Meanwhile it is the priestly and Levitical order that shows the way to
the people of God who have gone forth from Egypt. For they themselves are those
who instruct the people to go forth from Egypt, that is, from the delusions of
the world; and to cross through the desolate wilderness, that is, to hasten
past diverse kinds of temptations; and not to be harmed by the serpents, which
are bites of demons; and to escape the venom of evil suggestions. Wherefore, if
by chance anyone should be struck by a serpent in the wilderness, the priests
show him a bronze serpent, suspended on a cross. The person who sees it, that
is, the one who believes in him whose figure that serpent was meant to
represent, will be able to disperse the diabolical venom. (Origen,
Homilies on Joshua 4.2, in Homilies on
Joshua [trans. Barbara J. Bruce, vol. , The Fathers of the Church 105; Washington,
D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2002], 54–55)
