Numbers 33

Unrolling the book still further, [Fabiola] came to the passage in which is given the list of all the halting places by which the people after leaving Egypt made its way to the waters of Jordan. And when she asked me the meaning and reason of each of these, I spoke doubtfully about some, dealt with others in a tone of assurance and in several instances simply confessed my ignorance. Hereupon she began to press me harder still, expostulating with me as though it were a thing unallowable that I should be ignorant of what I did not know, yet at the same time affirming her own unworthiness to understand mysteries so deep.

But first of all, consider the meaning of the mystery, which anyone who observes it carefully will find in the Scriptures: that in the going out of the children of Israel from Egypt there were forty-two stations; and again, the coming of our Lord and Savior into this world is traced through forty-two generations. For thus the Evangelist Matthew recounts, saying: "From Abraham until David the king, fourteen generations, and from David until the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon until Christ fourteen generations." These forty-two stations of the generations, then, which Christ made in descending into the Egypt of this world, make up by the very same number the forty-two stations of those who go up from Egypt. And Moses set it down well and observantly, saying: "The children of Israel went up with their power." And what is their power, if not Christ himself, who is the power of God? He therefore who goes up, goes up together with him who came down to us from thence, so that he might arrive there whence that one descended not by necessity but by condescension, that the saying might be true which was spoken, that "he who descended is himself also the one who ascended." Therefore in forty-two stations the children of Israel arrive at the beginning of the taking of their inheritance. And the beginning of taking the inheritance was where Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh receive the land of Gilead. And so the number of Christ's descent through forty-two fathers according to the flesh, as though descending to us through forty-two stations, matches the ascent of the children of Israel through just as many stations up to the beginning of the promised inheritance. But if you have understood how great a mystery this number of the descent and the ascent contains, come now, and let us begin to ascend through those things by which Christ descended, and to make that first station which he made last, namely that by which he was born of a virgin; and let this be the first station for us who wish to go out of Egypt, in which, having left behind the worship of idols and of demons — not the veneration of gods — we believe that Christ was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit, and that the Word made flesh came into this world. After this, let us now strive to advance and to ascend to each and every degree of faith and of the virtues; and if we linger over each of these long enough until we come to perfection, we shall be said to have made a station in each of the degrees of the virtues, until, as we reach the very summit of instruction and of progress, the promised inheritance may be fulfilled for us.

But the soul too, when it sets out from the Egypt of this life, that it may make its way to the land of promise, necessarily journeys along certain particular roads and, as we have said, completes certain fixed encampments. Mindful of these, I believe, the prophet said: "These things I have remembered, and I have poured out my soul upon myself, for I shall pass into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God." These are the encampments, and these the tabernacles, of which in another place also he says: "How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord." Therefore in yet another place the same prophet says: "My soul has been a great wanderer." Understand then, if you can, what these wanderings of the soul are, in which with a certain groaning and grief it laments that it wanders too long. But the understanding of these things grows dull and is darkened while as yet the soul wanders; but then it will be more truly instructed and will more truly understand what was the reason of its pilgrimage, when it has returned to its rest, that is, to its homeland, paradise; and gazing on this under a mystery the prophet said: "Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you." But in the meantime it wanders and pursues its journey and completes its encampments, dispensed through these things, without doubt for the sake of some benefit, by the providences of God, as also in a certain place he says: "I afflicted you, and fed you with manna in the desert, which your fathers did not know, that it might be discerned what is in your heart." These, then, are the encampments by which the journey is made from the lands to heaven. And who will be found so fit and so privy to the divine secrets that he can describe the encampments of this journey and ascent of the soul, and set forth either the labors or the rests of each place? For how should he relate that after the first and the second and the third encampment Pharaoh still pursues, the Egyptians pursue, and, though they do not overtake, yet they give chase, and, though they are drowned, yet they have given chase? How should he declare that the people of God, once made safe, after several encampments first sang a song, saying: "Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously honored; horse and rider he has cast into the sea"? But these things, as I have said, whoever should dare to open up through the individual encampments and, from the contemplation of the names, to conjecture also the qualities of the encampments — I do not know whether either the understanding of the one who speaks would suffice for the weight of the mysteries, or the hearing of the listeners would grasp it. For how should either the onset of the war of the Amalekites be explained, or the various temptations, and how should those be narrated whose limbs fell in the desert, and that it was not at all the sons of Israel, but the sons of the sons of Israel, who were able to reach the holy land, and that all that old people fell, who had had their converse and habitation with the Egyptians, while only the new people, who knew not the Egyptians, reached the kingdom, apart from the priests and the Levites? For if anyone has been able to place himself in the order of the priests and the Levites, if anyone has been able to have no portion in any lands, but the Lord alone, that man does not fall in the desert, but reaches the land of promise. Hence you too, if you wish not to fall in the desert, but to reach the promises of the fathers, have no lot in the land, and let there be nothing common to you with the earth. Let your portion be the Lord alone, and you will never fall. The ascent, then, is made from Egypt to the land of promise, through which, by mystical descriptions, as I have said, we are taught the ascent of the soul to heaven and the sacrament of the resurrection from the dead.

