Homilies on Leviticus — Homily 13 (Lev. 23–24 — the feasts; the lamp and lampstand; the shewbread (Lev. 24:1–9))
Latin source: Origen's Greek homilies on Leviticus, surviving only in Rufinus of Aquileia's Latin translation (c. 403–405), from the reading text of W. A. Baehrens (ed.), Origenes Werke VI (GCS 29, Leipzig, 1920), pp. 280–507. This English translation is released into the public domain.On the feast days and the lamp and the lampstand and the oil for the light and on the table and the shewbread.
1. He who is "perfect" is taught by God himself concerning the meaning of the festivals, and he does not need a man as his teacher for learning these things, but he learns from God, if anyone is able to grasp the voice of God. But he who is not such a one, but of lower rank, learns from him who has learned from God. There is, then, this twofold manner of teaching concerning the festivals. There is the one by which the prophetic mind, illumined through the Spirit, is taught — which, so to speak, is learned more by the gaze of the mind than by the sound of a voice, through which the truth itself, and not the shadow and image of the truth, is recognized. But those who cannot grasp the very brightness of God, nor behold the whole radiance of the truth with the fixed keenness of the mind, hear about the festivals in second place from those who learned first; and while the very property of direct inspection gave to those the truth of things, to these only hearing conveys the shadow of the truth. Conscious of this mystery, the Apostle said of the Jews that "they serve the shadow and the copy of heavenly things". For Moses is described as having seen the "heavenly things" themselves, but as having handed on to the people the types and images of the things which he had seen; for thus the divine utterance says to him: "See", it says, "that you make all things according to the form which was shown to you on the mountain". Such, then, is what has also been recited in this passage, that the Lord spoke to Moses concerning the festivals. And after these things: "And Moses declared", it says, "the feast days of the Lord God to the children of Israel". But now that the discourse concerning these things is finished, let us see what Moses is taught after them. First, concerning the "lamp" and the "lampstand" and the "oil" which is poured into it; second, concerning the "table" and the "shewbread" and their number and those who ought to use them. Let us therefore direct our mind more diligently to the things that are written, and let us pray that the grace of the Lord be granted us for discerning these things, so that in the letters which we read we may recognize what is the will of the Holy Spirit. "Command", it says, "the children of Israel, and let them bring you clean oil pressed from olives for the light, that a lamp may burn always outside the veil in the tabernacle of testimony, and Aaron and his sons shall kindle it from evening until morning before the Lord without ceasing, an everlasting statute throughout your generations. On the clean lampstand you shall kindle the lamps before the Lord until morning". He names a "clean lampstand"; he commands the "lamps" to be kindled by the high priest, and he prescribes that their "light" be supplied from the "oil" which is given by the people. And so, unless the people supply "oil", without doubt the "lamp" will be extinguished and there will be no "light" among the holy things. According to the letter, then, this was the sequence: that the people should contribute "clean oil pressed from olives", so that from it the "light of the lamp" might be supplied; "and Aaron kindled the lamps from evening until morning", providing fuel for the light with the nourishment of the oil which the people had contributed.
