Homilies on Numbers — Homily 18
Latin source: Origen, In Numeros homiliae (Rufinus's Latin translation), from the public-domain critical text of W. A. Baehrens, GCS 30 = Origenes Werke VII (Leipzig, 1921). This English translation is released into the public domain.[§1] We now take up in hand the fourth of these prophecies which Balaam spoke in the word of God, wishing to open up, concerning this one too, whatever God may grant. To this prophecy, however, there were prefixed in the introduction things similar to those above. For it says: "And Balak was angry with Balaam, and clapped his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam: I called you to curse my enemy, and behold, blessing you have blessed him three times. Now therefore flee to your own place; I said: I will honor you, and now the Lord has defrauded you of honor." In these words he shows that Balak too understood that Balaam was no longer being deceived by the ministry of demons, but was being carried over to better things by the power of God, and therefore he says: "The Lord has defrauded you of honor." But passing quickly over these things, which are plain, let us come to what follows. "And Balaam said to Balak: Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying: If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I shall not be able to transgress the word of the Lord, to do it, whether good or evil, of my own accord? Whatever God shall say to me, this I shall speak. And now behold I return to my place." Balaam, knowing that responses were not brought to him through the accustomed ministers, but from Him who has power over all, rightly is seen to have protested that he could not transgress the word of the Lord and do it, whether small or great, of his own accord. For the one who spoke to him was not one who could be changed by sacrifices and gifts, but was one with whom there is no change nor shadow of change. And therefore the prophet cannot be altered by a fee, where God is not moved by gifts. Yet as he is about to depart, Balaam begins again to prophesy, and says: "Come, I give you counsel, what this people shall do to your people in the last days." And taking up his parable he said. But before we come to the explanation of the things which have been prophesied, I would like to inquire what this sense is, or what the order of the words is, in that he says: "Come, and I give you counsel." And indeed he seems to give no counsel, but says what this people is about to do to your people in the last days, whereas it would surely have seemed more fitting if it had said: "Come, I prophesy to you what this people is about to do to your people in the last days"; and it would surely follow as a consequence that Balaam would seem to prophesy about those things which the people of Israel were about to do to the people of Balak or to the rest of the nations, and that he would do it in power, so as to leave none of the cities of Moab that would be saved.
[§2] But the prophecy also, nonetheless, which he joins to it in what follows concerning Christ, saying: "A star shall arise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise up out of Israel, and he shall lay waste the princes of Moab," would seem fittingly placed if it had been written: "Come, and I prophesy to you." But now what shall we say to this, that it is written: "Come, I give you counsel, what this people shall do to your people"? Let us therefore inquire how it ought to be understood, this that is written: "I give you counsel," concerning which, often inquiring within myself, I could find no outcome for the meaning, if we suppose that this which he says, "I give you counsel," is said in the common and ordinary way. But I saw that this rather is fitting, that what he says, "I give you counsel," is to be understood as though he had said: The divine counsel, which is to be fulfilled in the last days, now revealed to me I open and make manifest to you, that you may know what this people shall do to your people. And in this way it seemed to me able to stand, this that he says: "I give you counsel, what this people is about to do to your people," that is: I announce and make manifest to you the counsel of God. Indeed, as I inquired whether perhaps somewhere in the divine Scriptures some similar saying under this expression might occur, it seemed that this also was similarly to be noted, which the Apostle says: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" For here "who" is taken not for "no one," but for "rare" or "exceptional." For how did his Only-begotten not know the mind of God, who says: "No one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son shall will to reveal him"? What else, then, is it to know the Father, except to know both his counsel and his mind? But also the Holy Spirit, who searches even the deep things of God, what does he do but recognize his mind? Therefore both the Son and the Holy Spirit recognize the mind of the Lord, and those to whom the Son shall will to reveal it. But if the Son recognizes the mind of God, then he is also his counselor. But "counselor" is not to be taken as though the Son or the Holy Spirit gives counsel to him as to one ignorant of what he is doing; but in that the Son and the Holy Spirit are partakers of, and knowing in, his counsel and will. In a similar way, then, Balaam too, because he was making Balak a partaker of, and acquainted with, the counsel which God had revealed to him, says: "Come, I give you counsel," as one who truly sees and has truly heard the words of God, as he says in what follows: "Balaam, the son of Beor, said, the man who truly sees, hearing the words of God, knowing the knowledge of the Most High, and seeing the vision of God in sleep, his eyes uncovered." Of all these things we have already spoken above, since in the introduction of the third prophecy the same things were written. This alone in the present passage seems added, that he says: "knowing the knowledge of the Most High." For this was not said of Balaam in the earlier passages; which indeed I have found not easily written of any one of all the holy prophets.
