Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 35-36 and Origen's De Principiis: Book Two 1-2

Numbers 35 - Cities are set aside for the Levites who have no allotment of land.  Six cities are established as cities of asylum where homicides can take refuge.  In addition there are 42 other cities together with pastureland.  The land is to be ceded by the other tribes in accordance with the size of their respective allotments. The deal with the cities of asylum is that homicides shall not be subject to blood vengeance (by the family of the victim) “unless he is first tried before the community” (35:12).  Not only Israelites, but aliens and transients are also allowed to take refuge there.

The chapter then goes on to discuss the differentiation of crimes.  In general if a person kills another with a deadly weapon an avenger of blood (presumably a relative) may put the perpetrator to death on sight.  Likewise if a person accidentally kills another person he has planned to injure (but not kill) he may be killed on sight.  But if a man accidentally causes another’s death and there is no enmity then the community shall decide the case in accordance with certain principles: he shall be taken to the city of refuge and stay there until the death of the high pries.  If the homicide leaves the city on his own accord and is found by the avenger, he may be killed.  

Only after the death of the high priest (?) may the homicide leave without fear.  The evidence of one witness is insufficient for putting any person to death.  And no money payment shall be permitted to suffice as a punishment for a murder.  The perpetrator must be put to death.  “Since bloodshed desecrates the land, the land can have no atonement for the blood shed on it except through the blood of him who shed it” (35:33).

        

Numbers 36 - This chapter deals with the need to sort out how land bequeathed to women is to be handled when they marry. Moses settles it by requiring such heiresses to marry someone belonging to a clan of her ancestral tribe so that the heritage will stay with the tribe. This basically nullifies what was decided in 27 since women who inherit property must marry within the clan of their ancestors.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Book II - On Christ

1 – “In the first place, we must note that the nature of that deity which is in Christ in respect of His being the only-begotten Son of God is one thing, and that human nature which He assumed in these last times for the purposes of the dispensation (of grace) is another.”

He is called by various names: “He is termed Wisdom, according to the expression of Solomon: ‘The Lord created me—the beginning of His ways, and among His works, before He made any other thing; He founded me before the ages. In the beginning, before He formed the earth, before He brought forth the fountains of waters, before the mountains were made strong, before all the hills, He brought me forth.’” [Proverbs 8:22-25]

Paul calls Him the “first-born of every creature” in Colossians 1:15 and in 1 Corinthians 1:24, “the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

2 – We in no way mean to imagine in as anything “impersonal” by calling him God’s “Wisdom” – The “only-begotten Son of God is His wisdom hypostatically existing . . .” [substance or essence underlying all reality].

“Wherefore we have always held that God is the Father of His only-begotten Son, who was born indeed of Him, and derives from Him what He is, but without any beginning, not only such as may be measured by any divisions of time, but even that which the mind alone can contemplate within itself, or behold, so to speak, with the naked powers of the understanding. And therefore we must believe that Wisdom was generated before any beginning that can be either comprehended or expressed.”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 33-34 and Origen's De Principiis: Book One: 8-9

Numbers 33 - Recounts in detail the route the Israelites take into the Promised Land and the division of that land: Egypt to Sinai (42 stations in all).

Sinai to Kadesh; then Mt. Hor to Ezion-geber; and finally, Ezion-geber to the Plains of Moab.   Moses tells the people when they enter the lands the Lord is giving them and destroy the stone figures and images of the people whose land they will be taking.  “[I]f you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them (33:55-56).

Numbers 34 - The boundaries of the land are to run on the south along the border of Edom and run up the east beginning at the Salt Sea.  The western boundary will be the Mediterranean, or Great Sea and on the north a line from the Great Sea to Mt. Hor and onward touching upon several other northern points not shown on the map.

Eleazar and Joshua are to divide the land among the tribes of Israel. The leaders of the tribes are named.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Book One

8 – For those who seek to be instructed by the Holy Scriptures, Origen points out what the Scripture says about how we are to understand the “nature of Christ. Citing Colossians 1:15, he quotes Paul saying “’He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature.’” The New Living Translation is even better for Origen’s purposes: “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.”

