O Lord, I beseech you, let now your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants, who desire to fear your name: and prosper, I pray you, your servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.
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Bede
AD 735
Now the rulers of the people settled in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one part of every ten to live in the holy city Jerusalem, while the remaining nine parts were to stay in their own cities. The arrangement was now completed. It was begun as soon as the city was made, but until the total number of the people had been counted and the feast of the seventh month had been completed, it was impossible to determine who should reside in the holy city itself and who in the other cities. Now it is consistent with the figures of the sacraments that the rulers of the people are reported to have settled in Jerusalem. For it is proper that those in charge of the Holy Church should surpass the common people in the merits of their life by as much as they surpass them in the greatness of their power.5 For the remaining cities of Israel represent the devout lifestyle of the common people of God, whereas the act of settling /1400/ in Jerusalem specifically represents the conduct of those who, having already overcome the struggle of the vices, draw near to the vision of heavenly peace with an unimpeded mind, according to the psalmist's saying: The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.1 Hence it follows that the reason that a tenth part of the people chosen by lot take their dwelling in Jerusalem but the remaining nine parts reside in their cities is doubtless that it is a mark of the perfect (namely of those who wholly keep the precepts of the Decalogue in the love of God and neighbor) to draw near in mind to the heavenly secrets and, so to speak, to imitate the peace of highest blessedness amidst the whirlwinds of this transient life; and yet the door to eternal life also remains open to those who keep God's general commandments, according to what the Lord declares in the Gospel to the rich man who questioned him.2 For such people dwell as it were in cities given to them by the Lord because by keeping the sacred law they remain constantly vigilant to defend themselves from the attacks of the ancient enemy. But those who wish to be perfect and follow the Lord by selling all their belongings and giving them as alms for the poor3 are those who dwell as it were in the citadel of Jerusalem4 and next to the temple of God and the ark of the covenant because they approach the grace of their Creator in a more sublime way. It is well said that their dwelling in the holy city was granted to them not by the foresight of human choice but by the outcome of a lot, just as during Joshua's time the ownership of the rest of the cities was given to the children of Israel by lot,5 no doubt because both the small things of the small man and the great things of “375” the great man /1425/ come about not through the freedom or industriousness of his own will but by the gift of the hidden judge and provider.
