Homilies on Numbers 5.1–6.4

The Lord, answering Moses and Aaron, says: “Do not destroy the clan of Kohath from its tribe, from the midst of the sons of Levi, but do this for them, and they shall live and not die when they approach the holy of holies,” and so on. First let us understand what is related according to the letter, and so, with the Lord's help, we shall ascend from the understanding of the letter to the spiritual understanding. Understand first, then, the very setting up of the tabernacle of testimony; understand also the holy of holies, which, separated from the holy place by an interposed veil, may not be looked upon by anyone except the priests alone. After this understand how, when the time comes for the sons of Israel to move camp, the tabernacle is taken down, and Aaron and his sons the priests cover each thing within the holy of holies with its coverings and veils, and, leaving everything covered in the same place where it was, they bring in the sons of Kohath, who are appointed to this duty, and have them lift on their shoulders all the things the priestly hand had covered. And for this reason the Lord says: “Do not destroy the clan of Kohath from its tribe”; as if they would be destroyed if they touched the holy of holies bare and exposed, which it was not lawful not only to touch but even to look upon unveiled. If you have understood what the order of the literal account contains, ascend now to the splendor of the mystery, and behold the light of the spiritual law, if the eye of your mind is pure. If anyone among those who minister to God is worthy to grasp and see the divine mysteries, which the others are less capable of beholding, he is understood to be Aaron or a son of Aaron, who can enter where it is not lawful for others to go. If, then, anyone is such, to him alone the ark of the covenant lies open and revealed; he sees the urn holding the manna within it; he considers and understands the mercy seat; he beholds both cherubim, the holy table, the lampstand of light, and the altar of incense. He considers and understands these things spiritually: that is, he who devotes himself to the word of God and to the mysteries of wisdom, and is free for God alone in the holy places. But let the one to whom these things are revealed, and to whom they are entrusted to be looked into spiritually, know that it is not safe for him to open them and lay them out to those to whom it is not permitted; rather, he must cover each thing and, once covered, hand them to the others who are less capable, to be carried on their shoulders and laid on their necks. For when teachers learned and perfect in the mystical words enjoin works on the people, and the people do and fulfill what is commanded, yet do not understand the reason for what is done, what else is happening but that the holy of holies is being carried on the shoulders covered and veiled? And so that you may see still more clearly what is being said, we shall instruct you with examples taken from the divine volumes. Moses no doubt understood what the true circumcision was; he understood what the true Passover was; he knew what the true new moons were and what the true sabbaths; and though he had understood all these things in the spirit, he veiled them in words through the forms and shadows of bodily things. Though he knew that the true Passover to be sacrificed was Christ, he commands that a bodily sheep be sacrificed at the Passover. And though he knew that the feast ought to be kept with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, he nevertheless commanded the feast to be kept with unleavened bread of flour. Such, then, were the holy of holies, which Moses, when he handed them to the others to carry, that is, to be fulfilled in deeds and works, nevertheless handed on covered and veiled in the common speech of words. That the shoulders signify works we have often shown in many places of Scripture. And in the observances of the church too there are some things of this kind, which all must do, yet whose reason is not plain to all. For instance, that we bend the knee when praying, and that of all the quarters of heaven we turn to the east alone when we pour out prayer: I do not think anyone easily finds the reason for this. And who could easily explain the reason for receiving the Eucharist, or for the rite by which it is celebrated, or for the words, actions, sequence, questions and answers that take place in baptism? And yet we carry all these things covered and veiled on our shoulders, when we fulfill and carry them out as we received them, handed down and entrusted to us by the great high priest and his sons. So when we do all these and similar things and yet do not attain their reason, we lift on our shoulders and carry the divine mysteries covered and hidden, unless there is among us an Aaron or a son of Aaron, to whom it is granted to see these things bare and revealed. Yet it is granted to them on condition that they know these things must be veiled and covered by them when reason requires that they be given to the others and brought forward into practice.