Origen insists it is not the “nature of God” that is visible in Christ. He would argue that God is simply not “visible” – not even to His only Begotten Son. There is a difference between being seen and being “known.” “It is one thing to see, and another to know: to see and to be seen is a property of bodies; to know and to be known, an attribute of intellectual being. Whatever, therefore, is a property of bodies, cannot be predicated wither of the Father or of the Son; but what belongs to the nature of deity is common to the Father and the Son. Finally, even He Himself, in the Gospel, did not say that no one has seen the Father, save the Son, nor any one the Son, save the Father; but His words are: ‘No one knoweth the Son, save the Father; nor any one the Father, save the Son.’”

9 – “Here, if anyone lay before us the passage where it is said, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,’ from that very passage, in my opinion, will our position derive additional strength; for what else is seeing God in heart, but, according to our exposition as above, understanding and knowing Him with the mind? For the names of the organs of sense are frequently applied to the soul, so that it may be said to see with the eyes of the heart, i.e., to perform an intellectual act by means of the power of intelligence.”

“By this divine sense, therefore, not of the eyes, but of a pure heart, which is the mind, God may be seen by those who are worthy. For you will certainly find in all the Scriptures, both old and new, the term ‘heart’ repeatedly used instead of ‘mind,’ i.e. intellectual power. In this manner, therefor, although far below the dignity of the subject, have we spoken of the nature of God, as those who understand it under the limitation of the human understanding. In the next place, let us see that is meant by the name of Christ.”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 31-32 and Origen's De Principiis: Book One - 6-7

Numbers 31 - Twelve thousand men, 1000 from each of the tribes, are sent out by Moses to attack the Midianites and execute vengeance upon them in the name of the Lord.  Phinehas is the priest of the campaign. 

Every male is killed, plus five kings, and Balaam--women and children are taken captive along with other booty.  They are taken to Moses at his camp on the plains of Moab.  Moses becomes angry with the officers for their having spared the lives of the women, “the very ones who on Balaam’s advice prompted the unfaithfulness of the Israelites toward the Lord in the Peor affair, which began the slaughter of the Lord’s community” (31:16). As a result, all the male children and all women not virgins are also slain. It doesn’t get much grimmer than this in the Old Testament narrative.

Then the Israelites are instructed on purifying themselves, their clothes and all their tools, weapons etc.  Whatever can stand the fire is to be purified in the fire.  Whatever cannot be purified by burning is purified in lustral water.  These are the constant modes of purification throughout the scriptures. The booty is divided and a tax levied on the warriors’ share.  One out of every 500 people, beasts, oxen, etc. are offered to Eleazar as a contribution to God.

Numbers 32 - In this chapter, the Gadites and Reubenites request Moses to permit them to stay on the east side of the Jordan where the grazing land is good. [They were shepherds] At first Moses rebukes them for discouraging the people from going over into the land God has given them.  But then it is proposed that they just leave their families here but the men will continue on to help the people as a whole claim the land and they promise not to return until all the Israelites are in possession of the promised land.  So Moses agrees.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Book One

6 – Origen makes another comparison. “Our eyes frequently cannot look upon the nature of the light itself—that is, upon the substance of the sun; but when we behold his splendor or his rays pouring in, perhaps, through windows or some small openings to admit the light, we can reflect how great is the supply and source of the light of the body. So, in like manner, the works of Divine Providence and the plan of this whole world are a sort of ray, as it were, of the nature of God, in comparison with His real substance and being. As, therefore, our understanding is unable of itself to behold God Himself as He is, it knows the Father of the world from the beauty of His works and the comeliness of His creatures. God, therefore, in not to be thought of as being either a body or as existing in a body, but as an uncompounded intellectual nature . . . mind, for its movements or operations, needs no physical space, nor sensible magnitude, nor bodily shape, nor color, nor any other of those adjuncts which are the properties of body or matter.”

He refers to the “simplicity of the divine nature” – uncomplicated by any mix of matter or components of any kind.

7 – Origen delves thoroughly into his analysis of the nature of “the mind.”  We are still at a loss to explain the powers and special qualities of the human mind. It will be very interesting to see what comes of the recent initiative to study the human brain in a manner as thorough as our study of human DNA. Origen would have a problem embedding “mind” in the brain; but my sense of its rootedness in the brain is not something that will undermine the tenets of Christianity as I see them. Christ’s incarnation itself is a testimony to the union of physical and divine.

