Homilies on Exodus — Homily 13 (Exod. 35 ff. — the offerings for the tabernacle)
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 things which are offered for the tabernacle.
1. We had indeed already spoken before about the tabernacle, to the best of our ability; but since the description itself is often repeated in the book of Exodus — for it is set forth both when God commanded Moses how it ought to be made, and again when Moses commanded the people to offer materials for the work to be constructed, as this reading contains, which has just now been recited to us; but also afterwards the individual items are enumerated, when they are fashioned by Bezalel and the other wise men, and again when they are brought into the sight of Moses, and once more when they are dedicated by the Lord's command. Moreover, a mention of these things is made also in other books or places, and it is frequently repeated, inasmuch as it is necessarily brought to mind. Now, then, that discourse has been recited to us where it says: "and Moses said to all the synagogue of the sons of Israel, saying: this is the word which the Lord commanded, saying: take from among your own selves a redemption for the Lord. Everyone who has conceived it in his heart, let him bring the first offerings to the Lord: gold, silver, bronze, hyacinth, purple, doubled scarlet, and twisted fine linen, goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red and hyacinthine skins, imperishable woods, and sardius stones and stones for carving on the shoulder-piece and on the full-length robe; and let everyone wise in heart among you come and work all the things which the Lord has commanded". When I consider myself first and examine myself, I am loath to set my hand to opening these things. For I fear that perhaps, even if the Lord should deign to reveal them, if indeed He deigns to reveal them to anyone — for concerning myself I have not dared to say it — I fear, I say, and I greatly doubt, whether he will find hearers; and since this is so, lest perhaps it be required of him who shall attempt to explain, where or how or before whom the Lord's pearls are cast. But since you greatly expect that some of the things which have been read should be discussed, and since my Lord has commanded me, saying: "you ought to have put my money at the table, and I, when I came, would surely have exacted it with interest", I will ask Him that He deign to make my word His own money, so that I may lend to you not my money, not my gold, but His own; that I may speak to you by His word and by His "understanding", and bring these things to the table of your hearing. See you now to it, as you receive the Lord's money, how you may prepare its interest for the Lord when He comes. Now the interest of the word of God is to have in the practice of life and of deeds those things which the word of God has commanded. If therefore, hearing the word, you make use of it and act according to the things you hear, and live according to these things, you are preparing interest for the Lord; and it can come to pass that each one of you may make from "five talents" ten, and may hear from the Lord: "well done, good and faithful servant, you shall be having power over ten cities". Only see to this, that none of you either gather up the money he has received "in a napkin" or bury it "in the earth", for you well know what the outcome of such a man is at the coming of the Lord. We shall therefore attempt a few things out of many, indeed even fewer out of the few, seeing that both our discourse must be weighed and your hearing.
2. First of all, then, let us see what it is that Moses says to the sons of Israel: "take from among your own selves a redemption for the Lord; everyone who has conceived it in his heart, let him offer the first offerings to the Lord". Moses does not wish you to offer to God something that is outside you: "from your own selves", he says, "take, and bring the first offerings to the Lord, according as each one has conceived it in his heart". Gold and silver are commanded to be brought, bronze and the other materials; how can I bring this from my own self? Surely gold is not born within me, or silver and the other things that are commanded? Does not each one bring these forth from his storerooms and from his chests? What is it, then, that Moses says: "bring from your own selves, and each one according as he has conceived it in his heart"? That gold indeed and silver and the other materials, from which the tabernacle was constructed, are agreed to have been brought forth from the chests and storerooms of each one; but the spiritual law requires gold for the tabernacle which is within us, and silver which is within us, and demands all those remaining materials which we both can have within us and bring forth from ourselves. For the Scripture says that: "the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart; for, if you confess the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved". If therefore "you have believed in your heart", your heart and your understanding is gold; you have therefore offered gold to the tabernacle, the faith of your heart; but if you have also "confessed" with speech, you have offered the word of confession, silver. For this reason, then, Moses, who is the spiritual law, says: "take from your own selves". These things you take from your own self, these are within you, these, even if you are naked, you can have. But also what he added: "each one according as he has conceived it in his heart", looks to this. For you will not be able to offer anything to God from your understanding or from your word, unless first you have conceived in your heart the things that are written; unless you have been attentive and have listened diligently, your gold cannot be genuine, nor your silver; for it is required that it be "tested". Hear the Scripture saying: "the words of the Lord, chaste words, silver tested by fire, purified sevenfold". If therefore you have conceived in your heart the things that are written, your gold, that is, your understanding, will be genuine, and your silver, which is your word, genuine. What, too, shall we say about bronze? Bronze is also needed for the construction of the tabernacle. Bronze indeed seems able to be taken for strength and to be set in place of fortitude and constancy; but lest anyone say: this is to divine rather than to explain, where what is said is not fortified by the authority of the Scriptures, I think, then, that bronze can be taken for the voice. For speech is one thing, the voice another. Speech is called an utterance grounded upon reason; but the voice is, for example, whether one speaks in Latin, whether in Greek, whether more loftily, whether more subdued. But you demand that we prove these things too from the Scriptures, as is necessary. Hear what the Apostle says: "if", he says, "I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I am one thing, as sounding bronze or a tinkling cymbal". So then, to speak with tongues and to translate from one language into another is an offering of bronze. For the tabernacle of the Lord must have all things, and nothing must be lacking in the house of God. There is, therefore, as we said, an offering of bronze, the voice. Now the voice is that which turns the meaning of another into another language; but speech is that which brings forth one's own meaning. Let all these things, therefore, be offered to God; let the understanding be offered to God, and the speech, and the voice.