After this it is said of the Levites who are to work: from the twenty-fifth year and upward, up to the fiftieth year. “Everyone,” it says, “who goes forth to the work of works and to the works that are carried, of the tabernacle of testimony.” Observe in these words the distinction of the language of divine Scripture. Where it speaks of the works of the sons of Israel, it does not say “works of works” but only “works.” But where it speaks of the duties of the Levites, it does not say only “works” but “works of works.” For just as there are some things that are holy, and others that are holy of holies, so there are some works, and others that are works of works. Hence it seems to me that where Moses perceived that there were some works that were visible indeed but had within them another inner, mystical, and hidden meaning, he called these not only works but works of works; whereas those he understood to be common works, belonging only to the present time, he named only works. There are, then, some works of works, which I think are all those things commanded under hidden mysteries, whether in the present reading or in Exodus and other places, to be fulfilled partly in the present and partly in the future. These works of works, as we said, are commanded to be handed over not to anyone at all but to the Levites alone. And among the Levites themselves no one is called to these works until the twenty-fifth year of his life, up to the fiftieth. But not even the number of years itself, twenty-five and fifty, is without a sacrament. For in the number twenty-five the perfection of the five senses is declared, since five is counted five times. This certainly indicates that the one called to carry out the works of works in mystery is he who is found perfect in every respect, his senses multiplied and purified. And that the number fifty holds the sacrament of remission and pardon we have often and abundantly shown in many places of the Scriptures. For the fiftieth year, which among the Hebrews is called the jubilee, is the one in which there is remission of possessions, of slavery, and of debt; and the fiftieth day after the Passover is handed down in the law as a feast. And the Lord too in the Gospel, when he taught parables of remission and pardon, says that the debtors he introduces were liable, one for fifty and the other for five hundred denarii. Now fifty and five hundred are related numbers, for ten fifties make five hundred. Indeed this number is made sacred from every side. For if the perfection of the unit is added to seven weeks, they make fifty days. Likewise, if the completion of a ten is added to seventy weeks, they make five hundred. And if one wishes to gather still more abundantly the sacraments of the numbers fifty and five hundred, we have this in the very book of Numbers that we have in hand, where, from the spoils of the enemy, some, who did not go out to battle, offer a fiftieth portion as gifts to God, and others a five-hundredth; and surely here too the numbers fifty and five hundred are not set down in vain. And in Genesis too, where God was dealing with pardon for Sodom, in case they might perhaps come to forgiveness, the patriarch Abraham, being aware of mysteries of this kind, begins from the number fifty in entreating the Lord for pardon for Sodom, and says: “If fifty are found in the city, will you not save the city for the sake of the fifty?”

But let us return to our subject. The Levites, then, must work in the holy things up to fifty years, the lower ones at works, the better at works of works; and the higher of these must serve in spiritual duties, enter the holy of holies, and there cover what is to be covered and hand it to the sons of Kohath to be carried on their shoulders and borne in their hands. And each of the rest is arranged according to what has often been discussed above. But lest too much caution about covering and veiling breed a kind of despair and sadness in the hearers, we shall try to uncover a few things which it is safe for us to reveal and lawful for you to look upon, since, as we said before, we have been called a royal race and priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for God's possession. Let us understand, then, by the tabernacle of testimony all the saints who are enrolled under his covenant; and that in this tabernacle some are loftier in merits and higher in grace; and that some of them are called the lampstand, perhaps the apostles themselves, who enlighten those who approach God. And if there are any others who in this tabernacle of God have shown the light of knowledge and doctrine to all who enter, let all these be named the mystical lampstand. Let others be the sacred table, namely whoever have the loaves of God and refresh and feed souls hungering for righteousness. Let others be the altar of incense, whoever devote themselves day and night to prayers and fasts in the temple of God, praying not only for themselves but also for the whole people. Those to whom God has entrusted hidden mysteries and committed the secrets of the hidden judgments of his providence are called the ark of the covenant of God. Further, those who with all confidence, by the offerings of prayers and the victims of supplications, make God propitious again to men and intercede for the sins of the