Questions on the Octateuch 1 part 16/17

And the name signifies, according to the Hebrew tongue, 'freedom.'

From there he sends the angel, reminding them both of the crossing of the river and of the circumcision that had taken place.

Then he also states what was said by the angel:

'The Lord brought you up out of Egypt and brought you into the land which he swore to your fathers to give you, and he said to you, \"I will never break my covenant with you forever.\"'

'And you shall not make a covenant with those who dwell in this land, nor shall you worship their gods, but you shall break their carved images and tear down their altars;'

'But you did not listen to his voice when you did these things.'

'And I,' he says, 'will no longer drive out the people whom I said I would expel from before your face;'

'and they shall become a distress to you, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'

'You have transgressed my law,' he says, 'you have not kept my commandments;'

'You have made a treaty of peace with the teachers of impiety, and you have served their gods.'

'Enjoy, then, what you have desired, and reap the sheaves of your seed.'

For those who escape death from war will continue to make war against you;

and their gods will enslave your souls.

When these things had been spoken by the angel, the people lamented;

whence also the place was named Bochim (Weeping).

From this I have supposed that most of what has been said is a recapitulation of the things done in the time of Joshua.

'And Joshua sent the people away, and the sons of Israel went each to his own place, and each to his own inheritance, to take possession of the land;'

'and the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who lived on a long time after Joshua, who knew all the great work of the Lord that he did for Israel.'

He also tells at what age he died, and where he was buried;

and he has added that another generation arose after them, which did not know the Lord, nor the work that he did for Israel.

For they served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.

By these things we are taught how much the piety of rulers benefits their subjects, and how much anarchy does harm, and again in turn the rule of the wicked.

For this too is what this history teaches.

'For the Lord,' it says, 'raised up judges for them and saved them from the hand of those who plundered them.'

'and whenever he raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge.'

'And it came to pass, when the judge died, that they turned back and corrupted themselves again, more than their fathers, by going after other gods, to serve them and to worship them.'

But I think there is also another reason why they did not obtain all the promised land;

the observance of the polity of the Law required a very narrow land;

for the Law commanded that three times a year all should gather together, running to one place, in which they had built the divine temple.

There it commanded them to bring the firstfruits, the tithes, the firstborn of the livestock, and indeed also the other sacrifices.

Reasonably, then, he confined them within a small territory, so that even the sluggish might easily gather together to the consecrated temple.

How is this passage to be understood: 'Joshua left these nations, so as to test Israel by them—all who had not known the wars of Canaan';

'only for the sake of the generations of the sons of Israel, to teach them war;'

'yet those before them had not known these things?' When Joshua son of Nun was commander, the people did not conquer in battle array by military skill, but by enjoying help from above;

'For I will send,' he said, 'hornets before you;'

'and it shall destroy the Canaanite and the Hittite,' and so forth.

And indeed, by sending down thunderbolts from above, and hail of a considerable size of stones, he destroyed the enemies.

He says, then, that for this reason he did not utterly destroy all who dwelt in that land while Joshua son of Nun was commander, so that those who came after him too might be taught by experience the providence of God, and might, through the necessity of war, call upon the Master as an ally;

As for 'to test,' Symmachus says he wished 'to train' them, and to teach them the art of war.

And 'to test,' as it stands according to the Seventy, does not indicate ignorance on God's part.

For neither did he test Abraham for this reason, that he might learn Abraham's disposition.

For there too it taught that God knew that Abraham would charge his sons, and his household after him, to keep all the judgments of the Lord God.

He does not test, then, in order that he himself may learn, but in order that he may teach those who are ignorant.

Just as, then, he had given the commandment to Adam for the exercise of his rational faculty, so also here he left some of the nations;

so as to show the piety of some, and to expose the impiety of others.

'so as to test Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken to the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.'

And the facts themselves teach that they became the cause of not being altogether rid of those impious nations.

For twenty-nine kings, apart from the commanders of Jericho and Ai, Joshua struck down together with their armies, though he had no city, no base of operations, no soldiers trained in military experience.

But those who came after him, though they possessed fortified cities, and had acquired especially very great wealth from the spoils, and had full armor, and walls and ramparts, were not able to overcome those who were left, because of their own impiety.

How is Othniel both the brother of Caleb and the son of Kenaz? For Caleb is the son of Jephunneh.

It is likely that Jephunneh also had two names, and was also called Kenaz.

It is also likely that they were of different fathers, but of one mother;

and that Caleb had Jephunneh as his father;

and that after his death, his mother was married to Kenaz, and bore Othniel.

That indeed he called Jericho the city of palm trees, the account concerning Eglon teaches.

'For Eglon,' it says, 'went and struck the sons of Israel, and took possession of the city of palm trees.'

'And Eglon turned back from the idols that were in Gilgal.'

'I have a secret word for you, O king.'

Now Gilgal is near Jericho.

He called the iron blade of the sword 'the flame,' and the handle 'the hilt.'

'And he took his sword from his right thigh and thrust it into the belly of Eglon, and drove the hilt in also after the blade, and the fat closed over the hilt.'

The account concerning Jabin, king of Hazor, is also related in the history of Joshua; if then he was slain in that man's time, how did he rise up again against Israel after a long time? That one was different, and this one is different;

They were of the same name, having held the same kingdom.

And it is likely that this one also became the son of that one.

For one may find many who have borne the very titles of their fathers;

for instance, the first son of the emperor Constantine was named Constantine.

But the narrative of Joshua said not only that Jabin was slain, but also that Hazor was burned with fire.

It is not unreasonable that it was both razed at that time and rebuilt again afterward.

Except that here he mentions Hazor, yet did not say that he dwelt in it, but rather in Harosheth.

One should also observe this, that he calls the descendants of Jethro 'Kenites.'

Why then does a woman prophesy? Because men and women share one nature.

For woman was formed out of Adam, and she has a share in reason just as he does.

Wherefore the Apostle also says, 'In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.'

Thus also Moses was a prophet, and Miriam a prophetess.

For since none of the men of that time was found worthy of the grace, she obtained the gift of the all-holy Spirit;

and thus it was evident that she had been deemed worthy of grace from on high, so that Barak did not dare go out into battle array without her;

This too she said in her song:

And she also speaks of the impiety of her fellow countrymen:

'They chose empty gods, like barley bread.'

Through this image she exposed their great folly.

For just as it is senseless to prefer barley loaves to wheat loaves, so exceedingly stupid is the one who sets falsely-named gods before the true God.

She also shows the fidelity of her resolve:

'For if I see,' she says, 'forty thousand spearmen, my heart is set upon what has been ordained for Israel.'

This also the divine law had proclaimed:

'For if you see,' it says, 'a multitude of enemies, and chariots, and cavalry, do not fear, for the Lord your God will fight on your behalf.'

And she bids not only the poor, but also those who take great pride in wealth, to hymn God.

'For,' she says, 'you mighty ones of the people, bless the Lord; you who ride upon beasts of burden, utter the sound of those who make music amid those who rejoice.'

'There they shall render righteousness to God.'

'Mosphathe' is interpreted as 'fields,' and 'Amadaroth' as 'blindness';

and also, 'to curse by the Mighty One.'

We are taught through the narrative that the Master, God, exercising fatherly affection, delivered the people—even while they were transgressing the law—to the foreigners;

then, after the chastisement, he deemed them worthy of aid.

Through a certain prophet he first reproved their impiety;

and he reminded them also of the benefits which they had enjoyed;

then, through a certain angel, having encouraged Gideon, he bade him array himself against the enemies.

'Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian.' Being urged on by the angel to take command and take courage for the war, he said to him:

'And now the Lord has cast us off, and delivered us into the hands of Midian.'

Since, then, he retained the memory of God's wonder-working, and had acquired a firm conviction concerning God—that it was easy for Him, if He so willed, to deliver them from the calamities that held them fast—the angel said:

'Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of Midian;'

that is, instead: 'Go forth into battle with this faith, and you shall conquer.'

Let no one find fault with what follows.

For it was not as one who distrusted God that he said:

'My clan is the humblest in Manasseh;'

'and I am the least in my father's house;'

but rather because he exercised a modest and humble frame of mind.

Whereupon the angel, taking up his words, said:

'that the Lord will be with you, and you shall strike down Midian as if it were one man.'

Immediately, then, believing, he offered a sacrifice.

But the angel did not seize the divine honor for himself;

rather, he fulfilled the office of a priest, and striking the rock with his staff, consumed the sacrifice as a whole burnt-offering with miraculous fire.

Why in the world did he command that the bull-calf being reared for Baal be offered to God? He was transferring them from error to truth.

