Humanitext Reader

Origen · Selecta on Joshua §12-16

The Appearance of Michael and the Fall of Jericho

Passage 2 of 2 · Greek

Summary

This chunk discusses the background of the appearance of Michael, the symbolic meaning of the trumpets and shouts of Jericho, the formation of the Scriptures in relation to the curse of Jericho, and the spiritual strength in both the Old and New Testaments.

§12Ἐγὼ ἀρχιστράτηγος τῆς δυνάμεως Κυρίου, νῦν παραγέγονα. Μεμνῆσθαι δεῖ ὅτι ἡνίκα ἐμοσχοποίησαν. ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Μωϋσεῖ φησιν, ὅτι « Ἀνάγαγε τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον, οὐ γὰρ μὴ συναναβῶ διὰ τὸ τὸν λαὸν σκληροτράχηλον εἶναι.
"I, commander of the army of the Lord, have now come." It must be remembered that when they made the calf, God said to Moses: "Lead up this people; for I will not go up with you, because the people are stiff-necked.
Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀποστελῶ τὸν ἄγγελόν μου πρὸ προσώπου σου.
And behold, I will send my angel before your face.
Πρόσεχε οὖν σεαυτῷ, καὶ μὴ ἀπείθει. » Ὁ δὲ Μωϋσῆς πρὸς αὐτόν φησιν· « Εἰ μὴ συνανέρχῃ ἡμῖν, μή με ἀναγάγῃς ἐντεῦθεν. » Καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἔπεισε· καὶ ἦν μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ, ἕως τῆς τελευτῆς Μωϋσῆ.
Pay attention to yourself therefore, and do not disobey." And Moses says to Him: "If you yourself do not go up with us, do not lead me up from here." And having said this, he persuaded Him; and He was with the people until the death of Moses.
Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τούτου ἀποβίωσιν, φαίνεται μὲν καὶ διαλέγεται τῷ τοῦ Ναυῆ Ἰησοῦ.
And after his death, He appears and converses with Joshua the son of Nun.
Μετὰ γοῦν τὴν ἐπιστασίαν τοῦ λαοῦ εἰς τὸν μαθητὴν Μωϋσέως λοιπὸν παραδίδωσιν αὐτὸν τῷ ἀρχιστρατήγῳ τῷ Μιχαήλ.
At any rate, after the charge of the people passed to the disciple of Moses, He then delivers them to the commander Michael.
Οὗτος ἦν ἄρχων τοῦ λαοῦ, ὡς ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ φαίνεται λέγων ἕτερος ἄγγελος.
This was the ruler of the people, as another angel appears saying in Daniel.
§13Πορευόμενοι κεὶ σαλπίζοντες. Αὐταὶ αἱ σάλπιγγες, σύμβολόν εἰσι τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.
"Going and sounding the trumpets." These trumpets themselves are a symbol of the things on the last day.
« Αὐτὸς γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου, καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ. » Τὸ δὲ, ἐπὶ ἓξ ἡμέρας κυκλοῦν τὴν πόλαι τοὺς ἱερεῖς, σημεῖον ἂν εἴη τοῦ διὰ τῶν ἓξ ἡμερῶν τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος τοὺς ἁγίους ἅπαντα, σαλπίζειν καὶ κηρύττειν ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν τοῖς μετανοεῖν βουλομένοις.
"For the Lord Himself," it says, "with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven." And as for the priests circling the city for six days, it would be a sign of all the holy ones sounding the trumpet and preaching forgiveness of sins, through the six days of the present age, to those who wish to repent.
§14Καὶ εἶπεν Ἰησοῦς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ, Κεκράξατε. Τὴν μέντοι κραυγὴν, τὴν τῶν ῥημάτων εἰκὸς δοξολογίαν εἶναι καὶ φωνὴν αἰνέσεως τὴν εἰς τὸν Θεὸν, μαχομένην τῇ πλάνῃ τῶν Ἱεριχουντίων, νικῶσαν δὲ τὴν παράδοξον νίκην καὶ θαύματος γέμουσαν.
"And Joshua said to the children of Israel: 'Shout!'" However, the cry, that of the words, is naturally a doxology and a voice of praise to God, fighting against the error of the Jerichonians, and winning the marvelous victory full of wonder.
§15Οὕτως ἐποίησεν Ὁζάν. Ἐκ τούτου δείκνυται ὡς οὐκ Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ, ἀλλʼ ἕτερός τις μετὰ πολλὰς γενεὰς ταῦτα συνέγραψε.
"Thus did Ozán." From this it is shown that not Joshua the son of Nun, but someone else after many generations compiled these things.
Καὶ ἀληθὲς μὲν νοηθὲν, οὐκ ἐναντίον δὲ οἷς πρότερον εἰρήκαμεν.
And this is true if understood rightly, and not contrary to what we said before.
Ἔγραψε γὰρ ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὰ ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ γεγονότα, ἢ ἀποκαλυφθέντα, ὥσπερ καὶ Μωϋσῆς τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ χρόνους.
For Joshua wrote the things that happened in his time, or were revealed to him, just as Moses wrote the things concerning his own times.
Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ ναοῦ οἰκοδομηθέντος ἤδη ὑπὸ τοῦ σοφοῦ Σολομῶντος, καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ ὑποκλίναντος εἰς πολλὴν ἀσέβειαν, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ναὸν ἔρημον καταλιπόντος ὡς μόλις εὑρεθῆναι τὸ Δευτερονόμιον ἐῤῥιμμένον ὡς ἔτυχε· διά τοι τοῦτο τοῦ λαοῦ τὴν Βαβυλωνικὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ὑποστάντος, Ἔσδρας νομικώτατος ὢν, καὶ ἀποστομίζων πᾶσαν τὴν Παλαιὰν Διαθήκην, ἔγραψε τὸν νόμον, καὶ ἕτερά τινα τὰ γεγονότα καὶ ἀποκαλυφθέντα.
But after these things, when the temple had already been built by the wise Solomon, and the people had inclined to great impiety, and God had left the temple desolate so that Deuteronomy was barely found cast aside at random, because of this, when the people underwent the Babylonian captivity, Esdras, being most learned in the law and reciting all the Old Testament from memory, wrote the law and certain other things that had happened and been revealed.
Ταῦτα πάλαι μὲν προεῤῥέθη, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα γέγονε.
These things were foretold long ago, and after these things they came to pass.
Τοιοῦτόν ἐστι δήπου καὶ οὖ νῦν ἐμνημονεύσαμεν.
Such indeed is also that which we have now mentioned.
§16Ἔτι σήμερον ἰσχύω, ὡσεὶ ὅτε ἀπέστειλέ με Μωϋσῆς. Ἐν ἀμφοτέροις οὖν ἰσχύει τοῖς λόγοις ὁ ἅγιος.
"As yet I am strong today, as when Moses sent me." In both statements, therefore, the holy man is strong.
Ἰσχύει γὰρ ἐν παλαιοῖς καὶ ἐν καινοῖς μυστηρίοις.
For he is strong in the old and in the new mysteries.
Τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ ἰσχύειν ἐπὶ Μωϋσέως καὶ ἐπὶ Ἰησοῦ.
This is what it means to be strong in the time of Moses and in the time of Joshua.

