Prophetic Extracts

...and valleys, and of the deeds of Jupiter himself, whom Greece placed in the citadel of divinity. All these, I say, whom we have enumerated, we prove to have existed even after Cecrops Diphyes, the first king of Attica; and our present history shows Cecrops to have been contemporary with Moses, and to have preceded the Trojan War by three hundred and fifty years. Lest this seem doubtful to anyone, frequent reasoning proves it thus," etc. Thus far Eusebius; from which it becomes manifest that he is the same author as of our prologue, prefixed to the Prophetic Eclogues, and of the *Chronicle Canons*: and since that prologue, as well as the Eclogues, is written in one and the same hand in the manuscript, I have no doubt that my readers, together with me, will regard it as true and certain that these Eclogues of ours are likewise the genuine work of the same Eusebius Pamphili. Furthermore, the most critical Scaliger, in his prologue to his *Thesaurus*, mocks Jerome, because, he says, not having understood the Greek of Eusebius, he supposed Eusebius had written an *Epitome* of his *Chronicles*. This passage is read in the prologue to the *Ecclesiastical History* of Eusebius: which Rufinus rendered into Latin thus: "Although I have already touched briefly and concisely upon these same matters in the *Chronicles* (that is, in that work which I wrote concerning the reckoning of time), I shall nevertheless attempt to open up the narration of each point more fully in the present work." Regarding which Scaliger says: "Rufinus says correctly, unless it should have been translated 'for the present,' or 'now'." So much for him; but in my opinion, Jerome comprehended the Greek of Eusebius more accurately than either Rufinus or the great Scaliger: for in our prologue Eusebius clearly and expressly says that he wrote *Chronicle Canons*, and placed alongside them, in opposition, a compendium of the world-history of the Greeks and of other nations as well: for here Eusebius mentions three of his different works: the first, the second, and the third. Eusebius published the first separately, and the remaining two together, as they are wont to be circulated even today: for which reason the titles published by Scaliger also seem to need emendation, and the first work of Eusebius should, it seems, bear the title [a], (of which, or of a similar title, Gellius also makes mention in the preface to his *Attic Nights*), or, as Jerome reads in his copy, [b]. The second, however, [c]. But we leave these matters to be disputed by those who apply their mind to the editing of the works of Eusebius.

PROPHETIC ECLOGUES

BOOK ONE

^A (1) By word and life, the testimonies concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ were discussed and confirmed through clear, faithful, and true demonstrations and syllogisms, having finally made use—very briefly—of testimonies from the divine Scriptures which are believed among the Jews and among us; since there was no other way to provide abundant material for conferring with those who were still entirely unbelieving toward the divine Scriptures. For those things which were in hand were worked out for the sake of those who, because of this demonstration, ought to believe in the holy Scriptures—which are divine and already inspired by God—by supplying what was lacking in them, containing in one collection a synopsis . . . concerning the prophecy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which from the [Old] Testament it seemed good to gather together into one . . . wherein also through allegories [they spoke] those things predicted concerning him . . . him and the dispensations according to him. Nor yet is it only . . . final completion . . . shown. Such things . . . ^B ruling; and scattered not only prophetic . . .

contained in histories, are not useful to the few; since it is not easy, but as it were from the . . . [continuous] reading of the Scriptures, for those who wish to have them on their lips and in their memory to bring them all together. ^A We must know that, before we undertook the present task, we had written the Chronical Canons, and had set against them a compendium of the diverse history both of the Greeks and of other nations, in order to vindicate the antiquity of Moses and of the prophets who came after him. Having collected here and there as a supplement to these the things which were at hand for us, once the previous work was completed, we were led by the nature of the matter to the present work. This, a person might gracefully compare to the natural industry of the wise bee, to which the sacred discourse in Proverbs sends us, saying: ^B "Go to the bee, and see how industrious she is, and what a noble work she performs; whose labors kings and private persons consume for health; she is dear to all and renowned, although weak in strength, she has been advanced by honoring wisdom." For just as that worker is said to honor wisdom—gathering useful things from the blooming sprouts, and once all these have been collected and worked upon, providing her own labors, as the Scripture says, as wholesome things for kings and private persons—so I judge that these our prophetic Eclogues concerning Christ, which are a flower-gathering from the spiritual meadows of God, will contain the same. For they preserve the well-wrought structure of the wax in the plain words, while storing up the thoughts hidden within it, like the sweet and most wholesome fruit of the wise bee, in a secret, interior place. ^C For who among the faithful would not confess that the saving comparisons concerning the Word of God differ with incomparable excellence from every pleasure and utility of the body, being suited for the apprehension of the orthodoxy that is truly useful and wholesome? It is necessary for this to be embraced not only by those who excel in dignity, who are called kings, but also by those who are subject, and first of all by those who are now approaching the divine word. For these I deem it to be a variously suitable state of mind, so that they may be able to discern the truth of those words in which they have been instructed; then especially, when a firm conviction follows upon simple and sincere faith, ^D since the foundations are established by reason and demonstration, for the most certain understanding and knowledge of the things believed. I say, therefore, that it is necessary to propose in the manner of a prologue, in a brief and most concise way, the argument concerning those who preach the Scriptures as divine; therefore not . . . Jesum as if he were the very one whom they prophesied. In doubt . . . them, namely the Jews, and also the elect . . . and the refutations of those things which they might say are even more mythical, attempting to resolve the divine utterances. There will also be a brief and moderate . . .

explanation of our own, ^A sometimes containing a demonstration that the sacred prophecies of God have been fulfilled solely in our Savior, and sometimes signifying our own opinion, which we held regarding the matters to be set forth.

But since we are about to touch upon these things, it is necessary to stipulate that the holy scriptures teach that the Word of God is pre-existent, not only to the incarnation, but to the creation of all substance, designating Him as God after the Father and Lord, ^B even as the ecclesiastical preaching also contains, in accordance with the evangelical testimony, which says: *In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made*. And in part they announce His two advents: the first, in which it is explicitly foretold that He would have neither form nor beauty, for He would be led like a sheep to the slaughter, and they clearly say that for the outrages of the former people He would be condemned to death—which were indeed fulfilled in the sufferings of His first advent in the time of Tiberius; and the second, no longer like the first, but more divine and far exceeding it in glory, which will take place with an angelic escort and the hosts of heaven. ^C Those who encounter these matters must wisely hold to the rule, as it were the goal, of the apostolic preaching, preserving the doctrines of the truth complete and unassailable—that is, those concerning the first and unbegotten nature of the God of all, and those concerning the pre-existence and ministry of the divine Word, which He exercised in the creation of all created things, as the Word...

...beyond the four letters among the Hebrews, which are unutterable, by the combination of which the ineffable name is formed, but which is more abusively called *Lord*; it is never used for an angelic power, as you will observe throughout the whole of the divinely-inspired Scripture, where God—or the *Lord* who is indicated by the tetragrammaton—is recorded as having spoken with certain persons. ^D Whether what is shown should be referred to the unbegotten nature of the God of all, or to His Word, whom the divine Scripture is accustomed to call God and Lord, as the second cause of all things, in accordance with the meaning of the ineffable name among the Hebrews. And certainly in the present case, where the text says *The Lord descended*, and *The Lord said*, one might reasonably ask whether what is described has reference to one of the angels, or to the first cause. But it is not possible for it to be said of angels: first, because the word *Lord* is designated by the ineffable appellation; and second, because He appears to be speaking to others who are subject to Him. Again, however, it would be an improper opinion regarding the Father and God of all; for it would not be fitting for Him to say, "Come, let us descend."

and confuse their language," nor would "The Lord descended to see the city" in any way be appropriate to be said of the supreme authority. It remains, therefore, to understand that it is the divine Word who is signified also by the passages set before us. He, having been entrusted by the Father with the providence and dispensation of all things, never ceased to minister—at one time by Himself, at another by ministering angels—to those things that tended toward the benefit and salvation of all, in accordance with the Father's will. However, this is not the opportune place to unfold the matters pertaining to that mystical and ineffable contemplation.

CHAPTER III

The first revelation recorded as having occurred to Abraham is when the Lord said to him: "Go forth from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house into the land that I will show you; and I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will magnify your name, and you shall be blessed; and I will bless those who bless you," ^B and the rest. The second is when the Lord appeared to him and said: "To your seed I will give this land." The third is when "the Lord said to Abraham, after Lot had separated from him," those things which are recorded. The fourth is that in which it is said: "After these words, a word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision by night, saying, Fear not, Abraham, I am your protector," ^C and after other things: "I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of the Chaldeans." The fifth is when the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him: "I am your God; walk before me," and the rest. The sixth is that in which again "the Lord appeared to him by the oak of Mambre, as he was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day; and having lifted up his eyes, he saw, and behold, three men were standing over him; and having seen, he ran to meet them from the door of his tent, and bowed down to the ground, and said: Lord, if I have found grace in your sight, do not pass by your servant; let a little water be brought, and let them wash your feet." Then, after some things, it is added: ^D "And having arisen from there, they looked toward the face of Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them, accompanying them on their way; and the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham my servant what I am doing? And Abraham shall surely become a great and numerous nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him; for I know that he will command his sons and his house after him, and they shall keep the ways of the Lord, to do judgment and justice, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all that He has spoken to him. And the Lord said, The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has been multiplied." And after a little: "And the men turned from there and went toward Sodom; but Abraham was still standing before the Lord; and approaching, he said: Will you destroy the just with the impious? And

shall the just be as the impious? If there are fifty just men in the city, will you destroy them? Will you not spare the whole place for the sake of the fifty just, if they are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing as to kill the just with the impious, and shall the just be as the impious? Far be it; will you, who judge all the earth, not do justice?" And after other things, the Scripture says: ^A "And the Lord went away when He finished speaking to Abraham. And the two angels came into Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting by the gate of Sodom."

It is worth considering whether the angel who is described as appearing to Abraham in these places of Scripture is just any randomly occurring angel, or God Himself, the Lord of all, or a third party distinct from these, the Word of God, whom the sacred Scripture is accustomed to call Lord and God after the most high Father and God of all. It is also worth inquiring who was one of the three men who appeared to Abraham, to whom he said, "Lord, if I have found grace in your eyes," and again, "Far be it; will you, who judge all the earth, not do justice?" Concerning whom the divine Scripture not only once, but also a second and a third time, ^B says historically: "And the Lord appeared to him." In the phrase "the Lord," it uses the designation of the ineffable name set down in Hebrew, which is never used for an angelic power. When, therefore, Lot is recorded as saying to the angels who came to Sodom, "I beseech you, Lord, since your servant has found mercy before you," the word "Lord" appears in the Hebrew text, but not through the four letters which among the Hebrews denote the ineffable name of God; rather, it is through other syllables, by which the one called "lord" among men in relation to someone else—for example, the master of a servant—is written among the Hebrews. But you will find nothing similar to this in the designation which concerns the authority of God, that is, the tetragrammaton, which is used in the accounts of God's apparitions to Abraham. ^C It clearly shows that it is neither an angel, nor some divine power just slightly superior to an angel, that spoke to him, but God Himself, whose ineffable utterance—the very one which in those places is carried by the four letters—the high priest alone wore on his forehead, carrying on the golden plate what was called "The engraving of the seal, holy to the Lord." And that it is not a matter of indifference to the divine Scripture to use such a designation for angels is evident from the fact that it very carefully records that sometimes God Himself, or the Lord denoted by the tetragrammaton, appeared and spoke to the just, while at other times it records that angels were seen. ^D Clearly, then, it was an angel who appeared to Hagar wandering; for it was fitting for her, inasmuch as she was left far behind by Abraham and was capable of beholding nothing more than an angelic vision, to be met by a present angelic vision, while to Abraham a clearer manifestation, that of God Himself, was made. For the other words of God spoken to him would be little fitting if one were to refer them to

^A angels; rather, they would befit God alone. For example: “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you,” and things similar to these; and especially: “I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of the Chaldeans,” and: “I am your God, walk before me,” and the rest. For no one could be so dull of wit as to suppose that these things were spoken by an angel.

And so, when the three men appeared to Abraham while he was sitting by the oak, Abraham addresses them, but not the three; rather, to one of them alone he says: “Lord, if I have found grace in your eyes.” And not even one of the others is introduced as conversing with Abraham, since reason does not allow servants to be addressed as Lord; rather, it is the Lord alone who speaks, saying: “Shall I conceal from Abraham my servant [what I am about to do]?” and the rest. Then the men accompanying the Lord—evidently the angels—departed ^B and went on alone into the city of Sodom, the Lord no longer being present with them (for how could it be possible for the gentle and merciful God to dwell among the wicked?). Yet He, remaining in the company and conversation of the religious and righteous man, delights in his dialogue and graciously accepts his most humane supplication, in which, when Abraham says: “You who judge all the earth, you shall by no means execute this judgment,” he most evidently shows that he knew clearly and precisely that he was speaking not to an angel, nor to any subordinate divine power, but to God Himself.

Then the subsequent narrative further clarifies the account, pointing out clearly those who went on to Sodom as angels, adding: “The two angels came to Sodom in the evening.” In what follows, it records that neither the Lord nor God was seen by Lot, nor did they speak to him, but rather the angels. Thus, it is clear from all these things that it was the Lord and God, and not one of the angels, whom ^C Scripture attests was seen by Abraham.

Now, all those who wish to disrupt the harmony between the Old and New Testaments use this as a gain, believing that by these points they can demonstrate that the Father of Christ, whom the evangelists preach as invisible, is someone else, distinct from the God of Moses and the prophets who was seen at different times—now by Abraham, now by Isaac (to whom He spoke things similar to what He foretold to Abraham), and likewise by Jacob, and perhaps even by Isaiah, who said: “I saw the Lord Sabaoth,” and similarly with the other prophets. We, however (since in those very ancient prophets of God there is also brought in a certain divine oracle speaking in the person of God: “For I am the Lord your God, and I do not change,” and: “Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord,” and He also says to Moses: “For no man shall see my face and live”), ^D as we address the aforementioned men, and at the same time the Jews, who do not yet grasp that the divinity of the Son pre-exists prior to the uncreated nature, will examine these ambiguities, namely by what reasoning

^A he who is, according to these prophecies, immutable and unchangable, and who again is said to fill heaven and earth as the only God, and who is clearly demonstrated, even according to the Law, to be invisible—in the words: “No one shall see my face and live”—is again changed, and, as if overturning his own substance, was able to be contained in certain small particles of the earth, and was seen now by Abraham, now by other prophets? For if these things were referred to the God of the universe, it would seem to be at variance not only with the voices of the Gospels, but also with the prophets, who proclaim him to be incomprehensible, and immutable, and invisible to men. Unless, indeed, one might say that God himself was not seen at all by those recorded, but that they merely had a fantasy, so that they seemed to see and hear, and yet truly perceived nothing of what they were thought to see, nor did they truly hear in reality, but were deceived by a false opinion while they seemed to hear—a thing which is [both] improper and alien ^B to the nature of the God of the universe, which is entirely immune to falsehood and error. Furthermore, it is shown to be untenable from the fact that it is recorded that God himself said about Abraham: “For I know that he will instruct his sons and his house after him, and they will keep the ways of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all that he has spoken to him.” Undoubtably, the Lord himself speaks these things as if concerning another Lord; how then is it possible to suppose that the God of the universe said these things? For concerning what other Lord besides him could the things recorded be said? But it is clear from these [words] that the things declared do not befit the God of the universe; and it has been demonstrated that they do not fit the nature of the angels either. For, as I have said, the narrative speaks openly concerning the manifestation of angels, with their appearances clearly described. If, therefore, these things seem agreeable neither to the nature of the angels nor to that of the most high and uncreated God of the universe, ^C there remains one solution for these, if indeed we reserve immutability, and inflexibility, and invisibility for the uncreated substance, but attribute the recorded manifestations of God to the Word of God, whom we believe to have been seen, sometimes even before the incarnation, for the salvation of men, and to have performed the divine economies mentioned in the holy Scriptures. For only in the case of this one, after the God of the universe, did we find the Tetragrammaton name applied, as it is most fitting to the Only-Begotten and heir of the Father, and to this divine conception. Therefore, Abraham, knowing well—as he was wise, and testified by God himself to be a prophet—that [the Father] has given all judgment to the Son, both worships him, and says to him alone, unlike others: ^D “In no way will you judge all the earth, will you not do justice?” for it is not at all just or likely to opine that this was said to an angel subjected to the divine Word; for it was most proper to the one divine Word, among other things, to say: “Shall I conceal from Abraham my son what I am about to do?” and that: “I know.”

^A that he will instruct his children and his house after him, and they will keep the ways of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken to him.” And it is fitting for him to say these things while instructing, because as for all things done piously by men, it is right to refer them to the sole piety towards God and Father of all, from whom, while dwelling on the earth, every good thing proceeds for the benefit and salvation of the pious. But the divine Word speaks these things as if of another Lord, teaching of his own Father; for he confesses him to be Lord and God to his own disciples, saying, “I ascend ^B to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” The Law and all Scripture are full of this character of the Lord, that is to say, of the divine Word, as speaking of another Lord, who is manifestly his Father. Since these things are worthy of much and most profound meditation, I believe they are sufficient for the present purpose.

CHAPTER IV

“And Agar fled from her face,” that is to say, Sarai, as is manifest, “and the angel of the Lord found her by the fountain of water.” We read in the things that follow, “And the angel of the Lord said to her”; and a third time, “And the angel of the Lord said to her: Multiplying I will multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered by reason of the multitude.” And again: “The angel of the Lord said to her: Behold, thou art ^C with child, and thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Ismael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction.” And when the discourse is finished, it is said: “And she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her: Thou art the God who hast seen me.” Even if in the beginning of the holy narrative the Lord had not been named as having been seen by Agar, or if any one might wish to contend that the angel was wrongly taken by Agar as God—where it is said, “And she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her”—yet now the Scripture testifies ^D that it was the Lord who was manifesting himself through the aforementioned angel, through whom, as being Lord and God, as became him, he said: “Multiplying I will multiply thy seed.” For this would fit God alone to say, and no longer an angel. Being taught by this very word that she was having such a conversation with God alone, Agar said, “Thou art the God who hast seen me.” But also, when she flees a second time, having her son with her, it is written: “And the angel of God called Agar from heaven,” and said to her the things recorded, among which is also: “For I will make him into a great nation.” It is clear that this refers to the child; it is not to be believed that an angel would say this, for it is a declaration proper to God. Whose name, then, did Agar call, saying, “Thou art the God who hast seen me,” when even there the Scripture refers to the tetragrammaton of the Hebrews in place of the Lord? For by the aforesaid it is mani-

manifest that this is the Word, who was ^A in the beginning with God, and who, coming and surveying and ordering human affairs from the beginning, manifested himself directly to those who were advanced and perfect men, such as were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But to those who were unequal to such virtue, such as Lot, and in the book of Judges, Gideon and Manoah, and others similar to them, He used the divine angels—ministers and messengers who were subject to Him—and in various and manifold ways delivered His commands through them. Thus, therefore, to Hagar also, as she was not yet able to endure the vision of the divine Word Himself, He declares through an angel the things that are recorded. He is manifested to Jacob also through angels; but observe that in this way He appears to him while he is still of weaker virtue, but when he had progressed and attained to perfection, He deems him worthy of His own manifestation in a bare and unveiled converse, no longer through angels and interpreters, but the Lord and God the Word Himself, who holds the second place in the paternal divinity, manifests His own vision to him.

CHAPTER V

^B “The sun had gone forth upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor. And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.” I do not think that any of those who have once believed that the holy and divinely inspired Scriptures are sacred would cavil at these passages, attempting to speak against the things delivered concerning the Word of God, namely, that He pre-existed, possessing His own subsistence, and that before the incarnation He performed the providential care for human affairs; for ^C the Scripture here clearly points out two Lords, in that it says, “The Lord rained from the Lord.” And it is possible to find something similar in the holy Apostle, who says: “The Lord grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus”; and, “The Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord in that day.” But indeed, in these matters, as we arrange the discourses concerning the Father and the Son, assigning to the unbegotten Father of all the lordship and authority over all and over the Son Himself, and giving to the Word the second place ^D after the Father regarding the rule and sovereignty over all things that have come to be, since the Lord is named twice here, according to the passage: “The Lord rained from the Lord,” it is also stated twice according to the Hebrew and the tetragrammaton, so that it is most clearly acknowledged to refer to two persons—it is manifest that this ineffable designation is applied to the God and Father of all and to His Word. So that it may no longer be in doubt, if such an appellation for God is ever used, that it is to be understood not only of the unbegotten nature, but also of the Word who was in the beginning with God.

CHAPTER VI

In the blessing upon Jacob, Isaac says, among other things, this: “And let nations serve thee,

^A and let princes bow down before thee; and be thou lord of thy brother, and let the sons of thy father bow down before thee.” These things, as spoken to Jacob, seem in no way capable of being referred to him, nor to the people born of him, the people of the circumcision. For what nations and when did they serve him? Or what princes bowed down to him? Or as what kind of person did they bow down? And when did he rule over his brother? Or who are the sons of his father who are said to bow down to him? And indeed, Isaac is not found to have had any son other than Jacob, except Esau; how then is it said in the plural: “And let the sons of thy father bow down before thee”? We have noted these things because Christ is frequently signified in the prophecies by the name "Jacob," as will be shown in the appropriate places, and we suspect ^B whether perhaps these things might be adapted as a testimony to Him. For by a similar reasoning, the holy Apostle hints at Christ through Isaac, saying: “To Abraham were the promises given, and to his seed. He saith not, 'And to seeds,' as of many; but as of one, 'And to thy seed, which is Christ.'” See, therefore, whether in the same way what is said here concerning Jacob might not better suit Christ; which, if it be the case, a studious man who knows how to apply the reading to the laws of allegory will perceive if these things might not also fit the testimonies concerning Him.

