Homilies on Joshua — Homily 7
Latin source: Origen, In Iesu Nave homiliae (Rufinus's Latin translation), from the public-domain critical text of W. A. Baehrens, GCS 30 = Origenes Werke VII (Leipzig, 1921); cross-checked against Migne PG 12. This English translation is released into the public domain.On Jericho, how it was captured, and Rahab, how she was saved; and concerning him who stole from the accursed thing "a tongue of gold" and pure bracelets.
[§1] Jericho is overthrown by the trumpets of the priests. For at once, as soon as the blast of the trumpets sounded loudly, the whole circuit of walls was thrown down. We had already said before too that Jericho holds the figure of the present age, whose strength and defenses we see destroyed by the priestly trumpets. For the firmness and defenses which this world used as walls were the worship of idols, the deceit of divinations administered by the craft of demons, the fabrications of augurs and soothsayers and magicians — by all of which this world was fenced about as by the strongest walls. Moreover it was also fortified by the diverse doctrines of the philosophers and by the most lofty assertions of their disputations, as by certain tall and sturdy towers. But when our Lord Jesus Christ came, whose coming that former son of Nave prefigured, he sends his priests, the Apostles, bearing "trumpets of beaten metal," the magnificent and heavenly teaching of preaching. With the priestly trumpet Matthew first sounded loudly in his Gospel; Mark also, Luke, and John each sang with their priestly trumpets; Peter too resounds with the two trumpets of his epistles; James also and Jude. Nonetheless John also adds still further to sound the trumpet through his epistles, and Luke by describing the deeds of the Apostles. But last of all comes that one who said: "for I think that God has set forth us Apostles as the last," and, thundering in the trumpets of his fourteen epistles, he cast down to the very foundations the walls of Jericho and all the engines of idolatry and the doctrines of the philosophers.[§2] I am indeed also moved by this, which the narrative relates: that not only did the priests sound the trumpets so that the walls of Jericho might fall, but also that, "when the voice of the trumpet was heard," it is said that "the whole people howled with a great howling," or, as it stands in other copies, "shouted for joy with a great jubilation." And although this word may seem to have been improperly translated — for in the Greek it is written ἀλαλαγμός, which properly signifies neither jubilation nor howling, but rather denotes that shout by which, in time of war, an army raising a united cry is accustomed with one mind to exhort itself to battle — yet in the Scriptures this word is customarily written down as jubilation rather than as howling, as there: "shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth," and again: "blessed is the people that knows the jubilation." And this saying too moves me: what so great a work this is, that it "makes the people blessed." He did not say "blessed is the people" that works righteousness, or "blessed is the people" that knows the mysteries, or that knows the reckoning of heaven and earth and the stars, but he says, "blessed is the people that knows the jubilation." In other places the fear of God makes one blessed, but it makes only a single man blessed; for so it says: "blessed is the man that fears the Lord." Elsewhere too more are made blessed, such as the "poor in spirit," or the "meek," or the "peacemakers," or the "pure in heart." But this beatitude is lavished abroad, and by some cause of blessedness, I know not what, so great a thing is here indicated, that it makes the "whole people" alike "blessed" — the people, however, "that has known the jubilation." Hence it seems to me that this jubilation indicates a certain disposition of concord and unanimity. And if it should fall upon two or three of Christ's disciples, whatever they ask in the name of the Savior, the heavenly Father grants to them. But if the beatitude be so great that the whole people remains harmonious and of one mind, so that "all say the same thing, continuing in the same understanding and in the same judgment," then, when such a people lifts up its voice with one accord, there will come to pass that which is written in the Acts of the Apostles, that "there was a great earthquake," where at that time "the Apostles were praying with one accord together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus"; and when the earthquake has occurred, all things that are earthly will be destroyed and will fall, and the world itself will be overturned. Hear, finally, our Lord and Savior exhorting his soldiers to this very thing, how he says: "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Under that leader, then, the world has already been overcome by us, and its walls have collapsed — the walls on which the men of the age relied. But each one of us too ought to accomplish these things within his very self. You have within you Jesus as your leader through faith; make for yourself "trumpets of beaten metal," if you are a priest; nay rather, since you are a priest — for you have been made a "royal race," and a "holy priesthood" has been spoken of concerning you — make for yourself "trumpets of beaten metal" out of the holy Scriptures; from there draw your meanings, from there your words; for it is on this account that they are called trumpets of beaten metal. Sound upon them, that is, "sing in psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs," sound in the prophetic sacraments, in the mysteries of the law, in the apostolic doctrines. And if you sound upon such trumpets and carry the ark of the testament around "seven times," that is, if you do not separate the mystical precepts of the law from the evangelical trumpets, if you also exact from your very self the harmony of jubilation — that is, if the people of your thoughts and senses, which is within you, always utters a concordant and consonant voice, and you do not sometimes speak the truth and sometimes stain yourself with a lie by flattering a powerful person; if remissness does not at times make you fawning, and anger at times make you savage; if you are not found arrogant toward the lowly and humble before the proud; in short, if a battle is no longer waged within you while "the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh" — if these things now sound in unison and are in concord within you, send forth the voice of jubilation, since for you the world has been destroyed and cast down. Such, I suppose, was also that man who confidently said: "but far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
[§3] Yet something in the passage still moves me: I seem to have perceived too little concerning the jubilation, to have said lowly things about great matters. At the coming of Jesus the walls of Jericho were overturned; at the coming of my Lord Jesus the world is conquered. Yet how the world is conquered, I would like to know more plainly and to understand more clearly the things that are said. I myself, who teach you, wish to learn together with you. Let us commonly take Paul to ourselves as our teacher; for he is the fellow-initiate of Christ, who can show us how Christ conquered the world. Hear him, then, saying: "that which was contrary to us, he took it out of the midst, nailing it to his cross; and stripping off the principalities and powers, he led them openly, triumphing over them on the wood of the cross." From these words, then, I understand this: that the heavenly powers, seeing the battle of Jesus, seeing the contrary "principalities and powers" stripped of their powers, seeing "the strong man bound and his vessels plundered," sounded their heavenly trumpets, because, when "the prince of this world" was bound, the world was conquered, and the heavenly army gave forth the voice of jubilation in the triumph of Christ. Truly, then, blessed is the people of the nations, which has come to know such a jubilation as this of the heavenly army, and which recognizes the mysteries and believes.