2. But "since the law is spiritual", let us ask of the Lord — if indeed "we have turned to the Lord" — that "the veil of the reading of the old testament be taken away" from us, so that we may be able to perceive what is the meaning of his "lampstand and lamps" according to the spiritual understanding. Before the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ the sun did not rise upon the people of Israel, but it made use of "the light of a lamp". For among them the word of the law and the prophetic word was a "lamp" shut within narrow walls, which could not pour out its light upon the whole earth. For within Judea the knowledge of God was confined, as the prophet also says: "God is known in Judea". But when the "sun of righteousness", our Lord and Savior, rose, and the man was born of whom it is written: "behold a man, the East is his name", throughout the whole world the light of the knowledge of God was poured out. The word of the law, then, and the prophetic word was a "burning lamp", but it burned within the house and could not send its splendor beyond. And that the word of the law and of the prophets is called a "lamp", the Lord himself taught us, saying of John the Baptist: "he was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for an hour to rejoice in his light". And elsewhere he says that "the law and the prophets were until John". And so John is the "burning lamp" in whom the "law" is enclosed "and the prophets". As long, then, as that people had "oil" which it "contributed for the light", the "lamp" was not extinguished. But when among them the oil of mercy, the oil of good works, failed, and no purity was found among them — for clean oil was required for the light — necessarily the "lamp" was extinguished. But why do we say that these things befell them, but are foreign to us? Rather, the Christian has a greater care for procuring oil. For see how the Lord in the gospels names, through a parable, "foolish virgins" who "do not carry oil in their vessels", and so foolish that, since oil for kindling their lamps was lacking to them, they were shut out from the marriage chambers, and to those who knocked, who had neglected the care of the oil, the bridegroom commanded that it be no longer opened. Yet I remember that some time ago, when we were expounding that verse of the hundred and eighteenth psalm in which it is written: "your law is a lamp to my feet, O Lord, and a light to my paths", we showed, according to our ability, the difference between the "lamp" and the "light". For we said that he assigned the "lamp" indeed to the "feet", that is, to the lower parts of the body, but gave the "light" to the "paths", which "paths" in another place are called "eternal paths". Since, then, according to a certain mystical meaning, this world is understood as the lower parts of creation, therefore the "lamp" of the law is recorded as kindled for those who are in this world as it were the feet of the whole creation. But the "light" will be eternal for those "paths" along which in the age to come each one will walk according to his merits. But concerning these things enough has been said in its own place according to our ability. Now therefore, since it is evening and night "until the consummation of the age" and until the new day of the age to come and of the new light shines forth, this "lamp" burns for each one of us, giving so much splendor of light as the abundance of oil has been supplied by the plenty of works. Finally, Job too in a certain place, when he was setting forth the good things of his works, added also this: "when", he says, "the lamp shone above my head". This "lamp", then, shines for each one of us, insofar as it has been kindled with the oil of good works. But if we act wickedly and our works are evil, we not only do not kindle but even extinguish this lamp for ourselves, and there is fulfilled in us that which Scripture says: "he who does evil walks in darkness, and he who hates his brother walks in darkness". For he has extinguished the "lamp" of charity and therefore "walks in darkness". Or does it not seem to you that he has extinguished the "lamp" who has extinguished the "light" of charity? "But he who loves his brother" continues in the light of charity and can say with confidence: "but I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God", and: "his sons are like young olive shoots around" his "table". "Oil", therefore, is commanded to be offered by the people, and not oil of any sort whatever, but "clean" oil, and not from any kinds of seeds, as is the custom in various regions, but pressed "from olives", in which a sign of peace is shown. For your works cannot be acceptable to God unless they are performed in peace; as the Apostle James also says: "but the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace". For this reason, I believe, the Lord also handed on to his disciples a faithful deposit, saying: "my peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you". From this "olive", then, let us press the oil of our works, from which a lamp can be kindled for the Lord, "that we may not walk in darkness". Let these things be said by us, insofar as concerns the "lamp of the lampstand" and its "oil".