Now names are also assigned to the resting-places. For it did not seem fitting that every place under heaven should be called by the names of mountains or valleys or plains, while that ascent, by which the soul ascends to the kingdom of God, should not have the names of its own resting-places. It has names of resting-places fitted with mystical designations; it has too as its guide not Moses — for he himself did not know where he was going — but the pillar of fire and the cloud, that is, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit, just as in another place the prophet says: "the Lord himself was leading them." Such, then, will be the ascent of the blessed soul, when all the Egyptians and Amalekites and all who had assailed it have been drowned; so that, passing on through each and every resting-place — those many, namely, which are said to be with the Father — it may be enlightened yet more, and, coming from one to another, may ever gain greater increases of illumination, until it grow accustomed to endure the gaze of that true light itself, which enlightens every man, and to bear the radiance of the true majesty. But if we return to that second exposition which we mentioned above, and understand the advances of the soul set in this life to be taught through these things — the soul which, converted from a gentile manner of life, follows not so much Moses as the law of God, and not Aaron, but that priest who abides forever — before it comes to perfection, it dwells in the desert, where, namely, it may be trained in the precepts of the Lord and where its faith may be proved through temptations. And there, when it has overcome one temptation and its faith has been proved in it, from thence it comes to another, and passes as it were from one resting-place to another; and there, when it has held fast to the things that have befallen it and has borne them faithfully, it proceeds to another; and thus, through each and every trial of life and faith, the soul's advances are said to have resting-places, in which through each single thing increases of the virtues are sought. And there is fulfilled in these that which is written: "they shall go from strength to strength," until one arrives at the last — nay rather, at the highest — degree of the virtues, and the river of God is crossed and the promised inheritance is received.

Using this twofold exposition, therefore, we ought to consider this whole order of the encampments that has been recited, so that from both there may come a progress for our soul, as we learn from these things either how this life, which follows the law of God through conversion from error, ought to be conducted, or how great is the expectation of the future hope that is promised through the resurrection. For thus I think that in these things which are read there is taught an understanding worthy of the laws of the Holy Spirit. For to know in that desert what that place is called where, for example, the sons of Israel, then passing through, encamped — what usefulness does this bring to me, or what progress will be conferred by this upon those who read and meditate on the law of God day and night? — especially since we see that there was such great care on the Lord's part concerning the recording of these encampments that a description of them was inserted a second time into the divine laws. For these names were commemorated, though in some cases altered, already then, when the sons of Israel are said, through each place, to have set out from that place and to have encamped in that place; but now again they are ordered to be described by Moses through the word of the Lord. Hence this very fact, that this description is repeated a second time, seems to me quite fittingly suited to the mystery of the exposition which we have proposed; for they are repeated twice in order to show the two ways of the soul: one, by which, placed in the flesh, it is exercised in the virtues through the law of God, and ascending through certain steps of progress it advances, as we have said, from virtue to virtue and uses these very advances as encampments; but the other, by which, after the resurrection, being about to ascend to the heavens, it does not suddenly or importunately climb to the summit, but is led through many encampments, in which, illuminated through each one and always receiving an increase of splendor, made bright in each encampment by the light of wisdom, it may come at last to the very Father of lights. "The sons of Israel therefore went out," he says, "with their power." There was with them that power which had said: "I will go down with you into Egypt"; and because this power was with them, therefore the prophet says: "and there was none feeble in their tribes." "And they went out by the hand of Moses and Aaron." For going out of Egypt the one hand of Moses is not enough; the hand of Aaron also is required. Moses indicates the knowledge of the law, Aaron the skill of sacrificing and offering to God. It is needful, therefore, that we who go out of Egypt should have as fruit not only the knowledge of the law and of faith, but also of works, by which God is pleased. For this reason both the hand of Moses and of Aaron is mentioned, that by the hands you may understand works. For indeed, if going out of Egypt and being converted to God I cast away pride, I have sacrificed a bull to the Lord through the hands of Aaron. If I destroy wantonness and lasciviousness, I shall believe that I have slaughtered a he-goat to the Lord by the hands of Aaron. If I conquer lust, a calf; if folly, I shall be seen to have offered a sheep. Thus therefore, when the vices of the soul are purged, the hand of Aaron works in us; and the hand of Moses is with us, when we are illuminated from the law to understand these very things. And therefore both hands are necessary for those going out of Egypt, so that there may be found in them the perfection not only of faith and knowledge, but also of acts and works; and yet these two are not two hands, but one. For the Lord led them out "by the hand of Moses and Aaron," and not "by the hands of Moses and Aaron"; for the work of both hands is one, and one the fulfillment of perfection.

