Homilies on Numbers 25.1–25.6

Earlier the sons of Israel committed sexual immorality with the women of the Midianites, and this was a stumbling block to the sons of Israel, in which they offended God and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. But now, after Israel had suffered what it suffered, “the Lord spoke,” it says, “to Moses, saying: Take vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites, and at the last you will be added to your people.” The stumbling blocks, then, which had befallen the Israelites, since they had befallen them through the trickery of the Midianites (for these had suborned women to deceive them so that they would sin before the Lord): they indeed suffered punishment for their sin, but more moderately and sparingly; but these, who were the cause of their sinning, are subjected to a much more severe vengeance. From this we are taught that it is far graver to give others a cause of sin than for each one to sin himself; as the Lord too indicates when he says that “it would have been better for that man not to be born, or that a millstone be tied around his neck and he be cast into the depth of the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.” And at the same time it must be noticed that the word “stumbling block” is used unsuitably by some. That, then, is called a stumbling block where some deception to sin is set up for one walking on the right road, and a cause of sin is placed before him; just as the Midianites, when the Israelites were walking in the law of the Lord and keeping chastity, suborned women to deceive them into sinning. To give a cause of sin, then, is to cause stumbling. Punishment is indeed given, but a much heavier one on those who caused stumbling and gave the cause of sin than on those who sinned. At the same time observe this too, which he added to these words: “And at the last,” it says, “you too will be added to your people.” If ever we have a discussion with the Samaritans, since they deny the resurrection of the dead and do not accept faith in the age to come, let us press them with these words in which the Lord says to Moses, “You will be added to your people.” For no one is added to those who do not exist. Hence it is established that there is some people to which Moses is said to be joined after the end of this life. Since, then, the Samaritans do not believe the prophets, from whom faith in the resurrection of the dead could be proved more broadly, they must be convinced and cured at least from the books of Moses, which they accept and whose authority they acknowledge, if indeed Babylon is to be cured. This, then, is a place that plainly shows the resurrection of the dead. For it indicates that there is a people to which Moses is to be joined after his death, and to which he is to be transferred according to his merits.

After this Moses spoke to the people, saying: “Arm men from among you, and make war against Midian, to render the vengeance from the Lord on Midian: a thousand from a tribe and a thousand from a tribe, from all the tribes of Israel send to make war.” Pay attention to the reading. For the mind must be directed not only to hearing the words but to considering the facts. Recall what is past, hear what is present, notice what follows. Compare the earlier with the later, and contemplate the magnificence of the divine powers. The sons of Israel were formerly six hundred thousand armed men who had gone out against Midian, and all these were conquered, because sin was in them. But now the Midianites, the victors who had routed six hundred thousand, are conquered by twelve thousand, so that you may know that Israel conquers not by multitude nor by number of soldiers, but it is the righteousness and godliness in them that conquers. For this reason, in fact, it is also said in their blessings that if they keep the law of the Lord, one of them will pursue a thousand, and two will rout ten thousand. You see, then, that one saint praying is worth much more than countless sinners fighting. The prayer of a saint penetrates heaven: how should it not also conquer the enemy on earth? And therefore we must strive in every way first to seek and keep the righteousness of God. If you obtain and keep it, it will subject all enemies to you; if you are clothed, as the Apostle says, with the breastplate of righteousness, and girded with truth, if you have received the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, and above all the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. For equipped with such arms you will put to flight all the devil’s camps and his whole army, and you will sing with confidence: “If camps stand against me, my heart will not fear; if battle rise against me, in this I will hope.” Twelve thousand, then, engage the Midianites, and “they kill,” it says, “every male of them, and their kings; and they killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword, with the rest of their wounded.” What we were asking earlier, how it can be proved from the Scriptures that the women of the Midianites were suborned by the counsel of Balaam to deceive the sons of Israel into sexual immorality, this present place of Scripture plainly shows, saying that he was slain with the sword as the author of the stumbling block which was put before the sons of Israel. And it is said of him still more plainly in what follows, in this way: “And Moses said to them: Why have you kept every woman alive? For they are the ones who made the sons of Israel apostates according to the word of Balaam.” The kings of the Midianites too are killed; and those who were earlier conquered by women, now, expiation having been made and repentance done, conquer even kings. From this let us understand how much conversion to God avails, how much the amendment of sins profits. Every male, all the kings of the Midianites, are conquered and slain by those who, through the Lord’s correction and through repentance for their deeds, were corrected and amended. Five kings of the Midianites, then, are related to have been overcome by the Israelite soldiers.

But divine Scripture also took care to record their names. “Evi,” it says, “and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba.” These are the ones who reign among the Midianites, whom all who serve as soldiers of God must overcome and utterly extinguish. For Evi is interpreted “beastly” or “savage.” And how will you be able to please him who has tested you, unless you cut off from yourself and utterly destroy beastly and savage ways? How will you be able to come to the blessedness of the meek unless you first kill Evi, and first hand over to death the savagery of anger? I think that divine Scripture did not narrate these names for the sake of the story, but fitted them to causes and things. For do you think anyone was so foolish as to give his son the name “Beastly”? But I think rather that the divine word looked to the instruction of souls, wishing to show us that we must fight against vices of this kind, drive them out of our souls, rout these kings from the kingdom of our body: which the Apostle indicates more plainly, saying: “Let not sin, then, reign in your mortal body.” Do you wish to see that names are fitted to things not only among the saints but also among Gentiles and barbarians? About the saints it is known why Abram was called Abraham, and Sarai Sarah, and Jacob Israel. Let us show that this custom is held among barbarians too. Had not one of the sons of Israel received the name Joseph from his parents? But when he passed into Egypt and stood before Pharaoh, he changed his name, and from Joseph called him Psonthomphanech, which Pharaoh composed in his language from the revealing of secrets or of dreams. And not only is a name fitted to this Joseph from the facts by Pharaoh, but Daniel too in Babylon is named Belteshazzar, and Hananiah and Azariah and Mishael are called Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. You see, then, that the names both of Israelites and of barbarian men are fitted in the law not by chance, but according to things and causes. Moses, then, named the king of the Midianites as he himself judged he should be named. Beastly savagery, he says, is what reigns among the Midianites; and not it alone, but there is also another king among them named Rekem, which is in our language “emptiness.” Emptiness too, then, reigns in the nation of the Midianites. For truly there is much emptiness and vanity in this world, indeed vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, which the soldier of God must overcome and conquer. And he conquers emptiness who does nothing emptily, nothing superfluously, nothing that does not pertain to the matter; who remembers that command of the Lord in which he says that men will render account even for an idle word on the day of judgment. But in this life, almost all that men say and do is idle and empty. For every act and every word is called empty in which there is nothing within for God or for the command of God. There is also another king of Midian, Hur, and this is interpreted “provocation.” You see what kind are those who reign among the Midianites, whom men must oppose, or rather who ought to be slain and killed by those who follow God. For it is not so much kings as the names of vices that reign in men that are recorded in the law; and it is not so much wars of nations that are described as those of the carnal desires that war against the soul. Finally, those who reign in vices are said to be five kings: so that we may be taught most plainly that every vice which reigns in the body hangs on the five senses. These five senses, then, must be slain out of the kingdom of the Midianites, so that vices may no longer reign over them, but righteousness; so that they may not see what they see for stumbling, but for edification. For among the Midianites these senses reigned for causing stumbling, to cause stumbling and to deceive. And therefore the Lord commanded that if your eye causes you to stumble, you should pluck it out; if your hand or foot, cut it off. You see, then, that he too orders the kings of those who cause stumbling to be cut off and slain. “It is better,” he says, “for you to enter the kingdom of God one-eyed, maimed, or lame, than to be sent with these into Gehenna.” In these words he certainly does not command us to dig out the eye of our body, nor to cut off a hand or foot; but he commands to cut off the sense that perceives carnal things and runs wanton in carnal desires: so that our eyes may see rightly, and our ears hear rightly, and our taste taste the word of God, and our hands handle and touch the Word of God. And this is how, the kings of the Midianites having been slain and the affections of stumbling cut off, righteousness reigns in us, our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who was made for us righteousness from God, and peace and redemption. By the Lord’s command, then, wars were waged by the sons of Israel against the Midianites, and abundant spoils are brought back from them: an immense weight of gold and silver and other movable goods, and a very great number of beasts and captives. But since all these things are held unclean among the Israelites, a purification suited to each is applied: those which consist of metals fire purifies; but those which are more fragile and do not bear fire are ordered to be purified with water. Two equal parts, then, are made of all the spoils, so that one belongs to those who had gone out to war and the other to those who had stayed in the camp. They are also commanded to offer some of them as gifts to God: those who had gone out to war, one head out of five hundred; but those who had stayed in the camp, one out of fifty: and the number of all of them collected together is recorded. This is the content of the literal account.

But let us see what the spiritual sense indicates in these things. In the people of God there are some, as the Apostle says, who serve as soldiers of God: without doubt those who do not entangle themselves in worldly affairs; and these are the ones who go out to war and fight against hostile nations and against the spiritual forces of wickedness on behalf of the rest of the people, and for those who are weaker, whether by age, or by sex, or by their way of life. And they fight with prayers and fasts, with righteousness and godliness, gentleness and chastity, and all the virtues of continence, as if furnished with weapons of war; and when they have returned victorious to the camp, even the unwarlike enjoy their labours, and those who are either not called to the fight or cannot go out. It must be known, however, that all things taken from these nations are unclean; and perhaps everything that is taken from this age or captured in battle is unclean and needs purification; and some of them will have to pass through fire, but for others the purification of water will suffice. Men too and beasts are taken from the battle, when every understanding is taken captive to obey Christ. For from those very ones whom we have captured we offer to God. For unless we fight in the word of God, we shall not be able to take captive the understanding of those who think otherwise than Christ, and bring them to the obedience of Christ. Yet few are those who can fight and carry through these battles: from six hundred thousand and more armed men, who seemed to serve as soldiers of God, only twelve thousand are chosen; the rest are left in the camp. Look now with me at the people of God which is in the church: how many of them are there who can fight for the truth, who can resist those who contradict, who know how to wage the wars of the word? Blessed are these, who can fight for the whole people, and defend the people of God, and bring back abundant spoils from the enemies. Yet the rest of the people too, which seems unwarlike, if it stays quietly in the camp, if it lives in silence and does not withdraw from Moses but remains in the law of God, will itself also receive a share of the spoils. For an equal portion will be made, not by number, but as much is given to all the rest of the people as to those twelve thousand by whose victory the spoils were taken. Who, hearing this, is not invited to the warfare of God? Who is not encouraged to fight for the church and resist the enemies of the truth, namely those who either attack the doctrines of the church or teach men to give themselves to pleasure and luxury? He, then, who conquers these, and slays vices either in himself or in his neighbours, will receive many spoils, multiplied fifty times over the others. For the quantity of the number seems to be increased to that extent when twelve thousand are compared with six hundred thousand. Yet both parts are ordered to offer to God: those who conquered, one out of five hundred; but those who stayed at home, one out of fifty. And Scripture testifies that the number of five hundred and of fifty is holy. Hence the Saviour too said in the Gospels: “A certain creditor had two debtors: one of them owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they had nothing with which to pay, he forgave them both.” And seven weeks with a unit, that is, with one added, make the day of the fiftieth, which is called the festival of Pentecost. Likewise seventy weeks, with the perfection of one decade added, give the number of five hundred. But as much as seventy weeks are more than seven, so much more excellent and perfect is the number five hundred than fifty. Hence, finally, in the parable of the Gospel which we set out above, our Saviour declares that he loves more to whom the five hundred denarii he owed were forgiven than he to whom fifty were.

Then in the present reading Eleazar the priest is not written to have spoken to the whole people, but only to those who return from battle. For it says: “And Eleazar the priest said to the men of valour who were returning from battle.” You see, then, how the word of God speaks to men of valour. For the men of valour are those who go out to war. But if anyone does not wish to fight or to serve as a soldier, if anyone does not wish to have the contest of divine studies and to practise abstinence, he does not wish to fulfil what the Apostle says: “Everyone who competes in the contest is self-controlled in all things.” He, then, who does not compete in the contest and is not self-controlled in all things, nor wishes to be exercised in the word of God and to meditate on the law of the Lord day and night, even if he is called a man, is still not called a man of valour. But he of whom Scripture now speaks is called a man of valour: for this is the mark of his praise, that Scripture says that Eleazar the priest spoke to the men of valour who were returning from battle. Which of us is so prepared as to go out to war and fight against the adversaries, so that he too can be called a man of valour? And just as a continent life, and the labour of abstinence, and the struggles of contests make each one be called a man of valour, so on the contrary a slack, negligent, and idle life makes a man be called a man of idleness. If, then, you wish to be called a man of valour, put on Christ the Lord, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and in all things join yourself to the Lord, so that you become one spirit with him, and then you will become a man of valour. The time of war, then, is for us in this world; the battle is against the Midianites, whether against the vices of our flesh or against the opposing powers. The choir of angels watches us; the loving expectation of the heavenly powers hangs on us, when or how we shall return from this battle, what spoils each of us will bring back: and they look more curiously and examine more anxiously which of us will bring more gold from here, which will also show that weight of silver, or who will bring precious stones. They ask also whether anyone brings bronze, or iron, or lead, and even a wooden vessel, perhaps, or earthenware, or something else of this kind necessary for the uses of a great house. For in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthenware. It will be diligently asked, then, when we have gone there, what each of us brings; and according to what he has brought, according as his labour is approved by the inspection of the spoils, the merit of a dwelling will also be assigned to him. All these things, however, are tested, some by fire, some by water: for “the fire will test what sort of work each one’s is.”

For this reason, then, it says: “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord appointed for Moses: except gold and silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin, and everything that passes through fire, you shall pass through fire, and it will be clean. But they shall also be purified in the water of purification. Everything that does not pass through fire shall pass through water; and you shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and you will be clean, and after this you shall enter the camp.” You see how everyone who has come out of the battle of this life needs purification. And if this is so, to dare to say something according to the authority of divine Scripture, everyone who has gone out of this life cannot be clean. For consider carefully what the text of the literal account indicates. These men went out to fight for the sons of Israel; they killed the Midianites; and in killing them, as far as the order of the literal account and the letter of the law are concerned, they pleased God: for they fulfilled the will of God. Yet by the very fact that they killed the adversaries, they are said to have become unclean, and therefore it is said to them: “And you shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and you will be clean, and after this you shall enter the camp.” Those, then, who fight are defiled by the very fact that they touched unclean enemies, and that they went against them and had a struggle with them. And I too, then, even if I am able to conquer the devil, even if I can either repel as they come, or kill within me once they have entered, the unclean and evil thoughts which he suggests to my heart, so that they do not come to effect, and even if I am able to trample the head of the dragon, yet by this very fact I must be polluted and defiled, that I struggled with one who is polluted and defiled; and I shall indeed be blessed in that I was able to overcome him, yet I am unclean and polluted, having struggled with the polluted, and for this reason I need purification. That, no doubt, is why Scripture too says that no one is clean from filth. We all, then, need purification, or rather purifications. For many and various purifications await us. But these things are mystical and ineffable. For who will be able to tell us what purifications are prepared for Paul, or Peter, or others like them, who fought so much, destroyed so many barbarian nations, laid low so many enemies, took such spoils and so many triumphs, who return with bloody hands from the slaughter of enemies, whose foot is dipped in blood, and who washed their hands in the blood of sinners? For in the mornings they killed all the sinners of the land, and destroyed their image from the city of the Lord. For they conquered and slew various nations of demons. For unless they had conquered them, they could not have taken captives from them, this whole number of believers, and brought them to the obedience of Christ, and placed them under his easy yoke, and laid on them his light burden. Who, then, is so blessed as to succeed them in these battles, and kill all the Midianites, and be justified from their blood? For he is said to shed the blood of demons who rescues those over whom they rule. And he will be washed in this blood and purified in the kingdom of God, so that, purified and made clean, he may enter the holy city of God, Christ Jesus our Lord opening the door to him, or rather he who is the door of that city of God: to whom is the glory and the dominion for ages of ages. Amen.