Homilies on Numbers 19.1–20.1

The fifth and likewise the last vision of Balaam is now discussed by us. About it, as with the others, let us pray the Lord, who does not desert us at the end, that we may be able to grasp the meaning of this vision too not far from the truth. Its beginning, then, is in these words: “And when Balaam saw Amalek,” it says, “taking up his parable he said: Amalek is the beginning of the nations, and their seed will perish.” It seems to me necessary to inquire in the divine Scriptures in which places or at what time the name Amalek is written, and from what stock this nation descended. For what is sought will be recognized more easily if it is brought forward from several places that were written about the same thing. In the reading of Genesis, then, where five kings came together to fight the four kings who reigned in Sodom, after a while it is related thus: “And they returned,” it says, “and came to the spring of judgment, that is, Kadesh, and killed all the princes of Amalek, and the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.” But it may perhaps be asked whether there are two nations of the same name, since in the list of the sons of Esau and of the chiefs who descended from his stock it is written: “These are the generations of Esau, the father of Edom, in Mount Seir, and these are the names of the sons of Esau: Eliphaz son of Adah, wife of Esau, and Reuel son of Basemath, wife of Esau. And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Zophar, Gatam, Kenaz. And Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz, son of Esau, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz; these are the sons of Adah, wife of Esau.” And a little later: “And these,” it says, “are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zophar, chief Kenaz, chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek.” This Amalek, then, was the son of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau, born of a concubine named Timna. But let us return to the first mention of Amalek, where those who returned and came to the spring of judgment, which is called Kadesh, kill all the princes of Amalek. Kadesh is interpreted “sanctification” or “holy”; but Amalek is interpreted “licking up the people” or “turning the people aside.” Those, then, who return to the holy and turn themselves to sanctification kill and destroy Amalek, namely him who licks up the people or turns the people aside. And who else is it that turns the people aside from God except the opposing power and the spiritual forces of wickedness? Who, then, are their princes? Without doubt those principalities against which the saints have their wrestling. For their contests are against principalities and powers and the rulers of this world; whom, however, they could not overcome unless they turned to holiness. And in holiness itself, which is Kadesh, is the spring of judgment. For everyone who turns himself to holiness always has the spring of judgment before his eyes. For he looks ahead to the day of judgment, and with a purified heart he beholds both the punishments of the wicked and the blessedness of the godly; and doing this he lays low and casts down all the princes of the Amalekites. But if anyone does not turn himself to Kadesh, that is, to sanctification and the spring of judgment, and does not think of the coming day of judgment, such people are subject to the princes of Amalek. For he licks him up and consumes him, and turns such a people aside from God. Let these things be referred to that first Amalek. But now let us look also at this Amalek, son of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau, whom his concubine Timna bore him; whose father is Eliphaz, which is interpreted “God has scattered me,” and whose mother is Timna, who first is herself base-born, and then is interpreted “shaken failing”: so that necessarily he who is born of such parents is an enemy of Israel, licking up or turning aside the people. For he himself was the first to attack in war the Hebrews who had come out of Egypt, at Rephidim, when Moses said to Joshua: “Choose men for yourself, and go out and fight with Amalek tomorrow; and behold, I stand on the top of the hill, and the rod of God will be in my hand. And Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill; and it came to pass that when Moses raised his hands Israel prevailed, but when he lowered his hands Amalek prevailed.” And a little later it is written again that Joshua routed Amalek and cut down his people with the sword; for then the Lord said to Moses: “Write this down for a memorial in a book, and put it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called its name, The Lord is my refuge; and he said: For with a hidden hand the Lord fights against Amalek from generation to generation.” Understand from this more plainly what is to be understood by Amalek, against whom God is said to fight with a hidden, that is, invisible, hand from generation to generation. And in Deuteronomy it is written thus: “Remember how much Amalek did to you on the way when you had come out of Egypt, how he opposed you on the way and cut off your tail, all who were labouring behind you; and you were hungry and labouring, and you did not fear God.” Observe, then, in these too how Amalek opposed Israel on the way, yet could not cut off its head, but only the tail: that is, he could get hold of those who were placed behind, who followed last, and did not, forgetting what lay behind, stretch out to what lies ahead. And therefore I think the Lord commanded in the Gospels, saying: “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” And rightly: for if anyone is found behind, in the tail, Amalek will cut him off. But let us bring forward