Numbers 32

That the going forth from Egypt is taken in two ways has already been said often, both by our predecessors and by us. For both when someone is led from the darkness of errors to the light of recognition and is converted from an earthly manner of life to spiritual institutions, he seems to have gone out of Egypt and to have come to the wilderness, namely to that state of life in which, through silence and quiet, he may be exercised by the divine laws and be imbued with heavenly utterances; instructed and directed by these, when he has crossed the Jordan, he may hasten all the way to the land of promise, that is, through the grace of baptism he may come all the way to the evangelical institutions. But we have said that there is also that figure of going forth from Egypt when the soul leaves the darkness of this world and the blindness of bodily nature and is transferred to another age, which is indicated either as the bosom of Abraham, as in Lazarus, or as paradise, as in the thief who believed from the cross; or even if God knows there to be any other places or other dwellings, through which the soul, passing and believing God and arriving all the way to that river which gladdens the city of God, may within it receive the lot of the inheritance promised to the fathers. Therefore, since in a twofold manner, as we have recalled, the going forth from Egypt is designated, and the passage to the desert, and thence the entry to the inheritance of the holy land, let us now see what Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh mean. The inheritance which is handed over through Moses and decreed beyond the Jordan, in the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, by certain hidden and mystical reasons embraces the figure of the whole human race, or certainly of all men who have come to the recognition of God. Of these, then, some part obtains an inheritance beyond the Jordan through Moses, but a part receives its inheritance across the Jordan and in the land of promise through Joshua. And those indeed to whom the inheritance is decreed beyond the Jordan are the firstborn; although less noble, although not without blame, they are firstborn nonetheless. For Reuben is the firstborn of Jacob; although he defiled his father's bed, he is the firstborn nonetheless. And Gad also, although of a handmaid, yet he too is a firstborn. Manasseh also, whose half-tribe obtains beyond the Jordan, he too, although born of an Egyptian woman, is nevertheless the firstborn. All these, then, are firstborn, and therefore they designate the former people, who receive the lot of inheritance not through Joshua our Lord, but through Moses beyond the Jordan. But consider more diligently also the cause by which the former ones obtain the inheritance both beyond the Jordan and set apart from the rest. "We have," he says, "beasts and much cattle." This, then, is the cause by which the former people could not attain to the inheritance of that land which flows with milk, which abounds with honey, which is a honeycomb beyond every land, nor could it recognize the Word made flesh, because it had many beasts and much cattle. For the animal man could not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God, nor discern them spiritually, because "man, when he was in honor, did not understand; but was compared to the senseless beasts and was made like to them," for which it received its inheritance beyond the streams of the Jordan and made itself a stranger to the holy land. That people, then, received an inheritance through Moses; it received the land of two kings only. For Moses could slay no more than two kings, whose land he divided among peoples having many animals and much cattle. But to those who cross the Jordan, Joshua divides the land; although they too have animals, have cattle, yet not so much as to exclude them, so that they should not cross the Jordan, but together with their women and with their little ones they strive to cross the Jordan and to attain the promises of the fathers. But those, on account of their cattle and beasts and their women and little ones, could not cross the Jordan nor enter the faith of Christ, which is the land of promise.