CHAPTER VII

“And Jacob remained alone: and there wrestled a man with him until morning.” Then, after a little, when Jacob said: “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,” He said to him: “What is thy name? ^C He answered: Jacob. And He said: Thy name shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men!” And after a little: “And Jacob called the name of the place Phanuel (the vision of God), saying: I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.” To which Scripture adds: “And the sun rose up to him immediately, after he had passed over Phanuel (the vision of God).” To Abraham, indeed, the Lord is manifested primarily in reality, and He often converses with him; and his appearance is recorded three times, not in the night, but seen in the middle of the day; for in the third apparition, at the very hour of noon, He accepts his hospitality. To Jacob, however, He appears first ^D after sunset in the middle of the night in dreams, while he was descending into Mesopotamia, when in his sleep he beheld a heavenly ladder, and angels ascending and descending upon it, and heard the Lord leaning upon the ladder saying to him: “I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father,” and the rest, which are shown in what follows to have been spoken to him by an angel; and a second manifestation occurred in Mesopotamia, when the Lord, indicated by the Tetragrammaton, stood by him again and said to him: “Return into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee.” These things were spoken to him in dreams and through an angel; and as Jacob himself teaches

he called Rachel and Lia, and after other things, he recounted to them the revelation that had happened to him, saying: ^A “And the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob,” and the rest, in which he says: “I am the God who appeared to thee in the place of God, where thou anointedst a pillar to me, and vowedst a vow to me. Now therefore arise, and depart from this land, and return to the land of thy nativity.” And after these things, as he was returning from Mesopotamia, early in the morning there met him the angels of God, concerning whom he also said: “These are the camps of God.” And it is likely indeed that these were those whom he had previously seen upon the ladder. Then, too, the sun rises upon him from on high after the aforesaid passage, in which it appears that he wrestled with him in his sleep, who said to him: “Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name, because thou hast been strong with God, and thou art mighty with men.” After the vision, therefore, the sun rose upon him; but when he had now progressed and been perfected, it was no longer in dreams, nor at night, nor through an angel, nor even under human form, but in the middle of the day and in broad daylight that God Himself was manifested to him, saying: “Arise, and go up to the place of Bethel, and dwell there.” And after all these things, then for the first time does divine Scripture testify that God appeared to him in Luza, and blessed him, saying those things which are recorded. ^B We shall inquire at our leisure how, after these things, when he was preparing to go down into Egypt, God again said to him in a vision by night: “Fear not to go down into Egypt.” These things have been necessarily set before us; for it shows that divine Scripture does not record that God appeared easily or to any chance men. For it is not recorded that God appeared to Adam, nor to Enoch who was translated, nor to Noe, nor even to Moses himself, although it is recorded that He spoke to them many times; nay, nor does the divine Word introduce the appearance of God to any other person except only to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. And in the case of Abraham, He did not appear at his first revelation, but at the second and the fifth and the sixth; but in the case of Jacob, after all the things recorded; for while for Isaac the Lord spoke only twice, it is recorded that He appeared to him twice, even if the second time was at night. It is manifest from the things we have already said concerning Abraham, that one ought not to refer the visions to the First Cause, but to the divine Word, which the blessed and divine men were not yet able to comprehend even in Himself. To these very ones, therefore, to whom it is said that He appeared, He was not manifested without much preparatory exercise. ^C Who else, then, could it be ^D that in the passage before us wrestles and contends and as it were fights on the side of Jacob, if not He who has spoken to the fathers in many ways and in many manners, the holy Word of God, who alone after the Father is Lord and God, who appearing and blessing Jacob named him Israel, adding: “Thou hast been strong against God”? The divine men beheld the Word of God in such a way as our Saviour’s apostles also, saying: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,

which we have seen with our eyes, and have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life.” Jacob, having beheld this Word and life, continues, saying: “For I have seen God face to face, and my soul is saved.” ^B

CHAPTER VIII.

^A you ascended,” is proclaimed by Jacob. Therefore, when he was revealing the birth of the Savior from the shoot and from His root, he named Him “lion’s whelp,” saying, “Lion’s whelp, Juda; from the shoot, my son, you ascended.” But when he prophesies His uplifting and His repose during the passion, he says He is both like a lion and like a whelp in the passage: “Having reclined, He slept as a lion and as a whelp.” For then He was exalted not only as stemming from a royal lineage, but as being King Himself; the Gentiles acknowledging Him, even if those of the circumcision were unwilling, as though He were indeed the King of Israel. Moreover, it could be said otherwise that, since He was waging war against opposing powers and intending to overthrow him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, it was necessary for the deity of the Word to be present with Him who was born according to the flesh from the shoot of Jacob. With justice, then, the deity is compared to a lion, as one who has overcome and conquered all wild and untamable powers; but to a lion’s whelp, as one who took on flesh by being born from the royal tribe of Juda. But even if our adversary the devil is as a roaring lion, see ^B to it that every sinner might be called his whelp, since “everyone who commits sin is born of the devil.” Since, therefore, the Savior also “came in the likeness of the flesh of sin,” and “became a curse for us,” and “Him who knew no sin, He made sin for our sake,” see that on account of these things, according to a deeper meaning, the prophecy declares that He did not become a lion or a whelp, but *as* a lion and a *as* a whelp during the time of His passion; since He Himself also compares His own passion to that of the serpent, saying: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.” Upon these words, the mystery concerning His resurrection is tacitly hinted at through the phrase, “Who shall raise Him?” It is manifest to us from the conclusion who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; it is clear, surely, that it is God and His Father. ^C Next it is said: “A ruler shall not fail from Juda, nor a leader from his thighs,” which, if we were to read it from another starting point, might be spoken as concerning all those of the race of the Jews who have led the people, and the sense of the proposed sayings according to that meaning would be as follows: The rulers and leaders from the Jews established over the Jewish people shall not cease before He comes who is the cause of the expectation of the Gentiles, that is, Christ, upon whose arrival it is necessary that those aforementioned should cease. Since these things are so, let us examine our own times, if today it is possible to find kings and leaders. But indeed it is evident to all that, along with the rest, the Jewish people too are subject to the Roman ^D jurisdiction, nor is any one of them possessed of supreme authority.

^A And this indeed began from the time of the birth of our Savior; for up to the time of Herod the king, we find in history that Hebrews of Hebrew descent ruled over their entire nation—starting from Moses himself, leading by succession first the so-called Judges, and then thereafter the kings until the Babylonian captivity, after which the high priests assumed the authority and continued until the reign of Augustus; under whom, Herod, the first of foreign lineage to whom the kingdom over them was entrusted by the Romans, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ was born. Since that time, then, even to the present, it is clearly demonstrated that there is no ruler or leader among the Jews; ^B it is clear that our predicted Savior has come, from whose time not only have the rulers of the Jews failed, but also all the worship performed by them in Jerusalem according to the law of Moses has ceased. And clearly the expectation of the nations who through Him have taken refuge in the God of all began in reality to be fulfilled from the time of His advent, according to the prophecy of Jacob.

And these things, if we should read them as if from their own proper source—"The scepter shall not depart from Judah"—if we accommodate this sense as being consistent with the previous one, Judah in the aforementioned passage signifies Christ. And "the scepter shall not depart from Judah" refers to those who after Christ were leaders and princes of the Church; these the prophecy says shall not fail "until he comes who is to be sent," as if it were saying clearly, "until he comes to whom the things decreed for him in the future consummation belong, and he shall obtain the kingdom over all." ^C That the Holy Spirit calls the disciples of Christ "leaders" is manifest from those things which are said concerning Judah: "But you, O man, of one soul with me, my leader and my acquaintance" (Ps. LIV, 14). Those who religiously reverence these men, and who have believed in their divine, sincere, and holy words, ought not in the least to be disturbed, nor be shaken in their faith by the persecutions of this time, and especially by that which now rages most vehemently against us, and has exhibited such things against the Churches and the whole people as neither anyone in history nor any old man can recall from tradition. ^D We say this, lest to anyone it might perchance appear that the cruel things we now suffer are diametrically opposed to what we said before, because the faithful cannot gather together, nor can the leaders of the Church issue decrees. Since, therefore, the divinely inspired Scripture is most truthful, one must believe that those leaders have not completely failed, even if to some they may appear to have failed. For God, saying to the Prophet, "I have left for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal" (Rom. XI, 4), to him who was asking why he alone had been left while the rest had been wiped out, He Himself even now looks upon those worthy of His providence, "a remnant according to the election of grace" (ibid. 5), keeping them for us, fortified by Him and contemplating Him alone. Of whom we also would say: "Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us..."

a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and we would have been made like unto Gomorrah." For to think that the leaders of the Word, the rulers and princes named by the prophecy, have vanished utterly, is a thing impossible, because a limit has also been set: "They shall not be taken away until those things which have been decreed for Him come to pass," that is, those things promised by the Father to Christ, as He said to Him: "Sit at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool." ^B And at that time, "every knee shall bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." For then the expectation of the nations, who from that time until then have believed in Him, will see the fulfillment of the promises, and will obtain the hoped-for kingdom of the heavens. These things, then, are so; but as for what follows: "Binding his foal to the vine," we shall leave this for eager students to seek allegorical interpretations, having said enough already; not that it is irrelevant to our purpose, for such things are required for the clear illustration of this passage.

CHAPTER IX. From Exodus.

^C "And Moses was feeding the sheep of Jethro his father-in-law." And after a few words: "And he came to the mount of God, Horeb; and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire." And after other things: "And when the Lord saw that he was turning aside to see, he called to him from the midst of the bush, saying." And again: "And the Lord said to him, I am who I am." And after a great many things: "And God spoke to Moses, and said to him: I am the Lord, and I appeared to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, being their God, and my name the Lord I did not reveal to them; and I established my covenant with them," and the rest. ^D In these words it is very carefully reported that not the Lord, but an angel was seen by Moses, through whom the Lord, as if by an interpreter, manifests Himself and teaches that He who manifests Himself is not some inferior power, but this very One who is. And who this One is who is, these words explain to us more fully: "I am the Lord, who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; being their God, and my name the Lord I did not reveal to them." Which seem to me to be interpreted thus: Revealing my name to you alone until now, I say: "I am the Lord"; but to your fathers I did not reveal my name, for they were worthy of greater knowledge. But I myself appeared to them, and by myself I established my covenant with them. It is evident from what has been said before who it was that appeared to the fathers; for when the inquiry is conducted in this way, it demonstrates that the Word exists "in the beginning with God," the God Word. Therefore, the same One is now revealed, but not in the same way as to the fathers. For unto them, as to greater and more perfect ones, He Himself appeared and through Himself established His testament with them. To Moses

however, the Lord did not appear, but an angel; yet it was no longer the angel who called him, but the Lord. For the Lord was the one commanding, while the angel was the one ministering the divine words. ^A Hence, if anything else wonderfully follows for the holy Apostle, namely: "who alone ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator," ^B and "For if the word spoken through angels was made steadfast," ^C it is clearly introduced that it was an angel, and the Lord spoke through him. You would not find even once throughout all the legislation that the Scripture notes that God or the Lord appeared to Moses, as is clearly stated to be the case only for the three patriarchs. From these things it is manifest that the entire legislation was delivered to the people of that time—men, as it were, childish in their souls and beginners—as if through pedagogues and stewards; and that divine commands were revealed to them typically and symbolically, in that they were unable to receive a more mystical and spiritual teaching, seeing that they had been educated as children in Egyptian ways and were still in need of much conversion. To them, God is said to be fire, according to the text: "Our God is a consuming fire," which is by no means said concerning the patriarchs. But also, when He commands them to purify themselves so that ^D they might see the glory of the Lord, it is not said simply, as it is in the case of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God appeared to them; rather, these very same things are recorded with much terrific display: "And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were voices and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and the voice of the trumpet sounded loudly, and all the people in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain (Sinai; the mountain Sinai was all smoking because God had descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace; and all the people were greatly terrified. And the sounds of the trumpet were increasing and becoming much stronger. Moses spoke, and God answered him in a voice, and the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, upon the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses," and the rest. Therefore, it is witnessed through these events that the Lord descended; but it is not stated that He appeared, which has been observed only in the case of the patriarchs. Consequently, there was indeed a presence of the Lord, but not a vision of Him; but it is clear that it was of the angels who were His attendants, through whom He usefully made a formidable and terrifying vision for the people, cautiously resolving to establish in them caution, fear, and faith in Himself, for the protection and observance of the laws which He was about to command them. And that there were many angels serving the Lord in the giving of the law, Moses himself shows in the blessings, saying: "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto us; He appeared from Mount Paran, and with Him were myriads of saints; at His right hand were angels with Him." And for this reason Stephen in the Acts, when he was vehemently rebuking the people, says: "Who received"

in his blessings, saying: “The Lord comes from Sinai, and has appeared to us from Seir, and has hastened from Mount Paran with myriads of Kadesh; from his right hand were angels with him,” and so forth. For which reason Stephen also, in the Acts, addressing the people, says: “You who received the law by the disposition of angels, and did not keep it.” ^A

Chapter X. From Exodus.

“And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud removed from before their face, and went and stood behind them, and entered into the midst of the camp of the Egyptians and the midst of the camp of the sons of Israel.” Then, in what follows, the divine Scripture teaches what this cloud was, saying: “And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I am coming to you in the darkness of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to you and believe you forever.” And again: “But God went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to show them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light.” And again: “And the Lord descended in a pillar of a cloud.” Therefore, it is clear from these texts that the angel who went before the sons of Israel was different from the cloud, and the cloud happened to be something other than the angel himself; but it was, as it were, a bodily instrument of the Lord himself, through which, ^B though he is himself incorporeal by nature and beyond every sensible and material substance, he deigned to hold conversation with his servant through the hearing of a voice. And the Lord himself, explaining the reason for this arrangement to Moses, says: “That the people may hear me speaking to you, and believe you forever.” But he converses with the people, as being more corporeal, through the hearing of a voice; whereas with the patriarchs, who had no need of a cloud or a pillar of fire, there was another mode of vision and conversation. And that it was not some angelic power which was manifested through the cloud, but God himself, is shown—in addition to what has already been demonstrated—by this passage of Scripture: “And the Lord said to Moses: Go, and lead this people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before your face.” And again: “And the Lord said to Moses: Go up from hence, you and your people,” and so forth; “and I will send before your face my angel.” ^C For these words are by no means fitting for an angel to say, but only for God, and for the Lord who is designated by the tetragrammaton throughout the entire narrative. Did then the Maker of all things and the God of all descend to such a degree as to be carried upon a material mountain, and to walk like a guide with men, he who fills heaven and earth? Or is this neither possible nor holy to conceive? It is surely more pious and at the same time more plausible to assume that it was the divine Word, the minister of the Father’s will and the Lord himself, who was also “made the portion of Jacob, the line of his inheritance, Israel”; and that he, I say, took this upon himself for that portion and inheritance, and emptying himself, and departing from his consubstantial greatness, [was concerned] for the salvation of men, even before the incarnation. ^D

If, therefore, we would diligently consider it, we should find him at one time delivering precepts in his own person, as when he says: “Thou shalt not appear before me empty; and thou shalt make an altar of earth to me, and shalt offer upon it thy holocausts... I will come unto thee, and will bless thee.” At another time, however, he speaks as though of another Lord, namely, his own God and Father, as in the Decalogue when he says: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; and on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and the Lord blessed the seventh day.” And again: “Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest be long-lived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.” These things the Lord surely spoke in the Decalogue not through an angel, but by himself. Is it not, then, more evident how he thus instructed his own people in piety toward his own most high Father, the God of all?

CHAPTER XI

“Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and shall keep thee in the way, and shall introduce thee into the place which I have prepared. Observe him and hear his voice, and do not think him to be despised: for he will not forgive when thou shalt have sinned, and my name is in him.” The Lord declares these things to the people along with the other precepts. If, therefore, after the death of Moses, it were not the same Lord who manifested himself in the desert who was present with the people, but some one of the angels stood before them, there would be nothing to inquire into in ^C this place. But since it is certain from the narrative that even after the death of Moses the Lord himself appeared to Joshua, and openly said in the things which he spoke to him: “As I have been with Moses, so will I be with thee: I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee. Take courage, and be strong. For thou shalt divide by lot to this people the land for which I swore to their fathers that I would deliver it to them,” and in the whole Scripture an angel is in no wise recorded as being present or appearing to Joshua, but the Lord himself, who is shown by the tetragrammaton in the time of Moses, and who seems to me to be the same one as he who appeared once in the form of a man to Joshua—for just as he is narrated to have appeared to Abraham and to Jacob, so also now, in order to instruct his servant not to think him to be the first and unbegotten God himself, he ^D shows himself to be the supreme commander of his host—therefore, if throughout the whole book of Joshua an angel is not said to be present in any way, but the very same Lord who is shown throughout all the legislation of Moses: the Scripture manifestly testifies, saying, “The Lord was therefore with Joshua.” Of whom, then, could it be said: “Behold I will send my angel who shall go before thee, and shall introduce thee into the place which I have prepared for thee”? It seems, therefore, that this does not indicate another, but the Lord himself, for he led the people into the

^A land of mission, as the words of God to him show, saying: “Be of good courage and be strong; for thou shalt divide by lot to this people the land for which I swore to thy fathers that I would give it to them.” He therefore commands the people, saying: “Observe him and hearken to his voice, and do not think him to be despised.” But it is not to be wondered at if he called him an angel, since prophecy also calls John by this appellation in these words: “Behold, I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare my way before thee.” If these things which have been set forth are to be referred to Joshua, the son of Nun, see how the Lord speaks concerning him: “For my name is called upon him.” What name, then, is it, if not Jesus? For when he was a man seen at that time, the name Jesus was not proper to him; for he was called Osee before. But Moses, being inspired by God, was the first to name him Joshua, moved, it is clear, by a more divine Spirit, so that the oracle which said, “For my name is upon him,” might be fulfilled by that Lord who provides, whom we have often shown to be the pre-existing Word of God. Jesus was the name which Moses imposed upon Osee, as the divine Scripture testifies, most accurately observing that he called him by this name at no other time than when he sent him forth as an angel, in accordance with the oracle, to spy out the land of promise before the face of the people. ^B Hence, it is evident from these things that the designation of our Savior Jesus was clearly known to Moses. And just as the name Jesus is found with him first in the passages we are examining, so too he appears to be the first to have proclaimed Christ, with neither the name of Jesus nor of Christ ever having been known to anyone in earlier ages. Indeed, he appears to have honored the stated designations through a divinely inspired insight. For to two men who excelled all the people and were distinguished before God, although each had another proper name, he attached these two designations: to his own brother Aaron, and to the son of Nun, who was previously called Osee, having chosen them by the command of God to be leaders of the entire nation before all the people, he glorified them with the designations of our Savior Jesus Christ. He addressed the one as Christ, because he bore the image of the true High Priest of all, the Word of God, who was in the beginning with God; and he named his own successor Jesus, because he too preserved a type of our Savior Jesus, ^C who, once the symbolic worship delivered through Moses had ceased, and Moses himself had in a way died, having received devotion toward God, conquered and subdued all the invisible powers that were opposed to him, through the word in battle, and made the whole earth, which had been held tyrannically by them, his own possession in all nations, and distributed it to his own people, the Churches established throughout the whole earth. ^D

CHAPTER XII

^A "And when Moses entered into the tabernacle, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door, and He spoke with Moses, all men seeing that the pillar of cloud stood at the door of the tabernacle. And they stood and worshipped at the doors of their own tabernacles. And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is accustomed to speak to his friend. And when he returned into the camp, his minister Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. And Moses said to the Lord: You command me to lead out this people, and you do not indicate to me whom you will send with me, especially since you have said: I know you by name, and you have found grace before me. If therefore I have found grace in your sight, show me your face, that I may know you, and find grace before your eyes: look upon your people, this nation." And the Lord said: "My face shall go before you, and I will give you rest." And Moses said: "If you yourself do not go before us, do not lead us out from this place. For in what shall we be able to know, I and your people, that we have found grace in your sight, unless you walk with us, so that we may be glorified above all the peoples that dwell upon the earth." And the Lord said to Moses: "And this word which you have spoken, I will do: for you have found grace before me, and I know you by name." He said: "Show me your glory." He answered: "I will show you all good ^B before you, and I will call in the name of the Lord before you: and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will be lenient to whom it shall please me." And again He said: "You shall not be able to see my face: for no man shall see my face, and live." And again: "Behold," He says, "there is a place by me, and you shall stand upon the rock; and I will cover you with my right hand until I pass by. And I will take away my hand, and then you shall see my back parts: but my face you shall not be able to see," and the rest. To which he adds: "And when the Lord had descended through the cloud, Moses stood with Him, calling upon the name of the Lord. And while He was passing before him, he said: 'Lord, Lord God, merciful and lenient, patient and of much mercy, and true, who keepest mercy unto thousands: who takest away iniquity, and wickedness, and sins, and no one is innocent before you by himself; who renderest the iniquity of the fathers to the children and grandchildren unto the third and fourth generation.'" And Moses ^C making haste, bowed down prone to the earth, and worshipping said: "If I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, I beseech you to walk with us face to face." ^D Moses is introduced as conversing with God with such confidence and liberty as a friend would use while talking with a friend. It appears, however, from these things that it is not a progress of the Prophet; but since the Lord spoke to him face to face, he had not yet been seen by him in the same way as by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Whose favor, therefore, he seeks, saying: "If I have found grace in your sight, show me yourself, that I may know you." By which he demonstrates that God did not make His manifestations to him in the same way as He did His speaking to him.

