spiritual sense is Christ, according to that which follows. For from one Jesus Christ many are made Christs. Some say that even the stag is a unicorn.
He shall devour the nations of his enemies 60. Of Christ he speaks: though we were once among his enemies. Christ, therefore, shall devour us—namely, the substantial virtue which consumes us, according to that which is said: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me."
And he shall exhaust their fatness 62. Then, he says, when he shall transform the fleshly condition into a spiritual one through actual change.
They who bless you are blessed 63. By this he denotes two persons: those who believe in Christ and those who do not. And after a few words: In these, therefore, is overturned both the attempt of those who are opposed to Israel and the sorcery of the magical art.
And the people were profaned to commit fornication 64. The intention of the Hebrews to commit fornication and to worship Beelphegor was the prophet's. Wherefore Moses says: "These were to the children of Israel, according to the word of Balaam, to cause them to depart and to despise the word of the Lord because of Beelphegor 65."
And there shall be for you the border towards Liba 66. From the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates he promised to Abraham. Why, then, did he not give it to them? For the Book of Numbers indicates that a smaller part was given. But I think that he would have given it, if they had been faithful in accordance with the one who received the promises. And this is with good reason. For often he has not brought upon [them] the evils that he threatened, for they repented, as in the case of the Ninevites.
Nevertheless, of the people of their father shall be wives 67. This is, therefore, God's command, that besides the tribes of Judah and Levi, it is not permitted for one tribe to be joined by marriage to another, so that what is appropriate for the Savior, "King and Priest according to the order of Melchizedek," may not appear unusual.
ORIGEN'S HOMILIES ON THE BOOK OF NUMBERS
PROLOGUE OF RUFINUS THE TRANSLATOR TO URSACIUS [(47)]
I shall speak in words to you, brother, oh most beatific martyr, [and] most beloved helper. For I remember that I promised that if there were anything said by the elder Adamantius on the Law of Moses, I would collect it and translate it into the Latin language for your perusal. But to fulfill the promise was not untimely for you, though it was untimely and troublesome for us. For what [is it] in that place: with the style there are tales woven, where it is hostile, where it is city and country...
A devastated, where one flees through dangers of the sea, and not even they are held without fear of exile? For in the sight, as you yourself also see, of our Barbarian—who was mingling fires in the Royal City—we were hemmed in by the most narrow strait for us, where the soil of Italy is separated by the Sicilian [sea]. Having therefore placed these [things] here, which pertain to writing with security, and especially to interpreting, where it is proposed not to set forth one's own senses, but to adapt foreign ones? Yet if the night has not struck our spirits with a lesser fear of the enemy, and has given at least a brief leisure for working by lamp-light, as if for the consolation of evils and for the sake of lightening our pilgrimage, whatever [things] among the Numbers, or in a homiletic style, or even those which are called Excerpts, we find written, these, with the Roman [Empire] rising, we have gathered into one order as we could, with him also helping us in very many ways, Ursacius, lest you, being too eager, think the ministry of the boy-notary is slow. I want you to know, however, brother, that this reading truly opens intelligence, although it does not set forth separately all the things which are written; [it does so] in order that the reader may not be rendered idle, but may prick his heart—as it is written—and may produce sense, and, having heard the good word, as a wise man may add to it. That I may be able to explain what you have enjoined, I strive. For now, from all things that I find in the Law, or, as I think, in Deuteronomy, the orations are lacking, which, if the Lord has helped and given health to my eyes, we desire to join to the rest of the body: although we accompany our most beloved son Pinianus, whose religious congregation we follow because of the love of chastity, he may enjoin other things. But pray together, that the Lord may be present, and may grant peace to the times, and give grace to those laboring, and bring forth the fruit of our work for the profit of the readers.
HOMILY I.
