Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Joshua 19-21 and Origen's De Principiis: Book Three 7-8

Joshua 19 – Then the lots of Simeon (within the inheritance of Judah—13 towns there including Beersheba, Hormah and Ziglag, near the Negev); Zebulun (the plain of Jezreel, west of Mt. Tabor); Issachar (the town of Jezreel up to Mt. Tabor and including the towns of Shunem and Endor); Asher (22 towns from Megiddo up the coast of the Mediterranean to north of Tyre); Naphtali (Arabah north of Mt. Tabor up to just north of the river that flows north of Tyre) and Dan—they get land west of Benjamin’s land but when they lose it, they go north and take land at the source of the Jordan River.

Joshua 20 – The cities of refuge are appointed.  In these cities, men who kill without intent or by mistake can take refuge, explain their case to the elders there and remain until “there is a trial before the congregation, [and] until the death of the one who is high priest at the time: then the slayer may return home, to the town in which the deed was done” (20:6). The cities of refuge are Kedesh (Naphtali); Shechem (Ephraim); Hebron (Judah); Bezer (Reuben); Ramoth (Gad); and Golan (Manasseh).

Joshua 21 – The Levitical towns and pasturelands are also set aside: the Kohathites (descended from Aaron) get 13 towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon [Hebron—excepting the fields given to Caleb, Libnah, Jattir, Eshtemoa, Holon, Debir, Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh], and Benjamin [Gibeon, Geba, Anathoth, and Almon]and ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim [Shechem, Gezer, Kibzaim, and Beth-horon], Dan [Elteke, Gibbethon, Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon].and the half-tribe of Manasseh [Taanach, and Gath-rimmon]; the Gershonites got 13 towns from the tribes of Issachar [Kishion, Daberath, Jarmuth, and En-gannim], Asher [Mishal, Abdon, Helkath, and Rehob], Naphtali [Kedesh, Hammoth-dor, and Kartan]and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan [Golan, and Beeshterah]; and the Merarites get 12 towns from the tribes of Reuben [Bezer, Jahzah, Kedemoth, and Mephaath], Gad [Ramoth, Mahanaim, Heshbon, and Jazer] and Zebulun [Jokneam, Kartah, Dimnah, and Nahalal].

So they had peace. “Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass” (21:45).

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Chapter III – On the Holy Spirit

7 – But the words of Genesis, where it says “He breathed into [Adam’s] face the breath of life, and man became a living soul.’ . . . if this be understood as applying generally to all men, then all men have a share in God.”

But if we understand that reference as a reference to the Holy Spirit, because “Adam also is found to have prophesied of some things,” and prophesy is understood by Origen as emanating from the Holy Spirit, then “it may be taken [NOT] as of general application, but as confined to those who are saints.”

“In the Psalms also it is written: ‘Thou wilt renew the face of the earth;’ “ and this refers in Origen’s view to the Holy Spirit “because He will take up His dwelling, not in all men, nor in those who are flesh, but in those whose land has been renewed.”

In the New Testament, when Christ comes to the apostles after His resurrection, “when old things had . . . passed away, and all things had become new, . . . [He says] ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ This is doubtless what the Lord . . . meant to convey in the Gospel, when He said that new wine cannot be put into old bottles, but commanded that the bottles should be made new, i.e., that men should walk in newness of life, that they might receive the new wine, i.e., the newness of grace of the Holy Spirit.

And it is for the above line of reasoning that Origen thinks the words of the Gospel that set sins against the Holy Spirit in a separate category seem understandable: “[H]e who has committed a sin against the Son of Man is deserving of forgiveness; because if he who is a participator of the Word or reason of God cease to live agreeably to reason, he seems to have fallen into a state of ignorance or folly, and therefore to deserve forgiveness; whereas he who has been deemed worthy to have a portion of the Holy Spirit, and who has relapsed, is, by this very act and work, said to be guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”

Interesting “take” on the Trinity here – understood philosophically rather than narratively:

“There is . . . a special working of God the Father, besides that by which He bestowed upon all things the gift of natural life. There is also a special ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to those upon whom he confers by nature the gift of reason, by means of which they are enabled to be rightly what they are. There is also another grace of the Holy Spirit, which is bestowed upon the deserving, through the ministry of Christ and the working of the Father, in proportion to the merits of those who are rendered capable of receiving it. This is most clearly pointed out by the Apostle Paul, when demonstrating that the power of the Trinity is one and the same, in the words, ‘There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operation, but it is the same God who worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.’”

8 – So Origen sees the Trinity as the source of everything that brings “salvation” to mankind: “God the Father bestows upon all, existence; and participation in Christ, in respect of His being the word of reason, renders them rational beings. From which it follows that they are deserving either of praise or blame, because capable of virtue and vice. On this account, therefore, is the grace of the Holy Ghost present, that those beings which are not holy in their essence may be rendered holy by participating in it.”

And the progress one makes in the Spirit, though occasionally we slip back, can be restored through repentance.

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Joshua 16-18 and Origen's De Principiis: Book Three 6

Joshua 16 – The other Josephite tribe, Ephraim, receives land around Bethel, Beth-horon and out to Gezer.  “They did not drive the Canaanites out of Gezer, however, so the people of Gezer live as slaves among the people of Ephraim to this day” (16:10).

 

Joshua 17 – Another allotment is made to a son of Joseph, Manasseh—other than the one to his son Machir, on the east side of the Jordan.

One of the sons of Manasseh had no male heirs, so the girls come to Joshua to claim a share they say was promised by Moses (17:4). They get an additional ten portions.  Some of the towns given to Manasseh are in the portions given to Issachar, and Asher but some of these were really in the control of the Canaanites (17:12) whom they could not drive out. The tribes of Joseph get more than one allotment because they are numerous (17:17), but they have the Canaanites to deal with and their chariots of iron.

Joshua 18 – The people of Israel gather at Shiloh; as the conquest progressed, the center of worship shifted from Gilgal to Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting.

Seven tribes have still not received their inheritance. Joshua sends three men from each tribe out to describe the land and return.  They do this and set down their observations in a book: so the portion of Benjamin is described in great detail, around Jericho and Ai, squeezed between Judah and Ephraim.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Chapter III – On the Holy Spirit

6 – “That the working of the Father and the Son operates both in saints and in sinners, is manifest from this, that all who are rational beings are partakers of the Word, i.e., of reason, and by this means bear certain seeds, implanted within them, of wisdom and justice, which is Christ. Now, in Him who truly exists, and who said by Moses, ‘I Am Who I Am,’ all things, whatever they are, participate; which participation in God the Father is shared both by just men and sinners, by rational and irrational beings, and by all things universally which exist.”

He cites Paul’s words concerning not having to ascend to heaven or descend into the deep to access Christ. “Christ is in the heart of all, in respect of His being the Word or reason, by participating in which they are rational beings.”

When man begins through use of his reason to understand the difference between good and evil, and therefore become liable for the wrong decisions they make, “they ought to avoid and guard against that which is wicked: ‘For to him who knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.’”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Joshua 13-14 and Origen's De Principiis: Book Three 4-5

Joshua 13 – Joshua is now old.  And contradicting the chapters that we just finished, the Lord says to Joshua that “much of the land still remains to be possessed” (12:1) – the lands of the Philistines (the Jerusalem Bible note says they originated in Crete or Asia Minor.  They established a settlement in Palestine around 1200, on the maritime plain—a district they always kept control of), the Geshurites (east of Egypt), the Canaanites, the Sidonians, the Gebalites and all of Lebanon. 

Still they go ahead with the division of the land among the tribes of Israel. See the map for how this was done:http://www.bible-history.com/maps/palestine_joshua.html

In going over the division, the writer mentions in passing that Balaam, “who practiced divination” is killed.  The lands covered in this chapter include those given to the tribes east of the Jordan: Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh (people of Machir, son of Manasseh).
 
Joshua 14 – The lands west of the Jordan are distributed by lot at Gilgal (near Jericho) where the stones were set up. Caleb (now 85) claims the hill country where the Anakim dwelled (near Hebron), and Joshua grants it to him “because he whole-heartedly followed the Lord. Caleb was a Kenizzite, not an Israelite.  His clan came from the south, the Negev.  The land had previously been called Kiriath-arba (Arba being the greatest of the Anakim (14:15).

Joshua 15 – Judah receives land to the south bordering on Edom and the Wilderness of Zin, east along the Dead Sea, north from the mouth of the Jordan along a boundary that is hard to trace but is shown on the map roughly.  It is a very large territory.  Caleb’s portion compromises Judah’s.  Many towns and cities are listed that are found in the land of Judah.  The Jebusites, however, of Jerusalem are not driven out.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Chapter III – On the Holy Spirit

4 – Origen points out that references to the Holy Spirit – the SAME Holy Spirit – can be found in both the New and Old Testaments. “For all knowledge of the Father is obtained by revelation of the Son through the Holy Spirit, so that both of these beings ‘lives,’ exist as the ground of the knowledge of God the Father. For as it is said of the Son, that ‘no one knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him,’ the same also is said by the apostle of the Holy Spirit, when He declares, ‘God hath revealed them to us by His Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God;’ and again in the Gospel, when the Savor, speaking of the divine and profounder parts of His teaching, which His disciples were not yet able to receive, thus addresses them: ‘I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; but when the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is come, He will teach you all things, and will bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.’”

The Holy Spirit “searches the deep things of God” and “reveals God to whom He will.” And these words on the “disconnect” that always exists between the spiritual realm and the world of time in which we live are so good: “When we use . . . such terms as ‘always’ or ‘was,’ or any other designation of time, they are not to be taken absolutely, but with due allowance; for while the significations of these words relate to time, and those subjects of which we speak are spoken of by a stretch of language as existing in time, they nevertheless surpass in their real nature all conception of the finite understanding.”

5 – So why is the “Trinity” as a whole necessary for those “regenerated by God unto salvation”?

“I am of [the] opinion, . . . that the working of the Father and of the Son takes place as well in saints as in sinners, in rational beings and in dumb animals; nay, even in those things which are without life, and in all things universally which exist; but that the operation of the Holy Spirit does not take place at all in those things which are without life, or in those which, although living, are yet dumb; nay, is not found even in those who are endured . . . with reason, but are engaged in evil courses, and not at all converted to a better life. In those persons alone do I think that the operation of the Holy Spirit takes place, who are already turning to a better life, and walking along the way which leads to Jesus Christ, i.e., who are engaged in the performance of good actions, and who abide in God.”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Joshua 11-12 and Origen's De Principiis: Book Three 3

Joshua 11 – The kings of the northern hill country combine with the kings along the rift valley called the Arabah (from the sea of Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba) to fight the Israelites, but they are defeated. 

The King of Hazor is killed and his large city destroyed (11:11).  None of the other towns are, and all the spoil is taken. 

The following disturbing passage concludes the conquest passages: “. . .all were taken in battle.  For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel in battle, in order that they might be utterly destroyed, and might receive no mercy, but be exterminated, just as the Lord had commanded Moses” (11:20).

The Anakim (legendary giants of the region) were defeated too, except those in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod).  Then “the land had rest from war” (11:23).

Joshua 12 – A list of the defeated kings and towns east and west of the Jordan River follows—31 in all.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Chapter III – On the Holy Spirit

3 – “That all things were created by God, and that there is no creature which exists but has derived from Him its being, is established from many declarations of Scripture . . .”

Origen refers to a popular early Christian piece called The Pastor of Angel of Repentance; we know it by the name The Shepherd of Hermas. The treatise was considered “canonical” by many in the Church. It is an allegorical work. In it, the author writes, “First of all, believe that there is one God who created and arranged all things; who, when nothing formerly existed, caused all things to be; who Himself contains all things, but Himself is contained by none.”

But there is no specific Scriptural passage that says that the Holy Spirit was ever “made or created” not even in the way Wisdom is said to have been “made.” “The Spirit of God, therefore, which was borne upon the waters, as is written in the beginning of the creation of the world, is, I am of [the] opinion, no other than the Holy Spirit, so far as I can understand; as indeed we have shown in our exposition of the passages themselves, not according to the historical, but according to the spiritual method of interpretation.”

Daily Old Testament and Early Christian Writings: Joshua 9-10 and Origen's De Principiis: Book Three 1-2

Joshua 9 - The kings west of the Jordan band together to fight the Israelites.  They are kings of the Hittites, Hivites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites and Jebusites. 

The Gibeonites who are near the invading Israelites decide to fool them, dressing up in rags and taking along old wineskins, etc to try and make it look like they have come from very far off.  They approach the Israelites with the proposal to make an alliance with the Israelites.  The reason they pretend to be from far away is so the Israelites will not think they live in areas that they should take over.  The Israelites agree that they may live amongst them as their servants, but they agree not to fight them.  Even when they learn the truth, they are bound by their word.  But they do remain as vassals of the Israelites.

Joshua 10 – King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem contacts four other Amorite Kings (of Hebron, of Jarmuth, of Lachish and Eglon) and gets them to attack the Gibeonites for making peace with the invaders.  Joshua comes to their aid and he defeats them; they flee and get caught in a terrible hailstorm. 

It is here that we find the passage of poetry that speaks of the sun standing still: Joshua said to the Lord, “‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.’ And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies . . .There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded a human voice; for the Lord fought for Israel” (10:12-14).

They capture the kings; Joshua puts them to death and hangs them on five trees for one night.

The next day they take Makkedah and Libnah, Lachish, Gezer, Eglon and Debir.  It says here that Joshua “left no one remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded” (10:40). Later we will learn that the devastation was not really complete.  They end up struggling with all these people for many years, trying to keep their people from getting caught up in their customs and worship practices.

Origen (185-254 AD)

De Principiis (First Principles)

Chapter III – On the Holy Spirit

1 – The next topic Origen will explore with his mind and heart is the Holy Spirit. If we see God as “the parent of the universe” and Christ as His Son, Origen asserts that we are not the only ones. Some famous Greek philosophers and also the “Barbarians” by whom I believe he means the Jews have – some of them – posited that there is a Son of God. But he believes that the only “way to explain and bring within the reach of human knowledge this higher and diviner reason as the Son of God, that by means of those Scriptures alone which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, i.e., the Gospels and Epistles, and the law and the prophets according to the declaration of Christ Himself.”

“For although no one is able to speak with certainty of God the Father, it is nevertheless possible for some knowledge of Him to be gained by means of the visible creation and the natural feelings of the human mind; and it is possible, moreover, for such knowledge to be confirmed from the sacred Scriptures.” And not only can we find this in the New Testament, we can find it in the Old as well.

2 – “Now, what the Holy Spirit is, we are taught in many passages of Scripture, as by David in the 51^st Psalm, when he says, ‘And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me;’ and by Daniel [4:8], where it is said, ‘ The Holy Spirit which is in thee.” The New Testament has many references to the Holy Spirit. “In the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit was given by the imposition of the apostles’ hands in baptism.”

“Who then is not amazed at the exceeding majesty of the Holy Spirit, when he hears that he who speaks a word against the Son of man may hope for forgiveness; but that he who is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has not forgiveness, either in the present world or in that which is to come!”