Homilies on Exodus 1.1–1.5

1. It seems to me that every word of divine Scripture is like a seed, whose nature is such that, when it has been cast into the ground, it is reborn as an ear of grain or in some other form of its own kind and spreads out manifold, and all the more abundantly the more labour the skilled farmer has spent on the seeds, or the more the bounty of fertile soil has granted. So it happens that by careful cultivation a tiny seed, for example of mustard, which is the least of all, becomes greater than all garden plants and becomes a tree, “so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches.” So too this word which has just been read to us from the divine books: if it finds a skilled and diligent cultivator, though at first touch it seems small and brief, once it begins to be worked and treated spiritually it grows into a tree and spreads into branches and shoots, so that the disputants, rhetoricians, and orators of this world may come, who like the birds of the air pursue lofty and steep things on light wings, the mere pomp of words, and, captivated by its reasonings, may wish to dwell in these branches, in which there is not beauty of speech but a rule of life. What, then, shall we too do with the things that have been read to us? If the Lord would deign to grant me skill in cultivating the spiritual field, if he would give me expertise in tilling the land, a single word of those that have been read could be spread so far and wide (if only the capacity of the hearers allowed) that a day would scarcely suffice us to explain it. Still, we will try according to our strength to discuss some things, even if it is possible neither for us to explain everything nor for you to hear it all. For even to recognize this very thing, that the knowledge of these matters is beyond our strength, I consider no small part of skill. Let us see, then, what the reading contains at the very beginning of Exodus, and let us go through it with what brevity we can, as far as suffices for the building up of the hearers, provided you help us with your prayers, so that the word of God may be present to us, and that he himself may deign to be …

… patriarchs. “But Joseph,” it says, “was in Egypt. And all the souls from Jacob were seventy-five.” I think that what is said through the prophet is like this mystery, if anyone can perceive it: “My people went down into Egypt to dwell there, and was carried off by force to the Assyrians.” If anyone, then, can compare these things with one another, and from what has been discussed by our predecessors, or by our contemporaries, and at times by us as well, can understand what the Egypt is into which the people of God went down, not so much to dwell as to sojourn, and who the Assyrians are who carried them off by force, let him consequently observe what the number and order of the patriarchs is, although their houses and families are indicated, which are said to have entered Egypt together with Jacob their father. For Reuben went down with all his house, and Levi with all his house, and all the others likewise. “But Joseph,” it says, “was in Egypt,” and he took a wife from Egypt; and though placed there, he is still counted among the patriarchs. If anyone, then, can discuss these things spiritually and follow the meaning of the Apostle, by which he distinguishes and separates Israel and says that there is an Israel according to the flesh, so as without doubt to indicate that another is according to the spirit; and if anyone considers more carefully the word of the Lord, which points to this very thing when he says of someone, “Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile,” and so gives us to understand that some are true Israelites and some, without doubt, not true: he will perhaps be able, comparing spiritual things with spiritual and joining new things to old and old to new, to perceive the mystery of Egypt and of the patriarchs' going down into it. He will also contemplate the differences of the tribes, so as to infer what seemed so excellent in the tribe of Levi that priests and ministers are chosen from it; what the Lord perceived as preeminent in the tribe of Judah, that kings and princes are taken from it; and, what is greatest of all, that from it our Lord and Saviour himself is born according to the flesh. For I do not know whether privileges of this kind are to be referred to the merits of those from whose stock they take their name or origin, that is, to Judah himself, or to Levi, or to each of those who gave a tribe its name. [This too moves me in this inquiry, what John] in the Apocalypse writes about this people that believed in Christ. For he says that from the tribe of Reuben there were twelve thousand, from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, and likewise from each of the tribes twelve thousand, all of whom together he says are one hundred and forty-four thousand, “who did not defile themselves with women but remained virgins.” When this is said, there cannot be even the slightest or most foolish suspicion that they can be referred back to these tribes of the Jews, Simeon and Levi and the rest who trace their descent from Jacob. To what fathers, then, this number of virgins is to be referred, so equal, so complete, and so well ordered that none is counted above or below another, I for my part do not dare to go further in inquiring; indeed even this far I proceed with some risk. Yet the Apostle has offered certain hints to those who can look more deeply, when he says: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.” Now the meaning as regards earthly fatherhoods does not seem difficult: for the fathers of tribes or of houses, to whom the succession of descendants is traced, are together called “every fatherhood.” But as for what he says of heaven, how or in what way there are fathers there, or for what descendants a heavenly fatherhood is named, is for him alone to know whose is the heaven of heaven, but the earth he has given to the children of men.