^A For if, as one might suppose, God’s speaking to him "face to face" were the same thing as having been seen by him—as one might say, "face to face"—what room would then be left for the request of one who says, "If I have found grace in your sight, show me yourself, that I may know you"? ^B Furthermore, if He had been seen by him "face to face" previously, as some might think, how is it that the Lord replies to him, saying, "You will not be able to see my face; for no man shall see my face and live"? And let anyone who wishes explain why the narrative does not even once testify that the Lord was seen by him in the manner recorded for the patriarchs. Indeed, it is clear from these passages that although the Lord spoke to him "face to face," He nevertheless spoke to him through the cloud. For the Scripture demonstrates this by saying, "The pillar of the cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tabernacle, and He would speak to Moses." Therefore, He spoke through the cloud, and yet He was not seen by him in the same way as He was by Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob. For concerning them it is recorded that He was seen openly and clearly without any form, whereas concerning him it occurred through what is called the "form" and the "cloud," which the text calls the glory of the Lord, saying, "And when Moses spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and they turned to the wilderness, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, and the Lord spoke to Moses." And again: "Moses went up into the mountain; and the cloud covered the mountain. And the glory of the Lord descended upon the mountain, and the cloud covered it for six days; and the Lord spoke to Moses on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud. And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire on the top of the mountain." ^C It is clearly evident from these passages that what was seen by Moses is said to be not the Lord Himself, but a form of the Lord, and a cloud and fire, which the text calls the glory of the Lord. Therefore, he saw the form of the Lord and His glory, but he did not see the Lord Himself at all, nor was it the Word of the Lord Himself who was speaking to him; yet he heard Him speaking through the cloud, and therefore it is said, "And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face." It is not recorded, however, that He was seen by him "face to face"—for the text treats this as having not yet taken place when it says, "Show me yourself, that I may know you." And in another place the text teaches that God spoke to him "mouth to mouth," but that He was not seen in a corresponding manner; rather, He was seen in a form and through His aforementioned glory. ^D It says the following: "And the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud and stood at the door of the tabernacle of testimony; and Aaron and Miriam were called, and both came out. And He said to them: 'Hear my words: If there be a prophet among you to the Lord, in a vision I will be known to him, and in a dream I will speak to him. Not so with my servant Moses, who is most faithful in all my house. Mouth to mouth I will speak to him, and in form, and not through enigmas; and he has seen the glory of the Lord. And why were you not afraid to speak against my servant

^A Moses? But although he saw the glory of the Lord and heard Him speaking to him in a form—and heard Him speaking mouth to mouth—he had not yet seen the Lord Himself in the same way the patriarchs had. And it is not surprising that God is recorded as speaking mouth to mouth to Moses, since Moses teaches in Deuteronomy that He also spoke face to face to the entire people, saying: “The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with you; you who are all here alive today. The Lord spoke to you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.” Yet, even if He did appear to Moses and the entire people in this manner, observe that it is said that He spoke to them mouth to mouth and face to face, but not that He was seen by them without ^B the fire or the cloud in the same way as He was by the patriarchs; for it is written that the Lord appeared to them naked and without the covering of a cloud or fire. Now both our Savior and Lord teaches that to see God is the hallmark of those who are perfect and whose minds are cleansed to the highest degree: “Blessed,” He says, “are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Therefore, it is as the God of such persons that the Lord reveals Himself, saying to Moses: “Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you; this is my name forever, and my memorial unto generations of generations.” ^C Zealous, then, for the greater gifts and longing for a progress similar to that of the patriarchs, Moses petitions the Lord, saying: “Show me Yourself, that I may see You clearly.” For in his mind he was imagining the magnitude, the height, and the ineffable and unapproachable excellence of the Word of God who was appearing to him, and he saw that He was making His manifestations to him through ministering angels; therefore, he asks that He might appear to him more clearly and more purely, no longer through coverings, nor by means of other ministers, but nakedly and similarly to those around Abraham, without the form of fire and cloud. This, then, seems to me the meaning of the scriptural phrase: “Show me Yourself, that I may see You clearly.” And for this reason, having previously heard the Lord saying to him: “Behold, ^D my angel shall go before your face,” he declines the lesser gift, longing for the greater, and says: “If You do not go with us Yourself, do not bring us out from here.” Upon the Lord acceding to his request and saying: “And I will do this word which you have spoken,” Moses perceived the readiness of the divine generosity, for the beneficence was forestalling those who were longing for great things; then, humbling himself and considering himself not yet worthy of the greater things, he offers another petition, which in comparison completes the former, saying: “Show me Your glory.” And the Lord, fulfilling his word, says: “I will pass by before you with My glory, and I will call in the name of the Lord before you,” and so forth; teaching

that the knowledge of the Father and God of all is greater than any vision previously seen by him, which he also promises to impart to him. Concerning himself, he says: “I will pass by before you with My glory.” But concerning the initiation into the Father, he says: “And I will call in the name of the Lord.” For which Lord would he call, being himself the Lord indicated by the Tetragrammaton, unless he promises to call upon the Father? And truly, if the Word of God does not go before one, and if He does not Himself call upon the Father, it is impossible otherwise to attain the knowledge of the Father of all; for “no one knows the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” He himself is, therefore, the door and the way by which alone it is possible to see the cause of all things which is beyond and above all, the Father Himself. ^B For even if the divine Word does, in the manner of a precursor, precede the souls of the blessed, imparting His own glory to them, He does not stop there, but having finished the work of His authority, and having prepared and made ready the dwelling-place, He withdraws and transfers the kingdom to God and the Father. And this He Himself confesses, saying: “I will pass by before you with My glory, and I will call in the name of the Lord.” Now, then, He promises by word that He will do this; but subsequently He also adds the deed, where it is said: “And the Lord descended in a cloud, and stood with him there; and he called in the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before his face and called, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,’” (v. 12) “long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and true, and keeping justice, showing mercy to thousands, taking away iniquities, and injustices, and sins, and will not cleanse the guilty; bringing the iniquities of fathers upon children, and upon the children of children to the third and fourth generation.” For these things are said by Him who descended in the cloud and stood by Moses, the Lord indicated by the Tetragrammaton; who, according to the promise He had made, passing before his face, calls upon Him who is His own Lord and Father, the One who is truly the Lord God, twice expressed by the Tetragrammaton, saying: “The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious,” and the rest. ^C If, however, anyone being contentious should assert that these things were not said by the Lord, but by Moses, let him receive certain proof from the very words of Moses himself, who confesses that these expressions belong to the Lord, when, praying in another place, he says: “And now, let Thy hand be magnified, O Lord, as You have spoken, saying: ‘The Lord is long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and true; taking away iniquities and injustices and sins; and with a cleansing You will not cleanse the guilty, rendering the sins of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation.’” Most clearly and most manifestly, therefore, through these things, the Lord Himself shows that He has spoken the aforementioned words, calling upon a greater Lord, the true Lord, and it is evident that this is His Father. But if one should be unwilling to be persuaded by these things, let him say if he is able ^D to offer any other explanation of this passage. For one must observe that it was not an angel that was manifested, but the Lord Himself, indicated by the Tetragrammaton, who is also said to have spoken with Moses face to face—the One whom Moses also calls upon, having deprecated manifestation through angels with these words: “If You Yourself do not go, do not lead us away from this place.” But indeed...

it is not possible to refer these expressions to any other than the Word, Himself God, who in the beginning was with God; ^B who, as Moses longed for great things, revealed to him the knowledge of the Greater One, teaching him how to recognize the only true God, and Him whom He sent, the Word of God, who is second after the Father and Lord and God. And truly, He provides this for him as the first and most necessary benefit, so that he might never, on account of the transcendent glory of the things being beheld, mistake the Word who was manifesting Himself to him for the God of all. He teaches him, therefore, to hold this One—whom he himself was invoking by saying, “Lord, Lord, God, merciful and compassionate, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy, and true”—as the first and only true God. For pay close attention to “true,” mentioned in a way similar to that said by the Savior Himself in the Gospels: “That they might know You, the only true God.” These things the entire people, to whom, as they were still unrefined, it was said by the Lord manifesting Himself, “I am, and there is no other besides Me,” could not have grasped. ^C For these needed, as it were, elementary instruction for the kingdom of God, being unable as yet to reconcile the dogmas concerning the Father and the Son, having only recently departed from the polytheistic error of the Egyptians. Now, the “I am, and there is no other besides Me” might be said from the person of the Word of God, in just the same way as, “I and the Father are one,” and “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.” Just as, therefore, he who has seen Him has seen the Father, according to the saying, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father who sent Me,” in the same manner, he who hears Him hears the Father who is in Him saying, “I am, and there is no other besides Me.”

These things have been said by us, wishing to demonstrate that without doubt it was neither the God of all, nor any angelic power that appeared to Moses, ^D but the divine Word Himself, whom we firmly believe to be, after the Father and Lord of all, second as God and Lord of all; just as the evangelist John teaches us more clearly, saying: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It would be a matter of excessive labor, and not of our present study, to clarify what the “place” and the “rock” might be, concerning which the Lord said: “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand upon the rock.” But the Apostle identified this rock, saying, “The rock was Christ.” And I suspect that the rock and the place were the same as those that appeared to Jacob, when it is written: “Jacob went out from the well of the oath, and went to Haran; and he met a place,” where, after seeing in a dream the ladder and the Lord supported upon it, when he awoke he said: “Truly the Lord is in this place”; and again he said: “How terrible is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” But what is the face of the Word of God, which Moses—that is, the Law—is unable to...

behold; or what are his back parts, which alone the typical and symbolic Law, regarding intelligible things, was capable of containing? And how is it said, “I will cover you with my hand,” as a veil and covering placed over the Law, so that by this veil one might be able to see the things behind, but no longer the preceding and superior things? A person who is engaged in the investigation of these matters will understand them specifically in due time.

CHAPTER XIII.

After these things it is said: “He shall eat the nations of his enemies.” For as many nations as have come under his teaching, those which previously belonged to the portion of his enemies, after their faith in him, he has prepared for himself as food; the fat things, that is to say, all...

that is material and earthly in them, he thinned down and explored, and produced for them fruit that provides nourishment through his own cultivation. These things he accomplished with spiritual and rational arrows, piercing through the ancient leader of the nations, who was his own enemy—that is to say, the devil. Regarding the words, ^A “He lay down, he rested as a lion,” this was said in almost the same terms by Jacob in his prophecies concerning Judah; we shall not repeat its meaning, as it has already been set forth in its proper place. It is manifest that God will bless those who bless Christ. And if they were to curse us, just as the Egyptians once cursed the ancient people of God, yet those words would be fulfilled in us also: “And by as much as they oppressed them, by so much the more did they multiply and grow.” And truly, in a certain way, those people received a curse who formerly cursed him, crying out, “Crucify him, crucify him.” For the cross was a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” But he who suffered their injury is exalted by the Father; whereas those who were cursed by God himself have received punishment for all eternity. To one who considers this more attentively, the greatness of God’s power will appear, in that he pursues those whom he has once cursed for all time. These words signify this: “Those who bless you shall themselves be blessed, and those who curse you shall be reckoned in a curse.” ^B

CHAPTER XIV. From the fourth prophecy of Balaam.

“A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall rise out of Israel, and he shall smite the princes of Moab, and shall lay waste all the sons of Seth.” The Word of God, “when he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was found in habit as a man,” arose as a star, not a small one, not in Jacob, but out of Jacob. For it shone first upon the fleshly people of the circumcision, then upon all the nations. Having departed from them, he endured not small wars, purifying ^C “against the powers and spiritual wickednesses”; and having overcome them, he made them a prey for his own inheritance, taking back all the nations that were previously under their dominion. Concerning these, the Father had expressly promised him, saying: “Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.”

CHAPTER XV. From Deuteronomy. Moses is the one who says:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me; him you shall hear, as you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb, when the congregation was assembled, and you said: I shall no longer hear the voice of the Lord my God, and I shall not see this great fire anymore, lest I die. And the Lord said to me: They have spoken well all that they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet from the midst of their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them ^D all that I have commanded him. Whoever, however, does not listen to his words, which he shall speak

^A in my name, I will be his avenger.” But whom among the Israelites, after the prophet Moses—that is, the lawgiver—can be shown to have risen from the human race besides our Savior and Lord Jesus alone, who has clearly appeared to all the nations as the lawgiver of the life of the New Testament according to the Gospel, in accordance with the prophetic prayer expressed in the Psalm: “Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them; let the nations know that they are humans”?

He also redeemed from the intellectual Egypt, and from the brick-making therein, and from the bitter slavery under the intellectual Pharaoh, all those who through him have come to the God of all. And the Savior and our Lord performed, according to the spiritual law, everything that is recorded as having been done corporeally by Moses. ^B Therefore, he has come, and even now is still renowned among both Samaritans and Jews, whom Moses the prophet foretold, concerning whom God bore witness, saying: “And the man who does not listen to whatever the prophet shall speak in my name, I will avenge myself on him.”

The blood, then, of all those from Abel to Zachariah who was slain between the temple and the altar was indeed avenged upon the generation that rose up against the Savior, and especially upon those who dared to utter against him the cry, “Crucify, crucify him; take him away from the earth,” and “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” This happened immediately, God avenging, as he had foretold, the blood of Christ upon them and their children. For the punishment pursued them in such a way that from that time to the present day the entire nation has not been able in the least to lift its head, fulfilling also another prophecy of Amos, which says: ^C “The house of Israel has fallen, and it shall rise no more.” Which the Apostle also, foreseeing by the Spirit, proclaimed in these words: “For the wrath of God has come upon them to the end.”

CHAPTER XVI. From the Canticle.

“Rejoice, O heavens, together with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice, O nations, with his people, and let all the sons of God be strengthened in him.” For whom else would the divine Spirit command his angels to worship but Christ, by whose presence the nations, together with his people—namely the chorus of righteous patriarchs and prophets—rejoiced? Concerning which nations, God, in the same canticle, chiding them as if they were another people, says: ^D “They have provoked me with that which is not a god, and they have angered me with their idols; and I will provoke them with that which is not a people, and with a foolish nation I will anger them.”

And it is manifest that after their rejection, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, and the base, and the despised, and the things that are not, so that the former things

existing among them might be brought to nothing. For since they previously, in the times of Moses himself, were serving idols and provoking and inciting God to jealousy, they did not accept His Christ when He came. But the nations, brought by Him to the knowledge of the Father and God of all, shall, according to the present prophecy, rejoice with the people of His saints; and all the sons of God confirmed Christ—both those who previously prophesied concerning Him, and those who, after His advent, having received the spirit of adoption, proclaimed Him to all the inhabited earth. So much for the Pentateuch; let us now proceed to the succeeding Scriptures.

CHAPTER XVII. From the Book of Joshua.

^B “And it came to pass when Joshua was in the field of the city of Jericho, he lifted up his eyes, and saw a man standing against him, and his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went up to him, and said, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said to him, Nay; but I am come now as the captain of the host of the Lord. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and said to him, Lord, what commandest Thou Thy servant? And the captain of the Lord said to Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy.” And who else could the captain of the host of the Lord be, if not the Christ of God, the leader of all the holy and spiritual host of God? Observe also whether He who was manifested to Moses through the angel on the mountain is not demonstrated by these very words spoken to Joshua. For what is said to him now, these same things were likewise said to Moses at the first manifestation of the Lord to him through the angel: “Loose thy shoe from off thy feet,” and so forth. Christ of God possesses many names: now He is called “Captain of the host of the Lord,” as also in Isaiah, “Angel of Great Counsel,” ^C in the passage: “And they shall wish they had been burned with fire. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder, and His name is called, Angel of Great Counsel.” You might also find Him named in Malachi as the “Angel of the covenant,” where it is said: “And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to His temple, and the Angel of the covenant whom you desire.” ^D

CHAPTER XVIII. From the First Book of Kings, from the prayer of Hannah.

“The Lord ascended into the heavens and thundered. He Himself shall judge the ends of the earth, and shall give strength to our kings, and shall exalt the horn of His Christ.” He who came down from the heavens, the Lord, the Word of God, He Himself has again ascended into the heavens; and having ascended, He thundered through His divine power the evangelical proclamation, so that it might be heard throughout the whole world; and He Himself shall judge the ends of the earth and those who dwell within them, having received all judgment from the Father. But He also gave strength

^A to His own disciples, both apostles and prophets, and to our kings, and He exalted the horn of His Christ—that is, of His people, being so named by communion with Christ—or of the humanity which He assumed, the horn of which was the Godhead exalted according to the holy Apostle. And in the eighty-eighth Psalm ^B God clearly says virtually the same thing regarding Christ: "And in my name shall his horn be exalted."

CHAPTER XIX

"And there came a man of God to Eli, and said, Thus says the Lord God;" and in what follows: "And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who shall do everything according to my heart and my soul; and I will build him a faithful house, and he shall walk before My Christ all the days. And it shall come to pass that everyone who remains in his house shall come to worship him for a piece of silver, and for one loaf of bread, saying, Put me into one of your priesthoods to eat a loaf of bread." No one else but the Priest of God the Most High ^C according to the order of Melchizedek, our Saviour Jesus Christ, whom "we have as a great High Priest," according to the Apostle, "who has passed through the heavens," has done everything that was in the heart of the Father, "having become obedient to Him even unto death." Whence the Father, having raised Him up, "built him a faithful house," the Church truly constituted from rational, living, and faithful stones. To this house, those who have believed in Him come to worship, not unmindful of the piece of silver—for neither the widow ^D who contributes the farthing corporeally for the help of the needy, nor the soul which trusts in faith alone spiritually, or which contributes according to the power of its own intelligible goods toward the edification and benefit of others, is contemptible. For He did not despise, but rather took up such souls, for God the Word is most merciful, and welcomes their readiness, just as He, by divine judgment, arranges them according to their worth in the various stations of His priesthood, granting them of His own bread of eternal life. And the words, "And he shall walk before My Christ all the days," are spoken concerning the saints who are in the Church, who are themselves also called christs, according to the text: "Touch not my christs." For to these it was said by the Saviour in the Gospel: "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Since these passages require more explanation, let these things, spoken as briefly as possible, suffice.

CHAPTER XX

From the second book of Kings. The Lord says these things also to David through Nathan after many others: "And it shall be when your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep..."

^A with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, which shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And if he shall commit any iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my mercy I will not take away from them, as I took it from those whom I removed from before my face. And his house shall be faithful, and his kingdom for ever before my face, and his throne shall be firm for ever."

Similar things to these are said also in the eighty-eighth Psalm. But if it seems ambiguous to the Jews in these passages who is to be understood, whether it is God, or David, or Solomon his successor, they will admit ^B—as is probable—that the prophecy in which a firstborn son is promised to be established pertains to God, in these words: "He shall call upon me: You are my Father, my God, and the protector of my salvation. And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth"; and in the passage with which we are now dealing: "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son."

And yet, someone might say that David—who confessed his guilt regarding the wife of Uriah, saying, "To you only have I sinned, and done evil in your sight"—does not differ at all from other prophets; or Solomon, whom the simple history of the Scripture teaches us to have turned away from God and to have served idols on account of the desires of women. How then ^C will the kingdom of David or of Solomon stand "before the face" of God "for ever," and "the throne be firm for ever," according to the prophecy spoken here, and according to that which is contained in the Psalm in this way: "I have sworn to David my servant: For ever will I prepare your seed, and I will build up your throne for generation and generation," and after other things it states: "Once have I sworn by my holy one, if I lie unto David. His seed shall remain for ever, and his throne as the sun before me." And again: "And I will set his seed for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven."

You may find similar things also in Jeremiah, where it is said: "For thus says the Lord: There shall not fail for David a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel. And for the priests and the Levites, there shall not fail a man before my face to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice victims, and to offer ^D incense all the days." For if anyone compares these things with the present ruin of the Jews and their histories from the reigns of Hezekiah and Jeconiah—under whom the kingdom of the Jews, which sprang from David, was destroyed at the time of the captivity in Babylon, after which the descendants of David never again ruled or reigned even until now—he will understand that these things can in no way be referred to David nor to Solomon. But it is impious to charge the prediction of God, sealed by an oath, with falsehood. Now, if the seed of David, of

^A whom mention is here made, we attribute to Christ born of him according to the flesh, it is clearly evident how that seed, that is, Christ, endures unto the ages, and how his throne and spiritual kingdom stands forever before the face of the Father, established and built up by Him from generation to generation in the hearts of those who believe in Him. For this seed of David having been given to us, the throne remains, like the sun of justice before the face of the Father, and like the days of heaven. Therefore, it was said to Him by the Holy Spirit in another psalm: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." But Christ also built a house, the Church, for the Father out of living and spiritual stones, holy and virtuous ^B souls, raising a temple much better and far different from that temporary building of Solomon, which exists no longer. The Apostle also testifies that the saying, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son," is appropriate to this, having taken it thence in the composition to the Hebrews, where he says: "For to which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son." But the words following that, "And if his unrighteousness come, I will chasten him with the rod of men," are spoken concerning the people who have believed in Christ; for the Church is also called the body of Christ, according to the Apostle. And that the ^C things concerning the visitation relate to those who have believed in Him, observe carefully the expression used in the plural, "but my mercy I will not take away from them." Clearly, in the psalm, there are things not unlike these said about the sons of him who is prophesied, in the passage: "And if his sons forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my statutes, and keep not my commandments; I will visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes. But my mercy I will not scatter from them." See how the Word calls temporary persecutions "the rods of men and the stripes of the sons of men." Yet there are many consolations from God, and exhortations through the Scriptures, which warn us not to yield ^D when persecutions are stirred up against us from time to time. For as He foretold that He would visit the sinning people of God with a rod, so also He promised that His mercy would not fail from them, saying, "But my mercy I will not take away from them, as I took it away from those whom I removed from my face." One might inquire with whom the mercy of God had been before the people of the Gentiles, which He had wholly taken away from them; for He promises to do the like toward the people of Christ.

^A

CHAPTER XXI.

"And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, in the day that the Lord delivered him." Then in the following: "He bowed the heavens, and came down, and darkness was under His feet." And again after this: "You shall deliver me from the contradictions of my people; You shall set me as the head of the Gentiles; a people which I have not known has served me; at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me; the sons of strangers have lied to me; the sons of strangers shall be cast out, and shall stumble in their straits." These things are said in almost the same words in the seventeenth Psalm; they will be explained more opportunely when we note the selections from the Psalms. But now let us only observe this, that the words, "He bowed the heavens, and came down," are to be understood concerning the descent of Christ from the heavens; but these words, "You shall deliver me from the contradictions of the people," are said on His behalf concerning those of the circumcision who did not believe in Him, of whom it is also said in Isaiah: "I have stretched out my hands all the day to a people unbelieving and contradicting"; and that which says, "You shall set me as the head of the Gentiles," and, "a people which I have not known has served me; at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me," is prophesied concerning the Church of the Gentiles; but that which says, "the sons of strangers have lied to me," indicates the errors of the impious heresies concerning the Savior and God of all, whom Scripture says "shall be cast out," that is, having fallen from their deceitful and hidden opinions. ^B

CHAPTER XXII.

From the third book of Kings.

"And now, O Lord God of Israel, let your words be confirmed, which You have spoken to Your servant David my father. Or is it to be thought that God truly dwells with men upon the earth, if heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You?" Nearly similar things to these were said by Solomon in his prayer to God in the second book of Paralipomenon. Manifestly, therefore, here too God predicts that He will dwell with men upon the earth. Which indeed has been fulfilled for us by the advent of Christ, by which God the Word, having become incarnate, has lived among the human race. ^C

CHAPTER XXIII.

From the first book of Paralipomenon. Nathan to David, after other things, says also these things:

"And it shall be, when your days have been fulfilled, that you shall go to your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, which shall be of your sons: and I will establish his kingdom; he shall build me a house, and I will fix his throne forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son; and I will not take away my mercy from him, as I took it away from him who was before you. And I will establish him in my house, and in my kingdom forever." ^D

in my house and in his kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established ^A forever.” And these things, being similar to those previously set forth from the second book of Kings, having noted them, because there is no great difference between them and those, we shall satisfy ourselves with what was said regarding them.

CHAPTER XXIV.

“And now, O Lord God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David, that God will truly dwell with men upon the earth, if the heaven and the heaven of heavens will not suffice you.” And having spoken once to these things when we set forth those from the third book of Kings, we shall not repeat them now.

CHAPTER XXV.

“O men, are not women strong? Great is the earth, and high is the heaven; and the sun is swift in its course, for it turns in the circle of the heaven, and runs back again to its own place in one day. Is not he who makes these things ^B great? And is not truth great, and stronger than all things? All the earth calls upon the truth, and the heaven blesses it; and all works shake and tremble, and there is with it nothing unrighteous. Unrighteous is the wine, unrighteous is the king, unrighteous are the women, unrighteous are all the sons of men, and unrighteous are all their works such as these; and there is no truth in them, and in their unrighteousness they will perish. But truth remains and grows strong forever, and lives and reigns to the ages of ages. And there is no accepting of persons or difference with it, but it does what is just, far from all the unrighteous and wicked; and all ^C are blessed in its works; and there is nothing unrighteous in its judgment; and its is the strength, and the kingdom, and the power, and the majesty of all the ages. Blessed be the God of truth.”

Since our Savior and Lord, being the Word of God, is reported to have said, “I am the truth,” we rightly understand the preceding words as demonstrating concerning the truth, that it has a subsistence of its own alongside the Father. “For it remains,” he says, “and grows strong forever, and lives and reigns; and there is no accepting of persons ^D with it,” and what follows, to which he adds concerning the Father being God, and the Word of God himself and the truth: “Blessed be the God of truth,” to which we ourselves will add: Amen.