yet another account about Amalek, so that what we seek may be noticed more clearly from several places of Scripture. In the first book of the Kingdoms Samuel says to Saul: “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; and now hear the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: I have considered all that Amalek did against Israel, how he struck him on the way when he was coming up out of Egypt. Now therefore go and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction all that he has, and do not spare, but kill all, from man to woman, and little ones and sucklings, and bulls and flocks of sheep and camels and asses. And Saul commanded the people, and numbered them, two hundred thousand foot soldiers, and three thousand men of Judah; and Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. And Saul said to the Kenite: Go, depart from the midst of Amalek, lest you too be added with him. For you showed mercy to all the sons of Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt. And the Kenite departed from the midst of Amalek, and Saul struck Amalek from Havilah as far as Shur, which is opposite Egypt; and he took Agag king of Amalek alive, and devoted all his people to destruction with the edge of the sword. And Saul and the people spared King Agag and kept all that was good of the sheep and oxen, and also what was fruitful of all the good cattle, and they would not destroy them; but all that was worthless and despised, this they devoted to destruction. And the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying: I repent that I anointed Saul as king.” Here too, then, observe how God through the prophet commands King Saul to fight Amalek and to spare none of them; and because he spared Agag, king of Amalek, he incurred an offence that could not be expiated, so that he moved God so far as to say, contrary to what that nature admits: “I repent that I anointed Saul as king.” It is not, then, expedient for us to spare him who turns aside or licks up and devours the people: that invisible Amalek, namely, who resists on the way and attacks us as we wish to go up out of Egypt and escape the darkness of this world and go up to the land of promise; and if he finds us weary and exhausted and looking back, and placed among the last and in the tail, he cuts us off and destroys us. And therefore we must always strive forward and hasten to what lies ahead, indeed climb to the top of the mountain, and our hands must always be raised to heaven in prayer, so that thus at last Amalek may be conquered and fall. Do you wish to know that one does not cross to the holy land, nor come to the kingdom, unless Amalek is first conquered? Though David waged many wars, and had very fierce and frequent conflicts against the foreigners, yet he is not written to have obtained the kingdom until he had first subdued Amalek. For Scripture says: “And David returned after Amalek had fallen, and received the kingdom of Saul”; although Amalek himself is described as having first wrought much slaughter among the people of Israel and burned very many of their cities. For truly, before the coming of the true David, him who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, the Amalekites, who are the opposing powers, wrought much spiritual slaughter among the people of Israel. And they even took captive, it says, two wives of David himself. I think the first means the Jewish people and the second the Gentile people: for it is clear that Jews and Gentiles were all shut up under sin. But the outcome of things did not remain thus. Hear what David does when he comes. “And David found,” it says, “the Amalekites scattered, eating and drinking and exulting over the plunder they had carried off; and he struck them,” it says, “from the first part of the night until the evening of the next day.” And after this slaughter of the Amalekites he returned and received the kingdom.

Seeing this Amalek, then, Balaam son of Beor, the man who truly sees and hears the words of God, who knows the knowledge of the Most High and sees the visions of God, taking up his parable (as is written in the earlier visions too) says: “Amalek is the beginning of the nations, and their seed will perish.” As for his saying, “Amalek is the beginning of the nations,” it is certain that it can in no way be referred to the Amalek who then existed in the flesh: for he was not first in antiquity of origin. But it is better referred to the invisible Amalek, because he is named Amalek from turning peoples aside from God and making Gentiles out of worshippers of God. And therefore he is rightly called the beginning of the nations, as being a certain opposing power which first gave the beginning to men’s becoming Gentiles, by changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and cattle and serpents, and by serving the creature rather than the Creator. For just as in the people of God Christ is written to be the beginning, so on the contrary in the people that turns aside from God and becomes Gentile, Amalek is the beginning. “And their seed will perish.” Their seed is the persuasion and teaching by which they taught men to turn aside from God. It is this bad seed and most evil teaching that will perish, not those in whom it was sown. For they, when they have turned and groaned, will be saved. And see whether this explanation will not also fittingly withstand those who accuse the God of the law of harshness and cruelty because he declares that not only the nation of Amalek but also its seed will perish: since the nation is referred to the spiritual forces of wickedness, and its seed is explained as the teaching of Gentile superstitions and the worship of idols, and every sect that urges the people to turn aside from God.

