The Lord says two [things] to him. One, which pertains to himself [Joshua]; the other, which pertains to the priests. That [first] is a certain promise; this [second] is a precept. The promise is this: “Today I will begin to exalt you before all Israel, that they may know that, just as I was with Moses, so I am also with you.” “Exaltation” [exaltatio] is [what] is rendered in the Latin and Greek — which, in the same sense, is called in Hebrew “magnification” [magnificatio]. But indeed the Lord had already, long since, magnified Joshua himself — almost from a boy — yet most of all when, from Moses’s servant, he made [him] the prince of the whole people, and honoured him with so many and so great ornaments of wisdom and prophecy, as we saw in the former book. How, then, [does] the Lord now say he will begin his magnification? [Because] this [is] a different [magnification], of course — and much more magnificent and marvellous. For, as to himself, [Joshua] had been adorned and magnified with virtue, grace, and various charisms; he had also [been magnified] as to others, when — on their account — all looked up to and venerated him, [and] when Moses proclaimed him prince with so solemn a ceremony, and imparted [to him] his own grace. But by his grace (as of old, on Moses’s account, [God had done] so many [things]) God had not yet done anything which might seem quite above the order of nature, which was utterly unheard-of and unwonted, and which held the minds of all fixed in vast admiration. This kind of magnification toward him, therefore (which was perfected [in] ch. 4 v. 14), the Lord now promises he wishes to inaugurate; and he adds the cause — in which, if [it] be well noted, several causes are contained. ONE is: that all the Israelites might know in what place Joshua stands with God, how [much] he loves him, with what favour, zeal, and help he attends [him]. Hence arises THE SECOND: that Joshua’s authority and veneration might be supreme among all. Thence [comes] THE THIRD: that all might be willingly, promptly, and eagerly subject to him and obey [him]. And hence again THE FOURTH: that the whole people of the Israelites might fare best — might subdue the enemies (however horrible in ferocity, however innumerable in multitude), might most happily enter and possess the promised land, and — [which] is the chief [thing] — might duly worship God, and excellently comply with his precepts and ceremonies. There is also A FIFTH cause: that God might be held [as] the author and parent of all those so many and so great goods; that he might be praised by all, and worshipped with a most grateful mind by assiduous thanksgivings. For when the people knew [that] God was with Joshua, as he had been with Moses, they most clearly understood [that] those so great [things] which were done under Joshua’s leadership were done by his help and divine power. O happy Joshua, with whom, in so excellent a manner, the Lord deigned to be! O happy Israelites, to whom the Lord willed to give such a man, so beloved and dear to him!
But let us turn our eyes for a little to the true Joshua. With him the Lord was, in a far more excellent manner than with Moses, [and] than with this our mystical Joshua. For through grace, all charisms, and help [he was] greater and more excellent, as it were, by infinite degrees; and—
(col. 408)
—[which] surpasses all those [things], or rather, [which] is the fount and origin of all of them: through the hypostatic union — and that from the very first moment of conception. Yet afterward he began to make [Christ] illustrious, and to magnify [him], variously before all Israel — nay, before the whole world — through prodigies infinite in magnitude and number; and indeed also through heavenly voices: first, when he received baptism in the Jordan. For whatever Abulensis (quest. 15) may resist, Origen rightly said, in the mystical sense (of which [we treat] now), homily 4, [that] not all the exaltation of Christ the Lord, but that [part] which was done openly in the sight of the whole people, took its beginning from his baptism. And the same assert Procopius, and Theodoret (quest. 2). Then, therefore (Luke 3 v. 21), “Jesus being baptized and praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form, like a dove, upon him, and a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.’” Then, when on Mount Thabor he was transfigured by a wondrous metamorphosis (Matt. 17 v. 5): “Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice from the cloud, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.’” Thirdly, in the thronged circle [corona] of the Jerusalemites (John 12 v. 29), “a voice came from heaven: ‘And I have glorified [it], and will glorify [it] again.’” And this repeated glorification is that [glorification] which the heavenly Father began — through the cross and death, through the resurrection and the ascension to the heavens, through the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the preaching of the gospel. But O thrice and four times happy Christians, for whose sake all these [things] were done! Again and again happy, if they be obedient to this their Joshua’s word — [if] they worship, observe, [and] revere him. By them, assuredly, all the hellish [Tartarean] enemies will be laid low; the river of this world will be crossed dry-shod; the promised land of the heavens will be most happily entered, and possessed most securely unto all eternity.
“But I, O Lord, do not wish to be exalted in this world; I do not wish these [things] to be magnified with that magnification which gathers fame and great authority — because [it is] neither necessary to me (a subject, and engaged in trifling matters), nor useful, but rather [a source of] dangers; or, if ever you would wish to magnify me — as you know better what is expedient for me or for others — [so be it]. I beg and beseech you [that] you always make me understand [that] this is done for the sake of others, and of you — that I may profit them, namely, and that you, the beginning, bestower, and giver of all good, may be proclaimed by all. And therefore [I ask] that I may labour, that I indulge myself in nothing, but, with all my strength, labour for the benefit of others; that I rest not in myself, but transfer all glory and honour to you, to whom I truly owe [it] — because for that [reason] it pleased you to magnify [me, though] small and cheap. But altogether, O Lord, I pray this: [that] no other than you magnify me; and [that] none but he who is magnified by you magnify [me] for your sake. For what is it to me, if by men I be held and called great, [while] before you meanwhile I am small and nothing? Now to me, O Lord, give only grace in this life; and then, if you will, in the hour of my passing to you, begin to exalt me — not indeed before all the Israel of this world (for that pertains to your great saints, whose prayers and imitation of [their] life can profit the living), but before the holy Angels, and the citizens of the heavens. But I, from this hour, from this very moment, will begin to exalt your name, and to magnify [it], before all peoples, that they may know that you are my God, and I your servant,—
(col. 409)
—your [servant], the son of your handmaid. Amen.” [Ps. 116:16]