But these are from the book of Ezra; in the book of Esther we find nothing that relates to the proposed subject. Having therefore completed the selections from the historical Scriptures, let us pass on to those which are written in verse, because these take precedence in time over the remaining prophecies; and of these, let us first look at those from the Psalms.

THESE ARE THE CHAPTERS IN THE SECOND BOOK OF PROPHETIC ECLOGUES CONCERNING CHRIST

From the Psalms. ^A

1. Of the first psalm, concerning the blameless life of Christ and his conduct directed to the summit of virtue. 2. Concerning the passion of Christ, and his heavenly kingdom, and the promise of the Father concerning the nations given to him. 3. Concerning the passion of Christ, and his resurrection from the dead. 4. Concerning the knowledge of God diffused to all men through him. 5. Concerning the death of Christ, and his resurrection from the dead, and how he is declared to be the legislator of the nations. 6. Concerning the resurrection of Christ and the salvation of men. ^B 7. Concerning the blameless life of Christ. 8. Concerning Christ’s descent from heaven, and his sojourn among the nations and the unbelieving people, and the contradiction of the Jews. 9. Concerning the preaching of the Apostles in all the world, and concerning Christ as a bridegroom. 10. Concerning Christ as a king. 11. Again, concerning Christ as a king. 12. Concerning the things relating to the passion of Christ, and concerning his apostles, and the turning of the nations to God, and concerning a future generation and people. 13. Concerning his assumption into the heavens. 14. Concerning Christ and his resurrection. ^C 15. Concerning Christ as the beloved, and the destruction of the former people and of Jerusalem. 16. Concerning the resurrection of Christ. 17. Concerning the things relating to the passion of Christ. 18. How all things were created through God the Word. 19. How, in place of sacrifices and the ancient typical worship, the body of Christ was offered for all. 20. Concerning Judas the traitor, and the resurrection of Christ. 21. Concerning Christ as the beloved, and as God the King, and as Christ he is proclaimed. 22. Concerning the assumption of Christ and the calling of the nations. ^D 23. Concerning the calling of the nations, and Christ as a man. 24. Concerning the calling of the nations, and the second coming of Christ, and the rebuke of those from the circumcision. 25. Concerning Judas the traitor. 26. Concerning Christ as a king. 27. Concerning Christ as a man, and concerning the Father and the Son, and the two covenants. 28. Concerning the resurrection of Christ, and the Gospel of the apostles, and concerning the nations.

^A 29. On the passion of Christ, and the rejection of the Jewish people. 30. On the passion and resurrection of Christ, and on the generation to come. 31. On Christ as king, and on his kingdom from ages past and into eternity, and the subjection of the nations. 32. On Christ as man and son of man. 33. On the manifestation of Christ. 34. On the eternal throne of Christ, and how he will be from the seed of David; and on the periodic persecutions of the Church. 35. On the calling of the nations and Christ. 36. On the mission of the Word from the heavens; and on the calling of the nations, and the desolation of the former people. 37. On the traitor, and the plot against Christ. 38. On the two Lords, the Father and the Son, and on the pre-eternal existence of Christ, and his eternal priesthood and passion. 39. On Christ as man. 40. On Christ as stone; and on the Hosanna. 41. On Christ’s kingdom, and how it shall be from David. 42. On the passion and resurrection. 43. On the descent of Christ from the heavens. 44. On the mission of the Word of God from the heavens. 45. How all things were created through the Word of God.

BOOK II

^C Having written the testimonies concerning our Savior from the historical Scriptures, we shall collect those found in the poetic books and add them to this present compilation of Eclogues, because they precede the other prophecies in the order of time. First, therefore, we shall explain those which are contained in the book of Psalms.

CHAPTER I.

From Psalm I.

"Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the pestilent. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he shall meditate day and night." And who could be found having attained to such an extraordinary virtue, so as in no way to fall into any sin whatever? It seems to me that the words, "He has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly," and, "He has not stood in the way of sinners," and, "He has not sat in the seat of the pestilent," ^D signify this, by which I think it is shown that the person here called blessed is entirely free from sin. For, indeed, that he should not only not have walked in such councils, and, if he should have walked, not have proceeded, but also not to have sat, nor ever to have stepped, nor to have stood in them, is this not a wonderful and rare thing?

By the mind, too, the praise of the man concerning whom mention is made here is amplified. For he did not walk, he says, nor did he stand, nor did he sit in such forms of wickedness; by which is signified the ever and altogether virtuous state of the one who is called blessed. One might indeed see many who have succeeded through attention and practice, but the psalm describes no one of such a kind. For if anyone attends to how great a thing it is to prosper in all things, to walk rightly before God, to err in nothing, and not to decline from the purpose of virtue—as it is said in this psalm, “And all things whatsoever he does shall prosper” 99—and if anyone considers what it is to be proclaimed as having one’s own will in all things consonant with the law of the Lord, and to devote one's labor to his meditation, not only all day but ^B also by night, with the watchful eyes of the mind always turned toward it, and not only in daily works or words, but also through the thoughts and imaginations of sleep being occupied in this meditation, he will know the greatness of him who is testified to by the divine Spirit as having achieved these things. But if these things, by the consent of all, transcend human nature, they can therefore befit one man alone, born, that is, from the seed of David according to the flesh, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, of whom alone in Isaiah it is testified by the divine Spirit that “he committed no iniquity, nor was any deceit found in his mouth.” 1 With this interpretation, the Hebrew reading, with the article expressly added—that is, “Blessed is [that] man”—plainly agrees. It was fitting indeed for the father of our Savior according to the flesh, David, to whom the promise had been given that Christ would be born from his own seed, to place this as a prelude to his prophecies. And whoever finds it not unpleasing to behold clearly those things which are recorded in the psalm concerning the Savior, it is permitted to him to examine more deeply the commentaries upon it.

CHAPTER II. On the second psalm.

“Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate empty things? The kings of the earth stood by, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.” 1 In the Acts of the Apostles, those who heard Peter and John narrating the miracles which they themselves had seen, testified that this prophecy had been fulfilled. For, giving thanks for the wonders which had happened to them, they continued with these words: “For there were gathered together in truth in this city against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the nations and the peoples of Israel.” 3 Not only, therefore, did those who were lying in wait for our Savior at that time gather against him, but also those who follow from that time to the present, kings and princes, and all the nations and peoples, who have blasphemed him and his

^A doctrine. It is necessary to be persuaded that not only the visible kings and princes among men have conspired against him, but much more the intelligible and invisible princes of this age, who even then worked, and even to this day continue to work, against the nations and against the peoples of the circumcision who have meditated upon the law of God in vain and to no purpose, not only conspiring against the Christ of God, but through him also against the Father who sent him. Concerning all of whom it is added in the Psalm: "He who dwells in heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall mock them. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and in his fury shall he trouble them." To which Christ himself next adds, instructing us concerning the dispensation that occurred regarding him after the Passion: "But I have been appointed King by him upon Sion his holy mountain, proclaiming the commandment of the Lord." Yet it is not right, according to the shallow interpretations of the Jews, to imagine the kingdom of Christ to be like the kingdoms of men, established bodily upon Mount Sion; for to the one who asked him if he were a king, he replied saying: "My kingdom is not of this world." ^B Hence, he promised the kingdom of heaven to those who believed in him, and not only the Apostle, but very many other prophecies, taught that Mount Sion is celestial. For Micah, having foretold that because of the previous impieties of the people, "Sion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest," next narrates similarly concerning another Sion and Jerusalem, saying: "And it shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, prepared on the top of the mountains, and peoples shall come upon it, and many nations shall proceed, because the law shall go forth from Sion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." It is concerning this mountain of Christ, then, that it is said here (p. 19): "But I have been appointed King by him upon Sion his holy mountain." And by whom was he appointed? Clearly, by the Father who said to him: "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee," and: "Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession." And that the prophecy is true and the promise is unerring, it is possible to discern from those who in so short a time have come from every nation to the fear of God through our Savior. Or let those who shamelessly dare to oppose the evidence say to whom else they could apply the prophecy, if they do not admit that it is thus? For they would not be able to show that David the king, regarding whom some suppose these things are said, suffered such things, as if princes and kings, and nations and peoples had conspired against him. And when or for what courageous deeds did the Lord say to David, "Thou ^C art my Son, this day have I begotten thee"? How also could the words, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession," be said to him whose kingdom was manifestly circumscribed by the borders of Israel and Judah alone? Let them also say why they do not admit that Christ has come. For when he suffered, he [was not] therefore some other...

[person] whom they were obliged to expect, as one who would suffer nothing of this kind? And how could the prophecies be fulfilled which predicted that the Christ of God would suffer so very many things, as they do in many other places, and not least in the Psalm at hand? ^A Or must we suppose that the doctrine concerning the God of all things was disseminated in the world without God? Is it possible even to imagine human impulse and the mere design of an ordinary person having such power and ability, that by his doctrine alone, without the cooperation of divinity, it could dispose the souls of listeners of every kind to change their minds regarding the God of all things, persuading them of these things long before, and still persuading them now, to abandon their ancestral customs, and a life that was lawless, savage, and licentious, and to attend only to the worship of God, and to prefer this not only to their existing wealth, but even to life itself, so beloved by all? But I do not think that anyone who wishes to think correctly about such things would deny that these great [achievements] came to pass through the help of God and through a power superior to men, by means of our Savior. By these things, the divinity of the Lord who became man is simultaneously displayed, and it is simultaneously and openly demonstrated that he received from the Father ^B "the nations as an inheritance, and the ends of the earth as his possession," in accordance with the prophecy at hand. Time forbids me from finishing everything that could be said concerning this Psalm, as we have already discoursed on it more extensively.

CHAPTER III. On the third Psalm.

It is easy to interpret the third Psalm also as referring to Christ, consistently with the matters preceding it, which teach about the plots against him by saying, "O Lord, why are they multiplied that afflict me?" and those concerning his resurrection, as is indicated by the words, "I slept and took rest; I rose, for the Lord will support me." Each verse of this Psalm, when it receives the appropriate interpretation, would also fit Christ. There is also a reason why this third one is arranged to predict the things concerning the Lord's resurrection, in accordance with the prophecies before it: for the first, as we have related, teaches his blameless life and his way of living without sin; the second [teaches] the things concerning his passion; and so it is fitting that the third, following these, predicts the things concerning his resurrection.

CHAPTER IV. On the eighth Psalm.

The first words of the eighth Psalm, "O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is thy name in all the earth!" seem to be prophesying ^C about the calling of the nations; therefore it is inscribed "for the winepresses," the winepresses being understood as the Churches that are throughout the world. ^D

^A ...upon the earth, in which the true vine of Christ, and as it were its branches, the holy apostles, are the rational clusters crushed by their teachings and offering the spiritual wine that produces all sweetness. For otherwise it would be impossible to apply to bodily winepresses what is said in this Psalm; since it is not at all the case, as in other instances, that the meaning of this passage can be understood in terms of the vine that went up out of Egypt, or the vine of the Lord Sabaoth, or other things of this kind.

But those things from the words: "What is man, that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man, that you visit him? You have made him a little lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor," and what follows, are transferred to our Savior and Lord Jesus in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where, after the words, "You have put all things in subjection under his feet," ^B the following are added: "But now we do not yet see all things put in subjection to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor." It may be said that He was made a little lower than the angels not only on account of the suffering of death, but also on account of His very incarnation: "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant," and He lowered Himself to such an extent that it was no longer said of Him that He was in the form of the glory of God, but: "We saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness, and we desired Him, despised and the last of men." ^C But the Father, responding, "crowned Him with glory and honor," and exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And: "You have set Him over the works of Your hands," which is fitting for the person of our Savior because of the God Word who is in Him, but no longer for a mere human person, if indeed the heavens are numbered among the works of God, according to that which says: "And the heavens are the works of Your hands." In addition to these: "And You have put all things under His feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea," ^D by which it seems to be indicated more allegorically that those souls which are more irrational and in some way like the beasts, or indeed the opposing powers, are brought under the yoke or the subjection of reason.

CHAPTER V.

^A And it is certainly a good thing for those of the circumcision who use this text to be at a loss as to which death or which son the psalm was spoken by David. For to us it appears clearly to be prophesied concerning the passion of the Savior; and even those of the Seventy who understood this thought it to be hinted at somewhat more secretly. Yet Aquila himself, also indicating that some great feat of valor had been accomplished in the passion of the Savior, rendered it, saying: "To the worker of victory, the youth of the son. A melody of David."

And if anyone were to observe all the sayings of the psalm, he would apply them to Christ, as he calls himself a beggar and a poor man, and prophesies about his resurrection from the dead in the passage: "Have mercy on me, O Lord; consider my humiliation from my enemies; you who exalt me from the gates of death, that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion." But which Zion, is shown to us a little earlier. And he also prophesies concerning the nations who are to be saved by him, as though they were beggars and poor men, among which is the saying: "Set, O Lord, a lawgiver over them; let the nations know that they are men." ^B Here it is worth noting that the nations are not subject to the law of Moses; and one must bring to those of the circumcision—who accuse those from the nations for not living according to the law of Moses—the proof that the prophetic word knows that there shall be another lawgiver for the nations besides Moses, as it says in the prayer: "Set, O Lord, a lawgiver over them." It is clear that this refers to the nations, for he adds to this: "Let the nations know that they are men," as if he were saying: Let the nations receive knowledge and understanding of their rational essence through the lawgiver who is to be set over them. And this would be Christ, who established a common covenant for us by saying: "It was said to those of old this and that, but I say to you," who also, by a divine and ineffable power, has been able to strengthen his own laws, not over one nation or a second, nor over a part of the whole inhabited world, nor for a short time only, but as it is possible to take from the very effect itself, perpetually and over all the nations. ^C And if someone does not grant that these things are so, let him show whom else he could name, besides our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, who—consistently with the prophecy at hand—has been appointed by the God of all as a lawgiver to the nations and who has become a teacher of piety toward the Creator of all things to all men.

CHAPTER VI. From the eleventh Psalm.

In the eleventh psalm the Lord says: ^D "For the misery of the needy and the groaning of the poor, now I will arise, says the Lord. I will place [him] in salvation; I will deal boldly with him." Let us inquire whether these things would not fittingly describe the person of Christ, who announces his own resurrection from the dead, the sense of which would be this: Because of the nations who have been born in the misery of wickedness, and who are shamefully called poor/needy, for the reason that, being deprived of the riches of God,

^A I have emptied myself, and having undergone even unto death the contest on their behalf, I shall now arise; and having received authority over all things from the Father, I shall place all those who have believed in me in salvation, and I shall speak boldly in him, that is, in the Father, or in what has been accomplished by me for the salvation of such great and noble deeds. And the meaning of the passage would be of such a kind. However, the first parts of the psalm, "Save me, O God," ^B containing "for the holy one has failed," and the rest, signify the time during which he suffered, of what sort it was. For "the holy one has failed" at that time, and "the truths have been diminished from the sons of men; each spoke vanity to his neighbor;" and all the things that follow these were fulfilled at that time.

CHAPTER VII. From the fifteenth psalm.

"I saw the Lord before me always, because he is at my right hand, so that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. Because you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; you will fill me with joy with your countenance." That these things also refer to the person of Christ is testified by Peter in the Acts of the Apostles, through which he says these things: "Jesus the Nazarene, a man approved by God among you by deeds of power and wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this one, delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you took by the hand of lawless ones and nailed up and slew; whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, ^C inasmuch as it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says of him, 'I saw the Lord before me always.'" Then, having said some things in between, he adds these words: "Men, brothers, it is permitted to speak with boldness to you concerning the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being a prophet, therefore, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that from the fruit of his loins one would sit upon his throne, foreseeing he spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption." Since Peter, therefore, has rendered the interpretation of the prophecy to the Savior, it will be incumbent upon one not making the investigation of these things a secondary task, either to adapt the whole context of the psalm according to what Peter has perceived, ^D or to encounter the commentaries written by others upon the psalm; for our purpose does not permit us to say anything more than what has been said on these passages.

Chapter VIII. From Psalm 16.

And what is said in the sixteenth psalm, "You have tested my heart, you have visited me by night, with fire you have examined

me and no iniquity was found in me," we have noted as having been uttered by the voice of Christ, since it is not fitting for human nature to say this in any other way; and indeed all the statements in the psalm, for one who examines them accurately, are capable of being referred to the Savior. ^A

CAPUT IX.

From the seventeenth psalm.

CHAPTER X

"There are no speeches nor words, in which their voices are not heard. Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." We inquire whose sound has gone forth into all the earth, and whose words unto the ends of the world, so that there should be no one left among whom these speeches and words—whose voices have not been heard—do not reach. We could find no others than the holy apostles, in whom this prophecy is fulfilled, that teaching of theirs concerning Christ having been spread throughout all the earth. When they were dwelling among men, with the divine power cooperating with them, they preached the faith in Christ, the Son of God, throughout the whole world. Concerning Him, after the prediction of the preaching of His apostles, the Scripture next teaches, saying: ^B"He hath set his tabernacle in the sun." By the sun, the Godhead is understood, in which He set His own dwelling—as if His tabernacle—or else the body which He took from the Virgin, which was, as it were, a tabernacle for the divine power remaining within Him. And He, "as a bridegroom coming out of his bridechamber, rejoiced as a giant to run his course." For just as a bridegroom, for the sake of his bride—the Church—arose from the Father’s bosom, and as a man who is both valiant and strong, like a giant, having struggled in the contest set before Him, and having conquered and vanquished His adversaries, He rejoiced, having taken to Himself His consort and bride. And His "going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit unto the end of it," since "no man hath ascended into heaven, but he that came down ^Cfrom heaven, even the Son of man," and again, "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things," according to the holy Apostle. But also, "there is none that can hide himself from his heat," concerning which He Himself also said, "I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled?" It will be easy for anyone to relate the rest of this psalm similarly to Christ.

CHAPTER XI

The things said in the nineteenth psalm, "Now I know that the Lord hath saved his Christ," show how our Savior Jesus Christ was saved from death. For to Him also it is said: "We will rejoice in thy salvation," and all the things in that place might be applied to Him, ^Dhaving obtained their appropriate interpretation. [Euhgeros d' an tis heauto toutois analogos exergasetai...]

CHAPTER XII

That which is written, "O Lord, in thy strength shall the king rejoice," and what follows, one might say could be referred to David. But these words: "He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him length of days for ever and ever,"

^A no longer befit David, since his death is known and the time of his life was limited to no great span of years. It refers, therefore, to Christ, who was established by the Father to reign over the heavenly mount Zion, and who asked life of the Father—not for himself, for he himself was life—but for all those who believe in him; and he gave him the power for all who believe in him to be able to pass from death into life eternal, and into the length of days with God, which are for ever and ever. And the remaining things in the psalm, being said as if concerning the glory of the king, being no small matters, would befit Christ more than David, as they attain the clarity of their true worth.

CHAPTER XIII.

From the twenty-first Psalm.

By the consensus of all who faithfully believe in Christ, it is established that the beginning of this psalm, in which these words occur: "God, my God, look upon me; why hast thou forsaken me?" ^B were spoken by him at the time of his passion. For this is what the cry upon the cross also showed: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" But indeed, before we begin to interpret the prophecy of the psalm as pertaining to him, we will ask the Jews who it is that spoke the words of this psalm. For it does not seem that just anyone could have said the rest and these things: "For thou art he that drew me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother. I was cast upon thee from the womb: from my mother's womb thou art my God... I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church I will praise thee." And again: "He hath not turned away his face from me, and when I cried to him he heard me. With thee is my praise; I will confess to thee in the great church: I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him." ^C After these words, and the rest of this psalm, let them say if they have any holy man to whom they can adapt these things. For who will be such a man as Scripture describes: "All they that saw me, laughed me to scorn;" or concerning whom, "They spoke with their lips, and wagged their head, saying: He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him?" And whom did "many calves" (and of what nature?), and "fat bulls encompass; they have opened their mouths against him, as a lion ravening and roaring?" And furthermore, whom did the "council of the malignant" beset, so that they "dug his hands and his feet, and numbered all his bones; and they divided his garments for themselves, and upon his vesture they cast lots?" For such indeed are the things said by the person whom the psalm introduces, and after having suffered so many things, ^D he adds also: "I will declare thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the church I will praise thee." Let them interpret these things at the same time as the rest of the psalm, especially from this point forward: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and shall be converted to the Lord: and all the families of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight," even unto the words: "There shall be told of the Lord."

^A to the generation to come: and they shall declare his justice to a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made." For let them show that the generation which then did not yet exist, but was prophesied to come in future time, and the people which was not yet, but was foreseen as about to be born in later ages, ^B truly point to that Church gathered from all nations through Jesus Christ our Savior. For among such multitudes who, through Christ, have come to know the God of all, could they not confess that this has been fulfilled, namely, "All the ends of the earth shall remember and be converted to the Lord," and "All the families of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight"? But it is time for those who wish to think rightly to confess that the prophecy was fulfilled by no other than by our sole Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, at whose coming the conversion of the Gentiles began, when the predicted generation arrived, and the people who were to be born, not only predicted here, but also in the one hundred and first psalm, in these words: "Let these things be written unto another generation: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord." ^C This is he of whom it is also said in the seventeenth: "A people which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me." Therefore, this Savior and Lord of ours, having assumed flesh and for that reason being called a worm—"a reproach of men and outcast of the people: all they that saw me have laughed me to scorn"—especially at the time of the passion, when those who fulfilled this prophecy, passing by, blasphemed him and mocked him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself," and then also "they spoke with their lips and wagged their head" against him; saying with the same words, "He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him." For it is recorded in the Gospels that these very same things were said of him during his passion. To him, therefore, and to him alone, it befits to say to the Father: "For thou art he that hast drawn me out of the womb: my hope from the breasts of my mother. I was cast upon thee from the womb: from my mother's womb thou art my God." Moreover, the ^D passage teaches us that certain most wicked and beastly powers laid snares for him, of whom it says: "Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me." And concerning the Synagogue of the circumcision aroused against him, it says: "Many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me: they have dug not only my hands, but also my feet"; or, according to Aquila, "they have dishonored," saying, "they have dishonored my hands and my feet." And this was truly brought to pass when, hanging him, they pierced his hands and his feet with nails. And it is indeed beautiful, if one should desire that the Scripture be proved, that Christ was predicted as about to suffer the punishment of the cross, among other proofs to bring forward that: "They have pierced," and rather.

^A "They have put my hands and my feet to shame." To which is immediately subjoined: "They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." ^B This Aquila rendered thus: "They will divide my garment among themselves, and for my clothing they will cast lots." Symmachus, however, says: "They parted my garments among themselves, and for my vesture they cast lots." That which was also fulfilled in the passion, when those who had crucified him "took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore to one another: Let us not rend it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be." To which the evangelist adds, saying: "That the Scripture might be fulfilled, saying: They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." This prophecy indeed contains concerning him what the Hebrew does; according to which it is subjoined also in the psalm, just as in the Gospels: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," which to me seems to signify this: Save, I pray, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the Father and God of all.