B1. Not all men are worthy of the divine numbers, but they are designated by certain prerogatives who ought to be comprehended within the number of God. The present book, which is being written—the Numbers—contains an evident indication of this matter. In which it is reported that by the precept of God, not only are women not led into the number, for the obstacle of infirmity without doubt, nor any of the servants, as being degenerate in morals. But neither is anyone from the Egyptians who were mixed among them, truly as an alien and a barbarian; but only the Israelites are numbered, and these are not all, but those from twenty years and up. Nor is the observation of age held, but what is sought is [that which] shows strength suitable for wars: for it is designated by the Word of God, that "everyone who proceeds in the strength of Israel" C should be numbered. Therefore, not only age, but virtue is required in an Israelite. 276 A boyish age is not numbered, nor is it led by calculations of merit, unless the firstborn, or [those] descending from the priestly Levitical stock. These alone are brought into numbers among the boys. To women, however, nothing at all is attributed. And what does it seem? Can these be void of mysteries? But it is believed that the Holy Spirit has provided only this, that He dictated these things to be written, that we might know who among that people were then numbered, and who were without number? And who will grant from this progress to those who are worthy? D That Christ, according to the accident, is understood; from which come many unicorns. For from one Jesus Christ, to many it has been given to be christs. Some say also that the stag is a unicorn. "He shall eat the nations of his enemies." He speaks about Christ: among his enemies we, the nations, were at one time. Therefore Christ shall eat us, the substantial virtue indeed which shall consume us, according to that which He says: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me." And he shall marrow their fatnesses. Then, he says, when He shall transform the carnal state into a spiritual one by works. "They who bless thee, are blessed." He indicates two persons in these things; and they are of the faithful and the unfaithful concerning Christ. And after a few words: In these therefore the attempt of the adversaries of Israel is overturned, and the wickedness of the magic art. And the people were defiled so as to commit whoredom. This purpose, that the Hebrews should commit whoredom and worship Beelphegor, was of the diviner. Wherefore Moses says: "These were to the sons of Israel, according to the word of Balaam, to cause to depart and to despise the word of the Lord because of Beelphegor." And the side which is toward the south shall be to you. From the river of Egypt to the Euphrates He had promised to Abraham. Why then did He not give it to them? For the Numbers indicate a smaller part of the land was granted. But I think that He would have given it, if they had been faithful in the same way as he who had received the promises. And this is not without verisimilitude. For He often threatened evils [but] did not inflict them, for indeed they repented, as the Ninevites are an example. "Only from the people of his father's house shall be wives." This is therefore the command of God, that except for the tribe of Judah and Levi, it is not permitted for any tribe to be joined in marriage with another tribe, so that that which has been repeated from the beginning does not appear strange, [which] fits the Savior, "A King and priest according to the order of Melchisedec." [index: entries preserved]
A what devastation [prevails], where one flees through maritime dangers, and not even exiles are without fear? For indeed, as you yourself saw, in our presence the Barbarian, who was mixing the city of Rhegium with flames, was held back by the narrowest of straits from us, where the soil of Italy is separated from the Sicilian. Placed in these circumstances, what security could there be for writing, and especially for interpreting, when one is not permitted to set forth his own thoughts as much as to adapt those of others? Yet, if any night has shaken our minds with less fear of hostile destruction, and has given at least a brief leisure for study, as if for the sake of solacing evils and lightening the weariness of pilgrimage, whatever we have found written in the Book of Numbers, whether in a homiletic style or even from those which are called "Excerpts," these, at your urging, we have arranged, rendered into the Roman tongue as best we could, collected from various sources into one order, with you yourself helping in very many places, Ursacius, in our labor, while you, too eager, think the work of a small secretary is slow. Yet, brother, I want you to know that this reading opens the paths of understanding indeed, but it does not treat everything that is written item by item, as you have read in the books of explanations; so that, of course, even the reader is not rendered idle, but may prick his own heart, as it is written, and bring forth meaning, and having heard a good word, as a wise man, may add to it. Therefore, I strive to explain as I am able what you have enjoined. For already, from everything I have found written in the Law, only the little discourses on Deuteronomy are missing, which, if the Lord helps and gives health to my eyes, I desire to join to the rest of the body: although our most beloved son Pinianus, whose religious company we follow as fugitives for the love of purity, enjoins other things also. But pray together that the Lord may be present and grant peace to the times, bestow grace upon those who labor, and bring forth the fruit of our work for the profit of the readers.