[§3] Whence also I greatly marvel how this was written of Balaam, to whom it was not even granted to say what is customary among the prophets: "Thus says the Lord," but he says: "Balaam said, the man who truly sees said." Then further, how will it be worthy that so much be understood of Balaam, that he knows the knowledge of the Most High—he who even taught King Balak how to send a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, that they might eat things sacrificed to idols and commit fornication? For scarcely will anyone find it said of the holy prophets or Apostles that they know the knowledge of the Most High. Although Paul said that he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for men to utter, yet he did not profess to have the knowledge of the Most High. On which account let us attend more diligently, in case perhaps God may deign to reveal something worthy to us upon this expression. In the book which among us is usually held among the volumes of Solomon and is called Ecclesiasticus, but among the Greeks is named the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach, it is written: "All wisdom is from God." Which perhaps we might so understand, as though from God were also that wisdom of this world, which is said to be destroyed, and of the princes of this world, and if there is any other by which false knowledge is commended; were it not that in the same little book it says in what follows: "For the discipline of wickedness is not wisdom." By which surely he teaches that every discipline which asserts anything false, even if it seem forceful and plausible and such as can hardly be overthrown, yet by no means ought knowledge of this kind to be applied to the title of wisdom. What then is it that he says: "All wisdom is from God"? He seems to me to have meant this: that every skill which is held necessary for human use in regard to any art, or the knowledge of any matter whatever, is said to be wisdom given by the Lord. In short, in Job it is written: "Who gave to women the wisdom of weaving and the discipline of embroidery?" But also in Exodus: "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Behold, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the divine spirit of wisdom and understanding and discipline, that he may have understanding in every work, and be an architect to work silver and gold and bronze and stones for setting and all works of craftsmanship, and in wood, that he may work according to all the works to which I have appointed him. And also Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put understanding into the heart of everyone who is prudent, that they may make all the things which I have appointed you." Consider therefore from all these things how the craftsman's wisdom is from the Lord, whether in gold or in silver or in any other material whatever, or even the wisdom of weaving; and see that of all these it can rightly be said that the knowledge of them is from the Most High. But if the craftsman's knowledge is declared to be from the Most High, how is not also geometry, from which surely this knowledge, which Scripture names architectonic, is derived? Indeed, in Zechariah too a geometric line is mentioned, with which an angel measures Jerusalem, and therefore I do not think it seems absurd if this knowledge too is said to be of the Most High. But what shall we say of music, all the skill of which the most wise David had so grasped, and had gathered the disciplines of all melody and rhythm, that from all these he might discover sounds by which he could, by playing, even soothe the king when troubled and vexed by an evil spirit? Whence I do not think anyone of right sense would deny, in the knowledge of all these things, that all wisdom is from God. But now concerning the knowledge of medicine I do not think there can even be a doubt; for if there is any knowledge from God, what will more be from him than the knowledge of health, in which even the powers of herbs and the qualities and differences of juices are discerned? Therefore from all these things it is gathered that even this knowledge of Balaam, for the sake of which he was summoned from the mountains of Mesopotamia in the east to curse Jacob, has indeed its beginnings and origin from the Most High, and thence too is the discernment by which he had learned either the natures of animals or the movements of birds or the differences of voices, but that the things which he had received unto the knowledge of good things, he had turned to the use of evil ones. This seems to me similar to as if one who had learned medicine and come to know the powers of herbs and their tempering—given by God to men doubtless for the sake of healing—should wish to reverse his purpose and use all this knowledge, which was granted for the health of bodies, unto evil, and become a poisoner instead of a physician, bringing diseases instead of remedies, deaths instead of healings. But that we may understand still more fully that the wisdom of all knowledge draws its origin from God, but that by men of evil purpose, or even by demons mingling in certain corruptions of the wisdom of God, it is turned aside to evil, let us reread the things which are written in Daniel concerning Daniel himself and his three friends, whom King Nebuchadnezzar handed over to be instructed for three years, wishing them to become most learned in their own—that is, the ancestral—wisdom of the Babylonians. There, then, it is written that: "The Lord gave them knowledge and understanding and prudence in every grammatical art; and to Daniel he gave understanding in every word and vision and dreams; and they were before the king, and in every word and prudence and discipline concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them tenfold more than were the sophists and philosophers who were in all his kingdom." And these things indeed are found in the copies of the Seventy translators; but in the codices of the Hebrews I found something even more forceful, which, although we do not use them, yet for the sake of acknowledgment we shall state, what we read there also: "God gave them," it says, "understanding and prudence in all grammatical wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in every vision and dreams," and after a few words: "and they stood," it says, "in the sight of the king, and in every word of wisdom and discipline concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them tenfold above all the enchanters and magicians who were in all his kingdom." From all these things, then, it can be understood how Balaam too said of himself: "who knows the knowledge of the Most High," namely, that it may be understood that the origin of all knowledge took its beginning from him, but that by the fault of human malice, with demons also breathing upon and stealing in, those things were turned to destruction which were granted for usefulness. Let these things concerning that which he said, "knowing the knowledge of the Most High," have been discussed by us according to our powers.
[§4] After these things he says: "seeing the vision of God in sleep, his eyes uncovered." Of these things it has been sufficiently discoursed in the third vision, and it is idle to repeat the same things. Let us therefore see what it is that he says in what follows: "I will show him, and not now; I bless him, and he does not draw near." In other copies indeed it reads: "I will see him, but not now"; which, if it be accepted, will be thought to be understood more easily, so that he says that Christ, of whom he speaks in what follows: "A star shall arise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise up out of Israel," is to be seen, but not now, that is, not at that time at which he was saying these things; for in the last days, when the fullness of times came, God sent his Son. But if it is to be read according to what we have in our copies, that is: "I will show him, and not now; I bless him, and he does not draw near," it refers not to this Balaam, through whom these things are said, but to those whose person we have said is represented in this. For those teachers of the law and scribes will show Christ prophesied in the law and the prophets, but not now, that is, not at the time at which he came, but when the fullness of the nations shall have entered in, and all Israel shall begin to be saved—then they will show him and then they will bless him whom they now blaspheme. But this time, in which these things are to be, does not draw near; for it is far off and to be hoped for at the very end of the age. And therefore he says: "I will show him, and not now"—"to him," that is, to the people who will then be saved. After these things: "A star," he says, "shall arise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise up out of Israel." Of these things we spoke also in the earlier passages, that it is evidently prophesied of the star which appeared to the Magi in the east; with which as their guide they came to Judea seeking him who was born, the King of Israel, and having found him, offered gifts and adored him. But it moves me that concerning that very star, after it was said in the Gospel that it went before the Magi as far as Bethlehem, and coming, stood above where the child was, nothing further was said, that either it departed thence or vanished or was taken up, or that the Gospel narrative indicated anything at all about this, but it said only this: that it came and stood above where the child was. Lest therefore perhaps, just as at the time of the baptism, when Jesus, having been baptized, ascended from the Jordan, the heavens were opened to him and John saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and remaining upon him, and heard a voice from heaven saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," so also this star, which came above where the child was and stood there, likewise remained upon Christ, just as the Holy Spirit too is said to have come in the appearance of a dove and to have remained upon him. And just as we understand that the Spirit of God came upon him and remained upon him in such a way that the Spirit of God never departed from him, so also the star, which came and stood over him, I think is to be understood to have so stood over him that it was never moved thence. And therefore I am of the opinion that that star was an indication of his deity. Whence also the order of the prophecy shows these same things consequently, when concerning his deity indeed it says: "A star shall arise out of Jacob," but concerning his human nature: "and a man shall rise up out of Israel," so that in both, according to deity and according to humanity, Christ may evidently appear to have been prophesied. "And he shall lay waste the princes of Moab." Moab indeed is a nation, whose princes we understand to be none other than the spiritual wickednesses and those principalities against whom is our wrestling. These, then, that man out of Israel shall lay waste, when he shall strip off the principalities and powers, and shall fasten them to his cross. For he could not save the Moabites and lead them to the knowledge of God, unless he had laid waste those princes who had held the dominion of impiety over them. "And he shall despoil all the sons of Seth." Seth is the son of Adam, of whom Eve said, when he was born: "For God has raised up for me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." This, then, is Seth, from whom the whole human race in this world is said to descend; for of those who had been born of Cain, they perished in the flood. The sons of Seth, therefore, are all men who are in this world. And when it is said: "he shall despoil all the sons of Seth," take "spoil" as we interpreted it in the earlier passages, where it is written: "he shall eat the nations of his enemies," and where he is compared to a lion's cub and to a lion. Here too, then, he takes as spoil all the sons of Seth. When the adversary demons are conquered, Christ leads the men who were held under their dominion as, so to speak, the spoil of his victory, and carries off the plunder of salvation, just as it is written of him also elsewhere that: "ascending on high he led captivity captive"; that captivity, namely, of the human race, which the devil had taken to perdition, this one in turn led captive and recalled from death to life. Would then that Jesus might always hold me too captive and lead me as his spoil, and that I might be held bound by his chains, so that I too might deserve to be called a prisoner of Christ Jesus, just as Paul too glories of himself. "And Edom shall be an inheritance, and Esau his enemy shall be an inheritance." Edom is the same as Esau. He according to history indeed is the enemy of Israel, but at the coming, he says, of Christ, he too shall be his inheritance, that is, he shall be received unto the faith and shall not be excluded from the inheritance of Christ. But if we consider it spiritually, Edom is understood as the flesh, which is opposed to the spirit and is its enemy. At the coming, then, of Christ, when the flesh shall have been subjected to the spirit, through the hope of resurrection it too shall come to the inheritance. For not the soul alone, but also the flesh, which once had been an enemy, through the obedience of the spirit shall become a sharer of the inheritance to come. "And Israel did it in power." This is what he says: that then Edom or Esau, that is, the nature of the flesh, shall be called into the fellowship of the inheritance, when Israel, namely the soul, shall have been made to be in power and shall have been fittingly filled with virtues. For if the soul does not come to the virtues, but perseveres in sloth, neither shall the flesh come to the inheritance, but to the judgment of him who can destroy both soul and body in gehenna. "And there shall rise up one out of Jacob, and he shall destroy him that is delivered from the city." That one, he says, who shall rise up as a star out of Jacob, shall destroy him that is delivered from the city. Not in this alone, but in almost every prophetic style, the things that are said are said in speech quite involved and obscure. For it did not please the Holy Spirit, who willed these things to be written, that these should be set plainly and, so to say, to be trodden under the feet of the unskilled, but he so provided that, while they seem to be held publicly, yet, hidden by the obscurity of the words, they should be kept covered in mysteries and in secrets. And now, then, this that he says: "he shall destroy him that is delivered from the city," unless you look to the prophetic custom, of which it is said: "all prophecy cannot stand by its own solution," the understanding will seem far more difficult. Let us see, however, whether perhaps in this way it can be explained. Let us understand "the city" here as the world, just as also in the Gospels it is said of the prodigal son, who squandered the substance of his father, that "he went," it says, "to a certain chief man of the city in that region," by whom, being received, he is sent into the field to feed swine. And here too, then, the city, of which that man was chief, is understood as this world. Therefore him that is delivered from this city, that is, whom Christ delivers from this world, he destroys him. For he says to him that: "he who shall destroy his soul for my sake, shall make it safe." By a saving destruction, therefore, Jesus shall destroy him whom he shall have delivered from the city of this world. And so we too, if we wish to come to salvation and to be delivered from this world, ought to destroy our souls with a useful and necessary destruction. For he destroys his soul according to Christ who curbs its desires, who cuts back its cravings, who chastises its luxury and dissoluteness, and in nothing at all does his own will, but the will of God; and through these things the soul is said to perish. For its former life perishes and it begins to lead a new life, which is in Christ. Similar to this saying is also that: "if we die together, we shall also live together," and that: "but if you are dead to the elements of the world, how, as though living in this world, do you make decrees?" Necessarily, therefore, in these too it is declared that he destroys his soul in this world who dies with Christ, and he who has thus destroyed it shall find it there, without doubt, where the Apostle says that "your life is hidden with Christ in God," to whom be glory unto the eternal ages of ages. Amen.