OT § 51

And so at last the divine word rightly says to us those things which follow: "this day I have taken away the reproach of Egypt from you," because, after "the reproach of Egypt was taken away," it is then said: "and the children of Israel kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month." For they could not "keep the Passover" before circumcision, nor eat the flesh of the lamb immediately after circumcision, before they were "healed." But after they "were healed," it is said that: "the children of Israel kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month." You see, then, that no one unclean "keeps the Passover," no one uncircumcised, but whoever is clean and circumcised, just as the Apostle also interprets it, saying: "for indeed Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." … But meanwhile, after Jesus led his people into the holy land, then, when all had been conquered, he celebrates the Passover.

After they observed the Passover in Egypt, they began the exodus. In the book of Joshua, however, after the crossing of the Jordan, on the tenth day of the first month they encamped in Gilgal.…Then the sons of Israel observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month much more cheerfully than the one in Egypt, seeing that they also "ate unleavened bread and fresh from the grain of the holy land," a food better than the manna. For God does not feed them on lesser foods when they have received the land according to promise, nor do they obtain inferior bread through Jesus [Joshua] who is so great. This will be clear to the one who has perceived the true holy land and the Jerusalem above.

But at that time, indeed, when the people went out from the land of Egypt, "each carried, sprinkled in his garments," what was strewn. But when what was strewn had run out and they had no bread, God "rained down manna" for them. But when they came to the holy land and "took the fruits of the province of the palms," the "manna failed" them, and then they began to eat of the fruits of the land. And so three kinds of food are described in general. The first, indeed, is that on which we feed as we go out from the land of Egypt, but this suffices for a little time. After this, however, the manna succeeds. But the third we now "take" as "fruit" from the holy land. In which differences, as far as the understanding of my littleness reaches, I judge this to be indicated: that the first food, which we carried with us as we went out from Egypt, is this small schoolboy learning (or even, if perhaps someone has attained something of liberal letters), which can help us but a little. But placed in the desert — that is, in this state of life in which we now are — we feed on the manna through this, that we are instructed by the teachings of the divine law. But whoever has deserved to enter the "land of promise" — that is, to attain those things which have been promised by the Savior — he will eat the "fruits from the region of the palms." For truly he will find the "fruit of the palm" who, having overcome the enemy, has arrived at the things promised. For it is certain that, however great those things are which we can now understand or perceive in the law of God or in the divine writings, far more sublime and lofty will be those which, when the "riddle" ceases, all the saints will deserve to "see" "face to face," because "the things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have ascended into the heart of man, these has God prepared for those who love him."

But see what fruits he first receives in the land of promise: then, it says, "they ate" first "of the fruits" from the region of palms, and "they ate" first "the unleavened bread." You see, therefore, that when we have first departed from the journey of this world, if we rightly follow Jesus, the first thing that meets us is the palm of victory, and, when the "leaven of malice and wickedness" has been cast away, the "unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" is prepared for us.

"And Jesus said to them: 'I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.' " He desired first of all to eat the typical Passover with his disciples and thus to reveal the mystery of his passion to the world, so that the judge of the ancient and lawful Passover would emerge and forbid this to be displayed to have pertained to the type of its dispensation by further carnal teaching but would demonstrate instead through the passing shadow that the light of the true Passover has now come. The time and order of Joshua finishing the manna beautifully prefigures this, where it is written: "And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho, and they ate from the fruit of the earth on the next day, unleavened bread from the grain of the land of the same year. And the manna ceased after they ate of the fruit of the earth, nor did the children of Israel use that food any more." For, when Moses died, Joshua restored the people whom he had provided with manna for a time across the Jordan, by which food he himself was also restored, even though he knew and formerly tasted of the fruit of the promised land. Thereafter, he crossed the Jordan, circumcised with knives made of stone and did not take the customary manna for three and one half months, until the day of Passover. In fact, Joshua was ordained leader when Moses died because Christ was incarnated when the law had been corrupted by the traditions of the Pharisees. Joshua fed with and was fed by manna across the Jordan because, until the time of his baptism, the Lord observed the ceremonies of the law and wanted them to be observed by everyone else. After they had crossed the Jordan, Joshua circumcised the people with knives made from stone because the Savior celebrated the grace of baptism with thoughts that the law, in its severity, had been unable to cut off the attractions of faith. And for three and one half years [after his baptism], although provoking gradual movement toward the promised heaven, Christ does not cease to observe the sacraments of the law, as though to be nourished with the customary manna, until, while eating the desired Passover with his disciples at a foreordained time, as morning was breaking, he finally offers the most pure sacrament of his body and blood, consecrated on the altar of the cross for imbuing the faithful, as though it were the unleavened bread of the promised land.