After these things there follows the account concerning the inheritance of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh; concerning which, purposing to discuss some things, we wish first to alert the diligence of our hearers and to rouse their minds to the contemplation of spiritual understanding. All the things that are said must be weighed not only from the word itself which is spoken, but the person of the speaker also must be greatly considered. For example, if it is a boy who speaks, we fit our minds to the hearing of a boyish utterance, and we expect nothing more in the things that are said than in so far as a boy could perceive. But if he who speaks is a man, we straightway consider whether the things said are worthy of a man. And again, if that man who speaks is learned, we weigh the words also according to the view of his learning. But if he is indeed a man, yet unskilled and an untutored layman, we receive the things said in another way. So likewise, if it be an elder who speaks, and of much and proven skill, inasmuch as he has grown old in learning, there will be held in him a far greater expectation of his words. But why we have premised these things, wishing to expound the account of the inheritance of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, hearken. He who narrates these deeds which we read is neither a boy, such as we described above, nor any such man, nor an elder, nor any human being at all; and, to say something further, neither is he any one of the angels or of the heavenly powers. But, as the tradition of our forefathers holds, the Holy Spirit narrates these things. For whence could Moses narrate either the things that were done from the beginning of the world or the things that were to be done at its end, except through the inspiration of the Spirit of God? Whence could he have prophesied concerning Christ, except by the Holy Spirit speaking? For thus Christ himself renders testimony to him and says: "If you believed Moses, you would surely believe me also; for he wrote concerning me; but if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" It is established, then, that these things were spoken through the Holy Spirit, and therefore it seems fitting that they be understood according to the dignity, or rather according to the majesty, of the speaker. But I judge it most apt to recall in this place also that, when Abraham heard that rich man set in torments beg him that he might be released and, coming, might admonish his brothers to live piously, lest they too descend into that place of torments, he answered him that "they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." He certainly did not mean any men set in the body as Moses and the prophets, but these things which were written through Moses at the dictation of the Spirit of God, these he named Moses. Let someone, then, say: since these things are thus written, if Abraham sends me to the words of Moses, that by reading them I may be able to escape that place of torments, what will it help me toward escaping Gehenna, if I read how the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh receive an inheritance from Moses across the Jordan, because they had much cattle beyond the other tribes, and how Moses says to them: "See that you do not exasperate God, as did also those ten who were sent with Joshua and Caleb to explore the land," and who said that the land is such and such, and "we cannot take it"; and how to these things the sons of Reuben and the rest with them answered: "Give us this land and its inheritance, and we shall no longer seek within the Jordan a land of inheritance with our brothers, but here we shall leave our beasts and our baggage and our women and our little ones, but our men shall go along and shall cross the Jordan"; and how after these things Moses commends them to Joshua the son of Nun and to Eleazar the priest, the son of Aaron, under this condition, however, that they cross over with the sons of Israel and fight with them against the enemies who were across the Jordan, until the land be freed from them, and then they receive the land which they demanded, of King Sihon and King Og, and to them alone the inheritance beyond the Jordan is given through Moses, but to all the rest the inheritance within the Jordan through Joshua. Let someone, then, say: what do these things profit toward that which Abraham said: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them," namely so that those who read and hear these things may not come into that place of torments? Now we have said these things to arouse the minds of the hearers, that they may more vigilantly attend to the things that are read or said, and that in the writings of Moses, with the veil of the letter removed, they may so understand the things that are written that they may find in each and every one of them that things are said which, if they be understood and observed, the hearers may be able not to be led to that place of torment, whither that rich man, who scorned to hear these things which are written in secret, was carried off, but that they may go into the bosom of Abraham, where Lazarus reposes. Let us pray, therefore, to the Lord that the veil may be taken away from our hearts in the reading of the Old Testament, that we may be able to see the things that are hidden and concealed in the writings of Moses, according to the admonition of the prophet who says: "And unless you hear in secret, your soul shall weep." And indeed, that these things are mystical and contain some divine meaning, I think that no one can be in doubt from the things that have been asserted above, however insatiably he be given over to Jewish fables; yet, just as I think no one denies this, so what those things are which are indicated by these narratives, and what the face of realities is which is covered under this veil, to know clearly I think belongs to the Holy Spirit himself, who inspired these things to be written, and to our Lord Jesus Christ, who said of Moses: "For he wrote concerning me," and to the almighty God, whose ancient counsel is indicated to the human race not naked, but veiled in letters. But let us pray from the heart to the Word of God, who is his only-begotten and who reveals the Father to whom he wills, that he may deign to reveal these things also to us: for in these there are mysteries of the promises, which he promised to those who love him, that we too may know the things that have been given to us by God. But do you also help us in your prayers and diligently attend, not so much to us who speak as to the Lord who enlightens those whom he shall find worthy of his enlightenment. By the contemplation of these things may he deign to give a word to us also in the opening of our mouth. But come now, if you have lifted up your hearts to the Lord and have sought the illumination of his holy word, let us come to searching out the meaning of the things which seem to lie hidden.