So the fathers went down into Egypt, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, each with all his house. How might one explain this too, that they entered Egypt with all their house? To which is added: “And all the souls,” it says, “that entered with Jacob were seventy-five.” Here, by naming souls, the prophetic word had almost laid bare the mystery that it had veiled everywhere, so as to reveal that it says these things not of bodies but of souls. Yet it still keeps its veil. For it is thought to be common usage to call human beings “souls.” Meanwhile seventy-five souls went down with Jacob into Egypt. These are the souls whom Jacob begot. I do not think that any human being can beget a soul, unless perhaps someone is like the one who said: “For though you have many thousands of tutors in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begot you through the gospel.” Such are those who beget souls and are in labour with them, as he says elsewhere too: “My little children, with whom I am again in labour until Christ is formed in you.” For others either do not wish to take on the care of a generation of this kind, or … what does Adam himself say? “This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh”; yet he did not add, “and soul of my soul.” But I would like you to tell me, Adam: if you recognized bone of your bones and perceived flesh of your flesh, why did you not understand that soul too had proceeded from your soul? For if you handed on everything that was in you, why do you not mention the soul along with the rest, the better part of the whole human being? But by this he seems to give a sign to those who understand: when he says, “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” he professes as his own the things that are of the earth, but does not dare to call his own the others, which he knows are not of the earth. So too Laban, when he says to Jacob, “You are my bone and my flesh,” himself does not seem to dare to call anything more his own than what he recognizes as belonging to an earthly kinship. For the kinship of souls is another thing, which is either joined to Jacob as he goes down into Egypt, or ascribed to the other patriarchs and saints by a mystical enumeration of descendants. But we who had resolved, as sailors, to keep our course near the land and, in a way, to hug the very edge of the shore have somehow been carried out into the deep by a more violent surge of the waves. Let us return, therefore, to what is added next.

“Joseph died,” it says, “and all his brothers, and all that generation. But the sons of Israel increased and were multiplied, and were spread abroad in great numbers, and grew exceedingly strong; for the land multiplied them.” As long as Joseph lived, it is not related that the sons of Israel were multiplied, nor is anything at all recorded in these passages about their increase and their numbers. I, believing the words of my Lord Jesus Christ, do not think that one iota or one stroke in the law and the prophets is empty of mysteries, nor do I think that any of these can pass away until all things are accomplished. But since we are of slight capacity, let us knock now only at those things by which we may proceed more safely. Before our Joseph died, he who was sold for thirty pieces of silver by one of his brothers, Judah, the sons of Israel were very few. But when he tasted death for all, by which he destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, the people of the faithful was multiplied, and the sons of Israel were spread abroad, and the land multiplied them, and they increased exceedingly. For unless, as he himself said, the grain of wheat had fallen into the earth and died, the Church of the whole world would certainly not have borne this abundant fruit. So the sons of Israel were multiplied and grew exceedingly strong. For “the sound” of the apostles “went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world,” and through them, as it is written, “the word of the Lord grew and was multiplied.” So much for what concerns the mystical understanding. But let us not omit the moral sense in these words either, for it builds up the souls of the hearers. So in you too, if Joseph dies, that is, if you take up the dying of Christ in your body and put your members to death to sin, then the sons of Israel will be multiplied in you. The sons of Israel are understood as the good and spiritual senses. If, then, the senses of the flesh are put to death, the senses of the spirit grow; and as vices die daily in you, the number of virtues is increased; and the land too multiplies you in good works, which are carried out through the service of the body. But if you want me to show you from the Scriptures someone whom the land multiplied, look at the apostle Paul, how he says: “But if to live in the flesh, this is fruitful work for me, and I do not know what to choose. For I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” Do you see how the land multiplies him? For while he remains on earth, that is, in his flesh, he is multiplied by founding churches, he is multiplied by gaining a people for God, and by preaching the gospel of God from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum. But let us see what is added in what follows.

