THE WORKING FAITH If the last chapter, in its essence, was a proclamation of the minister’s secret of triumph, that God is the One working in him; In this chapter, we come to an important fact, that the Holy Book intended to clarify before the enjoyment of inheritance, that salvation is for all, to be enjoyed by every true believer. If the Jews have come out from under the yoke of servitude to enjoy inheritance, yet many of them did not, because of their lack of faith, while a Canaanite harlot could get a portion of that inheritance. God confirms that He does not reject the Gentiles, but rejects their defilement and lack of faith! 1- Sending out the two spies 1 2- The two spies and Rahab the harlot 2 3- The king of Jericho and Rahab 3 4- The two spies on the roof 4 -- 6 5- A request for a token of faithfulness 7 -- 21 6- The two spies on the mountain 22 7- The two spies back with Joshua 23 -- 24 1- Sending out the two spies: “Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men to spy secretly, saying, ‘Go view the land, especially Jerich. “(Joshua 2: 1) If Joshua represents Jesus, the incarnate Word of God; Who then, would be the two spies whom he sent out to the land and Jericho, to gain Rahab the harlot as a believer, who opened her house for them and her heart for their God; and requested from them a token of truthfulness, for her safety and that of her household? (1) If Joshua represents our Lord Jesus Christ, the two spies he sent out, most probably represent the two missions sent out by the Lord to the world; namely, the twelve apostles and the seventy disciples; Those who started by calling the Jews to faith, and consummated by the Gentiles. The Gentile nations received their message in their hearts, as a secret of their salvation. St. Jerome believes that the two spies represent the two apostles Peter and Paul, having been the ministers to the circumcised and the Gentiles; saying: [Intending to lead His people to the gospel, He secretly sends out two men to Jericho; one of them to the circumcised and the other to the Gentiles -- Peter and Paul. While Jericho sought to kill them, 54 the harlot took them in; representing the collective Church from all nations, that believed in Jesus; Although a harlot, she took them in peace on her roof, hid them there, where her exalted faith is; among the stalks of flax] 1. (2) Bishop Caesarius believes that they refer to the two commandments of love: Love of God and love of fellow men; saying: [Joshua sent out two spies, because the true Joshua sends two commandments of love. What are the men, sent out by the true Joshua, proclaiming to us, but the love of God and that love of men?! ] 2. If the ultimate goal of preaching the gospel is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ; we receive Him to dwell in us, to grant us His attributes working in us: His love of the Father, and His love of mankind! 2- The two spies and Rahab the harlot: Rahab became a living example of the faith working in us. When St. Ambrose intended to persuade the virgins not to despise the married women believers, and even the harlots, if they come back and live in purity, he said: [Rahab was a harlot, but believed in God, to find salvation] 3. St. John Chrysostom speaks of that active faith saying: [If she would have contemplated: How can those fugitives, who lead a nomadic life (without cities), overcome us, who live in fortified cities with walls and towers?! She would then, have perished! ] 4. Rahab the harlot, as all the inhabitants of Jericho, and those of the whole region, heard of what the Lord has done with His people 40 years before: how He dried up the water of the Red Sea for them when they came out of Egypt, and what He did to the two kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, whom He utterly destroyed (Joshua 2: 10); Yet she was the only one who believed in God, opened her house to the spies, and testified to the Lord, saying: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you ... And as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is the Lord in heaven above and on earth beneath.” (Joshua 2: 9 - 11) 1 On Ps. Hom 4. 2 Sermon 115: 2. 3 Conc. Virgins 2: 4. 4 In Rom. Hom 2. 55 By practically proclaiming her faith, she risked her own life. She asked the two spies to swear to her to spare her life and that of her household! A Gentile harlot, dwelling in a condemned city, has been able to proclaim her faith through her work, to get a sure promise of salvation. The apostle Paul says: “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace” (Hebrew 11: 31); And the apostle Jacob says: “Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?“ (James 2: 25). The apostle Paul proclaimed her faith; while the apostle James proclaimed her works; this, actually, could not be separated from that. By faith, Rahab also forsook her harlot ways to live sanctified in the Lord. St. Jerome believes that the word ‘Rahab’ means a (Broadway) or (pride); Through faith she accepted the narrow way of humility, in place of her old broad way; saying: [She was before, walking through the broad way that leads to death (Matthew 7: 13); was led by her pride to destruction; but she finally turned to humility]. He also says in the same homily: [She was once walking the broad way that leads to destruction, but she then ascended high to the memory of God]1. While the people of God died in the wilderness because of their lack of faith, that Gentile harlot snatched the divine promises through her living working faith, to gain for herself and her household a portion in the land of promise, and to have the Savior Messiah to incarnate from her descent (Matthew 1: 5). Her actions came to be prophetical, leading St. Clement the Roman to say: [There you see, brethren, that that woman did not have just the faith, but had also the prophecy] 2. By the Spirit of prophecy she talked to the messengers to proclaim what would happen to the people of God, saying: “I know that the Lord has given you the land” (Joshua 2: 9). But, what was more was that her actions and person became a prophecy about the Church of the Gentiles, to be established with the coming of the true Joshua. In this concern the Bishop Caeserius says: [That harlot, brethren, represents the Church, that used to commit adultery with numerous idols before Christ; But when Christ came, He set her free, not just from adultery, but turned her into a virgin through an exalted miraculous work. Of her, the apostle says: “For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may 1 On Ps. Hom 18. 