Notes

  1. §12ἐμοσχοποίησαν — A third-person plural verb without an expressed subject, meaning "when they made the calf." It contextually refers to the incident in Exodus 32 where the people of Israel fell into idolatry at the foot of Mount Sinai.
  2. §12παραδίδωσιν αὐτὸν — The pronoun αὐτόν refers back to 'the people' (τὸν λαόν). It indicates the historical and theological development where, after the leadership passed to Joshua, God entrusted the protection of the people to Michael the commander.
  3. §13Τὸ δὲ, ἐπὶ ἓξ ἡμέρας κυκλοῦν τὴν πόλιν τοὺς ἱερεῖς — An articular construction where the neuter article τό substantivizes the clause with the participle κυκλοῦν. The accusative τοὺς ἱερεῖς functions as the subject of this verbal action, forming the subject clause: 'the priests circling the city for six days.' In the following clause, τοὺς ἁγίους ἅπαντας acts as the subject of the infinitives σαλπίζειν and κηρύττειν.
  4. §15Ὁζάν — Refers to Hiel of Bethel, who rebuilt Jericho in the days of Ahab and fell under the curse of Joshua (1 Kings 16:34). In some manuscripts of the Septuagint (LXX), the name is transliterated as 'Ozán' (Ὁζάν), on which variant reading this text relies.
  5. §15ὃ νῦν ἐμνημονεύσαμεν — The manuscript reading οὖ is most naturally interpreted as a corruption or confusion of the neuter singular accusative relative pronoun ὃ, referring back to the neuter matter previously described (the rebuilding of Jericho and the fulfillment of the curse). It serves as the direct object of the verb ἐμνημονεύσαμεν ('that which we have now mentioned').

Cite this passage

Origen, Selecta on Joshua §12-16. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg2042.tlg054.humanitext-grc1:12-16

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.