Notes on Joshua · §6 · Origen of Alexandria

Why Jericho was devoted to destruction

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Origen is commenting on Joshua 6:15-16, where the people shout and the Lord gives them the city, and he asks why Joshua commanded Jericho to be devoted to destruction.

"Shout! For the Lord has handed the city over to you" (Joshua 6:16).

Why did he command that Jericho be devoted to destruction? This was the first city they took after crossing the river. Just as he commanded them to offer the firstfruits of the crops, so he ordered them to offer the first spoils of the plunder. In addition to this, he trains them through these laws so that they will keep the necessary laws. And to show them his own power, he arranged for the first city to be taken without weapons or siege engines, and he destroyed it by the sound of trumpets alone—so that when they are defeated in battle, they will know that they themselves provided the causes of their defeat by despising the divine laws.

Greek

Στίχ. ιε΄, ις΄. Κεκράξατε· παρέδωνε γὰρ Κύριος ὑμῖν τὴν πόλιν.

(70) Διατί τὴν Ἰεριχὼ ἀναθεματισθῆναι προσέταξε; Πρώτην ταύτην εἷλον πόλιν μετὰ τὸ διαβῆναι31 τὸν ποταμόν. Ὥσπερ τοίνυν προσέταξεν αὐτοὺς τῶν καρπῶν προσφέρειν τὰς ἀπαρχὰς, οὕτως ἐκέλευσε τὰ τῶν σκύλων προσενεγκεῖν ἀκροθίνια. Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ γυμνάζει αὐτοὺς διὰ τούτων τῶν νόμων, ὥστε τοὺς ἀναγκαίους νόμους τηρεῖν. Τὴν οἰκείαν δὲ αὐτοῖς ἐπιδεικνὺς δύναμιν, τὴν πρώτην πόλιν δίχα ὅπλων καὶ μηχανημάτων ἑλεῖν παρεσκεύασε, καὶ μόνῃ κατέλυσε τῇ τῶν σαλπίγγων ἠχῇ· ἵνʼ ὅταν ἡττηθῶσι παραταττόμενοι, γνῶσιν, ὡς αὐτοὶ παρέσχον τῆς ἥττης τὰς ἀφορμὰς, τῶν θείων νόμων καταφρονήσαντες.

About this text

Origen's short notes on Joshua, from the crossing of the Jordan to the fall of Jericho and Ai.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) wrote these notes on Joshua. They are not his homilies on Joshua, and they are not his selections on Joshua.

He takes up the Jordan, heaped like a heap of wheat and read as a type of the apostles, and the question why Jericho was devoted to destruction. It was the first city taken, offered like first spoils, and it fell by trumpets alone.

At Ai the plunder of the cattle is not devoted as Jericho was. Joshua holds out the spear so the men in ambush can see it and take the city. The citations use the old names of the biblical books.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from de La Rue, Origen's Works, vol. 7 (Migne PG 17, Paris 1857) (Greek)

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