TRV
Jerome
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500
5,299 passages across 63 books of the Bible · Who was this?
On Numbers
7 of 7-
Numbers 11:34
How is it that the graves of lust where the people fell in their devotion to flesh remain even to this day in the wilderness? Do we not read that the stupid people gorged themselves with quails until the wrath of God came upon them?
AGAINST JOVINIAN 2.17
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Numbers 14:18
That is to say, God will not punish us at once for our thoughts and resolves but will send retribution upon their offspring, that is, upon the evil deeds and habits of sin which arise out of them.
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Numbers 18:15
Every only child is a firstborn child; but not every firstborn is an only child. A firstborn child is not only one after whom other children are also born but also one before whom no other child is born. “All that opens the womb,” says the Lord to Aaron, “of all flesh that are offered to the Lord, of men and beasts, shall belong to you; only the firstborn of men shall be redeemed with a price and the firstborn of beasts that are unclean.” The Word of God defined what was meant by a “firstborn.” “All,” it says, “that opens the womb.” Otherwise, if no child is a firstborn child but only one who subsequently has brothers, the firstborn are not due the priests until others are also born, lest perchance a child be an only child and not the firstborn child, in the event that no other child shall be born subsequently.
AGAINST HELVIDIUS 10
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Numbers 20:11
Priests also must take care lest they be insincere, lest they doubt the power of God. If Aaron and Moses (who seemed to waver at the waters of contradiction) did not deserve to enter the Promised Land, does it not stand to reason that we, bent under the burden of sin, shall be far less able to cross the river Jordan and reach Gilgal, the place of circumcision, if we shall cause one of these little ones to sin?
HOMILY 90
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Numbers 24:15
One day we had before us the book of Numbers written by Moses, and [Fabiola] modestly questioned me as to the meaning of the great mass of names there to be found. Why was it, she inquired, that single tribes were differently associated in this passage and in that, how came it to be that the soothsayer Balaam, in prophesying of the future mysteries of Christ, spoke more plainly of him than almost any other prophet? I replied as best I could and tried to satisfy her inquiries.
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Numbers 27:14
If Aaron and Moses (who seemed to waver at the waters of contradiction) did not deserve to enter the Promised Land, does it not stand to reason that we, bent under the burden of sin, shall be far less able to cross the river Jordan and reach Gilgal, the place of circumcision, if we shall cause one of these little ones to sin?
HOMILY 90
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Numbers 33:1
Unrolling the book still further, [Fabiola] came to the passage in which is given the list of all the halting places by which the people after leaving Egypt made its way to the waters of Jordan. And when she asked me the meaning and reason of each of these, I spoke doubtfully about some, dealt with others in a tone of assurance and in several instances simply confessed my ignorance. Hereupon she began to press me harder still, expostulating with me as though it were a thing unallowable that I should be ignorant of what I did not know, yet at the same time affirming her own unworthiness to understand mysteries so deep.