Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Numbers 20
There are 16 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 242, footnote 6 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter II.—On Drinking. (HTML)
The natural, temperate, and necessary beverage, therefore, for the thirsty is water. This was the simple drink of sobriety, which, flowing from the smitten rock, was supplied by the Lord to the ancient Hebrews.[Numbers 20] It was most requisite that in their wanderings they should be temperate.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 711, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Patience. (HTML)
As God is the Author of Patience So the Devil is of Impatience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 9073 (In-Text, Margin)
... Israel himself also always failed in his duty toward God, from that time when, forgetful of the heavenly arm whereby he had been drawn out of his Egyptian affliction, he demands from Aaron “gods as his guides;” when he pours down for an idol the contributions of his gold: for the so necessary delays of Moses, while he met with God, he had borne with impatience. After the edible rain of the manna, after the watery following of the rock, they despair of the Lord in not enduring a three-days’ thirst;[Numbers 20:1-6] for this also is laid to their charge by the Lord as impatience. And—not to rove through individual cases—there was no instance in which it was not by failing in duty through impatience that they perished. How, moreover, did they lay hands on the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 370, footnote 10 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To the Clergy and People Abiding in Spain, Concerning Basilides and Martial. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2764 (In-Text, Margin)
... too, we observe to come from divine authority, that the priest should be chosen in the presence of the people under the eyes of all, and should be approved worthy and suitable by public judgment and testimony; as in the book of Numbers the Lord commanded Moses, saying, “Take Aaron thy brother, and Eleazar his son, and place them in the mount, in the presence of all the assembly, and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and let Aaron die there, and be added to his people.”[Numbers 20:25-26] God commands a priest to be appointed in the presence of all the assembly; that is, He instructs and shows that the ordination of priests ought not to be solemnized except with the knowledge of the people standing near, that in the presence of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 182, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter VII. 1–13. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 567 (In-Text, Margin)
... wilderness? In the desert waste. Why in the desert waste? Because in this world, where we thirst in a way in which is no water. But yet, let us thirst that we may be filled. For, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” And our thirst is quenched from the rock in the wilderness: for “the Rock was Christ,” and it was smitten with a rod that the water might flow. But that it might flow, the rock was smitten twice: because there are two beams of the cross.[Numbers 20:11] All these things, then, which were done in a figure, are made manifest to us. And it is not without meaning that it was said of the Lord, “He went up to the feast-day, but not openly, but as it were in secret.” For Himself in secret was the thing ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 487, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4531 (In-Text, Margin)
... what He had begun, not to condemn what He had cast away. God therefore punished all their affections. How did He punish Samuel? where is this punishment?…What was said unto Moses was a type, not a punishment. What punishment is death to an old man? What punishment was it, not to enter into that land, into which unworthy men entered? But what is said of Aaron? He also died an old man: his sons succeeded him in the priesthood: his son afterwards ruled in the priesthood: how did He punish Aaron also?[Numbers 20:24-28] Samuel also died a holy old man, leaving his sons as his successors. I seek for the punishment inflicted upon them, and according to men I find it not: but according to what I know the servants of God suffer every day, they were day by day punished. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 655, footnote 12 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5853 (In-Text, Margin)
... of Christ? By heavenly aid. “For the Lord Himself shall come with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God shall He descend from heaven,” Himself the Saviour of the body, the Hand of God. What is, “Out of many waters”? From many peoples. What peoples? Aliens, unbelievers, whether assailing us from without, or laying snares within. Take me out of many waters, in which Thou didst discipline me, in which Thou didst roll me, to free me from my filth. This is the “water of contradiction.”[Numbers 20:13] …“From the hand of strange children.” Hear, brethren, among whom we are, among whom we live, from whom we long to be delivered. “Whose mouth hath spoken vanity” (ver. 8). All of you to-day, if ye had not gathered yourselves together to these divine ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 61, footnote 10 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood. (HTML)
Book IV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 135 (In-Text, Margin)
... what we are saying from what happened to him. For this same saintly Moses was so far from grasping at the leadership of the Jews as to deprecate the offer, and to decline it when God commanded him to take it, and so to provoke the wrath of Him who appointed him; and not only then, but afterwards when he entered upon his rule, he would gladly have died to have been set free from it: “Kill me,” saith he, “if thou art going to deal thus with me.” But what then? when he sinned at the waters of strife,[Numbers 20:12] could these repeated refusals be pleaded in excuse for him? Could they prevail with God to grant him pardon? And wherefore was he deprived of the promised land? for no other reason, as we all know, than for this sin of his, for which that wondrous ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 1, page 89, footnote 12 (Image)
Eusebius: Church History from A.D. 1-324, Life of Constantine the Great, Oration in Praise of Constantine
The Church History of Eusebius. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
About the Time of Christ, in accordance with Prophecy, the Rulers who had governed the Jewish Nation in Regular Succession from the Days of Antiquity came to an End, and Herod, the First Foreigner, Became King. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 89 (In-Text, Margin)
2. This prediction remained unfulfilled so long as it was permitted them to live under rulers from their own nation, that is, from the time of Moses to the reign of Augustus. Under the latter, Herod, the first foreigner, was given the Kingdom of the Jews by the Romans. As Josephus relates, he was an Idumean[Numbers 20:20] on his father’s side and an Arabian on his mother’s. But Africanus, who was also no common writer, says that they who were more accurately informed about him report that he was a son of Antipater, and that the latter was the son of a certain Herod of Ascalon, one of the so-called servants of the temple of Apollo.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 51, footnote 16 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Paula. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 830 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Why should I not mourn, you say? Jacob put on sackcloth for Joseph, and when all his family gathered round him, refused to be comforted. “I will go down,” he said, “into the grave unto my son mourning.” David also mourned for Absalom, covering his face, and crying: “O my son, Absalom…my son, Absalom! Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son!” Moses, too, and Aaron,[Numbers 20:29] and the rest of the saints were mourned for with a solemn mourning. The answer to your reasoning is simple. Jacob, it is true, mourned for Joseph, whom he fancied slain, and thought to meet only in the grave (his words were: “I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning”), but he only did so because ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 52, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Paula. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 836 (In-Text, Margin)
... the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph and his brethren”; and a few lines farther on: “And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a great company.” Finally, “they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation.” This solemn lamentation does not impose prolonged weeping upon the Egyptians, but simply describes the funeral ceremony. In like manner, when we read of weeping made for Moses and Aaron,[Numbers 20:29] this is all that is meant.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 70, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pammachius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1093 (In-Text, Margin)
8. In the sequel we go on to speak thus: “The apostle, in concluding his discussion of marriage and of virginity, is careful to observe a mean course in discriminating between them, and, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, he keeps to the King’s highway,[Numbers 20:17] and thus fulfils the injunction, ‘Be not righteous overmuch.’ Moreover, when he goes on to compare monogamy with digamy, he puts digamy after monogamy, just as before he subordinated marriage to virginity.” Do we not clearly show by this language what is typified in the Holy Scriptures by the terms right and left, and also what we take to be the meaning of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 251, footnote 19 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3507 (In-Text, Margin)
... and that he may not be shut out by the bridegroom because being unprovided with the oil of good works his lamp has gone out. In Proculus you have a reverend and most learned prelate, able by the sound of his voice to do more for you than I with my written sheets and sure to direct you on your path by daily homilies. He will not suffer you to turn to the right hand or to the left or to leave the king’s highway; for to this Israel pledges itself to keep in its hasty passage to the land of promise.[Numbers 20:17] May God hear the voice of the church’s supplication. “Lord, ordain peace for us, for thou hast also wrought all our works for us.” May our renunciation of the world be made freely and not under compulsion! May we seek poverty gladly to win its glory ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 391, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4708 (In-Text, Margin)
... man, was slain by the king of Egypt on the plain of Megiddo. Joshua also, the son of Josedech and high-priest, although he was a type of our Saviour Who bore our sins, and united to Himself a church of alien birth from among the Gentiles, is nevertheless, according to the letter of Scripture, represented in filthy garments after he attained to the priesthood, and with the devil standing at his right hand; and white raiment is afterwards restored to him. It is needless to tell how Moses and Aaron[Numbers 20:13] offended God at the water of strife, and did not enter the land of promise. For the blessed Job relates that even the angels and every creature can sin. “Shall mortal man,” he says, “be just before God? Shall a man be spotless in his works? If he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 212, footnote 1 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2621 (In-Text, Margin)
... This, however, I take to be generally admitted—that just as it is not safe for those who walk on a lofty tight rope to lean to either side, for even though the inclination seems slight, it has no slight consequences, but their safety depends upon their perfect balance: so in the case of one of us, if he leans to either side, whether from vice or ignorance, no slight danger of a fall into sin is incurred, both for himself and those who are led by him. But we must really walk in the King’s highway,[Numbers 20:17] and take care not to turn aside from it either to the right hand or to the left, as the Proverbs say. For such is the case with our passions, and such in this matter is the task of the good shepherd, if he is to know properly the souls of his flock, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 81b, footnote 4 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)
Book IV (HTML)
Concerning the Cross and here further concerning Faith. (HTML)
... bestowed by a tree. Jacob, when He worshipped the top of Joseph’s staff, was the first to image the Cross, and when he blessed his sons with crossed hands he made most clearly the sign of the cross. Likewise also did Moses’ rod, when it smote the sea in the figure of the cross and saved Israel, while it overwhelmed Pharaoh in the depths; likewise also the hands stretched out crosswise and routing Amalek; and the bitter water made sweet by a tree, and the rock rent and pouring forth streams of water[Numbers 20], and the rod that meant for Aaron the dignity of the high priesthood: and the serpent lifted in triumph on a tree as though it were dead, the tree bringing salvation to those who in faith saw their enemy dead, just as Christ was nailed to the tree ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 186, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus. (HTML)
Book II. On the Belief in the Resurrection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1550 (In-Text, Margin)
74. Nor ought it to appear at all impro bable, that at the command of God the bones were fitted again to their joints, since we have numberless instances in which nature has obeyed the commands of heaven; as the earth was bidden to bring forth the green herb, and did bring it forth; as the rock at the touch of the rod gave forth water for the thirsting people;[Numbers 20:11] and the hard stone poured forth streams by the mercy of God for those parched with heat. What else did the rod changed into a serpent signify, than that at the will of God living things can be produced from those that are without life? Do you think it more incredible that bones should come together when bidden, than ...