Jerome
Patristic
c. A.D. 347–420
“(Verse 8, 9.) And over the border of Judah from the east side to the west side shall be the portion which you shall offer, twenty-five thousand cubits in breadth and in length, like one of the portions from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. The portion which you shall offer to the Lord shall be twenty-five thousand cubits in length, and ten thousand in breadth. It is unnecessary to go into detail about what has already been discussed, and to labor again on the same points as if they had not been said. After the boundaries of the seven tribes, the firstfruits are described from east to west; the width of which is twenty-five thousand reeds: but the length, as each tribe holds from east to the sea, has an uncertain number. For the measurement of each tribe's description is not recorded. But if the width is twenty-five thousand reeds, it is given that the number of length is much greater, which is always greater than the width. But in the middle of the sanctuary is placed, next to the firstfruits that are separated for the Lord, a length of twenty-five thousand reeds and a width of ten thousand: reading which I can say nothing other than what the Apostle said: O the depth of the riches of wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments and how unsearchable His ways! (Rom. XI, 33)! And in another place: That you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length, and height and depth: to know also the surpassing knowledge of the charity of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God (Eph. III, 18): But the number twenty-five refers to the senses, of which it is said: You shall possess divine sense, and ten thousand refers to perfect and complete virtue, which reaches from the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament to the sacrament of the Gospel, and we have explained this briefly earlier and will remind you of it in part here. For if you add one to the number, you will reach four, and you will fill the number with a ten; and thus it will happen, that both the old Testament may be contained in the new, and the new may be extended in the old.”