But lest this kind of exposition, which runs through the meanings of the Hebrew names, should seem to those unacquainted with the properties of that language to be forced and violently wrested out, we will give a comparison also in our own tongue, by which the reasoning of this sequence may become clear. In the schoolroom, where boys take up their first rudiments, some are called "alphabet-learners," others "syllable-learners," others "word-learners," and others are now called "reckoners"; and when we have heard these names, from them we recognize what progress there is in the boys. Likewise also in the liberal studies, when we have heard someone recite a passage, or an address, or a panegyric, or the other exercises in their order, from the name of the exercise we perceive the young man's progress. How then, even through these things which are recorded as the names of places, as it were of exercises, should we not believe that the progress of learners in divine instruction can be indicated? And just as those who linger over each several subject of learning seem, as it were, to make certain resting-places in them, and to advance from one to another and from that one again to yet another, so also here why should not the name of the "stations," and the advance from one to another and from one again to another, be believed to indicate the progress of the mind and to signify the increase of the virtues?

Now let us come to the beginning of the very reading that was recited, so that with the Lord's help we may be able, even if not with perfect clarity, yet at least in summary, to gather and explain their meaning. He says, then: "And these are the stages of the children of Israel, from the time they went out of the land of Egypt with their power by the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote down their settings-out and their stages by the word of the Lord," and so forth. You have heard that Moses wrote these things by the word of the Lord. And why did the Lord will these things to be written? That this writing of the stages which the children of Israel made might be of some profit to us, or that it might be of no profit? And who would dare to say that the things which are written by the word of the Lord have no usefulness and confer nothing of salvation, but merely narrate an event that happened — one that indeed passed by at that time, and from the report of which nothing now reaches us? This opinion is impious and foreign to the catholic faith, and belongs only to those who deny that the one sole wise God, of the law and of the gospels, is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What, therefore, the faithful understanding ought to perceive from these stages, let us attempt to treat in summary, as far as the time allows. In the earlier discussion, when the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt had furnished us with occasion to speak of it, we said that each person can be seen to go out spiritually from Egypt in two ways: either when, forsaking the life of the Gentiles, we come to the knowledge of the divine law, or when the soul departs from the dwelling of this body. To both, then, do these stages look which Moses now describes by the word of the Lord. For concerning those stages which the soul, stripped of the body — nay rather, clothed again with its own body — is to inhabit, the Lord declared in the gospel, saying: "There are many mansions with the Father; otherwise I would have told you: I go and prepare a mansion for you." There are, then, those many mansions which lead to the Father, in each of which what cause, what usefulness the soul's lingering receives, or what instruction or illumination, He alone knows, the Father of the age to come, who says of Himself: "I am the door; no one comes to the Father except through me." He, perhaps, in each of these mansions will become a door for each soul, so that through Him it may enter and through Him go out and find pastures, and again enter into another, and thence into yet another mansion, until it comes to the Father Himself. But we, almost forgetful of our preface, have suddenly lifted your hearing to lofty and exalted things. Rather, let us return to those things that are done among us and within us. In Egypt were the children of Israel; they were afflicted in the works of Pharaoh the king with clay and brick, until, groaning, they cried out to the Lord, and He, hearing their groaning, sent to them His word through Moses and led them out of Egypt. And we too, therefore, when we were in Egypt — I mean in the errors of this world and in the darkness of ignorance, working the works of the devil in the desires and pleasures of the flesh — the Lord had mercy on our affliction and sent His Word, His only-begotten Son, to rescue us from the ignorance of error and lead us to the light of the divine law.

And Moses wrote down, it says, their completions and their stations by the word of the Lord. He wrote these things, therefore, by the word of the Lord, so that we, reading and seeing how many departures and how many stations lie ahead of us for the journey that leads to the kingdom, might prepare ourselves for this way; and, considering the road that lies before us, might not allow the time of our life to be consumed sluggishly or slackly, lest perchance, while we linger among the vanities of this world and take delight in each and every thing that comes to sight or hearing, or even to touch and smell and taste, the days slip away, the time passes by, and we fail to accomplish the traversing of the whole span of the journey before us, and we give out midway, and there befall us that which is reported of certain ones who could not arrive, but whose limbs fell in the desert. We are on a journey, therefore, and we have come into this world for this purpose: that we might pass from virtue to virtue, not that we might remain on the earth for the sake of earthly things, like that man too who said, "I will pull down my barns and build others larger, and I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years; eat, drink, be merry" — lest perchance the Lord say to us also, as to him: "You fool, this night your soul shall be taken from you." He did not say "in this day," but "in this night." For here too a man is destroyed in the night, like the firstborn of the Egyptians, as one who has loved the world and its darkness and has been a partaker of the rulers of this world of this darkness. And this world is called darkness and night on account of those who live in ignorance and do not receive the light of truth. But such as these do not set out from Rameses nor cross over to Succoth.

Yet let us first see when the children of Israel set out from Rameses. "In the first month," it says, "on the fifteenth day of the month." By the Lord's command they had kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in Egypt, slaughtering the lamb on the day before they set out, and in a certain sense they kept the beginning of the festival while still situated in Egypt. On the following day, then, which is the first day of unleavened bread, on the fifteenth day of the first month, they set out from Rameses and come to Succoth, that they might there keep the day of the festival of unleavened bread. "Who is wise, and shall understand these things? Prudent, and shall know them?" — nay rather, who is there who knows even these things in part, as the Apostle says: "We know in part, and we prophesy in part"? Who understands how we too keep festal days in part, so that "no one may judge us in respect of a portion of a feast day, or of a new moon, or of a sabbath"? For every feast day that is kept on earth by men is kept in part, not in whole nor with the full and perfect title of festivity; but when you have gone out of that Egypt, then there will be for you a perfect festivity, then you will attend to the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth unto perfection, then you will keep the day of Pentecost in the wilderness, and then perhaps for the first time you will receive the heavenly food of manna, and you will keep each of the several festivities of which we have already spoken above, as far as we were able. Yet know that after that Passover which was made in Egypt, we find the Passover observed once in the desert, when the law was given, and another, as we have noted, in Numbers, and after these it is nowhere kept, save in the land of promise. Therefore, on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day following the Passover, which is the first day of unleavened bread, the children of Israel set out from Rameses "with a lofty hand," it says, "in the sight of all the Egyptians." What is the lofty hand? For elsewhere too it says: "Let your hand be exalted." Where there is no human work nor earthly, but it is divine, there it is called a lofty hand. For it has already often been said that by "hand" a work is understood. "With a lofty hand," therefore, "in the sight of all the Egyptians" they set out.

"And the Egyptians," it says, "were burying their dead"; the dead were burying their dead, but the living were following the Lord their God. After this it is said that: "and upon their gods the Lord took vengeance." But in Exodus too it says thus: "and upon all the gods of the Egyptians the Lord shall take vengeance." Here, however, it says that the Lord took vengeance upon them. There are certain beings which are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, the Apostle says. But in the Psalms too it is said: "all the gods of the nations are demons." Therefore it is not the images, but the demons who preside over the images, that he calls gods, upon whom the Lord took vengeance. But I should like to inquire how God takes vengeance upon the demons, since assuredly the day of vengeance and of judgment has not yet come. But I think that this vengeance is wrought upon the demons when he who had been deceived by them into worshipping idols, being converted through the word of the Lord, worships the Lord; and from the very work of conversion vengeance is dealt upon him who had deceived. Likewise also, if he who had been deceived by the demons into fornicating is converted to chastity, loves purity, and weeps that he had gone astray, the demon is burned and set aflame by the tears of his repentance, and thus vengeance is dealt upon the author of the deception. Likewise too, if anyone returns from pride to humility, from luxury to frugality, through each of these things he scourges and torments the demons who had deceived him into them. With how great torments do you suppose they are driven, if they see someone, according to the word of the Lord, sell all his goods that he possesses and give to the poor, and take up his cross and follow Christ? But above all things this is the kind of torments and beyond all penalties for them, if they see someone give his labor to the word of God, searching out with intent zeal the knowledge of the divine law and the mysteries of the Scriptures; in this is all their flame, in these they are burned with the whole conflagration, since indeed they had darkened human minds with the darkness of ignorance and through these had obtained that God should be unknown, while the zeal of divine worship should be transferred to themselves. What vengeance do you think is dealt upon them, what flame of penalties is inflicted upon them, when they see these things opened up by the light of truth and the mists of their fraud unbarred through the recognition of the divine law? For they possess all who live in ignorance; and not only those who are still in ignorance, but they often thrust themselves upon those who have come to know God, and again try to work in them the works of ignorance. For no sin whatever is consummated without them. For when anyone commits adultery, it is assuredly not without a demon; or when he is carried away by immoderate anger, or when he plunders what belongs to another: and he who, "sitting, speaks against his neighbor" and "lays a stumbling block against his mother's son," is not without a demon. And therefore we must strive in every way, lest perhaps we raise up again within ourselves the firstborn of the Egyptians or their gods, whom the Lord struck and destroyed, if we give them a place to work within us those things which God hates. But if we restrain ourselves from all these things, in the manner in which we said above, the Lord has dealt vengeance upon all the gods of the Egyptians, and they receive their penalties from our amendment and conversion.

