Joshua 21

Joshua 21:1

Origen of Alexandria: All the sons of Israel received their allotments in the land, but for the Levites God alone suffices as their inheritance. Yet since the Levites receive “tithes” and “firstfruits” of the produce from the sons of Israel by God’s command, it was fitting that they should also receive tithes, so to speak, from the land and from the dwelling-places; for this is what it means to have received “tithes from all.” And therefore “the chief men who were among the sons of Levi, coming to Eleazar the priest and to Jesus the son of Nave, and to the leaders of the tribes of the sons of Israel in Shiloh in the land of Canaan, said”: “The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, and their suburbs for our animals.” It was fitting that a lot should also be cast for the “suburbs” and for the “cities,” lest by chance the division carried out among the Levites should seem to be made indiscriminately and by mere accident. Therefore, just as the distribution of the lot, which was made among the sons of Israel, had a reason by which one man was held worthy of the first lot, and another of the second — concerning which, as far as we were able, we have already treated before, and also concerning those who, through Moses, receive beyond the Jordan, and from Jesus in the land of promise —, where the first lot fell to Benjamin and afterward to the rest, among whom Dan was last: so must there also be some reason in the priestly and Levitical allotment, that to some the first lot, to others the second, and to others indeed the third is drawn, by which these or those places are assigned to each one. Now the “sons of Levi” are said to be “Gershon and Kohath and Merari,” and it is shown that Kohath held first place in honor, because the “sons of Kohath” were “Amram,” “Moses and Aaron and Miriam.” Therefore from Kohath was produced that part of the people which is priestly, which is Aaron and his sons; but Moses is to be reckoned either in the priestly order, or, if there can be anything even beyond the priestly, there; and there is another account concerning his sons. But the “rest” of the “sons of Kohath,” who are from “Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel,” held their place according to their order in the tribe of Levi. Then after these, after Kohath, “Gershon” among the sons of Levi receives his portion in the third place, but “Merari” the very last of all. Now this is the distinction of the first order and the second and the third or fourth, which we first of all observed in Numbers. For after the twelve tribes had been arranged to keep watch “around the ark of the Lord’s covenant” through the four parts of the earth, and three tribes were stationed “on the east,” three “on the southwest” or “on the south,” three “toward the sea,” which is to the west, and three “to the north,” which is the region of the Bear — there also these men are assigned through the four parts of the earth in the same order. And “on the east,” where was the tribe of “Judah,” which was first among the rest, “Aaron and his sons are placed”; but the “sons of Kohath who remained” are appointed “to lift” upon their shoulders the ark of the Lord’s covenant and “to sound the trumpets,” so that “when the first trumpet had sounded, those who were on the east should move their camp; but when the second had sounded, those who were on the south should rise up, at the third those from the west, at the fourth those from the north.” You see how great an order and how great a consequence of things is preserved in the holy Scriptures, how nothing is done except by measure and reason and order. Look more diligently, and in all Scripture you will find these things thus ordered. But if it is difficult for you to lead the wakeful eye of your heart through all the books, at least in this passage attend more diligently to what is related. — HOMILIES ON Joshua 25.1

Joshua 21:4

Origen of Alexandria: “The first lot,” it says, “came out for Kohath, and it fell to the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were among the Levites.” Whose was it fitting that “the first lot should come out”? To whom ought primacy to be given, if not to Aaron, the first high priest, first in life, in merits, first in honors and virtue? Is it now at last certain to you that this lot is not a matter of chance, but that a supernal power is present governing it according to the judgment of divine providence? Where, then, does this just lot assign the first dwelling-places “to the sons of Aaron”? “In the tribe,” it says, “of Judah, in the tribe of Simeon, and in the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities by lot.” You see how to chosen men, in chosen tribes, dwelling-places are dispensed. But who were those who ought to receive the second lot? “The sons,” it says, “of Kohath who remained” after the sons of Aaron. And which “tribes” do these receive? “In the tribe,” it says, “of Ephraim and in the tribe of Dan and in the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities by lot.” But who are the third? “The sons of Gershon.” And in which tribes do they draw their lots? “In Issachar,” it says, “and Asher and Naphtali and in the half-tribe of Manasseh which is in Bashan, twelve cities.” But who are the last among the Levites? “The sons,” it says, “of Merari.” Let us see in which tribes these last ones receive their portion. “From the tribe,” it says, “of Reuben beyond the Jordan, and Gad, who was with him beyond the Jordan, and from the tribe of Zebulun, who himself also is last among the sons of Leah, they receive by lot twelve cities.” — HOMILIES ON Joshua 25.2

