Joshua 8

Inasmuch as God ordered Joshua to plant an ambush in their rear, that is, to plant warriors in hiding to ambush the enemy, we can learn that such treachery is not unjustly carried out by those who wage a just war. Thus, a just man, if he wishes to undertake a just war, ought to think chiefly in these matters about nothing else than whether it is right for him to do so, for it is not lawful for everyone to wage war. However, once he has undertaken a just war, it makes no difference to the justice of the war whether he wins in open warfare or by treachery. However, those just wars ought to be defined as those which avenge injuries, if the tribe or state which is about to be sought in war, either neglected to punish a crime improperly committed by its own countrymen or neglected to repay what had been lost through those injuries. Moreover, without doubt that type of war is just which God commands, since there is no iniquity in him and he knows what ought to be done to each person. In this type of war the general of the army or the people themselves are not to be deemed so much the instigator of the war as much as its agent.Joshua sent thirty thousand warriors to vanquish Ai.… We must consider whether every attempt at deception ought to be reckoned as a lie and, if so, whether a lie can be just, when someone who should be deceived is deceived. And if not even this kind of a lie is found to be just, we must still relate what transpired with the ambush to the truth with some other meaning.

When these things have been heard, it is likely that the hearers will say: what is this to me? What does it profit me if I come to know that those who inhabited Ai were conquered, as though similar or even more powerful wars had not been waged or are not being waged? Was this the care of the Holy Spirit, that, leaving aside the destructions of so many and so great and noble cities, the battle of the city of Ai should be written and consigned to the sacred volumes? Perhaps what we are doing is rash, in that we attempt to explain places of Holy Scripture so lofty and so difficult; but if you aid us with your prayers, we shall not only escape the fault of audacity, but also God the Father of the Word, embracing our devotion, "will give a word for the opening of our mouth," whereby both you may be edified and we may appear not undevout. Praying, therefore, and attentive in mind, listen. First, because of our sins we were conquered, and those who inhabited Ai slew a great many of us. Ai is interpreted "Chaos." But we know that Chaos is the place or dwelling of the contrary powers, whose king and prince is the devil. Coming against him, Jesus divides the people into two parts, and some indeed he stations in the front, others in the rear, who may come unexpectedly upon the backs of the enemy. And see whether that is not the first part of the people, of which he says: "I have not come except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and of which the Apostle says: "but grace and peace to every man who works good, to the Jew first, then also to the Greek," that is, to the Gentile who comes after. This, then, is the people who is stationed in front and, as it were, flees with Jesus. But the latter people is the one which is gathered from the nations, and which, coming unexpectedly — for who would have hoped that the nations would be saved? — cuts down the adversaries the more fiercely from behind; and thus each people lays low and conquers the throng of demons enclosed in the middle.

We entreat you, O hearers of the sacred volumes, not to listen with weariness or distaste to the things that are read, on the ground that their narrative seems to be less delightful. For you ought to know that the things which are read are indeed worthy of the utterance of the Holy Spirit, but for explaining them we have need of that grace of the Holy Spirit of which the Apostle speaks: "to one, moreover, is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit." We too, then, have need of these things in the present passages, in which it is related that Jesus succeeded Moses, and that he himself leads the people, and a certain such history is prefigured in the present reading. Those who inhabited the city of Ai at first seemed indeed to conquer and to turn back the sons of Israel because of the sin which they had committed. But afterward, when the evil had been removed from their midst, Jesus, the leader of the people, is commanded by God to divide the people into two parts, so that one part should feign flight, while the other part should lie waiting in ambush, by which Ai might be deceived when Jesus should give the command. When these things had been thus arranged, "the king of Ai, seeing" Jesus and the sons of Israel from afar, "is stirred up against them into battle." And when the former feigned flight, the others pursue them the more fiercely, and, as though about to carry off spoils from the enemy, all together "go forth out of the city," so that, as Scripture says, "they left the city empty." But after they had advanced to the appointed place, Jesus turned and gave a signal that "those who were in the ambushes should rise up" and cut down the backs of the enemy; and thus those who were last and these who were first slay all the enemy enclosed in the middle. And in this manner, when those who inhabited Ai had been conquered, "they hanged" their "king upon a double wood."

