ark of the covenant. It is then, too, that the mystery of the dispensation of the Father with the Son is manifested, since the Son is highly exalted by him who grants "that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."These matters are revealed through the following words which have been recorded in the book of Joshua: "And the Lord said to Jesus [Joshua], 'In this day I will begin to exalt you before the sons of Israel.' " We must also hear our Lord Jesus saying to the sons of Israel, "Come here and hear the Word of the Lord our God. In this you shall know that the living God is among you." For by being baptized into Jesus we will know that the living God is among us.

Joshua son of Nun made the Jordan River stop, but only as long as the ark was in the water. As soon as the people had crossed to the other side and the ark had come through, he gave the river back its usual flow again. The bottom of the deep in the Red Sea was denuded of water when the sea was driven back to either side by the Spirit, but the duration of the marvel was the passage of the army through the deep on the dry strip. But after that the surface of the sea became one again, and the temporary gap was flooded over. So this remains a unique event which occurred in such a way that the marvel did not lose credibility because of the passage of time, since it continues to be testified to by visible traces.

To the sinner, indeed, every creature is an enemy, just as it is written concerning the Egyptians: the earth assailed them, the river assailed them, the very air assailed them, the heavens assailed them. But for the righteous, even things that seem impassable are made level and easy. The righteous man crosses the Red Sea as though "over dry land," but the Egyptian, if he wishes to cross, will be drowned, nor will the "water become a wall to him on the right hand and on the left." Even if the righteous man enters a horrible and vast wilderness, food is supplied to him from the heavens. So, then, in the Jordan too the ark of the Covenant was the leader for the people of God. The priestly and Levitical order takes its stand, and the waters, as if rendering a kind of reverence to the ministers of God, rein in their course and are heaped up into a mound, granting a passage harmless for the people of God. And do not be astonished when these things are reported to you as having been done for the former people; to you, Christian, who have passed through the streams of the Jordan by the sacrament of baptism, the divine word promises things far greater and loftier, and it pledges you a way and a passage through the very "air"; for hear Paul saying concerning the righteous: "we shall be caught up," he says, "in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord." There is nothing at all that the righteous man should fear; every creature serves him. Hear, finally, how God also promises to him through the prophet, saying: "if you pass through the fire, the flame shall not burn you, for I am the Lord your God." Every place, therefore, receives the righteous man, and every creature renders him the service that is due. And do not suppose that these things were done among the men of old, but that in you, who are now a hearer of these things, nothing of the kind is done: all things are fulfilled in you according to the mystical account. For you, who now desire, having lately abandoned the darkness of idolatry, to come to the hearing of the divine law, now for the first time abandon Egypt. When you were gathered into the number of the catechumens and began to obey the precepts of the Church, you passed out from the Red Sea, and, stationed at the halting-places of the desert, you devote yourself daily to hearing the law of God and to gazing upon the countenance of Moses revealed through the glory of the Lord. But if you also come to the mystical font of baptism and, with the priestly and Levitical order standing by, are initiated into those venerable and magnificent sacraments, which they know who are permitted to know them, then also, when the Jordan has been passed by the ministries of the priests, you will enter the land of promise, in which, after Moses, Jesus receives you and himself becomes for you the leader of a new journey. But you, mindful of the great and such-like powers of God — that the sea was divided for you and that the "water" of the river "stood still" — turning to these things will say: "what ails you, O sea, that you fled? and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back? O mountains, that you leaped like rams, and hills like the lambs of the flock?" But the divine word will answer you and say: "at the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water and the flint into fountains of waters."

Jesus therefore, my Lord and Savior, took up the command; and, if it seems good, 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 observance among the priests. They cross the water of the sea, salt water containing nothing of sweetness in itself, and "the water was a wall to them on the right and on the left." These things we know to have been done with Moses as leader. But when my Lord leads the army, let us see what things were even then being foreshadowed. "The priests go before," "the ark of the Testament is carried on the shoulders of the priests," nowhere now does the sea, nowhere does the salt wave meet us, but with my Lord Jesus as leader I come to the Jordan, and I come not in the confusion of flight nor stricken with dread, but I come with the priests carrying on their necks and shoulders the ark of the Testament of the Lord, in which the law of God and the divine writings are kept. I enter the Jordan not with furtive silence, but amid the songs of trumpets sounding something mystical and divine, 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 the hedge made both one"; for on one part "the water was raised up," but the other part "flowed down into the sea."

Yet the people is led on by the priests and makes its journey to the land of promise under the tutelage of the priests. And who today among the priests is so great and such a one that he would deserve to be enrolled in that order? For if there be any such, the streams of the Jordan will yield to him and the very elements will stand in awe of him; one part of the river's waters will spring back and be reined in behind, while another part will flee away with a swift gliding into the "salt sea." Yet even this I judge not to have been written apart from the meaning of a mystery — that "part of the waters of the Jordan is plunged into the sea" and flows off into bitterness, while another part continues in sweetness. For if all who are baptized were to guard the sweetness of the heavenly grace they had received, and none turned to the bitterness of sins, it would surely not have been written that a part of the river had been immersed in the whirlpools of the "salt sea." And therefore in these words there seems to me to be signified that variety among the baptized which we ourselves — a thing I recall with grief — often see come to pass: that those who obtain holy baptism, when they again give themselves over to the affairs of the age and the enticements of lusts, and when they drink the salt cup of avarice, are formed in that part of the waters which flows off into the sea and perishes in the salt waves; but that part which remains with steadfastness and keeps its sweetness signifies those who hold the received gift of God without swerving. And rightly there is one part of those who are saved, because there is also one "bread," "which came down from heaven and gives life to this world," and there is "one faith" and "one baptism" and "one spirit," of which all are given to drink in baptism, and "one God, the Father of all."

Then there are the deeds of Joshua, who was marked out with Christ's name; under his guidance the Jordan kept its stream stationary and its waters still as it recoiled from the countenance of the divine ark. A strange power divided the river. One section came to a halt, its stream flowing back, while another section hastened in its gliding course to the sea, leaving the river bed exposed. Where the current surged strongly from its source, it held back and piled high its waves, so that a threatening mountain of water hung poised in quivering formation and looked down to see human feet passing across the dry, deep bed, and grimy soles hastening over the congealed mud, dry-footed in mid-river.

Then there are the deeds of Joshua, who was marked out with Christ's name; under his guidance the Jordan kept its stream stationary and its waters still as it recoiled from the countenance of the divine ark. A strange power divided the river. One section came to a halt, its stream flowing back, while another section hastened in its gliding course to the sea, leaving the river bed exposed. Where the current surged strongly from its source, it held back and piled high its waves, so that a threatening mountain of water hung poised in quivering formation and looked down to see human feet passing across the dry, deep bed, and grimy soles hastening over the congealed mud, dry-footed in mid-river.