Origen of Alexandria: But we have not yet touched upon those things which are more to be observed in these passages; and although we cannot unfold the deeper matters concerning them, at least it will not be irksome to touch briefly on the main points, so that from these each one of the hearers may take occasion to search out a higher and mystical understanding. Since there are four parts of the earth, “Kohath” received his lot first among the sons of Levi “from the eastern part,” together with those tribes which themselves also hold the primacy over all. See, then, how all things agree. Among the four parts of the earth it is certain that the eastern region appears the more noble, in which the tribe of Judah, more noble than all the rest, was held; and the “sons of Kohath, the priests” draw the first lot among the first, both in the tribes and in the parts of the earth, together with “Gershon” and “Merari,” who were first among the sons of Levi. Thus, then, the three first sons of Levi receive the east. But the “west,” where were “Reuben” and “Simeon” and “Gad,” is allotted by the second lot to “Kohath from the tribe of Simeon,” while “Merari” is allotted first “Reuben.” And again “Merari,” third in Numbers, received “Zebulun” “from the east,” so that justice might be preserved in that lot which is drawn according to God and may direct the minds of believers to contemplate the mysteries of the age to come. After these, of those who were “toward the sea,” that is, “Ephraim” and “Benjamin” and “Manasseh,” when “Kohath” had received “Benjamin” by the second lot, “the rest” of his family drew “Ephraim” by lot. After this, “Gershon” is allotted those who were “from the half-tribe of Manasseh” which was in the holy land, and again this same “Gershon” is allotted also the other “half-tribe of Manasseh.” But because it was fitting that those also who were “in the north” should obtain something of the priestly grace, lest they should seem to be utterly stripped of heavenly gifts, therefore among these, whose order was the last “in the north,” that is, “Dan,” “Naphtali,” “Asher,” again “Kohath” — not indeed among the priests, but among “the rest” — received nonetheless the first lot in “Dan,” but the second “Gershon” in “Asher,” and the third, this same “Gershon,” in “Naphtali.” — HOMILIES ON Joshua 25.3

Origen of Alexandria: Who can attain to all these things and comprehend them? Who is even able to remember and observe the very order of the mysteries? But if, according to the letter alone, the very text of the narrative can be explained with difficulty, and the intermingling either of places or of persons which is contained in the history can be unfolded, what shall we say of those sacraments which are described through this, and in which the distributions of the future inheritance are foreshadowed, and through which the division of the holy “land,” which “the meek shall receive as their inheritance,” will be celebrated? Who could explain the diverse sites of the encampments — how in the resurrection this distribution is to be held for each one of the saints by the priestly or Levitical order, so that, as the Apostle says, in the “resurrection” all things may be done not in confusion, but that “each one may come in his own order, the beginning Christ, then those who are Christ’s, who believed at his coming, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he shall have subjected to him every principality and power”? There, without doubt, there will be certain such observances of the camps and priestly distributions and orders and signals of the trumpets; for perhaps, just as God has ordered the stars of heaven and set them in place by certain wondrous and ineffable reckonings, and established some of them at the pole of the north, others in the regions of the east, others indeed in the vault of the south, and others in the west — so I believe that those also who from the resurrection of the dead shall be such, “as the stars of heaven in multitude” and “brightness,” coming, that is, from the seed of Abraham, God will order in the kingdom of heaven according to the order of the stars and of the parts of heaven, and will give to some a lot “toward the east,” to others “toward the west,” to others “toward the south,” and, those whom he himself knows, he will station “toward the north,” since indeed “many shall come from the east and the west,” from the four parts of the earth, “and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,” through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, “to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!” — HOMILIES ON Joshua 25.4

