Origen of Alexandria

In his own words on Joshua

• Joshua 1:1-2

  The book does not so much indicate to us the deeds of the son of Nun as it represents for us the mysteries of Jesus my Lord. For he himself is the one who assumes power after the death of Moses; he is the one who leads the army and fights against Amalek. What was foreshadowed there on the mountain by lifted hands was the time when "he attaches [them] to his cross, triumphing over the principalities and powers on it."2Thus Moses is dead; for the law has ceased, because "the law and the prophets extend only up to John." Do you want me to bring forth proofs from the Scriptures that the law is called Moses? Hear what he says in the Gospel: "They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them." Here, without any doubt, he calls the law Moses. Therefore "Moses, the servant of God, is dead"; for the law is dead, and the legal precepts are now invalid.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 1.3

• Joshua 1:3

  What are the places we ascend with the soles of our feet? The letter of the law is placed on the ground and lies down below. On no occasion, then, does the one who follows the letter of the law ascend. But if you are able to rise from the letter to the spirit and also ascend from history to a higher understanding, then truly you have ascended the lofty and high place that you will receive from God as your inheritance. For if in these things that are written you perceive types and observe figures of heavenly things, and with reflection and intuitive feeling "you seek those things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God," then you will receive this place as your inheritance. For our Lord and Savior says, "Where I am, there also will be my servant."19If therefore you have arrived all the way to Christ, who sits at the right hand of God, by your faith, life, purity and virtue, and by those "soles of your feet" that Jesus washed, you have approached that place. God will give it to you. Then not only "will you be made heirs of God" but also "co-heirs with Christ."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 2.3

• Joshua 1:3

  But let us consider what is promised to us in these words.There are certain diabolical races of powerful adversaries against whom we wage a battle and against whom we struggle in this life. However many of these races we set under our feet, however many we conquer in battle, we shall seize their territories, their provinces and their realms, as Jesus our Lord apportions them to us. For they were once angels; they were glorified in the kingdom of God. Or do we not read that Isaiah says of one of them, "How did Lucifer fall, the one who rose in the morning?" That Lucifer, without a doubt, had a throne in the heavens until he became a fugitive angel. If I should conquer him and set him under my feet, if I should deserve that the Lord Jesus "crush Satan under my feet," I shall be ready as a consequence to receive the place of Lucifer in heaven. Thus we understand the promise to us from our Lord Jesus that "every place we set the soles of our feet" will be ours. But let us not imagine that we may be able to enter into this inheritance yawning and drowsy, through ease and negligence. The wrath of his own race possesses the angel [Lucifer]. Unless you vanquish this [wrath] in yourself and cut off all violent impulses of anger and rage, you will not be able to claim as an inheritance the place that angel once had. For you will not expel him from the land of promise by your slothfulness. In like manner, some angels incite pride, jealousy, greed and lust and instigate these evil things. Unless you gain the mastery over their vices in yourself and exterminate them from your land—which now through the grace of baptism has been sanctified—you will not receive the fullness of the promised inheritance.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 1.6

• Joshua 1:8

  I fear, however, lest by too much negligence and dullness of heart the divine volumes be not only veiled to us but also sealed, so that "if a book should be put into the hands of a man who cannot read, he would say, 'I cannot read'; if it should be put into the hands of a man who can read, he would say, 'It is sealed.' " Whence it is shown that we must not only employ zeal to learn the sacred literature, but we must also pray to the Lord and entreat "day and night" that the lamb "of the tribe of Judah" may come and himself taking "the sealed book" may deign to open it.

  HOMILIES ON EXODUS 12.4

• Joshua 1:12

  Let us look closely at what sign those two and a half tribes hold who receive the land of inheritance through Moses, and what sign the remainder of the nine and a half tribes hold who receive the promise of the holy land through Jesus [Joshua].First of all, I think it is impossible for it to have happened accidentally that those who receive a portion through Moses were all firstborn. For Reuben was the firstborn of Leah; Gad, the firstborn of Zilpah; and Manasseh, the firstborn of Asenath the Egyptian whom Joseph married, the daughter of Potiphar the priest of Heliopolis. For myself, I can never be persuaded that it was by chance that the firstborn were the only ones whose inheritance was determined through Moses. Rather, I believe that in these things the design of two groups of people was already foreshadowed at that time: One would seem to be the firstborn according to the order of nature; the other, the people who would receive the blessing of their inheritance through faith and grace.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 3.1

• Joshua 1:14

  Rest is not given first to those who through Moses receive the inheritance—that is, those who pleased God through the law—unless they assist their brothers in the battles. Only women and infants receive rest through Moses. The others do not rest but go out to the aid of their brothers.…Thus those who are strong men, their loins armed and girded with truth, go forth to our aid and fight with us. But "infants and women" do not go out to our battle. This is not an astonishing thing, for an infant is said to be one who does not speak. How is a person able to assist me who has spoken nothing, the one of whom I discover nothing that I may read, the one who does not instruct me by a word? But the apostle says that a woman is a "weak vessel." Suitably, therefore, a weak vessel does not come to the conflict lest it be broken in pieces and destroyed. For concerning our Lord Jesus, it is also said in the Gospels that "he did not break a bruised reed."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 3.1

• Joshua 2:1-2

  Nevertheless, our Jesus [Joshua] sends spies to the king of Jericho, and they are received hospitably by a prostitute. But the prostitute who received the spies sent by Jesus [Joshua] was no longer a prostitute since she received them. Indeed, everyone of us was a prostitute in his heart as long as he lived according to the desires and lusts of the flesh.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 1.4