“I wish [those who see mind and soul as somehow “bodily”] would tell me . . . how it receives reasons and assertions on subjects of such importance—of such difficulty and such subtlety? Whence does it derive the power of memory? And whence comes the contemplation of invisible things? How does the body possess the faculty of understanding incorporeal existences? . . . How is it able to perceive and understand divine truths, which are manifestly incorporeal?”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 29-30 and Origen's De Principiis: Book One - 3-5

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Numbers 29 - Continuing on with this reprise of the sacrificial offerings throughout the year:

·      New Years Day--a sacred assembly, no work and the trumpet shall be sounded.  The offerings shall consist of one bullock, one ram and seven lambs with cereal and libations; plus the sin offering, this all in addition to the New Moon and Daily Offerings.

·      The Day of Atonement--there shall be a sacred assembly and no work.  The people shall “mortify themselves” and offer one bullock, one ram, seven lambs etc. and one goat, the sin offering.

·      The Feast of Booths—the most popular of feasts--a sacred assembly and no work.  Then for seven days celebrate a pilgrimage feast, offering thirteen bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs and cereal offerings plus the one goat.  On the second day twelve bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs and one goat shall be offered together with cereal and libations.  On the fourth day and each day thereafter the offerings shall be the same except that the number of bullocks shall decrease by one each day, continuing until the seventh day.  On the eighth day, there shall be a solemn meeting and one bullock, one ram, seven lambs and one goat.

Numbers 30 - Moses continues giving instructions especially with respect to vows and oaths.  The chapter emphasizes the sanctity of a man’s oath. The other focus concerns the oaths of women--while a woman is in her father’s household or married, her father or husband may by his disapproval of any vow or oath she has made, release her from it without incurring the displeasure of the Lord.  But if a woman is on her own, a widow or independent of her father’s household, she has capacity to bind herself as a man may.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Book One

3 – Many saints “participate in the Holy Spirit,” a “sanctifying power, in which all are said to have a share who have deserved to be sanctified by His grace.” Origen is a proponent of seeing faith proven by “works.”

Origen compares participation in the Holy Spirit with participation in a science, discipline or art like medicine. Those who are part of some “art” like this cannot be thought of as “a body” – it is more like a “communion” in an intellectual realm that “subsists and exists in a peculiar [unique?] manner. . .”

4 – Origen then turns to how the Gospel uses the term “Spirit.” “We find, without any doubt, that He [Jesus] spoke these words to the Samaritan woman, saying to her, who thought, agreeably to the Samaritan view, that God ought to be worshipped on Mount Gerizim, that ‘God is a Spirit.’ For the Samaritan woman, believing Him to be a Jew, was inquiring of Him whether God ought to be worshipped in Jerusalem or on this mountain; and her words were, ‘All our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship.’ To this opinion of the Samaritan woman . . . the Savior answered that he who would follow the Lord must lay aside all preference for particular places, and thus expressed Himself: ‘The hour is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain shall the true worshippers worship the Father. God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.’ . . . He called God a Spirit, that He might distinguish Him from bodies; and He named Him the truth, to distinguish Him from a shadow or an image.”

5 – Having put to rest the notion that God might be conceived of as some kind of “body,” he says, “God is incomprehensible, and incapable of being measured. For whatever be the knowledge which we are able to obtain of God, either by perception or reflection, we must of necessity believe that He is by many degrees far better than what we perceive Him to be.”

It is the same as if a person’s eyes were particular sensitive to light and were not able to even look at a small spark, were then forced to look up at the sun. “So our understanding, when shut in by the fetters of flesh and blood, and rendered, on account of its participation in such material substance, duller and more obtuse, although, in comparison with our bodily nature, it is esteemed to be far superior, yet, in its efforts to examine and behold incorporeal things, scarcely holds the place of a spark or lamp. But among all intelligent, that is, incorporeal beings, what is so superior to all others—so unspeakably and incalculably superior—as God, whose nature cannot be grasped or seen by the power of any human understanding, even the purest and brightest?”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 27-28 and Origen's De Principiis: Book One - 1-2

Numbers 27 – The question arises what to do with the portion of property belonging to a family if no son is left, but there are daughters.  Moses consults the Lord and He tells Moses their cause is just.  Daughters should be able to inherit if there are no sons.  If there are no daughters, the land should go to the man’s brothers or to his father’s brothers or the nearest relative in the clan.

The Lord sends Moses up into the Abarim Mountains (east of the Jordan) to view the land the Lord is giving to the people before he dies. Moses will not be permitted to enter “because in the rebellion of the community in the desert of Zin, both he and Aaron rebelled against my order to manifest my sanctity to them by means of the water” (27:14). Moses says, “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all mankind, set over the community a man who shall act as their leader in all things, to guide them in all their actions; that the Lord’s community may not be like sheep without a shepherd” (27:16-17). Joshua shall be that man for now. Moses “commissions” him by laying his hand on him: “Invest him with some of your own dignity, that the whole Israelite community may obey him” (27:20).

Numbers 28 - The Lord again outlines for the people the various offerings that they must present to the Lord:

·      The Daily (Tamid) Holocaust--a young unblemished yearling lamb each morning and each evening, each with a cereal offering and a libation of wine.

·      On the Sabbath--an additional lamb offered each morning and evening (I think)

·      The New Moon Feast--first of each month, two bullocks, one ram and seven unblemished yearling lambs with cereal and libations to go along.  In addition, one goat shall be offered as a sin offering.  These all are in addition to the daily offerings. Schocken editors point out that this is a new feast, not in Leviticus 23.

·      At Passover--for seven days eat unleavened bread.  On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no work.  Offer a holocaust of two bullocks, one ram and seven yearling lams together with cereal offerings and libations.  And offer one goat as a sin offering.  On the seventh day also you shall hold a sacred assembly and do no work..

·      At Pentecost (the fiftieth day after Passover)--the day of first fruits (or feast of weeks), offer two bullocks, one ram and seven yearling lambs, etc., and one goat as a sin offering as before.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Book One

1 – On God – He says that some say “God is a body, because in the writings of Moses they find it said, the ‘our God is a consuming fire;’ and in the Gospel according to John, that ‘God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.’ Fire and spirit, according to them, are to be regarded as nothing else than a body.”

But he wonders what such people would say about the words from John that say “’God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.’ Truly He is that light which illuminates the whole understanding of those who are capable or receiving truth, as is said in the thirty-sixth Psalm, ‘In Thy light we shall see light.’ For what other light of God can be named, ‘in which anyone sees light,’ save an influence of God, by which a man, being enlightened, either thoroughly sees the truth of all things, or comes to know God Himself, which is called the truth? Such is the meaning of the expression, ‘In Thy light we shall see light;’ i.e., in Thy word and wisdom which is Thy Son, in Himself we shall see Thee the Father.”  Just because He is called “light” doesn’t mean that He is like the sun. One cannot obtain knowledge or understanding of the truth from any kind of corporeal source of light.

2 – If it is true that God “cannot be understood to be a body in the sense that light is, similar reasoning will hold true of the expression ‘a consuming fire.’” But while God cannot be understood as a reality which consumes material substances, God does “consume evil thoughts, wicked actions, and sinful desires, when they find their way into the minds of believers; and that, inhabiting along with His Son those souls which are rendered capable of receiving His word and wisdom . . .  He makes them, after all their vices and passions have been consumed, a holy temple, worthy of Himself.”

Similarly the Scriptures do not use the term “Spirit” in any corporeal way. I take it here he means that Spirit is not to be conceived of as something “ghost-like.” It is just the opposite.

“The apostle . .  says, ‘Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.: nevertheless, when it [their heart] shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’ [citing 2 Cor. 3:15] For so long as anyone is not converted to a spiritual understanding, Scripture itself is said or thought to be covered.”

“But if we turn to the Lord, where also is the word of God, and where the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual knowledge, then the veil is taken away, and with unveiled face we shall behold the glory of the Lord in the Holy Scriptures.”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 23-24 and Origen's De Principiis: Preface 7-8

Numbers 23 – Balaam tells King Balak of Moab to build seven altars and to prepare seven bulls and seven rams for sacrifice on the altars.  Then he goes off to consult the Lord. 

When he returns, he delivers the following oracle: King Balak has called him to come and curse Israel, but “How can I curse whom God has not cursed?” (23:8) “Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!” (23:10) He can’t do it.