3. But now let us see what is written also in what follows concerning the shewbread. "And you shall take", it says, "fine flour and make from it twelve loaves; of two tenths shall be one loaf; and you shall set them in two rows, six loaves in one row, upon the clean table before the Lord. And you shall put upon the row clean frankincense and salt, and the loaves shall be set as a memorial before the Lord; on the day of the sabbaths they shall always be set forth before the Lord by the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his sons', and they shall eat them in a holy place; for they are the holy of holies. This shall be theirs of the things that are offered to the Lord, an everlasting statute". According to what is written, in the twelve loaves a "memorial before the Lord" seems to be made of the twelve tribes of Israel, and a command to be given that without ceasing these "twelve loaves be set forth in the sight of the Lord"; so that both the memory of the twelve tribes may always be held before him, whereby through these there may seem to be, as it were, a certain entreaty and supplication made for each of them. But such an intercession is small enough and slight. For how much does it avail toward propitiation, where the fruit of each tribe is to be considered through the loaf, and its works through the fruit? But if these things are referred to the greatness of the mystery, you will find that this "memorial" has the effect of an immense propitiation. If you return to that "bread which came down from heaven and gives life to this world", that bread of the presentation "whom God set forth as a propitiator through faith in his blood", and if you look to that "memorial" of which the Lord says: "do this in memory of me", you will find that this is the only "memorial" that makes God propitious to men. If, then, you recall more attentively the ecclesiastical mysteries, in the things which the law writes you will find preformed the image of the future truth. But of these things there is no need to discourse further, since it suffices to be understood by recollection alone. But we can also speak in another way. Every word of God is bread, but there is a difference among the loaves. For there is a certain word which can be brought forth for the common hearing and can teach the multitude concerning the works of mercy and of all beneficence; and this is the bread which will seem common. But there is another which contains hidden things and discourses concerning the faith of God or the knowledge of things. This bread is clean and made from "fine flour". This is "always to be placed in the sight of the Lord and to be set forth upon the clean table". This is set apart for the priests alone and bestowed on the sons of Aaron as an everlasting gift. But lest you suppose that we are relating these things devised by our own imaginings and have not observed them in the divine volumes, I will bring forth for you from the scriptures how among different men a difference of bread was maintained according to the merit of each one. It is related in Genesis that Abraham the patriarch received angels as guests, and likewise also Lot. But Abraham, who excelled in merits, is described as having set before them loaves made from "fine flour", which he also named — that is, hidden and secret ones. But Lot, because he did not have fine flour, set before his guests loaves made from meal; not that he was so poor that he did not have fine flour, he who is written to be not inferior to his uncle in riches, but the difference of the merits of both is designated by these tokens; that he indeed, to whom the mysteries were to be revealed by the Lord and to whom it was said: "I will not hide from my servant Abraham what I am about to do", who was to be instructed and taught concerning the hidden and secret things of God, that man is written to have had loaves "of fine flour"; but that other, to whom nothing of the sacrament was conveyed, but the account of present salvation and life, is written to have had common loaves made from "meal" alone. And so you too, if you have the knowledge of secret things, if you can discourse knowingly and carefully concerning the faith of God, concerning the mystery of Christ, concerning the unity of the Holy Spirit, you offer loaves "of fine flour" to the Lord; but if you employ common admonitions to the people and know only how to treat the moral topic, which pertains to all, know that you have offered common bread.