people, are named the mercy seat. And those who have deserved a multitude of knowledge and abundant riches in the knowledge of God can be understood as the cherubim; for “cherubim” is interpreted in our language as “multitude of knowledge.” But all these, who are designated by each of the things listed above, must be carried, and carried on shoulders. Hence perhaps, as I think, the angels who are appointed for the sake of those who receive the inheritance of salvation are the ones who carry each of those we have mentioned. For when this tabernacle has been taken down, and we have begun to enter those holy places and to proceed to the place of promise, those who are truly holy and are counted among the holy of holies doubtless go on carried by angels, and until the tabernacle of God comes to rest they are carried on shoulders and lifted up in hands. Foreseeing this in the Spirit, the prophet said: “For he has commanded his angels concerning you, that they may lift you up in their hands, lest perhaps you strike your foot against a stone.” The devil thought this saying was to be taken of the Saviour, but, blinded by malice, he did not understand the mystical words of the Lord. For my Saviour did not need angels so as not to strike his foot against a stone. The devil slanders divine Scripture in alleging these words as said of the Saviour; it is said not of him but of all the saints, that God has commanded his angels on behalf of his people, so that it may not strike its foot against a stone. And indeed everything written in this psalm suits all the righteous more than the Saviour. For the Lord delivers from ruin and from the noonday demon, not the Saviour (far be it from us to understand it so), but every righteous man. For it is the righteous who need the help of God's angels so as not to be overthrown by demons, and so that their hearts may not be pierced by the arrow that flies in darkness. Under the same mystery Paul affirms that some are to be carried in the clouds by the angels themselves, when he says: “But we too who are alive, who remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” Those, then, are caught up by angels who have been thoroughly purged and made light of sins; but those are carried who are still weighed down by some remnants. The pillars of the tabernacle, too, are carried by some, and the courts, and the other things the Scripture relates. But they are carried not by Israelites but by Levites, according to this sense, which we seem to have touched on briefly in passing, leaving it to the minds of the hearers, so that if anyone burns with greater desire for these things, he may kindle for himself the light of knowledge and with a keener eye conjecture greater things than these. And may the Lord grant us that, carried and lifted up by such workers, we may be delivered and defended from the arrow that flies in darkness, and from ruin, and from the noonday demon, lest perhaps we strike our foot against a stone, until we come to the place of the promise of the saints, through Christ our Lord, to whom is honor and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.

Many things have been read to us at once, and neither the shortness of the time nor the greatness of the mysteries allows us to speak of all of them. Yet we may gather a few little flowers from great fields and pluck, not as much as the field abounds in, but as much as suffices for the sense of smell; just as one who comes to a spring need not draw as much as the rich vein pours out, but as much as will relieve a throat parched with thirst, lest the wholesome water, taken beyond due measure, become harmful to the drinker. “And Moses went out,” it says, “to the people, and spoke to them the words of the Lord.” As long as Moses hears the words of the Lord and is taught by him, he is within: he stands in the inner places and is kept in the innermost secrets. But when he speaks to the crowds and the peoples, and ministers to those who cannot stand within, he is said to go outside. What pattern, then, does such a statement contain? That every teacher and master of the church, if he treats of the deeper mysteries, if he brings out among the perfect something secret and hidden of the wisdom of God, must be said to be within and to stand in the inner places as long as he is occupied with the deeper meanings. But when he speaks to the crowds and brings out what suffices for those who are outside and what the multitude can hear, he is said to have gone outside and to speak the words of the Lord to the people. I see that Paul too did this: he was within when he said: “But we speak wisdom among the perfect, yet not a wisdom of this world nor of the rulers of this world, who are being destroyed. But we speak the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which none of the rulers of this world knew.” You see how Paul is within and penetrates the inner and secret places of divine wisdom when he says this. But when he goes out to the people, hear what he says: “Let no evil word proceed from your mouth”; and, “Let him who stole steal no longer”; and, “Let each man have his own wife”; and, “Let each love his neighbor as himself”; and, “Let each woman have her own husband.” These things, and any like them, Paul says to the people, going outside after the pattern of Moses.