“But another king arose in Egypt,” it says, “who did not know Joseph, and he said to his people: Behold, the race of the sons of Israel is a great multitude and is stronger than we.” First of all I want to ask who is the king in Egypt who knows Joseph, and who is the king who does not know Joseph. For while the one who knew Joseph reigned, the sons of Israel are not said to have been afflicted, nor worn out with clay and brick, nor their males killed and the females kept alive. But when this one arose who had not known Joseph and began to reign, then all these things are reported to have been done. Let us see, then, who this king is. If the Lord rules us, and the sense of our mind, enlightened by the Lord, always keeps the memory of Christ, doing what Paul writes to Timothy, “Remember that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead”: while it remembers him, in Egypt, that is, in our flesh, our spirit holds the kingdom with justice, and does not wear out with clay and brick the sons of Israel, whom we described above as the rational senses or the virtues of the soul, nor grind them down with earthly cares and anxieties. But if our sense has lost the memory of him, has turned aside from God, does not know Christ, then the wisdom of the flesh, which is hostile to God, succeeds to the kingdom, and addresses its people, namely bodily pleasures; and when the leaders of the vices have been called to council, a plan is formed against the sons of Israel, how they may be circumvented, how oppressed, how they may be afflicted with clay and bricks, how they may expose the males and rear the females, how they may build the cities of Egypt and fortified cities. These things were not written for us as history, nor is it to be thought that the divine books narrate the deeds of the Egyptians; but what was written was written for our teaching and admonition. So you who hear these things, if perhaps you have already obtained the grace of baptism and been numbered among the sons of Israel, and have received God as king within you, and after this wish to turn aside to the works of the world, to do the deeds of the earth, and to carry out the services of clay, should know and recognize that another king has arisen in you who does not know Joseph, the king of Egypt; he forces you to his works, he makes you work brick and clay for him. He is the one who, with taskmasters and overseers set over you, drives you with whips and blows to earthly works, so that you may build his cities. He is the one who makes you run about through the world and disturb the elements of sea and land for the sake of greed. He is this Egyptian king who makes you beat upon the forum with lawsuits and weary your relatives with quarrels over a tiny clod of earth, and, so to speak, lay snares for chastity, deceive innocence, commit shameful things at home, cruel things abroad, and disgraceful things within the conscience. When, then, you see that your deeds are such, know that you are serving as a soldier of the Egyptian king, which is to be driven by the spirit of this world. But if something even higher is to be understood here, this king who does not know Joseph can be seen to be the devil, that fool who “said in his heart, There is no God,” speaking to his people, that is, to the apostate angels, and saying: “Behold, the race of the sons of Israel is a great multitude” (namely of those who can see God with the mind) “and is stronger than we. Come, therefore, let us hem them in, lest they increase; and when war befalls us, these too will side with our adversaries, and having fought against us they will go out of our land.” But from where does the devil perceive this? From where does he understand that Israel is a great race and stronger than himself, except that he has often engaged with it, often wrestled with it, and always been overcome? For he knows that Jacob himself wrestled and with the help of an angel prevailed over the adversary, and grew strong with God. I do not doubt that he has also felt the wrestling of other saints and often endured spiritual contests, and therefore says that the race of the sons of Israel is very great and is stronger than we. And as for his fear lest war should befall them, and they side with his adversaries and, having defeated them, depart from his land: he seems to me to have foreseen this from the things that had at times been indicated to the holy patriarchs or prophets concerning the coming of Christ, who was to come to strip his principalities and powers and triumph over them with confidence, and bind them to the wood of his cross. So, having called together his whole people, he desires to circumvent and hem in the rational sense in human beings, which is now figuratively called Israel; and therefore he set over them masters of works to force them to learn the works of the flesh, as it says in the Psalms too: “And they were mingled among the nations and learned their works.” He also teaches them to build cities for Pharaoh: Pithom, which in our language means “mouth of failing” or “mouth of the abyss”; and Raamses, which is interpreted “shaking of the moth”; and On, that is, Heliopolis, which is called “city of the sun.” You see what kind of cities Pharaoh orders to be built for himself! A failing mouth, he says: for the mouth fails when it speaks a lie and fails from the truth in its proofs. For he was a liar from the beginning, and therefore he wants such cities built for himself. Or again “mouth of the abyss,” because the abyss is the place of perdition and destruction. And his other city is “shaking of the moth.” For all who follow him gather their treasures there, where the moth destroys and where thieves break in and steal. And they build the city of the sun under a false name, because he transforms himself into an angel of light. In these things, then, he gets in first; in these he occupies minds that were made for this, to see God. Yet he foresees that war threatens him, and senses that exile will soon come upon his people. Therefore he says that the race of Israel is stronger than we. Would that he might say this of us too, and perceive that we are stronger than he! How will he be able to perceive this? If, when he casts evil thoughts and the worst desires into me, I do not receive them, but repel his fiery darts with the shield of faith; if in everything he suggests to my mind I, mindful of Christ my Lord, say: “Get behind me, Satan; for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” If, then, we do these things with all faith and all constancy, he says of us too that the race of Israel is great and is stronger than we. And as for his saying, “lest war befall us and these too side with our adversaries”: from the prophetic voices he foresaw that war would come upon him and that he would be abandoned by the sons of Israel, and that they would side with his adversary and be added to the Lord. For this is what the prophet Jeremiah had foretold of him: “The partridge cried out, it gathered what it did not bear, it made its riches without judgment; in the midst of its days they will abandon it, and at its end it will be a fool.” He understands, then, that those whom he gathered without judgment will abandon him in the midst of his days and follow the Lord and their Creator, Christ Jesus, who begot them. But he gathered those whom he did not beget. And therefore he will remain a fool at his end, when the whole creation, which now groans under his tyranny, flees to its maker and parent. And this angers him, and he says: “lest, fighting against us, they go out of our land.” He does not want us to go out of his land, but wants us always to bear the image of the earthly. For if we flee to his adversary, who has prepared for us the kingdom of heaven, we must leave behind the image of the earthly and take on the image of the heavenly. For this reason, then, Pharaoh set over us masters of works to teach us his arts, to make us craftsmen of wickedness, to give us instruction in evil. And because these masters and teachers of wickedness whom Pharaoh set over us are many, and the multitude of such overseers is vast, who all exact, command, and extort earthly works, therefore the Lord Jesus came and made other masters and teachers, who, fighting against them and subduing all their principalities and powers and authorities, defend the sons of Israel from their violence and teach us the works of Israel; and teach us again to see God with the mind, to leave the works of Pharaoh, to go out of the land of Egypt, to cast off Egyptian and barbarous manners, to put off the whole old man with his deeds, and to put on the new man, who is created according to God, to be renewed always, day by day, according to the image of him who made us, Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.