• Joshua 2:1-2

  Meanwhile, the spies are sent by Jesus [Joshua] to Jericho and are received by the prostitute Rahab. Those spies, who are sent before the face of Jesus [Joshua], can also be considered the messengers of God, just as it is written, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your paths." This passage, fulfilled invisibly through others, was fulfilled visibly through John, about whom this was also written. Because the scribes and Pharisees did not believe him, the Lord spoke concerning the baptism of John and said that the "prostitutes and publicans who believed" were baptized. The same thing is fulfilled in the fact that the prostitute received the spies of Jesus [Joshua] and is snatched away and brought back from the destruction of every hostile nation.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 3.3

• Joshua 2:18-19

  Also this commandment is given to the person who was once a prostitute: "All," it says, "who will be found in your house will be saved. But concerning those who go out from the house, we ourselves are free of them by your oath." Therefore, if anyone wants to be saved, let him come into the house of this one who was once a prostitute. Even if anyone from that people wants to be saved, let him come in order to be able to attain salvation. Let him come to this house in which the blood of Christ is the sign of redemption. For among those who said, "His blood be upon us and upon our children," the blood of Christ is for condemnation. For Jesus had been appointed "for the ruin and the resurrection of many." Therefore, for those refuting his sign, his blood effects punishment; for those who believe, salvation.Let no one persuade himself, let no one deceive himself. Outside this house, that is, outside the church, no one is saved. If anyone goes outside, he is responsible for his own death. This is the significance of the blood, for this is also the purification that is manifest through the blood.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 3.5

• Joshua 2:21

  In that the sign hangs in a window I think this is indicated: A window is that which illumines the house and through which we receive light, not wholly but enough, enough to suffice for the eye and for our vision. Even the incarnation of the Savior did not give us pure wine and the whole aspect of divinity, but through his incarnation, just as through the window, he makes us behold the splendor of the divinity. For that reason, so it seems to me, the sign of salvation was given through a window.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 3.5

• Joshua 2:21

  She herself puts the scarlet-colored sign in her house, through which she is bound to be saved from the destruction of the city. No other sign would have been accepted, except the scarlet-colored one that carried the sign of blood. For she knew there was no salvation for anyone except in the blood of Christ.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 3.5

• Joshua 3:3-4

  Finally, see what is said: "Let the people be at a distance from the ark of the covenant," it says, "by two thousand cubits." The priests and the Levites, however, are very near, and near enough so that the ark of the Lord and the divine law are carried on their own shoulders. Blessed are those who deserve to be very close to God. But remember that it is written, "Those who draw near to me, draw near to fire." If you are gold and silver and have drawn near to the fire, you will shine forth more splendid and glowing because of the fire. But if you are conscious of building "wood, hay and stubble" upon the foundation of your faith, and you approach the fire with such building, you will be consumed. Blessed, therefore, are those who are very near, who are so very near that the fire illumines and does not burn them. Nevertheless, even Israel will be saved; but it will be saved from far away, and it makes its journey not by its own power but by the support and foresight of the priests.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 4.3

• Joshua 3:5-6

  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."

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.228-30

• Joshua 3:6

  It is the priestly and levitical order that stands by the ark of the covenant of the Lord in which the law of God is carried, doubtless, so that they may enlighten the people concerning the commandments of God. As the prophet says, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, Lord, and a light for my paths." This light is kindled by the priests and Levites. Wherefore, if by chance anyone from this order "puts the kindled lamp under a bushel" and not "upon a lamp stand so that it may shine forth for all who are in the house," let him see what he must do when he begins to render an account of the light to the Lord for those who, receiving no illumination from the priests, walk in shadows and are blinded by the darkness of their sins.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 4.2

• Joshua 3:6

  It is the ark of the covenant of the Lord in which the tablets of the law written by the hand of God are preserved. And everyone who is "truly Israel" proceeds around this ark of the covenant and is not far from it; but the Levites and the priests even carry it on their shoulders.For indeed whoever lives by a priestly religion and by holiness are themselves truly the priests and Levites of the Lord. It is not just those who seem to sit in the priestly assembly, but even more those who behave in a priestly manner. Their portion is the Lord, and they do not possess any portion on the earth. They carry the law of God on their shoulders, namely, by doing and accomplishing through their work those things that are written in the law.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.5

• Joshua 3:7

  What great things were manifested before! The Red Sea was crossed on foot, manna was given from heaven, springs were burst open in the wilderness, the law was given through Moses. Many signs and marvels were performed in the wilderness, but nowhere is it said that Jesus [Joshua] was "exalted." But where the Jordan is crossed, there it is said to Jesus [Joshua], "In this day I am beginning to exalt you in the sight of the people." Indeed, Jesus is not exalted before the mystery of baptism. But his exaltation, even his exaltation in the sight of the people, assumes a beginning from then on. If "all who are baptized [into Christ Jesus] are baptized into his death," and the death of Jesus is made complete by the exaltation of the cross, deservedly then, Jesus is first exalted for each of the faithful when that person arrives at the mystery of baptism. Because thus it is written that "God exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth, and below the earth."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 4.2

• Joshua 3:7-10

  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.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.231-32

• Joshua 3:14-17

  And do not imagine that these deeds are only in former times and nothing so great as this is brought forth in you who are now the hearer of them. For all things are fulfilled in you according to a mystical reckoning. Indeed you who long to draw near to the hearing of the divine law have recently forsaken the darkness of idolatry and are now for the first time forsaking Egypt. When you are reckoned among the number of catechumens and have undertaken to submit to the precepts of the church, you have parted the Red Sea and, placed in the stations of the desert, you daily devote yourself to hearing the law of God and to looking upon the face of Moses, through which the glory of the Lord is revealed. But if, you also have entered the mystic font of baptism and in the presence of the priestly and levitical order have been instructed by those venerable and magnificent sacraments, which are known to those who are permitted to know those things, then, with the Jordan parted, you will enter the land of promise by the services of the priests. In this land, Jesus receives you after Moses and becomes for you the leader of a new way.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 4.1

• Joshua 3:16

  Still I believe it was not without reference to a mystery that this was written, that part of the waters of the Jordan plunges into the sea and flows into bitterness, while the other part continues on in sweetness. For if all who are baptized maintained the sweetness of the heavenly grace they received and no one were changed into the bitterness of sins, it would never have been written that part of the river was plunged into the abyss of the salty sea. Therefore, it seems to me that the variety of those baptized is designated in these words, a variety we ourselves—I remember with grief—often see occur. When some who receive holy baptism surrender themselves again to the affairs of the world and to the lures of pleasure, and when they drink the salty cup of avarice, they are symbolized by that part of the waters that flows into the sea and perishes in salty billows. But the part that continues steadfast and protects its own sweetness stands for those who unchangeably hold the gift of God they have received.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 4.2

• Joshua 4:10

  It seems to me the words "the people hastened to cross" were not added idly by the Holy Spirit. For this reason, I also think that when we come to baptism for salvation and receive the sacraments of the Word of God, we should not do it idly or negligently, but we should hurriedly press on all the way until we cross over everything.For to cross over everything is to accomplish all the things that are commanded. Therefore let us hasten to cross, that is, to fulfill at the beginning, what is written: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Then, when we have set aside all arrogance and taken up the humility of Christ, we may deserve to attain the blessed promise. Yet even when we have accomplished this, we must not stand still or loiter but cross over the other things that follow, so that "we may hunger and thirst after righteousness." We must also cross over that which follows so that in this world "we may mourn." Then we must quickly cross the remaining things so that we may be made "meek" and remain "peaceable" and thus be able to hear as "sons of God." Also we must hasten so that we may pass through the burden of persecution with the virtue of patience. Whenever we seek earnestly and swiftly—not slowly and languidly—those individual things that pertain to the glory of virtue, this, it seems to me, is "to cross over the Jordan with haste."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 5.1

• Joshua 4:13

  To be sure, it is not enough for you in the sight of people to seem to preserve the truth. For certainly it is possible to deceive humans and to seem truthful. But in doing so you are not girded about "with truth," unless also "in the sight of the Lord" you have preserved truth, that is, not only the things people hear from your voice but also the things God examines in your heart. Let nothing false be on the tongue; let nothing counterfeit be in the heart, as the prophet says about such things, "Those who speak peace with their neighbor but have evil in their hearts." Therefore the one who wishes to be "girded in the sight of the Lord" and to proceed to capture Jericho ought to be apart from all these things, because when we cross over the Jordan River, we cross over to battles and wars.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 5.2

• Joshua 4:13

  Let us learn from Paul, who explains who those "girded" ones are. Hear what he himself says: "Therefore, let your loins be girded with truth." You see, therefore, that Paul knew the girded ones, those who were encircled by the belt of truth. So truth also ought to be our belt, if we have preserved the sacrament of this army and belt. For if truth is the belt by which we are girded for the army of Christ, then whenever we speak a falsehood and a lie proceeds from our mouth, we are ungirded from the army of Christ and loosened from the belt of truth. Therefore, if we are in the truth, we are girded; but if in the false, ungirded. Instead let us imitate those "forty thousand girded men proceeding to the war in the sight of the Lord," and let us always be girded with truth.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 5.2

• Joshua 4:14

  Everyone who is under the law reveres Moses. But when one crosses over to the gospel from the law, by the changed observance the reverence is also changed. It is just as the apostle says, "For I through the law have died to the law so that I may live for God; I was crucified with Christ, but now I live; not I, but Christ lives in me."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 5.4

• Joshua 4:14

  Certainly, that exaltation of the son of Nun took place in order that the leader of those former people might be held eminent among those whom he ruled. But let us see how our Jesus my Lord, leader and ruler of this latter people, is "exalted" in the sight of all the descendants of the sons of Israel. I myself think that he was always exalted and elevated in the presence of the Father. But it is necessary that God exalt him in our sight. He is exalted in my sight when the sublimity and loftiness of his divinity is disclosed to me. When, therefore, is his lofty divinity revealed to me? At that time, assuredly, when I crossed over the Jordan and was equipped with the various defenses of the sacraments for the future battle.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 5.3

• Joshua 4:19

  And when do they come to the crossing of the Jordan? For I have noted that this also has been indicated, so that even the time might be distinguished, and with good reason. "On the tenth," it says, "of the first month." That is also the day on which the mystery of the lamb was prefigured in Egypt. On the tenth of the first month, these things were celebrated in Egypt; on the tenth of the first month, they go into the land of promise. This seems to me exceedingly fortunate, that on the very same day in which someone has escaped the errors of the world, that person may also be worthy to enter the land of promise, that is, on this day in which we live in this age. For all our present life is designated as one day. Therefore we are instructed through that mystery not to put off our acts and works of righteousness until tomorrow but rather "today"6—that is, while we are living, while we are lingering in this world—to make haste to accomplish all things that pertain to perfection, so that on the tenth day of the first month, we shall be able to enter the land of promise, that is, the blessedness of perfection.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 4.4

• Joshua 5:2-3

  I may wish in this place to inquire of the Jews how anyone is able to be circumcised a second time with the circumcision of the flesh. For once anyone is circumcised, he does not have anything more to be removed a second time. But see how fittingly and consistently those things may be resolved by us, to whom it is said, "The law is spiritual." For we say that that person who was skilled in the law and taught by Moses cast off the errors of idolatry and put aside the superstition and worship of images. This is the first circumcision through the law. But if he comes from the law and the prophets to the gospel faith, then he also receives the second circumcision through "the rock, who is Christ," and what the Lord said to Jesus [Joshua] is accomplished: "Today I have taken away the reproach of Egypt from the sons of Israel."Just as the apostle said, "They drank from the spiritual rock following them, but that rock was Christ," so also we are able to say aptly in this place that they were circumcised "from the spiritual rock following them, but the rock was Christ." For if anyone has not been cleansed through the gospel by a second circumcision, he is not able to put aside the reproach of Egypt, that is, the allurement of fleshly vices.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 5.5