Joshua 21:41

Augustine of Hippo: The question of knowing how to interpret the following text of the Scripture is rightly presented, since Israel not only did not exterminate the people who owned the land of promise until the time of Joshua’s death, but it did not even manage to do so. later, although it did manage to defeat them and settle in the promised land. The text reads as follows: And the Lord granted to Israel all the land which he had sworn to give to his fathers. And they inherited it and lived in it. And the Lord granted them peace in all its confines, as he had sworn to his fathers. None of their enemies could resist them. The Lord gave all his enemies in his hands. Not one of all the good things that the Lord promised to the children of Israel failed. All were fulfilled. You have to consider all these things carefully. And, first of all, you have to know the territory of how many nations were promised to the Israelites. It seems that seven nations are surely mentioned frequently. In the Exodus we read like this: And the Lord said to Moses: “Go, get up from here, you and your people that you brought from the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: To your descendants I will give it to you. At the same time I will send my angel before you and drive out the Amorite and the Chaldee and the Perizzite and the Gegeseo and the Eveo and the Jebusite and the Canaanite.” (Exodus 33,1-3) It seems clear, therefore, that God promised the patriarchs the land of these seven nations. In Deuteronomy it is written even more clearly: If you approach a city to attack it, you will propose peace. If you respond with peace and open the doors, all the people who are in the city will be tributary to you and obey you. But if they do not obey you and make war, then you will besiege them and the Lord your God will deliver them into your hands and kill all their males at the edge of the sword. To the women and to the objects and to all the cattle and all the things that there are in the city, and all the utensils you will take them as booty. And you shall eat all the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God gives you. So you will do to all the cities that are far away from you, that do not belong to the cities of these nations. But as for these cities whose land the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you will not leave anyone alive, but you will consecrate them to the anathema: to the Chalth and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Uvean and the Jebusite and the Girgash, as the Lord your God commanded you. Here, too, it is clear that the land of these seven nations was promised as an inheritance to the Israelites, who would possess it, once these peoples were defeated and exterminated. As for the other nations that were farther away, outside the confines of these, the Lord wanted them to become tributaries of Israel if they did not resist. But if they opposed it, they too would be slaughtered and exterminated, except for the cattle and other things that could serve as loot. In another passage of Deuteronomy this text is also read: And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land where thou shalt come in to inherit it, and have cast out of thy presence many great nations: the numbs and the gergesees and Amorites and Phoebeeans and Canaanites and Evens and Jebusites, seven nations greater and more numerous and stronger than you, and when the Lord your God hands them over to you and you defeat them, you will totally exterminate them. You shall not make a covenant with them, nor have compassion on them, nor shall you unite in marriage with them; you shall not give your daughter to her son or take her daughter for your son, (Deuteronomy 7,1-3) etc. Accordingly, these and other places in the Scriptures often show that the children of Israel took possession of the lands of these seven nations in such a way that they did not inhabit them with those who possessed them, but did so in their place. But in Genesis the offspring of Abraham are promised not only these seven nations, but eleven. The text reads as follows: On that day the Lord God signed an alliance with Abraham, saying: “To your descendants I will give this land from the river of Egypt to the Rio Grande, the Euphrates River: the Kenites and the Cenemzei and the Cheloneans and the Kettles and the Pharezites and the Rephaim and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Aeveans and the Girgashites and the Jebusites (Genesis 15,18-20). The question is resolved by saying that it preceded this prophecy, according to which, Solomon would extend and expand the kingdom to those limits. The Scripture says thus about Solomon: And all that Solomon had set up to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion: all the people that were left of the high places and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, whose descendants had remained with them in the country, to whom the children of Israel had not been able to deliver the anathema, Solomon submitted them to tribute to this day (1R 10,22 9,19-21). This is the rest of the peoples that had to be defeated and, according to the command of the Lord, totally exterminated; the rest that Salomón submitted to tribute and that, according to the precept of God, must certainly exterminate. These peoples, submitted, were under the control of Israel as tributaries. A little further on it reads: And he ruled over all the kings, from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the ends of Egypt (1R 10,26 4,21). This is where God’s prediction of Abraham in Genesis has been fulfilled, when he spoke