Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Why, by the command of God, the people took vessels from the Egyptians at the exodus, and made the tabernacle in the wilderness out of them. Those who reproach and charge that the people, about to depart at God's command, received vessels of every kind and garments from the Egyptians and so departed, and that the tabernacle in the wilderness was made out of these — such people, ignorant of the just dealings of God and his dispensations, condemn themselves, as the presbyter used to say. For if God had not consented to this in that figurative departure, then today, in our true departure — namely the faith wherein we presently stand, by which we have been drawn out from the number of the Gentiles — no one could be saved. For all of us are followed by some possession, small or great, which we acquired from the mammon of unrighteousness. For where do the houses in which we dwell, and the clothes we wear, and the vessels we use, and all the rest of the provision for our daily life come from, except from those things which, when we were pagans, we acquired out of greed, or received from pagan parents or relatives or friends who had acquired them unjustly? Not to mention that even now, while standing in the faith, we still acquire such things. For who sells and does not want to profit from the buyer? And who buys and does not want to be dealt with to his advantage by the seller? And what merchant does not trade for the sake of his own livelihood? And as for those believers who are in the imperial court, do they not have among their goods things that belong to Caesar, and does not each of them, according to his own ability, provide for those who have need? The people of Israel were debtors not only of goods but of their very lives, because of the earlier kindness of the patriarch Joseph; but in what way are the Gentiles debtors to us, from whom we receive gains and benefits? Whatever they acquire with labor, we, though in the faith, enjoy without labor. For this reason the people served the Egyptians in the harshest slavery, as Scripture says: "And they exercised power over them harshly, in all the labors with which they oppressed them by force; and they built fortified cities for them, laboring greatly, and increasing their wealth for many years, and through every kind of servitude" — while the Egyptians, far from being grateful toward them, even wished to destroy them all. What injustice, then, was done if they took a few things out of many, when those who could have had great wealth had they not served them, and could have departed rich, instead departed poor, having received the smallest wage for such great servitude? It is as if some free man, seized by force and made to serve another across many years while enlarging that man's wealth, afterward obtained some small assistance and were thought to have received only a modest portion — when in fact, out of his many labors and his master's great gain, he departs having received only his due — and this were then charged against him as though he had done wrong: the one who had dragged him into servitude by force would rather appear the unjust party in this case. So it is, then, with those who charge the people with taking a little out of much, and yet do not charge those who rendered no gratitude owed for the benefit received from their forefathers — who, indeed, having reduced them to the harshest servitude, gained the greatest advantage from them. These men say that the Israelites, in receiving unmarked gold and silver in a few small vessels for their labors, as we have said, acted unjustly; but they themselves — for it must be said, though it may seem laughable to some — while carrying on their own belts marked gold and silver and bronze coin stamped with Caesar's inscription and image, acquired from the labors of others, say that they themselves act justly. But if a comparison is made between us and them, which will appear to have received more justly — the people from the Egyptians, who were debtors to them in every way, or we from the Romans and the other nations, to whom nothing of the sort is owed us? Yet the world has peace through them, and we walk and sail the roads without fear, wherever we wish. Against such people, then, the Lord's saying will be fitting: "Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother's eye." For if the one who brings this charge against us, and boasts of his own knowledge, is himself entirely separated from fellowship with the Gentiles, and has nothing belonging to others, but lives simply, naked and barefoot and without a house, in the mountains, like one of those animals that feed on grass, he will deserve pardon, since he is ignorant of the necessities of our way of life. But if he himself shares in the things said to belong to others, and yet condemns their type, he proves himself most unjust of all, turning the very accusation back upon his own head. For he himself will be discovered hauling around what belongs to others, and lusting after what is not rightfully his; and it was for this reason that the Lord said: "Judge not, that you be not judged; for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged." Not, of course, that we should not rebuke sinners, nor that we should consent to things done wrongly; but that we should not unjustly judge God's arrangements, since he has provided all things justly for our benefit. For since he knew that we, using what we received from another, would act well with our own substance, he said: "Whoever possesses two tunics should share with the one who has none; and whoever has provisions should act in the same way." And: "I was starving, and you fed me; I had no clothing, and you dressed me." And: "When you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing." And whatever other such sayings there are by which, doing good, we are justified — as it were redeeming what is ours out of what belongs to others. And I say "out of what belongs to others" not as though the world were alien to God, but because we possess such gifts by receiving them from others; and through this very practice we construct within ourselves God's dwelling-place — since God resides among those who act rightly — just as the Lord says: "Make for yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when you fail, they may receive you into eternal dwellings." For whatever we acquired unjustly while we were pagans, this, once we had believed, we converted to the Lord's use, and were thereby justified: it was therefore necessary that these things be foreshadowed in the type, and that the tabernacle of God be built out of such things — the Israelites justly receiving them, as we have shown, while for us it was shown beforehand in them, that we too should begin to serve God by means of what belongs to others.