But perhaps you may say to me: how, then, is the former people set as though fleeing? And quite consistently. For those who follow Jesus were seen to flee from the legal burdens and precepts, from the observance of the sabbath, from the circumcision of the flesh, from the slaughter of victims. But again he who has followed Christ, the perfection and fullness of the law, does not flee.

But something else also occurs to me as I consider in this place "Jesus fleeing from the face" of the army of Ai. What do you think it is that "Jesus fleeing" signified? Let us see whether perhaps there is something which we conquer by fleeing, and there is some perfect virtue in flight. Paul the Apostle teaches us, saying: "flee fornication." You see, then, that there is a certain "spirit of fornication," which we ought to flee, whoever of us wishes to remain chastely and piously and modestly in Christ. This flight, then, is the one which has salvation; this flight is of virtue; this flight confers blessedness. And not only is the spirit of fornication to be fled, but in like manner, just as it was said, "flee fornication," let us hear it said to us: flee anger, flee avarice, flee envy and spite, flee detractions and evil-speakings. And yet I know not whether anyone escapes these, I know not whether anyone gets away. Such was that army of Ai, which Jesus taught his soldiers to flee, and concerning these perhaps he commands his disciples, saying: "if they persecute you in this city, flee into another; and if in another, flee into another." For he wishes us to flee from enemies of this kind, he wishes us to be made far from evils of this kind; and if in the meanwhile we can escape the contagions of these evils by fleeing, then, seeing the devotion and the purpose of our mind, certain holy virtues — those perhaps of which the Apostle Paul says: "are they not all ministering spirits sent forth into ministry for the sake of those who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" — who perhaps are the holy angels, who, seeing us suffer the pursuit of the demons, rise up against those who pursue us and, cutting them all down from behind, slay them. For Jesus is with those who suffer pursuit, rather than with those who persecute. And rightly, because Jesus delights to be with those who "flee fornication," who flee pride, who flee deceit, and who flee falsehood. If, then, we thus understand the things which are written, the reading will perhaps seem worthy of the pen of the Holy Spirit. For what does it profit me if I know that "the king of Ai was hanged upon a double wood"? But if I know that the virtue of the cross is twofold, on which both Christ is hanged in the flesh and the devil with his army is triumphed over, from the understanding of the sacrament my soul will be edified. And still more perhaps, that we may extend the breadth of the mystery yet more loftily, in this wood is understood to be "the knowledge of good and evil," on which both the good Christ and the evil devil hung, but the evil one indeed that he might perish, and the good one that he might live from power; as the Apostle also says concerning Christ, that "even if he was crucified from weakness, yet he lives from the power of God." Nay, not only that he might live, but that he might give life, because he is "the last Adam unto a life-giving spirit." But these things must be understood to be said figuratively; for Christ himself is called "the tree of life." But just as in other passages he is shown to be both priest and victim and altar, and the one meaning is not hindered by the other, but each single thing is understood figuratively concerning him in its own places, so also now in the figures of the sacraments the diversity of persons taken up concerning one and the same thing will not hinder.