King Balak takes him to where he can see only part of them, and asks him to curse “part of them” (23:13). Again they do the altars and sacrifices, and again Balaam goes off to consult God. God tells him to tell Balak that the people of Israel are “rising up like a lioness, and rousing itself like a lion! It does not lie down until it has eaten the prey and drunk the blood of the slain” (23:24). 

This seems like what God is saying is that the people of Israel, a new nation, is full of energy and vigor and will not be stopped until it has established itself—even if such establishment requires the blood of the slain.  Balak asks him not to curse them or bless them, but again Balaam tells him only the Lord can tell him what to say (23:26). Again they move, this time to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.  Again they set up altars and again Balaam goes to consult God.

Numbers 24 – This time, Balaam does not go somewhere away to seek an oracle.  He looks out over the camp of the Israelites and sees through the Spirit of God that the people of Israel are blessed of the Lord.  Balaam is described as “the man whose eye is true, . . . one who hears what God says, and knows what the Most High knows” (24:3-4).

This man gives the following oracle: “How goodly are your tents, O Jacob; your encampments, O Israel! They are like gardens beside a stream, like the cedars planted by the Lord. His wills shall yield free-flowing waters, he shall have the sea within reach; His king shall rise higher than [illegible] and his royalty shall be exalted.  It is God who brought him out of Egypt, a wild bull of towering might.  He shall devour the nations like grass, their bones he shall strip bare.  He lies crouching like a lion, or like a lioness; who shall arouse him? Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.”

Balaam is testimony to the generosity of the Lord to bless all those who are attentive and obedient to the will of the Most High.  He will give them the spirit of wisdom and open himself to him.

The next oracle Balaam delivers, some of the church fathers have seen as prophetic.  Balaam’s words include the following: “I see him though not now; I behold him, though not near: a star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel” (24:17). He recounts all the peoples who have inhabited the lands Israel will take—Amalekites, Kenites, Ishmaelites—and then Balaam leaves as does Balak.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Preface

7 – The Church believes that “the world was made and took its beginning at a certain time, and is to be destroyed on account of its wickedness. But what existed before this world, or what will exist after it, has not become certainly known.” There is no clear teaching about this.

8 – As for the Scriptures, the Church teaches that they “were written by the Spirit of God, and have a meaning, not such only as is apparent at first sight, but also another, which escapes the notice of most. For those (words), which are written are the forms of certain mysteries [sacramentorum], and the images of divine things. Respecting which there is one opinion throughout the whole Church, that the whole law is indeed spiritual; but that the spiritual meaning which the law conveys is not known to all, but to those only on whom the grace of the Holy Spirit is bestowed in the word of wisdom and knowledge.”

The term “incorporeal” is not well used in many writings, and even in our Scriptures. He makes reference to its having come from a text called The Doctrine of Peter. He reminds us that this is not a work included with the authoritative books Christians use. We do not know for sure who wrote it.

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 22 and Origen's De Principiis: Preface 5-6

Numbers 22 - The Israelites camp on the plains of Moab, across the Dead Sea from Jericho.  Balak, son of Zippor (a name very like Moses’ wife, Zipporah), is the king of Moab. He is afraid of the Israelites and sends elders from Moab and Midian to Balaam of Pethor on the Euphrates. 

Balaam is a pagan prophet known for his occult powers. He is asked by Balak to come and curse the intruders.  Now God Himself comes to Balaam (at night so perhaps in a dream) and warns him not to interfere with these people for they are blessed. The next day Balaam tells the messengers from Balak that he cannot return with them.  King Balak does not give up, however.  He sends more important messengers to offer a great reward to Balaam if he comes.  This time God tells him he may go but only if he does just as God directs.  In the next paragraph we are told that God becomes angry with Balaam but it is not clear why.  The traditional interpretation is that Balaam did not follow the Lord’s direction but succumbed to the temptation to take the riches in return for his powers. [In the letters of Jude and 2 Pet, this is the reason they give for God’s displeasure at Balaam]

On the road, Balaam’s ass sees the angel of the Lord with a sword drawn, and leaves the path--Balaam beats her.  This happens three times each time the path becomes narrower and the movement off less noticeable.  Then the Lord allows the ass to speak to her master and she asks him why he is beating her.  Then his “eyes are opened” and he too sees the angel in the middle of the road armed with a sword.  So he finally gets on course again and arrives in Moab where Balak is annoyed he took so long.  Balaam tells him he can only say what the Lord puts in his mouth. 

