are those who were sowing the seeds of perdition within them, but [who were] not yet joined to Christ, as a chaste virgin, according to the divine Apostle. Those, therefore, who turn away from the judgment of these men, and do not entrust to them the unadulterated mystery of piety, are under a curse. Anyone who diligently examines other matters as well will be able to meditate upon them spiritually, while preserving this interpretation. A
V. 26. *Cursed be every man who does not remain in all the words of the law.*
That "in all," which occurs in the Septuagint, is confirmed by the Samaritan copy, in which we find the word *Chol*, that is, "all" or "everything." With this the Apostle also agrees, saying: *For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse* (Gal. III, 10). Wherefore, they who are of the circumcision are convicted of being under a curse, because they do not do everything. B
CHAPTER XXXIII.
V. 6. *Let Ruben live, and not die.*
Because Jacob, when dying, had invoked evil upon Ruben, saying: *As water, may you not boil over* (Gen. XLIX, 4); Moses, blessing him, says: *Let Ruben live, and not die.* Both are well said. For the father curses him as one who had lain with his concubine, C instructing him regarding the things to follow, and striking him with fear. But Moses justly blesses him afterwards, because he alone had spared Joseph when his brothers wanted to remove him from their midst. For it was not fitting that a curse should prevail against the sinner, but that a blessing should not be given to one who had amended what he had done.
ORIGEN'S ANNOTATIONS ON JESUS SON OF NAVE.
(From the Gallandian Library.)CAP. III.
V. 14. *And all the people set out from their tents.*
That is, as the fullness of a threshing floor. For the waters were not congealed; but they were heaped up like a pile of grain. Manifestly in the image of the apostles. D
CAP. VI.
VV. 15, 16. *Shout: for the Lord has delivered the city to you.*
Why did He command that Jericho be subjected to anathema? They captured this city first after they had crossed the river. As therefore He had commanded them...
to offer the first fruits of their crops, so He commanded them to offer the first fruits—the spoils—of their enemies. Moreover, He also disciplines them through these laws so that they might observe the necessary laws. Yet, showing His power to them, He caused them to take the first city without weapons or engines of war, and He brought it down by the mere sound of trumpets. This was so that if, when positioned in battle, they were defeated, they would know that they themselves had provided the causes for their own slaughter by disregarding the divine laws. A
Chapter VIII
V. 2. And you shall take for yourself the spoils of the livestock. Because it was not appropriate, as it was in Jericho, for all things to be consigned to anathema. V. 26. And Jesus stretched out his javelin and his hand. For Jesus held his hand stretched out so that those who were observing, who lay in ambush, might seize the city.ORIGEN’S ANNOTATIONS ON JUDGES
(From the Gallandian Library.)Chapter XV
C V. 19. And God broke the wound that was in the jawbone, and water came out of it. Instead of: He broke the ground with the blow of the jawbone, and waters came out.Chapter XX
V. 21. And the sons of Benjamin went out. For what reason are they defeated, when they went out justly? Clearly because of preceding faults. And the Psalm says, *When I shall receive the time, I will judge justice* (Ps. LXXIV, 3). Then, after their first and second defeat, wrath passed to those who had done the wrong, and they gained a just victory. D Now it is worth marveling at the multitude of the Israelites, that, having justly undertaken war against the Benjaminites and having been defeated, they did not think anything evil against God, but rather did not cease weeping until they took vengeance upon the wrongdoers. Not complaining against God, they said: But this is enough. They prayed to learn the manner. That which is written: *Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall eat, and in the evening he shall distribute the food* (Gen. XLIX, 27), is fulfilled here. For having been victorious at first, in the end he became food for the people.SUPPLEMENT TO THE EXEGETICAL WORKS OF ORIGEN
CHAPTER XXI.
VV. 20, 21. Why did the children of Israel command the survivors of Benjamin to steal and take as wives the virgins who were dancing in Shiloh? A Since all the women of their tribe had been slaughtered, and they themselves had sworn not to give their daughters in marriage to them, therefore, lest they be compelled by necessity to take foreign women, they found a way in a hopeless situation and devised the abduction.