• Joshua 5:8

  For it is not enough for us to be circumcised, but [we must] also be healed after circumcision, that is, until a scar closes up the wound of circumcision itself. When, therefore, is the scar spread over the wound of our circumcision? I myself think that to be circumcised by our Jesus is this: to be free from faults, to put aside wicked habits and vile practices, to cut off filthy and rude customs and whatever recoils at the rule of honesty and piety.But, in the beginning, when we do this we are fettered in a certain measure by the difficulty of newness and, as if with a certain labor and anguish of spirit, we change the defects of the old habit for a new practice. On that account, as I said, there is a certain distress in the beginning, and with difficulty and grief are we able to remove the first things and to receive the second. Therefore, this seems to me to be the time when we are said to tarry, just as in the pain of our circumcision, until after the scar is closed and we are healed. And we close the scar when, without difficulty, we adopt new manners and there is within us a transformation to a practice that previously seemed difficult because we were not used to it. And at that time, we are truly said to be healed when, lacking vices, we instill a virtue in our nature by its new use.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.1

• Joshua 5:9

  The Lord also signifies this in the gospel when he says, "Your sins are forgiven you," but "sin no longer, so nothing worse may happen to you." For if, after the remission of sins you no longer sin, truly the reproach of Egypt has been taken away from you. But if you sin again, the old reproaches return again to you, and so much the more because it is a much greater charge "to tread underfoot the Son of God and to consider the blood of the covenant defiled" than to neglect the law of Moses. For indeed, the person who commits fornication after the gospel merits a much greater reproach than the one still under the law, because that one, "taking away the members of Christ, makes them the members of a prostitute." You see, therefore, that more serious and more abundant reproaches are returned to you if you have neglected them. Then, indeed, no one proves you responsible for defilement but condemns you for the crime of sacrilege, because it is said to you, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of God?" "If anyone dishonors the temple of God, God will destroy that person."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 5.6

• Joshua 5:9

  All persons, even if they come from the law, even if they have learned through Moses, still have the reproach of Egypt in them, the reproach of sins. Who will be like Paul even according to the observance of the law? Just hear him saying, "According to the righteousness based upon the law, I lived without blame." Nevertheless, he himself publicly announces and says, "For we were even ourselves at some time foolish, unbelieving, wandering, enslaved to desires and various forms of pleasure, in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another." Do these things not seem to you to be reproaches, even the reproaches of Egypt? But since Christ came and gave to us the second circumcision through "the baptism of regeneration" and purified our souls, we have cast away all these things and in exchange for them we have received the affirming of a good conscience toward God. At that time, through the second circumcision, the reproaches of Egypt were taken away from us, and the blemishes of sins were purified. No one, therefore, fears the reproaches of past transgressions, if he has been wholly converted and has repented from the heart, and, by faith, has parted the waters of the Jordan and been purified through the second circumcision of the gospel. You hear that, "Today, I have taken the reproach of Egypt away from you."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 5.6

• Joshua 5:10-11

  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.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.233-35

• Joshua 5:10

  For not before circumcision were they able to celebrate a Passover; nor immediately after circumcision, before they were healed, were they able to eat the flesh of the lamb. But after they were healed it is said that "the sons of Israel celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month." You see, therefore, that no one unclean celebrates Passover, no one uncircumcised, but whoever has been cleansed and circumcised, just as the apostle also interprets, saying, "For indeed Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast day, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.1

• Joshua 5:11

  Now if the law is to be understood only according to the letter, without doubt the sons of Israel will be found to have received poorer things from the promise since they had been partaking of better things—for they were receiving manna from heaven. When they had forsaken the prior food of Egypt, a better food by all means had followed, the manna from heaven. Now in what manner will it be reckoned that with a better food ceasing, a worse has followed, unless a greater and truer account is discovered in a spiritual understanding rather than in the literal text.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.1

• Joshua 5:12

  Indeed at that time, when the people went out of the land of Egypt, "they carried dough in their clothes." And when the dough had run out and they had no bread, God rained manna on them. But when they came to the holy land and "took the fruit of the province of the palms, the manna ceased for them," and then they began to eat of the fruit of the land.In this manner, three kinds of food in general are described. The first one we certainly enjoy when going out of the land of Egypt, but this suffices for only a little time. Manna follows after this. But the third fruit we receive now from the holy land. By this diversity, as my insignificant perception comprehends, I think it is indicated that the first food that we carry with us when leaving Egypt is this little school learning (or even more advanced learning if, by chance, anyone has acquired it) that is able to help us only a little. But, placed in the desert, that is, in the condition of life in which we now are, we enjoy the manna only through what we learn by the instructions of the divine law. But the one who will deserve to enter the land of promise, that is, to obtain that which has been promised by the Savior, that one will eat fruits from the region of the palms. For truly that person who arrives at these promises after having conquered the enemy will discover the fruit of the palm. For it is certain that however great those things are that we are now able to understand or to know in the law of God or in divine learning, those things that the holy ones will deserve to see "face to face" when the enigma is over, will be far more sublime and lofty. For "what the eye has not seen or the ear heard, what has not ascended into a person's heart, these are the things God has prepared for those who love him."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.1

• Joshua 5:13

  And so you must beware and exercise great care in order to discern with knowledge the kinds of visions, just as Joshua the son of Nun, when he saw a vision and knew there was temptation in it, immediately asked the one who appeared to him and said, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" So, then, the soul progresses when it comes to the place where it begins to distinguish between visions; and it is proved to be spiritual if it knows how to discern them all. That is why, as well, one of the spiritual gifts, given by the Holy Spirit, is mentioned as "the ability to distinguish between spirits."

  HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 27.11

• Joshua 5:14

  What is it that Jesus [Joshua] teaches us through this? That, doubtless, which the apostle says: "Do not believe every spirit, but test if it is from God." Therefore, Jesus [Joshua] recognized not only something from God but that which is God; for certainly he would not have worshiped unless he had recognized God. For who else is chief of the army of the powers of God except our Lord Jesus Christ? For every heavenly army, whether angels or archangels, whether powers or "dominions or principalities or authorities," all these that were made through him, wage war under the chief himself, who is the chief of chiefs and who distributes sovereignty to the sovereigns. For he himself is the one who says in the gospel, "Have power over ten cities," and, to another, "Have power over five cities." This is the one who has returned after accepting the kingdom.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.2

• Joshua 5:15

  And in what manner is Jericho holy ground since it is retained by the enemies? This indicates, and not by accident, that the chief of the army of the power of the Lord sanctifies every place to which he comes, for Jericho itself was not a holy place. But because the chief of the army of God came there, the place is said to be holy. I also dare something more and say that even the place where Moses stood was not holy through Moses himself but because the Lord stood with him. The presence of the Lord had sanctified the place; and on that account, it is said to him, "Loosen the latchet of your sandal; for the place on which you stand is holy ground."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.3

• Joshua 6:18

  This is what is indicated by these words: Take heed that you have nothing worldly in you, that you bring down with you to the church neither worldly customs nor faults nor equivocations of the age. But let all worldly ways be anathema to you. Do not mix mundane things with divine; do not introduce worldly matters into the mysteries of the church.This is what John also sounds with the trumpet of his epistle, saying, "Do not love the world or the things that are in the world." And likewise Paul: "Do not," he says, "be conformed to this world." For those who do these things accept what is anathema. But also those introduce anathema into the churches who, for example, celebrate the solemnities of the nations even though they are Christians. Those who eagerly seek the lives and deeds of humans from the courses of the stars, who inquire of the flight of birds and other things of this type that were observed in the former age, carry what is anathema from Jericho into the church and pollute the camp of the Lord and cause the people of God to be overcome. But there are also many other sins through which anathema from Jericho is introduced into the church, through which the people of God are overcome and overthrown by enemies. Does not the apostle also teach these same things when he says, "A little leaven spoils the whole lump"?

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 7.4

• Joshua 6:20

  At the coming of Jesus [Joshua], the walls of Jericho were overthrown; at the coming of my Lord Jesus, the world is overcome. Yet I want to know more plainly how the world is overcome and to understand more clearly those things that are said. I myself, I who teach you, want to learn equally with you. Let us summon Paul as a teacher for all of us, for he is a fellow priest of Christ, so that he can disclose to us how Christ overcame the world. Therefore, hear him saying, "That which was opposed to us he took away from our midst and fixed to his own cross; and stripping principalities and authorities he exposed them openly, triumphing over them on the wood of the cross." From these words, therefore, I understand that when the heavenly powers saw the fight of Jesus—the principalities and hostile authorities stripped of their authorities, "the strong one bound and his goods plundered"22—they thundered with their heavenly trumpets, because with the prince of this world bound, the world was overcome and the heavenly army gave the joyful shout at the triumph of Christ. Truly, therefore, blessed are the people of the nations, those who know this joyful shout of the heavenly army and who begin to recognize the mysteries and believe.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 7.3

• Joshua 6:20

  But when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, whose arrival that prior son of Nun designated, he sends priests, his apostles, bearing "trumpets hammered thin," the magnificent and heavenly instruction of proclamation. Matthew first sounded the priestly trumpet in his Gospel; Mark also; Luke and John each played their own priestly trumpets. Even Peter cries out with trumpets in two of his epistles; also James and Jude. In addition, John also sounds the trumpet through his epistles, and Luke, as he describes the Acts of the Apostles. And now that last one comes, the one who said, "I think God displays us apostles last," and in fourteen of his epistles, thundering with trumpets, he casts down the walls of Jericho and all the devices of idolatry and dogmas of philosophers, all the way to the foundations.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 7.1

• Joshua 6:20

  How, therefore, is Jericho captured? The sword is not drawn against it; the battering ram is not arranged, nor is the spear hurled. The priestly trumpets alone are employed, and by these the walls of Jericho are overthrown.We frequently find Jericho to be placed in Scripture as a figure of this world.… Consequently, this Jericho (that is, the world) is about to fall; for indeed the consummation of the age has already been made known a little while ago by the sacred books. In what way, therefore, will the consummation be given to it? By what instruments? By the sound, it says, of trumpets. Of what trumpets? Let Paul make known the mystery of this secret to you. Hear what he himself says: "The trumpet will sound," he says, "and the dead who are in Christ will rise incorruptible," and, "The Lord himself with a command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven." At that time, therefore, Jesus our Lord conquers Jericho with trumpets and overthrows it, so that out of it, only the prostitute is saved and all her house.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.4

• Joshua 6:20

  The consummation of the world will not happen in stages, but suddenly. With this ought to be compared, I think, what was written in Joshua, when by a single sound of a trumpet the crumbling city of Jericho suddenly perished; and like this example Babylon also in the consummation of the age will fall and suddenly be obliterated.

  HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 28.11

• Joshua 6:25

  Therefore, our Lord Jesus will come, and he will come with the sound of trumpets. But just now let us pray that he may come and destroy "the world that lay in wickedness" and all things that are in the world, because "everything that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes." May he destroy that, may he dissolve it again and again, and save only this one who received his spies and who placed his apostles, received with faith and obedience, in the high places. And may he join and unite this prostitute with the house of Israel.But now let us neither recall nor impute to her the old fault. Once she was a prostitute, but now "a pure virgin, to one man" she has been united, "to Christ." Hear the apostle speaking of her: "But I have determined this itself, to present you to Christ, a pure virgin to one husband." It was also surely of her that someone said, "For once we ourselves were also foolish, unbelieving, wandering, serving desires and various forms of pleasures." Do you still wish to learn more about how the prostitute is no longer a prostitute? Hear Paul saying in addition, "And this surely you have been; but you have been washed, you have been sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 6.4

• Joshua 6:25

  But the woman Rahab, how is she said to be joined to the house of Israel up to this very day? Is a succession of posterity on her mother's side ascribed so that she is considered to be preserved in a renewal of offspring? Or rather must it be understood that she has really been bound and united to Israel up to this very day? If you want to see more plainly how Rahab is bound to Israel, consider how "the branch of the wild olive tree is implanted in the root of a good olive tree." Then you will understand how those who have been implanted in the faith of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are rightly called attached and "joined to Israel up to this very day." For we have been attached up to this very day in the root of those former ones, we, the branches of the wild olive taken up from the nations, who at one time were dealing with harlots and worshiping wood and stone instead of the true God.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 7.5

• Joshua 7:1

  But also we should not let it be passed over without comment that by one sinner wrath comes upon all the people.…But let us also see what sort of sin this person did. He stole, it says, "a tongue of gold" and placed it in his own tent. I do not think so great a force of sin was in that theft of a little gold that it defiled the innumerable church of the Lord. But let us see if a deeper understanding does not reveal the enormity and severity of the sin. There is much elegance in words and much beauty in the discourses of philosophers and rhetoricians, who are all of the city of Jericho, that is, people of this world. If, therefore, you should find among the philosophers perverse doctrines beautified by the assertions of a splendid discourse, this is the "tongue of gold." But beware that the splendor of the performance does not beguile you, that the beauty of the golden discourse not seize you. Remember that Jesus [Joshua] commanded all the gold found in Jericho to be anathema. If you read a poet with properly measured verses, weaving gods and goddesses in a very bright tune, do not be seduced by the sweetness of eloquence, for it is the "tongue of gold." If you take it up and place it in your tent, if you introduce into your heart those things that are declared by the [poets and philosophers], then you will pollute the whole church of the Lord.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 7.6-7

• Joshua 8:12-16

  At first, we were overcome because of sins, and those who were living in Ai destroyed very many of us. Ai means chaos. But we know chaos to be the place or habitation of opposing powers, of which the devil is the king and chief. Against him, as Jesus [Joshua] comes, he divides the people into two parts; he stations some in the front and others in the rear, so they may come behind the enemies unexpectedly. Consider if the first part is not about the people of whom he says, "I came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and of whom the apostle says, "But grace and peace to every person who does good, to the Jew first, then also to the Greek," that is, the later Gentile. Those are the people, therefore, who are stationed in the front and seem to flee with Jesus. But the people in back are the ones who are gathered from the nations and who come unexpectedly. For who expected the nations to be saved? They strike more keenly behind the adversaries, and thus both people together overthrow and conquer the throng of demons confined in the middle.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.2

• Joshua 8:15-16

  But perhaps you say to me, "In what manner are the people in front placed as though fleeing?" In a most suitable manner. For truly, those who follow Jesus seem to flee from legal burdens and precepts, from the observation of the sabbath, from the circumcision of the flesh, and from cutting the throats of enemies. But on the other hand, the one who has followed Christ, the fulfillment and fullness of the law, does not flee.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.2

• Joshua 8:15-16

  But another thing occurs to me in this place as I consider Jesus [Joshua] fleeing before the face of the army of Ai. Why do you think it is that Jesus [Joshua] is described as fleeing? Let us consider whether perhaps there may be something that we may conquer by fleeing, and that there is some perfect virtue in flight. Paul the apostle teaches us saying, "Flee fornication." You see therefore that there is a certain "spirit of fornication" that we ought to flee, all who wish to remain chastely and piously and modestly in Christ. Thus this flight is that which holds salvation; this flight is of power; this flight confers blessedness. And not only must the spirit of fornication be fled, but in like manner, just as it is said, "Flee fornication," let us hear it said to us: "Flee wrath, flee avarice, flee greed and envy, flee detractions and slanders." Yet I do not know if anyone may flee these things; I do not know if anyone may escape them.Such was that army of Ai that Jesus [Joshua] instructed his soldiers to flee, and perhaps concerning these things he charged his disciples, saying, "If they persecute you in this city, flee into another one; but if in that one also, flee into another." For he wants us to flee from enemies of this kind; he wants us to be put out of reach of this kind of evil. If we are able in the meantime to escape the contagions of these evils by fleeing, then, seeing the devotion and intention of our heart, all those holy powers—those perhaps about which the apostle Paul says, "Are they not all ministering spirits sent into the ministry for the sake of those who will receive the inheritance of salvation?"9—who perhaps are holy angels who, seeing us exposed to pursuing demons, rise up against those who pursue us and, striking from behind, destroy them all. For Jesus is with those who are exposed to the ones pursuing, more than with those who follow after. And justly, because Jesus loves to be with those who flee fornication, those who flee pride, those who flee deceit, and those who flee falsehood.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.6