CAPUT XIV. On the one hundred and thirty-first Psalm.

^C "The Lord swore truth unto David, and he will not frustrate him: of the fruit of thy body I will set upon thy throne." And again: "There will I bring forth a horn to David, I have prepared a lamp for my Christ. His enemies I will clothe with confusion, but upon himself shall my sanctification flourish." Here, it is manifest that a promise is given to David by God with an oath concerning Christ, as one about to be born from his seed, and about to ascend his throne. This passage would require much explanation, since Christ does not appear to have physically sat upon the throne of David and over his kingdom; which, however, we shall pass over, since it is alien to our current purpose to spend time on the interpretation of this psalm. For it is necessary to be prudent, and not, if one passage of Scripture cannot be adapted to Christ in a corporeal sense, to reject those things that are manifestly spoken concerning him in many other places. Following, therefore, the pure word, and relying upon the divine Scripture itself, it behooves us to attend to what it predicts: that sometimes he is to come as a certain beggar, and vile, and ignoble, having neither form nor comeliness, ^D while at other times it proclaims him an illustrious king. Of these things, some could be fulfilled bodily, while others are to be adjudged as requiring their fulfillment, only according to the spiritual sense of Scripture, at his second coming. Nevertheless, our Lord was also called King of the Jews in his first coming, not as happened when Pilate ordered to be inscribed upon his cross in Greek, Roman, and Hebrew letters: "This is the King of the Jews."

CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVII.

runs his word," ^A one might understand as the Scripture teaching us here that the Word of God is something subsistent, being distinct from the Father who sends Him. Observe how that which follows is added: "Swiftly runs his word," which it is possible to see fulfilled after the coming of Christ, for in a very brief space of time His teaching ran throughout the whole earth, and in a few years reached even to the ends of the inhabited world.

CHAPTER XVIII. From the hundred and forty-eighth Psalm.

The words spoken here, "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created," ^B we have already gathered in the testimonies concerning the Word of God who was in the beginning with God, having learned that the Word of God is also His name according to a certain designation of the conceptions concerning Him. Since, therefore, it is said, "Praise the Lord," the Spirit consistently commands us to praise the Father after the Lord, mentioning His name by adding, "For He spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created." Now, the One who commands and gives orders would be the God and Father of all, while the One who serves as an agent is the Word of God, fulfilling the Father's will in the creation of all things that have come to be. It must be noted that these same words are expressed literally in the thirty-second Psalm: ^C "He spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created." But there it refers to the earth and those who dwell upon the earth, whereas here it refers to those in the heavens and those described as being in the highest places—angels and powers, along with the sun, the moon, the stars, and everything else enumerated thereafter. The Divine Scripture teaches us through these things that, according to the holy Apostle, "All things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or principalities, or powers: all things were created through Him and in Him; and without Him nothing was made."

Such, then, are our comments on the Psalms. Having received a moderate and sufficient summary of the word, we shall proceed from another beginning to the selections from the remaining poetic books and then, in turn, to those from the prophets. ^D

THESE ARE CONTAINED IN THE THIRD BOOK OF PROPHETIC SELECTIONS CONCERNING CHRIST.

From the Proverbs. Concerning the Word of God as Wisdom subsisting substantially, and created by God before the ages, being distinct from Him, and consulting with Him in the creation of all things. Concerning Christ as the Son of the King and concerning His apostles. Concerning Christ as a man, and His ascension into the heavens, and His dominion over the nations.

ECLOGUE PROPHETICA. — LIB. III.

From Ecclesiastes. ^A On Christ as a wise poor man: and on the devil and the Antichrist. On Christ as a wise poor man: and on the devil, and on the Church.

From the Song of Songs. On Christ as the bridegroom, and the Church of the saints as the bride, and on the mysteries hidden in this book.

From Job. On Christ as one who walked upon the sea, and subdued the great sea monster. On Christ’s descent into Hades. ^B On the devil’s struggle against Christ.

From Hosea. On Christ as a panther. On the rejection of Israel, and the destruction of their kingdom, and the calling back of Christ out of Egypt. How God the Word, being called God, confesses the Father to be Lord.

From Amos. How God the Word, being called Lord, teaches that the Father exists as another besides Himself. On Christ’s sojourn among men. ^C

From Obadiah. How God the Word, being called Lord and God, confesses that He has heard certain things from the Lord.

From Jonah. How the account of Jonah signifies the passion of Christ, and His resurrection from the dead.

From Micah. On the second coming of Christ, as concerning the Lord. On the former people and that of Israel and the desolation of Mount Zion, and on the manifestation of Christ as a mountain, and on the bringing in of the nations; and of the new law according to the New Testament. On Bethlehem and Christ’s birth therein; and how Christ existed before the ages. ^D

From Zephaniah. On the resurrection of Christ, and on the calling of the nations.

From Zechariah. How God the Word, being called Lord Almighty, says that He has been sent by the Lord Almighty the Father. How God the Word, being called Lord, predicts that He will come to Jerusalem, that the nations will take refuge in Him, having been sent by the Lord Almighty. On Christ as Jesus the son of Josedec; and that He is the man whose name is "Dayspring," and on the building of the Church. On Christ as a King coming upon a beast of burden and a colt, and about to destroy the cavalry and infantry of the Jews who formerly inhabited Jerusalem; and on the peace of the nations. How God the Word, being called Lord, makes mention of the Lord the Father.

^A Concerning the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed Christ to the Jewish magistrates, whom the Word now calls Canaanites; and concerning their rejection. Concerning the passion of Christ, and the scandalization of the apostles on His account. Concerning the second manifestation of Christ.

From Haggai. Concerning the reprobation of the Jews, the overturning of their sacrifices, and the Churches of Christ throughout the whole world. Concerning the new Testament, and the law of truth, concerning Christ as the angel of the almighty Lord. Concerning the second manifestation of Christ as the angel of God’s Testament. Concerning Christ as the sun of righteousness.

From Jeremiah. Concerning the passion of Christ as a lamb. ^B Concerning the passion of Christ, the destruction of the Jews, and the desolation of Jerusalem. Concerning the calling of the gentiles, the impiety of the Jews, and mentioning by name the traitor Judas. Concerning Christ as a King of the seed of David, and the ecclesiastical priesthood established for ages. Concerning the new Testament, different from the old one of Moses, and concerning the laws according to the Gospel.

From Lamentations. Concerning the passion of Christ and the calling of the gentiles.

From Baruch. Concerning Christ as God descending from the heavens and dwelling among men.

From Ezekiel. Concerning Christ as a shepherd arising, like David, and concerning the new Testament. Concerning Christ as a shepherd arising, like David, and concerning the new Testament. ^C

From Daniel. Concerning Christ as a stone, and His eternal kingdom. Concerning Christ as the Son of God. Concerning the advent of Christ as the Son of man, and His eternal kingdom. Concerning the seventy weeks, and how they are completed in the times of Christ; upon the passing of which, the total destruction of the Jewish people is prophesied.

PROOEMIUM. After the extracts from the Psalms, we shall write down the remaining ones from the other poetic books, and also the prophecies ^D in this third collection of prophetic extracts concerning Christ; and in this eighth [book] of the Universal elementary introduction, having already previously noted that it is impossible for the prophets to speak the truth unless the faith in our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ is confirmed by them, nor is our own faith in Christ built up more firmly, unless by believing the demonstrations given by the prophets from the beginning concerning Christ.

^A Hence, it would not be unreasonable to reproach both the Jews who do not accept Christ, and the heretics who reject the prophecies, because they fall into contradiction. For the former, while accepting the prophecies as coming from God, prove them to be false by leaving them incomplete, as they are unable to accept the fulfilment of the prophecies in Christ; while the latter, though confessing Christ, maintain that faith in him is absurd and unsupported by certain proofs, failing to acknowledge in an admirable way the prophets of God who formerly bore witness to him. But what of us? We believe the prophecies on account of Christ’s advent, and Christ on account of the prophecies, and we manifest the clarity and firmness of the truth through irrefutable demonstrations. ^B So much for the introduction; let us now proceed to the matter at hand.

CHAPTER I

From Proverbs.

The entire book of Proverbs seems to be spoken in the person of Wisdom—at times prescribing a moral life, at times putting on the words of others; sometimes proposing enigmas, sometimes on the other hand teaching certain things about itself, and instructing us regarding its own divine dignity. We shall select from these things those by which we learn that Wisdom is indeed a divine living being and altogether virtuous in nature; that it is itself second after the first God, the cause of all things, and that which is in the beginning with God as the Word, ^C and the providence of God which governs and administers all things, extending even to earthly affairs, which was created before every essence and substance, and is the beginning of the ways of the whole creation. The words, said as if by Wisdom itself, are as follows: “I, Wisdom, have dwelt in counsel and knowledge, and I have invoked understanding. The fear of the Lord hates evil, arrogance, and pride, and the ways of the wicked; and I have hated distorted ways of evil men. Mine is counsel and security; I am understanding, and mine is strength. By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice. By me favorites are magnified, and tyrants by me rule the earth. I love those who love me, and those who seek me will find grace. Riches and glory belong to me, and the possession of many things, and righteousness. Better for me to be harvested than gold and precious stone; and my fruits ^D are better than choice silver. I walk in the ways of righteousness, and I move in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I may divide existence to those who love me, and fill their treasuries with good things. If I declare to you the things that happen day by day, I shall remember to count them from of old. The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works; before the age he established me, in the beginning before he made the earth, and before he made the abysses, before the fountains of waters came; before the mountains were set up, and before all the hills, he begets me.” The Lord

^A made countries and uninhabited places, and the inhabited extremities of the world under heaven. When he prepared the heaven, I was present with him; when he marked out his own throne on the winds. When he made the strong clouds above, and when he set the fountains under heaven as secure, in his placing for the sea its own command, and the waters shall not pass his mouth; when he made strong the foundations of the earth, I was with him, fitting them together. I was she in whom he delighted day by day; I rejoiced in his presence at all times, when he rejoiced in having finished the world, and rejoiced in the sons of men.” These things, then, Wisdom teaches concerning herself; but who she is, the holy Apostle instructs us, saying, “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”; and again, “Who was made wisdom to us from God.” Christ, therefore, is he who spoke the things aforesaid; he is the Wisdom and Word of God, by whom all things were made. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him”; and, “In him all things were created, ^B those in the heavens and those on the earth, whether visible or invisible,” according to the Apostle. For just as in a certain sense the Word of God speaks, but in another is “life,” and again, “truth” and “true light,” and the rest by which the divine Scriptures call him, in the same way also is he called Wisdom, being a minister of the Father in the providence and administration of all things.

Chapter II. From the Proverbs.

“In the light of the king’s son is life; but those acceptable to him are like the latter rain.” And whose else is the king’s son whose life is in the light, if not in the Word of God, who is the Son of God, the King of all? For he himself is the “true Light which lightens every man coming into the world,” in which light is life, according to the word of the Gospel which says: “In him was life, and the life was the light of ^C men.” And his familiars, whom we consider to be his apostles and disciples, have become like “the latter rain” at the end of the days and at the consummation of the age, irrigating the once desert and thirsty land, that is, the Church of the nations, with the spiritual rain of his pious teaching.

Chapter III. From the Proverbs.

“These things says the man to those believing in God, and I cease. For I am the most foolish of all men, and the wisdom of men is not with me. God taught me wisdom, and I have known the knowledge of the holy ones. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the winds in his bosom? Who has wrapped up water in a garment? Who has held fast all the ends of the earth? What is his name? Or what is the name for his children?” And what other man could be saying these things but our Lord, who became man, whether because of our own follies, which in ^D

^A His own estimation He took upon Himself, or because of the “foolishness of the preaching,” which is wiser and stronger than the wisdom of men? Here, indeed, saying, “I am the most foolish of all men,” and in the sixty-eighth Psalm, “You know my foolishness,” He is, as it were, glorified for having acted magnanimously, in that He possesses absolutely no prudence of those who are likened to irrational beasts and to men of that sort, and in that He has played the fool according to the wisdom of those who savor only earthly, carnal, and material things. Hence, it is an indication of (lack of) prudence in their generation if they seek only what is upon the earth and ^B savor what is depraved with juvenile inexperience. Since human prudence is by no means to be found in the aforementioned man, it follows that He must be divine and greater than man. Wherefore the Scripture adds: “God has taught me wisdom, and I have known the knowledge of the holy ones.” Then, interrogatively, it says: “Who has ascended into heaven and descended?”—inviting us, for our part, to the investigation of Him who teaches such things about Himself. What follows requires a separate commentary. The divine Apostle, therefore, teaching us about Him, says: “He who descended is the same as He who ascended above all the heavens.” ^C For him to have descended, then ascended, and again descended; for when He had risen from the dead, He said to Mary, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” Afterward He was seen by His disciples for forty days, associating with them. Having clearly ascended to the Father, He had again descended for the sake of the economy He was fulfilling. Hence it is also said: “Having ascended on high, He led captivity captive; He gave gifts to men.” And what are these, if not the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which He sent down from heaven? ^D Therefore, it is also said here, according to Aquila: “Who has ascended into heaven and sent down? He Himself has also grasped the ends of the earth, so that His word has gone out into all the earth, and His utterances to the ends of the world.” He to whom the word of knowledge has been given will know how the rest of the passages in that place should be understood. He urges us, therefore, to seek what is the name for Him and for His children. For through this investigation it will be discovered by us that His name is Jesus, which is interpreted as “God’s salvation,” a name which His parents also, having been admonished by Gabriel, bestowed upon Him, the angel himself signifying the cause of such a denomination: “For He Himself,” he says, “will save His people from their sins.” As for the name of His children, to whom He said, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you,” and of those who after them shall be born in all the Churches as His sons and grandsons and descendants, what else could it be but the blessed Christian name?

CHAPTER IV.

^A foolish king, who knows not how to look forward into the future.” That one comes forth by chance from a house of prisoners to the kingdom, or that another, born in the kingdom, is consumed by poverty. I saw all the living who walk under the sun with the second youth who shall stand in his stead. There is no limit to all the people, to all who were before them; and those who come after will not rejoice in him; for this too is vanity and a striving of the spirit. Since Christ, who is the wisdom of God, being rich, became poor for our sake, it seems to me that it is said of Him: “A good, poor, and wise child is better than an old and foolish king,” ^B whom I take to be the devil, the one grown old in evil days. He is indeed a king of those who are ruled by the sin energized by him, yet foolish, as he is deprived of the virtue and prudence that is according to God. But the aforementioned “poor and wise child,” coming forth from the house of prisoners—that is, from the earthly place, or from the regions in Hades—having risen from the dead, was set by the Father as King upon Sion, the heavenly mountain of God, and in that very kingdom of His He was made poor, “not counting equality with God a thing to be grasped,” but humbling Himself and descending from the highest glory for the sake of those who were not partakers of the riches of His wisdom; but the second youth, who is said to rise up in his stead, I take to be the Antichrist, ^C with whom, the Scripture says, he has seen all those living and walking under the sun. And who might these be, if not all those who have embraced what is called “vanity of vanities” under the sun?

CHAPTER V. From Ecclesiastes.

“And this also I saw as wisdom under the sun, and it is great to me. There was a little city, and few men in it; and a great king came against it, and besieged it, and built great siege-works against it; and there was found in it a poor and wise man, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, yet no man remembered that poor man. And I said, ‘Better is wisdom than strength,’ yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not ^D heard.” Since here, too, the one who conducts the war is called a king, and the one who delivers the city besieged by him is a poor and wise man; and seeing as it is said in the preceding chapter, “A good, poor, and wise child is better than an old and foolish king,” we have understood the foolish king to be the devil, and the poor and wise one to be the Word of God, who for our sake emptied Himself and became poor; for this reason, and consistently with our earlier interpretation, we do not suppose the warlike king described here to be any other than that foolish king. Similarly, the one who by his own wisdom saves the besieged city is the same as that poor and wise man whom we have said to be Christ. For he who saves the small city—that is, this earthly place, which, if you compare it to the entire universe, is most brief, and all who

^A dwell in it, being very few among the multitude of all living creatures and, among all nations, as a drop in a large vessel—he delivered from the dominion of the devil, who had besieged this earthly place and its inhabitants on every side and had built up great fortifications around it, namely, the principalities and powers, the world-rulers of this darkness, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness. This, then, no other than the poor and wise man himself, our Savior and Lord, has overthrown, having emptied himself and for our sake become poor in the riches of his own mercy. And having overthrown it, he saved in his wisdom the small city—or, by another interpretation, the Church—and the few who are in it; for "narrow and strait is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Those who behold such a dispensation exclaim, "Wisdom is better than strength," meaning the strength of the enemies. But it is also said, "No one remembered that same poor man." ^B For it was God who warned through the prophets and proclaimed his own coming among men. But those men, inflated by the wisdom of the princes of this age, remembered not him, as they were in no way able to perceive the mystery hidden before the ages of the dispensation of the incarnation of the Word of God. Concerning these it is said, "The wisdom of the poor man is despised." For indeed "it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe"; but as it is said, "his words are not heard." For it is not for everyone to hear the words of the Savior, but only for those who have ears to hear. For the Gospel of Christ is veiled, though not to his own disciples; "for to those who are perishing it is veiled." ^C

CHAPTER VI. From the Song of Songs.

which have now attained the fullest clarity, in which the most diligent interpreter of the divine Scriptures wrote his commentaries.

Chapter VII. From Job.

^A Job is the one who says concerning the Lord, along with other things: “Who commands the sun, and it does not rise, and seals the stars as if under a signet; who stretches out the heavens alone, and walks upon the sea as upon pavement.” And again: “Who is to subdue the great sea monster.” Since, therefore, it is unworthy of the greatness of the God of all to suppose that He, who fills all things, walked upon the sea in a body capable of such magnitude, it remains for us to think these thoughts about the Word. By His power, Joshua the son of Nun, who was a figure of Him, commanded the sun and it stood still at Gibeon; ^B and at the time of His passion, by a certain divine command as it were, the sun covered all the earth with darkness. He is the one “who stretches out the heavens, and walks upon the sea as upon pavement,” when, having become man, He performs the miracles that are recorded in the Gospels. But if this passage refers entirely to the Word of God, then what follows must be understood as applying to Him, not only the things we have already cited, but all the things said in this passage by Job. For He alone overcame the great sea monster, having loosed the pangs of death, and having truly laid low the great dragon, the devil, who had formerly swallowed up the souls of men ^C being stronger—like the sea monster that swallowed Jonah—but having been newly defeated by His adversary, he released those whom he had once swallowed, just as the monster gave back Jonah unharmed; thus the prophecy was fulfilled in which it is said: “Death has swallowed, being stronger, and the Lord God will take away every tear from every face.” And this we say because of Him who laid low the great sea monster designated here, our Savior and Lord.

Chapter VIII. From Job.

^D The Lord, in His manifestation to Job, recounting the works of His own providence and governance, says: “Or did you, having taken clay of the earth, fashion an animal, and place it speaking upon the earth? And have you taken away light from the ungodly, and broken the arms of the proud? Or have you gone to the source of the sea, and walked in the footprints of the abyss? And are the gates of death opened to you with fear, and did the doorkeepers of Hades see you and quake?” These things the Lord says to Job about Himself, as though no one else except Himself could have performed such things. For who is it that, having taken earth, fashioned an animal, if not God who took dust from the earth and fashioned man? And at the same time we are taught from this that the Creator of man is the same as the one who has entered into the depths of the earth, and in his...

^A heart, which I now take to be called the fountain of the sea; and also that he is the one who walked in the tracks of the sea, to whom alone the gates of death were opened in fear, because it was not possible for him to be held by it, whom even the gatekeepers of Hades trembled to see, when they saw the victory, and the sting, and the pains of death being undone through him. Perhaps then, to these gatekeepers of the gates of death mentioned here, it was said at the time of the passion and of the descent of our Savior into Hades by certain divine powers: “Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory shall enter.” ^B And they are called eternal gates, as I suppose, because from eternity they had never been opened to anyone except to this one alone, who rescued and brought back to life those who had long ago been swallowed up by death; concerning whom it is said here, “The gates of death are opened to you in fear, and the gatekeepers of Hades trembled when they saw you,” and in the hundredth and sixth psalm, “For he shattered the gates of bronze,” not others, as I think, than the gates of death, “and shattered the iron bars,” it is clear that they were the gates mentioned above. Now these things, since they befit no one other than Christ, have been interpreted by us as applying to him; for he is the one to whom the Father has given all judgment, so that he might take away light from the wicked and shatter ^C the arms of the proud. But if anyone were to think that these things are said concerning the God of all, let him consider whether it is pious to say that he who says, “Do I not fill heaven and earth, says the Lord? Whose throne is heaven, and the earth the footstool of his feet,” that this God who encompasses all things walked in the tracks of the sea; or what is marvelous, or worthy of the unbegotten nature, to say as if it were some great deed that the gates of death were opened to him? Would it be fitting for the God of all to speak of himself as if it were some great and hardly credible thing that the gatekeepers of Hades had trembled at the sight of him? But I do not think these things are said of him; ^D they can, however, be applied piously and worthily to the Word of God, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, who became man, endured death, and rose from the dead with divine power and with the authority given to him by the Father.

CHAPTER IX. Concerning Job.

Again, the Lord, in his manifestation to Job (Job 41:1), discussing the dragon, says, “Are you not afraid, because it has been prepared for me?” indicating that the dragon is none other than the devil. See, then, whether it is worthy to suppose that the God of all says this; it would befit better our Lord and Savior, for whom alone he has been prepared who was conquered by no one else, and who had been the conqueror of almost everyone, the devil, whom he alone, the Word of God, who is stronger than all, overcame, according to the saying, “He who is about to overcome the great sea monster”; and having overcome him, he encourages his own disciples

and commands them, saying, “Take heart, I have overcome the world.”

These are the things from the poetic books that follow the Psalms; it remains for us to collect those from the prophetic Scriptures, and first of all, those from the Twelve.

CHAPTER X. From Hosea.

“Therefore I am as a leopard to Ephraim, and as a lion to the house of Judah.” And in another place of the same prophet, the Lord says concerning Himself: “And I will be as a leopard.” ^B It is necessary, therefore, to see what is narrated concerning this beast; and we should certainly borrow these things from the first of the *Physiologus* of Didymus.

The leopard is a beast not only beautiful in its starred body, but it also excels by nature in sweet fragrance, surpassing the spices of the Indians in pleasantness. It stays in its lair, living in the shadows, unless it is pressed by hunger. But when it is spurred by the necessity of prey, it wanders out alone. Other beasts, captured by the pleasant fragrance of its body, follow it of their own accord, bewitched. But it, with slanting eyes, watches for the prey that is suitable for it to seize, and leaping upon it, takes it.