Because then there are many in the Church, who scorn to be little ones, they cease not to be great in their own sight, even in the place of humility. You may frequently see them raised high in honours, enjoying pleasures, and spreading abroad with the multiplicity of their goods. These often specially desire nothing, except to rule over others, are pleased at being feared by many; neglect to live uprightly, and wish to have the credit of an upright life; court flattery, and are puffed up by applause. And since they are abundantly supplied with goods ready at hand, they do not seek for the joys which are to come. And, because manifold employments engage them, they prove them to be strangers even to themselves. And yet if any trial of their faith arise, because they are contained therein though but in appearance, they defend it by words, they defend it by their exertions, and claim their heavenly country, and yet love it not. And these do the sons of Reuben, and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, well represent in Moses; who possessing many flocks and herds, whilst they desire that plain country which they had seen beyond Jordan, refused to receive an inheritance in the land of promise, saying, The country which the Lord smote before the sight of the children of Israel, is of a region most fertile for the pasture of animals, and we thy servants have many beasts; and we pray thee, if we have found grace in thy sight, to give it unto us thy servants for a possession, and make us not to pass over Jordan. They therefore who possess very many beasts of burden, avoid passing over Jordan, because they, whom many worldly engagements occupy, do not seek for the abode of their heavenly country. But that faith, which they hold in appearance, urges them on; lest they should become inactive from the delight of ease, and should deter others, by their example, from the endurance of toil, and from studying to be patient. Whence it is said to them by Moses, Shall your brethren go to battle? and shall ye sit here? Why do ye subvert the minds of the children of Israel. But because they are ashamed not to defend that which they confess, they hasten to contend for that faith which they have professed; and secure it, not for themselves, but for their neighbours. Whence they say to Moses, We will build sheepfolds, and stalls for our beasts, and fortified cities for our little ones; but we ourselves will go armed and ready for battle before the children of Israel. And they go boldly forth at once in behalf of others, and free the land of promise from their enemies, and leave it, and return to feed their herds beyond Jordan. For many persons, although faithful, being engaged in present cares, feed, as it were, their herds beyond Jordan; because, contrary to the faith of Baptism, they are enslaved with all their heart, and with every desire, to perishing objects. But yet, as we have said, when a trial of their faith arises, they gird themselves with the arms of defence. They overcome and slaughter the enemies of the faith, and love not the inheritance of the land of promise, that is, the fruit of faith. And they so fight in its behalf, as yet to deposit their pledges outside of it. For because they have their children without, they do not place their affection in dwelling therein. Whence they return to the plain country, because they descend from the lofty summits of the mountains, as if from the hope of heavenly things, to rear brute animals without the land of promise. Because they labour diligently to supply the irrational motions of their mind with various objects of desire: because they, who are blinded with transient pursuits, know not how great is the brightness of the eternal light; and whilst they are proud of worldly things, they close up for themselves the access of the light of heaven.