But let us see what is also written in what follows: "and they struck them," he says, "with the edge of the sword, until there was not left of them one who might be saved, nor who might escape." When the Jews read these things, they become cruel and thirst for human blood, thinking that the saints too struck those who inhabited Ai, so that "there should not be left of them one who might be saved, nor who might escape," not understanding that in these words mysteries are foreshadowed, and that this is rather indicated to us, that of these whose dwelling is chaos and who reigned in the abyss, of the demons, we ought to leave none at all, but to slay them all. But we slay the demons not by destroying their very substance; but because their work and their zeal is this, to make men sin, and this is their life, if we sin, without doubt it is their destruction, if we do not sin. Therefore the saints slay the inhabitants of Ai and destroy them and do not let go one of them — those, without doubt, who with all diligence guard their heart, lest "evil thoughts proceed" from it; but also those who watch over their mouth, so that "every evil word may not proceed from" their "mouth": this is "to leave none who might escape," when no evil word escapes them either. Come, then, you too, let us prepare ourselves for battles of this kind, let us strike Ai "with the edge of the sword" and extinguish all who inhabit chaos, all the contrary powers. Would that I too, even now, while I speak the word of God to you, might be able to strike the heart of the sinner! For if I do so, it is certain that with the "sword of my mouth" I shall strike fornication, I shall strike malice, I shall repress fury and, if there are any other evils, "with the edge of the sword," that is, with the speech of my mouth, I shall quench them and "shall not leave of them one who might be saved, nor who might escape." For if we extinguish all these enemies of ours, then we shall truly celebrate a feast day to God and, our adversaries being vanquished, we shall rejoice with glad solemnity. Some such thing seems to me to be signified also by the holy prophet in the psalms, where he says of himself that "in the mornings I slew all the sinners of the earth, that I might destroy from the city of the Lord all who work iniquity." For whether "the city of the Lord" is taken to be the church of the living God, the teachers cast out from the church and slay those "who work iniquity," the contrary demons and the adversary powers, who compel men to sin by teaching, by instructing, and by unlocking the mysteries hidden in the divine letters from such places as those in which we now are; or whether by "the city of the Lord" we understand the soul of each one of us, which is built by the Lord from "living stones," that is, from various and diverse virtues: from that city too every holy and diligent man casts out "the sinners," that is, "slays in the morning" the worst thoughts and depraved desires. For the just man says: "in the mornings I meditated on you, because you were my helper." What is this "morning," except our Lord Jesus Christ, who is "the true light" and "rising in our hearts" and illuminating the darkness of our ignorance and revealing to us mysteries of this kind, makes us "see light in his light"? If ever, then, you read in the holy scriptures of the battles of the just, the slaughters and the massacres of the slain, and that the saints spare none at all of the enemy — nay rather, that even if they had spared, "it is reckoned to them as sin," just as "it was reckoned" to Saul, who "had preserved alive Agag king of Amalek" — understand the wars of the just in this manner in which we have expounded above, because these wars are waged by them against sin. But how will the just remain, if they have reserved even some little of sin in themselves? And therefore it is said of these that "they left not even one who might be saved or escape." Perhaps you may not believe me that a battle is enjoined upon us against sin; believe Paul, who says: "you have not yet resisted unto blood against sin." You see that a battle "against sin" is set before you, and that this fight is to be consummated "unto the shedding of blood"? Or does not the divine Scripture indicate these things evidently, in those places too where it is its custom to say: "sanctify a war" and: "you shall fight the fight of the Lord"? For what else is it "to sanctify a war," except, when all the enemies of our soul, which are the vices of sins, have been slain, and "the members which are upon the earth having been mortified" and all evil desires cut off, to be made "holy in body and spirit" and, acting bravely, to come to the sight of the living God and to be crowned by Christ Jesus our Lord for the palm of the victory of virtue by merit? "To whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!"

But let us see what follows in the sequel: "and Jesus burned Ai," he says, "and it was made a wasteland, that it should not be inhabited forever." You see that these things which follow pertain more to the truth of the mystery than of the history. For that place of earth is not so much uninhabitable forever as the place of the demons will then be uninhabitable, when now no one will sin, "neither will sin reign" in anyone, when the devil and his angels will be delivered to eternal fire, our Lord Jesus Christ sitting as king and judge and saying to those who conquered, both the first and the last: "come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you by my Father." But to the others he will say: "go into the eternal fire, which God has prepared for the devil and his angels," until he takes counsel with remedies for every soul, for those whom he himself knows, and "all Israel is made safe."

