Judah leads in the light; the maidservants’ sons set out last
Cyril: …by their divisions’ (Numbers 2:25–31). Do you see that Judah and those with him are placed first, and hold the chosen place toward the dawn and the south? For those who are in Christ are in the light, and fervent in the Spirit (Romans 12:11). Second comes Reuben and those with him. Third, again, are the sons of the free woman. Then after them come three others, the sons of the maidservants, of whom it is said, ‘They shall set out last’ (Numbers 2:31). Is it not plain, and in no way open to doubt, that the second, that is, the people in Christ, has been honoured above the firstborn and called in ahead of it, and so have those who are free in faith above those who come from slavery? For the one group leads because of Christ, who is from Judah; the others only barely follow behind, and have been placed, as it were, in the second rank.
Palladius: You have spoken most rightly, and I would praise you for such fine sharpness of mind.
Greek
κατὰ τάγματα αὐτῶν.» Ὁρᾷς ὅτι προτέτακται μὲν Ἰούδας καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ, καὶ τὸν ἀπόλεκτον ἔχει τόπον τὸν πρὸς ἠὼ καὶ νότον; ἐν φωτὶ γὰρ οἱ ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι ζέοντες. Δεύτερος ὁ Ῥουβὴμ, καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ. Καὶ τρίτοι μὲν πάλιν οἱ ἐξ ἐλευθέρας. Εἶτα μετὰ τούτους ἕτεροι τρεῖς, οἱ ἐκ θεραπαινῶν, περὶ ὧν εἴρηται τὸ, «Ἔσχατοι ἐξαροῦσιν.» Ἆρ' οὐκ ἐναργὲς καὶ οὐδαμόθεν ἐνδοιαστὸν, ὅτι προτετίμηται καὶ προεισκέκληται τοῦ πρωτοτόκου τὸ δεύτερον, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸ ἐν Χριστῷ, καὶ τῶν ἐκ δουλείας τὸ ἐλεύθερον ἐν πίστει; Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἡγοῦνται διὰ τὸν ἐξ Ἰούδα Χριστόν· οἱ δὲ κατόπιν ἔρχονται μόλις, καὶ ὡς ἐν δευτέρᾳ τέθεινται τάξει.
{ΠΑΛΛ.} Ὀρθότατα ἔφης· καί σε τῆς οὕτω λεπτῆς ἀγχινοίας ἐπαινέσαιμι.