There are some in the church who despise being little ones. Even where humility should prevail, they hardly cease being grand in their own eyes. You can see them being exalted with honors, enjoying pleasures, being entertained by the sheer number of things. Often they seek nothing except being in command of others. They enjoy being feared by many. They fail to live upright lives yet desire to be known as leading an upright life. They seek out flatterers; they swell up with admiration shown them. Since they are eager for things in the present life, they do not seek the joys to come. When complex business occupies them, it demonstrates that they are absent even from themselves. But if a temptation against faith arises—for in this area they are quite restrained—they defend the faith by words and labors. They defend the heavenly fatherland, but they do not love it. In the books of Moses, the sons of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh exemplify these men well. They possessed great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. While they were beyond the Jordan, they wanted the pastureland that they saw. They did not wish to have their inheritance in the land of promise and said, "The land that the Lord struck in the sight of the sons of Israel is a rich region, good for pasturing animals; and we, your servants, have great herds. We ask you, if we find favor before you, to give us, your servants, this land as our possession, and do not make us cross the Jordan." They own many cattle and refuse to cross the Jordan. Those who have many entanglements in this world do not seek a dwelling in the heavenly fatherland. Those entanglements hold them by their appearance. Faith threatens them, lest they grow languid in their enjoyment of leisure. By their example, they keep others from putting up with work and from dedication to patience. Thus God says to them through Moses, "Will your brethren go to battle, and you will sit here? Why do you undermine the hearts of the children of Israel?" Since they blushed at not defending what they believed, they hasten to battle for the same faith that they professed and defend it, not for themselves but for their neighbor. So they say to Moses, "We will build folds for our sheep and stables for our cattle and fortified cities for our little ones; but we will go forth to battle armed and girded before the children of Israel." They go forth as brave men for others; they free the land of promise from their enemies and then leave it and return to feed their flocks across the Jordan.By analogy many people, although they are believers, are occupied with present cares, as if they were feeding flocks across the Jordan. Contrary to the faith they professed in baptism, they serve perishable things with their whole minds and all their desires. But, as we said, when a temptation against faith arises, they gird on arms to defend it. They cut down the enemies of the faith and conquer them and defend the heritage of the land of promise. That is, they do not love the fruits of faith and fight for it in such a way that they leave the spoils of the battle outside the faith. Because they have little ones outside the land, they do not love to dwell in it. So they return to the plains, because they will fall off the high peaks of the mountains as they do from hope for heavenly things. Outside the land of promise they pasture brute animals, because they work to pasture the irrational movements of the soul with empty desires. They do not know how clear the eternal light is, because they are blinded by transitory concerns. And while they take pride in earthly things, they shut the door to heavenly light.

Yet Moses rebukes them and says to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad: "Your brothers shall go to battle, and will you sit here? And why do you pervert the hearts of the sons of Israel, that they should not cross into the land which the Lord gives them?" And when he had rebuked them with words of this kind, "there came," he says, "to him the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and said: We shall build sheepfolds here for our sheep and for our cattle, and cities for our encumbrances, and we, armed, will advance in the first company before the sons of Israel, until we lead them into their own place." And promising these things they mollified Moses, so that he himself commended them to Joshua and to Eleazar. For thus it is written: "And Moses brought them to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the leaders of the families of the tribes of Israel. And Moses said to them: If the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad cross the Jordan with you, every one armed for battle before the Lord, and you obtain the land in your sight, you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession." The name of "land," placed in the divine Scriptures, we find with diverse significations; and first indeed this land which we inhabit was not from the beginning called land, but "dry"; and after this, that which had first been called "dry" received the name of land; just as this visible heaven too was not from the beginning called heaven, but first "firmament," and afterward it was named also by the term "heaven." Yet in the beginning of creation God is said to have made heaven and earth, and afterward the dry, and afterward the firmament. But do you wish to know that "dry" is one thing in the Scriptures, and "land" another? Hear the prophet Haggai saying: "Yet once more I will shake heaven and earth and the sea and the dry land." You see how the prophet places "land" as one thing, "dry" as another. But also in many places of Scripture we find "land" named praiseworthily, but "dry" we do not easily read placed praiseworthily. For Adam too is thrust down into this place, as one culpable after his sin, which was named "dry." For before that he was not in the dry, but in the land; for paradise is not in the dry but in the land. But also what the Lord promises to the meek in the Gospel is not the dry, but the land. "Blessed," he says, "are the meek, for they shall inherit the land." And likewise in the Gospel the seed which gives fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold is said to be land, not dry. And I think that there is a certain progress from the dry to coming to the land, just as there was also a certain progress that this land was called dry. For all of us, so long as we are unfruitful and bring forth no fruit of righteousness, none of chastity, none of piety, are dry. But if we begin to cultivate ourselves and to rouse our sluggish minds to the fruit of the virtues, we are made land out of dry, which, having received the seeds of the word of God, multiplies them with a glad harvest. There is, then, in the kingdom of God also a certain land which is promised to the meek, and a land which is named "of the living," and a land placed on high, concerning which the prophet says to the righteous man: "And he shall exalt you, that you may inherit the land." The inheritance, then, of this land, after it has gone forth from the Egypt of this world, the soul believing in God obtains; and in one place indeed those who lived under the law, but in another those who were dispensed through the faith and grace of Jesus Christ. Yet these who seem to be dispensed first and through Moses will not obtain the inheritance decreed to them until they too cross over with those whom Joshua dispenses, and fight with these against the enemies, and settle them in their seats, and thus they themselves shall obtain the inheritance which they merited with Moses as leader.