For what [profit] is it to have learned these things? Or what is conferred upon the soul for salvation if it knows that one part of the people was numbered in the desert, but another part was left unnumbered? But if, following the sentiment of Paul, we believe the Law to be spiritual, and hear spiritually what it contains, a great profit to the soul will appear in the things that are written. For the present reading teaches me that if I shall have transcended the foolishness of childhood, if I have ceased to be a little one in senses, and becoming a man have put away the things that are of a child, if, I say, I have become a youth, and such a youth as conquers the evil one, I will appear fit for those things of which it is written B, "all who proceed in the virtue of Israel," and I shall be considered worthy of divine numbers. But as long as there is in any of us either a childish and slippery sense, or womanish and lax sloth, or we bear Egyptian and barbarian morals, we do not deserve to be held in the holy and consecrated number before God. For those who perish are said to be innumerable before Solomon; but all those who are saved are numbered. And do you wish that I show you that the number of the saints is held before God? Hear how David says concerning the heavenly stars C: "Who numbers the multitude of the stars, and calls them all by their names." But the Savior established not only his chosen disciples under a number, but says that even the hairs of their heads are numbered. In which surely those are designated by certain prerogatives who ought to be comprehended within the number of God. The present book, which is written as Numbers, contains an evident indication of this matter. In it, it is reported that by the precept of God, neither women are led to the number, due to the obstacle of womanish weakness without doubt, nor any of the servants, as they are degenerate in life and morals. But not even any of the Egyptians, from among those who were mixed in, is numbered, truly because they are foreigners and barbarians; but only the Israelites are numbered, and these are not all, but [only those] from twenty years old and upward. Nor is the observation of age alone taken, but it is sought if he also shows strength fit for wars: for it is designated by the word of God that everyone who proceeds in the virtue of Israel is to be numbered. Therefore, not age alone, but also virtue is required in an Israelite. D Childish age is not numbered, nor is it considered fit for divine calculations, unless perhaps they are firstborn, or descend from a priestly or Levitical stock. These alone among children are brought to the number. But of women, none at all is brought. And what is seen? Can these be void of mysteries? But is it believed that the Holy Spirit, who dictated these things to be written, only took care that we might know who among that people were then numbered, and who remained without number? And what profit will be given from this to those who long to be instructed in these volumes?
A For He says: "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." By this, most certainly, He did not mean those hairs of the head to be numbered which are either accustomed to be shorn off by iron and cast away, or which fall out and perish with the passing of time; rather, those hairs of the head are numbered before God which were in the Nazirites, in whom was the power of the Holy Spirit to overthrow the foreigners. Therefore, He called the virtues of the soul and the multitude of perceptions, which were produced from the ruling principle of the mind as if from a head, the hairs of the head. But we have arrived at this through a certain digression; now let us return to our subject.
"In the wilderness of Sinai": that is, clearly, all those things which we summarized in a brief narrative above, where it is commanded that everyone who proceeds in the virtue of Israel from twenty years old and upward be numbered. If anyone, therefore, proceeds in virtue, he himself is numbered. And not in any kind of virtue—that is, not in the virtue of the Egyptians, nor in the virtue of the Assyrians, nor in the Greeks, but in the virtue of Israel, he himself is numbered before God. For there is a virtue of the soul which the Greek philosophers teach, but this does not pertain to the B number of God. For it is not practiced for God, but for human glory. There is also the virtue of the Assyrians—there is that of the Chaldeans, which is proclaimed in the studies of astrology. But that is not Israelitic virtue, and therefore it does not pertain to God. There is also the virtue of the Egyptians in what they call secret wisdom, but this is not added to the account of God. Only Israelitic virtue is numbered before God. This is that virtue which is taught by God, which is learned through the divine Scriptures, which is handed down through the evangelical and apostolic faith. And therefore He says that only those are numbered who progress in the virtue of Israel.
But let us also consider why it is that the people are not numbered immediately as they went out of Egypt. For Pharaoh was still pursuing them. Nor, indeed, are they said to be numbered when they crossed the Red Sea and came into the wilderness. For they had not yet been tempted, they had not yet been assaulted by the enemy. They engage C in conflict against Amalek, and they conquer. But not even then are they numbered. For one victory is not enough for one who is tending toward perfection. They receive the food of manna, and they draw the draught of water from the rock that followed them; but not even then are they numbered. For in these things those qualities which are deemed suitable for the numbers had not yet reached maturity. The tabernacle of the testimony is constructed, yet not even at this time does the moment arrive for the people to be numbered. The law is given through Moses, the custom of sacrifices is handed down, the rite of purifications is taught, the laws of sanctifications and the sacraments are established, and then the people are brought to the number according to the commandment of God.
Describe these things, O listener, in your heart doubly and triply. See how many things you have to pass through, how D many sufferings you must endure, how many improvements, how many temptations, how many battles you must fight and win, so that you may be able to pertain to the divine number, so that you may be held in some account before God, that you may be judged worthy to be numbered among the holy tribes, that you may be visited, and through God's priests Aaron and Moses be inscribed in the roll of the numbers. First, the law of God must be received by you, the law of the Holy Spirit; sacrifices must be offered, purifications must be fulfilled, and all things which the law of the Spirit teaches must be performed, so that you may at some time pertain to the Israelitic number in the book of Numbers. For the ordering of the tribes, and the distinction of the ranks, the association of families, and the entire arrangement of the camps, reveal to me proofs of vast mysteries, with the apostle Paul scattering for us the seeds of spiritual understanding. And come, let us now see what all this reckoning of numbers, what the diversity of the ranks, contains of mystical understanding.
There is for us a certain expectation of the resurrection of the dead, when those who are alive, who remain, will not precede those who have fallen asleep at the coming of Christ, but joined and associated with them at the same time, will be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, deserting the corruption of this earthly place and the dwellings of death—whether all are to remain in the air, as Paul declares, or whether some are even to be transferred to paradise or to any other of the many mansions which are with the Father. The diversity of the transition and the glory will, without doubt, be granted according to the merits and the acts of each one, and each one will be in that order which the merits of his deeds have conferred upon him, just as the same Paul protests, saying concerning those who are rising: "But each in his own order."
Hence, therefore, it will come to pass in the resurrection that each one will be inscribed either in the tribe of Reuben by spiritual indicators, for this very reason, that he had something in his morals, acts, or life similar and akin to Reuben himself. Another, however, will be in the tribe of Simeon, perhaps for obedience. Another in the tribe of Levi, I believe one who has well presided over the priesthood, or who by serving well has acquired for himself a good rank. Another in the tribe of Judah, I do not doubt that it is he who has borne royal spirits and has well ruled the people that is within himself—namely, of the perceptions of the mind and the thoughts of the heart. But indeed, each one will be associated with each of the individual tribes according to those things which each one had, either in acts or in morals, that are related to each of them. There will therefore be such orders in the resurrection of the dead, as the Apostle designates, the type and figure of which seem to me to be preformed in this book. But also that which...
A regards the tribes and their connection, the position of the camps, and the order of the march, pertains without doubt to some state in the resurrection of the dead. That three tribes are said to be placed to the east, three to the west, three also to the south, and three finally to the north, which is called the harsh wind; but also that the tribe of Judah, which is royal, is stationed to the east, from which our Lord rose, I do not think is idle, and that Issachar is joined to this, and Zabulon, and that this threefold number is ordered into four parts. Although these have different qualities of their positions, all of them are nevertheless contained within the number of the Trinity. And that throughout all these four parts the same Trinity is always gathered into one number, is undoubtedly because all who come from the four parts of the world and invoke the name of the Lord are considered under the one name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, B reclining with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. Let these things be generally indicated by us for those wishing to briefly comprehend the mystical content of this entire sacred volume, so that, having taken from these the occasion for spiritual understanding, each one may pursue a similar, or even—if God reveals more to anyone—a superior and more exalted investigation. For I truly judge myself unequal to recounting the mysteries that this book of Numbers contains; but much more inferior to those which the volume of Deuteronomy includes. And therefore we must hasten to come to Jesus, not that son of Nave, but to Jesus Christ. Yet, using Moses first as a pedagogue, and laying aside the rudiments of infancy with him, let us thus stretch toward the perfection of Christ. For Moses did not suppress many wars. Jesus, however, truly ended all wars, but gave peace to all, so that it is written: C "And the land rested from wars." The land of promise, the land of inheritance, the land which flows with milk and honey, is distributed by Jesus. For "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." But you will find that the types and images of this very distribution also preceded it. For it is not pointless that the land is divided to some beyond the Jordan, and to others within the Jordan, and to others as the first, and to others as the second, to some even as the third, and thus the inheritance of the land is divided by order; where each one may rest under his fig tree, and under his vine, and there is no longer anyone to terrify. All of which things, prefigured by magnificent mysteries, the Lord Jesus Himself, on the day of His coming, will not now through a glass and in a riddle, but face to face in truth, fulfill for each one, according to what He himself shall have known of the merits of individuals, He who is the knower of the heart, to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.
Of the order and arrangement of the camps
The host of God which went out from the land of Egypt and made its journey through the wilderness, was visited, that is, numbered by Moses and Aaron, and separated by each individual tribe and counted under a certain number: which we, explaining as it were with the whole content of the book at once, have called a written form, of how the people of God, D going out from the Egypt of this world and hastening to the land of promise, that is, either to the place of virtues, or to the glory and inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, is led down by certain orders and degrees of merits. And through these we have shown the magnificence of future goods shadowed forth in the images of the Law. But now the beginning of this reading, which has been recited today, teaches us how the order of the camps is composed by those who are devoted to God and do not implicate themselves in worldly business. For it says: "And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Let a man place his camp according to his order, and according to his signs, and according to the houses of his families; let the children of Israel camp over against and round about the tabernacle of the testimony." Moses says: "Let a man walk in the camps according to his order, and according to his signs, and according to the houses of his families"; and Paul says: "Let all things be done decently and in order." Does it not seem to you that it is one Spirit of God who speaks both in Moses and in Paul? By order Moses commands them to walk in the camps; by order Paul commands all things to be done in the Church. And Moses indeed, who ministered to the Law, commands order to be kept in the camps; but Paul, as a minister of the Gospel, wishes a Christian to be ordered not only in his acts, but in his very habit; and therefore he says: "Women in like manner in decent apparel." Whence I think that they desire order to be kept not only in offices and habit, but they give us to understand that there is some order even in the soul, concerning which it is said that each one ought to walk according to his own order. Which order is indicated chiefly by the fruit of works; nevertheless, however, also by the magnificence of the senses. For it often happens that he who bears a humble and abject sense, and who savors of earthly things, occupies an exalted degree of priesthood or the teacher's chair, while he who is spiritual, and so free from earthly conversation that he can examine all things and be judged by no one, holds the order of an inferior ministry, or is even left in the multitude of the laity. But this is both to contemn the statutes of the Law and the Gospel, and to do nothing according to order. But also each one of us, if he be anxious about food and drink, and spends all his care on worldly matters, but spends one or two hours of the entire day devoted to God, and comes to the church, and while in the passage of the Word of God A he hears, and especially spends his anxiety for the world and his belly: he does not fulfill what is commanded, that a man should walk according to his own order, or as he says, that all things should be done according to order. For order is what is appointed by Christ, to seek the kingdom of God and to believe that which is added to us in the second place. A man therefore walks according to his own order. Are we priests performing our duty, and are we boasting in the priestly order, and do we walk according to our own order, and do we do all things that are worthy of that order? Are deacons likewise assuming that they walk according to the order of their ministry? And whence is it that we often hear men blaspheming, and saying, "Behold, what kind of bishop, or what kind of presbyter, or what kind of deacon is this?" Are these things not said, where a priest or minister of God has dared to do something against the order, and to bear something against the priestly or Levitical order? But what shall I say of virgins, or of the continent, or of all who appear to be in the profession of religion? If they have behaved in anything indecently, or petulantly, or perversely, Moses immediately rebukes them and says, "Let a man walk in his own order." Whether, therefore, everyone may know his own order, and what is worthy of that order which he has received, and may so govern his acts, and also his speech, and his walk, and his very habit, that it may befit the profession of his order, lest he hear it said to him by God, "Through you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles."
2. But let us see what it is that he says, "and according to his signs." I suppose that signs are those things by which the properties of each one are designated: for instance, we are indeed all similar men, and there is a certain distinction of each one, even in his face, or in stature, or in position, or in habit, by which, for instance, Paul is designated as Paul, and Peter as Peter, and there is not Paul. Sometimes, however, even to those who do not see, a diversity of sign is given, and from his voice and speech one recognizes him to be this one or that who is speaking: and according to the sign of his own property, every man without bodily vision is recognized. In this way I judge that there are diverse signs even in souls. And of the spirit, indeed, one motion is gentler, is mild, is placid, is tranquil, is equal; another is turbulent, is puffed up, is harsh, is excitable, is more petulant. Another is circumspect, cautious, provident, solicitous, prompt. Another is sluggish, remiss, negligent, incautious. And in these, some are more, some less. And I dare to pronounce, that perhaps there is just as much diversity in the form of the face B among men, as there is found to be in their souls. Just as the most wise Solomon remembers somewhere, saying: "As faces are to faces, so also are the hearts of men." But every single one, as Moses says, walks according to his signs, that is, he walks in a way that is humble and in a way that is despised, if his signs are humble and despised; or he walks more highly or more loftily than the signs of his own spirits demand. And so that the ratio of the diversity of signs may shine forth even more, let us add this also. All who know letters, 279 it is certain that if they have learned the twenty-four elements of the Latin alphabet, and from them they write all things whatsoever that are to be written. Yet one sign, for example, the "alpha" which Paul wrote, holds, and another which Peter wrote; and so, through individual men who know letters, diverse signs for writing each individual letter are discovered. Whence the handwriting of individuals, written by their hands, is recognized by certain proper signs and marks; and although they are the same elements, yet in that very similarity of letters there is a great dissimilarity of signs. Therefore, if the example proposed to you has been clearly explained, come now to the motions of the mind and of the soul, to which they tend to incline toward something. Behold the handwriting of individual men and see how, for example, the soul of Paul proposed chastity, and the soul of Peter does not have that of Peter; but there is a certain chastity proper to Peter, and another chastity of Paul, even if it might appear to be one and the same. Finally, that chastity of the one, which requires the mortifying of his own body, and to be subjected C to servitude, and which he also says: "I chastise my body, lest acting as a herald I myself should be a reprobate"; but the chastity of another, which does not fear that. Similarly, justice also has something of property in Paul, and it is in Peter. In the same way, wisdom and other virtues. But if it even happens that in these names which we have placed for the sake of example, they may be one through the Spirit of God, yet there is some diversity in the property of their own virtues, how much more do all other men bear certain proper signs in the motions of their minds and in the virtues of their souls? Which Moses, perceiving by a mystical reason, writes in the Law, that each one walks according to his signs in the camps.