ORIGEN’S ANNOTATIONS ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS (77).
(From the Gallandian Library)CHAPTER III.
V. 6. And he said: I called you not, my son; return and sleep. V. 7. And Samuel before he knew the Lord, and before the word of the Lord was revealed to him; and the Lord added to call Samuel. B This is considered and ordained by Heli, so that afterward the boy might be believed regarding what he reported that he had heard from God. Because God was about to foretell evils to Heli through Samuel, and so that Samuel might not be thought to have invented the revelation, God arranges the matter in this way: that he, thinking he was called by Heli, should go to him; so that when Heli understood that it was God who was calling Samuel, and Samuel subsequently reported what he had heard from God, there would be no room for suspicion that he had invented the revelation, but rather he would be granted credibility, in that he truly reported a revelation from God.
V. 11. And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold, I do my words in Israel. These are indeed the things which He spoke through the former prophet. He added, therefore: all things whatsoever I have spoken concerning his house, etc.
V. 14. I have sworn to the house of Heli, if the iniquity of the house of Heli shall be purged with sacrifices and with offerings, for ever. C It seems in a way to put an obstacle to repentance here, since He does not grant them hope of pardon. But attend carefully to the statement. He says that "in sacrifices I will not indulge them"—that is, unless it be through works and perfect repentance. For the sin is not a simple one, such that they might offer beasts for a victim, which are wont to be offered for sins of ignorance and simple offenses. But here it is God who has been insulted.
V. 15. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Heli. He calls the word which Samuel heard a "vision." That D
since he was about to predict harsh things to them, was afraid to announce what had been told to him. But Heli frightens him with oaths; fearing these, he announced to Heli the revelation from God. And he, upon hearing it, though he ought to have admonished and punished his sons, so that their conversion, arising from the chastisement, might propitiate God, did not even rebuke them.
CHAPTER IV
V. 3, 2. Why has the Lord stricken us today before the foreigners? Let us take the ark. Since divine Scripture was about to predict the destruction B of the sons of Heli, and that the ark of God would be captured by the foreigners, it anticipates this in order to soothe the hearing, lest anyone should think God is harsh. For this reason, as I said, it narrates that the wickedness and sin of the sons of Israel were not diminished by the threat and the prediction against them, but rather increased.V. 2. The battle declined, it says; that is, they were not evenly matched in the fight. But the one side, having turned to flight, was weighed down as if in a scale. It is to be noted that Israel was never defeated without a cause; for this reason they also sought the reason.
V. 8. Who struck Egypt with every plague, and in the wilderness. For in the wilderness God subdued the sons of Israel themselves C with various plagues, just as [he did] the Egyptians in Egypt.
V. 13. Because his heart was distracted regarding the ark. Heli is pious in himself. For he was not anxious primarily for the salvation of his sons, but for the ark, lest it should fall into the power of the foreigners; which indeed happened.
V. 18. And it happened as mention was made of the ark of God, that he fell from his seat backward. Having learned of the slaughter of his sons, the father and old man did not bear it ignobly. However, when he learned that the ark had been taken in war, he collapsed, and by the excess of his despondency, received the end of his life.
CHAPTER V
V. 3, 4. And the Azotians arose early, and entered the house of Dagon; and they saw, and behold Dagon fallen D upon his face before the ark of God. So that the foreigners might know that neither was God defeated on account of the Israelites, nor have they conquered him by their own power; but the sins and impieties of the Jews had caused the defeat. Dagon fell before the ark, not that he might worship—for he was not worthy—but that he might be crushed; which also came to pass. The Azotians, having raised the fallen Dagon, condemn [index: entries preserved]A by comparison the sons of Israel. For they, when Dagon had fallen a second time—and his head, and the extremities of his feet and hands had been cut off, and they were lying on the threshold—were so far from perceiving the defeat which their god suffered by being crushed, that from that time on they would not step on the threshold when they entered to worship him, due to the fact that his parts, of which we have spoken, lay there. But Israel, having an invincible God, acted thus impiously.