But if the law is to be understood according to the letter alone, the children of Israel will without doubt be found — when they were using better things, for they were taking manna from heaven — to have received worse things from the promise, whereas, when the Egyptian foods first failed them, a better food had succeeded, the manna from heaven. And how now will it be thought that, when the better food ceased, a worse succeeded, unless because a greater and truer meaning is grasped in the spiritual understanding than in the text of the letter?

But see what fruits he first receives in the land of promise: then, it says, "they ate" first "of the fruits" from the region of palms, and "they ate" first "the unleavened bread." You see, therefore, that when we have first departed from the journey of this world, if we rightly follow Jesus, the first thing that meets us is the palm of victory, and, when the "leaven of malice and wickedness" has been cast away, the "unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" is prepared for us.

Joshua, the successor of Moses, calls the leader of the heavenly angels and archangels and of the supernal powers and as if he were the power and wisdom of the Father, entrusted with the second rank of sovereignty and rule over all, "prince of the host of the Lord," although he saw him only in the form and shape of a man. At any rate, it is written: "And it came to pass, when Joshua was in the field of the city of Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, and saw a man standing over against him, holding a drawn sword, and he went to him and said: 'Are you one of ours, or of our adversaries?' And he said to him, 'I am prince of the host of the Lord and I have now come.' And Joshua fell on his face to the ground and said to him, 'What does my Lord command to his servant?' And the prince of the Lord said to Joshua, 'Loose your shoe from off your feet, for the place on which you stand is a holy place.' " Here, too, you will perceive from the identity of words that this is no other than he who also spoke to Moses.

Divine providence surrounds all persons at all times, but it is not visible except to those who have purified their souls of sin and think about God at all times. To these it is luminously revealed at that time; because when they have undergone great temptations for the sake of truth, then they receive the faculty to perceive sensibly as if with eyes of flesh also when necessary, even palpably, according to the kind and cause of the temptation, as if for greater encouragement.So it was with Jacob and Joshua son of Nun, Hananiah and his companions, Peter and others to whom the form of a man appeared to encourage them and to console their faith.

Joshua, the son of Nun, and Daniel bowed in veneration before an angel of God, but they did not adore him. For adoration is one thing, and that which is offered in order to honor something of great excellence is another.

Joshua the son of Nun did not see the angel as he is by nature, but an image, for an angel by nature is not visible to bodily eyes, yet he fell down and worshiped, and Daniel did likewise. Yet an angel is a creature, a servant and minister of God, but not God. And they fell down in worship before the angels, not as God, but as God's ministering spirits. Shall I not make images of friends? Shall I not honor them, not as gods but as the images of God's friends? Neither Joshua nor Daniel worshiped the angels they saw as gods. Neither do I worship an image as god, but through the images of Christ and of the holy Theotokos and of the saints, I bring worship and honor to God, because of the reverence with which I honor his friends. God did not unite himself with angelic nature but with human nature. God did not become an angel; he became a man by nature and in truth.

And therefore one must beware and act carefully, so that you may knowingly discern the kind of visions, just as Joshua the son of Nun also, when he saw a vision, knowing that there was temptation in this, at once inquires of him who appeared and says: "Are you ours or of our adversaries?" So then the advancing soul also, when it has come to this point, that it now begins to have discernment of visions, will thereby be proved to be spiritual, if it knows how to discern all things. Finally, therefore, among the spiritual gifts as well, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is said to be the discernment of spirits.

"And it came to pass," it says, "when Jesus was at Jericho, that looking up with his eyes he saw a man standing over against him, and a drawn sword was in his hand. And Jesus, drawing near, said to him: are you ours, or of our adversaries? And he said: I am the prince of the host of the Lord's power; now I have come." "Looking up," then, "with his eyes he sees the prince of the Lord's host," as one who had not "looked up" before, but only then, when he was about to see the "prince of the Lord's host." Yet when Jesus had seen him, he did not see him as a common man, but understood that he was a certain power. Nevertheless he is not yet certain whether the one who appears is one from the divine powers or from the contrary ones, and therefore he asks and inquires, saying: "are you ours, or of our adversaries?"

