Whatever was Moses’s food and drink in the first six days, the same was Joshua’s too, and in all the other remaining days — since who would want [Joshua] full while Moses himself was hungry? For what other food could he have here? What drink? And the [things] which could be at hand there in the mountain on the earlier days could not but be present on the following [days] too. And they were those very [things] from which, in the latter 40 days, Moses says he abstained (Deuteronomy 9): bread and water. But then, there too, the “bread” was manna; the “water” could be from the torrent (of which Deuteronomy 9) and from the rock (of which Exodus ch. 17). But someone may object. First. Manna was wont to be pounded with a mill or a mortar (as is gathered from ch. 16 of Exodus, v. 14), and afterward cooked in pots over fire (v. 23). But what mortar or mill [was there] on the mountain? What pot? What fire? For that Moses and Joshua carried these with them, I have nothing whence to conjecture. Secondly. The manna fell around the camp (ibid., v. 14). It had therefore to be carried up into the mountain — and so either by Joshua, descending for this thing at least, or by some other, ascending. But this was lawful to no one (for [there] were fixed and appointed limits, beyond which [it was] right for none — Exodus 19); and every descent of Joshua has before been denied. How, then, here…
(col. 125)
…[was there] food on the mountain? Thirdly. He who gave the manna, who gave the quails (God, Exodus 16), could furnish any other victual whatever. Why then do we say [it was] manna alone? To the First: Some pounding and cooking of the manna was indeed sometimes applied; yet it was not so necessary that, without it, that [manna] was not fit for eating and wholesome. And therefore, if [one] pleased, they ate [it] uncooked, as Josephus shows (at the cited place, [book] 1), and [as] can be gathered from ch. 16 of Exodus, v. 23 — where they are admonished [about] what they may cook, if [they wish], not what they must necessarily [cook], so as to cook [it] the day before the sabbath. And since the manna gave every flavor one wished, as [is said in] Wisdom 16, could this not be given to Joshua and Moses without any other pounding or cooking? Nor do I see anything absurd if one should say [that] Joshua, Moses’s minister, took with him a little mortar, a little pot, and some tinder for fire — especially since, by divine admonition, Moses foreknew [that it] would be [necessary] to tarry there somewhat longer, as is gathered from ch. 24 of Exodus, vv. 12 and 14. To the second: the mountain does not stray from the camp by so great an interval that the manna could not fall there; and if it were absent [thence], yet where the Israelites were in that wilderness, God could give this heavenly food — and perhaps was wont to? To the third: God could, without doubt, have bestowed any other viands whatever he had willed. But we say [it was] rather manna. Because Moses (Deuteronomy 9) called [it] “bread,” as I already said above; and because it was then the common nourishment of all, and indeed an index of the supreme divine benevolence toward his servants. From these [things], at last, it appears what corporal occupation Joshua could have — namely, either for himself only in the last days, or for both in the first six, to carry water, [and] to gather the manna daily, after the manner of the other Israelites, and, if there was need, to pound and cook [it]. Now, whether Joshua ascended with Moses [only] for so [long] a time, could be asked; but there will be a more opportune place afterward. Let us [rather] learn how good disciples and ministers ought to cling to good teachers and masters — namely, not only in [those] things which [are] pleasing and agreeable, but also in harsh and troublesome [ones].
(col. 126)
Nor indeed was Moses only a type of CHRIST the Lord fasting in the desert (Matthew 4), but Joshua himself too — except that, when he is here compared with Moses, [Joshua] rather represents our person, [we] who imitate Christ’s fast indeed, but not with that perfection, and intimate union and converse with God, which he [Moses] had. But since, together with this same CHRIST the Lord [as he was] about to ascend into heaven, the disciples ascended the Mount of Olives (Acts, ch. 1), that they might not be far from their [Christ, as Joshua from] Moses — let us also ascend. “The mountain” is every calling-away from earthly and perishable things, a loftier virtue, a zeal of a more perfect life. “If thou see me,” said Elijah (2 Kings [4 Reg.] ch. 2, v. 10), “when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast asked.” But Elisha, to whom this is said, [being] a good disciple, had asked a double spirit of Elijah. And if we too behold our Lord on the mount with mind and heart, and forsake him not, he will give us of his Spirit; and, to receive it, why should not we too — as Moses and Joshua, to receive the tables of the old Law — be wholly occupied in prayers and holy meditations? “They had gone up into the upper room,” as onto some Mount Sinai — the disciples of CHRIST the Lord — “and all were persevering with one mind in prayer” (Acts 1:14). This [was] the best preparation for the receiving of the Evangelical Law and of divine grace — which [grace] was now promised not on Mount Sinai, harsh, dry, and set with brambles, but on the Mount of Olives, sweet, gentle, and pleasant (Acts 1:8), and given on the holy, delightful, and glad Mount Sion — so that the difference of the mountains might judge also the difference of the laws. Terrible and hard was the old Law; but the Evangelical [Law] gentle and calm. That [old Law] Moses sought and awaited 40 days; this [new one] the Apostles [awaited] 10 days — by a number, namely, simpler and more perfect. Neither he nor they were frustrated of their hope and expectation; nor shall we be frustrated — provided only [that], with our Joshua, we remain on the mount, eager and constant in the holy exercises of [our] souls. So be it, so be it.