After Amalek the prophecy mentions the Kenite, saying: “And seeing the Kenite, taking up his parable he said: Strong is your dwelling, and if you set your nest in the rock, and if Beor becomes for you a nest of cunning, the Assyrians will lead you captive.” It seems to me that he names the Kenite without great blame. For he is the one to whom Saul too said above: “Depart from the midst of Amalek, and I will not strike you, for you showed mercy to Israel when it came up out of Egypt.” Of him, then, it is now said that his dwelling is strong if he sets his nest in the rock. The rock is Christ. If, then, he sets his nest in the rock, his dwelling is strong, provided Beor does not become for him a nest of cunning. Beor is the father of Balaam, who can be taken as representing the heretics: so that this seems to be said, that the Kenite can be saved if he sets his nest in the rock, that is, places his hope in Christ, and the cunning of the heretics does not surround and ensnare him. For if this happens, it will profit him nothing that he seems to be placed in the rock, which is Christ. For he will be led captive by the Assyrians, that is, by the malignant powers which lead captive and take into their power those whom heretical error has entangled. According to this explanation which we have given of the Kenite, the conjunction “and” does seem to disturb the sense. But it should be known that it is native to the Hebrew language to use the conjunction frequently, so that sometimes it is redundant and seems inserted even where it is not needed, as appears in our language; which must certainly be taken with indulgence. For each language has some peculiarity which seems faulty in other languages. Here too, then, the conjunction “and” is to be held as redundant and superfluous. Let the Kenite, which is interpreted “possessing,” beware; let him beware, I say, even if he possesses and merits this grace of being in the church of Christ, lest the cunning of Beor surround him and turn him aside to crooked and perverse doctrines, and for this reason he be handed over to the Assyrians. For those who blaspheme while placed in the church are handed over to Satan, as Paul says of Phygelus and Hermogenes: “whom I have handed over to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” For this reason, then, he who has turned aside to heretical blasphemy is handed over to the Assyrians: because Assyrians is interpreted “directing”; and for this reason those who are handed over are handed over to them, not to perish nor to be destroyed utterly, but to be directed and corrected: and, as Paul himself says, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

After this Balaam concludes the discourse of his prophecy with these words: “And taking up his parable he said: Who will live when God has done these things? And they will come out of the hand of the Kittim, and will afflict Assur, and will afflict the Hebrews, and they too will perish together.” That Balaam is said to speak each thing through a parable makes the reader ashamed to think that anything in what is said is said not as in a parable but according to the letter. He says, then: “O who will live when God has done these things?” He names not this common life, but that which is according to God: and this is what he says: when all these things happen, when the star rises out of Jacob, and the man arises out of Israel, and destroys Amalek and makes his seed perish; that is, when Christ has come and destroyed the worship of idols and subjected the power of all the demons, who will be so blessed, so happy as to see these things; that is, to perceive, understand, and believe that God has done these things thus? “And they will come out of the hands of the Kittim, and will afflict the Assyrians.” Kittim is interpreted “the blow of the end.” Those, then, who turn to God and, taught by Christ, escape the blow that will come upon the ungodly at the end of the age, will themselves afflict the Assyrians; that is, those who are set in the contest of godliness, under whose feet God will crush Satan, will afflict the Assyrians, namely, the race of demons. For they will tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy, and will afflict them. “They will afflict the Hebrews, and they too will perish together.” Hebrews is interpreted “those who cross over.” This people itself, then, is also called Hebrew because it crossed over from Egypt to the land of promise, from darkness to light, from death to life. But since, as we said, it will not be able to obtain these things without a contest and without a great struggle, it is as one placed in a contest: now it afflicts, now it is afflicted; now it strikes the adversary, now it is itself beaten by the adversary. The Assyrians too, then, will afflict the Hebrews, that is, the people of the Lord, as they are afflicted by them; but they, that is, the Assyrians, when they have done these things, and have poured out all their strength in afflicting the Hebrews, will at once themselves perish too. As for his saying, then, “and they will afflict the Hebrews, and they too will perish together,” it is not to be taken as if the Assyrians will perish together with the Hebrews; but “together,” that is, as soon as they have done these things and afflicted the Hebrews, they too will perish. For the Greek word puts “together” for “at once.” This, then, will be the end of all things: that Assur, to whom those of the people of God who sinned were handed over, either for the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit might be saved, or so that they might learn not to blaspheme, will himself also perish by him who has power to destroy in Gehenna. For it will be said to them by the just judge: “Go into the eternal fire which God has prepared for the devil and his angels.” There, then, Assur will perish. And indeed once one sheep too out of a hundred sheep perished; but this sheep the good shepherd, leaving the ninety-nine on the mountains and coming down to this valley of ours, the valley of tears, sought and found, and, placing it on his shoulders, carried it back and joined it to that number which was remaining safe above. But this Assur, who is said to be about to perish at the end of all things, I do not know whether he can ever be either sought or found: for he perished not by straying but by judgment, not moved by a slip but hardened by persistence. As for what is written, “I will make alive, I will bring down to the underworld and bring back,” I do not know whether it looks to all in general, or only to those whom the deceit of the devil caused to be brought down to death. Let these things, too, have been said by us, according to our strength, about the last prophecy of Balaam, which, because of the difficulty of the passages, it pleased us to explain in the style of exposition rather than of oratory. For what does it matter, so long as all things are said for edification and all are done for the glory of God, who is blessed for ages of ages. Amen.

