Homilies on Joshua, Homilia VI
Circumcision healed before Passover§1
1On the Passover at Gilgal, the fruits of the palm country, and the prince of the Lord’s host. The disobedient to the Lord’s commands are called uncircumcised. God sent Jesus who truly circumcises flesh’s pollution and the heart’s sins — not only Nun’s son. The circumcised rested in camp until they were healed; then the Lord said: Today I have rolled away Egypt’s reproach. It is not enough to be circumcised; we must heal until the scar closes — when new habits become easy nature. Then Israel kept Passover; no unclean person keeps it. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed; let us keep the feast in unleavened sincerity and truth.
Latin · §1
De Pascha in Galgala et fructibus regionis palmarum et principe militiae Domini. Qui inoboedientes mandatis Domini, incircumcisi dicuntur. Misit Deus Iesum qui vere pollutionem carnis et peccata cordis circumcidat — non solum Iesum Nave. Circumcisi requieverunt in castris usque dum sanarentur; tunc: Hodierna die abstuli opprobrium Aegypti. Non sufficit circumcidí sed et sanari cicatrice obducta — cum nova instituta absque difficultate complemus. Tunc fecerunt pascha; nemo immundus facit pascha. Pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus; in azymis sinceritatis celebremus.
Three foods — Egypt, manna, palm fruits§2
2Leaving Egypt they carried dough; when it failed, manna rained; in the holy land they ate palm-country fruit — manna ceased. Three foods: scant school learning from Egypt; in this life’s desert, manna of divine instruction; whoever enters the promised land eats palm fruits — face to face what eye has not seen. If only the letter stands, better food would yield to worse — absurd; spiritual sense is truer. After bringing his people in, Jesus keeps the Passover.
Latin · §2
Ex Aegypto portaverunt sparsum; deficiente manna pluit; ad terram sanctam fructus palmarum — manna defecit. Tres cibi: eruditio saecularis exigua; in eremo vitae huius manna legis divinae; qui terram repromissionis intrat edit fructus palmarum — facie ad faciem quae oculus non vidit. Secundum litteram melior cibus cessare et deterior succedere absurdum; spiritalis intelligentia verior. Post introitum Iesus celebrat pascha.
Prince of the Lord’s host§3
3While Jesus was by Jericho he saw a man with drawn sword: Are you for us or for our adversaries? I am prince of the Lord’s host. Jesus worshiped — test the spirits; he knew this was God. Who is that prince but our Lord Jesus Christ, under whom every heavenly host serves? Loose your sandal — the place is holy. Jericho held by enemies becomes holy by the prince’s coming. If God stands with us, let us loose mortal bonds from the soul’s feet — feet Jesus washes.
Latin · §3
Cum esset Iesus in Hiericho, vidit virum gladium evaginatum tenentem: Noster es an adversariorum? Ego sum princeps militiae Domini. Adoravit Iesus — nolite omni spiritui credere; cognovit Deum. Quis princeps militiae nisi Dominus noster Iesus Christus, sub quo omnis militia caeli militat? Solve calceamentum — locus sanctus; Hiericho hostibus retenta sanctificatur adventu principis. Si Deus adsistit, solvamus a pedibus animae vinculum mortale.
Jericho the world falls to trumpet voices§4
4Jericho is circled — walls fall not by sword but by priestly trumpets. Jericho figures this world; the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho images Adam. The blind in Jericho image ignorance’s blindness. The age ends by trumpets: The trumpet will sound and the dead rise; the Lord will descend with God’s trumpet. Only the harlot is saved — the church that received the spies, now a chaste virgin to one husband, Christ. Such were some of you, but you were washed and sanctified. The scarlet cord — the church is saved by Christ’s blood. To him be glory. Amen.
Latin · §4
Circumdatur Hiericho — non gladio sed tubis sacerdotalibus muri subruuntur. Hiericho figura mundi; homo de Ierusalem in Hiericho descendit — Adam. Caeci in Hiericho — ignorantiae caecitas. Consummatio saeculi tubis: Canet tuba et mortui resurgent; Dominus in tuba Dei descendet. Meretrix sola salvatur — ecclesia exploratores suscipiens, nunc uni viro casta Christo. Fuistis haec; sed abluti sanctificati estis. Spartum coccineum — Christi sanguine ecclesia salvatur. Cui gloria. Amen.