For this very reason he also charged that Baal's altar be torn down, and the sacred grove be cut down;

for it was necessary that the one deemed worthy of such grace should not only be pious himself, but also become a teacher of others.

Of what is the fleece that received the dew a symbol? First Gideon asked that the dew fall upon the fleece, while all the ground remained dry;

and afterward, that the ground be wetted, while the fleece alone remained without any share of the dew.

The account shows that of old Israel enjoyed the divine grace, as the fleece did the dew;

but afterward the whole of human nature attained to the spiritual gifts,

while Israel became devoid of these, just as the fleece was deprived of the dew.

'For the host with you,' he says, 'is too great for me to deliver Midian into their hand, lest Israel boast against me, saying:'

So then, when most were dismissed, he ordered those who remained to be brought down to the river; then, when the greater number bent down on the knee and drank hastily,

but the three hundred, who had not done this out of caution, but brought the water to their mouth with their hand—these alone he commanded, as though idle and sluggish, to charge against the adversaries;

so that the divine favor might become manifest to all.

Thus also, through twelve fishermen and tax-collectors and one leatherworker, he overthrew the phalanx of demons, and saved the nature of mankind.

For this reason the prophet Isaiah compared the one to the other and said:

'For the Lord shattered the rod of those who disobeyed, as on the day of Midian.'

For just as here he made use of unarmed soldiers, bearing in their left hand torches hidden within jars, and in their right hand trumpets,

so he sent forth the sacred apostles, unarmed, into the inhabited world, bearing the torch of miracles and the trumpet of preaching.

What is the meaning of, 'Gideon made them into an ephod, and set it up in his city, in Ephrathah'? What was done was unlawful;

for it was permitted for the priests alone to make use of the ephod;

for through it what was to be done was revealed.

Gideon's intention, however, did not incline toward impiety; rather, as a ruler and commander he wished, through the ephod, to learn what was to be done;

but for the people it became an occasion of transgression.

For, it says, 'All Israel played the harlot after it there.'

And it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.

As for the ephod, I explained in my commentary on Exodus that it is the shoulder-piece, to which the oracle was fastened.

and through it victory in wars was made known.

The history of Kingdoms teaches this more clearly.

For when the foreigners had gathered together, Saul commanded the priest to bring the ephod.

Then, seeing the enemies thrown into confusion and the victory already made evident, he said, 'Withdraw the ephod.'

The events concerning Abimelech and the Shechemites teach us that a wicked conspiracy brings utter ruin upon those who engage in it, ending in discord.

For having jointly murdered the sons of Gideon, they perished at one another's hands.

'He sowed it with salt'? This signifies barrenness.

It must be noted that, though they enjoyed but a brief respite, they immediately went and served idols.

'The sons of Israel again did evil before the Lord,' it says, 'and they served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of Ammon, and the gods of the foreigners.'

But when God, in anger, set the king of the Ammonites over them, they cried out to God the Savior and accused themselves, confessing that, having forsaken their Benefactor, the true God and Lord, they had served gods falsely so named.

Then the loving Lord, exposing their ungrateful disposition — for though they had often enjoyed abundant care, they had preferred the service of idols —

and having warned that he would no longer deem them worthy of any care,

'I will no longer save you,' he says. 'Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen for yourselves; let them save you in the time of your affliction.'

Since, then, they both confessed their own transgressions and put away the foreign gods from among them, and served the Lord, they received help from him.

'Say now the password'? Those of the tribe of Ephraim marched out against Jephthah, angry that they had not shared in the victory over the Ammonites.

Then, faring badly in battle, they fled.

But Jephthah sent a detachment of those serving with him and prevented them from crossing the river.

Then, when the fugitives tried to deceive the guards by claiming to be from the other tribes, he ordered that a certain word be put to them, whose very pronunciation would betray them.

For just as the Osrhoenians, the Syrians, those of the Euphrates region, the Palestinians, and the Phoenicians all use the Syriac tongue, yet their speech nevertheless has considerable difference, so too the twelve tribes were all Hebrews, but had, as is likely, certain peculiarities of speech, just as indeed this one did as well.

For as the Syriac word has it — while the others called the ear of grain 'sembla,' those of Ephraim, by a certain custom, said 'sembelo' — Jephthah, knowing this, ordered them to pronounce the word, and put to death those who were exposed by it.

Why in the world did the Lord God allow Jephthah's daughter to be slain? Jephthah's vow was exceedingly foolish.