It may happen that through the emulation of good works we come from lower signs to better and more excellent ones. For if it has been rightly understood by us, that all those things which are written in the Law are forms of future goods, and of that age which we hope for from the resurrection of the dead, it is certain that if we have had a desire for better things in the present life, and according to the Apostle's example, "forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, we are extended in the resurrection of the dead," but as star differs from star in glory, and each one's merits will shine, we shall certainly be able from the lower to
A be transferred to better and more magnificent signs, and to be equaled with the more splendid stars. For human nature is able to progress so much in this life, that in the resurrection of the dead it can be equaled not only to the glory of the stars, but to the splendor of the sun, according to what is written 88: "for the righteous will shine as the sun." This, therefore, is why it is said in the lower parts 87: "according to their signs, through their kinsfolk." It says, "through their kinsfolk," for the sermon has been placed in Greek, which is not what the Apostle says there 88: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and B in earth is named." What Paul here calls fathers, or families, the Latin has placed as "fatherhoods," but it is one and the same thing that is held in the Greek. These are the fatherhoods, or families, which Paul indeed already shows in heaven; but Moses describes them in terms of earthly figures, according to which he admonishes us to walk, so that we may be able to be associated with heavenly fatherhoods. If, therefore, Paul pronounced the higher things—or whether these families are to be said to be in heaven, from which perhaps is that which the same Paul names in another place, the Church of the firstborn 89 in heaven—then it will happen to us to be associated if we walk according to the order and perform everything according to the order. If there is nothing disorderly, if nothing dishonest is found in us, then we shall shine like the firmament, and like the stars and the sun itself we shall shine in the kingdom of God, through Christ our Lord, to whom be glory C and power for ever and ever. Amen.
HOMILY III. Concerning what is written 90: "I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel for every firstborn that opens the womb among the children of Israel," and the rest.
1. It is written concerning the manna, that according to that time, if anyone had taken it as God commanded, he was nourished by it; but if anyone against the commandment of God, and against the order divinely established, wished to take it, he did not enjoy it as vital food, but worms grew from it. And so it happened that one and the same species of manna for some produced worms and rot, while for others it conferred wholesome food and necessary things for life. Therefore, our discourse of the Word of God D is also like this; for some it results in salvation, for others it yields punishment. And for this reason, that same Lord and Savior, who is the living Word of God, said 91: "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." How much more then is it necessary that some should not hear the Word of God at all, than that they should hear it with malice, or hear it with hypocrisy.
2. But let us say rather by way of comparison of evils. Truly, however, it is better, and truly more upright, and more perfect, that he who hears the Word of God should hear with a good and simple heart, and should hear straight and be prepared, so that he may fructify and grow as if in good soil. This we said in the preface on account of some of those who do not agree to hear in a simple nor a faithful mind. 280 Of some, I say, the catechumens, to whom perhaps some of those who are already baptized are joined. For not all who are of Israel are Israelites 92; nor do those who are washed immediately belong to the Holy Spirit: just as on the contrary not all who are numbered among the catechumens are aliens and experts of the Holy Spirit. For I find in the Holy Scriptures that some catechumens were held worthy of the Holy Spirit, and others, having received baptism, were unworthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Cornelius was a catechumen 93, and before he came to the water, he merited to receive the Holy Spirit. Simon had received baptism, but because he approached with hypocrisy, he was cast off from the gift of the Holy Spirit. Do not doubt that now also there are in the ranks of the catechumens some Corneliuses, of whom it can be said that because of mercy their prayers have ascended into heaven (59); and again, that in the ranks of the faithful there are some Simons, to whom it must be confidently said 94: "O child full of all guile and of all mischief, child of the devil, enemy of all righteousness." These things I speak for the correction of myself, not only of the listeners. For I also am one of those who hear the Word of God.
2. But if the divine discourse now speaks to Moses: "And the Lord spoke," he says 95, "to Moses, saying: Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel for every firstborn who opens the womb among the children of Israel; they shall be their redemption, and they shall be mine, the Levites. For every firstborn is mine. For on the day that I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to myself every firstborn of Israel, from man even to beast; it shall be mine, I am the Lord." The Levites are taken for the firstborn, although they are not the firstborn. For Levi is the third born from Leah. The firstborn is Reuben; the second is Simeon, the third is Levi; and they are taken for the firstborn, who by nature are not firstborns. Can it be that these things are written in the law of God to no purpose? Is this to be unheeded? But it teaches us this, that before God not those who by bodily birth appear to be firstborn, but those whom, by inspecting his purpose of mind, God judges to be taken in order? For so before God, Jacob, the younger born, was the firstborn of the Jews, and the blessings of the firstborn (60) were divinely procured 96. By design,