These things, then, are about the nature of the animal. How these should be referred to the power of the divine Word and the fragrance breathed forth from Him, it would take too long to explain now. This should be pointed out to the Jews, who maliciously and reproachfully say that our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ was born from a leopard. But if they were to accept it in a more mystical sense, they would not doubt the meaning, because it does not seem inappropriate to the words of the prophecy in which the Lord names Himself a leopard. ^C

CHAPTER XI. From the same.

“And tumult shall arise in your people, and all your fortified places of your temple shall be destroyed; as the prince Shalman out of the house of Jeroboam, in the day of battle, dashed the mother upon the children, so shall the house of Israel do to you, because of the face of the malice of your iniquities, because Israel is a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt I called his children. As I called them, so they went from my face.” ^D Instead of the words, “and out of Egypt I called his children,” Aquila, having followed the Hebrew, translated: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” We have necessarily noted this saying, since Matthew shows the prophecy to have been most accurately fulfilled to the letter by our Savior: “Joseph rose and took Mary and his son, and brought him back out of Egypt into the land of Israel.” See, therefore, whether, according to Aquila, who says: “In the morning the king of Israel was made silent, because Israel is a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son,” it is not clearly shown that the rejection of the kingdom of Israel, which had persisted until the manifestation of our Savior, was then rejected and passed...

and silenced; such that for this reason it was said, “In the morning the king of Israel was silenced.” For the prophecy calls the manifestation and that initial rising of the divine Word upon all men “the morning.” It can also be foretold regarding Herod that “the king of Israel was silenced,” as if because of the deception which he suffered from the Magi at the birth of our Savior, which indeed happened because of the Father’s love for His own child, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called Israel here as in other prophecies. At the time when necessity demanded that he act to provide for him to depart into Egypt together with Joseph and his mother, it is clear that the king who was plotting against him—Herod, that is—was to be silenced; and again, upon Herod’s death, he is recalled in accordance with the prophecy at hand.

If, however, anyone should refer these things to the Jewish people, saying that these words were spoken about the people of Israel who are of the circumcision, let him pay attention to the consistency of the discourse; for it says these things after having ^B previously addressed Jerusalem itself, saying, “And destruction shall arise in thy people, and all thy bulwarked places shall perish.” And whatever this leader says he suffered in the war raised against him, in which they dashed the mother upon her children, “I will do similar things to you yourselves because of your iniquities, O house of Israel,” who were also rejected along with their king, and have indeed suffered all these things: “For,” he says, “Israel is a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my Son.” For let anyone who wishes demonstrate what consistency this phrase has. But just as in countless other prophecies Christ is called Jacob and Israel, in the same way he is addressed here as well. Since, therefore, he says, this one, having become obedient to me, took the form of a servant and became a beloved child to me, having ^C fulfilled all my counsel, for this reason I recalled him from the intelligible Egypt, into which he descended when he became man, as a genuine and beloved Son; but you, to whom the discourse is directed, along with your kingdom, I will deliver to destruction and ruin. This, then, is the prophecy; but it is manifest how, from the times of our Savior, Jerusalem was besieged and captured, and the kingdom of the Jews, which had stood until then, was utterly destroyed and cast away, so that together with others, this prophecy was also fulfilled.

CHAPTER XII.

He declares that he will not enter into a city, showing that he did not use common and human manners, which he also teaches his disciples to do, saying: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not." (Of Joel, nothing is sufficiently confirmed.)

CHAPTER XIII. From Amos.

CHAPTER XIV. From the same.

CHAPTER XV. From Abdias.

CHAPTER XVI. From Jonas.

CHAPTER XVII. From Michaeas.

We believe these things to be spoken of the second coming of Christ. ^A

CHAPTER XVIII. From the same.

^B “Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob, and you remnant of the house of Israel, who abhor judgment and pervert all straight paths, who build Sion in blood, and Jerusalem in iniquity. Her rulers judged for gifts, and her priests answered for hire, and her prophets divined for silver, and they relied upon the Lord, saying, Is not the Lord in our midst? No evil shall come upon us. Wherefore because of you, Sion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a watchman’s hut, and the mountain of the house as a grove of the forest. And it shall be in the last of days, that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, ready upon the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall come upon it, and many nations shall go upon it and shall say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will show us his way, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Sion shall come forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge between many peoples, and shall rebuke strong nations even unto a distance; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles; and nation shall no longer take up sword against nation, and they shall no longer learn to wage war.” ^C Since the word, having said that on account of the impieties of the Jewish people “the mountain of Sion shall be plowed as a field,” and “Jerusalem,” the city previously accounted holy, “shall be as a watchman’s hut,” proceeds to prophesy concerning another mountain of the Lord, which indeed existed at the time of the prophecy, but was not manifest to the casual observer, as one destined to be made visible in the last of days exalted above the hills and the mountains; and since the word foretells that a new mountain will come, not calling upon that Israel, but upon peoples and many nations, saying, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,” and not only to the mountain of the Lord but also to the house of the God of Jacob, clearly being a different one than that in Jerusalem—for he had said a little before that it would be made a desolation like a watchman’s hut—it follows that, while the mountain of Sion and Jerusalem are to be destroyed, and others are to be seen in their stead, and a law other than that given by Moses from Mount Horeb is to come forth from the new mountain—which is also called by the same name of Sion as the former—it is further said that the word of the Lord, along with the new law, is to come forth from the new Jerusalem, which he had called above the house of the God of Jacob. The word goes on to foretell that the word, having gone forth unto all nations, shall judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations, and that it shall so profit through its own judgment and rebuke ^D those who are to be rebuked, that they, changing their former holy and hostile habit into a gentle and peaceful one... This, indeed, is the prophecy. Now, however, we must observe whether... of our Saviour.

^A For the sake of those who built with the blood of the prophets and of Christ himself and of his apostles; whom the people of the Jews cut off in Jerusalem itself... for the sake of those who cared for Mount Sion as never before... Jerusalem was conquered. After whose rejection, Mount Sion, the heavenly Sion of God, appeared openly to all those who have attained to God through Christ, of whom they were the shadows, types, and exemplars. ^B

CHAPTER XIX.

From the same.

«And thou, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, art little to be among the thousands of Judah; out of thee shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity.» By these words, proofs are presented concerning Christ: the one against the error of Marcion and the other heretics, the other against Artemon and the Samosatene, and as many of the Ebionites as did not believe that he existed before the incarnation. For those who do not openly confess him to be God are clearly refuted by the prophetic word, which says, «his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity.» But for those who are in error, and who do not acknowledge him—not because he was not acknowledged by the people, but to show that what was predicted concerning his generation has been shed as light even until now by the inhabitants themselves—as if by tradition, in Bethlehem, the place where he was born; and it is confirmed by the holy evangelists themselves. And it must also be shown to the Jews, ^C if there be any who would ever contend that the prophecy is—according to them—imperfect; it is manifest that they are also refuting the divine foreknowledge as a lie. Indeed, the saving and evangelical word of Christ has become the leader of the spiritual Israel—of the Jew who is properly hidden—and of every excellent and perspicacious soul of Israel.

(Of Nahum there is nothing sufficiently understood, nor of Habacuc.) ^D

CHAPTER XX.

From Sophonia.

«Therefore, await me, says the Lord, in the day of my resurrection for a witness; because my judgment is to gather the nations and to assemble the kingdoms.» And through this, I think, is indicated the resurrection of Christ from the dead; upon which happening, the congregations of the Church from the nations everywhere are foretold to be established.

^A

(From Haggai, nothing sufficiently certain.)

CHAPTER XXI

“...Almighty, after his glory he hath sent me to the [nations that gathered] you.” Soon after he adds: “And thou shalt know that the Lord Almighty hath sent me to thee.” Who is he that says [this]? The Lord is Almighty; likewise also he who is [sent]... being [by nature] of him who is sent, the Lord is named Al[mighty]... reasonably, therefore, to us in [those things concerning] the Father and the Son, [is] the saying... that even the Lord Almighty, [as also] God [is declared] through the prophets. ^B

CHAPTER XXII

“...and rejoice, O daughter Sion, because behold, I come, and will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many [nations] shall take refuge in the Lord in that day, and shall be [my] people, and shall dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know [that the Lord] Almighty hath sent me to thee.” And who is he that says these things and confesses that he was sent by the Almighty, if not the Word of God, sent by the Father for the salvation of the human race? He to whom the things set forth [refer]—the heavenly Sion, [of which] the mountain on earth was an image [happens to be]... and [it] extends to the Church from the nations: [proclaiming] to her the calling of those who shall be saved through him [and] who shall be ruled by him therein. ^C

CHAPTER XXIII

“And [he showed me Jesus the priest] the high [priest], standing before [the angel of] the Lord, and the devil stood at his right hand to resist [him].” And after a few words: “And he said to those who stood before [the angel] of him, saying: Take the filthy garments from him; and he said: Behold, I have taken away thy iniquities, and clothe [him]... [with clean garments], and set a clean mitre upon his head.” And again, after a little, it is said to him: “Hear [now, Jesus the high] priest, thou and thy friends who sit before thy face: for they are men foretelling wonders; for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Orient.” And again, after other things: “And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Take of the captivity from the leaders.” And after a few words: “And thou shalt take silver and gold, and shalt make crowns, and shalt set them upon the head of Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Behold, [a] man, the Orient [is] his name: and under

^A him he shall spring forth, and he shall build the house of the Lord, and he himself shall receive glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and the priest shall be at his right hand, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And the crowns shall be for them that wait. ^B Since the glorious Apostle called our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ the “High Priest who hath passed through the heavens,” these things may not unworthily be referred to him, and to him who according to the prophecy is adorned with the same appellation and the same dignity. To him, in this sense, did the Lord point out to the prophet. For in clothing him with the garments of the captives, he signifies the descent of our Saviour to our captivity, by which, in order to announce redemption to the captives, as if taking upon himself our iniquities, he used our own sordid garments. These the Father commands him to put off, and to assume the divine and glorious insignia of the high priesthood in the heavens. ^C Now, since these things, according to the literal history, took place typologically as is likely from another beginning, the word is directed to this very man, Jesus, and those ^D who were deemed worthy to be named with him—those, I consider, who were deemed worthy of spiritual understanding. He says, “Behold, I bring my servant, the Orient.” And going down a little from him, Jesus, having placed the crowns on his head, he adds, saying, “Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Behold a man, the Orient is his name,” and under him he shall spring forth and shall build the house of the Lord, and all those things that are referred to Christ, of which we have spoken as they occur—but even to those from the circumcision. Since they cannot at all show a prophet raised up from the kingdom and from the times of the prophecy, let alone John and our Lord Jesus Christ, what then is the time of the one being prophesied? If, indeed, they should say that these things refer to Jesus son of Josedec, it must be shown to them that in no way do the things said befit him. For when was his name called the Orient? For what reason is he deemed worthy of this title? How would it befit him: “And he shall sit and rule upon his throne,” and especially that: “And the priest shall be at his right hand”? For if he himself were the high priest, who would be the priest at his right hand, being another than himself? Manifestly, it teaches that the one called the Orient is another than that one. For to the Lord himself and to those around him, Scripture says: “Hear, O Jesus the high priest, thou and thy fellows: for behold, I bring my servant the Orient.” If, therefore, these things are said to him, how can it be thought that it is said of him: “Behold a man, the Orient his name”? By these words, two persons are openly designated; the one, indeed, whom divinity addresses, and the other, concerning whom he prophesies. To whom, without controversy, would be introduced toward Christ, truly understood as justice. This would be the Father. Christ having the crowns of victory placed upon him, he calls the first-born his Word. Because of the doctrine among men, and since he is God and Lord, the High Priest.

- dotalis of the primary and unbegotten deity. He says that he is the man whom he has assumed, a great priest, being manifested through the union with the Only-begotten of God. For those to whom a more expanded explanation is needed, we think these things suffice for our proposed subject.

Chapter XXIV. Ex eodem.

^B « Exsulta (satis), filia Sion, jubila, filia Jerusalem. Ecce Rex (tuus) veniet tibi justus et Salvator: ipse pauper (ascendens super) asinam, et super pullum filium asinæ. Et disperdam quadrigam ex Ephraim, et equum de Jerusalem, et dissipabitur arcus belli, et loquetur pacem gentibus, et potestas ejus a mari usque ad mare, et a fluminibus usque ad fines terræ. » The daughter of Sion, whom Scripture bids to rejoice, is every spiritual and heavenly soul, or indeed the Church of the Gentiles standing on earth through Christ. Similarly, the daughter of Jerusalem, which bears a kinship to the heavenly Jerusalem, of which it is mentioned in Paul, who says: « But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. » To such souls, therefore, Scripture announces the coming of Christ, the Son of God, sitting upon an ass and a young colt; for in this way they interpret the human nature in which He has sojourned. ^C Then He destroyed every hostile power from every ecclesiastical soul, and from every soul capable of bearing holy fruits, with Ephraim signifying abundance of fruits, and Jerusalem in the Greek tongue signifying the vision of peace. Having thus destroyed the wicked demons who previously oppressed the human race, He led many thousands from all the nations that were formerly under their dominion under the pious yoke of His teaching. These things, then, are according to the spiritual understanding. But Christ, having become man and fulfilling the prophecies concerning Himself corporeally, brought this to a close, as according to the Evangelist He said to His own disciples: « Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord has need of them; and immediately he will send them. And they going did just as He had commanded them. » ^D Since these things are so, these words must be explained to those who imagine that these things will happen only carnally and Judaically at the coming of Christ; it must be demonstrated to them how, regarding the manifestation of our Savior, it also took place carnally together with other things, and the prophecy saying: « And He will destroy the chariots from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. » Therefore, by the ineffable virtue of the divine and heavenly power of Christ, after... his traps; and that same Jes

^A Jerusalem, together with the hostile power that exists in it, was destroyed. Then... the people in it, often called Ephraim... the horse and chariots in Jerusalem, multiplying... and because of the battle arrays... the horses that had become as senseless cattle... all of whom the presence of our Savior clearly destroyed... having accepted the saving presence, as those who were destroyed... a multitude from all the nations, with God ruling and having control... of the angelic word of the whole world according to the prophecy of the divine Word.

CHAPTER XXV.

From the same Zechariah.

« And I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk in his name, says the Lord. » ^B Again, the Lord, the Word of God, promises to strengthen the just in the Lord their God, revealing God as his Father. Therefore, this saying should also be noted in the testimonies concerning the Father and the Son.

CHAPTER XXVI.

From the same.

« And the Canaanites shall know that the sheep are mine to guard, for it is the word of the Lord. And I will say to them: If it is good in your eyes, bring my reward, or refuse it; and they weighed my reward, thirty pieces of silver; and I cast them into the house of the Lord for the founder. And I cut my second rod, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. » ^C For what is there, concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that was not foreseen and predicted by the holy prophets of God? For his birth from a Virgin, and the root from which he was born according to the flesh, were known and foretold to God's holy prophets... and the marvelous things at his coming, which were deemed worthy of the Scripture through the divine Spirit from of old. In all things they showed both his death and the manner of his death, not omitting the scourges he endured, the spittle, the rods, and the insults. But they also indicated, by naming one of the disciples, the one who surrendered him to those plotting against him. ^D Therefore, the divine Spirit cursed him by name through Jeremiah, saying: « The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with a diamond point. » You will find these things in the Hebrew itself, and in the other interpreters besides the Seventy; and in various psalms you might learn what is revealed concerning him. But now, nonetheless, through the passage before us, the divine Scripture clearly foretells the very number of the pieces of silver for which Judas, having received them, betrayed the Teacher to those plotting against him. Further things can be said regarding what we have related about the person of Christ, namely, how those who plotted against him—whom he elsewhere calls the princes of Sodom and the people of Gomorrah—

the prophetic word now calls Canaanites, because of their likeness to the Canaanites. After the prophecy says, "And the Canaanites shall know," it adds, instructing us whom it wishes to indicate, and says: "the flock that is kept for me." What were these flocks, previously kept for the Lord, if not the people of the circumcision? Calling them Canaanites now, the Word, as if from the person of Christ, adds, saying: "And I will say to them" what is written, which he might also say to those who plotted against him, as if demanding from them a reward for the benefits he conferred upon them, that is, faith in him and a life consistent with that faith. For so I understand "Give me my reward." But they, according to what was said elsewhere about them by him: "Instead of loving me, they slandered me; but I prayed. And they set against me evil for good, and hatred for my love," ^B gave the thirty pieces of silver to the traitor, valuing him at that much in their most impious judgment. But since the work of each one is to be tested by fire, for this reason the Lord commands that they be cast "into the smelting furnace," that is, into the fire of judgment and punishment. Who are these, if not those who plotted against him? And consider, he says, if it is approved; and it is clear that it refers to what was done against him by them. He says they will be tested in the fire in the same way that the Lord himself was tested for their sake through his sojourn in the flesh and his passion. For he indeed first became man and suffered for the salvation of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Following these things, the Word, signifying their rejection after the passion of our Savior, says: "And I cast away my second rod." And instructing us what this is, he adds "the cord," about which it is said: "the cord of his inheritance, Israel." He therefore sets this forth more clearly, adding: "that I might dissolve the former covenant of God which was between Judah and Israel." And it is clearly shown that from the time of our Savior, all the observances of the worship according to the law were removed, and from that time to this present day they have been utterly destroyed.

CHAPTER XXVII

"Sword, awake against my shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow, saith the Lord almighty; strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn my hand upon the shepherds." Since the evangelist, taking from this point the words "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock ^D shall be scattered," taught that they had reached their fulfillment at the time of the saving passion, when the disciples, having left him, were scattered; for this reason, we too have marked this passage, and we shall treat it at a suitable time, as it requires much investigation to be illustrated by a more extensive explanation.

^A

CHAPTER XXVIII.

From the same.

CHAPTER XXIX.

From Malachi.

CHAPTER XXX.

From the same.

^A leading many of those who formerly did not know God to conversion. But from him, ^B as he is the high priest and guards the knowledge concerning all things, the studious have sought and will seek the divine law, to whom he is about to impart the knowledge concerning himself; for he himself is the “Angel of the great counsel,” ministering and announcing to every creature the will of the Father.

CHAPTER XXXI.

From the same.

“Behold, I am sending my angel, and he shall look out the way before my face; and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, shall come into his own temple, and the angel of the covenant, whom you desire; behold, he is coming,” says the Lord Almighty. “And who shall endure the day of his entering? Or who shall stand before his sight? Because he himself enters as the fire of a furnace, and as the soap of laundrymen; and he shall sit down refining and purifying as silver and gold.” ^B These things are prophesied concerning the second coming of Christ, when... he who is sent by God and the Father of all, Christ himself, who is now called “the angel of the covenant,” shall look out the way before the face of the Father—that is, he shall prepare and make ready the souls of men for the kingdom of the Father. When, with rational and living stones, he has prepared the spiritual temple—that is, the Church—the Lord and God the Word himself shall come, together with the aforementioned angel of the covenant, into the temple that has been spoken of; then, as if foretelling his second coming, the Word says to the sinners: “Behold, the Lord Almighty comes; and who shall endure the day of his entering? Or who shall stand before his sight?” and what follows. ^C These things must be diligently attended to, as being uttered by the mouth of almighty God as if to another; and it must be asked of those from the circumcision whether they have anyone to speak of as the Lord meant here, and the Angel of the covenant with him, of whom the Lord Almighty speaks, saying, “Behold, he is coming,” and the rest. By these things our second coming of Christ is proclaimed; he who, being the Word of God, arriving, shall enter into the soul of each one, judging everyone concerning the things done by them in their life, washing them, and refining them like gold through fire, and cleansing the governing principles of all. For the Father has given all judgment to the Son, according to the word that also says in the Psalms: ^D “O God, give your judgment to the king, and your righteousness to the son of the king; to judge your people in righteousness, and your poor in judgment;” where he who is king has assumed man, and is “the son of the king.”

CHAPTER XXXII.

From the same Malachi.

“And for you who fear my name, a sun shall arise...” the divinity and God the Word himself is proclaimed; but in

the healing in his wings, ^A and it is “the sun of righteousness,” which is “the true light that lightens every man that comes into the world.” It is said to rise only for those who fear the name of his Father; but for those who are not such, he threatens that it will set, according to what is said in one of the prophets: “And the sun shall set upon the prophets who lead my people astray.”

These indeed are the things from the twelve prophets; but since the testimonies from Isaiah, by reason of their number, are intended to be treated by us in a separate book, let it be permitted us, having turned to them, to examine the documents from the other great prophets in reverse order.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

From Jeremiah.

“But you, O Lord, have demonstrated it to me, and I have known; then you showed me their designs. ^B And I, like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter, did not know; they devised plans against me, saying: ‘Let us put wood into his bread, and let us destroy him from the land of the living, and let his name not be remembered anymore.’” Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, “was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb,” and according to the one in our hands: “And I, like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter, did not know.” And his passion and cross can be indicated by these words: “Let us put wood into his bread, and let us destroy him from the land of the living; and let his name not be remembered anymore.” ^C These things, indeed, are said from the person of those plotting against him. For if his body was bread, as he himself teaches his disciples, saying: “Take, eat; this is my body,” this was truly applied to the wood by means of the cross, whence it is not undeservedly said, “Let us put wood into his bread.” The things we have said regarding this passage are no impediment to its being contemplated more accurately.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

From the same.