3. What shall we say about the rest? For they are many, and to discuss each one is a huge task. But what will it profit, that they be spoken with our own huge labor, yet be spurned and perish, spurned by preoccupied hearers who attend upon the word of God for scarcely the point of a single hour? For "unless the Lord builds the house, they have labored in vain who build it". Nevertheless we, as has already been said above, deliver the Lord's money to the table; let each one of the hearers see how he receives the things that are delivered. "Let each one", he says, "according as he has conceived it in his heart, bring the first offerings to the Lord". As for what he called "first offerings", I ask what are the first offerings of gold, or what the first-fruits of silver? And how do first-fruits seem to be contributed from scarlet and purple and fine linen? Or how does one offer "according as he has conceived it in his heart"? This now strikes each one of us; let us see at the same time also how we have conceived in our heart, as many of us as are here present just now, and the word of God is being expounded. There are those who conceive in their heart the things that are read; there are those who do not at all conceive the things that are said, but their mind and heart is either in business or in the affairs of the world or in the reckonings of gain; and especially the women — how, do you think, do they conceive in their heart, who chatter so much, who make such an uproar with their tales that they do not permit there to be silence? Now what shall I discuss concerning their mind, what concerning their heart, if they are thinking either of their infants or of wool or of the necessities of the house? I truly fear that they may follow those women of whom the Apostle says: "who learn to go about the houses, not only talkative, but also curious, speaking the things that are not fitting". How, then, do such women as these conceive in their heart? One does not conceive in his heart unless he is empty in heart, unless he is free in mind and wholly attentive; unless he keeps watch in his heart, he cannot conceive in his heart and offer gifts to God. And even if we have neglected this hitherto, from this time at least let us be more attentive and diligently intent, that we may be able to conceive with the mind. For it is just that each one be found to have his own portion in the tabernacle of the Lord. For it does not escape the Lord what each one offers. How glorious it is for you, if it be said in the tabernacle of the Lord: that gold, for example, with which the ark of the covenant is overlaid, is his; the silver, from which the bases and columns are, is his; the bronze, from which the rings and the basin and some of the bases of the columns were made, is his; but also those stones of the shoulder-piece and of the oracle are his; the purple with which the high priest is adorned is his, and the scarlet is his, and each of the rest, one by one. And again, how unseemly, how wretched it will be, if the Lord, coming to inspect the building of the tabernacle, should find in it nothing of your gift, should recognize nothing offered by you. Have you lived so undevout, so unfaithful, that you have longed for nothing of your memorial to be in the tabernacle of God? For just as "the prince of this world" comes to each one of us and seeks whether he may find in us anything of his own deeds, and, if indeed he finds it, claims us for himself; so also, on the contrary, if the Lord, coming, should find anything of yours in His tabernacle, He defends you for Himself and calls you His own. Lord Jesus, grant me that I may deserve to have some memorial in Your tabernacle. I would wish, if it could be, that there be something of mine in that gold from which the mercy-seat is fashioned, or from which the ark is overlaid, or from which the lampstand of light and the lamps are made. Or if I have no gold, that I may at least be found to offer something of silver, that may serve for the columns or for their bases; surely at least that I may deserve to have something of bronze in the tabernacle, from which the rings are made and the rest that the word of God describes. And would that it were possible for me to be one of the princes and to offer gems for the adornment of the high priest's shoulder-piece and oracle. But since these things are above me, at least may I deserve to have goats' hair in the tabernacle of God, only that I be not found empty and unfruitful in all things. "Each one", therefore, "according as he has conceived it in his heart". See whether you are conceiving, see whether you are holding fast, lest perhaps the things that are said flow away and perish. I wish to admonish you by the examples of religion; you who are accustomed to take part in the divine mysteries know how, when you receive the body of the Lord, you guard it with all caution and reverence, lest any small part of it fall down, lest