When soldiers see their own standard and banner stand [upright] in battle, they too stand firm in courage, and fight with still-good hope. But when they have seen [it] to have sunk down, they too fall in courage, cast away hope, and are conquered more easily (Isaiah 10, v. 18). Some, therefore, have said [that] Moses’s hands were, in this battle, the standard; and thus, when they were lifted up, the Israelites conquered, [and] when [they were] lowered, were conquered. But unless they spoke metaphorically, they do injury both to Moses and to Joshua. For how [could] those [men] set up as a standard those hands, so small, [and] so far from the place of battle? Why not rather [set up] the whole of Moses? or him, and Aaron, and Hur together? For [thus] they could have been better seen. But neither could they, nor anything on that mountain, rightly have served as a signal — not even if [there] had indeed been a true standard. For behind the backs of the fighters, toward the North, was Horeb. But what [is] more alien to military discipline than to set behind [one’s] back — [a place] which ought to be in the eyes of all — a signal which the whole battle-line ought not to look at, but to look back at? But Lyranus refers the cause to the sins of the people, which, namely, weighed down Moses’s hands, and therefore also brought the disaster. Abulensis dissents. But I, for my part, would believe [that] some were slain for this [reason]: that some [penalty] might be exacted from the people. For that the sins of this [people] also gave some occasion to this war was said before (question 4).
But there are also other causes, more numerous and graver. First, that the ensuing outcome of the war might be ascribed not so much to arms and strength as to prayers and tears; not so much to men as to God himself. St. Augustine (On the Saints, sermon 4, on St. Stephen, ch. 1): “Jesus [Joshua] was fighting in the morning in the desert, and Moses was praying. Not indeed [were] both fighting, and both praying; but one was fighting and the other praying. Deservedly [he] who was fighting did not fail, because that [other] was conquering by praying.” And thus the same St. Augustine ascribes his own sermons to the people — and their force and fruit upon the hearers, and [the salvation] of his own sheep — to the prayers [of others]; and in these [prayers] he places no small hope, when he goes on to say: “So I too seem indeed to speak, but I speak while others pray, that by their prayers there may befall me what the Lord says: ‘Open thy mouth, and I will fill it.’ If that one [Moses] was helped by only one person praying, and was not overcome — how much more I, for whom not one, but many, ask God with me?” The second [cause], that, just as the valor of Joshua present in the fight, so the sanctity of Moses absent on the mountain, and [his] grace with God, might be attested to all. The third, that we might understand [that] we must pray not in any way whatever, but with a religious humility also of body, [with] gesture, and [with] ceremony. For [it is] not to be thought…
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…[that,] when Moses let down [his] arms, he at the same time also interrupted [his] prayer. But yet God was showing [that] this prayer of [him] letting down [his] arms was not so pleasing to himself, nor so efficacious. And this gesture of those praying [with outstretched arms] is set forth also [on] Psalms 87, 140, 142, in Origen (homily 11 on Exodus), [and] St. Basil (ch. 1 on Isaiah). The fourth [reason], that we might plainly understand [that] this [is] always to be done in wars: [that] one must trust neither in number, nor in strength, nor in leaders, nor in any human industry whatever, but [that] victories are to be sought and implored simply from the Lord Sabaoth. In the end of the second book of the Life of St. Bernard [it is] written: “Amalek did not cease from the harassing of Israel; but Moses, [his] hands lifted up to heaven — [there] is rather victory; and, the enemies drawing back, the holy Abbot, an anxious mediator — [with] them crying to God and the brethren weeping at home — burst into the battle-lines; and in the time of wrath there was made a reconciliation; and, divine pleadings intervening, the storms subsided; and there returned, between the King and the Prince, the longed-for serenity of tranquility and peace.” The Emperor Manuel Comnenus, in that most beautiful eleventh [chapter] of his Constitutions, which is wont to be called Medicatrix [the Healer], says: “The divine Moses himself, when he joined battle with Amalek, leaning on the priests on either side, thus put [him] to flight and conquered. As that one [did], therefore, so my empire too — needing the support of the Prelates, against this new Amalek now set [before us]; and [desiring them] as, so to speak, a certain pillar of light going before this new Israel, and directing its steps — wishing to have their prayers, has given this present golden bull both to the mother of all churches, the new Sion, the dwelling-place of the Wisdom of God, and to those Prelates who are in all the islands, and in the East, and in the West — the more confirming their prayers for my empire.” The son of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, the Emperor Colojoannes [John II Comnenus], obtained most noble victories over the Scythians, when — as Nicetas Choniates relates — he, like Moses, stretched [his] hands to heaven, and implored the aid of God and of the Blessed Virgin (whom also, for that reason, he willed, [her image] being carried [in procession], to triumph in the chariot) — as, [concerning] that [same thing], Canisius (in the Marianus) and Baronius (vol. 12, year 1123) recite. Origen (homily 13 on Numbers) relates [that] he received from his Hebrew master the cause why Balaam compared the Israelites to a calf [ox] grazing off the grass — and that cause pertains very much to this [subject]: “The King of Moab had heard,” he says, “that this people conquers by prayers, and fights against the enemies by mouth, not by sword; and on account of this, without doubt, he thought within himself, saying: ‘Since indeed against the prayers of this people, and [its] entreaties, no arms can avail, therefore for me too such [things] — some prayers of the sort — and such arms of words, and such orations are to be sought, as may be able to overcome the orations of those [men].’ But that you may know [that] the king thought some such thing, understand [it] from the words of Scripture, which I learned, expounded, from a certain master who had believed [converted] from among the Hebrews. It is written, therefore:
“And Moab said to the elders of Madian: Now shall this Synagogue [congregation] lick up all who are round about us, as the calf [ox] licks up the herb of the field [Numbers 22:4].” The master, therefore, who had believed from among the Hebrews, used to say: “Why,” he says, “did he use such an example, saying: ‘As the calf licks up the herb of the field’? On account of this, without doubt: because the calf breaks off the herb from the field with [its] mouth, and cuts with [its] tongue, as with a sickle, whatever it finds. So therefore…”
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…[because the calf cuts with its tongue, as with a sickle, whatever it finds. So therefore] this people too, like a calf, fights with mouth and lips, and has its arms in words and prayers. Knowing this, therefore, the king sends to Balaam, that he too may bring words against words, and prayers against prayers.” St. Jerome (preface to book 2 on Isaiah): “I beseech thee, O virgin of Christ, Eustochium, that — while we contend in the explanation of the Scriptures — thou, together with Moses, lift up [thy] hands to the Lord, so that we, who, going out of Egypt, have crossed the Red Sea, may conquer Amalek (which is interpreted ‘devouring’ and ‘choosing’), and may be able to say with thee: ‘Blessed [be] the Lord my God, who teaches my hands to the fray, and my fingers to war.’” Similar things may be seen in the canon Si quis vult Pontifex (distinction 36), where Gratian cites St. Jerome — Gratian, namely, [being] the compiler; but the author of the words brought forward there is Origen (homily 6 on Leviticus). To someone saying to Numa Pompilius, “The enemies, O Numa, prepare war against thee,” “But I,” said that [man], laughing, “sacrifice.” In which [saying], indeed — says Osorius (book 6 On the Institution of the King) — “he shows [that] the strength of the enemy is to be broken more by the favorable divine power than by the strength of an army.” See also our [own] Osorius, sermon On the Expedition against the Heretics (vol. 4, p. 172).
The fifth [reason], that a symbol and type of various things might be shown to us. For to me Moses — standing on that mountain, praying for his people, spreading [his] arms, lifting [his] hands, holding that wondrous rod — seems [to be] my Lord and my Saviour JESUS, on the mount of Calvary, while, for me and for the whole world of lands, fixed to the cross, he stood before the heavenly Father, [and] spread apart [his] arms, [already] fore-wearied by most grievous blows and by the carrying of his own gibbet. Those most sacred hands — with which he had brought so salutary an aid to so many: to the blind, the deaf, the possessed, the sick, [and] aid to the dead — he lifted up, now pierced with the beam-nails; and, embracing most closely the rod of his cross, or rather the trunk [of it], he held [it], and offered [it] to the heavenly Father. “The stretching-out of the hands,” says St. Ephrem (vol. 2, Parænesis 1), “is the figure of the cross.” And St. Jerome (epistle to Fabiola): “By the sign of the cross the enemy is overcome” — and [so on] ch. 12 of Hosea, [and] ch. 1 of Abdias [Obadiah]. Theodoret (on Exodus, question 34): “While,” he says, “Moses stretched out [his] hands, he bore before [him] the type of him who was crucified for us. Declared, therefore, under that figure, was the power of the truth itself. For just as, the servant [Moses] stretching out [his] hands, Amalek fell, so, when the Lord stretched out [his] hands, the battle-line of the Devil was dissolved.” Into the same opinion, more [things]: Origen (homily 1 on Joshua); Tertullian (book 3 against Marcion, and the book against the Jews); Severianus (oration 4 on the Holy Cross — from him Damascene, oration 3 on images); Justin (against Trypho); St. Augustine (book 10, ch. 8; book 12 against Faustus, ch. 30; oration On Heresies, ch. 2; sermon 39 On the Season); St. Prosper (part 1 On the Promises, ch. 40); Nazianzen (orations 1, 3, 6, 26, [and] 42, [in the] Apologetic); the Sibyl in the acrostic (of which Cicero makes mention, book 2 On Divination); Constantine the Great (in the oration to the Saints, ch. 18); St. Augustine (City of God, book 18, ch. 23): “Sincerely did Moses express this [Christ] by stretching out [his] arms.”
That, conquering Amalek by faith, [the people] might learn to be the people chosen for the Father; and — in great honor — the rod of David, the stone on which he stood, in which [he] in whom his hope is placed shall live for all ages:
these things they signified; but the heavy hands of Moses signified also
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the grave yoke of the Law, as St. Bernard says (on the Canticle, sermon 30). Thirdly, God was signifying — says Philo, at the cited place — that “the proper inheritance of the one [people] is the earth, the lowest part of the world; but of the other [people], the most sacred ether [heaven]. And just as, in the universe of things, heaven is [worth] more than earth, so also [God signified that] his own people would overcome in war the opposing battle-line.” And [on] Exodus (homily 11), Origen: “Moses lifts up his hands, and when he lifted up [his] hands, Amalek was being conquered. To lift up the hands is to lift up to God works and acts pleasing to God, and raised to heaven. He, therefore, lifts up [his] hands who lays up treasure in heaven; for where his treasure is, there [is] also his eye, there also his hand. He too lifts up [his] hands who says: ‘the lifting-up of my hands [is] an evening sacrifice.’ If, therefore, our acts are lifted up, and are not on the earth, Amalek is conquered. But the Apostle too commands to lift up holy hands, without anger and disputing; and to some he was saying: ‘Lift up the drooping hands, and the loosened knees, and make straight steps with your feet.’ If, therefore, the people keeps the Law, Moses lifts up [his] hands, and the adversary is conquered. If it does not keep the Law, Amalek grows strong. There is, therefore, for us too a battle against the princes, and the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world: if thou wishest to conquer, if thou wishest to prevail, lift up [thy] hands, and lift up thy acts, and let thy conduct not be on the earth, but, as the Apostle said: ‘Walking upon the earth, we have our conversation in heaven.’ And thus thou wilt be able to overcome the people opposing thee, Amalek — so that it may be said of thee too, that ‘in a hidden hand the Lord fought against Amalek.’ Lift up thou too [thy] hands to God, and fulfill the commandment by which the Apostle says: ‘praying without ceasing’; and then shall come to pass what is written: ‘Because, as the calf licks up in the fields the green herb, so shall this people lick up the people which is upon the earth.’ By which (as we have received from [our] elders) it is said to be shown, that the people of God fought not so much with hand and arms as with voice and tongue — that is, pouring out prayer to God, it laid low [its] enemies. So therefore thou too, if thou wishest to conquer [thy] enemies, lift up thy acts, cry to God, as the Apostle says: ‘being instant in prayer, and watching in it.’ For this is the battle of a Christian, by which he overcomes the enemy.” But the same author, at the same place, adds also another figure. “I think,” he says, “that by this figure Moses also designates the form of two peoples, and shows [that] there is one people, [gathered] from the nations, which lifts up the hands of Moses; but [he] who does not lift them from the earth, nor considers in it anything lofty and subtle, is conquered by the adversaries, and laid low.” I will conclude with the words of St. Augustine, from sermon 39 On the Season: “The people drank from the rock, and immediately entered into war against Amalek. See, brethren, that after each one has drunk from the rock — that is, of Christ — [and] has received the Sacraments, it is necessary for him to advance to the fight. For so long will anyone not feel the devil fighting against him, as long as he shall have wished to do his [the devil’s] works. But he who shall have forsaken him, and, drinking from the rock, shall have chosen to follow CHRIST, [it is] necessary that he endure him [the devil as] hostile — [the devil] to whom, by this judgment, he willed to prefer CHRIST. Whoever, therefore, is joined to Christ, let him be prepared not for delights, not for pleasures, but for battle: because all who wish to live piously in Christ suffer persecution. And again: ‘Through many tribulations must we enter into the kingdom of God.’” The sons of Israel, therefore, entered into war; and Moses calls [him] JESUS [Joshua], and says to him: “Choose [for thyself men]…”
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“Choose for thyself men, and fight against Amalek. Up to this place, mention of this blessed name — that is, JESUS — has nowhere been made. Here first the splendor of this word shone forth. Moses calls [him] JESUS; the Law invokes Christ. ‘Choose,’ he says, ‘for thyself mighty men.’ Moses could not choose mighty men: JESUS alone is he who can choose mighty men. He, at any rate, who said to his Apostles: ‘You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.’ He it is who entered the house of the strong one, and plundered his vessels. ‘But Moses ascended to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses lifted up [his] hands, Israel conquered.’ Note, brethren: Moses indeed lifts up [his] hands, yet does not stretch [them] out. For whom, then, was it reserved that he should stretch out [his] hands, except for our Lord JESUS CHRIST — who, stretched out on the cross, [and] about to embrace the whole world, spread apart [his] arms of piety? Moses, therefore, lifted up [his] hands; and, although he did not spread [them] apart, yet by that very lifting-up he showed the mystery of the cross. See, brethren, [that] even then, through the Sacrament of the cross, the adversary nations were overcome. And we, most beloved brethren, if — with the Lord aiding — we lift up [our] hands, overcome the devil. In the hands we ought to receive works. If, therefore, thy works are such that thou canst lift them on high in the sight of the Lord, thou canst also, in thyself, extinguish thy adversaries. Who rightly lifts up [his] hands, except he who through almsgiving continually lays up treasure in heaven? Who, then, rightly lifts up [his] hands, except he who assiduously supplies food and clothing to the poor? Who rightly lifts up [his] hands? He, at any rate, who fulfills that [word] of the Apostle: ‘Lifting up,’ he says, ‘pure hands, without anger and disputing.’ Since, therefore, a battle daily threatens us and you against the adverse powers, if we wish to conquer, let our hands — that is, our acts — and our conduct be not on the earth; but, as the Apostle says: ‘Walking upon the earth, let us have our conversation in heaven.’ Yet it is written, that as the calf licks up in the fields the green herb, so shall the people of Israel lick up the people of Amalek upon the earth. By which it seems to be shown, that the people of God fought not so much with hand and arms as with voice and tongue — that is, poured out prayer to God. Therefore thou too, if thou wishest to conquer, hear the Apostle saying: ‘Being instant in prayer, and watching in it.’ This is the most glorious battle of a Christian: not to presume on his own strength, but ever to implore the aid of God, to whom is honor and dominion, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto ages of ages. Amen.”