TRV
Origen of Alexandria
Ante-Nicene · to AD 325 · 2,651 passages across 61 books
Commentary
Numbers 33:36
And they removed from Eziongaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh.
Next they camp at Pharancades [Kadish], which is “holy fruitfulness.” You see where they come from; you see that holy fruitfulness follows the ploughed furrows of temptations.
Numbers 33:37
And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.
They encamped at Mt. Or [Hor], which means “mountains.” For one comes to the mount of God so that he may himself become a fruitful mountain and a massive mountain or because the person who always dwells on the mount of God is called a mountaineer.
Numbers 33:41
And they departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah.
The stage at Selmona [Zalmonah] follows next. Its meaning is “shadow of the portion.” … The shadow of our portion, which gives us shade from all the heat of temptations, is Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Numbers 33:42
And they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon.
Now from here they come to Phinon [Punon], which we think means “frugality of the mouth.” For the person who can contemplate the mystery of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, if he sees or hears what it is not right for men to speak, will necessarily have frugality of mouth, since he will know to whom, when and how he should speak of the divine mysteries.
Numbers 33:43
And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth.
Next they come to Oboth. Although we have not found an interpretation of this name, nonetheless we do not doubt that in this name as in all the others the logic of the progresses is preserved.
Numbers 33:45
And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibongad.
From there they come in turn to Dibongad [Dibon-gad], which bears the meaning “beehive of temptations.” How marvelous is the caution of divine providence! For look, this wanderer on his heavenly journey comes right up to the highest perfection by a succession of virtues; and nevertheless temptations do not leave him, though I hear temptations of a new kind. It means “beehive of temptations.” Scripture considers the bee a praiseworthy insect, and kings and commoners use what it produces for their health. This may rightly be taken of the words of the prophets and the apostles and all who wrote the sacred books.
Numbers 33:46
And they removed from Dibongad, and encamped in Almondiblathaim.
Next, then, they come to Gelmon Deblathaim [Almon-diblathaim], which means “scorn of figs,” that is, where earthly things are completely scorned and despised. For unless what seems to delight us on earth is rejected and scorned, we cannot pass through to heavenly things.
Numbers 33:47
And they removed from Almondiblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.
There follows next the stage at Abarim opposite Nabau [Nebo], which is “passage.” But Nabau means “separation.” For when the soul has made its journey through all these virtues and has climbed to the height of perfection, it then “passes” from the world and “separates” from it, as it is written of Enoch, “And he was not found, because God had taken him across.”
Numbers 33:48
And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
The last stage is east of Moab by the Jordan. For the whole journey takes place, the whole course is run for the purpose of arriving at the river of God, so that we may make neighbors of the flowing Wisdom and may be watered by the waves of divine knowledge, and so that purified by them all we may be made worthy to enter the promised land.
Philemon 1:14
But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.
God does not tyrannize but rules, and when he rules, he does not coerce but encourages and he wishes that those under him yield themselves willingly to his direction so that the good of someone may not be according to compulsion but according to his free will. This is what Paul with understanding was saying to Philemon in the letter to Philemon concerning Onesimus: “So that your good be not according to compulsion but according to free will.” Thus, the God of the universe hypothetically might have produced a supposed good in us so that we would give alms from “compulsion” and we would be temperate from “compulsion,” but he has not wished to do so.
Philippians 1:23
For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
In expressing such a desire he knew that when he returns to Christ he will know more plainly the causes of all that is happening on earth. He will then know more of what constitutes his own humanity, his soul, his mind, his spirit. He will then know more of what the Spirit is enabling and what grace it is that is being given to those who are faithful in the Holy Spirit.
Philippians 2:6
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
First one may contemplate him existing in his primary form, that of God, before he emptied himself. One will then see the Son of God not yet having come forth from him, the [incarnate] Lord not yet having proceeded from his place. But then compare the preexistent state of the Son with that which resulted from his assuming “the form of a slave” when he “emptied himself.” You will then understand how the Son of God came forth and came to us and as it were became distinguishable from the One who sent him. Yet in another way the Father did not simply let him go but is with him and is in the Son as the Son is in the Father.
Philippians 2:7
· 2 passages
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
In “emptying himself,” he became a man and was incarnate while remaining truly God. Having become a man, he remained the God that he was. He assumed a body like our own, differing only in that it was born from the Virgin by the Holy Spirit.
The Son, “emptying himself,” of his equality with the Father and showing us a way of knowing him, was made an express image of his substance, so that we who were unable to see the glory of pure light that inhered in the greatness of his divinity might, through that which was made splendor for us, find a way of contemplating the divine light through the sight of that splendor.
Philippians 2:8
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He “was made obedient even to death.” His obedience teaches us that we too cannot obtain salvation except through obedience. By this means he has reconstituted the laws of ruling and being ruled, so much so that he “has put all his enemies under his feet.”
Philippians 2:9
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
It was not the Word of God who needed or received exaltation. For the Word was in the beginning exalted with the Father. It was the Son of Man who was exalted from lowliness. This exaltation occurred when he had glorified God in his death.
Philippians 2:10
· 2 passages
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
We should not understand this carnally, so as to suppose that even the heavenly bodies, which he says bend their knees, do this with fleshly limbs.… What spirit has knees? But the bending of the knees indicates that all is in subjection and observes the worship of God.
From a single beginning come many differences and varieties in creation. All these are now being recalled once again, synoptically in this text. They are now being viewed in relation to God’s goodness made known through the obedience of Christ. They are being drawn into a unity by the Holy Spirit. Everything is moving toward a common end, which corresponds to the goodness of the beginning. This means all those “in heaven and earth and the lower regions,” who, “bowing the knee at the name of Jesus,” have declared through this very act the tokens of their subjection. In these three appellations the whole universe is indicated. All things issue from one origin. They have been driven by their own motions in diverse ways. They are to be allotted different levels of blessedness in accord with their own willing.
Philippians 2:13
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Some say, “If willing is from God and working is from God, then whether we will evil or do evil, that is from God, and in that case we have not free will.” … To this one must reply that the apostle’s words do not mean that willing evil is from God or that willing good is from God, and likewise with our working well or ill. Rather it is willing in general and performance in general. For just as our being animals and our being human are things we have from God, so is willing in general as, so to speak, is motion in general.
Philippians 4:12
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Suffering poverty is often thought to be a tribulation, but abundance also may be an occasion for tribulation. The wise person restrains himself from being enervated by abundance.