anything of the consecrated gift slip away. For you believe yourselves guilty, and rightly do you believe it, if anything of it should fall down through negligence. But if you employ such caution in preserving His body — and rightly do you employ it — how do you think it is of less guilt to have neglected the word of God than His body? First offerings, therefore, are commanded to be offered, that is, first-fruits. He who offers what is first, necessarily has himself what remains. See how much we ought to abound in gold, how much in silver and in all the rest that are commanded to be offered, that we may both offer to the Lord and have a surplus for ourselves. For first of all, my understanding ought to understand God and offer to Him the first-fruits of its understanding, so that, when it has understood God well, it may consequently recognize the rest. Let the speech do this too, let all things that are in us do this. But let us see the rest as well. "Hyacinth and purple and doubled scarlet and twisted fine linen". These are four things, from which are made either the vestments of the high priest or the rest that are prepared for the sacred adornment. Concerning these certain men before us have also spoken, and just as it is not fitting to steal what belongs to another, so I think it fitting to make use of another's good sayings while acknowledging it. These four things, then, as it seemed also to our predecessors, hold the figure of the four elements from which both the world and the human body are composed, that is, of air, fire, water, and earth. Hyacinth, therefore, is referred to air — for its very color indicates this — as scarlet is to fire. Purple holds the figure of water, as one that takes its dye from the waters; fine linen, of earth, because it arises from the earth. We therefore also have all these things in us, and because we are commanded to offer the first-fruits of these to the Lord, therefore he says: "take from your own selves, and you shall offer the first-fruits to the Lord".
4. But I think this must be considered, that, whereas Moses spoke of the rest simply, he added to scarlet alone "doubled", and to fine linen "twisted". It is asked, therefore, why the other materials, by which the remaining elements are indicated, he named simply, but scarlet, by which fire is designated, he alone set down as "doubled". These things are difficult to understand and much more difficult to expound. Nevertheless, as the Lord shall grant, we shall attempt to explain. For some things must be spoken and some things kept in reserve. Let us see, then, for what reason he called "scarlet doubled". This color, as we said, indicates the element of fire. Now fire has a twofold power, one by which it illuminates, another by which it burns. This is the reasoning of the literal sense; let us come also to the intellectual meanings. Even in these matters fire is twofold; there is a certain fire in this age, and there is one in the age to come. The Lord Jesus says: "I have come to send fire upon the earth": this fire illuminates. The same Lord again says in the age to come to the "workers of iniquity": "go into the eternal fire, which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels": that fire burns. Nevertheless this fire, which Jesus came to send, indeed "illuminates every man coming into this world", yet it has also something that burns, as those confess who say: "was not our heart burning within us, when He opened the scriptures to us?" At the same time, therefore, it both burned and illuminated in "opening the scriptures". But I do not know whether that fire also in the age to come, which burns, has anything too that illuminates. There is, therefore, as we have shown, a twofold nature of fire, and for this reason "doubled scarlet" is commanded to be offered. Let us see, then, how we can offer this doubled fire for the building of the tabernacle. If you are a teacher, you build the tabernacle by constructing the church of God; God therefore says also to you what He said to Jeremiah: "behold, I have given my words in your mouth as fire". If therefore, teaching and building the church of God, you only rebuke and censure and chastise and reproach the sins of the people, but bring forth no consolation from the divine scriptures, explain nothing obscure, touch nothing of deeper knowledge nor open anything of more sacred understanding, you have indeed offered scarlet, but not doubled. For your fire only burns and does not illuminate. And again, if, teaching, you open the mysteries of the law, discuss the secrets of hidden things, but do not reprove the sinner, do not correct the negligent, do not maintain the severity of discipline, you have indeed offered scarlet, but not doubled. For your fire only illuminates, it does not kindle. He therefore who "offers rightly" and "divides rightly" offers doubled scarlet, so that with the light of knowledge he mingles a little fire of severity.