to him and made his promise. From the River it is understood here from the Euphrates. Well, in those places you can perfectly understand what Rio Grande is without the need to add your own name. It can not be here of the Jordan, since the Israelites had already conquered lands, even before the reign of Solomon, not only on this side, but on the other side of this river. Then the Scripture, in the book of the Kings, says that the kingdom of Solomon extended from the Euphrates River, on the eastern side, to the confines of Egypt, from the western part. Therefore, at that time a territory greater than that occupied by those seven nations was subject. And for that, they were then subjected to slavery not seven, but eleven nations. What is said in the books of the Kings: to the ends of Egypt from the river, to indicate the extension of the kingdom from east to west, this same thing is said in Genesis, to delimit that kingdom from the west to the east, with these words: from the river of Egypt to the Rio Grande, the Euphrates River (Genesis 15,18). The river of Egypt, which is the determining limit of the kingdom of Israel from Egypt, is not the Nile, but another small river, which passes through the city of Rinocorura, to the east of which the promised land already begins. Thus, the children of Israel had been commanded that, exterminated and destroyed these people, they would inhabit the lands of the seven nations and dominate to the Euphrates River, subjecting and making tributary the other nations. And even if they had not obeyed God in this, since some of the nations that had to exterminate were subject to tribute, nevertheless, God fulfilled in the time of Solomon what he had promised. Now, how can what we have committed ourselves to study in the book of Joshua Nave be true, namely: And the Lord gave Israel all the land which he had sworn to give to his fathers, and they possessed it? How did Joshua, even when he was still alive, give them all the land, when they had not even beaten the remains of those seven nations? What follows: And they possessed it, it is true, because there they were and there they had settled. What is added next: And the Lord gave them peace all around, as he had sworn to their fathers, it is true, because even Joshua still living, the remains of those nations did not move before them; on the contrary, none of them dared to provoke them with a war in the territories in which they had been established. That is why it was also said what comes next: None of all his enemies could resist before them. What is said next: but the Lord gave into his hands all his enemies, refers to the enemies who dared to make war. And what is said next: Not one of the good words that the Lord said to the children of Israel failed; all happened (Joshua 21,43-45 (41-43)), it means that, although the Israelites had acted against the Lord’s command, forgiving the lives of some of those seven nations and making them tributary, they were still intact among those people. Therefore, when it was said: of all the words it was added: good, because the established curses had not yet taken place for those who had despised and transgressed the Lord’s command. Ultimately, the following words: The Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give his parents, they must be understood in the sense that, although there were still among those nations remains that had to be destroyed and exterminated, and of the other nations that were up to the Euphrates River, or had to be subdued if they did not resist, or had to be exterminated if they opposed it, however, those nations remained in their function, as an occasion for exercise, lest they, weakened by the carnal affections and desires, could not endure moderately and healthily a great and sudden prosperity of temporary things and, proudly, perish more quickly, as will be duly demonstrated elsewhere. They were granted, then, all the land, because even the part that they had not yet conquered, had already been granted according to a certain test. — QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA, Q. 21 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Joshua 21:42

Augustine of Hippo: The Scripture says: None of all his enemies resisted before them. We ask how this can be true, when shortly before it was said of the tribe of Dan that their enemies were not allowed to go down into the valley and overcame them in the mountains (Cf Joshua 19,48 47). The answer is that here too we can understand this fact as we explain in discussing the twelve sons of Jacob, that the Scripture states that they were born in Mesopotamia, when Benjamin was not born there. Here the eleven tribes are considered as if they were all the people, in the way that we sufficiently know by other passages of the Scriptures. But if we look for the reason why this tribe did not get enough land in the lottery that was made and was bothered by the people who owned that land, we must admit that the explanation certainly lies in the secret counsel of God. But, when Jacob blessed his children, he said such things about Dan that some think that the antichrist (Cf Genesis 49,17) will come from this tribe. Therefore, we are not going to say more things now, since this question could also be resolved by saying that none of all their enemies resisted before them, when the tribes waged war all together under the command of a single leader, before the territories were divided. between the tribes, territories that each one had to defend on their own. — QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA, Q. 22 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)