“I have left my house, I have forsaken my inheritance; I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies. ^D My inheritance has become to me as a lion in the forest; it has uttered its voice against me, therefore I have hated it. Is my inheritance a speckled bird to me? Is it a bird dyed through and through? Come, gather together all the beasts of the field, make haste to devour. Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trampled my portion; they have given my desirable portion into a desolate wilderness. They have placed it in dissipation, and it has mourned over me. The whole earth is made desolate with desolation, because there is no one who ponders in his heart.” The voice of our Lord and Savior seems to be heard, saying out of the temple of Jerusalem: “I have left my house.” And concerning the former

^A Synagogue, which was once a part and the lot of his inheritance, it has come to pass that, “I have left my inheritance,” in accordance with that saying: “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” But he himself who said, “No man taketh my life from me, but I have power to lay it down,” also says this: “I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies.” To this one, indeed, the former inheritance became as a lion in the forest. It gave its voice against him when, delivering him to Pilate, they stood accusing him and all but shouting, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Wherefore he says, “I have hated it,” on account of its works worthy of hatred, and because they had shown nothing worthy of love toward him. But what follows, and this especially: “Because of me the land has been made a desolate wilderness,” seems to indicate the ruin and captivity of the former people, fulfilled after the passion of the Savior, and the final desolation of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER XXXV

CHAPTER XXXVI

house of Israel and unto the house of Judah. In those days and at that time, I will cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David.” ^A To these he immediately adds: “For thus saith the Lord: There shall not fail from David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; and of the priests and the Levites, there shall not fail a man from before my face to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle sacrifices, and to perform victims all the days.” ^B And again: “Thus saith the Lord: If my covenant can be broken with the day, and my covenant with the night, that there be not day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and the Levites and the priests my ministers. As the stars of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites my ministers.” ^C And again, after a few words, it is said: “Thus saith the Lord: If I have not set my covenant between day and night, and the laws of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so as not to take of his seed to be rulers of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” ^D What, then, is the Branch that the Lord is to raise up for David? It is the divine Word, of whom it is said elsewhere: “Behold a man, whose name is the Branch,” who also is foretold to reign, and shall be wise, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. This one, even to those souls sitting in darkness, shall arise as a light in his heavenly kingdom; and when, according to the Apostle, “the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in,” and all the true Israel shall be saved with the spiritual Judah, whom the Lord himself shall call by name, whom he shall judge as worthy in Josedec, which is interpreted as "the just ones of God." On that day, when God shall have delivered them from the slavery of the devil, so that they may no longer serve him, but the Lord their God alone, God promises that he will raise up for them David as king—clearly our Savior, who was born of the seed of David, whom the Scriptures have peculiarly designated by this name. In this prophecy, therefore, David is considered to be the man according to our Savior. The Branch of righteousness, however, is the Deity that flourishes in him, called in other places the “Sun of righteousness,” since indeed it is the “true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” To God, therefore, he says that the man who is the leader and prince of his Church, which is the spiritual house of Israel, shall not fail; nor does the Scripture prophesy that the spiritual priests of God shall ever fail, who bring spiritual incense, and the sweet odor of good works and words, as well as the unbloody and pure sacrifice. For if we do not accept these things in this way, they accuse the prophecies of falsehood, since the earthly throne of David and the typical priesthood no longer subsist. Indeed, the kings of the seed of David had already been cast down in the times of Jeremiah; while the Levitical and priestly cult was overturned not long after the incarnation of the Savior; from which time even unto now it is not permitted

to them to go up to Jerusalem. And if the Jews of the circumcision should claim that there is some patriarch through whom they say the seed of David has not failed, they must be refuted by being unable to show him sitting upon the throne of David, and reigning upon his throne, and ruling over Israel; for the prophecy says these things shall never fail, which have clearly been seen to have failed from the times of the captivity, since which not even one king of Israel of the seed of David is shown to have existed; and what could they say also concerning the priesthood, which is clearly destroyed in the present time, even though the prophecy foretells that it shall never be wiped out? ^B

CHAPTER XXXVII. From the same.

“Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not remain in my covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will give my laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will write them, and I will be to them for God, and they shall be to me for a people. And they shall not teach each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; because all shall know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the Lord; because I will be merciful to their injustices, and of their sins I will not remember any more.” ^C Manifestly, the Lord foretells that in the coming days He will make a new covenant; and it is “new” because it has nothing in common with the old, which we have learned was given through Moses in the desert. What could the Jews answer to these things, attempting to turn their eyes away from the prophecies and preferring rather to show them as unfulfilled than to be persuaded by the truth through the acceptance of the new covenant of the Gospels of our Savior, upon whose coming the first grew old, and began to reach its end from the time when Christ appeared and fulfilled the law and the prophecies concerning Himself? He says, therefore, that days will come in which the Lord will make the new covenant, which is that written within the evangelical books. ^D Then the same Lord adds, saying that after those days, in the viscera of those who have received the new covenant, He will write His own laws, so that they might be to God a people, and He to them a God, in no way brought to the knowledge of the Lord by human teaching, but rather becoming as if self-taught, or better, God-taught; which anyone might discern even in the present time. For it is possible to see how, in the viscera and hearts of those who believe in God through Christ, the new covenant and the laws of the Lord are written, for one who observes among us the multitude of private men who have

manifested such a virtuous and philosophical way of life—a life not easily discovered among those who are trained in philology and pride themselves on their study of the Scriptures.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

From Lamentations.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

From Baruch.

^A it was seen on earth; that is, as it is agreed, after the whole way of the Gospel was opened through the law and the prophets. “For it discovered,” he says, “every way of discipline, and gave it to Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved; and after these things it appeared on earth, and conversed with men.”

CHAPTER XL.

From Ezekiel.

CHAPTER XLI.

From the same.

^A my sanctuary in the midst of them forever; and my tabernacle shall be in them, and they shall be to me a people; and I will be to them for a God. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever.”

After the gathering together of the spiritual and true Israel from their dispersion, and after the finding of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, when the fullness of the Gentiles has been brought in, then the Lord himself promises that He will be God to His future people, and that He will set His servant David as a prince in the midst of them, who shall feed them and rule over them, not for a small and brief time, but forever. Let the Jews, if they wish, imagine that that man, the son of Jesse, is being announced to them by the Scripture, framing for themselves a kingdom of his that is earthly, and awaiting God’s promises in things corruptible and terrestrial, unworthy of a divine promise; but we, being persuaded that these things by no means harmonize with divine promises, nor do they pertain to David himself—although they are spoken as if about him—we receive these instead as being about ^B our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, begotten of his seed according to the flesh, believing that the prophecies are more fitting for Him than for that David, even in those things which in the Holy Scriptures are read as if from the person of David; such, for instance, as: “The Lord said to me: You are my Son; this day I have begotten you”; and that: “You shall set me as head of the nations,” which are spoken in the seventeenth Psalm; where again, as if from his person, we read: “A people whom I have not known has served me; at the hearing of the ear it has obeyed me.” For of whom else is God to be thought to have said: “He shall call upon me, You are my Father,” and “And I will make him my first-born,”—if not of our Savior, His only-begotten Son? For what unique thing happened to David, beyond the other prophets and just men, such that it should be said and prophesied of him alone that he would rise again as king and shepherd ^C of God’s sheep? Therefore, seeing all these things, and attending to the prophecy of Isaiah, which announces these other things about Christ after the death of David: “A rod shall go forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend from the root; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,” and the things that follow—just as we now examine those things which are spoken as if about David—we are persuaded that these also are spoken of the same Savior. For only the Christ of God, called David metaphorically, is found to be the good shepherd, having become the leader and savior of God’s flock and of the Church; who is prophesied to be established by the Father as king over all the spiritual Israel, after the Lord has turned back the captivity of His people.

CHAPTER XLII. Ex Daniele.

^A God of heaven shall raise up another kingdom, which shall not be for ages and shall not be destroyed; and this kingdom shall not be left to another people; it shall break and dissipate the kingdoms, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw the stone cut from the mountain without hands, and it crushed the clay, the iron, the bronze, the silver, and the gold.” These things are signified concerning the kingdom of Christ which is to occur at the consummation of the ages; for the stone, which was cut from the mountain without hands, would indeed be a symbol of the Word of God, who is also called a stone in other prophecies, as in the passage: “Behold, I lay in the foundations of Sion a tried stone, a corner stone, precious,” and: “The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.” The present passage therefore says that this one, having pulled down and crushed the kingdoms of the world, and the principalities, and the authorities, and the world-rulers, shall possess the kingdom of the saints ^B forever.

Chapter XLIII. Ex eodem.

CHAPTER XLIV. From the same.

^A him; and when they were looking into heaven, behold, two men stood by in white robes, who instructed them concerning his second coming, predicting that he would return in a cloud. Therefore, to Christ alone has been given by the Father both honor and the kingdom, so that all nations might worship him, and every tongue might confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

CHAPTER XLV

From the same.

While Daniel was praying in the captivity of all the people of Babylon and in the desolation of Jerusalem, the archangel Gabriel appeared and at the same time signified to him the end of the seventy-year captivity, the restoration of Jerusalem, the time from that restoration until the advent of Christ, and the second capture of the city which would occur after these things, as well as the enslavement of the entire nation, which was brought to pass ^B after Christ's presence. These, therefore, are the words of this passage: “Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to tell you, for you are a man of desires: therefore, consider the word, and understand the vision. Seventy weeks are shortened upon your people, and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to blot out iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand: from the going forth of the word that Jerusalem should be rebuilt again, unto Christ the Prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street ^C shall be built again, and the wall, in straitness of times. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain; and there shall be no people to serve him, for he shall deny him. And the people with the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and his end shall be destruction, and after the end of the war, the appointed desolation. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week the sacrifice and the oblation shall fail: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and even unto the consummation and the end, the desolation shall persevere.”

Of those who have investigated the aforementioned weeks, we know one, Africanus, who examined ^D them more accurately and more successfully than the others. Therefore, it seems necessary to me to bring forward his explanation of this passage, and then to consider if we ourselves might be able to contribute anything to the argument. He writes, therefore, in the fifth book of his *Chronographies* in these words:

CHAPTER XLVI

From Africanus.

“This passage of prophecy contains many and scarcely credible...

^A things. But now there is need for us to speak about the times and matters pertaining to those times. That these things are said concerning the advent of Christ, who is to appear after seventy weeks, is clear. For at the time of the Savior are the transgressions worn away, and sins find their end through redemption, and iniquities are blotted out by the sacrifice of propitiation along with the transgressions, and an eternal justice is proclaimed in place of that from the Law, and visions and prophecies reach until John; and the Holy of Holies is anointed. For before the Savior’s incarnation these things did not yet exist, but were merely expected. The calculation of the years, that is to say the seventy weeks, or 490 years, is begun by the angel ^B ‘from the going forth of the command to answer and to build Jerusalem.’ These events occurred in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians. For Nehemiah, his cupbearer, having made his request, obtained the answer that Jerusalem should be built, and a word went forth commanding these things; for until that time the city had been desolate. For after Cyrus had, after the seventy years of captivity, permitted each of those who wished to return of their own free will, those who went down with Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel, and those who came after them together with Ezra, were at first hindered from building the temple and surrounding the city with a wall, as if this had not been commanded. ^C Expectation therefore remained until the time of Nehemiah and the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, which was the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian empire, and 185 years from the capture of Jerusalem. It was then that King Artaxerxes commanded the city to be built, and Nehemiah, having been sent, was placed in charge of the work; and the building was wide and a wall was fashioned round about, as had been prophesied; and from that point the seventy weeks are to be counted for us until Christ.

“For if we were to begin counting from elsewhere and not from this point, the time will not coincide, and very many absurdities will occur. For if we were to make the beginning of the counting of the 70 weeks from Cyrus and the ^D first return, a hundred years remain over, and a longer time if from the day on which the angel prophesied to Daniel, and a much longer time still if from the beginning of the captivity. For we find the Persian kingdom bounded by a space of 230 years, and that of the Macedonians extending to 300 years, and from that point unto the sixteenth year of Tiberius Caesar are sixty years. But from Artaxerxes the 70 weeks are completed unto the time of Christ according to the calculations of the Jews. For from Nehemiah, who was sent by Artaxerxes to restore Jerusalem—in the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian kingdom and the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes himself, and the fourth year of the eighty-third Olympiad—until this time, which was the second year of the two hundred and second Olympiad and the sixteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, there are gathered 475 years, which become four hundred and ninety Hebrew years when calculating those years according to the lunar month, which is, to say it simply, twenty-nine and a half days; since, therefore, the cycle of the year is 365 days and a quarter, it exceeds the lunar year by eleven days and a quarter. Wherefore the Greeks and the Jews [add] three intercalary months [every eight]

to the lunar year by eleven days and a quarter. For this reason, both the Greeks and the Jews insert three intercalary months every eight years; for eleven and a quarter taken eight times make three months. Therefore, the four hundred and seventy-five years become fifty-nine cycles of eight years and three months; and since there is an intercalary three-month period in the eight-year cycle, this amounts to fifteen years lacking a few days; and these, in addition to the four hundred and seventy-five years, constitute the seventy weeks. ^B

These are the things the aforementioned man has discussed regarding these passages. Let us also, after the interpretation provided, see if it is possible to understand these things in another way, so that we may not appear, by passing over the times from Cyrus to Artaxerxes, to be offering an uningenuous interpretation, nor failing to provide a reason for the distinction that exists between the seven weeks and the sixty-two, as the divine Scripture shows, not without a most true and profound purpose, in these words: "Know therefore and understand: that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem unto Christ the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street and the wall shall be built again." Observe whether our explanation would be forced if we were to calculate the times from Cyrus himself, of whom Daniel prophesies. ^C For this very man was the first to issue the response concerning the rebuilding of Jerusalem, according to the writing in Ezra, which holds this manner: "And in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of the Persians, and made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and that in writing, saying: Thus saith Cyrus king of the Persians: The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath commanded me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem," and the rest. To which it adds: "Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his god. Even those did Cyrus, king of the Persians, bring forth by the hand of Mithridates, and numbered them unto Samanassar, the prince of Judah." Following these things, the Scripture relates how the first ones to return laid the foundations of the temple, and how they were hindered in their labors during this interval of time, until the seventh week of years. ^D For an interval of forty-six years elapses from Cyrus until the sixth year of Darius, at which point the building of the temple reaches its end; whence the word reasonably set apart the first seven weeks from the rest, wishing to signify the time between the first laying of the temple’s foundations and its complete fulfillment. For Cyrus, having reigned for thirty-one years, handed over the power to his son Cambyses; after whose nine-year reign, Darius succeeded, and again, just as Cyrus once did, ordered Jerusalem to be built by edict. And in the sixth year of his reign, which was the forty-sixth from Cyrus, the building is completed. Whence, in the Savior—

^A our Lord they said: "Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?" According to Josephus, exactly forty-nine years are reckoned from Cyrus to the ninth year of Darius, in which he says the building of the temple reached its end, stating in the eleventh book of his *Archaeology* that the restoration of the temple was completed in the seventh month of the ninth year of the reign of Darius. To which he also adds, saying: "And they inhabited Jerusalem, using an aristocratic form of government mixed with oligarchy; for the priests presided over affairs until it happened that the descendants of Asamonæus [Asamonaeus] reigned." ^B These, therefore, are the seven weeks carried in the prophecy, bounded by the aforementioned year of Darius; it is evident, then, for what reason they have received a separation from the rest. Let us also see to what times the remaining sixty-two weeks are bounded. The ninth year of Darius corresponds, according to the chronology of Greek history, to the sixty-seventh Olympiad; from this to the one hundred and sixteenth Olympiad, in which Seleucus, after the death of Alexander, gained control of all Syria and Babylonia, there are two hundred years; from hence to the death of Simon, the high priest of the Jews, the first book of Maccabees, which recounts history up to Simon, mentions that one hundred and seventy-seven years have passed. Again, from there, Josephus, most accurately noting the succession ^C of the priests, relates that after Simon, John, also called Hyrcanus, presided over the people for twenty-nine years; that he was succeeded by Aristobulus, who reigned for one year; after whom Alexander for twenty-seven years, and after him his wife Alexandra; up to whom, from the ninth year of Darius, all the years are reckoned as four hundred and thirty-four, which are the sixty-two weeks during which the anointed ones presided—these being the high priests—who, beginning from Cyrus, presided over the affairs of the nation. For it is evident both from the Holy Scripture, and indeed from the aforementioned words of Josephus, that after the return from Babylon, from Jesus the high priest himself, they used leaders and rulers in succession, ^D until those whom Josephus calls the sons of Asamonæus, whom Scripture named the Maccabees, of whom the first to hold the high priesthood was Judas, surnamed Maccabaeus, who also led the people after putting to flight the generals of Antiochus. After him, Jonathan, his brother, took over both the high priesthood and the rule of the people at once; and again, his brother Simon was high priest, after whom Hyrcanus, after whom Judas, who is also called Aristobulus, succeeded: who was the first to add the diadem of royalty to the high priesthood. After him, Alexander, having received the high priesthood and royal power at once, died while his wife succeeded him. Then, with the weeks that had been foretold to Daniel completed, the leaders called "anointed ones" from the priesthood cease to rule; in order that it might be shown that these words, "until Christ the leader," relate to those weeks; as if it were said more clearly:

nine and sixty weeks of years will pass, that is, four hundred eighty-three years, in which some Christ and high priest, succeeding to the leadership, will oversee the affairs of the people. And indeed, it is clear to everyone from the facts we have ^A previously set forth that such a number of years elapsed from Cyrus to the death of Alexander, the last of the high priests who led them. After him, a woman, uniquely among all those who had held it, took up the rule of the nation, from which time the affairs of the Jewish principate and those of the high priesthood, which had advanced steadily from their ancestors, were thrown into confusion.

Having therefore taken the authority, the aforementioned woman gave the high priesthood to her son Hyrcanus, but she herself, having held the kingdom for nine years, died. After her came Aristobulus, another, who himself, having quarreled much with his brother, stripped him of the high priesthood, only to be cast down from his kingdom three years later. ^B Immediately, the Roman general Pompey, arriving, besieged Jerusalem by force, polluted the holy things by advancing as far as the inner sanctum of the Temple, and led Aristobulus away captive to Rome along with his children. And after Hyrcanus was also led away into captivity by the Parthians, Herod, the first of foreign birth, received the kingdom of the Jews from the Roman Senate. As Josephus reports, he was an Idumean by paternal descent and an Arab on his mother's side. And Africanus, whom we mentioned a little earlier, narrates: "Those who have accurately inquired into his origins allege that Antipater (who is said to have been his father) was the son of a certain Herod, an Ascalonite, who was one of the slave-servants ^C of the Temple of Apollo."

With the rule of the Jews having passed to such a man as this, the prophecy of Jacob handed down by Moses is fulfilled, which says: "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until he comes for whom it is reserved; and he is the expectation of the nations." And it is evident, both from the histories and from the details we have set forth, that the rule of those who were themselves Hebrews, who had held the leadership of the entire nation by succession, did not fail until Herod, in whose time Christ was born. When Herod, a man of foreign race, first became their king, immediately the coming of Christ was fulfilled, and the expected hope of the nations began to be realized in deed through the teaching of our Savior, which ran through every nation. Then also the prophecy in Daniel, after the ^D weeks we have discussed, was confirmed, saying: "And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointing shall be destroyed, and judgment is not in it; and he will destroy the city and the sanctuary with the coming leader; and they shall be cut off in a flood, and until the end of the war, there will be determined desolations." Now, in what way the account of the aforementioned weeks...

^A and of the remainder thereafter [LVII + LXII], a prophecy in which it is proper to understand by way of ancestral succession, and the history up to the times of Herod revealing the high priests by succession throughout their whole life—when some "anointed one" and high priest was leading the people, so that for this reason it was said in the oracle, "until the anointed leader"—has reached its end in the times of Herod, has been shown as far as we were able.

How, then, after the completion of the time of the aforementioned weeks, "the anointing was destroyed" (for there was no judgment in it), ^B just as the scripture text indicates—signifying that after a prudent judgment the anointing according to the high priesthood would be completed at the time indicated—this would become clear to those who have set their minds to the ordinance of the Law (by which it was ordained that those whom it befits to receive the high priesthood by way of ancestral succession should hold it for their whole life until their death), and to the history up to the times of Herod, which reveals the high priests by succession throughout their whole life, in accordance with the legislation regarding them, worthy of the honor. And [it shows] how, under Herod, not only are the matters of such an ordinance concerning the high priests confounded and corrupted, but also [the matter] of the holy garment, which it was lawful only for the high priest to have, and which it was not permitted for any other but him alone to officiate in—Herod, being a foreigner, took the authority for these things from them and exercised it himself.

If it is necessary to provide evidence for these things as well, receive the words of the witness whom Josephus, the Hebrew himself, who was also deemed worthy of the priestly honor and was of the most illustrious lineage among them, recorded in the twentieth book of the *Archaeology*. Regarding the alteration of the high priests, he writes word for word as follows:

^C "When Herod had received the kingdom from the Romans, he no longer appointed high priests from the Asamonæan lineage, but conferred the honor upon certain unworthy individuals who were not of priestly descent, with the exception of one, Aristobulus. Aristobulus, in fact, the son of Hyrcanus, who had once been led away into captivity by the Parthians, he appointed high priest, and he married his sister Mariamme, seeking for himself the favor of the multitude out of respect for the memory of Hyrcanus. Afterwards, fearing that all would incline toward Aristobulus, he did away with him in Jericho, contriving that he should drown while swimming, as we have already shown. ^D After him, he no longer entrusted the high priesthood to the descendants of the Asamonæan children. Archelaus, his son, acted similarly to Herod regarding the appointment of the high priests, and after him, the Romans, having taken over the empire of the Jews."

These, then, are the words of Josephus regarding these matters. Regarding the high-priestly garment, he relates the following in the eighteenth book of the *Archaeology*:

"King Herod, having adjusted this garment..."

which had been prepared at great expense, he called the Antonia ^A by name, and he kept the high-priestly robe, receiving it just as it was lying there, trusting that the people would attempt no revolutionary action against him because of it." Herod’s son and successor to the kingdom, Archelaus, acted in a similar manner; from him the Romans received the authority and held the high priest’s robe, having stored it in a house built of stone under a seal.

From these things, then, there can be a most certain proof that the delineations of the prophecy occurred according to the times indicated. But if those of the circumcision do not agree with these things, another interpretation of this scriptural passage must be requested of them instead of our own, and they must be shown that, according to them, the predictions of the great Gabriel ^B must necessarily be convicted of falsehood, if nothing of those things previously announced has happened in these thousand years that have since elapsed until now. But to us, truly, the account is clearly demonstrated to be truthful according to the interpretations we have sincerely set forth, and in accordance with them it is easy to indicate how the final hebdomad, coming after the others, confirmed the covenant for many—the New Testament of the saving proclamation, which was spread throughout the whole earth and announced no longer to one people of the Jews alone, but now also to many, so that for this reason it was said: "He shall confirm the covenant for many for one hebdomad."

It is reasonable to observe that the final one hebdomad is not joined continuously to the remaining hebdomads ^C, just as the account says it will confirm a covenant for many; for it did not do with the one as it did in the case of the seven and sixty-two hebdomads. For in those, having divided the number of the entire time into the seven and the sixty-two hebdomads that followed, it made the division joined together, attaching the sixty-two to the seven, leaving no time or action in between, because there is not even any interval of time mentioned that divides and separates the history composed ^D of those hebdomads. But concerning the one hebdomad that follows, a certain long and distinct separation occurs. For after the sixty-two hebdomads, he says first: "Christ shall be killed, and there is no judgment in him"; which was manifestly proven by the outcome in the times of Herod. Then he adds: "And the people with the coming leader shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." But who shall destroy, if not the devil, the plague of souls? Or who is the "coming leader" if not Herod, who was the first from the nations to be appointed over them, and those after him who have held the rule over the Jews until now? Just as, therefore, the prophecy allegorically called the ancient leaders of the people, namely the high priests, a "Christ leader," in the same way it called those who, after the former were removed, took charge of affairs from the Gentile stock, a "coming leader," saying: "And the people with the coming leader shall destroy the city and the sanctuary"; which Aquila signified more clearly in this manner: "And the people of the coming leader shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." For it is known what is[...]

how the people and the army of those who succeeded the leaders of the Jews, taking over the rule from the nations, while making use of the laws of the nations, both destroyed the city and the sanctuary. And the spiritual corrupter of souls, together with the leader who had come according to the prophecy, wrought every destruction both upon the people formerly, and upon the citizens dwelling in the city, and afterwards upon the temple itself and the worship formerly performed in it. And divine Scripture, further indicating this cause of the presence of Christ that took place directly, says: "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is any who understands, or who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become useless. There is no one who does good, not even one." Then, as if teaching what follows for those who had been previously corrupted, the Word says: "And they shall be cut off in the flood, and they shall be cut off down to the end of a war shortened by destructions." And while these things were being completed and put into effect, ^B "And he shall strengthen the covenant with many for one week." And this would be the proclamation of salvation, through which our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ confirmed the New Covenant for the many who were discipled to Him: sometimes, before the passion, by living and associating with them, and at other times, "after his passion, appearing to them for forty days and remaining with them, and speaking concerning the kingdom of God." And for this reason, "He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem." And at the half of this week, all the remaining divine prophecies were fulfilled through the death which He suffered at the hands of the Jews; for when He had preached for three and a half years, and it is also established by the account of the Gospels, it was said: "And in the middle of the week, the sacrifice and the oblation shall cease." ^C And it is clear that, at the time of the passion, the sacrifice and oblation were effectively taken away from them, when, according to the account of the Gospels, "the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom," and according to the history of Josephus:

"In that same Pentecost, at night, the priests who had entered into the temple, as their custom was, for the sacred rites, first said that they perceived a movement and a noise, and after that a loud voice: 'Let us depart hence.'"

