Homilies on Exodus — Homily 7 (Exod. 15:22–27 — the bitter waters of Marah)
Latin source: Origen's Greek homilies on Exodus, surviving only in Rufinus of Aquileia's Latin translation (c. 400), from the reading text of W. A. Baehrens (ed.), Origenes Werke VI (GCS 29, Leipzig, 1920), pp. 145–279. This English translation is released into the public domain.Concerning the bitterness of the water of Marah.
1. After the crossing of the Red Sea and the hidden things of its great and magnificent mystery, after the choruses and the timbrels, after the triumphal hymns, one comes to Marah. Now the water of Marah was bitter, and the people could not drink it. Why then, after such great and such magnificent wonders, is the people of God brought to bitter waters and the peril of thirst? For it says: "and the children of Israel came to Marah, and they could not drink the water from Marah, because it was bitter; and for this reason the name of that place was called bitterness". But what does it add after these things? "Moses", it says, "cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the water, and the water was made sweet. And there", it says, "God set for him ordinances of righteousness and judgments". There, where there was bitterness, where there was thirst, and what is more grievous, thirst amid an abundance of waters, there "God set for them ordinances of righteousness and judgments". Was there no place more worthy, more fitting, more fruitful, but this one, in which there is bitterness? Then furthermore, as to what it said: "the Lord showed him a tree, and he cast it into the water, and the water was made sweet", it is exceedingly strange that God should show Moses a tree that he might cast into the water and make it sweet. As though indeed God could not have made the water sweet without a tree. Or was Moses ignorant of the tree, that God had to show it to him? But we must see what beauty the inner sense holds in these things. I think that the law, if it is taken according to the letter, is bitter enough and is itself Marah. For what is so bitter as that a boy on the eighth day should receive the wound of circumcision and that tender infancy should suffer the hardness of iron? Bitter enough and most bitter is this sort of cup of the law, so much so that the people of God — not that people which was baptized "into Moses" "in the sea and in the cloud", but this people which is baptized "in the Spirit" and "water" — cannot drink of that water; nay, it cannot even taste of the bitterness of circumcision, nor is it able to bear the bitterness of the sacrifices, nor the observance of the sabbath. But if "God shows a tree" which is cast into this bitterness, so that the "water" of the law becomes "sweet", then it can drink of it. What that "tree" is which "the Lord showed", Solomon teaches us, when he says of wisdom that "it is a tree of life to all who embrace it". If therefore the tree of the wisdom of Christ has been cast into the law and has shown us how circumcision ought to be understood, how the sabbaths, how the law of leprosy is to be kept, in what manner the distinction of clean and unclean is to be held, then the water of Marah is made sweet, and the bitterness of the letter of the law is turned into the sweetness of spiritual understanding, and then the people of God can drink. For if these things are not interpreted spiritually, the people, which has abandoned idols and fled to God, if it hears the law prescribing concerning sacrifices, immediately recoils and cannot drink; for it perceives this to be bitter and harsh. "For if", it says, "he builds again the things which he destroyed, he makes himself a transgressor". In this bitterness of Marah, therefore, that is, in that letter of the law, "the Lord set ordinances of righteousness and testimonies". Does this not seem to you to say that God has stored up the treasures of his wisdom and knowledge in the letter of the law, as in some vessel? This then is what it says: "and there God set for them ordinances of righteousness and testimonies". This was what the Apostle also was saying: "but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the sublimity of the power may be of God, and not from us". So that this water from Marah could be drunk, "God showed a tree" which might be cast into it, so that he who drinks might not die, might not perceive the bitterness. From which it is clear that, if anyone should wish to drink of the letter of the law without the "tree of life", that is, without the mystery of the cross, without faith in Christ, without spiritual understanding, he will die from the excessive bitterness. Knowing this, the Apostle Paul was saying that "the letter kills"; this is to say openly that the water of Marah kills, if it is drunk unchanged and not turned into sweetness.