• Joshua 8:22

  When the Jews read these things, they become cruel and thirst after human blood, thinking that even holy persons so struck those who were living in Ai that not one of them was left "who might be saved or who might escape." They do not understand that mysteries are dimly shadowed in these words and that they more truly indicate to us that we ought not to leave any of those demons deeply within, whose dwelling place is chaos and who rule in the abyss, but to destroy them all. We slay demons, but we do not annihilate their essence. For their work and endeavor is to cause persons to sin. If we sin, they have life; but if we do not sin, they are destroyed. Therefore, all holy persons kill the inhabitants of Ai; they both annihilate and do not release any of them. These are doubtless those who guard their heart with all diligence so that evil thoughts do not proceed from it, and those who heed their mouth, so that "no evil word" proceeds from it. Not to leave any who flee means this: when no evil word escapes them.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.7

• Joshua 8:22

  You will read in the Holy Scriptures about the battles of the just ones, about the slaughter and carnage of murderers, and that the saints spare none of their deeply rooted enemies. If they do spare them, they are even charged with sin, just as Saul was charged because he had preserved the life of Agag king of Amalek. You should understand the wars of the just by the method I set forth above, that these wars are waged by them against sin. But how will the just ones endure if they reserve even a little bit of sin? Therefore, this is said of them: "They did not leave behind even one who might be saved or might escape."Do you perhaps not believe me that the battle is joined against our sin? Then believe Paul as he says, "Not yet to the shedding of blood have you resisted against sin." Do you see that the fight proposed for you is against sin and that you must complete the battle even to the shedding of blood? Is it not evident that the divine Scripture indicates these things, even as it habitually says, "Sanctify war," and, "You will fight the battle of the Lord"?

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.7

• Joshua 8:28

  You see that these things that follow truly pertain more to the truth of a mystery than that of history. For it is not so much that a piece of land is forever uninhabitable, but that the place of demons will be uninhabitable when no one will sin and sin will not rule in anyone. Then the devil and his angels will be consigned to the eternal fire with our Lord Jesus Christ sitting as ruler and judge and saying to those who overcame before and afterwards, "Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom that was created for you by my Father." But to the others he will say, "Go into the eternal fire that God prepared for the devil and his angels." until he takes care of every soul with the remedies he himself knows and "all Israel may be saved."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.5

• Joshua 8:31

  I myself think that perhaps the holy apostles are able to be such whole and undefiled stones, making one altar all together on account of their unanimity and concord. For thus "praying unanimously" and opening their mouths all together, they are reported to have said, "You, Lord, you who know the hearts of all." Therefore, those of one mind who were able to pray with one voice and one spirit, they are perhaps the worthy ones who all together ought to build one altar, upon which Jesus may offer sacrifices to the Father. Yet may we also try to take care that "we all may speak the same thing" with one accord, "perceiving one thing, doing nothing through contention or through vain glory" but "remaining in one mind and in the same purpose," if perhaps we ourselves can also be made fit stones for the altar.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.2

• Joshua 8:31

  Who do you think those whole stones are? The conscience of everyone knows who is whole, who is uncorrupted, unpolluted, unstained in flesh and in spirit. This is the one in whom iron has not been set, that is, who did not receive "the fiery darts of the evil one," the darts of lust, but by the shield of faith "quenched and repelled them"; or the one who never assumed the iron of battle, the iron of war, the iron of strife, but was always peaceable, always calm and gentle, formed out of the humility of Christ. Those, therefore, are "the living stones" out of which Jesus our Lord "constructed an altar from whole stones, in which iron had not been set," so that he might offer upon them "whole burnt offerings and the sacrifice of salvation."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.2

• Joshua 8:32

  How was he able to depict so large a book to the sons of Israel—or even to those standing and remaining there—so that they did not disperse until the writing of so many verses was finished? Or even how were the stones of the altar able to bear the contents of such a large book? Such things let those Jewish defenders of the letter who are ignorant of the spirit of the law tell me. In what manner is the truth of the narrative demonstrated in this? Yet among those former ones "to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart." But for us, "who have turned to the Lord" Jesus, "the veil is taken away" because "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom of understanding."15Therefore our Lord Jesus does not need much time in order to write Deuteronomy, in order to set up the "second law" in the hearts of believers and imprint the law of the Spirit in the minds of those who are worthy to be chosen for the construction of the altar. For immediately when anyone believes in Jesus Christ, the law of the gospel is written down in that person's heart and written down "in the sight of the sons of Israel."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.4

• Joshua 8:32

  He wrote, in the way the son of Nun was able at that time, to depict the law upon the stones of the altar; and, to the extent he was capable, he dimly sketched types. Let us see, however, how our Jesus wrote Deuteronomy "on living" and "whole stones."Deuteronomy is called, so to speak, a "second law." If therefore you wish to see how, after the first law was annulled, Jesus wrote the second law, hear him saying in the Gospel, "It was said in former times: You shall not kill. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is a murderer." And again, "It was said in former times: You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, if anyone has looked upon a woman to desire her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart." And, "It was said in former times: You shall not swear falsely. But I say to you, do not swear at all." You see Deuteronomy, which Jesus wrote "on living" and "whole stones; not on stone tablets, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart; not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.3

• Joshua 8:33

  Now it is for God alone to know who of all of us sons of Israel is kindled by desire of the good itself to do what is good, and who of us, out of fear of Gehenna and the terror of eternal fire, strives toward the good and is diligent and hastens to fulfill the things that have been written. It is certain that the nobler ones are those who do what is good by the desire of the good itself and by the love of blessings, rather than those who run after the good through the fear of evil. Therefore, Jesus alone is the one who is able to distinguish the minds and spirits of all such people, and to station some on Mount Gerizim for blessings and others on Mount Ebal for cursings. Not so that they may receive curses but that they may guard against incurring them by gazing at the curses prescribed and punishments set down for sinners.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.7

