Commentaria in Josue
AND THEY CAMPED IN GALGAL,—that is, in the place which was afterwards called Galgala. It is a prolepsis or anticipation; for the name Galgal had not yet been given to this place, but a little after, chapter v.
Moreover at Galgal, on account of the convenience of the place, the camp of the Hebrews remained a very long time, and there the twelve stones taken from the Jordan were deposited and fixed. Hence it is clear that these stones were not placed in the ark, as Tertullian says, book iv Against Marcion, chapter xii.
Less rightly also Rabbi Levi thinks that they were placed beside the ark, and were wont to be carried with it: for they were deposited and fixed at Galgal, and remained there perpetually, as is clear from this verse and from verse 3; indeed St. Jerome in the Epitaph of Paula asserts that these stones were seen by St. Paula at Galgal.
Wherefore what Josephus says also seems false, that of these stones an altar was erected, and that Josue sacrificed on it.
23. THE LORD YOUR GOD DRYING UP ITS WATERS,—namely by dividing and suspending them; that the bed might remain dry for you to cross: or he dried up the waters of the Jordan, that is, he dried up the Jordan itself, and the bed of the Jordan. For the waters properly were not dried, but part flowed away, the other part was raised on high and suspended.
24. THAT YOU ALSO MAY FEAR THE LORD,—that you may acknowledge God as your Lord and Lord of all things, love, venerate, and worship him with all reverence and zeal. For this is the sense of “fear,” as the Septuagint render. For Masius rightly observes that by the name of fear every religion and worship, and pious affection toward God, is signified in the Old Testament. For that old law was a law of fear; as the new is of love; doubtless as the poet says: “Fear first made gods in the world.” So Leviticus chapter xix, verse 14, it is said: “Thou shalt not curse the deaf, but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God,” that is, thou shalt obey God commanding that thou curse not the deaf. Deuteronomy vi, 13: “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only,” by loving, revering, worshipping, praising, giving thanks to him, etc. Deuteronomy x, verse 12: “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but that thou fear the Lord thy God?” that thou fear, that is, that thou love and worship him. 1 Kings xii, 24: “Fear the Lord, and serve him.” He fears God, therefore, who renders him the service due, that is latria, obedience and all worship. Tobias chapter iv, last verse: “Thou shalt have many good things, if thou fear God,” that is, worship. Psalm ii, 11: “Serve ye the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto him with trembling.” Psalm xxxiii, 10: “Fear the Lord, all ye his saints,” with a fear not servile but filial, as sons fear to offend their parents, lest they displease them, namely from love, not from dread; “for there is no want to them that fear him.” Psalm cxviii, 38: “Establish thy word to thy servant in thy fear.” In the same place verse 120: “Pierce thou my flesh with thy fear: for I am afraid of thy judgments.”
Allegorically, as the former crossing of the Hebrews, in which under Moses they crossed the Red Sea, represents baptism, in which by the blood of Christ we are made white from sins previously committed: so the later crossing of the Hebrews, in which under Josue they crossed the Jordan, figures penance and its Sacrament, by which we wash away sins committed after baptism.
First, the Jordan is the river of the faithful people, which Jordan rises at the roots of Libanus, and grows from the confluence of two rivers, namely Jor and Dan (whence it is called Jordan), and thence glides through most pleasant plains and at last forms the lake Genesareth, or sea of Galilee, from which again issuing it is borne into the Dead Sea, and is swallowed up in it: wherefore the Jordan separated Judea and the Jews from the Arabs, Moabites and other Gentiles. So baptism is received by the unbeliever, and makes him a believer; but penance is received by the believer, and perfects him and makes him holy.
Secondly, as the Hebrews, after the crossing of the Jordan, celebrated the Pasch: so after penance the Eucharist is received, in which we eat Christ as the Paschal Lamb.
Thirdly, as through the Jordan the Hebrews entered the promised land: so through penance we enter a holy life, which leads us to heaven.
Fourthly, “Jordan” in Hebrew is the same as river of judgment: such is penance, in which the penitent is the accuser of himself, and the priest the judge, according to Paul: “But if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But whilst we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord, that we be not condemned with this world.”
Fifthly, by the Jordan one went into the desert, as by it John the Baptist, leader and herald of penance, went into the wilderness, and Christ, after he was baptized by John, went into the desert, and there fasted forty days, giving himself to prayer and contemplation. So St. Mary of Egypt, having crossed the Jordan, went into solitude, and there in the highest abstinence, holiness and prayer lived forty-seven years. Hence in the same place there was a great multitude of Monasteries, and of holy Monks, Ascetics and Anchorites, whose leaders and chiefs were Elias, Eliseus and the sons of the Prophets.
Sixthly, as the Jordan here, driven by God, swelled, and was turned back: so the penitent changes his life, so that he who before sought earthly things now seeks heavenly (as St. Augustine explains that verse of Psalm cxiii: “Jordan was turned back”), which in fact, if he perseveres, he will obtain, and then will say with Jacob: “With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I return with two companies,” Genesis xxxii, 10.
Seventhly, Naaman the leper, washing seven times in the Jordan, washed away his leprosy, 4 Kings v: so the sinner through penance purges the leprosy of sin. Again, adapt here the seven wonders of the Jordan which I recounted on Numbers xxxiv, 12.
Finally, the river Jordan silently admonishes us that all things of this life, prosperous as well as adverse, flow, and at once flow past: wherefore the former are to be overcome with humility, the latter with fortitude, that nobly treading upon both we may strive toward heaven, and fix our mind in blessed eternity; for otherwise, if we follow the flow of the Jordan, that is, of this world, it will carry us with it into the Dead Sea, where Sodom was, that is, into Hell. Again, as the Hebrews, having crossed the Jordan, waged continual wars with the Chanaanites, until, having driven them out, they possessed the land: so we too after penance and change of life must continually fight with the seven capital vices, until we obtain the rest of the land, that is of our soul, here on earth, and at last in heaven.
Wherefore Origen here, homily 5: To cross the Jordan, he says, is to fulfil all that is commanded in the Gospel, that stripped of all earthly things we may tend to the land of the living in heaven, and especially keep those things which are contained in the eight beatitudes, namely: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are they that mourn,” etc. Hence St. Gregory, book xxxiii Morals, chapter vi, explaining that of Job xl: “And he trusteth that the Jordan may run into his mouth,” attributes it to the saints whom the devil tries to devour: “Jordan,” he says, “in the Hebrew word is called their descent. And there are some who, seeking the way of truth, cast themselves down, and descend from the elation of their old life: and desiring eternal things, they make themselves very strangers to this world, while they not only covet not the goods of others, but even leave their own; and not only seek no glory in it, but even despise it when it offers itself.” Let St. Bernard close the line, who, in his sermon to the knights of the Temple, chapter ix, says: “What is more eminent among rivers than this (the Jordan), which the Trinity itself dedicated to itself by a certain evident presence? The Father was heard, the Holy Spirit seen, the Son was baptized,” Matthew chapter iii.