Numbers

PREFACE

This book, both by the order of the history and by its mystery, is set in the fourth place in the law. By the order of the history, because in Leviticus, which is the third, there is treated of the furnishings of the tabernacle, and of the order of the Levites and of the sacrifice: but here there is treated of the dedication of the tabernacle, namely what the Levites, and what of the furnishings of the tabernacle, they ought to carry: by mystery this is shown. To keep watch about the tabernacle set down, as is said, by three tribes on each of the four sides: by which it is signified that the twelve apostles taught the faith of the holy Trinity throughout the fourfold world. But among figures too nothing is firmer than the square, and the perfection of a work of four is likewise commended. On the fourth day the lights were made, the fourth age under David was the most robust, the fourth age of man too is the strongest, only four were received who wrote the Gospels. Among the gifts of the Holy Spirit, fortitude; and among the penitential psalms, *Have mercy upon me, O God,* is the fourth, in which there is treated of humility (through which we are strong). Among the names of the Lord the fourth is strong; there go before wonderful, counsellor, God; there follows Father of the world to come, prince of peace, and the like. In this book too the fortitude of those who are numbered is shown, since those who by age and by strength are fit for war are commanded to be numbered. It is called the book of Numbers, because in it the Israelites are numbered; partly from that, and partly because of the stations from Rameses as far as the Jordan. But *because all these things happened to them in figure*, and the law was a shadow of things to come, the history is so to be read that the allegory be not lost. The Israelites alone were numbered, not the proselytes and the strangers who were among them: yet not all of them, because neither boys nor women, but only the men who were fit for war. For indeed those estranged from God by the filthiness of the Gentiles, or by Jewish cruelty, or even Christians having a boyish levity or a womanish softness, are not numbered among the sons of God. They were not numbered in Egypt, but after they had passed the Red Sea, after the pillar of fire, in the station beside Mount Sinai: because those remaining in the darkness of sins are not God's, but those cleansed by baptism and armed by the imposition of the hand. The stations are with reason reckoned twelve, from the first, which was at Rameses, as far as the Jordan, that by this it may be signified that we ascend into heaven by as many steps of the virtues as the generations by which Christ came down from Abraham to Mary. The intention of Moses in this work is to designate the Christian people and its advance, and its ascent from earth into heaven, by Israel and by the twelve stations. For by Israel the people of Christ is signified, by the progress of the stations the advance of the virtues. The order of the book is this: first he places the leaders of the people, and the people numbered about the tabernacle, in a square. The Levites, exempted from the numbering, he appoints to the ministry of the tabernacle: then the tabernacle is dedicated, and the manner of the oblations, and the catalogue of the stations, is reckoned. Then the prophecy of Balaam is brought in by king Balac to curse the people of God. At the end six cities are appointed, three beyond and three on this side of the Jordan, to which he might flee who unwillingly shed the blood of his neighbour. The Levites, keeping watch between the tabernacle and the rest of the sons of Israel, divided into Amramites on the east, Caathites on the south, Gersonites on the west, and Merarites on the north, signify the prelates of the Church, who are in the middle between the ministers of the tabernacle, for whom they provide in temporal things, and the laity, over whom they preside in spiritual things. The Amramites, that is, Moses and Aaron and their sons, look upon and wrap up the more secret things of the tabernacle; and bringing in the Caathites, they give them the wrapped things to be carried on their own shoulders, that they may not die by seeing them. For the mysteries of the Church are not to be published abroad save to the chief men, that is, to Moses and Aaron, because the weak are scandalized thereby. Whence also the book of the Gospel is carried open for the priest and the deacon, but closed for the rest. But the Gersonites and the Merarites, who are less worthy than the Caathites, carry their burdens not on their own shoulders, but with oxen and waggons. Because he who will come after me, let him follow me, as it were through death. And the more a man wills it, the greater the persecution. *You shall bless the children of Israel, and shall say,* etc. From this place is taken the blessing which the bishop makes. The two fingers which are raised joined together signify the law and the priesthood, which are understood by Moses and Aaron. The three verses which follow contain that threefold petition which is made in the words of the bishop. There is asked