2 Ep. Of Clem. Rom. 12. 56 present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11: 2). The soul of each one of us has been a harlot, living according to the lusts of the body; But, receiving the two messengers of Joshua, in her the words of the apostle were realized: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5: 8)] 1. So Rahab became a representative of the Church of the Gentiles that received the two missions of Christ (the apostles and the disciples); and hid in her His commandment “Love of God and of men”; thus became His holy Church. What I say of the Church as a whole, I do say of every soul, being a living member of the Church, who once was in the darkness of evil, then received in her the salvation of the Lord Jesus. 3- The king of Jericho and Rahab: Rahab receiving the two messengers through living faith working with love, made the king of Jericho mad. This is not a strange or a new thing; as with every divine mission or work, the evil one becomes mad enough, to send a counter mission to destroy it. When God created Eve as a helper, the evil one used the serpent to destroy both Adam and Eve; When God sent Moses and Aaron to deliver His people from the servitude of Pharaoh, he used the two magicians to oppose God’s work; And when God sent His prophets, like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, the evil one sent false prophets and prophetesses; Finally, when the Lord Christ came, the anti-Christ will come to oppose the Church of Christ. In every era, and with every spiritual work, there is opposition; And even in every man’s life, whenever he gets ready to repent, war would flare up against him: from his own body, from his own household, and sometimes from his fellow members of his Church. 4- The two spies on the roof: “She brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.” (Joshua 2: 6) What a marvelous symbolic portrait, that reveals what takes place in the Gentile Church of the New Testament, who received the message of Jesus our Lord, as though receiving two spies; and hid the faith in the Savior in their hearts -- their secret places -- as Rahab did. As faith entered into the hearts, it brought them up to the roof; namely, raised them from the killing literality of the law, that brings them down; to set forth, through the freedom of the Spirit, upward as though to the roof; to have its insight opened to behold the heavenliness, and to comprehend 1 On Ps. Hom 18. 57 the divine glories, through the union with the Father, in our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. We can say that the Jews, who abide to the letter, dwell in the lower level, deprived of spiritual enlightenment; as though they have put a veil on Moses’ face, so as not to behold the glory. The Gentiles, on the other hand, once they were presented with the salvation message, had their hearts opened to and by the Holy Spirit; to set forth, as though with the wings of a dove, from a level to another, namely from a heavenly glory to another, to bring them ultimately to the roof, to enjoy being on the top, without a veil or obstacle! The apostle says: “Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech -- unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were hardened. ... But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts ... Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 3: 12 -- 18). And Bishop Caesarius says: {We have risen to the roof, through the Church that receives the teachings of the apostles, not by a lowly way but an exalted one; not following the killing letter as the Jews, but receiving the life-giving Spirit coming down from heaven] 1. Many people received faith in them, like Rahab did; Yet, in a spiritual draught, they rejected the work of the Spirit in them, to lift them up from glory to glory, to bring them up to the roof, to behold the divine glories. These people carry the name of Christ; Yet they, in their negligence, still dwell in the lower floors; as though they wish to go back to the dry life under the law, instead of rising up to the heavenly places, and having fellowship with the heavenly hosts, in their praises and joy, and in the rejoice of their inner heart. Rahab hid them on the roof with the stalks of flax, whose (whiteness) is a symbol of the pure heavenly life; that no man could get while being negligent. St. Jerome says: [Flax is made to get its shining whiteness, after long work and much effort; It is planted in the soil -- black and ugly ... But rises up over it; then cut, washed, beaten, and combed. Here we see the meaning! The harlot took the two messengers, 1 Ibid. 58 and covered them with her flax; in order that they transform her flax to shining whiteness! 