So the children of Israel go out from Egypt and, setting out from Rameses, they come to Succoth. This order of setting out and the distinction of the stopping-places is exceedingly necessary, and to be observed by those who follow God and who take thought for their advances in the virtues. Concerning this order I remember that we have already treated it elsewhere as well, when for the sake of edification we spoke of certain matters which the Lord deigned to grant; but now too we will briefly recall it again. The first setting out, then, is made from Rameses; and whether the soul, setting out from this world, presses on toward the age to come, or whether it is turned from the errors of life to the way of virtue and to the knowledge of God, it sets out from Rameses. For Rameses, in our tongue, is called "turbulent commotion" or "the commotion of the moth." And in this it is surely shown that all things in this world are set in commotions and disturbances and in corruption; for this the moth signifies. In these the soul ought not to remain, but to set out and come to Succoth. Now Succoth is interpreted "tents." Therefore the soul's first setting out is that it be taken away from earthly commotion and know that it must dwell, as a pilgrim and one making a journey, in tents, so that, thus placed as though ready for battle, it may be able to meet unencumbered and free those who lie in wait against it.

Thence, when it now feels itself to be prepared, it sets out from Succoth and arrives at Etham. Etham is called "a valley." We have said that in these matters there is advance in the virtues. But virtue is not acquired except by exercises and toil, nor is it proved so much in prosperity as in adversity. One comes, then, to the valley as well. And in the valleys and in the lower places the contest is waged against the devil and the opposing powers. In the valley, then, the struggle must be carried on, and in the valley one must fight. So too Abraham fought in the valley of salt-pits against the barbarian kings, and there he obtained the victory. This traveler of ours descends, then, to those who are in the depths and in the lowest places, not that he may linger there, but that there he may obtain the victory.

And they set out from Etham and arrived at the mouth of Hiroth. Hiroth is interpreted "a village." For one does not yet come to a city, nor are the things that are perfect yet held fast, but meanwhile at first each small thing is taken. For this is the advance: that one may come from small things to great. One comes, then, to the mouth, that is, to the first entrance of the village, which is a sign of moderate conduct and abstinence; for excessively great and immoderate abstinence is too perilous. Now this Hiroth is set over against Baal-zephon and over against Migdol. Baal-zephon is interpreted "the ascent of a watchtower" or "of a tower." From small things, then, one ascends to great, and one is set not yet on the watchtower itself, but over against the watchtower, that is, in sight of the watchtower. For it begins to keep watch and to look out upon future hope and to contemplate the height of its advances, and little by little it grows, so long as it is nourished more by hope than it is wearied by toils. And this station or stopping-place is over against Migdol, not yet in Migdol itself; for Migdol is called "magnificence." Having, then, in its sight both the ascent of the watchtower and the magnificence of things to come, it is pastured and nourished, as we have said, by enormous hopes; for it is in the midst of its advances, not yet set in perfection.

After these things they set out from Iroth and pass through the midst of the Red Sea, and they came to the bitter waters. We have said that the time of the journeyings is a time of dangers. How troublesome a trial it is to pass through the midst of the sea, to see the waves rising up in a heap, to hear the roar and crash of the raging billows; but nevertheless, if you follow Moses, that is, the law of God, the waters will become for you a wall on the right hand and on the left, and you will find a path through dry ground in the midst of the sea. But that heavenly journey too, which we have said the soul makes, may perhaps have some waters as well; it may be that there too waves are found; for there is a certain portion of waters above the heaven and a certain portion beneath the heaven, and we for the present endure the waves and billows of these waters that are beneath the heaven. God knows whether those others are always quiet and calm and are never stirred up by any winds that blow. But we for the present, when we have come to the crossing of the sea, even if we see Pharaoh and the Egyptians pursuing, let us not be alarmed at all; let there be no fear, no dread of these things. Let us only believe in the one true God and in his Son Jesus Christ whom he sent. And if it is said that the people believed God and his servant Moses, we too, in accordance with this, believe also Moses, that is, the law of God and the prophets. Be steadfast, therefore, and a little later you will see the Egyptians lying on the shore of the sea. And when you have seen them lying there, rise up and sing to the Lord in songs and praise him who has drowned the horse and the rider in the Red Sea. So then they came to the bitter waters. When you hear of bitter waters, do not be frightened nor terrified. For all instruction, for the present, does not seem to be sweet, but bitter; yet afterward it yields to those trained by it the sweetest and most peaceable fruit of righteousness itself, as the Apostle teaches. Finally, the unleavened bread too is commanded to be eaten with bitter herbs; nor is it possible to reach the land of promise unless we pass through bitter things. For just as physicians insert certain bitter ingredients into their medicines with a view to the safety and health of the sick, so too, with a view to our safety, the physician of our souls has willed us to suffer the bitter things of this life in various trials, knowing that the end of this bitterness gains for our soul the sweetness of salvation; just as, on the contrary, the end of the sweetness which is in bodily pleasure, as the example of that rich man has taught, yields a bitter end in the hell of punishments. You therefore, who walk the way of virtue, do not shrink from coming to the bitter waters. For you will set out from there too, as also did the children of Israel.

"They set out," it says, "from the bitter waters and came to Elim." Elim is where there are twelve springs of water, and seventy-two palm trees. You see, after the bitter waters, after the harshness of trials, how pleasant are the places that receive you. You would not have come to the palms unless you had endured the bitter waters of trials, nor would you have come to the sweetness of the springs unless you had first overcome the things that were grievous and harsh; not that the end of the journey and the perfection of all things is already in these things, but that God, the steward of souls, interposes in the very course of the journey certain refreshments amid the labors, by which the soul, revived and restored, may return more ready to the remaining labors. Elim, however, is interpreted "rams." Rams are the leaders of flocks. Who then are the leaders of the flock of Christ, if not the Apostles, who are also the twelve springs? But since our Lord and Savior chose not only those twelve, but also another seventy, therefore not only twelve springs, but also seventy palm trees are written to be there; for these too are called Apostles, as Paul himself says, when he was expounding concerning the resurrection of the Savior: "he was seen," it says, "by those eleven, then he appeared also to all the Apostles." By which he shows that there are also other Apostles besides those twelve. This pleasantness, therefore, after the bitterness, this rest after labor, this grace after the trials, will receive you.

They set out from Elim and came to a place beside the Red Sea. Observe that they no longer enter into the Red Sea; it is enough to have entered once. Now they only come near beside the sea, so that they may indeed see the sea and behold its waves, yet may in no way fear its movements and its onrush.

And they set out from the Red Sea and came to the desert of Zin. Zin is interpreted "bramble bush" or "temptation." So there begins now to smile upon you the hope of good things. But what is the hope of good things? From the bramble bush the Lord appeared and gave his answers to Moses, and from there the beginning of the visitation was made by the Lord to the children of Israel. But it is not idly that Zin is interpreted also "temptation"; for there is wont to be temptation even in visions. For sometimes the angel of iniquity transforms himself into an angel of light. And therefore one must beware and act carefully, so that you may knowingly discern the kind of visions, just as Joshua the son of Nun also, when he saw a vision, knowing that there was temptation in this, at once inquires of him who appeared and says: "Are you ours or of our adversaries?" So then the advancing soul also, when it has come to this point, that it now begins to have discernment of visions, will thereby be proved to be spiritual, if it knows how to discern all things. Finally, therefore, among the spiritual gifts as well, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is said to be the discernment of spirits.

Setting out from the desert of Zin they came to Rithmah. Rithmah is interpreted as "health." You see the order of the journeyings, how, when the soul has now become spiritual and has begun to have discernment of heavenly visions, it arrives at health, so that it may deservedly say: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me his holy name." What Lord? "Who heals," he says, "all your infirmities, who redeems your life from destruction." For there are many infirmities of the soul: avarice is an infirmity of it, and indeed the worst; pride, anger, boasting, cowardice, inconstancy, faint-heartedness, and things like these. When will you, Lord Jesus, cure me of all these infirmities? When will you heal me, so that I too may say: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who heals all your infirmities," so that I too may be able to make my station in Rithmah, which is "health"? It would be a long task, if we wished to go through the individual stations and to open up from each one whatever things are suggested by the contemplation of the names; nevertheless we will run through them tightly and briefly, so that we may furnish you not so much a full exposition — since the time by no means allows it — as occasions for understanding.

They set out therefore from Rithmah and come to Rimmon-perez. Rimmon-perez is interpreted "labors." And do not wonder if labors follow upon health. For the soul obtains health from God precisely for this, that it may take up labors with delight and not unwillingly; for it will be said to it: "You shall eat the labors of your fruits, blessed are you, and it shall be well with you."

After these things they come to Libnah. But Libnah is interpreted "praise of judgment." Most justly does praise follow after labors. Yet of what thing is it the praise? "Of judgment," he says. Worthy of praise, therefore, becomes the soul that judges rightly, discerns rightly — that is, which spiritually judges all things, and is itself judged by no one.

After these things one arrives at the desert of Sinai. Sinai is itself a certain place of the desert, which above he mentioned as Zin; but here rather the place of the mountain, which is in that same desert, is named, which itself also is named from the name of the desert, Sinai. After therefore the soul has become of praiseworthy judgment and has begun to have right judgment, then the law is given to it by God, when it has begun to be capable of the divine secrets and of heavenly visions.

Thence one comes to the tombs of concupiscence. What are the tombs of concupiscence? Without doubt where the desires are buried and covered over, where every craving is extinguished and the flesh no longer lusts against the spirit, being mortified, that is, by the death of Christ.

After these things one comes to Hazeroth, which is interpreted "perfect courts" or "blessedness." Look more diligently, O my traveler, what is the order of the journeyings: after you have buried and handed over to death the concupiscences of the flesh, you will come to the spaciousness of the courts, you will come to blessedness. For blessed is the soul which is now pressed by no vices of the flesh.

Thence one comes to Rithmah, or Paran. Rithmah is interpreted "consummated vision," but Paran "visible mouth." Why should not the soul so grow that, when it has ceased to be pressed by the troubles of the flesh, it may have consummated visions and grasp a perfect understanding of things — knowing, that is, more fully and more deeply the causes of the incarnation of the Word of God and the reasons of his dispensations?

From here one now comes to Rimmon-perez, which in our language is called "lofty severance," that is, where there is a separation and discernment of great and heavenly things from earthly and lowest ones. For as the understanding of the soul grows, both the knowledge of lofty things is furnished to it and a judgment is given, by which it may know how to sever the eternal from the temporal and to separate the fleeting from the perpetual.

After these things one comes to Libnah, which is interpreted "whitening." I know that in other places whitening is set down blameworthily, as when it is said "whitewashed wall" and "whitewashed tombs." But here that whitening is meant, of which the prophet says: "You shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow"; and again Isaiah: "If your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten them as snow, and make them white as wool"; and likewise in the psalm: "They shall be whitened with snow in Salmon"; and the hairs of the Ancient of days are said to be white, that is, white as wool. So therefore this whitening is to be understood as coming from the splendor of the true light and as descending from the brightness of heavenly visions.

After these things a station is made in Rissah, which among us can be called "visible" or "praiseworthy temptation." What is this, that although the soul has great advances, nevertheless temptations are not taken away from it? Whence it appears that temptations are applied to it as a kind of guard and defense. For just as flesh, if it be not sprinkled with salt, however great and choice it be, is corrupted, so also the soul, unless it be in some way salted with continual temptations, immediately is dissolved and grows slack. Whence it is clear that on this account it was said that "every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." Thence finally comes that which Paul too said: "And lest I be exalted by the sublimity of the revelations, there was given to me a goad of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me." This therefore is the visible or praiseworthy temptation.

From this one comes to Kehelathah, which is "principality" or "rod." By either, power seems to be indicated, and that the soul has advanced so far that it rules over the body and itself holds a rod of power over it; nay, not only over the body, but even over the whole world, when it says: "But to me the world is crucified, and I to the world."

Thence one comes to Mount Shepher, which is called "trumpet-blowing." The trumpet is the sign of war. Therefore, where it perceives itself armed with such and so great virtues, of necessity it advances to war, which is for it against the principalities and powers, and against the rulers of this world; or else certainly it sounds the trumpet in the word of God, that is, of preaching and of doctrine, that it may "give a distinct sound by the trumpet," so that he who hears it may be able to prepare himself for war.

After these things one comes to Haradah, which in our language sounds "made fit"; assuredly so that the soul too may say: "He has made us fit ministers of the new testament."

Thence a station is held at Makheloth, which is interpreted "from the beginning." For he who tends toward perfection contemplates the beginning of things, nay rather refers all things to him who was in the beginning, and never departs from that beginning.

After these things a station is made at Tahath, which is "confirmation" or "patience." For it is necessary that he who wishes to be of profit to others also should suffer many things and bear all things patiently, just as it was said of Paul: "For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name."

Thence one comes to Terah, which among us is understood as "the contemplation of amazement." We cannot in the Latin tongue express in a single word the Greek word which they call ekstasin, that is, when the mind is stupefied in wonder at some great thing. This therefore is what "the contemplation of amazement" means, when in the recognition of great and marvelous things the mind is struck and stands amazed.

After these things one comes to Mithkah, which is interpreted "new death." What is the new death? When we die together with Christ and are buried together with Christ, so that we may also live together with him.

Thence one comes to Hashmonah, which is said to signify "mouth" or "bones." By these, without doubt, the virtue and strength of patience is declared.

Now from here a station is held at Moseroth, which is thought to signify "excluding." Excluding whom? Without doubt the malignant suggestions of the contrary spirit from one's thoughts. For thus also the Wisdom of God says: "If the spirit of one having power ascend upon you, leave not your place." The place therefore must be held, and the adversary must be excluded, lest he find a place in our heart, as the Apostle says: "Do not give place to the devil."

After these things one comes to Bene-jaakan, which signifies "fountains" or "strainings," that is, where one draws the fountains of the divine words, until he strains them out by drinking. But "strains" is said here from "straining," not from "cultivating." Someone strains out the word of God, then, when he passes over not even the least commandment, nay rather when not even one iota or one tittle of the word of God is held idle in his understanding.

After these things one comes to Hor-haggidgad, which is interpreted "temptation" or "constipation." Temptation, as I see, is a certain fortitude and defense of the soul; for it is so mingled with the virtues that without these virtue is seen to be neither comely nor full. And therefore for those advancing toward virtue various and frequent stations are made in temptations.

When you have passed through these, you will halt in Jotbathah. Jotbathah is interpreted "good things." To good things, therefore, one comes only after the trials of temptations.

Thence "they halted," he says, "in Abronah," which is "passage." For all things must be passed through; because, even if you come to good things, it behooves you to pass on also to better things, until you come to that good in which you ought always to remain.

After these things one arrives at Ezion-geber, which is interpreted "the counsels of a man." If anyone has ceased to be a child in his senses, he arrives at the counsels of a man, just as also that one who said: "But when I became a man, I put away the things that were of a little one." Great, therefore, are the counsels of a man, just as that one too says: "Deep water is counsel in the heart of a man."

From here again one comes to Zin. Again Zin is temptation. For we have said that it is not expedient to make this journey otherwise, just as, for example's sake, if some goldsmith wishing to make a necessary vessel frequently brings it to the fire, frequently subjects it to the hammers, often scrapes it with files, so that it may become both more purified and be led to that form which the artisan foresees, and to that beauty.

After these things one halts at Paran-kadesh, which is "holy fruitfulness." You see whence and whither one comes, you see that holy fruitfulness follows upon the furrows of temptations.

Thence one halts at Mount Hor, which is interpreted "mountainous." For it comes to the mountain of God, so that it too may become "a fertile mountain and a curdled mountain," or, because it always dwells on the mountain of God, may be called "mountainous."

After these things there follows the station of Zalmonah, which is interpreted "shadow of a portion." That shadow I think is meant, of which the prophet too said: "The spirit of our countenance, Christ the Lord, of whom we said: In his shadow we shall live among the Gentiles." But also that shadow is like to this, of which it is said: "The Spirit of the Lord shall overshadow you." The shadow, therefore, of our portion, which furnishes us shade from all the heat of temptations, is Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit.

From here now we come to Punon, which we suppose is interpreted "sparingness of mouth." For he who has been able to gaze upon the mystery concerning Christ and concerning the Holy Spirit, and whether he has seen or heard those things which it is not lawful for men to speak, will of necessity have sparingness of mouth, knowing to whom and when and how one ought to speak of the divine mysteries.

After these things one comes to Oboth, of which name, although we have not found an interpretation, nevertheless we do not doubt that, just as in all the others, in this name too the consequence of the journeyings is preserved.

There follows after these things a station which is called Gai, which is interpreted "chaos." For through these journeyings one draws near to the bosom of Abraham, who says to those who are in torments that "between you and us a great chaos has been established," so that he too may rest in his bosom like that blessed Lazarus.

Thence again one comes to Dibon-gad, which is said to signify "a beehive of temptations." O the wondrous caution of the divine providence! Behold, now the traveler here of the heavenly journey, next to the highest perfection through the succession of virtues, and yet trials are not lacking to him. But I hear of a new kind of trials: "a beehive," he says, "of temptations." The bee is a praiseworthy animal set down in the Scriptures, from whose labors both kings and common people make use of them for health; which is rightly taken of the words of the prophets and of the Apostles and of all who wrote the sacred volumes; and I think this "beehive," that is, the whole number of the divine Scriptures, is most worthily understood. There is, therefore, for those who tend toward perfection, even in this beehive, that is, in the prophetic and apostolic words, no small temptation. Do you wish to see that there is in these no slight temptation? In this beehive I find it written: "See," he says, "lest, looking upon the sun and the moon, you adore them, which the Lord your God has apportioned to the nations." You see what temptation proceeds from this beehive? And again when it says: "You shall not curse the gods." And again in the beehive of the new testament, where we read: "Why do you wish to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you?" And again in other places the Lord himself says: "Therefore I speak to them in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand, lest perhaps they be converted, and I heal them." But also when the Apostle says: "In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers" — and many trials of this sort you will find in this divine beehive, to which it is necessary that each of the saints should come, so that even through these it may be recognized how perfectly and piously he thinks concerning God.

After these things one now comes to Almon-diblathaim, which is interpreted "contempt of figs," that is, where earthly things are utterly despised and looked down upon. For unless those things which seem to delight on earth have been spurned and despised, we cannot pass over to the heavenly things.

For there follows after these things the station of Abarim over against Nebo, which is "passage"; but Nebo is interpreted "departure." For when the soul has made its journey through all these virtues and has ascended to the summit of perfection, it now passes over from the world and departs, as it is written of Enoch: "And he was not found, because God had translated him." And even if he who is of this sort should seem to be still in the world and to dwell in the flesh, nevertheless he is not found. In what is he not found? In no worldly act, in no carnal thing, in no conversation of vanity is he found. For God has translated him from these and has made him to be in the region of the virtues.

The last station is on the west of Moab beside the Jordan. For all this course is run, and run for this reason, that one may arrive at the river of God, that we may be made near to the streams of wisdom and be watered by the waves of divine knowledge; so that, thus purified through all things, we may deserve to enter the land of promise. These things, meanwhile, concerning the stations of the Israelites, according to one manner of exposition, we have been able in passing to touch upon briefly and to bring forward into the midst.