the grace of the Holy Spirit, true salvation, eternal peace. Then follows the distinction of the persons, always in these words: *Which may he vouchsafe to grant who liveth with the Father and the Holy Spirit,* etc. At the dedication of the tabernacle gifts were offered by the chief men for the use of the same and for the support of the Levites, which is done today when any church is dedicated. Just as also by the custom of laymen, when a woman is betrothed to a man, many gifts are offered: and the Lord granted vessels of silver to the children of Israel in Egypt on the day when he brought them out. And after the Red Sea he did not lead them at once by the straight way against their enemies, lest being terrified they should go back, but round about; then he commanded All things were cautiously provided for. For to those entering into the Church her comeliness must first be shown, that she may be desired; not her wretchedness, that she may be feared. Not all are worthy of the divine numbers, etc., *as far as* he called the hairs of the head. Let us consider this also, etc., *as far as* and then at the command of God the people is brought to the number. See therefore how much thou must pass through, how much thou must endure, with how many advances, how many temptations, how many battles thou must fight, how much thou must conquer, that thou mayest belong to the divine number, and be numbered among the holy tribes, and be able to be visited, and be enrolled in the censuses of the numbers by God's priests Aaron and Moses. Thou must first take up the law of God, the law of his Spirit; there must be offered sacrifices, purifications must be fulfilled, all things must be performed which the spirit teaches. The reckoning also of the tribes, the distinction of the orders, the fellowship of the families, etc., *as far as* and there will be orders of this kind in the resurrection of the dead, which are figured in this book. This also, that by a certain connection of the tribes the position of the camps and the order of the measuring out is described, signifies some state in the resurrection of the dead. That three are placed to the east, three to the west, three to the south, and the last three to the north, which is called a harsh wind; that also the tribe of Juda, which is the royal one, is set to the east, from which the Lord arose, I do not think idle: nor that Issachar is joined to it, and Zabulon, nor that this threefold number is arranged into four parts. Which, although they have diverse qualities of their positions, are yet all contained within the number of the Trinity: and what is gathered through all these four parts into one number is always the same Trinity, because, namely, under the one name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit are reckoned all who, coming from the four parts of the world, call upon the name of the Lord, sitting down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. These things we have said in general, wishing briefly to comprehend the mystical content of this book: and, the occasion once taken up, let each one pursue in the rest a like image, or, if God reveal more to any, a higher one. For I truly judge myself unequal to the setting forth of the mysteries of the book of Numbers, and much more inferior to those which the volume of Deuteronomy concludes. The Fathers show the book of Numbers wrapped in a manifold obscurity of mysteries. For there the number of the children of Israel is mystically described, and the camps of the several tribes are placed about the tabernacle of the testimony after the form of the Church. There is the distribution of the Levites unto the ministry, and the oblation of the princes according to the fitness of the sacraments. At last the catalogue of all the stations from Egypt as far as the land of promise is numbered, that it may be shown how we, having gone forth from a spiritual Egypt, hasten through the Red Sea and the desert of the present world to the fatherland promised in the heavens. Near the end of Exodus it is written, etc., *as far as* because he gives the law for the instruction of believers, that is, of spiritual Israelites. It is called the book of Numbers, etc., *as far as* which the grace of the Holy Spirit, flowing with a full flood, has overflowed. The first station is, etc., *as far as* and holding staves in their hands. The second station, etc., *as far as* and that we must hasten to the holy land of the living. The third station, etc., *as far as* that with [such] leaders we may come to the land of promise. The fourth station, etc., *as far as* Mary leading the song upon timbrels. The fifth is, etc., *as far as* that sweetness may again be made good. The sixth is a station, etc., *as far as* leaders of the sheep, teachers of the Gentiles. The seventh station is, etc., *as far as* and that past perils be set before the eyes. The eighth, etc., *as far as* we earn the great hatred of the enemy. The ninth, etc., *as far as* we begin to knock at the sacraments. The tenth, etc., *as far as* the bread of angels is eaten. The eleventh, etc., *as far as* The rest will be more fitly expounded in their own places.