[§4] But let us see what it is that is indicated in what follows. For Jesus says: "keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest perhaps you covet and take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of the children of Israel accursed, and crush yourselves and the whole synagogue of the Lord." Such is what is indicated in these words: see that you have nothing worldly in you, that you do not carry along with you into the church worldly ways, nor vices, nor the shiftiness of the world; but let all worldly conduct be "accursed" to you. Do not mix worldly things with divine, do not insert the business of the age into the secret things of the church. This is what John too sounds forth with the trumpet of his epistle, saying: "do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world." And Paul likewise: "do not," he says, "be conformed to this world." For those who do these things "take of the accursed thing." But also those who, for example, though they are Christians, celebrate the festivals of the nations, bring "the accursed thing" into the churches. Those who search out the lives and deeds of men from the courses of the stars, who inquire into the flights of birds and other things of this kind, which were formerly observed in the world, bring "the accursed thing" from Jericho into the church, and defile the camp of the Lord, and cause the people of God to be conquered. But there are also many other sins through which "the accursed thing" from Jericho is brought into the church; through which the people of God is conquered and laid low by its enemies. Or does not the Apostle also enjoin these very things when he says: "a little leaven corrupts the whole lump"?
[§5] But let us now see the things that follow. Jericho having been overturned, Rahab the harlot alone is saved. For thus it is written of her: "and Rahab the harlot and all the house of her father, Jesus made alive; and she was joined to Israel unto this present day." I would like to inquire of the Jews, and of those who are indeed called Christians but still keep a Jewish sense in the Scriptures, how they explain that "Rahab the harlot was joined to the house of Israel unto this present day." How is Rahab said to be "joined unto this present day"? For it is the custom of holy Scripture to say this of those things which remain unto the end either of life or of the age. For example, as it says: "this is the father of the Moabites unto this present day," which signifies unto the end of the age. And again in the Gospel it is said that "this saying was spread abroad among the Jews unto this present day," that is, as long as the age stands. But how is Rahab, a woman, said to be "joined to the house of Israel unto this present day"? Is a succession of posterity ascribed to a mother, so that she may seem to be preserved in the renewal of offspring? Or is it rather to be understood that she "has been joined" and made a companion to the true Israel "unto this present day"? And if you wish to see more plainly how "Rahab is joined to Israel," look at how "the branch of the wild olive is grafted into the root of the good olive tree," and you will understand how those who have been grafted into the faith of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are rightly said to be "set beside" and "joined to Israel unto this present day," because in their "root" we, "the branches of the wild olive" taken from among the nations — we who once played the harlot, worshiping "wood and stone" in place of the true God — "have been set beside them unto this present day," and, on account of faith in Christ, we have been made "above," while that people which has remained unbelieving has been made "below," according to the prophecy of Deuteronomy. If anyone, then, has within himself Christ, who is "the head of all," this one is made "into the head"; for they denied Christ Jesus and were made into the tail, and those who were "first" have been made "last."
