Bible with Ordinary Gloss and Nicholas of Lyra

a ¶ But the people. Adam. Not without cause does he mark when they come to the Jordan. "The tenth of the first month," he says. This is the very day on which the mystery of the lamb began in Egypt. They enter into that same promised land. And it is very blessed that on the very day that he flees the errors of the world, he enters the promised land. That is, on this day in which we live in this present age. For the whole present life is marked by one day. Through this we are taught: not to defer works of justice to the morrow, but today, that is, while we live, we must hasten to fulfill all things that are for perfection, and thus we will be able to enter the promised land on the tenth day of the first month, that is, the blessedness of perfection. It is to be noted, however, that this day is often repeated, because the general law for us is one perfection, in which, however, we are always able to fulfill one virtue completely; its own perfection belongs to its own virtue. Thus, many perfections are found through individual virtues. That one, however, is general, which contains in itself the sum of all perfections. Therefore, because many deeds are recapitulated in this day, they signify losing many perfections to one day. b ¶ On the tenth day. That is, the time. Where the mystery of the lamb was commanded in Egypt. Because on the same day that we flee the errors of the world, we enter the promised land. For the whole present life is one day. "Today," that is, while we live, we hasten toward perfection, so that we do not defer to the morrow. c ¶ And the twelve. 3. Crossing the Jordan, the children of Israel took twelve stones from the middle of the river; they were useful for a testimony in the place of the second circumcision: to signify to us that when we arise from the washing, we ought to carry with us the firmest examples of an apostolic life, because they are a testimony to the unity of the mind while we look upon them.

had passed, the waters returned into their riverbed and flowed as they were accustomed. ¶ But the people ascended from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and camped in Galgala against the eastern part of the city of Jericho. c ¶ And the twelve stones which they had taken from the riverbed of the Jordan, Joshua placed in Galgala. And he said to the children of Israel: When your children will ask their fathers tomorrow, and will say to them: What do these stones mean? You shall teach them and say: Israel crossed this Jordan on a dry riverbed, the Lord our God drying up its waters in our sight, until we crossed, just as he had done in the Red Sea, which he dried up until we crossed, so that all the peoples of the earth may learn the most powerful hand of the Lord, and that you may fear your Lord at all times.

commands of the law, and they performed blessings and curses solemnly: and from those stones they made an altar: and upon it they offered sacrifices: and in the end they came to Galgala, where they pitched their camps, depositing there the twelve aforementioned stones, so that they might remain there as a sign of the miraculous crossing of the Jordan. And for this they allege what is said in this chapter: "Until all things were completed which the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, and which Moses had said to him." But Moses had said that after crossing the Jordan, they should smooth the stones with lime, and write the law there, and that they should place the blessings upon Mount Gerizim, and the curses upon Mount Ebal, as is had in Deuteronomy 27. But this seems false. First, because so many and so great things could not be done in one day, at the time of the crossing of the Jordan, especially of such a great multitude, the progress to Mount Ebal and Gerizim, which place is quite distant from the Jordan and the city of Jericho, the solemnity of the blessings and curses, the writing of the law upon the stones, and the immolation of sacrifices, and from there the progress to Galgala, the place. Second, because it seems to contradict what is said in the eighth chapter, after the destruction of Jericho and Ai: "Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal, etc.," as is had there concerning the writing of the law upon the stones, and the blessings and curses. Third, because it disagrees with what is said in Deuteronomy 27a, where it speaks of the stones upon which the law was to be written: "You shall erect huge stones, etc." These stones were not such that individual men carried individual stones up to the place of the camps, as is said in the present chapter. The text of this chapter which they allege for themselves is more to the contrary, because it is said there: "But the priests who carried the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until all things were completed which the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, and which Moses had said to him." If, therefore, the statement of Moses is understood about the writing of the law upon the stones and the blessings and curses, it follows that the priests stood in the middle of the Jordan with the ark while all the aforementioned things were completed; and then the ark would not have preceded the people in the aforementioned entry, the contrary of which is said in this chapter. Similarly, the ark and the priests would not have been present when the blessings and curses were performed with solemnity on Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, the contrary of which is said in the eighth chapter. It will be, therefore, that what is said, "Until they were completed," and he adds, "which the Lord had commanded, as Moses had said," is understood about the crossing of the Jordan, and about the carrying of the twelve stones until the place where they remained the following night, and about the carrying of the twelve other stones into the riverbed of the Jordan; for the Lord had indeed commanded these things, and Moses had also said them to Joshua, at least in part, namely regarding the crossing of the Jordan, and it is not understood of other things which were done later. d ¶ When your children will ask tomorrow. That is, in future time. The rest is clear.

Deuteronomy 27

After this, Galgala, etc. Chapter 5.
¶ Follows d ¶ Make for yourself, etc.
¶ Augustine

Augustine. "Make for yourself knives of stone, sharp; and circumcise the children of Israel a second time." It is asked why he said "a second time." For no one man was circumcised twice. But because one people was in part circumcised, and in part not circumcised, therefore it was said "a second time," so that the people would be circumcised again, not the man. Some who went forth from Egypt in that people were uncircumcised, whom Joshua could circumcise, namely those children they had begotten in the desert, and they neglected to circumcise them, because they were disobedient to the law of God. Why do they presume those to be rebaptized who have the sacrament of Christian baptism, because they assist with this testimony of the law? Since no one man was circumcised twice, but the people who had been in part circumcised, and in part were uncircumcised; and if it could happen in another way that God should command a man to be circumcised twice, they can say a great thing, those who think they are to be rebaptized, that it was commanded because they had been circumcised by the Egyptians, or by other heretics separated from the society of the Israelites: "Make for yourself knives, etc." Let the Jews say: How can one be circumcised a second time by carnal circumcision? For he who is once circumcised has nothing that can be removed a second time. From...

After this, etc. Chapter 5.
Then all the kings of the Amorites, who dwelt beyond the Jordan toward the western side, and all the kings of Canaan, who possessed the places near the great sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the streams of the Jordan for the children of Israel, until they crossed; their heart melted, and there remained no spirit in them, fearing the entry of the children of Israel. At that time, the Lord said f to Joshua: "Make for yourself knives of stone..."
a ¶ Because we are purified in the stone which is Christ; and we lay aside the reproach of Egypt, that is, the observances of the Egyptians.

Nicholas of Lyra
from the riverbed of the Lord, as was said in the previous chapter. And because the mode of speaking from which it is argued regarding the proposed is with "so that they ascend," it is more to the contrary as it seems, because subsequently regarding the crossing of the people it is added: "But the people ascended from the Jordan on the tenth day, etc." and not because they crossed the aforementioned riverbed, as the letter expresses, and it is conceded in the outcome. To which it is answered: "That they ascend," it is good, because the priests were standing in the middle of the riverbed, as was said, where the riverbed is deeper than by the bank, and therefore the progress from that place to the bank proceeds by ascending. The rest is clear from the aforementioned. a ¶ But the people. Here he describes the determination of time when he says, "But the people on the tenth day of the first month," and this is expressed for the greater certainty of the history. b ¶ And camped in Galgala. This name is placed by anticipation, because later it was imposed upon that place, as the following chapter holds. c ¶ And the twelve stones, etc., Joshua placed in Galgala. The Hebrews say that crossing the Jordan they did not immediately arrive in Galgala, but first they went to Mount Ebal, and there they carried those twelve stones and smoothed them with lime and wrote upon them the commands of the law.

Chapter 5
After this, etc. To the Lord what was done at the entry of the Jordan and what at the exit: he now shows what was done by the children of Israel at the entry, before they would war against the inhabitants of the land, because before the progress they were circumcised, and they celebrated the Passover, and they were comforted by an angel appearing to Joshua. And therefore he deals first with circumcision, second with the celebration of the Passover, there: "And they remained, etc.," third with the comforting of the people, there: "And when Joshua was." Regarding the first, he sets forth the fear cast by God upon the adversaries of the Hebrews, as the letter shows. This, however, was done by God, lest they should come to fight against the children of Israel at the time that they were newly circumcised, because then they were unfit for battle. And he adds the commandment of circumcision, when it is said: d ¶ Make for yourself knives of stone. The Hebrews say "sharp knives." For a stone knife is not of the necessity of circumcision, nor do modern Jews use this in circumcision, but an iron knife.

Morally

And they remain. f ¶ At that time, etc. Make for yourself knives, etc. This solemn circumcision was a figure of the holy baptism, through which he endures all sins simply, even to the guilt and the penalty. And because baptism has its efficacy from the passion of Christ, therefore this carnal circumcision was performed with a stone knife signifying Christ, who is the living stone, according to the Prophet. 1 Peter 2a. To whom drawing near, the living stone, rejected indeed by men, but by God chosen and honored; and you yourselves as living stones are built up into spiritual houses.