CHAPTER XV
V. 10. *And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying:* V. 11. *I repent that I have set Saul as king.*B Just as the hand, the foot, the eye, the ear, and whatever else of this sort is named, are significant of the members of our body, so in God the hand signifies the creative power, the eye the power of seeing all things, the ear the power of hearing all things, and the foot His presence when He works something. So also, the wrath of God is called discipline—that which is against those who fail—not a passion of God. And repentance is the shifting of the divine dispensation from one thing to another. For what we do when we repent—that is, avoiding those things for which we have repented, and pursuing other, better things—that is called the repentance of God. Why so? Because it was necessary for the prophets to speak regarding God in a way more accommodated to bodily things to those whose-understanding was duller, so that it might be grasped. For those who considered statues that they carved or cast to be gods—things, moreover, devoid of reason—how could they have grasped what was said about God through spiritual thoughts and words? C
And again: If God foresaw all things, He is not angered or moved to repentance by the things which He knows. Therefore, wrath or repentance is not a passion that falls upon God, but the work of wrath is punishment, and this is likewise to be transferred to repentance—which is the abandonment of a previous work and a transition to another dispensation. Thus it is also said concerning the sword: *O sword sharpen thyself, slay.* So also Solomon is named an iron hand: *That he might deliver thee from the iron hand and the sword.* As David says: *Into the hands of the sword.* In the same way, the mind of God is said to be angry, and to have a face, according to David, and the wrath of God to have a face, as in the thirty-seventh psalm: *And let the rivers clap with their hands.* Yet rivers do not have hands, nor do sins have a face. D Let no one, therefore, from those things which are said corporally about God for the comprehension of the ancients, think that God has a body, or that He is filled with passions.
The mutability of human purpose is not to be attributed to God. For we ourselves work the changes of the divine dispensation—which happen to us justly—showing ourselves unworthy through our deeds of the honor which God bestows. When, therefore, we reject
A Saul, and wishing to hand over the authority to David and preserve the kingdom for his seed, because of the king who was to be born of him according to the flesh, the King of all creation, He used human words—speaking as a man—and said: "I regret that I have anointed Saul as king." This is in place of: "I desire to give the authority of the kingdom to another, and to depose this man from his power."
"I regret" is said on account of Saul; that is, he made himself so unworthy of the kingdom that, if I were subject to a nature capable of repentance, I would indeed have changed my mind regarding him. Why, then, was he anointed? Because he was worthy at that time; but having turned again, he became unworthy.
V. 35. *And the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.*
From these things it is shown what I previously said: that "repentance" is a term referring to the movement of God’s dispensation from one thing to another.
The discourse shows that, even if a prophet or a righteous man is interceding for others, he is not heard otherwise than if the one in question shows repentance by his deeds. For thus the prayer of a righteous man becomes powerful, being energized through the one who has sinned. So that the matter may be brought to completion, both must concur: both the prayer of the righteous man and the work of the one repenting.
CHAPTER XIX
V. 23. *And the Spirit of God was upon him, and he went on, moving and prophesying.*
Since Saul was powerful, having a multitude of people helping him evilly against David, while the two of them alone were being persecuted—Samuel and David—the grace of God causes Saul to prophesy, not only as to things that were against him, but also as to things that were in favor of David; and it casts him down naked, signifying C that he would be stripped of the kingdom.
CHAPTER XXI
V. 4. *And the priest answered David and said: There are no profane loaves under my hand, but only holy loaves.*
He calls them "profane" here, not "unclean," but "not holy," in order to distinguish them from the holy loaves which were placed upon the table. For the table had six loaves, always being changed for the twelve tribes of Israel, which were called "loaves of the presence," so that each of the loaves was offered on behalf of two tribes, and the six on behalf of the twelve tribes. What good, then, was accomplished by this? That the tribes of Israel might be joined together in concord. And what greater thing was prefigured? That the blessed apostles were sent out two by two by the Savior, first to preach in the tribes of Israel, so that the number of the twelve disciples might be completed from them.
V. 5. *And David answered the priest and said to him: But we have abstained from women since yesterday and the day before, when I went out on the way, and all the young men were purified. And this way is profane, because it will be sanctified today through my vessels.*
*Today it will be sanctified through the vessels* is somewhat clearer.