Joshua 13:14

Nevertheless, let us see what it is that is described through the shadow, since in the shadow of the law the truth is outlined. There is reported, then, a first and a second division of the inheritance that was made — the first indeed through Moses, but the second, which is also the more powerful, is described as made through Jesus. And "Moses" decrees a possession "beyond the Jordan to the tribe of Reuben and to the tribe of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh," but all the rest receive their inheritance through Jesus. We have already spoken about these matters before — how those who "had pleased God" through the law, going before in time those who through faith in Jesus arrive at the things promised, do not yet obtain the things that are perfect, awaiting those who, later indeed in a different time but by one faith, will please God, as the Apostle says: "that they should not be made perfect without us." Meanwhile, neither Moses nor Jesus gave the Levites an inheritance, because "the Lord God himself is their inheritance." And in this matter what else is to be understood, except that there are in the Church of the Lord certain ones who by the virtue of their soul and the grace of their merits go before all the rest, of whom "the Lord himself" is said to be their "inheritance"? And if it is permitted to venture in such matters and to open up something of a hidden secret, let us see whether perhaps this is what the figure of the priests or the Levites secretly shows — that in the whole people (I mean of those who are saved) the greater and by far the more numerous part is without doubt of those who, simply believing in the fear of God, through good works, through honorable morals and commendable deeds, "please the Lord"; but few there are, and very rare, who, giving their effort to wisdom and knowledge and keeping their mind clean and pure and cultivating their souls with all illustrious virtues, illuminate for the rest of the simpler ones, through the grace of teaching, the road on which they walk and come to salvation. These perhaps are now designated under the name of the Levites and the priests, whose "inheritance is the Lord himself," who is the "wisdom" which they loved above all others. I find, however, a certain difference in the things which Moses distributed and in those which Jesus distributed. For Moses, "distributing the land beyond the Jordan…