But let us look also at another chapter, in which it is related that Moses chose seventy men from the elders of the people and set them before the tabernacle of testimony, and that God, taking of the spirit of Moses, gave it to the seventy elders, and “when the spirit rested upon them,” it says, “they all prophesied.” When it says that, taking of the spirit of Moses, he gave the spirit to the seventy elders, do not understand it as if God took some material, bodily substance from Moses, cut it into seventy portions, and so gave each of the elders a tiny particle. It is impious to think so of the nature of the Holy Spirit. Rather, take the figure of this mystical saying in this way: as if the spirit that was in Moses were a lamp of the clearest light, from which God lit seventy other lamps, so that the splendor of that original light reached them while the source of the light suffered no loss from being shared. In this way what is written is understood piously, “that the Lord took of the spirit of Moses and gave it to the seventy elders.”

But let us see what is meant by what follows: “And the spirit rested upon them,” it says, “and they all prophesied.” We do not read that the spirit rests on just any men, but on the holy and blessed. For the Spirit of God rests on those who are pure in heart and on those who purify their souls from sin; just as, conversely, he does not dwell in a body subject to sins, even if he once dwelt in it. For the Holy Spirit cannot bear fellowship and partnership with an evil spirit. It is certain that in the time of sin an evil spirit is present in each one and acts in us; and when we give it room through evil thoughts and very wicked desires, the Holy Spirit, grieved and, so to speak, constrained, is driven from us. Therefore the Apostle too, knowing that this happens, warned, saying: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” So when we sin we grieve the Holy Spirit; but when we act righteously and holily we prepare a resting place for him in us. Hence what he now says of the seventy elders, that the spirit rested on them, set forth their life and virtues. Indeed, because of the purity of their heart, the sincerity of their mind, and the capacity of their understanding, the Holy Spirit rested on them, and at once he works in them and does not suffer idleness, where fitting material for working is supplied. For the Scripture says: “And the Spirit rested on them and they prophesied.” In all who prophesied, then, the Holy Spirit rested, yet in none of them did he rest as in the Saviour. Therefore it is also written of him that “a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root, and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him.” But perhaps someone will say: “You have shown nothing more written of Christ than of other men. For just as it was said of these that the spirit rested on them, so it was said of the Saviour that the Spirit of God rests on him.” But see that on no one else is the Spirit of God described as resting with this sevenfold power, by which, doubtless, that very substance of the divine Spirit, which could not be explained by one name and is therefore explained by various words, is prophesied to rest on the rod that would come forth from the stock of Jesse. I have another testimony too by which I can show that in my Lord and Saviour the Spirit rested in an exceptional way, far otherwise than is related of the rest. For John the Baptist says of him: “He who sent me to baptize in water said to me: He on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, he it is.” If he had said “the Spirit descending” and had not added “and remaining on him,” he would seem to have nothing special above the rest. But now he added “and remaining on him,” so that this might be a sign in the Saviour which could be shown in no one else. For of no one else is it written that the Holy Spirit remained on him. And lest anyone think I am disparaging the prophets in this, they themselves know that I do not disparage them in preferring my Lord Jesus Christ to them. For each of them recalls his own words, and they find that of no one else was it said that “he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth.” Because he alone is without sin, who committed no sin, therefore in him alone the Spirit remained and abode. For if he is the one of whom something singular and exceptional is said, namely what we said above, that he committed no sin, it is clear that all the rest were under sin. If all, then necessarily the prophets too. And how will it be fitting for us to say that the Holy Spirit remained in them in the time of sin? Or, if it seems incredible to you that the prophets could sin after they had received the spirit, let us return to this very Moses whom we have in hand, who is surely the greatest and most exceptional of the prophets. He writes about himself and testifies about himself that he sinned in saying: “Hear me, you unbelievers. Shall we be able to bring water out of this rock for you?” For in these words he did not sanctify the Lord at the water of contradiction; that is, he did not trust in the power of God, and did not say, “God is able to bring water out of this rock for you,” but answered as if from the frailty of a certain distrust, saying: “Shall we be able to bring water out of this rock for you?” Since, then, sin is imputed to him by God in these words, it is certain that when he spoke thus he spoke not from the Holy Spirit but from the spirit of sin. And if by the testimony of Scripture so great a prophet as Moses is shown at times to have had the Spirit of God in him and at times not to have had it, namely in the time of sin, it is certain that the same pattern must be held of the other prophets too. And what shall I say of David? He prays for the Holy Spirit, as one who could be taken from him, that he may not be taken away, and says: “Do not cast me away from your face, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” And in what follows he asks back the gift as if it had been taken from him for his fault, and says: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and strengthen me with a ruling spirit.” And what shall I recall of Solomon? No one will say that he judged his judgments or built the temple for the Lord without the Holy Spirit; nor, again, that it was in the Holy Spirit that he made temples for demons or bent his sides to impious women. That prophet too who in the third book of Kingdoms was sent by the Lord to Bethel certainly spoke the words of God in the Spirit of God; yet we must not believe that it was in the Spirit of God that he transgressed the Lord's command by which he had been ordered not to eat bread in Bethel, for which he was also killed by a lion. But it would take long to go through them one by one. And I, though I would not declare it in every case, still think that there are some actions, even of ordinary people, which, although they are without sin, do not seem worthy of the presence of the Holy Spirit. For example, lawful marriages are indeed without sin; yet at the time when conjugal acts take place the presence of the Holy Spirit will not be given, even if the one who performs the duty of procreation seems to be a prophet. And there are many other things for which human power alone suffices, and the matter neither needs nor befits the presence of the Holy Spirit. But we have run into these things by a kind of digression, while wishing to show that the Spirit of God always remained on my Lord and Saviour Jesus alone, whereas in all the other saints, as in the seventy elders with whom this discourse began, the Spirit of God only rested, and worked at the time when it was expedient for those through whom he worked and useful for those to whom he ministered.

In what follows, the reading that was read also relates that Moses married an Ethiopian woman, and that Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because he had married an Ethiopian woman, and they say: “Has the Lord spoken only to Moses? Has he not spoken to us also?” “And the Lord heard,” it says. And after this he orders them to go out to the tabernacle of testimony; there a kind of judgment is held, Miriam is made leprous for a fixed time, and so she is called back to the camp. To explain this more briefly, we say that Miriam bore the figure of the former people, and that Moses, that is, the law of the Lord, passed into marriage with this Ethiopian woman, who has been gathered from the Gentiles. This woman, then, Moses, that is, the spiritual law, took as his wife; and for this deed Miriam, who is now the synagogue, is indignant and speaks against him, together with Aaron, that is, with the priests and Pharisees. So that people disparages to this day the Moses who is placed with us, and it seems shameful to it that among us he does not teach circumcision of the flesh, nor the observance of the sabbath, nor new moons, nor sacrifices of blood, but circumcision of the heart, rest from sinning, feast days with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and sacrifices of praise, and enjoins the slaughter no longer of cattle but of vices. God, then, judges these matters and confirms the marriage of the Ethiopian woman, and allows Moses to dwell gladly with her and to rest; but Miriam he casts out of the camp and puts far from the tabernacle of testimony, and Aaron too is cast out with her. Moreover Miriam is also made leprous. Look now at that people and see how great the leprosy of sin is in it, how great the darkness of understanding, how great the foulness of observance, how great the ugliness of appearance. Yet this leprosy does not remain forever; but when the week of the world has begun to be completed, she will be called back to the camp. For at the end of the world, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel too will be saved; and then it is that the leprosy will cease from Miriam's face; for she will receive the beauty of faith and take on the splendor of the knowledge of Christ, and her face will be restored, when both become one flock and one shepherd. In this truly one must say: “O the depth of the riches and of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” who has so shut up …