Numbers 34

The last narrative in the book of Numbers is recounted, in which the Lord commands Moses to give precepts to the children of Israel so that, when they have entered the holy land to receive its inheritance, they may know what boundaries of their borders they ought to observe in it. And after these things, with the Lord himself now describing it, it is said: toward the Africus, that is, toward the west, let the boundary of that place be observed, and of that one toward the east; and thus through the four quarters of heaven the Lord himself designates certain names which the people of God ought to keep in this earthly Judaea. Now the simpler among the hearers will say concerning these things that they can seem necessary and useful even according to the letter, for this reason: that no one may transgress the boundaries established by the Lord's precept, and that one tribe may not dare to violate the borders of another. And what shall we do, since in these lands there remains for the Jews no possibility not only of invading another's borders, but even of possessing anything in any way at all? For they are fugitives from it and, banished, live in exile; and the borders which those now in possession keep are not those which the divine law appointed, but those which the laws of the conquerors have assigned. What, I say, shall we do, who read these things in the Church? If we read them according to the understanding of the Jews, they will surely seem to us superfluous and empty. But I, who read what is written concerning wisdom, "Go out after her like a tracker," wish to go out after her; and since I do not find her in bodily things, I desire to follow her tracks and to investigate where she goes, and to see to what resting-places she draws my understanding. For I think that, if I am able diligently to follow her and to investigate her ways, she will give me some occasions from the Scriptures as to how we too ought to explain even these passages, if we believe those things which Paul speaks in a mystery: that those who serve through the law serve a shadow and an image of heavenly things. And if, no less according to his own opinion, the law—of which this reading that we have in hand is a part—has a shadow of the good things to come, it seems consequent and necessary that all things which are described in the law as though about earthly matters are shadows of heavenly goods, and that the whole inheritance of that land, which in Judaea is called the holy land and the good land, is an image of heavenly goods, of which these things that are recounted as good on earth hold, as we have said, the shadow and image.

But that both my discourse and your understanding may be somewhat elevated and may conceive a certain approach toward perceiving the things we are speaking of, let us make use of some comparison. No one doubts that in the land of Judaea every place, every mountain, every city and village is designated by certain particular names; nor is there any place at all without a name, but each single one is designated by its own appellations—for example, those by which the Canaanites named them in their regions, or the Perizzites likewise in theirs, and the Amorites, or the Hivites, or even the Hebrews. So then, according to the opinion of Paul, by which he says that earthly things are a shadow and copy of heavenly ones, perhaps in the heavenly regions too there will be differences of places, and those not slight, distinguished namely by certain appellations and names, and marked with names not only of the quarters of heaven, but even of all the stars and constellations. For he who made the multitude of the stars, as the prophet says, "calls them all by their names." Concerning these names very many secret and hidden things are indeed contained in the little books which are called Enoch; but because these little books themselves do not seem to be held in authority among the Hebrews, let us for the present defer citing as an example what is there named, and let us instead pursue our investigation of these matters from those things which we have in hand, about which there can be no doubt. The land of Judaea, then, is described by the words of God in the divine law, and it is said that these things ought to be referred to the image of heavenly things; and that in the heavens there is a city Jerusalem is plainly declared by the Apostle, and Mount Zion. It is therefore consequent that, just as there are also other cities situated around the earthly Jerusalem, and villages and various regions, so also that heavenly Jerusalem, according to the image of earthly things, has around it both other cities and villages and various regions, in which the people of God and the true Israel is at some time to be settled through the true Jesus—of whom that Joshua son of Nun bore the image—and is to receive the inheritance by the distribution of the lot, that is, by the consideration of merits. If, then, the Lord now says in the distribution of the land, for example, that the boundaries of that tribe are these and of another are those, may it not perhaps be that, because the merits of those who are to obtain the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven will be diverse, therefore in these tribes too this distinction of boundaries is commanded to be carefully determined, so that we may know that these are differences of merits to be observed in each one? For example, one who has lived so negligently that on account of his faith indeed he deserves to be counted among the children of Israel, but on account of the negligence of his life and the sloth of his deeds ought to be reckoned in the tribe of Reuben, or Gad, or the half-tribe of Manasseh, and to receive the lot of his inheritance not within the Jordan, but outside it. But another, who by the amendment of his life and the conduct of his resolve has rendered himself such that, according to reasons which God alone knows, he ought to be reckoned either in the tribe of Judah or even in the tribe of Benjamin—in which Jerusalem itself and the temple of God and the altar stand—and one in this tribe and another in that. And in this way these things which are now recorded as written in the book of Numbers are a certain foreshadowing of the future lot in the heavens—of those, at least, who through Jesus our Lord and Savior will receive, as we have said, the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. There, I believe, will also be carefully observed those privileges of the priests which here are foreshadowed, for whom the places neighboring the cities and joined to the very walls are commanded to be set apart from the children of Israel. There, I believe, will also be those cities whose figure is here described, which he names cities of refuge, to which not all murderers may flee, but those who have committed manslaughter unknowingly. For there are perhaps some sins which, if we commit them by intention and will, make us murderers; and there are others which, if we commit them unknowingly, there is decreed for us, I believe, and prepared by the precept of God some place where we ought to dwell for a certain time—if we have committed sins that are not voluntary—provided nonetheless that we are found clean and free from those sins which have been committed by the will. And for this reason certain cities are set apart for refuge. It seems to some that the position and assemblage of each individual star may be called or held to be a city in heaven; which I for my part do not dare to define. For I see that every creature is indeed made subject in hope, on account of him who subjected it, yet awaits the liberty in the redemption of the children of God, and without doubt looks for something more glorious and more sublime.