• Joshua 8:33

  But how shall we ourselves apply this narration of history to mystic discernment so that we may make known who they are who go near Mount Gerizim and who they are who go near Mount Ebal?As I myself see, there are two species of those who through faith hasten and go quickly toward salvation. One of them are those who, kindled by the longing for the promise of heaven, press forward with the greatest zeal and diligence so that not even the least happiness may pass them by. They have the desire not only to lay hold of blessings and to be made "to have a share in the lot of the saints" but also to station themselves in the sight of God and to be always with the Lord. There are others, however, who also reach toward salvation, but they are not inflamed so much by the love of blessings or by the desires for the promises. Instead their view is much more like this, as they say, "It is enough for me not to go into Gehenna, it is enough for me not to be sent into eternal fire, it is enough for me not to be expelled 'into outer darkness.' "18 Since there is such a variety of aims among individual ones of the faithful, it seems to me that what is designated in this place is this. The half who go near Mount Gerizim, those who have been chosen for blessings, indicate figuratively the ones who come to salvation not by fear of punishment but by desire of blessings and renewed promises. But the half who go near Mount Ebal, where curses were produced, indicate those others who, by fulfilling what was written in the law, attain salvation by fear of evil things and dread of torments.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.7

• Joshua 8:34

  I certainly think that whenever "Moses is read" to us and through the grace of the Lord "the veil of the letter is removed." and we begin to understand that "the law is spiritual," then the Lord Jesus reads that law to us.… The law, which Paul names "spiritual," is thus understood and Jesus himself is the one who recites these things in the ears of all the people, admonishing us that we not follow "the letter that kills" but that we hold fast "the life-giving spirit."24Therefore, Jesus reads the law to us when he reveals the secret things of the law. For we who are of the catholic church do not reject the law of Moses, but we accept it if Jesus reads it to us. For thus we shall be able to understand the law correctly, if Jesus reads it to us, so that when he reads we may grasp his mind and understanding. Therefore, should we not think that he had understood this mind who said, "And we have the mind of Christ, so that we may know those things that have been given to us by God, those things that also we speak"? Also, those who were saying, "Was not our heart burning within us, when he laid bare the Scriptures to us along the way?" when "beginning from the law of Moses up to the prophets he read all things to us and revealed those things that were written concerning him"?

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.8

• Joshua 8:35

  But also even "women and infants and proselytes" are joined to the church of the Lord. If we understand women and infants and proselytes separately and consider each of them to be as though a certain follower of the church—because "in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wood and earthen"—we say that to strong men, indeed strong food is delivered. This is clearly to those of whom the apostle says, "Solid food is for the mature," out of whom he prepares for himself a church "not having spot or wrinkle or anything of these." But those whom he sets apart by the name of "women or infants or proselytes," let us understand them to be persons who still "need milk" or as though "weak," since they are women, "they feed upon vegetables." But if everyone together is accepted to be the church, the "men," indeed, are understood to be those who, perfect among all these, know to stand "armed against the wiles of the devil"; but the "women" are those who do not yet produce from themselves the things that are useful, but from imitating the men and following their example. They are even said to have their head from them: "For the head of a woman is man." But the "infants" will be those who with the faith newly received are nourished by the gospel milk. "Proselytes" seem to be the catechumens, or those who now are eager to be associated with the faith. Even John, perceiving similar things about these separate groups, writes and determines in his epistle which deeds are peculiar to which individual ages. …For divine Scripture does not know how to make a separation of men and women according to sex. For indeed sex is no distinction in the presence of God, but a person is designated either a man or woman according to the diversity of spirit.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.9

• Joshua 9:1-2

  The narrative of the exploits is clear, and what is plainly expressed does not need explanation. Nevertheless, out of these visible things that were done, let us consider the wars and triumphs that the Lord Jesus, our Savior, led, although we may also perceive these things to be visibly fulfilled in him. For the kings of the earth have assembled together, the senate and the people and the leaders of Rome, to blot out the name of Jesus and Israel at the same time. For they have decreed in their laws that there be no Christians. Every city, every class, attacks the name of Christians. But just as at that time all those kings assembling against Jesus [Joshua] were able to do nothing, so even now, whether princes or those opposing authorities, they have been able to do nothing to prevent the race of Christians from being propagated more widely and profusely. For it is written, "The more greatly they abased them, the more they multiplied and they increased mightily."

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.10

• Joshua 9:3-6

  "In my father's house are many mansions," says the Word of God. Yet even the resurrection of the dead will not exhibit an equal glory of those rising again, for "there is one flesh of birds, another of cattle, and even another of fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of heavenly things is one thing, that of the earthly, another. One glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. Star differs from star in glory; thus also, the resurrection of the dead."4Therefore, many differences of those who come to salvation are depicted. Whence even now I think those Gibeonites, whose history has been recited, are a certain small portion of those who must be saved but in such a manner that they are not saved apart from the branding of some mark. For you see how they are condemned to become "hewers of wood" or "bearers of water" for the service of the people and for the ministry of the altar of God, because they indeed approached the sons of Israel with deceit and cunning, "clothed in old garments and shoes" and "carrying food of aged bread." Therefore, these persons come to Jesus [Joshua] with all their aged things and greatly beg of him that they may be saved. Something such as this seems to me to be displayed in their figure. There are in the church certain ones who believe in God, have faith in God, and acquiesce in all the divine precepts. Furthermore, they are conscientious toward the servants of God and desire to serve them, for they also are fully ready and prepared for the furnishing of the church or for the ministry. But, in fact, they are completely disgusting in their actions and particular habit of life, wrapped up with vices and not wholly "putting away the old self with its actions." Indeed they are enveloped in ancient vices and offensive faults, just as those persons were covered over with old garments and shoes. Apart from the fact that they believe in God and seem to be conscientious toward the servants of God or the worship of the church, they make no attempt to correct or alter their habits. For those, therefore, our Lord Jesus certainly permits salvation, but their salvation itself, in a certain measure, does not escape a note of infamy.

  HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 10.1