[§6] But this too must not be run over idly: that when one man sinned, wrath came upon the whole people. How does this happen? When the priests, who are set over the people, wish to seem kindly toward wrongdoers, and, fearing the tongues of sinners lest perhaps they speak ill of them, forgetful of priestly severity, are unwilling to fulfill what is written: "rebuke the sinner before all, that the rest may have fear," and again: "take away the evil from among your own selves," nor, kindled with zeal for God, do they imitate the Apostle who says that "such a man is to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved." Nor do they strive to fulfill that evangelical precept that, if they see one sinning, they should first meet him privately, afterward also with "two or three witnesses"; and if he shall have despised this and after the church's correction shall not have been amended, they should hold him, expelled from the church, "as a heathen and a publican." And while they spare one, they contrive the ruin of the whole church. What kind of goodness is this, what kind of mercy is it, to spare one and to bring all into danger? For the people is defiled by one sinner. Just as by one diseased sheep the whole flock is infected, so also, when one man either fornicates or commits any other kind of crime, the whole populace is defiled. And therefore let us watch over one another, and let the conduct of each one be known, especially to the priests and ministers. Nor let them think they are speaking rightly when they say: what does this concern me, if another does evil? This is to say, as the head says to the feet: what does it pertain to me, if my feet ache, if they are in a bad state? it is no concern of mine, so long as the head continues in health; or as if the eye should say to the hand: I do not need your work, what does it pertain to me if you ache, if you are wounded? shall I, the eye, be troubled by the sickness of the hand? Such, then, is what those do who preside over the churches, not considering that we who believe are all "one body," having one God, who binds us together in unity and holds us fast, namely Christ, of whose body you, who preside over the church, are the eye — for this very purpose, surely, that you may look around upon all things, survey all things, and even foresee things to come. You are a shepherd; you see the little sheep of the Lord, unaware of the danger, being carried to the precipices and hanging over the crags: do you not run to meet them? do you not call them back? do you not at least restrain them with your voice and deter them with the shout of rebuke? Are you so forgetful of the Lord's sacrament that, whereas he, "having left the ninety-nine in the heavens" for the sake of one little sheep "that had gone astray," descended to the earth and, having found it, "carried it back upon his shoulders" to heaven, we in no way at all follow the example of the master shepherd in caring for the little sheep? We do not say these things in order that anyone should be cut off for a slight fault; but if perhaps someone, having been admonished and rebuked for his offense once and again and a third time, has shown no amendment, let us use the discipline of the physician. If we have anointed with oil, if we have soothed with plasters, if we have softened with a poultice, and yet the hardness of the swelling does not yield to the medicines, the only remaining remedy is to cut it away. For so the Lord also says: "if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it away from you." Does the hand of our body ever "cause us to stumble," or is it about this hand of the body that the Gospel says: "cut it off, and cast it away from you"? But this is what it means: that I, who seem to you to be the right hand and am named a presbyter and seem to preach the word of God, if I do anything against ecclesiastical discipline and the rule of the Gospel, so that I cause a stumbling-block to you, to the church, then the whole church, conspiring together in one consent, should cut me off as its right hand and cast me away from itself. For "it is expedient for you," the church, without me, your hand — who by doing evil "have caused a stumbling-block" — to enter into the kingdom of heaven, rather than with me "to go into hell." We have said these things for this reason, because we see it related in the holy Scriptures that on account of one man sinning "the children of Israel were made accursed," so that they were conquered by their enemies.
[§7] But let us also see what his very sin was: "he stole," it says, "a tongue of gold, and placed it in his tent." I do not think that in that theft of a little gold there was such force of sin that it could stain so innumerable a church of the Lord. But let us see whether perhaps, in the inner understanding, the bitterness of this sin is so great and so grave. There is much beauty in words, and much loveliness in the discourses of the philosophers or the rhetoricians, who are all from the city of Jericho, that is, men of this world. If, then, you find among the philosophers perverse doctrines adorned with the assertions of brilliant speech, this is "the tongue of gold." But see that the splendor of the work does not deceive you, that the beauty of golden speech does not carry you away; remember that Jesus commanded all the gold that should be found in Jericho to be "accursed." If you read a poet weaving gods and goddesses in measured verses and in resplendent song, do not be delighted by the sweetness of eloquence: for it is a tongue of gold; if you take it up and place it in your tent, if you bring into your heart the things that are asserted by them, you will defile the whole church of the Lord. This the wretched Valentinus did, and Basilides; this Marcion also did. These men stole "tongues of gold" from Jericho and attempted to introduce into the churches the not-upright sects of the philosophers and to defile the whole church of the Lord. But let us follow the preceding example of the fathers; let us examine more diligently, lest anyone should have a Jerichoan "tongue" hidden in his tent, and let us cast away the evil from our very selves, because, even if we hold back, God will convict him, so that he himself will spontaneously confess and say: "I stole a tongue of gold and pure bracelets." Do you see of what sort was the theft he stole? He steals "a tongue" and "pure bracelets." Now "pure bracelets" are works in which nothing divine is mixed, but the whole is carried out according to man. Indeed, in our disputations too it is customary to say that we do not call Christ a mere man, but confess him God and man. But that which is stolen from Jericho is said to be "pure," that is, without God — which, for the one stealing it, was surely the cause of sin. And therefore let us perceive nothing pure and human concerning Christ, but let us confess him God and man alike, because the "wisdom" of God is also called "manifold," so that through these things we may deserve to take a share in "the wisdom of God," which is "Christ" Jesus our Lord, "to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen."