Epistolæ

• Jerome

• Fabiola

1. In the 77th psalm which according to the evangelist Matthew we believe was said in the person of the lord, the history of the ten plagues in Egypt and the exodus of Israel into solitude is recounted. Although there is no doubt that what is written happened, the letter says one thing, the spirit holds another enclosed: “I shall open,” he says, “my mouth in parable” I shall speak statements from the beginning, what we have heard and seen and what our fathers told us” [Ps.77:2-3]. Whence the apostle says with the same word since it was the same spirit: “all these things happened to them in a figure; the writings are a warning to us on whom the end of the ages has come” [1Cor.10:11]. And: “I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under a cloud and they all went through the sea and were baptized in Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and they all ate the same spiritual food and they all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock following them and that rock was Christ” [1Cor.10:1-4]. If therefore a part of the history of the journey from Egypt is taken spiritually and other things which are passed over by the apostle because of time constraints, it is demonstrated to have the same understanding. For the same prophet who said in another place: “I have dwelt in the dwellings of Kedar; my soul was long a resident” [Ps.119:5-6], not being able to bear absence from the holy land, he sighs tearfully and says: “these things I remembered as I poured out my soul, when I passed into the place of the wondrous tabernacle to the house of god in voice of exultation and confession, sounds of festivity” [Ps.41:5] and in another psalm: “open my eyes and I shall observe wondrous things in your law” [Ps.118:18]. And Paul: “the law is spiritual” [Rom.7:14] and the lord: “if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me” [John 5:46], and according to the gospel of Luke: “and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things that were said about him” [Luke 24:27].
Therefore let young Jews and those who can not swallow solid food but are still nourished with the milk of infancy read of Pharaoh in the flesh and the Red Sea, the passage to India, and manna like coriander, and let them hear all things which are written corporally: leprosy of the homes and leprosy of skin and cloth, the murderous bull and evil beast-of-burden of adultery, and the Hebrew serving because of wife and children desiring to have his ear pierced with an awl. We, however, abandoning Capernaum, once a very beautiful land, and going out with Jesus into the desert, we are fed with his bread if we are foolish and like animals, with barley if we are like beasts of burden, with wheat ground from the grain of corn which falls on the earth and dies and bears much fruit. Egypt was struck with nine plagues, Pharaoh was broken, so that he would send the people of god away. He loses the first-born to the last one, so the first-born of Israel might be consecrated to the lord. Whom formerly they wished to hold, they urgently expel. The exterminator crosses over and does not dare to touch the pastoral land of Goshen irrigated with rain; their doorposts were signed with the blood of the lamb and the deed spoke: “the light of your face is signed over us, lord” [Ps.4:7]. Whence that solemnity is called passover, which we can call the passage, because we shall leave darkened Egypt behind and proceed from worse to better. But already it is time that we pursue our promise, supplying the order of the mansions of Israel.
2. It is written in the last part of the volume of Numbers that among Hebrews is called “uaiedabber”:(!1) “these are the stages of the sons of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt in troops in the hands of Moses and Aaron” [Nos.33:1], which the Greeks call aparseis [Grk], we because of the properties of the language translate it more clearly as mansions/stages or, from the army, camps. There is a catalogue of the stages from first to last and they are numbered forty-two, about which Matthew says: “there are fourteen generations from Abraham to David and fourteen from David to the deportation to Babylon and fourteen from Babylon to Christ” [Matth.1:17] and that is fortytwo generations. The true Hebrew rushes through these, as he hastens to cross over from earth to heaven and with the world left behind in Egypt enters the land of promise. No wonder, if in that mystery of number we should reach the kingdoms of heaven under which the lord and savior came from the first patriarch to the virgin, as if to the Jordan which flowing with full stream pours over with the graces of the holy spirit. For what is written, that the departure is in the hands of Moses and Aaron, understand law and priesthood, works and worship of god, in which one needs the other. For there is no advantage in exercizing virtues unless you know the creator, nor does veneration of god accomplish salvation unless you fulfil the precepts of the creator. With these two hands as if with two seraphim we break into confession/acknowledgment of the holy trinity, saying: “holy, holy, holy, lord god of hosts” [Isa.6:3].
3. “They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after passover the children of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians. And the Egyptians were burying all their first born in the land of Egypt whom the lord had struck down among them, and the lord also executed judgments upon their gods” [Nos.33:3-4]. Rameses is interpreted/translated by some as “turbulent commotion” or “bitterness and commotion of moths, but we think it more truly expresses “thunder of joy.” In this city at the far border of Egypt, the people who wanted to go out into the desert gathered because, leaving the tumult of the world behind, it was moved from its former vices and from the consuming moth of prior sins turning all bitterness to sweetness so that it could hear the voice of god thundering over mount Sinai. That divine words and the eloquence of scriptures are called thunder in the wheel of this age and world, the psalmist declares, saying: “the voice of your thunder in the wheel” [Ps.76:19] and hearing the voice of god the father in the baptism of the saviour they thought it was thunder.
Whenever we are moved by the evangelical trumpet and excited by the joy of thunder, we come out in the first month, when winter has passed and gone, when spring begins, when earth brings forth, when all things are renewed, and we come out on the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after passover with full light of the month, after the unstained lamb is eaten and the feet of the apostle are shod and the loins girded with chastity and the staffs prepared in hand. For although we ate the lamb in Egypt, making the fourteenth month passover, still the full light is completed for us when we leave Rameses behind “with hand high” (triumphantly), high either because it struck Egypt or because it protected Israel from the watching Egyptians who are astonished as we leave the world and twisted by envy and then wanting to hold us, are suffocated in their pursuits, when the Egyptians bury their firstborn and the dead fathers oppress their dead sons with earthly works.
The first born of the Egyptians seem to me the dogma of philosophers by which men are kept deceived and ensnared. When Israel flees alive, they surround it with their dead, lest they imitate the example of those going out. Further, in what follows, “the lord executed judgments upon their gods,” or as the Septuagint translated, “revenge,” Hebrews affirm that on the night that the people went out, all the temples in Egypt were destroyed either by earthquake or lightning. Spiritually however let us who are leaving Egypt learn to overthrow the idols of errors and shatter all worship of wrong doctrines.
4. “The people of Israel setting out from Rameses, pitched camp at Succoth” [Nos.33:5]. The second stage. In this they bake unleavened breads and first pitch their tents, whence the place takes its name. Succoth indeed is translated in our language “tents” (tabernacula, tentoria). And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the feast of tents is celebrated. When therefore we come out of Egypt, first we pitch tents knowing that we must proceed to farther things/places. Then we do not eat from the yeast of Egypt, from the yeast of malice and evil, but we are fed on unleavened breads of sincerity and truth, consuming the precepts of the lord in deed: “beware the yeast of the pharisees” [Matth.16:11]. In this stage we are ordered to always be mindful of the departure from Egypt, so we celebrate the passage, that is the lord’s passover, so we consecrate to the lord the firstborn of our womb and of all virtues in place of the firstborn of Egypt who are struck down.
5. “And they set out from Succoth and pitched camp at Etham, which is on the edge of the desert/wilderness” [Nos.33:6]. The third stage is presented after the tents, in which the lord is first seen at night in a column of fire and by day in a column of cloud that precedes the people and guides the journey. Etham to us means “fortitude” and “perfection,” about which David sings: “you burst the rivers of Etham,” that is “strong.” It is great fortitude to leave Egypt and dwell in farthest wilderness. From which we understand that Succoth was next to Egypt. For where it is said: “which is on the edge of the desert/wilderness,” it is shown to be between the confines of desert and Egypt. Let us prepare fortitude for ourselves, let us assume perfect strength, so that the light of the knowledge of Christ may appear in the shadows of errors and confusion of night. Let our day have a protective cloud, so that with these leaders we can reach the holy land.
6. “And they set out from Etham and turned back to Pihahiroth, which is opposite Baalzephon and they pitched camp before Magdol” [Nos.33:7]. The fourth stage is Pihahiroth which is translated “bone of nobles,” and written with the letter heth. Indeed they wrongly think hiroth is towns, and it is manifest error to read the letter ain for the above mentioned letter. Baalzephon in our language becomes “lord of the north,” or “ascent of the watch-tower,” or “having secrets,” further Magdol is “magnitude,” or “tower.” When we have assumed fortitude we are ennobled in the lord and we scorn the mysteries of the idol of Baalzephon and we turn aside from its magnificence and towered pride. For it is not from the east, whence the lord comes, nor midday, in which the spouse/groom lies among flowers, but the possessor of the north, of the coldest wind, by which evils are kindled over the earth; who, though it is very cold, is called “right” by name, assuming the word of virtue and right falsely, when it is altogether wrong.
7. “And they set out from Pihahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness and they went a three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham and they pitched camp at Marah” [Nos.33:8]. The fifth stage is Marah, which is interpreted “bitterness.” They could not reach the waters of the Red Sea and see Pharaoh coming with his army until after they had nobility in their mouths, that is virtues by acknowledgment of the lord, when they believed in god and Moses his servant, and they heard from him: “the lord will fight for you and you will be silent” [Ex.14:14], and the victors sounded the songs of the triumphing bodies with Mary/Miriam singing with timbrels: “let us sing to the lord, for he is gloriously honored, he has thrown horse and rider into the sea” [Ex.15:20-21]. After the preaching of the gospel, after the tents of the migrants, after the assumption of fortitude, after the nobility of confession, dangers recur. Whence we learn that ambushes must always be avoided and the mercy of god invoked, so that we can flee the pursuing Pharaoh and he can be suffocated in us by spiritual baptism. And after we have left the Red Sea, the Sur desert meets us, which is called the wilderness of Etham, entering which they had no water for three days and they came to Marah, which takes its name from bitterness. The source had water but not sweetness. The people grumble seeing water and not able to drink. Understand Marah as waters of the killing letter, in which if confession of the cross is introduced and sacraments of the lord’s passion are joined, everything which seemed undrinkable and sad and rigid is turned to sweetness. Whence it is written: “god established law for his people and judgments and he proved them” [Ex.15:25]. For where there is magnitude of grace, there is magnitude of decision. Do not be frightened if after victory you come to bitterness, since making a true passover they eat unleavened breads with bitterness and temptation brings proof and proof hope, hope salvation. Among doctors, too, a certain antidote tempering noxious humors is named for its bitterness which by restoring health is shown to be sweet, so in contrast desire and lust are marked by bitterness, with scripture saying: “what at one time fattens your throat, you will later find truly more bitter than gall” [Prov.5:3-4].
8. “They set out from Marah and came to Elim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm-trees, and they pitched camp there” [Nos.33:9]. The sixth stage refers to strong rams. How beautiful is the order of virtues! After victory, temptation, after temptation, restoration. We come from bitterness to rams and robust princes of the flock whom, according to Ezekiel, the lord said he would judge, because some of them trampled in the waters and repressed the sheep, others were gentle and peaceful. The 28th psalm speaks about these: “bring to the lord, children of god, bring the sons of rams to the lord” [Ps.28:1]. We make our lodging at the sixth stage. Never before were there very pure springs except where the doctrine of the teachers burst forth. Nor is there any doubt that it speaks of the twelve apostles, from whose springs flowed waters that moisten the whole world. Next to these waters grew seventy palms, in which we understand preceptors of the second order, with the evangelist Luke testifying that there were twelve apostles and seventy disciples of lower rank, whom the lord sent out before him. About whom Paul tells that the lord appeared first to twelve, then to all the apostles, wishing that some be understood as the first, others as the second disciples. Let us drink from this kind of spring and, devouring the sweet fruits of victory, prepare for the remaining stages.
9. “They set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea” [Nos.33:10]. The Red Sea, which in Hebrew is iam suph, is the seventh stage. And the question is how, after crossing the Red Sea and the spring of Marah and Elim, they came again to the Red Sea, unless perhaps on the journey they ran into a certain bay of the sea next to which they pitched camp. For it is one thing to cross the sea, another to pitch tents near it. From which we are admonished also after evangelical teaching among the very sweet foods of triumph that appear to us, the sea and past dangers/decisions are placed before our eyes, what a great difference there is between crossing the sea and seeing the sea far off. The word iam suph among Hebrews is composed of sea and red; but suph means both red and bulrush. Whence we can surmise that they came to a certain swamp and lake which was full of rushes and sedge. But that holy scripture calls all gatherings of waters “sea,” there is no doubt. This stage is not in Exodus, but it is written that they came from the Red Sea to the Sin wilderness, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month of the departure from Egypt, that is the thirty-first day after they left Rameses.
10. “They set out from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin” [Nos.33:11]. This is the eighth stage, though according to the order of Exodus it is the seventh. But it should be known that every desert up to mount Sinai is called Sin and from the whole province the place took the name of the one stage, as Moab is also the name of the city and the province. In this wilderness there are five stages: iam suph, of which we just spoke, the Sin desert, and Dophkah and Alush and Rephidim, about which we shall speak in what follows. Sin is translated “bramblebush” or “hatred,” of which both have the mystical meaning that after we come to the place about which the lord will speak to us, we deserve the great hatred of the enemy. Then we will see the burning bush and not be burned, the church set afire by persecutions but not perishing, with the lord speaking in it. And note that in the eighth stage, in which are our [wine]presses, whence the eighth psalm has that title, we understand the desert of the bramblebush, since “there are more sons of the deserted woman than of the one with a husband” [Isa.54:1].
11. “They set out from the desert of Sin and pitched camp in Dophkah” [Nos.33:12]. The ninth stage. This name among Hebrews is krousma [Grk], that is knocking/beating, according to the lord saying “knock and it will be opened to you” [Math.7:7]. In the book of Hebrew Numbers, however, we translated “adhering and remission,” which should not disturb the reader. And let him not think we are writing discrepancies; for there, according to what the vulgate has, we put it forth as the middle word is written with the letter beth; here, however, it is found in the Hebrew volume with phe, a letter that sounds more beating than smooth. The clear sense is: after the answers of the lord, after the eighth number of Christ’s resurrection, we begin to knock at the sacraments. And I would wish to ask the prudent and studious reader that he might know I translate the words according to Hebrew truth; otherwise in the Greek and Latin books we find all but a few things corrupted. And I wonder that certain learned and ecclesiastical men wanted to carry over those things that are not in Hebrew and seek made-up explanations from what is badly translated, so in this place they read the letter Raphaca for Dephca because res and daleth are distinguished by a small point, and translated “administration” and thence follows a similar tropology.
12. “And they set out from Dophkay and piched camp at Alush” [Nos.33:13]. The tenth stage is not in Exodus and it is believed that it is contained in the Sin desert where that book narrates: “the whole multitude of the children of Israel set out from the desert of Sin through their stages according to the mouth of the lord and came to Rephidim” [Ex.17:1]. From which it is clear that several stages are shown by the word for one region. Alush is translated “yeast,” which “a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened” [Math.13:33]. In this wilderness, the people grumbles because of hunger and the convert/believer sees the glory of god far off in a cloud and receives the quail at night and manna in the morning of another day. And note that yeast is placed in the tenth stage and after eating flesh, manna is offered and the writing fulfilled: “man ate the bread of angels” [Ps.77:25].
13. “And they set out from Alush and pitched camp at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people” [Nos.33:14]. This is the eleventh stage, which is violently interpreted in the book of Hebrew Numbers, “the mouth saw sufficient to them: or “the vision of the mouth of the strong”; and better translated “dissolution of the strong” or “health of the strong” or according to the Syrian language “relaxing of hands.” And this is read in Exodus after the setting out from the desert of Sin. The people complain of the burning of thirst; a fountain erupts from the stone Horeb and flows and, since they tested god, the place is called Rephidim, “testing/temptation” and “amassing.” Moses ascends the mountain; Joshua fights against Amalek; the enemy is conquered by the sign of the cross; the victor pursues the enemy with the relaxed hands of one praying. Moses sits on the stone of Zecharia which has seven eyes and in the volume of Samuel is called aben ezer, that is “helper stone,” and Aaron and Hur hold up each hand, that is “mountainous and clear.” When the enemy is conquered, Jethro appears, bringing Zipporah and both [her] sons, and counsels seventy elders and, as a figure for the church gathered from the gentiles, the weakening of the law is fulfilled as in the gospel. Rephidim is beautifully called “dissolution” and “health of the strong,” either because of the routed Amalek or because Israel is healed. Whether “relaxing of hands” is Rephidim according to Syrians, let us say this name is imposed on the place because of the offense of the people, since it grumbled against the lord. We touch on this, rather than expound it, content to have indicated briefly that after the yeast — Alush — and the “amassing” of the church, multple temptations of demons arise against us.
14. “And they set out from Rephidim and pitched camp in the wilderness of Sinai” [Nos.33:15]. This is the twelfth stage. Let the number of apostles come immediately to your mind. One [stage] from many, but the greater is not separated from all in order or merit. They reach this place on the forty-seventh day, as scripture says: “in the third month of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, on this day they crossed into the wilderness of Sinai and came from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai and pitched camp and Israel camped there in the desert near the mountain. And Moses went up to God and called him from the mountain saying” [Ex.19:1-3] and the rest. And again, he says: “go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and prepare for the third day, because on the third day the lord will come down upon mount Sinai in the sight of all the people” [Ex.19:10-11]. Which was done. And they washed their clothes and to those who had stayed apart from coitus with their wives on the third day the lord descended to the mountain, with smoke and lightning, thunder and mist, and the voice of a trumpet terrifying mortal hearts; Moses spoke and the lord answered him.
Let us compute the number and we will find that on the fiftieth day of the departure of Israel from Egypt the law was given on the top of mount Sinai. Whence the solemn feast of Pentecost is celebrated and the sacrament of the gospel is completed with the descent of the holy spirit, so that, just as the law was given to the previous people on the fiftieth day, with true jubilee and true year of remission, and 550 true denarii forgiven debtors, so also the holy spirit descended to the apostles and those who were appointed with them, 120, the number of Moses’s age, and with the tongues of believers divided, the whole world was filled with gospel preaching. It would be long, if I wished to repeat what are the precepts of the law, how the tabernacle was made, what the variety of sacrifices, the pontifical garments, the ceremonies of priests and levites, what they needed, how the people were counted: this alone I shall say, that half of Exodus and the whole book of Leviticus and the not slight precepts of Numbers and distribution by individual tribes and offering of princes are described in this stage and an argument of many volumes would scarcely suffice for this place. Sinai however is translated “bushes,” not one, as above in the wilderness of Sin, but many, as there the beginning, here the perfection, there the solitary number, here multiple. For it is one thing to possess one grace, another to possess all graces.
15. “And they set out from the wilderness of Sinai and pitched camp in the tombs of concupiscence” [Nos.33:16]. The thirteenth stage, whose name is given with its interpretation, is called “cabaroth atthaua” [Kibroth-hattaavah] among Hebrews. The sense, however, is from the gospel, that Jesus as soon as he was baptized was led by the spirit into the desert and tempted by the devil. And so Israel after the intimate speech with god, after dwelling beside mount Sinai for a year and four days, with a wondrous ordering of camps, went out into the wilderness of Paran, which is interpreted “wild ass,” or “fierceness,” and there despising heavenly bread and desiring the fleshes of Egypt, it succumbed to the evil beast, when a sudden fire devoured many and with Moses interceding, a voracious flame consumed the smoke. Then they receive quail unto nausea and devour their vomit. Seventy elders are chosen, they go to the entrance of the tent/tabernacle, two remain, Eldad and Medad, not negligent of authority but humbly submissive, while they consider themselves unworthy of honor, whence they prophesy the absent, and with the people sated, “while the food was still in their mouths, the anger of god rose against them and killed the fattest of them and laid low the elect of Israel” [Ps.77:30-31], lest they race swiftly to evil; whence the place is called “tombs of concupiscence” or, as we read in the Septuagint, “memory of desire.” From all which let us learn that we who put off secular wisdom and scorn the Egyptian pots, should not grumble against the heavenly bread of scripture nor seek the juices of Egyptians which are of great flesh, but the simple food of manna; otherwise, if we wished to seize them again, we will devour to nausea and immediately be twisted by the lord’s fire and our desire turned to tombs, so that we might be “whitened sepulchres, which appear beautiful on the outside to men, but within are filled with bones of the dead, and all kinds of filth” [Matth.23:27].
16. “And they set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and pitched camp at Hazeroth” [Nos.33:17]. The fourteenth stage in the Paran wilderness, which is translated entries. In this, Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman and, as a figure of zeal against the church gathered from the gentiles, the people of the Jews was filled with the filth of leprosy and did not return to the tabernacle/meeting tent and receive its former health until the stated time for the people was fulfilled. Mark this, prudent reader, that after virtue was perfected in the twelfth number, Israel grew proud and desired Egyptian flesh in the tombs of concupiscence, and builds another foundation and enters the entries, that is the vestibules of virtue, showing us that those who stand can fall and those who fell can rise. Jesus is destined for the fall and resurrection of many [cf. Luke 2.34] and he himself said through the prophet: “will one who falls never rise?” [Jer.8:4].
17. “And they set out from Hazeroth and pitched camp at Rithmah” [Nos.33:18]; for which we read above in the same book: “afterwards the people set out from Hazeroth and pitched camp in the wilderness of Paran” [Nos.13:1]. This is however the fifteenth stage. And it should be noted that the next eigthteen stages, a list of which will now be described briefly, from Rithmah to Ezion-geber, that is to the thirty-second stage, can be combined under the name of the Paran wilderness. In which all the things which are written we think were done at different times; which since they are not divided into separate stages will be discussed together by us, so that we can come to the rest of them. Rithmah is translated “sound” or “juniper,” althogh many people contend that it means another kind of tree, arkeuthon in Greek. The first psalm of steps/ascents gives juniper according to Hebrew truth, where it is written: “who is given to you or what is applied to your deceitful tongue?” and the prophet answers: “the sharp arrows of the powerful/warrior with coals of junipers” [Ps.119:3-4]; for which we read “desolating.” They bring this wood to keep the fire for a long time, so that if a live coal were secreted from its ashes, it would last a year. From which we learn that after the tombs of concupiscence and the vestibules, we cross over to the wood which holds its heat for a long time, so that we may be fervent in spirit and preach the lord’s gospel with clear sound and voice raised on high.
From this stage to the thirty-second, stories of this kind are included: twelve spies are sent to the holy land; a branch of grapes is brought and the passion of Christ is briefly shown; the people of the Jews grumbles, fearing a gigantic attack; it fights against Amalek and Canaan, against god’s will, and understands from defeat that it should make sacrifices in the holy land; Dathan and Abiram and the sons of Korah rise against Moses and Aaron and they are swallowed by an opening of the earth; the high priest armed with a censer enters in the middle between the dead and the living and running keeps off the wrath of god with the voice of the priest; the staff of Aaron brings forth flower and leaves and the sprouting dryness is preserved in eternal memory; there is no temple yet but overseers, not yet priests but levites offered sacrifices and the mystical speech describes parts of them; the red heifer is burned in sacrifice and its ashes sprinkled in atonement. All of these are figures that demand their own books and I think it is better to be silent than to say little.
18. “And they set forth from Rithmah and pitched camp at Rimmon-perez” [Nos.33:19]. The sixteenth stage, which is translated in Greek speech roias diakope, in Latin, “division of the Punic apple,” which others call the pomegranate. The fruit of which tree is doubly taken in scripture: either in the lap/bosom of the church, which covers the whole crowd of believers with its bark or in the variety and harmony of virtues according to what is written: “there was one heart and soul in the multitude of believers” [Acts 4:32]; so the individual steps are divided so that all can be contained in one structure.
19. “And they set out from Rimmon-perez and pitched camp at Libnah [Nos.33:20]. The seventeenth stage, which we can translate “bricks,” though certain people, translating Lebona, interpret it badly as “white.” We read the Egyptian bricks in Exodus [1:14], making which the people sighed, we read in Malachi [1:4] where Edom strives to replace polished stones for those destroyed, and the brick in Ezekiel [4:1-2] in which the picture of the besieged Jerusalem is drawn. From which we learn that sometimes we grow bigger in the journey of this life and from one passage to another, sometimes we grow smaller, often migrating after the ecclesiastical order to works of bricks.
20. “And they set out from Libnah and pitched camp at Rissah” [Nos.33:21]. The eighteenth stage is translated “reins/bits.” For if we descend again to works of mud after setting out, we are reined in and the wandering and precipitous courses are directed by the bridles of scriptures. This word, memory suggests, I know I never found elsewhere in holy scripture among the Hebrews, except in an apocryphal book, Genesis, which is called lepte, that is small, by the Greeks; there is it put in the building of the tower for stadium, in which boxers and athletes exercize and the speed of runners is tested. And the psalmist says: “restrain their jaws with bits and bridles, if they do not stay near you” [Ps.31:9] and the apostle: “do you not know that in a race-course all run but only one receives the prize? so run, that you may take it” [1Cor.9:24].
21. “And they set out from Rissah and pitched camp at Kehelathah” [Nos.33:22]. The nineteenth stage is translated “church.” The wandering steps of runners are drawn back to the church with reins and outside they hasten to enter again what they had left before.
22. “And they set out from Kehelathah and pitched camp at mount Shepher” [Nos.33:23]. The twentieth stage is translated “beauty” and is set on the mountain of elegance, about which the beginning of the fourteenth psalm sings: “lord, who will live in your tent or dwell on your holy mountain?” See what use the reins are: they draw us back from vices, lead us into choirs of virtues and make us dwell in Christ, the most beautiful mountain. He is, according to Daniel the stone cut from the mountain without hands, that grew into a great mountain and filled all the earth; he, according to Ezekiel, wounded the prince of Tyre; to him, in Isaiah and Micah people run together saying: “come, let us go up to the mountain of the lord, to the house of Jacob; and he will announce his ways to us and we will walk in his paths” [Isa.2:3].
23. “And they set out from mount Shepher and pitched camp at Haradah” [Nos.33:24]. The twenty-first stage is translated “miracle.” How beautiful is the order of those who have set out, how outstanding the texture of believers! After the brick work, we are reined in, after the reins, we are led into the church, after dwelling in the church we climb the mountain to Christ, where we are stunned and amazed so our speech in praise of him is overwhelemed by finding in him “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived” [1Cor.2:9].
24. “And they set out from Haradah and pitched camp at Makheloth” [Nos.33:25]. The twenty-second stage is translated “assembled.” For in this are the multitude of believers, the early church, the harmony of all virtues. Then we can truly say: “behold how good and how pleasant it is to live as brothers in unity!” [Ps.132:1] and “the lord makes them dwell in the home of one usage” [Ps.67:1].
25. “And they set out from Makheloth and pitched camp at Tahath” [Nos.33:26]. The twenty-third stage can be understood “beneath,” but we will better translate it “fear.” You came to the church, you climbed the most beautiful mountain, you confess the magnitude of Christ with stupor and miracle, you see there many companions of your virtue: “do not be proud, but fear” [Rom.11:20]. For “the lord opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” [Jms.4:6] and “who exalts himself, let him take care lest he fall [1Cor.10:12]. The mighty will suffer torments mightily” [Sap.6:7]. Fear is the guardian of virtues, assurance is vulnerable to a fall. When in a certain psalm [22:1-2, 4], after the prophet had said: “the lord rules me and I will lack nothing; he set me in a place of pasture,” he enjoins fear, which is the guardian of beatitude and says: “your rod and your staff have comforted me.” The sense is: whle I fear torments, I preserve grace, which I shall accept.
26. “And they set out from Tahath and pitched camp at Terah” [Nos.33:27]. The twenty-fourth stage, which some translate “malice” or “pasture,” and they are not wrong, if it is written with the letter ain; now, truly, when the double aspiration is in the last syllable, the cause of error is clear. I find in the above mentioned apocryphal volume Geneseos when the ravens who had been laying waste men’s grain are driven away, the name father Abraham written with this same word and these letters, as the one who drives away or repells them. So we may imitate Thare and be careful to keep away the birds of heaven which hasten to devour a lot of wheat beside the road. For the patriarch Abraham as a figure for Israel divided the members of the sacrifices and does not allow them to be devoured by birds; and the ravens of the valleys dig out the scornful eye; and the true Moses and Elijah leads the Ethiopian woman and is fed by ravens. If you have fear, you will be careful; if you are careful, the lion will not be able to enter your sheeppens. Refer that either to the overseers of your churches or to the care of your soul which the devil strives to enter through different holes of vices.
27. “And they set out from Terah and piched camp at Mithkah” [Nos.33:28]. The twenty-fifth stage is translated “sweetness.” You have climbed on high, wondered at the choirs of virtues, feared a fall, driven away the ambushers: the sweet fruit of your labor immediately follows and in the manner of letters, the sweetness of the apples will balance the bitterness of the roots and you will say: “how sweet to my throat are your words, more than honey to my mouth” [Ps.118:103] and you will hear the spouse/groom singing to you: “your lips drip honey, my sister, my spouse/bride” [Cant.4:11]. For what is sweeter than discipline? what is better than learning? what is sweeter than the lord? “Taste and see, how sweet the lord is” [Ps.33:9]. Whence Samson, who drove bees and foxes which were destroying his vineyard away from his fruits, tied up the roaring lion and killed him, and found a honeycomb in his dead mouth.
28. “And they set out from Mithkah and pitched camp at Hashmonah” [Nos.33:29]. The twenty-sixth stage is, in our language, “hurry/speed” according to what is written in the psalm: “let them come bound out of Egypt” [Ps.67:32]. For bound in Hebrew we read “hastening,” so that after we have reaped the sweet fruits of our labor, we not be content with rest and leisure and rushing again to the furthest things, that we forget the past and stretch towards the future.
29. “And they set out from Hashmonah and pitched camp at Moseroth” [Nos.33:30]. The twenty-seventh stage is “chain” or “discipline,” that we might with swift step reach the teachers and tread their threshholds and consider that the precepts of virtues and mysteries of scriptures are eternal chains according to what is said in Isaiah: “and the Sabeans, tall men, will come over to you and be yours; they will walk after you, conquered with manacles” [Isa.45:14] and “Paul, conquered by Jesus Christ” [Eph.3:1]. The chains in scripture are double, which Samson once broke when he conquered his enemies. And in Ecclesiastes [7:27] we read about the whore: “a chain in her hands” and the lord says: “let us break their chains and throw their yoke from us” [Ps.2:3] and elsewhere: “the trap is destroyed, and we are free” [Ps.123:7]. The chains of Christ, however, are voluntary and become an embrace. Whoever is bound by them says: “his left hand is under my head and with his right he embraces me” [Cant.2:6].
30. “And they set out from Moseroth and pitched camp at Bene-jaakan” [Nos.33:31]. The twenty-eighth stage is translated “children/sons of necessity” or “of harshness.” If you begin with one number and slowly adding you come to the seventh [adding all numbers from 1 to 7], the number twenty-eight is achieved. Who are these children of necessity? Let the psalm teach us: “bring to the lord, children of god, bring to the lord the sons of rams” [Ps.28:1]. What is such great necessity that is imposed on those not wanting it? When you are learned in divine scriptures and read their testimonies and know the chains of truth, you will fight with adversaries, bind them and lead them conquered into captivity and from the captive former enemies, you will make them children of god, so you can suddenly say with Zion: “I was sterile and barren, exiled and captive, and who nourished them? I was destitute and alone, and where were they?” [Isa.49:21]. Wonder at Isaiah: recognize the mysteries of that psalm: “the voice of the lord in power, the voice of the lord in magnificence, the voice of the lord breaking cedars” [Ps.28:4-5], so that after he breaks his enemies and shakes the wilderness, the gentiles, stags may be prepared on the mountains and he be beloved like the son of the unicorns and everyone speak his glory in the temple. Further, refer what we translate “children of harshness,” to that sense that in fear of punishment and of that place where there is “weeping and gnashing(!2) of teeth,” [Matth.8:12], the crowds of believers, leaving the devil’s chains behind, submit their necks to Christ the lord.
31. “And they set out from Bene-jaakan and pitched camp at Hor-haggidgad” [Nos.33:32]. The twenty-ninth stage is translated “messenger” or “expedition and preparation” or certainly — what we consider more likely — katakope [Grk], that is “division.” Otherwise we teachers of disciples and believers can by no means make them sons of necessity unless we kill their instructors. Let us be cruel in their death; let our hand not spare the weapon or to extract the last ear-lap from the mouth of the lion. “Cursed is he who does the work of the lord negligently and restrains his sword from blood” [Jer.48:10]. Whence David also says: “in the morning, I shall kill all the sinners of the earth” [Ps.100:8]. About the messenger and preparation, we can say this briefly, that when we suggest great spurs to virtue to the children of necessity, we announce the rewards of the future to them and teach them to go to war prepared. Whatever the master does among these three, is on the mountain.
32. “And they set forth from Hor-haggidgad and pitched camp at Jotbathah” [Nos.33:33]. The thirtieth stage is translated “goodness,” as when we reach the perfect man, in sacerdotal rank and fullness of Christ’s age, in which Ezekiel was beside the river Chebar, we might sing with David in the thirtieth psalm: “in you, lord, I put my hope, I shall not be confounded eternally” [Ps.30:2]. “For the good shepherd gives his life for his sheep” [John 10:11].
33. “And they set forth from Jotbathah and pitched camp at Abronah” [Nos.33:34]. The thirty-first stage is translated pareleusis [Grk], that is “passage” or “transition.” The true Hebrew comes to this, the perates [Grk], the one who goes over, who can say: “going over I shall see this great visions” [Ex.3:3] about which the psalmist sings: “those who passed by did not say: the blessing of the lord upon you” [Ps.128:8]. “For the form of this world will pass away” [1Cor.7:31] and therefore saints desire to cross over to better things and not content with the present state sigh daily: “I remembered these things and I poured out my soul, since I shall pass into the place of wondrous dwelling unto the house of god” [Ps.41:5]. It would be [too] much, if I wished to gather exemples of the word “passage” from all the scriptures.
34. “And they set forth from Abronah and pitched camp at Ezion-geber” [Nos.33:35]. The thirty-second stage is translated “trees/woods of man” or “hewings of mankind” which is said more meaningfully in Greek xylakismoi andros and written with the letter ain not, as the Greek and Latins mistake it, with gimel. Whence in the wilderness the multitude of trees, unless the discplines of the assiduous and diligent master is shown cutting down formless wood and hewing it and making different vessels which are very necessary in the home? The woodcuttings of man can figure kinds of woodlands and of all trees and by that the multitude of believers, as David says: “we found it in the fields of the wood” [Ps.131:6]. Up to here the wilderness of Paran contains eighteen stages which, described in the above list, are not set down on the journey.
35. “And they set out from Ezion-geber and pitched camp in the wilderness of Zin, that is Kadesh” [Nos.33:36]. The question is why the eighth stage is now said to be the thirty-third. But it must be known that the earlier one is written with the letter samech and translated “bramblebush” or “hatred,” this on the other hand is written with sade and translated “command.” And what is joined to it, Kadesh, is not, as many think, “holy,” but “changed” or “transferred.” We read in Genesis according to hebrew truth, where Judah thinking that Tamar was a whore gave her gifts and the trustee of his pledge asks “where is the temple prostitute?” [Gen.38:21], whose dress is not different from other women. We find this also in many places. But if it is translated “holy,” it must be understood kata antiphrasin [Grk], in the way the Fates [Parcae] are so called because they spare [parcant] very little and war [bellum] because it is never beautiful [bellum], and grove [lucus] because it has little light [luceat]. In this stage Miriam dies and is buried and because of the waters of contradiction Moses and Aaron offend the lord and are prevented from crossing the Jordan and with messengers sent to Edom the passage is sought but not achieved. Who would fear after so much progress the grumbling of the people and offense of teachers and passageway denied? It seems to me that in Miriam prophecy is dead, in Moses and Aaron is the end of Jewish law and priesthood, because they could not reach the promised land nor lead the faithful from the wilderness of this world. And note that after the death of prophecy and the waters of contradiction, they can not cross Edom and earthly flesh and can not make their way with much prayer and effort, but Edom comes out against them with a large force heavily armed. The translation of the name of suits the death and the offense and the denied passage. Where there is a command, there is sin; where there is sin, there is offense; where there is offense, there is death. This is the stage about which the psalmist sings: “the lord will shake the wilderness of Kadesh’ [Ps.28:8].
36. “And they set out from Kadesh and pitched camp at mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom. And Aaron the priest went up mount Hor at the command of the lord and died there in the fortieth year of the departure of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month. And Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died on mount Hor. And the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived to the south in the land of Canaan, heard that the children of Israel had come” [Nos.33:37-40].
This is the thirty-fourth stage which many translate “light,” and that is not wrong if it is written with the letter aleph; others give “hide,” and they are right if it is the letter ain; some give “hole,” which can be accepted if it has the letter heth. When it is he, however, it is understood rather as “mountain,” and can be read: “Aaron the priest climbed the mountain of the mountain,” that is up to the summit. From which we observe that it is not simply on the mountain but the dead highpriest on the mountain of the mountain, so a place worthy of his merit can be shown. He dies however in the year in which the new people would enter the land of promise, at the edge of the land of the Edomites, and although on the mountain he left the priesthood to his son Eleazar and the law led those who fulfilled it to the summit, yet that height is not across the river Jordan but at the edge of earthly works. And the people weeps for thirty days. Aaron is wept for, Jesus is not. In the law there is a descent to hell, in the gospel a passage to paradise. The Canaanite also hears that Israel has come and in the place of the spies where they knew the people had once offended, they give battle and take Israel captive. And again there is fighting in that place and the victor is conquered by a vow, the vanquished overcome and the name Hormah is given, that is anathema. I am not reluctant to say these things, it is necessary for the readers, because the human state always changes along the way in this world, one will die in the valley, another in the fields, another on the mountain, not simply on the mountain, but at the highest peak. And when the enemy invades us, bereft of god’s help, and leads us captive, let us not despair of salvation, but arm again for battle. It can happen that we conquer where we were conquered and triumph in that place in which we were captives before.
37. “And they set out from mount Hor and pitched camp at Zalmonah. And they set out from Zalmonah and pitched camp at Punon” [Nos.33:41-42]. These two stages, the thirty-fifth and sixth, are not found in the order of history, but it is written aboutthem: “they set out from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom” [Nos.21:4]. From which it is shown that they were on the outer boundary of Edom. Not is it customary to read: “they set out from mount Hor and pitched camp in Zalmonah or in Punon,” but after going around the Edomite land they came to the edge and it says: “the children of Israel have pitched camp in Oboth” [Nos.33:43]. He did not say: “they set out from that and that place,” since he had passed over two stages in silence which he would not mention in the reckoning, and returned to at the end. The first stage Zalmonah is translated “a little image,” the second Punon diminuitively “mouth” [os]-- from mouth [ore], not bone [osse] — in these with Aaron dead they grumble against the lord and Moses, they disdain manna, are wounded by serpents and in a figure of the saviour who triumphed over the true and ancient serpent on the gibbet, the devil’s poisons are overcome. Whence the little image (of the true and manifest image of the son of god) looking to his passion is preserved and what he believes with the heart he announces with the mouth, reading in the apostle: “belief in the heart is justice, but confession with the mouth is salvation” [Rom.10:10]. And note at the same time that each stage is called hypokoristikos [Grk], since “we see in part and we prophesy in part, now through a mirror we see in a riddle” [1Cor.13;12].
38. “And they set out from Punon and pitched camp at Oboth” [Nos.33:43]. The thirty-seventh stage is translated “magicians” or “mediums/pythons” or according to the words of Elihu “great flasks,” which were filled with new wine and, without a vent, burst [Job 32:19]. The magicians fought against Moses and Aaron and a king of Israel was mocked by the woman who was in Endor and had the medium/python spirit according to the Septuagint translators, magic according to the Hebrews. For there are many tricks and innumerable traps, by which human souls can be taken; but let us say trusting in the lord: “the snare is broken and we are freed” [Ps.123:7] and “if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil since you are with me” [Ps.22:4]. “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand” [Ps.90:7]. We shall not fear the attack or demonic [destruction] at noon [Ps.90:6], but we shall close our ears lest we hear the voices of enchanters and we shall ignore sirens’ songs. After the image of god which is shown in reason of the heart and confession of the faith, which is brought forth from the mouth, serpents arise and maleficent arts provoke us to wars. But we, who have the most precious treasure in fragile vessels which can be broken, so that scarcely a piece remains, in which a drop of water could be drained, let us surround our hearts with every care.
39. “And they set out from Oboth and pitched camp at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab” [Nos.33:44]. The thirty-eighth stage signifies “heaps of passing stones.” They are holy stones which roll over the earth, light, polished, and similar in their roundness to chariot wheels. There are others which the prophet orders to be taken out of the road lest they strike the feet of those walking. Who are these walkers? Surely the travelers and pilgrims who hasten to cross through this world to other stages/mansions. What however is said, “in the territory of Moab,” and written above: “in the wilderness which looks towards Moab against the sunrise/east” [Nos.21:11], shows according to the letter that up to here they were within the borders of Edomite land and now they come to the boundaries, crossing from one province to another. Works should not always be dedicated to one virtue but, as is written: “they will go from virtue to virtue” [Ps.83:8], should cross from one to another, since they cleave to each other and are connected so that who lacks one lacks all. And yet to pass from one to another is properly for those who contemplate the rising of the sun of justice.