But after all things, even "the king of Ai" is said "to be hanged upon a double wood." In this place a mystery is concealed which lies hidden from very many, but, with you praying, we shall attempt to open these things not by our own opinions, but by the testimonies of divine Scripture. In the foregoing we said that the king of Ai may be compared to the devil; here it is worth the effort to know how "he is crucified upon a double wood." The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was double. Perhaps what I say seems to you a strange and novel saying: that the cross was double, that is, it consists of a twofold and double reasoning; because visibly indeed the Son of God was crucified in the flesh, but invisibly upon that cross the devil with "his principalities and powers was affixed to the cross." Will this not seem true to you if I produce for you the Apostle Paul as witness of these things? Hear, then, what he himself declares concerning these things: "that which was," he says, "contrary to us, he took it away out of the midst, affixing it to his cross, and stripping the principalities and powers he displayed them openly, triumphing over them on the wood of the cross" — although in other copies it is found: "triumphing over them in himself," but among the Greeks it is found "on the wood." Therefore the reasoning of the Lord's cross is twofold: one, that by which the Apostle Peter says that "Christ, crucified, left us an example," and this second, by which that "cross" was a trophy over the devil, "on which he was both crucified and triumphed over." Therefore, finally, the Apostle Paul also said: "but far be it from me to glory except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world." You see that here too the Apostle has set forth a twofold reasoning of the cross. For he says that two things contrary to each other were crucified, himself holy and the world sinful, after that likeness, without doubt, which we spoke of above, of Christ and the devil. For we are "crucified to the world" then, when "the prince of this world, coming, finds nothing in us"; and "the world is crucified to us," when we do not receive the concupiscences of sin.

But if perchance there is some more attentive hearer, he can say: the form of the things done seems indeed to be fitting, but this still troubles me, that the devil and his army, as far as is shown by the figure of the history, was destroyed; and how do we still see both the devil and the contrary powers to prevail so greatly against the servants of God, that even the Apostle Peter with great caution forewarns and says that it must be observed that "our adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour"? Let us see, therefore, whether in this too we can find something worthy of the utterances of the Holy Spirit. One coming of Christ was accomplished in lowliness, but another is hoped for in glory; and this first coming in the flesh is, by a certain mystical manner of speech, in the holy scriptures called his "shadow," just as the prophet Jeremiah also announces, saying: "the spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, of whom we said: in his shadow we shall live among the nations." But Gabriel too, when he brought Mary the good tidings concerning his nativity, says: "the power of the Most High shall overshadow you." Wherefore we understand that very many things are foreshadowed at this first coming of his, whose fulfillment and perfection is consummated at the second coming. And the Apostle Paul says that "he raised us up together with him, and made us sit together in the heavenly places." And yet we do not yet see believers either already "raised up" or "seated together in the heavenly places," but these things are indeed now foreshadowed through faith, because in mind and hope we are lifted up from earthly and dead works and we raise our heart to heavenly and eternal things; yet this will be fulfilled at his second coming, so that the things which we now have anticipated by faith and hope, we may then also hold bodily by the actual accomplishment. So, then, concerning the devil also it must be understood that he was indeed conquered and crucified, but for those who have been crucified with Christ; but for all believers and for all the peoples alike he will then be crucified, when that shall be fulfilled which the Apostle says, that "as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." There is therefore in this also the mystery of the future resurrection. For then too the people will be divided into two parts, there will then also be some first and others last, who, when they have conspired together into one under Jesus, then already the devil shall no longer be at all, because "there shall no more be death." Do you wish that we prove these things to you also by divine testimonies? Hear the Apostle saying: "for this we say to you in the word of the Lord, that we who live, who are left, at the coming of the Lord shall not precede those who have fallen asleep, because the Lord himself, at the command, at the voice of the archangel and at the trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven, and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first, then we who live, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord." And speaking about the devil he says: "the last enemy that is destroyed is death," because then death is truly "conquered," when "this mortal is swallowed up by life."