[On the man who committed sexual immorality with the Midianite woman, and on the people’s being consecrated to Baal-peor.] The reading recited today contains first the account of the sexual immorality of an Israelite man and a Midianite woman, and second the account of the review of the people, in which it is ordered by the Lord’s command to be numbered again, the former numbering being made void because of the sins committed by those who had earlier been enrolled under the fixed number. The number that was written, then, is cancelled and made void because of sins: and sins have such power that it does not even profit someone to have been held in the number before God, once he has turned aside. But, as Scripture relates, the limbs of those who withdrew from God fell in the desert. There are, then, two accounts that were read; but for the present we shall speak of the first, which describes the people’s sexual immorality, if the Lord deigns to grant us some grace through your prayers. And if he allows it, we shall venture to touch on something of the second too. “And Israel settled,” it says, “at Shittim, and the people was defiled, and committed sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab; and they invited them to the sacrifices of their idols, and the people ate of their sacrifices, and they worshipped their idols; and it was consecrated to Baal-peor, and the Lord was angry with fury against Israel.” In these words is shown what we have often mentioned: that Balaam, after he was constrained by the power of God and not permitted to curse Israel, yet wishing to please King Balak, said to him, as it is written: “Come, I give you counsel.” And what counsel he gave did not appear there, yet it is related as written in the later parts of the same book of Numbers; but more fully in the Revelation of John, where it is contained thus: “You have there,” it says, “some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they should eat things sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.” From this, then, it appears that Balaam used wickedness and gave the king counsel, saying something like this to him: This people conquers not by its own strength but by worshipping God and keeping chastity. If you wish to conquer it, first cast down their chastity, and they will be conquered of their own accord. But against this one must fight not with the strength of soldiers but with the beauty of women, not with the vigour of armed men but with the softness of women. Put far away the band of armed men and gather a choice beauty of girls; let them go dancing on their feet and clapping their hands: beauty conquers armed men, loveliness takes iron captive; those who are not conquered in battle will be conquered by beauty. But when the Moabite or Midianite women perceive that they have surrendered to lust and bowed their necks to sin, let them not give themselves to those who desire them until they have consented to taste of the sacrifices of idols: so that, under the compulsion of lust, they may obey the women’s counsels and first be consecrated to Baal-peor, which is the idol of shamefulness. These were Balaam’s counsels: on receiving them King Balak at once prepares an army composed not of manly arms but of womanly splendour, inflamed not by warlike fury but by the flame of lust. No modesty restrains any of them, no shame forbids any. Love of country and the vice of the nation conspire together in wantonness, and shamelessness stands forth to deceive the upright. O wickedness! Lust is scarcely restrained by the threats of laws, scarcely held back by the terror of the sword: what crime would it not commit, where a woman believed that by her misdeed she would please the king and seek the safety of her country? The Israelites, then, are taken captive not by iron but by luxury, not by strength but by lust, and they commit sexual immorality with Midianite women, and the wrath of God rises against them. There are indeed in these things also certain mystical secrets of inner understanding; but let the text of the literal account itself first edify us, so that we may learn from it that the darts of luxury are hurled against us. But if we do not lack the arms with which the Apostle orders us to be armed, darts of this kind will not be able to pierce us: if we have the breastplate of righteousness, if we have the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, above all the shield of faith, and if our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. These are the arms that defend us in wars of this kind. But if we throw away such arms, at once we give room for the devil’s wound, and the whole troop of demons leads us captive; and for this reason the wrath of God rises against us, and they will be punished not only in the present age but also in the future. What makes us conquer, then, in these battles which the devil stirs up against us is chastity, and righteousness, and prudence, and godliness, and the other virtues. But what makes us be conquered is luxury, and lust, avarice and impiety, and all wickedness. These, then, are the things which the text of the literal account has taught us. But since John in his Revelation brings the things written in the law according to the literal account to the divine mysteries, and teaches that certain sacraments are contained in them, it seems necessary that we too should follow the rule of exposition he has given, according to what he understood, and first recall what he says writing to the angel of a certain church: “You have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they should eat things sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.” In the times of John the apostle, then, there were some in that church to which he was writing who taught the teaching of Balaam. Do you think this is to be taken as meaning that there were in those days people who said that they taught what Balaam taught and who professed to be teachers of his doctrines and traditions? Or should we rather notice that if anyone does the work that Balaam did, he is seen to teach the teaching of Balaam? Just as the teaching of Jezebel is also mentioned in the same Revelation, not because some one of Jezebel’s disciples teaches what she handed down, but because if anyone, for example, either persecutes the prophets of God, as she did, or deceives some into idolatry, or destroys the innocent by false entrapments, he will be said to hold the teaching of Jezebel. If, then, anyone by evil counsels creates a stumbling block for the people of God and provokes divine offence and heavenly anger against the people, either by sharing in sacrifices to idols or by serving debauchery or lust, he must be said to hold the teaching of Balaam. Bodily sexual immorality, then, is also accursed. For what is so accursed as to violate the temple of God, and to take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?