Josué 14
Origen of Alexandria · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Josué 14:1-5
Just as those who submit to the law, which is the "shadow" of that true law, diligently serve a "shadow and copy" of "heavenly things," so those who divide the inheritance of the land in Judea imitate the "copy and shadow" of a heavenly division. Thus truth was in heaven, "but a shadow and copy" of truth was on earth. And as long as this shadow remained on earth, there was an earthly Jerusalem; there was a temple, an altar and a visible worship; there were priests and high priests; and there existed regions and towns of Judea and all these things that are described in this book and are now recited. — HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 17.1
Josué 14:1-5
A first and a second distribution of the inheritance is reported. The first is indeed through Moses, but the second, and the more powerful, is depicted as accomplished through Jesus [Joshua]. Across the Jordan, Moses decrees property to the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh, but all the rest receive their inheritance through Jesus [Joshua]. We have already spoken first about how those who had pleased God through the law do not yet reach those things that have been perfected. They precede in time those who attain to the promises through faith in Jesus but must wait for those coming afterwards who will please God in a different time but by one faith, just as the apostle says, "They might not attain perfection without us." — HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 17.2
Josué 14:13
And so, let us see who it is who first receives the inheritance from Jesus [Joshua]: "Caleb," it says, "the son of Jephunneh." For he requests first with certain fixed reasons and words that are described, words that are also able to instruct us for salvation.First of all, Caleb is interpreted "as a heart." Who, therefore, is "as a heart" if not the one who in all things has devoted effort to discernment, who is not said to be just any member of the body of the church but that one that is the more admirable in us, the heart? That is, he is the one who bears all things with reason and prudence and so arranges all things as if being none other than the heart. But also Jephunneh, his father, is interpreted "conversion." Therefore, this Caleb is the son of conversion. Why, unless he were converted to God, could Jephunneh produce from himself such fruit that he begat a heart as a son? Thus Caleb is everyone who is devoted to divine understandings and who conducts all things wisely and reasonably. — HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 18.2
Josué 14:13
Thus, therefore, even now this very wise Caleb stands before Jesus [Joshua] and promises to be mighty for war and ready for battle. On that account he earnestly demands to be granted the faculty of disputation that he may contend with the dialecticians of the age who hold deceits for truth, to refute them and to subdue and to overthrow all the things that they have established with their false assertions. Moreover, finally, seeing his ardor, "Jesus [Joshua] blesses him," it says; doubtless because he demands and dares such things. But you too, if you are willing to give attention to studies and wisely to contemplate the law of God and to be made a "heart" in the law of God, you can overthrow these great and fortified towns, that is, the assertions of falsehood. Then you also may deserve to be blessed by Jesus and to receive Hebron from him. — HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 18.3
Josué 14:14
But Hebron means "union" or "marriage." Perhaps this can be expressed by Hebron because the double cave purchased by the patriarch Abraham is there, and the remains of the fathers and their wives lie there: Abraham with Sarah, Isaac with Rebecca, and Jacob with Leah. Thus Caleb deserved to receive the remains of the fathers for an inheritance, because no doubt through the wisdom that was in him and by which he flourished both under Moses and under Jesus [Joshua], he had understood the nature of the union itself. He had perceived the reason why only Sarah lay there with Abraham and that neither Hagar nor Keturah deserved to be joined with him; or the reason why only Leah seems to lie with Jacob, and that neither Rachel, who had been loved more, nor any of the concubines was united with him in the tomb. Therefore, prudent and wise Caleb takes the inheritance with the monuments of the fathers. Jesus [Joshua] granted to him Hebron, a mother city of the Anakim nation, and it becomes "a share" for him "up to the present day." — HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 18.3