5. Now let us see what "twisted fine linen" too means. For here also he gave something of addition beyond the other elements. We said that fine linen holds the form of earth, which is our flesh. He does not wish, therefore, the flesh to be offered to God floating in luxury and loosened by delights, but he commands it to be twisted and constrained. Who, then, is he who twists his flesh? Assuredly he who said: "I mortify my body and subject it to servitude, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself become reprobate". Thus, then, is it to offer twisted fine linen also, to wear down the flesh by abstinence, by vigils and by the labor of meditations. Goats' hair also is offered. This kind of beast in the law is commanded to be offered for sin; but hair is a species that is dead, bloodless, lifeless. He who offers this shows that in himself the sense of sin is already dead, and that sin no longer lives or reigns in his members. Rams' skins also are offered. Certain men before us have also set the ram for fury. And because the skin is a token of a dead animal, he who offers rams' skins to the Lord shows fury dead in himself. After these things: "and the men", he says, "took from their women, all to whom it seemed good in their understanding, and brought gems and earrings and rings and hair-clasps and armlets". You see here too how those bring gifts to God who see with the heart, who conceive understanding in the heart, who have the mind intent and devoted to the word of God. These, then, bring gifts, and they bring them even from their women: "earrings", he says, "and gems and armlets". We have already often said that, according to the allegorical interpretation, the woman is taken as the flesh and the man as the rational sense. Good, therefore, are these women who obey their husbands; good is the flesh which no longer fights against the spirit, but complies and consents, and therefore "if two or three of you agree, concerning whatever thing you shall ask, it shall be done for you", the Lord said. They offer, therefore, "earrings from their women". You see how the hearing is offered to the Lord. But armlets too are offered to the Lord: right works and good works, which are performed through the flesh. These the rational sense offers to the Lord. But hair-clasps also are offered. He offers hair-clasps who knows well to discern what is to be done, what is to be avoided, what pleases God, or what displeases, what is just, what is unjust. These are the hair-clasps that are offered to the Lord. Here, then, the women offer earrings to the Lord, because they are wise women. For there came, he says, wise women, and made whatever things were necessary for the vestments of the high priest. But those women who offered their earrings that the calf might be made were foolish, women who "turned away their hearing indeed from the truth, but turned it to fables and impiety"; and therefore they offered their earrings that the head of a calf might be made. But in the book of Judges too we find likewise another idol made from women's earrings. These, then, are blessed women, blessed is that flesh, which offers to the Lord its earrings and its armlets and its rings and all the works of its hands which it performs in the commandments of the Lord.
6. It is added after these things that "he too with whom imperishable woods were found", brought them to the Lord. If anyone "loves Christ the Lord in incorruption", he offers imperishable wood to God. Blessed, therefore, is he with whom is found either an incorrupt understanding or an incorrupt body, and offers this to God. Hence too he said very well: "with whom imperishable woods were found". For "imperishable woods" are not found with everyone. Of gold he did not say, nor of silver, with whom it was found; for understanding and speech can be found with everyone. But neither did he say this of the four colors; for it belongs to all to consist, according to the body, of four elements. But "imperishable woods", that is, the grace of incorruption and virginity, can be found with only a rare one, as the Lord too says: "not all receive this word, but those to whom it is given".
7. But also the "princes", he says, "offered" their gifts. What are these gifts which the princes offer? "Gems", he says, "they offered, emerald stones and stones of filling and stones for the shoulder-piece". Stones of filling are called those which are placed in the oracle, that is, which are set on the breast of the high priest, inscribed with the names of the tribes of Israel. This which is called the oracle, that is, the rational, which is set on the breast of the high priest, has the form of the rational sense which is in us. In this are said to be placed the "stones of filling", which yet cling and are connected to the shoulder stones and are held bound together by these. The adornment of the shoulder-piece is a token of good deeds. Deeds, therefore, are joined with reason and reason with deeds, so that there may be a harmony in both: "for he who shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven". Let there be in us, therefore, speech depending upon deeds, and let deeds adorn the speech; for this refers to the adornment of the high priest. But to accomplish these things princes are required; this adornment belongs to those who have advanced so far that they deserve to preside over peoples. The princes also offer oil, to serve for a twofold use, for the lamps and for the anointing. For the lamp of those who preside over peoples ought not to be hidden or "put under a bushel, but upon a lampstand, that it may give light to all who are in the house". But the princes also offer "the composition of incense", which is to be compounded by Moses "for a sweet odor to the Lord", so that they too may say that "we are a good odor of Christ". And after the people had offered, "Moses", he says, "called every wise man" for the fashioning, and the architect, that they might put together and fashion each of the things that are written. "But also the women", he says, "the wise women he called", that they might make the things which were suitable in the tabernacle of the Lord. You see, then, that all the things which are made are made by wise persons; both women are called wise and men are called wise. For "all the works of the Lord" are made "in wisdom". Each one, therefore, comes "wise in understanding" and makes the works of the Lord. It does not suffice for us if we only offer, but there is need that we also work with wisdom those things that are in us, that we may know how to mingle gold with fine linen and to double scarlet or to mingle it with purple. For what does it profit you, if you have these things and know not how to use them, nor recognize how you ought to fit and bring forth each thing in its own time and in its own place? And therefore we must give effort to being wise and being able to bring forth these things which we hear from the holy scriptures in their time and to fit and to compose them, and from these to adorn "the tabernacle for the God of Jacob", through Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom is "glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen".