Letters 78.31–78.43

'And they set out from Bene-jaakan and camped at Mount Hor-haggidgad.' The twenty-ninth station is interpreted 'messenger' or 'readiness' and 'girding', or else (which we think truer) katatome, that is, 'cutting'. We, as teachers of disciples and believers, cannot make them sons of necessity unless we have slain their former teachers. Let us be cruel in slaying them; let our hand not spare to snatch a shoulder or the tip of an ear from the lion's mouth. 'Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently, and who keeps back his sword from blood.' So David too says, 'In the morning I slew all the sinners of the land.' Of the messenger and the girding we can say briefly this: we give great spurs to virtue to the sons of necessity when we announce to them the rewards of the life to come and teach them to go into battle girded. Whichever of these three a teacher does, he stands on the mountain.

'And they set out from Mount Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.' The thirtieth station is interpreted 'goodness', so that when we have come to the perfect man, to the priestly rank and to the age of the fullness of Christ, at which Ezekiel too was by the river Chebar, we may sing with David in the thirtieth Psalm: 'In you, Lord, I have hoped; let me never be put to shame.' For 'the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.'

'And they set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.' The thirty-first station is interpreted parelensis, that is, 'passage' or 'passing over'. To this comes the true Hebrew, that is, the perates, one who passes over, who can say, 'I will pass over and see this great sight'; of whom the psalmist too sings, 'And those who passed by did not say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you.' For the form of this world passes away, and therefore the saints desire to pass over to better things, and, not content with their present state, groan daily: 'These things I remembered and poured out my soul within me, for I shall pass over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, to the house of God.' It would be a great task if I wished to gather examples of the word 'passing over' from all the Scriptures.

'And they set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber.' The thirty-second station is translated 'woods of a man' or 'hewings of a man', which is said more expressively in Greek, and is written with the letter ain, not, as the Greeks and Latins mistakenly write it, with gimel. Why a multitude of woods in the wilderness, unless the discipline of a careful and diligent teacher is shown, who cuts shapeless timber, hews it, and makes various vessels that are needed in a great house? The woodlands of a man can also figure the forests and all kinds of trees, and through them the multitude of believers, as David says: 'We found it in the fields of the wood.' Up to this point the wilderness of Paran contains eighteen stations, which in the list of the earlier journey are not given.

'And they set out from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of Zin, that is, Kadesh.' The question is asked why the eighth station is now said to be the thirty-third. But it should be known that the former is written with the letter samech and is interpreted 'bush' or 'hatred', while this one is written with sade and is rendered 'command'. And what is joined to it, Kadesh, does not mean 'holy', as most think, but 'changed' or 'transferred'. We read in Genesis, according to the Hebrew truth, where Judah, thinking Tamar a harlot, sends her gifts, and the go-between with the gifts asks, 'Where is the kedeshah?', that is, the prostitute, whose dress was changed from that of other women. We find the same in many other places. But if it is interpreted 'holy', it must be understood kat' antiphrasin, by contrast, as the Fates are called Parcae because they do not spare (parcere), war bellum because it is anything but lovely (bellum), and a grove lucus because it has no light (lux). At this station Miriam dies and is buried; and because of the waters of contradiction Moses and Aaron offend the Lord and are forbidden to cross the Jordan; and when messengers are sent to Edom, passage is asked and not obtained. Who would have feared, after such progress, the murmuring of the people, the offence of the teachers, and the refusal of passage along the road? It seems to me that in Miriam prophecy died, and in Moses and Aaron an end was put to the law and priesthood of the Jews, since they themselves cannot cross into the land of promise nor lead the believing people out of the wilderness of this world. And note that after the death of prophecy and the waters of contradiction they cannot pass through the fleshly and earthly Edomite, and though they ask with many prayers and efforts they do not obtain the way, but Edom comes out against them with many people and a strong hand. The interpretation of the name also fits the death, the offence, and the refused passage. For where there is a command, there is sin; where sin, offence; where offence, death. This is the station of which the psalmist sings: 'The Lord will shake the wilderness of Kadesh.'

'And they set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom. And Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the Lord and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel went out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month. And Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor. And the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the south in the land of Canaan, heard that the children of Israel had come.' This is the thirty-fourth station, which most interpret 'light'; nor would they be wrong if it were written with the letter aleph. Others say 'skin', and they too would be right if ain were written; some say 'hole', which could be accepted if it had the letter heth. But since it is read with he, 'mountain' is rather to be understood, and it can be read: 'Aaron the priest went up to the mountain of the mountain,' that is, to its summit. From this we notice that the high priest died, not simply on a mountain, but on the mountain of the mountain, so that a place worthy of his merits might be shown. He dies in the year in which the new people was to enter the land of promise, at the farthest borders of the land of the Edomites. And although on the mountain he left the priesthood to his son Eleazar, and the law leads to the summit those who fulfil it, yet that height itself is not beyond the streams of the Jordan but at the farthest borders of earthly works. And the people mourn him thirty days. Aaron is mourned; Jesus is not mourned. In the law there is a descent to the underworld; in the gospel, a passing over to paradise. The Canaanite also hears that Israel has come, and at the place of the spies, where they knew the people had once given offence, they join battle and lead Israel captive. And again they fight in the same place: by a vow the victor is defeated, the defeated conquer, and the place is named Hormah, that is, 'anathema'. It is not tiresome for me to say the same things, and it is necessary for readers: the state of man is always tossed about on the road of this world, and one dies in a valley, another in the plains, another on a mountain, and not simply on a mountain but on the mountain of the mountain, that is, on a lofty summit. And when the enemy attacks us, deprived of God's help, and leads us captive, let us not despair of salvation, but arm ourselves again for battle. It may be that we conquer where we were conquered, and triumph in the same place where we were once captives.

'And they set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah; and they set out from Zalmonah and came to Punon.' These two stations, the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth, are not found in the order of the history; instead it is written: 'They went out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom.' From this it is shown that they were situated on the borders and circuit of the land of Edom. Nor does it read according to custom, 'They set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah' or 'at Punon'; but after the circuit of the land of the Edomites it comes to the end and says, 'The children of Israel set out and camped at Oboth.' And it did not say, 'They set out from this or that place,' because it had passed over two stations in silence, which, though it left them out in the reckoning, it restored in the total. The first station, Zalmonah, is interpreted 'little image'; the second, Punon, 'little mouth' (understand os as mouth, not bone). In these, after Aaron's death, they murmur against the Lord and Moses, loathe the manna, are wounded by serpents, and, as a type of the Saviour, who triumphed on the cross over the true and ancient serpent, the devil's poisons are overcome. So the little image of the true and express image of the Son of God is preserved by looking on his passion, and what it believes in the heart it pronounces with the mouth, reading that saying of the apostle: 'With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' And note at the same time that both stations are named in the diminutive, because we know in part and prophesy in part, and now we see through a mirror in a riddle.

'And they set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.' The thirty-seventh station is rendered 'magicians' or 'pythons', or, according to the words of Elihu, 'great wineskins', which, when they are full of new wine, burst at once if they have no vent. The magicians fought against Moses and Aaron; and the king of Israel was deceived by the woman who was at Endor and had, according to the Seventy translators, a python spirit, according to the Hebrews, a familiar spirit. Many are the tricks and innumerable the snares by which human souls are caught; but let us, trusting in the Lord, say: 'The snare is broken and we are set free,' and, 'If I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.' 'A thousand will fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand'; we will not fear 'the attack and the noonday demon', but we will stop our ears, so as not to hear the voices of the charmers, and we will ignore the songs of the Sirens. After the image of God, which is shown in the reason of the heart, and the confession of faith, which is uttered by the mouth, serpents and magic arts rise up and challenge us to war. But we who have a most precious treasure in earthen vessels, which can be broken so that, as someone says, scarcely a sherd remains in which a little water can be drawn, let us surround our heart with every guard.

'And they set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, on the borders of Moab.' The thirty-eighth station means 'heaps of stones of those passing over'. There are holy stones which roll over the earth, light, polished, and in their roundness like the running of wheels. There are also others which the prophet commands to be removed from the road, so that the feet of those who walk may not stumble on them. Who are these walkers? Surely travellers and passers-by, who hasten through this world to pass over to other stations. The words 'on the borders of Moab', and what is written above, 'in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise', show according to the letter that up to this point they had been on the borders of the land of the Edomites and now were coming to the frontiers of Moab, passing from one province to another. For effort is not always to be given to one virtue; but, as it is written, 'They will go from virtue to virtue,' we must pass from one to another, because they cling to each other and are so linked together that whoever lacks one lacks all. And yet to pass from one to another belongs properly to those who look to the rising of the sun of righteousness.

'And they set out from Iye-abarim' (or, as it is in the second place among the Hebrews, Iyim) 'and camped at Dibon-gad.' The thirty-ninth station is interpreted 'temptation strongly understood'. In place of this I found something different written in the order of the history. For after they camped at Iye-abarim, on the borders of Moab toward the sunrise, we read: 'From there they set out and turned aside to the brook Zered. And setting out from this place they camped beyond the Arnon, which is in the wilderness of the borders of the Amorite, for the Arnon is on the boundary of the Moabites and the Amorites. And after this they came to the well, where Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well, which the princes dug and the leaders of the peoples opened, with the lawgiver and with his staff. And from the wilderness to Mattanah, and from Mattanah to the brooks of God, and from the brooks of God to the high places, and from the high places to the valley that is in the region of Moab, at the top of Pisgah, which looks toward the desert.' Some, interpreting these places on the borders of the Amorites, think they are not stations but passages, and that an extraordinary account ought not to prejudice the list of stations. Others, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, will not have regions signified, but by the names of the places the advances of the virtues: that after the magicians and the gathering of stones we often come to the brook Zered, which is interpreted 'alien descent', and, set in the descent, pass to the Arnon, which means 'curse', and which lies on the borders of the Amorites, who are either bitter enemies or men who, puffed up, speak much. But if we pass the frontiers of Moab, who was begotten of incest and departed from the true Father, at once a well meets us, which none of the common people dug, no man of low birth, but princes and leaders who give laws to the peoples. And singing a song over the waters of the well and rejoicing in God's gifts, they prophesy where they will pass and to what places they will come: that from the desert they come to Mattanah, which is interpreted 'gift', and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, which means 'to the brooks of God', and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, which is interpreted 'high places' or 'death coming', when we are made conformable to the death of Christ; and after Bamoth the valley of humility meets us, which yet is set on the top of Mount Pisgah, which is interpreted 'hewn', because it has nothing shapeless or rough but is polished by the hand of the craftsman; and this mountain looks toward the wilderness, which in Hebrew is called Jeshimon. For when we have been set on the summit of the virtues, then we look down on the ruins of the whole world and the desolation of all sins. As my words ran on, I almost forgot to dictate: Dibon-gad is interpreted 'temptation strongly understood'. After Dibon-gad war is waged against Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan; and we learn that when we have come to the summit and drunk from the spring of princes and kings, going up to Mount Pisgah, we must not be lifted up into pride, but must recognize the wilderness set before us on the other side. For 'before destruction a man's heart is lifted up, and before glory it is humbled.'

'And they set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.' The fortieth station is rendered 'contempt of fig cakes' or 'of reproaches'. By it we learn that all sweet things and the allurements of pleasures in the world are to be despised, and that we must not be drunk with wine, in which is excess. Honey is not offered in God's sacrifices, and wax, which holds sweet things, does not give light in the tabernacle, but the purest oil, which is pressed from the bitterness of the olive. For honey drips from the lips of the harlot; which, I think, in the mystical sense, Jonathan tasted, and, caught by the lot, was scarcely set free by the prayers of the people. That reproaches are to be despised, and that, if falsely brought, they produce blessedness, the Saviour teaches most fully.

'And they set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, over against Nebo.' The forty-first station is rendered 'mountains of those passing over', and it is over against Mount Nebo, where Moses dies and is buried after seeing the land of promise beforehand. Nebo is interpreted 'enclosure', in which the law comes to an end and its memorial is not found; whereas the grace of the gospel extends without any end: 'Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.' Consider at the same time that the dwelling of those passing over is set on the mountains and still needs progress. For after many mountains we come down to the plains of Moab and the streams of the Jordan, which is interpreted 'descent'. For nothing, as we have often said, is so dangerous as the desire for glory, boasting, and a mind swollen with the consciousness of its virtues.

'And they set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho, and there they pitched their tents from the house of the wilderness as far as Abel-shittim in the plain of Moab.' At the forty-second, which is also the last station, let us tell briefly what was done. As the people rest there, they are blessed at God's command by Balaam the soothsayer, whom Balak son of Zippor had hired for a fee, and the curse is turned into praises. They hear the words of the Lord sounding from a profane mouth: 'A star will rise out of Jacob, and a man will rise from Israel; and he will strike the princes of Moab and lay waste all the sons of Seth, and Edom will be his inheritance.' The people commit sexual immorality with the daughters of Midian, and Phinehas son of Eleazar, zealous with the zeal of the Lord, runs Zimri and the Midianite harlot through with a dagger; and for this he received as a reward for everlasting memory the belly of the victim. The people are numbered again, so that, the worst having been killed, a new people of God may be enrolled. The five daughters of Zelophehad make their plea and by the Lord's judgement receive an inheritance among their brothers, and the female sex is not excluded from God's possession. Joshua succeeds Moses on the mountain and learns from the law what he must offer spiritually in the church: first, what on each day; then what on the Sabbath, what at the new moons, what at Pentecost, what at the new moon of the seventh month, what on the fast on the tenth day of the same month, what at the feast of Tabernacles, when tents are pitched, on the fifteenth day of that month. The vows of wives and daughters, made without the authority of fathers and husbands, are declared void. There follow the war against the Midianites, the death of Balaam the soothsayer, the division of the plunder, and the offering from it in God's tabernacle. First Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh receive a possession on this side of the Jordan, in the wilderness; for they had very many cattle and had not yet come so far as to be able to dwell with the temple. The people are taught to destroy the idols in the holy land and to spare none of its former inhabitants. The province long desired is described, and the inheritance of the two and a half tribes is set apart. The princes of the tribes who are to enter the holy land are numbered. The Levites receive forty-two cities with their suburbs for a thousand paces round about, as many as these stations; and six other cities of refuge are added, three within the Jordan and three beyond the Jordan, so that there are forty-eight in all; and it is laid down which fugitives are to be received and which put to death, and that they are to be kept until the death of the high priest. Deuteronomy follows, the second law, a preparation for the gospel; and there we learn briefly what Moses spoke to the people between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and the golden places (the most unhappy Judah being cast away), eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea, and how he sang his last song. In it the synagogue is most plainly cast off and the church joined to the Lord: 'The beloved grew fat and thick and broad, and kicked, and forgot God his Saviour.' And again: 'A most wicked generation, untaught sons; they provoked me to jealousy with what is not God; they angered me with their carved images; and I will make them jealous with nations, and anger them with a foolish people.' The children of Israel are blessed, and again, in Simeon, the pitiable Judas is excluded. Moses goes up Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord shows him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, and Naphtali, and Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the great sea toward the south, and the plain of Jericho, the city of palms, as far as Zoar. Who can know such great mysteries? Who, set at the farthest limits of the law and of this life, understands that he must always fight, and that full victory is given only if he is in the plains, if in Abel-shittim, which is interpreted 'mourning of thorns', he weeps over his old sins and the thorns that choked the seed of God's word, of which the prophet says, 'I was turned in misery while the thorn was fastened in me'; and then, prepared, when the manna fails, crosses the Jordan under the leadership of Jesus, and, circumcised by the knife of the gospel, first eats of the heavenly bread, and the prince of the army of God meets him, so that he eats the true Passover, not in Egypt but on the borders of the holy land? O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! Who is wise and will understand these things, prudent and will know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just will walk in them, but transgressors will fall in them.