But unless these things be proved from the divine Scriptures, they will seem fables. Let Paul, then, be brought forward as a suitable witness of these things, who in the epistle to the Hebrews, where he describes all those fathers and patriarchs and prophets who by faith pleased God, after the enumeration of them all, in his final conclusion says thus concerning them: "And all these, having received the testimony of faith, did not obtain the promises, God providing something better for us, that they should not be perfected without us." As if those nine and a half tribes were to say concerning those two and a half tribes that for this reason they did not receive the promise of that land which was decreed to them beyond the Jordan through Moses, God providing something better for us, that they should not be perfected without us. Therefore for this reason they cross over with us armed for battle and help us in warring, in vanquishing the enemies. But those cross over who are armed, who are strong men and mighty; but all the rest, the cowardly and unwarlike band, remain beyond the Jordan. But if any among them are strong men, having left their animals and cattle and all their encumbrances, they fight against the enemy together with us, until our enemies be conquered, until we take the inheritance of the good land, the land of honey and milk. For who doubts that all the saints among the fathers both help us by their prayers and confirm us by the deeds they have done and exhort us by their examples, but also by their volumes, through those things which they have left written for our remembrance, teaching us and instructing us how we must contend against the hostile powers and how the struggles of the contests must be endured? They fight, then, for us, and they themselves advance first before us, armed. For having them as an example and seeing their brave deeds through the Spirit, we are armed for the spiritual battle and contend against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Thus, finally, those who serve as soldiers under Joshua as leader slay thirty and more kings and receive their lands by the lot of inheritance. For when the spiritual forces of wickedness have been driven out from the heavenly places, they receive the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, our Lord Jesus dividing it.

There can be seen also yet a third mode of exposition, so that among the sons of Israel, that is, among the people of the Church, there are understood to be certain spiritual ones, who within the Jordan receive the inheritance of the land flowing with milk and honey, namely receiving the sweetness of wisdom and knowledge, whose land is surrounded and watered by the river of God, which is filled with the waters of divine understanding. But others are carnal, who abound in beasts and cattle, that is, in gross and dull senses; such as were those of whom the Apostle said: "Are you so senseless that, having begun in the Spirit, you now are perfected in the flesh?" and: "O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth?" But each one of us also, unless he arms himself and, having cast off the brutish and beastlike senses, hastens to spiritual understanding, will remain beyond the Jordan and will not be able to advance through the river of wisdom, which gladdens the city of God, that is, the soul capable of God; he will not attain the interior things of the Lord's utterances, which are "sweeter than honey and the honeycomb," but he will attain only that land in which the two kings were slain, where it is said to him: "I judged myself to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus, and him crucified." But he who has been able to cross the Jordan and penetrate to the interior things, there following Jesus our Lord will slay thirty and more kings—those, perhaps, of whom it is said: "The kings of the earth stood by and the princes gathered together into one against the Lord and against his Christ"—and when these kings have been driven out and cast down, he will recognize the more secret mysteries, until he come even to that place where the seat of God is and Jerusalem the city of the living God, not this one which serves with its sons on earth, but that heavenly one which is free and is the mother of us all; to whose inheritance may he deign to lead us, our leader and Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.