A brother asked a hermit, 'Is it good to be always repenting?' He answered, 'We have seen Joshua the son of Nun; it was when he was lying prostrate on his face that God appeared to him' (cf. Josh. 5:14).

The same words, you will remember, were said by the same Lord to Moses at the beginning of the vision of the Bush, for Scripture says: "And when the Lord saw that he drew nigh to see, He called him from the midst of the Bush, saying, Moses, Moses, come not near here; loose thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

So, then, the command that was given shews that the God Who answered on both occasions was one and the same. Though here He prophesies through the Chief and Captain of His power, and to Moses by the vision of the angel. And of the heavenly armies, celestial powers and invisible spirits, holy angels and archangels ministering to God the King of kings and the Lord of lords (as Daniel says: "Thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him"), what other could be highest of all but the Word of God, His Firstborn Wisdom, His Divine Offspring? Rightly, then, He is here called Chief Captain of the Power of the Lord, as also elsewhere "Angel of Great Counsel," "Throned with the Father," "Eternal and Great High Priest." And it has been proved that the same Being is both Lord and God, and Christ anointed by the Father with the oil of gladness. Thus, appearing to Abraham by the oak in human form, He reveals Himself in a calm and peaceful guise, foreshowing by it His future Coming to save mankind; He appeared to Jacob, as to an athlete and a champion destined to wrestle with enemies, in the form of a man, and to Moses and the people in the form of cloud and fire, and led them, shewing Himself terrible and shadowy.

And as Joshua, the successor of Moses, was about to fight against the former possessors of Palestine his enemies, foreign and most ungodly races, He rightly appears to him with a sword drawn and pointed against the enemy, shewing by the vision that He Himself is about to attack the ungodly with an unseen sword and with divine power, the fellow-soldier and the fellow-combatant of His people. Wherefore He gives Himself the name of Chief and Captain of the Lord to suit the occasion.

And he says: "I am the prince of the host of the Lord's power; now I have come." And when he had heard this, Jesus worshiped and said: "Lord, what do you command your servant?" What is it that Jesus teaches us through this? That, without doubt, which the Apostle says: "do not believe every spirit, but test whether it is of God." Jesus, then, recognized not only that "he is of God," but that he is God; for he would not have worshiped had he not recognized God. For who else is the "prince of the host of the Lord's powers" but our Lord Jesus Christ? For all the host of heaven, whether angels or archangels, or powers "or dominions or principalities or authorities," all these, which were made through him, do military service under him as prince, who is the prince of princes and who bestows principalities upon princes. For it is he who says in the Gospel: "be one having authority over ten cities," and to another: "be one having authority over five cities." It is he who, "having received the kingdom, returned."

Now, grasp the mystical meaning of Holy Writ. As long as we are walking through the wilderness, it is necessary that we wear sandals to cover and protect our feet, but when we shall have entered the Land of Promise, we shall hear with Jesus [Joshua], the son of Nave [Nun]: "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place upon which you are standing is holy." When, therefore, we enter into the kingdom of heaven, we shall have no need of sandals or for protection against this world, but—to give you a new thought—we shall follow the Lamb that has been slain for us.

But meanwhile let us see what the present reading suggests. Jesus is at Jericho; the enemies still hold the city and are not yet conquered. Yet already it is said to Jesus: "loose the shoe from your feet; for the place in which you stand is holy ground." And how is Jericho "holy ground," which is held by the enemies? But perhaps this is what is indicated: that wherever the "prince of the host of the Lord's power" comes, he sanctifies the place, because Jericho itself was not a holy place; but because the "prince of the Lord's host" came there, the place is called "holy." I even dare something further, and say that even where Moses stood, of itself it was not a holy place, but because the Lord stood with Moses, the presence of the Lord had sanctified the place, and therefore it is said to him: "loose the strap of your shoe: for the place in which you stand is holy ground." Whence we too, if by our life and merits we draw near to the Lord and are made worthy for God to stand by us, it is said also to us that we should loose from the feet of our soul whatever bond of mortality is bound to them. For these are the "feet" which Jesus "washes"; which, "unless he washes them, we shall have no part with him." So then, if we loose from our soul and senses every bond of mortal care, immediately God too will gladly be present and stand by us.