For he ought to have considered that, in all likelihood, a dog or a donkey — animals unclean according to the law — might well be the first to meet him.

Therefore the Lord God, teaching others through him to make their vows with understanding and knowledge, did not prevent the slaying.

'And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.'

'And they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the carved idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood' — and so forth.

And the Lord God himself also says through the prophet Ezekiel:

'And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to me, and offered them up to your lovers.'

'This you did, beyond all your fornication.'

And, to show the excess of their impiety, he added:

'which I never conceived, nor did it come up into my heart.'

And wishing also to exercise Abraham's love for God, he commanded him to sacrifice his son;

but having thereby revealed the resolve of the righteous man, he prevented the slaying.

And what follows also reveals Jephthah's deficiency.

For having vowed to offer up as a sacrifice whatever first came to meet him, when he then saw that it was his own daughter who had done this, he tore his garment and lamented bitterly, and first allowed her to mourn, and only then sacrificed her.

But his daughter was far better than he;

for she said, 'If you have opened your mouth to the Lord concerning me, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, since the Lord has wrought vengeance for you upon your enemies, upon the sons of Ammon.'

...the Lord God, teaching how promises made to him ought to be fulfilled, did not prevent the slaying.

After this, the narrative teaches us the goodwill of the angels toward God.

For when Manoah wished to bring him a kid, the divine angel said:

'If you constrain me, I will not eat of your bread;'

'but if you would offer a whole burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.'

For the latter belongs to God, while the former is proper to human nature.

'But I, not being a man, have no need of food; neither do I usurp the honor due to God.'

And from this it is clear that those entertained by Abraham consumed the food set before them in some other manner.

How did Samson, though living dissolutely and unlawfully, enjoy spiritual grace? From this too it is clear that the Lord, for the sake of some other dispensation, bestows the divine gift even upon the unworthy.

This the Savior also shows in the holy Gospels:

'Many,' he says, 'will come on that day and say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name perform many mighty works? And I will say to them:'

'Depart from me, you who work lawlessness.'

This the Lord God did also here, in Samson's case.

For, wishing to break the power of the foreigners, he granted him strength and might through spiritual grace.

For this very reason he also permitted him to marry a foreign woman.

And the narrative also teaches this:

'And his father and his mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he himself was seeking retribution against the foreigners.'

'It was from the Lord' signifies not the divine agency directly effecting it, but the divine permission.

For none of those who transgressed such laws were ever made to pay the penalty for it.

But if anyone has supposed that Samson did this because he was not a strict keeper of the law, let him consider again how, when Samson was thirsty, God gave him water, commanding the hollow of the donkey's jawbone to pour it forth.

And this jawbone, according to the law, shared in a threefold uncleanness.

For while living, the donkey was unclean; dead, it was again unclean; and having become the instrument of slaughter, striking down a thousand of the foreigners with it, it bore yet another uncleanness.

But nevertheless the Lawgiver supplied him with water from this very source, and from no other.

Yet this man — unconquered, invincible, whom many myriads of the foreigners dreaded — a harlot woman reduced to slavery.

So much more grievous is the warfare of desire than the battle-line of wars: for the man who had fought so nobly and had become renowned for his extraordinary feats of valor, pleasure made him a captive taken by the spear; and this same pleasure also stripped him of the divine grace.

'Samson,' it says, 'awoke from his sleep and said:'

'I will go out and do as I always have, and shake myself free.'

'But he himself did not know that the Lord had departed from him.'

But the compassionate God did not utterly forsake him; rather, seeing him mocked, he had pity, heard him when he prayed, and granted him such strength that he shook the pillars supporting the temple of the idols, brought the roof down together with them, and buried three thousand men and an even greater number of women.

From where did Samson catch so many foxes? There is among them a mountain that harbors many foxes;

and the narrative teaches this as well.

For, it says, 'the Amorite began to dwell in the mountain of Myrsinon, where the bears and the foxes were.'

'Micah made for himself an ephod and teraphim.' Concerning the ephod we have often said that it was a priestly garment, and through it God used to indicate what was to be done.

But the teraphim was in a way something akin to idols, and was not devoted to God.

For this too the narrative here teaches.

'For,' it says, 'he made a carved image and a molten image.'

'And teraphim, and he filled the hand of one of his sons, and he became a priest for him.'

This man, however, was not of the Levitical tribe, but of that of Ephraim.

It has also taught us the cause of this lawlessness.