40. “And they set out from Iye-abarim” — or as is given in the second place among Hebrews, Hihim — “and pitched camp at Dibon-gad” [Nos.33:45]. The thirty-ninth stage is translated “strongly understood temptation.” This is found written otherwise in the order of the story. For after they pitched camp in Iye-abarim bordering Moab toward the sunrise, one reads: “from there they set out and and turn away to Wadi Zered. And setting out from this place they pitched camp on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the boundary of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab betwen Moab and the Amorites” [Nos.21:12-13]. And after this they came to the well where Israel sang this song: “spring up, o well, that the princes dug and leaders of the peoples opened up, in the giver of laws and the staff. And from the wilderness to Mattanah, from Mattanah to the torrents of god and from the torrents of god to the heights and from the heights to the valley, which is in the region of Moab, at the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the desert” [Nos.21:17-20]. These places in the territory of the Amorites some interpreters think are not stages but crossings nor should they prejudge the out-of-order exposition by the list of stages. Some, comparing spiritual things to the spiritual [1Cor.2:13], do not want the regions to be made to signify, but to be progressions of virtues through the place names, because frequently after the magicians and heap of stons, we shall come to the torrents of Zered, which is interpreted “alien descent,” and on the descent we cross over to Arnon, which is “curse,” placed in the territory of the Amorites who are bitter [amari] enemies or, puffed up, say many things.
Unless however we cross the boundaries of Moab, who was generated from incest and left his true father, the well immediately meets us, which no one from the people dug, no non-noble, but princes and leaders who give laws to peoples. And singing a song on the waters of the well, and giving thanks to god for his gifts, they prophesy where they will cross and what places they will come to, because clearly they will come from the desert to Mattanah, which is translated “gift,” and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, which is “the torrents of god,” and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, which is “summit” or “coming death,” when we conform to Christ’s death, and the “valley of humility” meets us, which is on the summit of mount Pisgah, which is translated “fashioned,” since it has nothing unformed or crude, but is polished by the hand of the artist, which mountain looks over wilderness, which in Hebrew is Isimun. For when we are established at the height of virtues, then we look at the ruins of this world and the “vastness” of all sins. We have almost forgotten to dictate in the rush of speech: Dibon-gad is translated “strongly understood temptation.” After Dibon-gad war is waged against Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan and we learn that when we come to the height and drink from the fountain of princes and kings, ascending to the mountain of Pisgah, we should not be lifted in pride, but know that the wilderness is laid out opposite. For “before contrition the heart of man is raised up and before glory it is humiliated” [Prov.18:12].
41. “And they set out from Dibon-gad and pitched camp in Almon-diblathaim” [Nos.33:46]. The fortieth stage is “contempt for figs,” or “disgrace.” And from this we learn that all sweet things and allurements of desires in the world are to be scorned, and we should not get drunk on wine, in which there is lust. Honey is not offered in the sacrifices of god and wax, which contains sweet things, does not give light in the tabernacle but the purest oil, which come from the bitterness of the olive. “For honey drips from the lips of a whore” [Prov.5:3]; from which I think according to the mystical meaning Jonathan tasted and caught by chance was scarcely freed by the prayers of the people. That disgraceful things should however be scorned and, if they are falsely presented, they will produce beatitude, the saviour fully teaches.
42. “And they set out from Almon-diblathaim and pitched camp in the mountains of Abarim, towards Nebo” [Nos.33:47]. The forty-first stage is translated mountains “of those crossing,” and is across from mount Nebo, where Moses died and was buried, before he had seen the land of promise. Nebo is translated “conclusion,” in which the law ends and memory of it is not found; further the grace of the gospel is extended without end. “The sound went out through the whole land and its words to the ends of the earth” [Ps.18:5]. At the same time, consider that the dwelling of those crossing is set in the mountains and up to now it lacks success. For after many mountains we descend to the plains of Moab and the river Jordan, which is translated “descent.” For nothing, as we have often said, is so dangerous as deire for glory and boasting and a spirit swelling with a sense of virtues.
43. “And they set out from the mountains of Abarim and pitched camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho and there they fixed their tents from the home of wilderness to Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab” [Nos.33:48-49]. We shall swiftly recount what happened in the forty-second, which is the last stage. The people residing in it was blessed by god’s order and a curse changed to praise by the divine Balaam whom Balak, son of Zippor, had summoned with pay. He hears the words of the lord sounding from profane lips: “a star shall come out of Jacob and a man rise from Israel; and he will strike the princes of Moab and lay waste all the children of Sheth and Edom will be his inheritance” [Nos.24:17-18]. [The people] fornicated with the daughters of Moab and Phinehas son of Eleazar zealous with the zeal of the lord, pierced Zimri and the Midianite prostitute with a spear, when the belly of the victim received its reward in eternal memory. The people were counted again and with the worst of them killed a census was taken of the new people of god. Five daughters of Zelophehad appeal and receive their inheritance with their brothers by the judgment of the lord and the female sex is not excluded from possession.
Joshua succeeds Moses on the mountain and learns from the law what he should offer spiritually in the assembly/church: first what on individual days, on the sabbath, on the calends, on passover/easter, on pentecost, on the new moon of the seventh month, in the fast, on the tenth day of that month, on the feast of tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of said month. The vows of wives and daughters made without authority of fathers and husbands can be broken. War against the Midianite and the death of divine Balaam and division of booty and offering from it in the tabernacle of god. First the Reubenites and Gadites and half the tribe of Manasseh receive possession of their inheritance on this side of the Jordan; for they had many flocks and had not yet come to be able to dwell with the temple. The people is taught to destroy idols in the holy land and not keep any of the previous inhabitants. The desired province is described and the inheritance of the two half tribes is separated. The princes of the tribes are numbered who should enter the holy land. The Levites receive forty-two cities with their suburbs up to a thousand cubits around, the same number as the stages. And six other cities of fugitives are added, three on this side of the Jordan, three across it, so there are forty-eight; which fugitives should be taken, which killed and reserved for death by the high priest.

[text, Hilberg]

Jerome writes in answer to her question about the 42 camp-sites of the Jews en route to the Promised Land (Nos.33), but she died while he was writing it, so when Jerome finished it, he sent it to Oceanus as a funeral offering to Fabiola.

(!1) "Vaiedabber" or "way dabber" are the words “and he spoke.” (!2) The Latin word that is usually translated “gnashing” is "stridoris," the same word I have translated “harshness” in the previous phrase, "filios stridoris."

Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, ed. Isidorus Hilberg, 3 v. (New York: Johnson, 1970, repr.1910-18), ep.78.