This story is interesting for a number of reasons, the main one being that here again we see example of a non-Jewish king with a powerful connection to the Lord.  He is generally obedient and responsive to the correction of the Lord when he is tempted by riches to leave the path.  So he represents the capacity of those who are outside the promise to understand at least that God favors these gathered people and they should be allowed to follow the Lord.  Presumably for the entire stretch of history before Christ there were people of all nations who could in some measure see and respect the presence of God and the working of God around them even though the work did not directly relate to them.  As God gathered the Jews he is patiently building a redemptive possibility through historical events that will ultimately be opened to all men.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Preface

5 – On the soul, the apostolic teaching is “that the soul, having a substance and life of its own, shall, after its departure from the world be rewarded according to its deserts being destined to obtain either an inheritance of eternal life and blessedness if its actions shall have procured this for it or to be delivered up to eternal fire and punishments if the guilt of its crimes shall have brought it down to this: and also that there is to be a time of resurrection from the dead, when this body which now ‘is sown in corruption shall rise in incorruption,’ . . . “

“This also is clearly defined in the teaching of the Church, that every rational soul is possessed of free-will and volition; that it has a struggle to maintain with the devil and his angels and opposing influences because they strive to burden it with sins; but if we live rightly and wisely we should endeavor to shake ourselves free of a burden of that kind.” We do not believe that we are “subject to necessity so as to be compelled . . . even against our will, to do either good or evil.” There may indeed be things that “influence” us to do one or the other, but our will is not bound by those influences.

He goes on to deny that the “stars” are any “cause of human actions.” And there are details about the nature of the soul that are NOT subjects, which the Church claims clarity on.

6 – Regarding the devil and the angels with him, the Church does say that “these beings exist. . . but what they are, or how they exist, it has not explained with sufficient clearness.” The opinion most Christians have, however, is that the devil, having become “apostate” (rebellious), did “induce” other angels to fall away with him, and these beings are still called angels.

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 21 and Origen's De Principiis: Preface 4

Numbers 21 – The king of Arad, just west of the Dead Sea in the Negeb, comes out to fight the Israelites and takes some captive. Verse 3 refers to a vague later time when the Lord will deliver them up to the Israelites but that time is not now apparently.

They set out on the Red Sea road to bypass Edom; and again the people grumble against God and Moses – this time about the wretched food. The Lord sends saraph [burning] serpents to punish them, and they repent and ask Moses to get rid of the snakes.

He is told by the Lord to make a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole.  Anyone bitten by a saraph after that can just look at it and be healed John later refers to this and compares it to the cross on which Jesus was lifted up – John 3:14]. And Justin Martyr also celebrated this as a foreshadowing of Christ’s presence on the cross – one of a multitude of “types” that could be found in the Old Testament.

They do move into the country of Edom, to a place called Oboth and then to the southern border of Edom.  The story does not recount the journey to Aqaba shown on the map.  They pass without event through the land of Moab and come to Sihon, land of the Amorites.  They ask permission to pass through peacefully, but Sihon, the king, comes out to fight them.  They beat him and then also the king of Bashan

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Preface

4 – The things that are CLEAR in the teaching of the apostles are the following:

First, “That there is one God, who created and arranged all things, and who, when nothing existed, called all things into being—God from the first creation and foundation of the world—the God of all just men, of Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noe [Noah], Sere, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, and the prophets; and that this God in the last days as He had announced beforehand by His prophets, sent our Lord Jesus Christ to call in the first place Israel to Himself, and in the second place the Gentiles, after the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel.”

Second, “That Jesus Christ Himself, who came (into the world), was born of the Father before all creatures; that after He had been the servant of the Father in the creation of all things. . . He in the last times, divesting Himself (of His glory), became a man, and was incarnate although God, and while made a man remained the God which He was; that He assumed a body like to our own, differing in this respect only, that it was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit: that this Jesus Christ was truly born, and did truly suffer and did not endure this death common (to man) in appearance only, but did truly die; that He did truly rise from the dead; and that after His resurrection He conversed with His disciples, and was taken up (into heaven).”

And third: The “apostles related that the Holy Spirit was associated in honor and dignity with the Father and the Son. But in His case it is not clearly distinguished whether He is to be regarded as born or innate, or also as a Son of God or not: for these are points which have to be inquired into out of sacred Scripture according to the best of our ability, and which demand careful investigation. And that this Spirit inspired each one of the saints, whether prophets or apostles; and that there was not one Spirit in the men of the Old dispensation and another in those who were inspired at the advent of Christ, is most clearly taught throughout the Churches.”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Numbers 20 and Origen's De Principiis: Preface 2-3

Numbers 20 – The people arrive at Kadesh in the desert of Zin, southwest of the Dead Sea.  Here Miriam dies. But the focus of the chapter is on another rebellion, this time over the lack of water at Kadesh. When Moses consults the Lord, He tells Moses to order water to issue from a rock to satisfy the people.  When Moses does this he strikes the rock twice and orders it to yield the promised water, saying, “Listen to me, you rebels!  Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?”  (20:10) 

Though the offense eludes me, the Lord is displeased with Moses and Aaron, in how they do what He has asked them to do. The Lord punishes Moses and Aaron by telling them they will not be permitted to enter into the Promised Land.

Now I have trouble understanding this story. Nothing Moses does or says seems to justify the anger of the Lord towards him or Aaron.  Moses, in this scene, says something and does something.  What he says is mysterious.  He sounds annoyed as well he might be.  He puts his order cryptically in the form of a question.  Is there an element of doubt that the promise will be kept?  Should he have attributed the giving of the water to the great mercy of God rather than seeming to take credit for himself and Aaron for this display of saving power?  He says nothing of God nor does he do what he usually does, namely remind the people of God’s constant care and their obligation to be faithful. 

What he does has been made much of.  He strikes the rock, not once but twice.  Presumably he could have simply ordered the rock to issue the water in God’s name.  He might have struck the rock only once.  The second blow is not emphasized at all in the account, so the idea that God was angry because he struck twice does not seem convincing to me.   Using standard character analysis to the story, I am left thinking the most offensive of the things Moses did or said in the context of the entire narrative is to omit attribution of the gift to God.  By all that he says and does in this scene, one would not guess that he is acting on the voice of God.  He seems to be acting on his own authority, forcing nature to give forth water and not in a spirit of rejoicing at the great care of God, but out of pique that one is force to put up with the never-ending complaints of these people.

Schocken’s contribution to the above mentioned issue is that it is the public nature of their failure that makes their failing serious. “The Bible consistently takes a stringent view of leadership: that leaders must be above reproach, and that they must not lose sight of the fact that it is God whom they represent” (754).

The chapter goes on with Moses’ efforts to secure permission from the Edomites to pass along what is called “the royal road” through their country (20:17). But Edom refuses to give permission.  Israel is forced to make a lengthy detour.

The chapter ends with the death of Aaron - the deaths of Moses’ sister and brother thus bracket this entire chapter.  Aaron dies at Mt. Hor (Hormah), after being stripped of his priestly garments so they can be place on his son Eleazar.  He is mourned for thirty days.  In any case the chapter also tells of the deaths of both Miriam and Aaron, so now Moses is left all alone in his great responsibility. I suppose the lesson in the story is for those in authority over the people of God.  There is a great responsibility inherent in that role.  In everything they do to advance the work of the Lord they must remember to point continually to God.  They must never pretend that salvation comes from their own efforts unsupported by the love and mercy of God.  There is no glory in serving the Lord, and the spirit of aggravation only keeps you from getting to the final goal.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Preface

2 – Origen acknowledges that many who profess to believe in Christ “differ from each other, not only in small and trifling matters but also on subjects of the highest importance. . . “ –things not only related to God, or Jesus or the Holy Spirit, but also things like “powers and holy virtues.” If people are thinking differently from their predecessors, it is important to resolve the teachings of the Church that have been “transmitted in orderly succession from the apostles” for they are the teachings which should be accepted as truth.

3 – “Now it taught to be known that the holy apostles, in preaching the faith of Christ, delivered themselves with the utmost clearness on certain points which they believed to be necessary to every one, even to those who seemed somewhat dull in the investigation of divine knowledge. It’s a little difficult to interpret the rest of this section, but I think he is saying that some apostles and some after them were keen in articulating how we are to understand things, others not so gifted. But he thinks the “more zealous of their successor, who should be lovers of wisdom, might have: subjects they could help elucidate in a way “to display the fruit of their talents. . .”