But that further consequence must nonetheless be grasped: that if God, when he scattered the sons of Adam, "set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God"—or, as we read in other copies, "according to the number of the sons of Israel"—at the beginning of the world, and the sons of that Adam were thus scattered as either their merits or the regard for Adam himself demanded, what shall we say will come to pass when the divine condescension shall begin to deal with the sons of the last Adam—who was made not into a living soul but into a life-giving spirit—not to scatter but to dispense them, not at the beginning but at the end of the world; and not as those who in Adam all died, but as those who in Christ have all been made alive? Without doubt there will be a certain such division and distribution as must be weighed not only according to the merits of those who are dispensed, but also according to the regard for the last Adam, in whom all are said to be made alive. But which of us is such that he may deserve to come to a distribution of this kind and to that lot of the heavenly inheritance? Who will be so blessed that his lot shall fall in Jerusalem, so that he may be there where the temple of God is—nay rather, that he himself may be the temple of God? Who is so blessed that he may keep his feast days there where the divine altar is kindled with perpetual fires? Who is so blessed as to place his sacrifice and his incense of sweetness upon that fire of which the Savior said, "I came to send fire upon the earth"? Who is so blessed as to keep the Passover there forever, in the place which the Lord his God has chosen, and there to observe the day of Pentecost and the feast of atonement and the solemnity of tabernacles, no longer through a shadow, but through the very appearance and truth of the realities? Which of us will be held worthy of the election of so blessed a lot, when God shall begin to divide the sons of the last Adam—not one to whom he may say, "You shall have power over five cities," or to whom he may say, "You shall have power over ten cities," nor to whom he may say, "Enter into the joy of your Lord," but to whom he may say, "Sit, you also, with me upon twelve thrones, judging, you also, the twelve tribes of Israel"? Of whom he may say, "Father, I will that where I am, they too may be with me"; "I will also that these be kings, that I may be king of kings; I will also that these have dominion, that I too may be Lord of lords." Blessed are they who shall attain to this summit of blessedness; blessed are they who have climbed to these heights of merits; and blessed is our God, who has promised these things to those who love him. These are the very ones truly numbered with sacred numbers before God—nay rather, they are the ones the very hairs of whose head are numbered—through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

He places the priest before the leader, since the priest comes closer to God.