4. But let us now see what is the making of these shewbread loaves which are commanded to be "always placed before the Lord". "Of two tenths", it says, "let there be one loaf". He said "two tenths" indeed, but of what measure these "tenths" are he did not specify; although surely it would have been consistent, if he wished the quantity of the fine flour to be known, to name the measure itself of which he commanded "two tenths" to be taken. What, then, is this thing whose measure and amount could neither be specified nor named? The number ten is everywhere found to be perfect; for from it arises the reckoning and origin of every number. Fittingly, therefore, the author and origin of all things, God, is seen to be shown under this number. But if in the church I speak of the Father alone and utter the praises of him alone, I have made a loaf of one tenth. Or if I make a discourse concerning Christ alone and recount his passion and preach his resurrection, I have offered a "loaf" of one tenth. But if I say that the Father is always with the Son and "he does his works", or even if I say that "the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father" and "he who has seen the Son has seen also the Father", and that the Father and the Son are one, then "of two tenths" of clean fine flour I have offered one "loaf", a true loaf, "which gives life to this world". Heretics do not make "one loaf of two tenths", for they deny that the creator God is the Father of Christ, nor do they make the old and new testament "one loaf" and profess one spirit in both instruments. But we say that one and the same Holy Spirit is present in the law and the gospels, and in this way too "of two tenths" we offer "one loaf" of the presentation. Those, therefore, who separate Christ from the creator God his Father — the heretics — and the Jews, who receive the Father alone and do not receive Christ, his Word and Wisdom, do not make "one loaf of two tenths". But we cannot grasp or discover the name or the reckoning of the measure itself, that is, of the substance; yet, confessing the Father and the Son, we make "one loaf of two tenths", not so that one loaf is made of one tenth and another of the other, so that the "two tenths" themselves are separate, but so that these "two tenths" are one mass and "one loaf". How do "two tenths" become one mass? Because I do not separate the Son from the Father nor the Father from the Son: "for he who has seen me", he says, "has seen also the Father". The loaves, then, are made each "of two tenths and are set forth in two rows", that is, in two orders. For if there were one row, the discourse concerning the Father and the Son would be confused and intermingled. But now there is indeed "one loaf" — for there is one will and one substance — but there are "two rows", that is, the two properties of the persons. For we call the Father that one who is not the Son, and the Son this one who is not the Father. And in this way we preserve the "two tenths" in "one loaf" and profess "two rows before the Lord". But truly it belongs, so to speak, to some great baker and highly skilled craftsman to preserve these measures diligently and so to temper the discourse concerning the Father and the Son, to join where it is fitting and again to separate where it is proper, that neither the "two measures" are ever lacking nor that the "one loaf" ever fails to appear. "Twelve loaves", then, are commanded to be made "of" this "fine flour" according to the number of the tribes which were then of the carnal Israel. In which there seems to me to be contained the form of the whole rational nature; for the general orders of the rational creation are thought to be twelve, whose figure was in those twelve tribes. Among which there was one royal order, which is named "Judah". Another was the priestly order, and it is called "Levi". And there was another order neighboring on Judah, which is called "Benjamin", in which order both the temple of God and the altar were placed. Another order was "Issachar and Zebulun and Ephraim" and the others which the divine Scripture designates by name, whose meaning it is not the time now to explain. Yet there is a "loaf before the Lord" of each tribe or order. And although there may be some tribe which descends not from a freewoman but from a concubine of Israel, and which is in part free, in part servile, nevertheless for all a "loaf of two tenths is set forth before the Lord", and in all the "two tenths of fine flour" hold firm. And they are commanded to be "set forth upon the clean table". Who among us is there who has so "clean a table" that upon it "loaves" may be offered to the Lord? "If you sit down to dine at the table of a powerful man", says Solomon, "understand intelligently what is set before you". What, then, is the "table of the powerful man", if not the mind of him who said: "I can do all things in him who strengthens me, Christ", and: "when I am weak, then am I strong"? Upon the "clean table of this powerful man", that is, in his heart, in his mind, the "loaf" is offered to the Lord. If you sit down to dine at the "table" of this "powerful" Apostle, "understand intelligently what is set before you", that is, attend spiritually to the things that are said by him, so that you too may be able to do what is added; for he says: "knowing that you must prepare such things".
5. But let us see how these "twelve loaves" are set forth: "two rows", it says, "six loaves in one row". Do you suppose this division is idle? Why is it that the number twelve is again divided into six? For the number six has a certain kinship with this world; for in six days this visible world was made. Two orders, therefore, are held in this world, that is, two peoples, who guard the faith of the Father and the Son in one church as it were upon "one clean table". "And there shall be placed", it says, "upon the row clean frankincense". The kind of frankincense holds the form of prayers. It is fitting, therefore, to join to the loaves of faith the vigilance and purity of prayers. And prayer is pure, as the Apostle says: "lifting up pure hands without wrath and dispute". At the same time the sweetness of the odor also causes to be fulfilled that which is written: "let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight". If anyone, therefore, offers prayers indeed to God, but does not have a conscience clean from evil works, this man seems indeed to "place frankincense" upon the loaves, but not entirely "clean" frankincense. For if all frankincense were "clean", Scripture would surely not have added that "clean frankincense" be "placed before the Lord" upon the shewbread. For do not suppose that almighty God commanded this and sanctioned it by law, that frankincense be brought to him from Arabia. But this is the frankincense which God seeks to be offered to him by men, from which he takes "an odor of sweetness": prayers from a pure heart and a good conscience, in which God truly receives the fragrance of sweetness. "And the loaves", it says, "shall be for a memorial, set forth before the Lord. On the day of the sabbaths you shall set them forth". If it is not yet manifest to you that these "loaves" are the word of God, be confirmed now from these words. For what is it that makes for us a "memorial" of God? What is it that recalls us to the memory of righteousness and of all good if not the word of God? Therefore, then, it says that "they shall be for a memorial, set forth before the Lord". It adds also "on the day of the sabbaths", that is, in the rest of souls. And what greater rest is there for the faithful soul than the "memory" of God, than to dwell "in the sight of the Lord", than to remain in the faith of the Father and the Son, than to offer prayers to the Lord as an "odor of sweetness"? "An everlasting covenant", it says, "it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat them in a holy place". "Aaron and his sons" are "a chosen race, a priestly race", to whom this portion of the holy things is given by God — which we all are who believe in Christ. But I do not seek the "holy place" set on earth, but in the heart. For the rational soul is called a "holy place", for which reason also the Apostle says: "do not give place to the devil". My soul, then, is the place — if I act wickedly, of the devil; if well, of God. Finally also "the evil spirit", it says, "when it has gone out from a man, and has gone about arid places, and has not found rest, then it says: I will return to my place, whence I went out". The "holy place", then, is the pure soul. In which place we are commanded to eat the food of the word of God. For it is not fitting that an unholy soul should receive holy words, but when it has purified itself from every defilement of flesh and of morals, then, made a "holy place", it may take the food of that "bread which came down from heaven". Is not the "holy place" better understood thus than if we suppose that a structure of insensible stones is called a "holy place"? Whence in a similar manner this law too is set before you, that, when you receive the mystic bread, you eat it in a clean place, that is, that you do not receive the sacraments of the Lord's body in a soul contaminated and polluted with sins: "for whoever", it says, "eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let each one prove himself, and then let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup".
6. "For they are the holy of holies". You see how he did not say holy only, but "holy of holies", as if he said: this food is not the common food of all, nor of anyone unworthy, but it belongs to "the holy". How much more shall we also say this rightly and deservedly concerning the word of God: this discourse is not for all; not just anyone can hear the mystery of this word, but it belongs only to the holy, who are purified in mind, "who are clean of heart", who are "simple in soul", who are blameless in life, who are free in conscience — theirs it is to hear the discourse concerning this, to them can these mysteries be explained. "For to you it is given", he says, "to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to those", that is, who are not worthy, who are not such as to deserve it nor can be capable of the understanding of secret things, "to those it cannot be given": this priestly bread, which is the secret and mystic discourse, but in "parables", which is common to the crowd. "This shall be an everlasting statute". For everything that is mystic is an "everlasting statute". For these present and everywhere visible things are temporal and quickly come to an end: "for the fashion of this world passes away". But if "the fashion of this world passes away", without doubt the "fashion" of the letter also passes away, and those things remain which are eternal, which the spiritual sense contains. If, then, we have understood first how God speaks to Moses and Moses to the children of Israel, second also the meaning of the "clean lampstand" and of the "lamps" and its oil, third also that the "loaves" of the presentation are "made each of two tenths" according to the will of the Spirit: let us give our effort that we too may not be made unworthy of this so great and so sublime understanding, but that our soul may first become a "holy place", and that in a "holy place" we may take the holy mysteries through the grace of the Holy Spirit, by whom is sanctified everything that is holy. "To Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!"