2. But what does it add to them? After "God set for them ordinances of righteousness and judgments": "and there", it says, "he tested him, saying: if you will hear with hearing the voice of the Lord your God, and will do openly the things that please him, and will hear his precepts and keep them, every infirmity which I brought upon the Egyptians I will not bring upon you. For I am the Lord who heals you". It seems to me that he sets forth with what purpose the "ordinances of righteousness and judgments" and the testimonies of the law were given: "that he might test them", it says, "whether they would hear the voice of the Lord and keep the things which were commanded". For as regards the former people, what good or perfect thing could be commanded to those who murmured and contradicted? Indeed, a little later they even turn to idols, and forgetful of the benefits and wonders of God they set up the head of a calf. For this reason, therefore, precepts are given to them, in which they may be tested. Hence it is that also through the prophet Ezekiel the Lord says to them: "I gave you precepts and ordinances that were not good, in which you shall not live by them"; for being tested in the precepts of the Lord they are not found faithful. Therefore "the commandment which was unto life was found to be unto death for them", because one and the same commandment, if it is kept, produces life, if it is not kept, produces death. According to this, therefore, that for those who do not keep it it produces death, they are called "commandments not good, in which they shall not live by them". But because he mingled with them the tree of the cross of Christ and they were turned into sweetness, and being understood spiritually they are kept, these same commandments are called "commandments of life", just as he says also elsewhere: "hear, O Israel, the commandments of life". But let us see what is promised, if they are kept. "If", it says, "you keep my precepts, I will not bring upon you all the sicknesses which I brought upon the Egyptians". What does it seem to say? that, if anyone keeps the commandments, he will suffer no sickness, that is, neither be feverish nor bear other pains of the body? I do not think that these are the things which are promised to those who keep the divine commandments. Otherwise Job is an indication for us, most righteous and most observant of all piety, who "from head to foot" is filled "with the worst sore". Therefore those who keep the commandments are not said to lack these infirmities, but they will not have those infirmities which the Egyptians have; for Egypt is figuratively called the world. "To love" therefore "the world and the things that are in the world" is the Egyptian sickness. "To observe days and months and seasons", to seek after signs, to cling to the courses of the stars, is the Egyptian sickness. To be a slave to the luxury of the flesh, to devote effort to pleasures, to have leisure for delights, is the Egyptian sickness. He therefore who keeps the commandments has lacked these infirmities and sicknesses.
3. After this it says that: "they came to Elim, and there were there twelve fountains of waters and seventy palm trees". Do you suppose it has no reason that the people is not led first "to Elim", where "there were twelve fountains of waters", in which there was no bitterness, but rather where there was very great pleasantness from the density of the palms, but is led first to salt and bitter waters, which, being made sweet through the tree shown by the Lord, one afterward comes to the fountains? If we follow the history alone, it does not much edify us to know to what place they came first and to what second; but if we search out the mystery lying hidden in these things, we find the order of faith. For first the people is led to the letter of the law; from this, so long as it remains in its bitterness, it cannot depart; but when it has been made sweet through the "tree of life" and the law has begun to be understood spiritually, then one passes over from the old testament to the new and comes to the twelve apostolic fountains. There also will be found "trees of seventy palms". For not only did the twelve Apostles preach the faith of Christ, but also seventy others are reported to have been sent to preach the word of God, through whom the world would come to know the palms of Christ's victory. It is not enough, therefore, for the people of God to drink the water of Marah, although it has been turned into sweetness, although "through the tree of life" and the mystery of the cross all the bitterness of the letter has been driven away. The old instrument alone is not sufficient for drinking; but one must come also to the new testament, from which one drinks without scruple, is given drink without any difficulty. The Jews even now are at Marah, even now they sit beside the bitter waters; for "God" has not yet "shown them the tree" through which their waters might be made sweet. For indeed the prophet foretold to them that: "unless you believe, neither will you understand".
4. After this it is written: "in the second month", it says, "after they had set out from Egypt, on the fifteenth day of the month, the people murmured against Moses, saying: would that we had died in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the pots of flesh and ate bread to our fill, for you have led us out into this desert, to kill the whole synagogue with hunger". Granted, for the correction of readers let the sin of the people be indicated, that it murmured and was ungrateful for the divine benefits, when it was receiving the heavenly manna; but why is even the day written, on which day "the people murmured"? "In the second month", it says, "on the fifteenth day of the month"; which surely is not written without reason. Recall the things which were said concerning the laws of the Passover, and you will find that this is the time which is appointed for keeping the second Passover by those who were "unclean in soul" or occupied with journeys abroad. Those therefore who were not "unclean in soul" or were not "journeying far", kept the Passover "on the fourteenth day of the first month". But those who "were journeying far and were unclean", keep the second Passover at this time, at which the manna also came down from heaven. On the day on which the first Passover is kept, the manna did not come down, but on this, on which the second Passover is kept. Let us now see, therefore, what the order of the mystery in these things is. The first Passover is of the first people; the second Passover is ours. For we were "unclean in soul", we who "worshiped wood and stone" and "not knowing God served those who by nature were not gods". We also were those who "were journeying far", of whom the Apostle says that we were "strangers and sojourners from the covenants of God, having no hope and without God in this world". Nevertheless the manna is not given from heaven on that day on which the first Passover is kept, but on that on which the second is kept. For the "bread which came down from heaven" did not come to those who celebrated the first solemnity, but to us, who received the second. "For our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed", who is for us the true "bread that came down from heaven". But meanwhile let us see what it is that is shown to have been done on this day. "On the fifteenth day", it says, "of the second month the people murmured and said that it had been better for us to die in Egypt, when we sat over the pots of flesh". O ungrateful people: it desires Egypt, it that saw the Egyptians destroyed! it seeks after the flesh of Egypt, it that saw the flesh of the Egyptians given to the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven! They raise a murmur therefore against Moses, nay, against God. But this indeed is forgiven the first time, forgiven also the second, perhaps even the third; but if they do not cease and persist, hear what follows the murmuring people after these things. In the book of Numbers it is related, which the Apostle also rehearsed in his writings, saying: "neither murmur, as some of them murmured and perished from the serpents". The murmuring people is fed upon by the venomous bite of the serpents in the wilderness. Let us see, we who hear these things, we, I say, for whom they were written: "for they happened to them for correction, but they were written on account of us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come". If we do not cease from murmuring, if we do not desist from our complaints, which we frequently have against God, let us take heed lest we incur a like example of offense. For indeed when we make complaint about the intemperance of the sky, about the barrenness of the fruits, about the scarcity of rains, about the prosperities of others and about the ill-fortune of others, this is to raise up a murmur against God. But these things are forgiven those who are at the beginnings; but upon those who do not cease, it is grievously avenged. For serpents are sent upon them, that is, they are handed over to unclean spirits and venomous demons, who slay them with hidden and lurking bites and consume them with thoughts inward and shut up within the recesses of the heart. But I beseech you, let the examples of the correction set before us profit us; let their punishment be our amendment. For God says that: "I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel". You see that our murmuring is not hidden from God; he hears all things, and in that he does not punish at once, he awaits the repentance of our conversion.
5. But what was recited after these things? "The Lord said", it says, "to Moses: behold, I will rain for you bread from heaven, and the people shall go out and gather of one day in a day, that I may test them, whether they walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day, they shall prepare whatever they bring in; and it shall be double whatever they bring in daily in a day". I indeed would first wish to have discourse with the Jews concerning this scripture, to whom "the oracles of God" are said to have been "entrusted", what seems to them concerning that which it says: "for six days continuously you shall gather, but on the sixth day you shall gather double". It appears therefore that the sixth day is named as that which is set before the sabbath, which among us is called the preparation. But the sabbath is the seventh day. I ask therefore on what day the manna began to be given from heaven, and I wish to compare our Lord's day with the sabbath of the Jews. For from the divine scriptures it appears that the manna was first given upon the earth on the Lord's day. For if, as Scripture says, it was gathered for six continuous days, but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, there was a cessation, without doubt its beginning was from the first day, which is the Lord's day. But if from the divine scriptures this is established, that on the Lord's day God rained the manna and on the sabbath he did not rain it, let the Jews understand that even then our Lord's day was preferred to the Jewish sabbath, that even then it was indicated that on their sabbath no grace of God came down to them from heaven, that no heavenly bread, which is the word of God, came to them. For the prophet says also elsewhere: "for many days the children of Israel shall sit without king, without prince, without prophet, without victim, without sacrifice, without priest". But on our Lord's day the Lord always rains manna from heaven. And I say that even today the Lord rains manna from heaven. For heavenly are these oracles which have been read to us, and the words which have been recited to us have come down from God, and therefore to us, who have received such manna, manna is always given from heaven; those unhappy ones grieve and sigh and call themselves wretched, because the manna, as their fathers received it, they themselves do not deserve to receive. They never eat manna; for they cannot eat that which is "fine as the seed of coriander and white as hoarfrost". For they perceive nothing "fine" in the word of God, nothing subtle, nothing spiritual, but everything gross, everything coarse; "for the heart of that people has been made gross". But the interpretation of the name also sounds this same thing; for manna is interpreted 'what is this?' See whether the very force of the name does not summon you to learn, so that, when you hear the law of God recited, you may always inquire and ask and say to the teachers: what is this? For this is what manna indicates. You therefore, if you wish to eat manna, that is, if you desire to receive the word of God, know that it is "fine and very subtle as the seed of coriander". For it has something in it also of the herb, by which it can nourish and refresh the weak, because "he who is weak eats herbs". It has also something of hardness, and therefore it is "as hoarfrost". But of whiteness and sweetness it has very much. For what is whiter, what more splendid than divine instruction? What is sweeter, or what more pleasant than the oracles of the Lord, which are "above honey and the honeycomb"? But what is it that it says, "that on the sixth day double be gathered" in store, as much as suffices even for the sabbath? This, according to our understanding, we ought not to pass over idle or unconcerned. The sixth day is this life in which we now are ("for in six days God made this world"); on this day therefore we ought to lay up and store away as much as suffices also in the day to come. For if you acquire here anything of good work, if you store away anything of righteousness, mercy, and piety, this will be food for you in the age to come. Do we not read thus in the Gospel that he who acquired here ten talents there received ten cities; and he who acquired four received four cities? This is what the Apostle also says under another figure: "for what a man has sown, that also shall he reap". What then are we doing, we who love to store away that which is corrupted, not that which remains and endures unto the morrow? "The rich of this world" store away those things which in this world, nay, together with the world, will be corrupted; but if anyone stores away good works, they remain until the morrow.
6. Finally it is thus also written that those who were unfaithful, "kept", it says, "of the manna, and worms bubbled up out of it, and it rotted". But that which was laid up for the sabbath day was not corrupted, nor "did worms bubble up in it", but it remained whole. And you therefore, if you treasure up only for the sake of the present life and for the love of the world, immediately "worms bubble up". How do "worms bubble up"? Hear concerning sinners and those who love the present world, what the prophet's sentence is: "their worm", it says, "shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched". These are the worms which greed produces, these are the worms which the blind desire of riches produces for those who have money and, seeing their brothers in need, "shut up their bowels from them". For this reason the Apostle also says: "but charge the rich of this world not to be proud in mind nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but let them be rich in good works, give readily, share, and treasure up for themselves the true life". But someone says: if you say that the manna is the word of God, how does it produce worms? Nor do worms arise in us from anywhere except from the word of God. For he himself says thus: "if I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin". After the word of God has been received, therefore, if anyone sins, that very word becomes for him a worm, which always digs at his conscience and gnaws the secret places of his breast.
7. But what further does the divine word teach us? "And at evening", it says, "you shall know that I am the Lord, but in the morning you shall see the majesty of the Lord". And concerning this I would wish the Jews to answer me, how "at evening" the Lord is recognized, but "in the morning" his majesty is seen. Where was the Lord recognized "at evening" and his majesty seen "in the morning"? Answer us, you who are instructed from infancy to old age, "always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth": why do you not understand that these things are said prophetically? But if you wish to understand these things, you cannot except through the Gospel. For there you will find it written that: "on the evening of the sabbath, which dawns toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and Mary of James to the tomb, and they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher", an earthquake having occurred, the sepulchers broken open, the centurion and the soldiers, who had been set for the guard, "saying: truly this was the Son of God". Through these things, therefore, the Lord was recognized in the evening, because he himself was the Lord; he was recognized in the power of the resurrection. But how was his glory seen "in the morning"? When the other women had come "early in the morning on the first day of the week", they found angels with immense brightness sitting at the sepulcher and saying: "he is not here, he has risen from the dead. Come and see the place in which he was laid, and go, tell his disciples that he has risen and goes before you into Galilee". Therefore "the majesty of the Lord was seen in the morning", when through the angels the resurrection was announced.
8. And it is added in what follows: "at evening", it says, "you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with loaves". And concerning this I would wish to know in what manner the Jews receive the sayings of the prophet. For what consistency will it seem to have, that either "at evening" they should eat flesh without loaves, or "in the morning" eat loaves without the addition of a relish? What of the divine gift, what of the tempering of the heavenly grace do you show in this? Is this the thing in which you place the recognizing of God, that the flesh at evening is eaten without loaves, and do you say that the majesty of God appears, if again loaves are eaten without flesh? But keep these things for yourselves and for those who, acquiescing to you, think that God can be recognized in the quails. But we, for whom at the end of the age and at the evening of the world "the Word was made flesh", say that the Lord is recognized in that flesh which he took from the virgin. For no one ate this flesh of the Word of God either in the morning or at midday, but at evening. For the coming of the Lord in the flesh took place at evening, just as John also says: "children, it is the last hour". But "in the morning", it says, "you shall be filled with loaves". For us the bread also is the word of God. For he himself is "the living bread, which came down from heaven and gives life to this world". But as to what it says, that this bread is given "in the morning", since we have said that his coming in the flesh took place at evening, I think it is to be understood in this way: that the Lord came indeed at the evening of a world declining and set near the end of its course, but by his coming, since he himself is the "sun of righteousness", he restored a new day for believers. Because therefore he kindled a new light of knowledge for the world, he made his day in a certain manner morning, and brought forth his morning as the "sun of righteousness", and in this morning those are filled with loaves who receive his precepts. And do not wonder that the word of God is called both "flesh" and "bread", and is called "milk" and is called "herbs", and is named diversely according to the measure of believers or the capacity of those receiving. Yet this too can be understood, that after his resurrection, which we showed took place in the morning, he filled believers with loaves in this, that he gave us the books of the law and the prophets, before unknown and unrecognized, and granted these instruments of the Church for our instruction, so that he himself is the bread in the Gospel, but the other books of the law or the prophets or the histories are called many loaves, from which those "who believe from the nations" are filled. Yet we teach that this took place not without prophetic authority. For the prophet Isaiah had foretold in this manner: "they shall ascend into the mountain, they shall drink wine, they shall be anointed with ointment. Deliver all these things to the nations; for this is the counsel of the Lord almighty". Thus therefore fittingly we both receive flesh at evening and shall be filled with loaves in the morning, because neither was it possible for us to eat flesh in the morning, for the time was not yet, nor could we at midday. For scarcely do the angels eat flesh at midday, and to that order perhaps the midday time is granted. Moreover we can understand this also, that for each of us the morning and the beginning of the day is that time in which we are first illuminated and come to the light of faith. In this time, therefore, in which we are still in our beginnings, we cannot eat the flesh of the word, that is, we are not yet accounted capable of perfect and consummated doctrine. But after long exercises, after very great progress, when we are now near to evening and are urged on to the very end of perfection, then at last we can become capable of more solid food and of the perfect word. Now therefore let us hasten to receive the heavenly manna; for this manna, as each one wishes, renders such a savor in his mouth. For hear the Lord also saying to those who come to him: "be it done to you according to your faith". And you therefore, if you receive the word of God, which is preached in the Church, with all faith and all devotion, that very word will become for you whatever you desire. For example, if you are in tribulation, it consoles you, saying: "a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise". If you rejoice for the hope to come, it heaps up joys for you, saying: "rejoice in the Lord and exult, you righteous". If you are angry, it calms you, saying: "cease from anger and forsake indignation". If you are in pains, it heals you, saying: "the Lord heals all your sicknesses". If you are consumed by poverty, it consoles you, saying: "the Lord lifts up the needy from the earth and rescues the poor from the dung". Thus therefore the manna of the word of God renders in your mouth whatever savor you wish. Yet if anyone receives this unfaithfully and does not eat it, but hides it, "worms bubble up out of it". Do you suppose that the word of God is to be brought so far that it should even be thought to become a worm? Let not the hearing disturb you here; hear the prophet saying in the person of the Lord: "but I am a worm and not a man". For just as he himself is he who becomes for some "a ruin", but for others "a resurrection", so also he himself is he who now in the manna becomes for the faithful the sweetness of honey, but for the unfaithful a worm. For he himself is the word of God, which convicts the minds of the wicked and pierces the consciences of sinners with the darts of correction. He himself is he who becomes also a fire in the hearts of those to whom he "opens the scriptures", who say: "was not our heart burning within us, when he opened to us the scriptures?" And for others he is that fire which burns up the thorns from the evil ground, that is, which consumes the malignant thoughts in the heart. And therefore for sinners indeed "neither does the" convicting "worm ever die, nor is the" consuming "fire ever quenched"; but for the righteous and faithful it remains sweet and pleasant. For "taste and see that the Lord is sweet", he who is God and our savior Jesus Christ, "to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen".