After these things "they set out," he says, "from the well to Mattanah, and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the grove which is in the field of Moab, from the top of the hewn mountain that looks toward the face of the desert." These names, which appear to be the designations of places, seem — from their significations, which they denote in their own tongue — to display the sequence of things rather mystical rather than merely a naming of places. "For having set out," he says, "from the well they come to Mattanah." For Mattanah is interpreted "their gifts." You see, then, that if anyone has drunk from this well which the kings and princes dug, he straightway advances to this, that he has gifts to offer to God. But what is it that a person offers to God? This very thing which is written in the law: "my gifts, my offerings." From those things, therefore, which God has given, human beings nonetheless make offerings to God. What did God give to man? Knowledge of himself. What does man offer to God? His faith and his affection. This is what God seeks from man. And indeed it is thus written: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, except that you fear the Lord your God, and walk in his ways, and love him, and keep all his commandments, and serve the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul?" These are the gifts, these the offerings which ought to be given to the Lord. And we give to the Lord these gifts of our heart after we have come to know him and have drunk from the depth of his well the knowledge of his goodness. Observe, however, how the prophet said: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you?" Let these words put to shame those who deny that it lies within man's choice that he be saved. For how would God ask of man, unless man had within his own power that which he ought to offer to God who asks? There are, then, things which are given by God, and there are things which are furnished by man. For example, it lay within the man to make one mina into ten minas, or one mina into five minas; but it was from God that the man had a mina from which he could make ten minas. But when he offered from himself the ten minas, he received in turn from God no longer money, but power and rule over ten cities. Again God asks of Abraham that he offer to him his son Isaac upon a mountain, whichever one he should show him. Abraham offered his only-begotten undaunted, laid him upon the altar, drew the knife to slay him — he is at once restrained, and a ram is given to him for a victim in place of his son. You see, then, that the things which we offer to God remain ours, but we are asked for them to this end, that in them our affection toward God and our faith may be tested. So much for what we said, that the children of Israel set out from the well and came to Mattanah, which is interpreted "their gifts." And from Mattanah we come to Nahaliel, which is interpreted "from God." What is "from God"? After we have offered the things that are from ourselves, we come to this, that we may attain the things that are from God. For when we have offered to him our faith and our affection, then he too bestows upon us the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, of which the Apostle says: "But all things are from God." And from Nahaliel we come to Bamoth, which is interpreted "the coming of death." What coming of death do we understand here, except that by which we die together with Christ, so that we may also live together with him, and by which we ought to mortify our members which are upon the earth, and again: "for we are buried together with him through baptism into death"? If anyone, then, holds to the order of this saving way, he ought to journey through each of these things which we have recalled, and to come after many stages to this place, which we said signifies the coming of death. But, as we are taught from the Scriptures, there is a certain death that is an enemy of Christ, and a certain death that is his friend. He does not, therefore, speak of that death that is the enemy of Christ, of which it is said: "the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed," which is the devil, but of this death, by which we die together with him, so that we may also live together with him — according to which death God says: "I will kill and I will make alive." For he kills, that we may die together with Christ, and he makes alive, that we may live together with him. It is therefore to be wished by us that we come to Bamoth and most readily receive the coming of this blessed death, so that we may deserve also to be made alive with Christ. "And from Bamoth," he says, "to the grove which is in the field of Moab, from the top of the hewn mountain that looks toward the desert." If we walk by this journey, which the reasoning of our explanation has asserted consists not so much of the names of places as of the advances of the soul, after all these things we come to the grove, or, as it stands in other copies, to Janah, which is interpreted "the ascent" or "the top of the mountain." Through these things, therefore, one arrives either at that most renowned grove of the divine paradise and the pleasant delights of the ancient habitation, or certainly at the summit of perfection and the height of blessedness, so that you too may be able to say that "he raised us up together with him, and made us sit in the heavenly places in Christ." Do you see how far one arrives from the well? Do you see by what stations, or rather by what advances, the soul's journey to heaven is prepared? If you examine these things diligently, you yourself, discerning within your own self your daily advances, will perceive in what places you are and how near you are held to be to the kingdom of heaven; just as also that man of whom the Lord said that "you are not far from the kingdom of God."
Source: HOMILIES ON NUMBERS 12.3