Notes on Numbers

Name: Notes on Numbers
Author: Origen of Alexandria

Adnotationes in Numeros

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254 AD) · de La Rue (1857)

Jump to contents

Contents6 passages

11Translators' renderings of manna's appearance
12Miriam's leprosy as a warning to the people
14The spies made God a liar by slandering the land
22Balak's seeing and the nations' fear
23Scripture prefers symbolic meaning over historical narrative
24Balaam's prophecy of a ruler and the Magi's tradition

Author

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254 AD) — Teacher at Alexandria and later Caesarea, and the first great Christian scholar of the Bible. He wrote commentaries, sermons and treatises on nearly every book of Scripture and compiled the Hexapla, a six-column Old Testament. He was tortured in the Decian persecution and died soon after.

All works by Origen of Alexandria

About this text

Origen's short notes on selected verses of Numbers and their moral and prophetic meaning.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) wrote these notes on selected verses from the book of Numbers for Christian readers seeking to understand the text's moral and prophetic meanings. He was a theologian who headed the Catechetical School of Alexandria, and his comments reflect a teacher's concern with how the Greek text of Scripture should be read and applied.

The work survives through a Latin translation made by Rufinus, who undertook it at the request of his brother Donatus during a time of barbarian threat and completed it when a quiet night allowed work. The original preaching likely occurred during a three-year liturgical cycle sometime between about 238 and 244 AD. These homilies are the oldest surviving corpus of Christian sermons and shaped biblical exegesis for succeeding centuries.

A reader will meet Moses, his sister Miriam, Balak king of Moab, and the seer Balaam. Origen quotes the Greek translators Aquila and Symmachus on the description of manna, and he reports a tradition that Balaam's disciples preserved his prophecies, which later guided the Magi to Bethlehem. To follow the argument, know that manna is the miraculous food God gave Israel in the wilderness, that Miriam was struck with leprosy for speaking against Moses, and that the spies who slandered the promised land effectively made God a liar. Origen treats Balaam's utterance as an oracle with symbolic meaning, and he identifies the man from Israel in the prophecy with Jesus Christ.

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)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.

Keep this book
with the library pass

Included in the $50 library pass. Reading here stays free.

Translators' renderings of manna's appearance§11

Origen is beginning his notes on Numbers by comparing how the Septuagint and other Greek translators render the description of manna in Numbers 11:7.

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

11Now the manna was as coriander seed (Numbers 11:7). The rest render it as bdellium; another says “from honey”; Aquila and Symmachus say “oil of the breast, oil into the lip.”

Greek · §11

The Greek is on each section page: §11

Miriam's leprosy as a warning to the people§12

Origen is commenting on Numbers 12, where Miriam spoke against Moses and was struck with leprosy.

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

12When Miriam reviled Moses, she was struck with leprosy and sat outside the camp for seven days (Numbers 12:15). This happened for the fear of the people. For if he did not spare his sister, neither will he spare another.

Greek · §12

The Greek is on each section page: §12

The spies made God a liar by slandering the land§14

Origen is commenting on Numbers 13:32, where the spies who scouted the promised land brought back a bad report, and he draws the moral conclusion that they made God a liar.

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

14Verse 36. And the men. Those who slandered the land, piously in their own view, showed God—who praised the promised land—to be a liar.

Greek · §14

The Greek is on each section page: §14

Balak's seeing and the nations' fear§22

Origen is commenting on Numbers 22:2, where Balak sees what Israel has done, and he connects this with a scriptural passage about nations hearing and being angry, with Moabite rulers seized by trembling.

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

22Verse 2. And Balak having seen. Nations heard and were angered. Among them also were the Moabite rulers, and trembling seized them.

Verse 4. (23) Because they were bringing his fee as for a seer, to bring him forward.

Greek · §22

The Greek is on each section page: §22

Scripture prefers symbolic meaning over historical narrative§23

Origen is commenting on Numbers 24:7, where Balaam takes up his oracle, and he pauses to state a principle about how Scripture sometimes works.

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

23Verse 7. And having taken up his oracle. In certain places the divine Scripture prefers the symbolic meaning and sets it before the historical narrative in its own subject matter.

Greek · §23

The Greek is on each section page: §23

Balaam's prophecy of a ruler and the Magi's tradition§24

Origen is commenting on Balaam's prophecy in Numbers, first on the ruler over many nations, then on the star prophecy and the tradition that the Magi inherited Balaam's prophecies.

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

24Verse 7. And he will rule over many nations (Numbers 24:7). There are indeed many lords and many gods, but blessed are those who have our Lord Jesus Christ as Lord, for they will rule over many dominions.

Verse 17. And a man from Israel shall rise (Numbers 24:17). They say that Balaam had disciples in his art, men who had been instructed by him in magic, and that they held an opinion about him and wrote down his prophecies and left them behind, including the one that says, "A star shall rise." It was through receiving this from ancestral tradition and succession that the Magi came to Bethlehem.

Greek · §24

The Greek is on each section page: §24

Contents