1 The flax also reminds us of the priestly garments in the two Testaments; The Church of the New Testament (Rahab); having received faith in the Lord Christ; and set forth with her heart up to the roof, to live in the heavenly places; It would realize that through the priestly work ... ; namely that of the Lord Christ, being “The Most High Priest”; who intercedes on our behalf with His blood. And as the apostle Paul says: “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7: 25, 26). Through that new priesthood, on an exalted level, He presented us with the grace of priesthood, by working through His priests; And as said by the apostle Peter: “ You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ ... But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2: 5, 9). Through priestly work in Jesus Christ -- the Most High Priest, Bishop and Shepherd of our souls -- the Church offers the sacrifice of love, acceptable to God the Father; and lifts its members up to partake of the heavenliness -- as though on the roof -- in their praises and liturgies. And as said by St. John Chrysostom: [It is as though man is taken up to heaven itself; stands beside the throne of glory; soars up with the Seraphim; and sings the holy praise] 2. 5- A request for a token of faithfulness: By the Spirit of prophecy, Rahab realized God’s promises to His people; so she received the two messengers, so as not to live anymore as a harlot, but to ascend by faith with them to the roof, to get covered by the pure flax, and to set herself free from bodily lusts and desires. She intended to enjoy, together with her family, a share in those divine promises. Her faith did not stop at her trust in God’s capabilities and faithfulness with His people, but believed that He would also grant her and all her household His divine promises. There are many who have faith in God’s work with humanity, yet they do not enter into personal 1 On Ps. Hom 18. 2 In Joan. Hom. 46. 59 relationship with God, on the level of their personal inner life, and their households. In the trust of faith she said to the two messengers: “Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.” (Joshua 2: 12, 13) Her faith was on a personal level that gives pleasure to God, yet not in selfishness or isolation. She also asked on behalf of her father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all what they have! This is our living Christian faith, in which the believer encounters his Creator and Savior, saying: “My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feeds his flock among the lilies” (Song of Songs 2: 16); yet through his Church fellowship; not isolating himself from the congregation, but realizing that he lives with its Christ, as a member in it; even if he is a hermit, who has no relationship with anyone. ! If we follow the allegoric interpretation, we can say that our Rahab, namely our faith, cries out for the salvation of the soul -- as being (the father), and the body -- as being (the mother); and for the sanctification of the feelings and emotions and every thought -- as being brothers and sisters; and for the sanctification of every faculty, on the account of the Lord-- as being “All what they have”! Their response was: “Unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless.” (Joshua 2: 18, 19). The token that is given is the “line of scarlet”, a reference to the blood of Christ, without which, there is no salvation. The apostle Paul says: “Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9: 22); The apostle Peter says: “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1: 18, 19); and St. Ambrose says: [The harlot lost every hope in human security amid the destruction of the city; Her faith prevailed, through binding a line of scarlet in the window ! She raised the sign of her faith, and the 60 sign of the Lord’s Passion, so that the sign of the secret blood, which redeems the world, would be kept in mind] 1. Rahab or her household would not enjoy salvation, if they go outside the house, on the window of which a line of scarlet is tied; As there is no salvation outside the Church, redeemed by the blood of the Lord Christ. St. Cyprian says: [Do you assume that you are able to hold on and live, if you withdraw from the Church, to set for yourselves different houses and places?! It was said to Rahab, “Unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to your own home; so it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless”; By this, the secret was proclaimed: that whoever wishes to live and to be saved from the destruction of the world, are committed to gather together in one house; namely in the Church; and whoever goes outside it; namely if anyone, after gaining the grace of existing in the Church, leaves it and goes outside, his blood will be on his own head, he will be responsible for his destruction -- something that the apostle Paul clarified in his command to avoid the heretics] 2. [Whoever stays outside the Church will be outside the camp of Christ] 3. [As, he is not a Christian, he who is not inside the Church of Christ] 4. [How can anyone be with Christ, if he does not walk in the bride of Christ, and if he does not exist inside His Church] 5. St. Cyprian has a famous expression: [Whoever does not have the Church as a mother, would not have God as a Father] 6. 6- The two spies on the mountain: “Then she said to them, ‘Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way. ... Then they departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way but did not find them.” (Joshua 2: 16, 24) 1 On Chridtian Faith 5: 10. 2 Unity of Church 8; Ep. 75: 4. 3 Ep. 40 to Cornelius. 4 Ep. 43 to Antonius. 5 Ep. 42 to Cornelius. 6 Unity of Church 6. 