'For in those days,' it says, 'there was no king in Israel;'

'every man did what was right in his own eyes.'

So great is the harm that anarchy procures.

What follows contains much ambiguity:

'For,' it says, 'there was a young man from Bethlehem of the district of Judah, of the kindred of Judah, and he was a Levite, and he sojourned there.'

As I think, by 'kindred of Judah' he here names this same village as well.

We have said that God did not set apart a special inheritance for the priests and Levites, but scattered them among all the tribes, so that all might have teachers of piety.

Therefore this man too, being a Levite, dwelt in Bethlehem, which belonged to the district and kindred of Judah.

But if someone thinks this interpretation forced, let him recall what we have already said, namely that the two tribes, the royal and the priestly, intermarried with one another.

It is likely that this man was a Levite on his father's side, but had a mother from the tribe of Judah.

Great, however, was the man's lawlessness.

For first, although God had pitched the tabernacle in Shiloh, he performed his ministry in another place, contrary to the divine law.

Then, he offered sacrifices to idols made by hand—for this is what the carved image and the molten image signify.

In addition to these, he also dared another transgression.

For the law forbade the Levites to act as priests;

but it commanded the priests to minister.

Therefore he transgressed this law as well, by daring to act as a priest.

He also proved ungrateful toward the one who had done him a service;

'It was in the valley of the house of Rechab.' Near that city, it seems likely, Rechab dwelt.

This city was formerly called Laish;

Here, however, we have clearly learned the lineage of this Levite.

'And he set up for them the carved image which Micah had made, for all the days that the house of God was in Shiloh.'

They therefore exercised the priesthood unlawfully, not only by serving idols, but also by daring to perform the priestly office.

For they were Levites, not priests;

for the Lord God ordained that only the family of Aaron should exercise the priesthood.

And I think that because the lawgiver had married a foreign wife, those born from her were assigned to the Levites, and he did not appoint them to the priests;

so that the priestly dignity might not be insulted by being reproached for lowly birth.

For if a brother and sister brought this reproach against the lawgiver, what would those more prone to sedition and tyranny not have dared? For those who acted insolently against Aaron—who had married a maiden sprung from the royal tribe—what would they not have done against the children of Moses, who had taken to wife the daughter of a Midianite and priest of idols? Why then was Israel, though moved by zeal and preferring the piety of kinship, defeated? Because they themselves were guilty of the same transgressions, and while they saw the licentiousness of others, they overlooked their own.

This is also what the divine apostle said:

'For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself;'

'for you who judge do the same things.'

'Do you suppose this, O man, you who judge those who practice such things, and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works.'

This is what happened to these men as well.

Being enraged against those who had committed the transgression at Gabaon, they armed four hundred thousand men;

But God, wishing to chasten them, since they too did the same things, beholding the evil in others while refusing to acknowledge it in themselves, allowed them to be defeated once and twice, and many thousands of them to be slain.

But when he saw that they had received the chastisement and were now moved by righteous indignation, lamenting and wailing and pouring out many tears, he cooperated with their zeal and utterly destroyed the lawless tribe, except for a very few who could easily be numbered.

For indeed those who took up their defense were worse than the licentious men themselves.

For when their fellow tribesmen demanded the surrender of those who had dared this lawlessness, they not only did not hand them over, but also eagerly took up their defense.

For this reason they suffered a common destruction.

I think that this war took place before the other wars, not long after the death of Joshua.

'For,' it says, 'Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, stood before the ark in those days.'

Now Eleazar came to the end of his life immediately after Joshua.

Phinehas succeeded to the priesthood.

This is also what the conclusion of the book of Joshua the son of Nun has taught us.

I think, then, that the one who composed this narrative did not, by chance, place at the end events that had occurred first.

For he wished first to show us the succession of the judges, and who led first, who second, who third;

and then, in this way, to place these two narratives;

namely, the account concerning Micah and Laish, and that concerning the woman whom the frenzied lust of licentious men destroyed.

Why in the world did the sons of Israel command the two hundred men of Benjamin to seize wives for themselves from among the virgins dancing at Shiloh, and to marry them? All the women of their tribe had been slaughtered.

But they themselves had sworn not to give their own daughters to them in marriage.

So then, in order that they might not be forced by necessity to take foreign wives, they found a way out of an impossible situation, and devised the abduction.

Why in the world was the narrative concerning Ruth written? First, on account of the Lord Christ;

for according to the flesh he sprang from her.