All gather that it was true, as I said, from this speech of Moses, “Why hast thou emulation for me?” — as if he said: Thou emulatest; but do it not. To what end dost thou take up this emulation? Yet because in the Hebrew this is a question — “Dost thou emulate for me?” or “Is it for my sake that thou emulatest?” — someone might interpret it thus, as if it were a true question of Moses, suspecting indeed that he emulated for his sake, yet not asserting it. And in that sense our Latin text could be expounded thus: “What? Emulatest thou for me?” — or simply, so that “What”—
(col. 142)
—stands for “Whether,” “emulatest thou for me?” For in hidden matters we sometimes put the questions “whether” and “what” for the same thing, as “What now dost thou think of me?” [i.e.] “What of the divine matter dost thou ponder with thyself?” Yet from the common opinion I depart in nothing. 1. Because the Septuagint render it thus, μὴ ζηλοῖς ἐμοί — that is, “art thou not zealous for me?” [i.e.] “art thou not, for my sake, kindled? dost thou not, on my account, so chafe, and demand that they be forbidden?” 2. Because, even though the Latin text could be expounded otherwise, yet the common sense seems the simpler and less forced. 3. [Because,] if Moses suspected that Joshua emulated for his sake, and did not know it for certain but only asked, Moses would seem too little keen and shrewd an examiner — not only of wits, but of morals and words too — [he] who from Joshua’s words, and from the manner of uttering them, and from the very countenance and gesture of the speaker, did not enough perceive what they meant and from what source they flowed — especially since he held him as an intimate and, as they say, known “within and beneath the skin.” Then, why should he suspect that [Joshua] emulated for himself rather than that he was thinking of God’s glory, the tabernacle’s honor, [and] the chastisement of disobedience? 4. The words that follow, “Who would grant that all the people might prophesy?”, declare [Moses] not doubting, but seeing and judging for certain, that Joshua’s petition arose from emulation.