61 Why did Rahab tell the two spies to go up to the mountain and to stay there three days, until the pursuers have returned? As Rahab the harlot received faith in God, the king of Jericho got mad, and entered into animosity with her, not for her own sake, but for her faith; That is why it was fitting for her to ascend with her faith on the holy mountain of God, and to stay there three days, so that the devil (the king of Jericho) would not be able, with his evil pursuers, to reach her. This mountain probably refers to the Lord Christ Himself, whom the prophet Daniel described as being the “stone cut out without hands” (Daniel 2: 34); “The stone that struck the image (the statue), and became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2: 35). That is the holy stone who lifts us up to Him, and who strikes the devil and crushes it as a statue, to become Himself a mountain to which the nations ascend. The holy mountain is also the word of God that lifts us up to the heavenly places, so as not to fall in the snares of the king of Jericho, and not to be caught by his pursuers, who refer to the lusts of the flesh. And as the scholar Origen says: [The harlot became an object of the hatred of the king of Jericho. Why? “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5: 17); and it is also written, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15: 18). Therefore, there is a king who is an enemy to that harlot; namely, “The ruler of this world” (John 12: 31), who chases the messengers of Jesus, intending to get rid of them; yet he can not reach them, because they walk on the mountain (Joshua 2: 22), and seek the hill tops. The harlot soul in us cries out, saying: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills -- from whence comes my help” (Psalm 121: 1). Indeed the ruler of this world can not ascend to these places, to reach Jesus in these heights; although in the temptation, he took Him to a high place and said to Him, “... Throw yourself down” (Matthew 4: 6); he likes only the fallen to the lower depths, where he reigns and dwells; and from there he falls down to Hades] 1. Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, was impressed by Origen’s interpretation, and even quoted some of its phrases; saying: [The king of Jericho; namely the devil, chased Joshua’s spies, yet could not catch them, as they climbed the mountain. They did not walk along the lowlands, namely the world pleasures, but walked on the mountain tops to say together with the Psalmist: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills -- from where comes my help”. The ruler of this world can not go after 1 In Jos. Hom 1: 5. 62 them, because he loves everything low and easy to break, that is why he leads those who find pleasure in lusts; reigns over them, dwells among them, and go down by and with them to the abyss. 7- The two spies back with Joshua: “So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua, ‘Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”(Joshua 2: 23, 24) If the two spies, refer to Christ’s messengers or ministers; the minister, who walks on the mountains, namely lives by the Holy Book -- the holy mountain from where he gets his help; and on which he rises over all things of worldly life, to encounter the Lord Christ, rising up to His heaven at the Mount of Olives, etc ... This minister will, eventually have to come down and return to Joshua (Joshua 2: 23). It is as though the minister, through the word of God, the high mountain, enters into its depths, to discover the Lord Christ Himself, waiting to receive from Him the report of his success. The disciples came to say joyfully to Jesus: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (Luke 10: 17); “And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven, Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you; Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” Luke 10: 18 -- 20). They, like Joshua’s two spies, came to him proclaiming their conquest in the Lord; Joshua confirmed to them, “The Lord has delivered all the land into our hands;” as though he is saying, that He is consummating His promises to us to inherit the Kingdom. If the Lord Christ, who is not separate from His Father, sometimes spends the whole night talking to Him, so how much it is fitting to us to return to our Jesus -- as the leader of the procession of conquest -- to present to Him a report of everything, big and small, in order that He realizes His work in us without obstacle, and to bring us to the land of His inheritance! Finally, the two spies hid themselves three days before they returned to Joshua (Joshua 2: 16, 22). The minister himself would never encounter Jesus, risen from the dead, except by entering into the risen life (the figure 3) ... If the pursuers of the king are seeking to kill them; By entering into the secret of the three days, namely the secret of 63 resurrection with Jesus our Lord, they persist on their strife until they encounter Him! In short, we can praise Rahab the harlot, on several aspects: a- She secretly received the two spies; namely, received the two missions of Christ, concerning the belief in Him secretly in her heart. b- She brought them up to the roof; namely, her faith turned into an exalted heavenly life. c- She hid them among the stalks of flax, a reference to her acceptance of pure life instead of adultery. d- She requested a token of faithfulness; and as she received the divine promises, and believed, not merely as a general gift, but also as a personal one to her and her household. e- She asked them to go to the mountain; namely, not to walk any more in the lowly places. f- By putting a line of scarlet on the window, her house became a symbol of the Church of the New Testament, sanctified by the blood. g- She asked the two spies to remain three days, so that the King’s pursuers would not catch and kill them, a proclamation of abiding in Christ, and to rise, together with Him, so that the devil would not catch us.
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