These things, reported word for word and other things similar to these by Josephus in his histories, ^D seem to agree with us, demonstrating in reality that the bodily worship of the people had been dissolved and abolished after the saving passion. I know also of another interpretation given for the "week that shall strengthen the covenant with many"; for the Word, taking this week as a week of decades, would represent the entire time of the apostles as extending to seventy years, in which the proclamation of the New Covenant was no longer for one, but having been preached to many nations, it clothed the whole world.

has been confirmed. For it is evident from histories that John, the disciple of the Lord, lived on for seventy years after the death of the Lord, that is, until the reign of Trajan; and according to this opinion it is manifest that in the middle of this week of decades sacrifice and oblation ceased, and the “abomination of desolation” stood in the holy place. ^A For from the resurrection of our Saviour to the final siege under Vespasian, thirty-five years have elapsed; which makes up half of the aforementioned week. Indeed, with the ancient and holy temple being utterly destroyed by flames and devastation, this week reached its conclusion. And that the Scripture shows that this, “Sacrifice and oblation shall cease, and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation,” shall remain until the completion of life, it adds: “And until the completion and the end, the desolation shall persist.”

Having briefly explained this, it remains for us to address the prophecies of Isaiah, who is left as the only one from the entire Old Scripture for us to elucidate. ^B

BOOK FOURTH.

^C Intending to treat the prophetic selections from Isaiah, which are all that remain for us to expound, for the sake of those who do not believe in the prophecies, we shall preface a few things to demonstrate the truthfulness of the prophets. First, we shall set forth a valid and appropriate argument for those who have come before us. For it seems to me to have been well said, how the law itself testifies to those subject to the law of Moses, that the nations among whom they live “will listen to augurs and diviners. But as for you,” it says, “the Lord your God has not granted you such.” And furthermore, the divine word, restraining them from augury and every curious divination by demons, adds, saying: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers.” ^D Would it then have been possible for them, if these things had been written for them but had not come to pass in reality, and if no prophetic men had appeared among them, to believe in the law and in the word that promised these things, which was so plainly and clearly false? Or is it manifest that, led by their very own natural propensity for the knowledge of future events, they would have been driven to contempt for their own oracles, in which there was nothing true or divine, and, with no prophets appearing, they would have voluntarily fled to the divinations and oracles of the nations? But in fact, they appear to have acknowledged not only Moses, but many who were raised up after him, as prophets of God; and they could only have done so by having experienced the divinity within them. For they prophesied to them not only concerning things that would occur in the most distant and final times, but also concerning things present

^A and contemporary; such as things concerning lost donkeys, or concerning those who were critically ill, whether they would recover or not, or concerning the future prosperity of the people, and countless other things which are found in the histories concerning them. But if they had not acted in this manner, I ask—by what word could anyone have recognized them as prophets or called them such, or why would they have deemed their words worthy to be written down? Or what was the reason why they handed down their writings to their descendants as if they were divine? For it would be entirely preposterous to suppose that they would have received such things from them in vain and for no reason, without having seen anything divine or extraordinary in those men.

If anyone, in his mind, were to look back to those times, what would he think, seeing rustic men of ignoble appearance—cowherds, as it were, and shepherds—coming into the midst of the whole nation, teaching certain things as if in the name of God and exclaiming, "Thus says the Lord," ^B speaking boldly and freely before kings and the entire people, demonstrating wisdom greater than human wisdom, which even now thrives in their prophecies, teaching countless mysteries through parables and enigmas, delivering moral and dogmatic instruction to the people in the Hebrew language, living a life consistent with their own teachings, conversing before all without flattery, openly rebuking the impious, and, despising the very danger of death, defending the truth with manly and noble courage? If anyone diligently considers these things, he could not but confess that all such men were moved by a certain divine inspiration. And therefore, it was right that they were admired by the wise as being among the wisest, that their words were preserved in the sacred Scriptures, and that they are believed even until now by all nations to be prophets of God.

This is also most clearly confirmed by our discussion concerning Christ, in which we have demonstrated that everything which happened to him, his entire teaching, and the calling of the nations that came about through him, had been expressly foretold and predicted many years before by those men inspired by God. Their sacred books the Jews would be more trustworthy than we are in presenting, for they treat them with all due and venerable honor. Having usefully established these things, we must return to our subject. ^C

CHAPTER I. From Isaiah.

^D • The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall come unto it. And many nations shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will tell us his way, and we will walk in it. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many peoples; and they shall beat their swords

^A into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; and nation shall not take up sword against nation, and they shall not learn to make war any longer. ^B Let those who boast of circumcision show us what this law is, and what kind it is, and to whom it is to be given, which is prophesied to go forth from Zion. For, he says, "out of Zion shall go forth the law," clearly a different one from the law given through Moses in the wilderness. And what is the Word of the Lord, which, according to the prophecy, will no longer remain in Jerusalem, but will go forth from Zion itself and pass over to all the nations, and is about to judge between them, and rebuke many people, when a most profound peace having come upon the nations to be judged by the Word of the Lord, they who are deemed worthy of this peace will change their former weapons of war, and will apply their minds to the cultivation of their own souls? I do not know what those people could answer to this. But for us who rightly believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it is easy to explain the whole prophecy, and to demonstrate that it is truly divine and altogether marvelous, since we believe that the predicted events have been fulfilled by the outcome, and that we do not wander from the truth by postponing the fulfillment of these prophecies into indefinite spaces of time. For we say that at the incarnation of our Savior Jesus Christ, he did go forth bodily from Zion, and from there the law of the New Testament was proclaimed to all the nations, that is, according to the Gospel, when the saving Word himself, being called the Word of the Lord, went forth from Jerusalem, where he had been dwelling and teaching, according to the saying: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." ^C Upon all nations he poured out his own grace, and they, being judged by him and rebuked for their former sins, coming to a sense of them and to repentance, have ceased to train for wars according to the passions, and live in a most profound peace of soul, caring only for the cultivation and fruitfulness of their own minds. Whether one wishes to take these words according to the letter, the sense is sound; or if you look to the spirit, it is by far easier to understand. Since it must be believed above all, and especially in this place, that the things here mentioned have had their fulfillment; nevertheless, by what has been said, the first words of this passage, "in the last days," can easily be understood; for it is manifest that in the consummation of the ages, the "mountain of God," the spiritual one, that is, the divine and heavenly Word, has become manifest; and his house is the Church, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and for that reason is said to be upon the top of the mountains. And these things indeed became manifest after the rejection of the people from the circumcision, and after the kingdom of heaven was taken away from them, when the words related above this prophecy had reached their end, where it is said: "And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is besieged." And when that which is written was fulfilled: "Hear the word of the Lord, ye princes of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord," and the rest; to which...

^A he adds: "Your new moons and your sabbaths and your festivals my soul hateth: they are become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. And when ye stretch forth your hands, I will turn mine eyes from you: and when ye multiply your prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood." Observe how the Word, addressing all these things to them, does not here charge them with idolatry or any other iniquity, nor even with much bloodshed, but with the shedding of one blood of a certain preeminent person, to wit, Christ, on account of whom the Scripture expressly rebukes the people, saying: "Your hands are full of blood." Wherefore it immediately adds: "How is the faithful city, full of judgment, become an harlot? Justice dwelt in it, but now manslayers." And after this again, the prophetic discourse, foretelling their reprobation, ends with these words: "They shall be as an oak that hath cast its leaves, and as a garden that hath no water. And your strength shall be as the wick of tow, and your works as a spark: and both shall be kindled together, and there shall be none to quench them." After the prophecy has ^B thus pronounced such and so great things against them, it immediately introduces the passage we have just set forth, by which it is said: "For it shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest." Clearly, after their total and complete rejection and desolation, it manifests the dispensation of the New Testament, according to which the mountain of the Lord has become manifest to all nations. And what is this mountain, if not the Word of God who was in the beginning with God? The Savior and Lord himself, whom we have already set forth, of whom it is also said in the Psalms: "The mountain of God, a fat mountain," and, "The mountain in which it hath pleased God to dwell." Besides this mountain, the house of the Lord has also become manifest. Now the house of God is the Church, which is raised upon the summit of the apostolic and prophetic words. But since these things have been made manifest upon this very mountain, it is clear that it was not Israel ^C who possessed the divine Word, nor the house of Jacob as indicated in many places, but simply all the nations; and it is indeed clear how and in what manner, after those things foretold had been fulfilled through the manifestation of our Savior, and the mountain described and the house declared had been made manifest, we who are from the nations, having come through faith in Christ the Son of God to the God of all—being formerly ignorant of such great things, but now, by divine grace, having come to knowledge of them—have come to Mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. And as being instructed by the Word of God who came forth or descended from the heavenly Jerusalem, in that "the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother": ^D toward this heavenly house of God, toward Sion, the heavenly mountain of the Lord, we, inviting and exhorting one another with doctrines and incitements, say: "Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us..."

his way, and we will walk in it." When these things were accomplished, and by the grace of God were made manifest to all of us, another prophecy likewise attained its fulfillment, through which the saving Word himself bears witness more clearly to the passage of Isaiah’s prophecy which is before us, saying: "I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me; I said: Behold, here am I, to a nation that did not call upon my name." But if anyone should not agree with our interpretation, I know not what other mountain or house of God he could point to, regarding which the prophecy speaks of things that were not yet bodily manifest at that time, as I have just related. These things might also ^B signify the second coming of Christ, at which time the things prophesied would have a more perfect fulfillment than they do now. It is to be noted that these same things are found almost word for word in the prophecy of Micah.

CAPUT II.

From the same.

"Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the strong and the mighty, the whole strength of bread and the whole strength of water: the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the soothsayer, and the elder, and the captain of fifty, and the honorable in countenance, and the counselor, and the wise architect, and the prudent hearer of mystical speech. And I will give children to be their princes, and the effeminate shall rule over them"; and the rest, to which God adds: "Do not appoint me as a leader of the people. For Jerusalem is fallen, and Judah is cast down: because their tongues ^C and their devices are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his majesty. The acknowledgment of their countenance has responded to them: and they have told their sin as Sodom, and have not hidden it: woe to their soul, for they have meditated a wicked counsel against themselves, saying: Let us bind the just one, because he is useless to us; therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own devices." The book known as the Wisdom of Solomon says almost the same things about the just man: "Let us therefore lie in wait for the just one, because he is useless to us, and is contrary to our words." The words of this place are clearly seen to be spoken about Christ; there, however, it is prophesied concerning those who plotted against Him, and especially against those who meditated a wicked counsel. And therefore the Scripture adds the imprecation upon them: "Woe to their soul"; but it also adds the punishment ^D that awaits them, saying: "They shall eat the fruit of their own devices." For what they sowed against Christ, this they shall also reap in the judgment of God. And now in this present life, observe whether or not the discourse of this prophecy that says, "Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the strong and the mighty," has been fulfilled in them after their plots against Christ. For truly, those things which were previously

abiding in them—divine and heavenly grace—have been taken away, and it is no longer possible to find among them either a prophet or a visionary. Where, indeed, is their warrior, or the judge, the wonderful counselor, or the prudent listener? And if they appear to partake of the spiritual bread because they encounter the holy words of God, see whether the power and strength stored within the divine Scriptures has not been taken away from them. For Jerusalem has clearly fallen for them, and all other things have been fulfilled against them because of that one sin against Christ. "Woe, then," says the Scripture, "to their soul;" and it adds the cause for such a curse, saying: "Because they have plotted an evil plot against themselves, saying: Let us bind the just one, for he is useless to us." ^B

CHAPTER III

"My people, they who call you blessed are deceiving you, and they disturb the path of your feet. But now the Lord shall stand for judgment, and He shall set His people for judgment. The Lord Himself shall come to judgment with the elders of the people, and with the princes thereof." It does not seem that this refers to the God of all—"Now the Lord shall stand for judgment"—and especially, "The Lord Himself shall come to judgment with the elders of the people, and with the princes thereof." But this prophecy would be more fittingly applied to the Word of God, who is also called Lord. For He indeed, having been preached to all under heaven as the Word of God, shall be established as the judge of all, giving no place for excuse to any of the impious, since His teaching has reached the hearing of all. Jesus Christ shall come to judgment, especially with the elders of the people and with His princes, since they were the ones who gathered against Him and plotted the conspiracy against Him. They also, calling the people over whom they presided "blessed," were deceiving them, calling evil good, and declaring the excellent words of our Savior to be evil. ^C

CHAPTER IV

"And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying: Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, either in the depth or in the height. And Ahaz said: I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And He said: Hear now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to provide a struggle for men, and how do you provide a struggle for the Lord? Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bear a son, and you shall call His name Emmanuel; butter and honey shall He eat, before He knows or chooses evil, He shall choose the good; because, before the child knows good or evil, he disobeys wickedness to choose the good." Let those who do not accept the advent of our Savior Jesus Christ from the circumcision tell us who is this virgin who, according to the prophecy, ^D

will conceive in the womb and bear a son, whose name shall be called Emmanuel. But if they argue that the Hebrew word in the Scripture does not signify "virgin" but "young woman," one must answer that those who first interpreted the sense of the divine Scripture—being the seventy in number, chosen as the best from all the people, and having given no small proof of their wisdom for those times—were not just ordinary men. For what miraculous sign ^A would the Word have promised, as being given by the Lord Himself as a kind of prodigy to the house of David, if it meant only a simple young woman? Nothing, indeed, prevents us from believing that the prophecy indicates a virgin, even if the Hebrew, according to them, includes the term for a young woman; for instance, in Leviticus, you will find a virgin betrothed to a man who, if she suffers violence from another, is also called a "young woman" by the Scripture. And here, indeed, it would be decorous for a sign to be given by the Lord to the house of David, by reason of their incredulity: that a virgin should miraculously give birth, the child about to be born of whom is proclaimed to be someone wonderful. ^B For he is prophesied as one who, from his very boyhood and, so to speak, from his very birth, would not obey wickedness but would choose the good. And his name is also miraculously announced beforehand to be Emmanuel, which is "God with us." This we ourselves also affirm, we who acknowledge and confess the divine and mystical incarnation of his power toward all men. Let it be called Emmanuel, "God with us," again, because while the Father and God of all is beyond not only mortal but every spiritual nature, the Son is not undeservedly named "God with us," since he has dwelt among us. But if the Jews refer these things predicted to Ahaz to Ezechias, his son and successor to the kingdom, it must be observed that these things were predicted while ^C his father Ahaz was already reigning; yet it is certain that Ezechias was born before Ahaz attained the kingdom. Ahaz had reigned sixteen years when Ezechias succeeded him, who was then in his twenty-fifth year of age; so that he was born nine years before his father ascended the throne. But these things were predicted to Ahaz when he was already reigning, concerning the marvelous and most astonishing birth of Christ. The person with a love of learning, who has studied the exegetical works of that wonderful man on these passages, will know what the sense of each of the individual words of this prophecy is.

CHAPTER V.

^D And the Lord said to me, Take to yourself a large new book, and write on it with the pen of a man, that it may quickly make a dividing of spoils. For it is ready; and make for me faithful men as witnesses, Uriah the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias. And I approached the prophetess, and she conceived in her womb, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, "Make speed to take spoils, quickly plunder," because before the child knows how to call his father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria...

before the king of Assyria." ^A For in the recording of the wonder that was to be accomplished, the prophet is commanded to take a new and great scroll, by which I suppose the Gospel of the New Testament is signified. He is also told to take faithful men as witnesses for the Lord, of whom one is said to be a priest and the other, I think, a prophet; the Scripture of Chronicles mentions him, and I suspect that they themselves were also a type of those prophets who became witnesses to the advent of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of those who were long ago appointed as priests in his figure. After this it is said, "And I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son," and what follows. It is very unbecoming and far from the dignity and purity of the prophetic office to imagine readily that the prophet, at the very time he was being inspired in the presence of the aforementioned witnesses, had come to a woman, a prophetess, for ^B the sake of shameful intercourse. What plausibility is there in the idea that he would dare to approach her so that she might conceive and bear a son? Indeed, I consider even this prophecy to have the same meaning as the one set forth before, in which it was said, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb." For there it was foretold that the virgin would conceive in the womb and bear a son; but here, the manner in which the prophecy was fulfilled is indicated. For it says, "She conceived in the womb and bore a son." Who, then, could be the one saying, "I approached the prophetess," if not the Holy Spirit, by whom the prophet was inspired as he prophesied, and of whom it was said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you"? Therefore, she might not unreasonably be called a prophetess herself, who, conceiving from the Holy Spirit, bore him who is called Emmanuel in that place, but is addressed differently here: ^C "For call," he says, "the name of the child who is born, 'Make speed to take spoils, quickly plunder'." For he truly did spoil and plunder, by a mystical and divine power, the opposing invisible and spiritual powers, so that he could say, "I have conquered the world." From these, having taken as spoils and booty the souls long oppressed by them, he confesses that he came "to proclaim release to the captives," receiving from the Father "the nations as his inheritance," which could easily be called spoils, and "the ends of the earth as his possession," which would deservedly be called booty. Furthermore, "Before the child knows how to call father or mother," he says, "he will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of Assyria." ^D These things, too, I think are to be understood in a single sense, either regarding certain wicked powers, which the divine power of our Savior destroyed at his very birth, or regarding the difference among the souls of those who have believed in him. I think that those which were converted from idolatry to the evangelical life here represent the power of Damascus; while those, specifically from the circumcision of the people, who have received the Christ of God, are called the spoils of Samaria. Having taken these souls as spoils and booty from the spiritual enemies, he took up arms before the spiritual king of Assyria, that is, the devil, and girded himself for the battle against him.

^A These things are manifest in detail to anyone who wishes to discern them from the commentaries on these passages by the holy man. But if those who are of the circumcision should demand these things more corporally, they must be examined in turn, to see if they can themselves demonstrate corporally in what way Isaiah, after the aforementioned witnesses, approached the prophetess for the sake of bodily union; and who this prophetess was, and of what kind, and how she instantly conceived and immediately gave birth; and who this child born of the prophetess was, whom the Lord himself commanded Isaiah to call by the name, “Make haste to despoil, make haste to plunder”; and what reason there is for such a name; or how it is possible, according to the literal meaning, for any child one might imagine to receive corporally the so-called power of Damascus and the so-called spoils of Samaria ^B before the king of Assyria, and to do these things “before he knows how to call father or mother.” And in addition to this, if they should contradict what we have previously set forth, let them demonstrate how the Christ expected by them, when he arrives, will receive corporally, according to the prophecy, the “power of Damascus,” and what “spoils of Samaria,” or from which “Assyrians” he shall take them before the king, when none of these exist in the present times.

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

of him is ^A “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty, Strong, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”; and according to Symmachus, “The child’s name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty, Strong, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” It must therefore be demanded of those of the circumcision what child they could have to whom these things might be applied and presented; for as for us, these are conceptions of the divine power of Christ, in whom those who have not believed would wish, if they had been consumed by fire, that they had rather seen their own rejection and the salvation of the nations, which it is said the zeal of the Lord of Sabaoth will accomplish. To this you will append that which is spoken by Moses in some such way as this: “They provoked me with their idols, and I will provoke them with those who are not a nation; I will irritate them with a foolish nation.” But truly it is not of the present time, nor does it fall within the scope of our purpose, to explain every word of the prophecy; nor how it is said, “upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it,” ^B at which it is likely those of the circumcision might stumble, because the Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ did not sit bodily upon the throne and kingdom of David. On which account, referring curious readers to the commentaries we have formerly published, we proceed to what was proposed.

CHAPTER VIII

“Lo, the Lord of hosts, the Lord Sabaoth, shall shake the noble ones with power, and the high in stature shall be broken, and the lowly shall be humbled, and the high shall fall by the sword; and Lebanon with the high ones shall fall. And there shall go forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise out of his root, and the spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness shall fill him; ^C the spirit of the fear of God. He shall not judge according to opinion, nor shall he reprove according to speech, but he shall judge the case of the humble, and shall reprove the humble of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the spirit of his lips he shall destroy the ungodly. And he shall be girded about his loins with righteousness, and with truth he shall have his sides bound. And a wolf shall feed together with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie down with a kid, and a calf and a bull and a lion shall feed together, and their young shall be together, and a lion as an ox shall eat straw, and a young child shall put his hand upon the hole of asps, and upon the bed of the offspring of asps, and they shall not harm, nor shall they be able to destroy ^D anyone on my holy mountain, because the whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water to cover the seas. And it shall be in that day, the root of Jesse, and he who rises to rule the nations, for him shall the nations hope, and his rest shall be honor.” Neither have they of the circumcision understood this prophecy as relating to anyone else than Christ, except that, inasmuch as they grasp the simple letter of the prophecy bodily, they refuse to place their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We, however, being persuaded that all things in accordance with the prophecy are worthy of God, concerning the customs of men at the advent of our Savior

believe that these things were spoken of those who have been transformed from the depth of wickedness into gentleness. Even now we see how and in what manner, in the Churches which are throughout the world, after the advent of Jesus Christ, who has sprung from the root of Jesse, many men have been reshaped, and have changed their very nature from a savage life—being previously like wolves, leopards, and lions, and whatever other wild beasts and reptiles the prophecy enumerates according to the analogy of the complex wickedness and malice in each. And having changed and, as it were, been reshaped, they have reached such a degree of gentleness that they feed together, eating the same food of the holy words of God as the most gentle, righteous men of God, whom the divine word has compared to the innocent, harmless animals and nursing infants recorded here.

If someone should find these things hard to accept, let him say how else this passage can be interpreted according to a common understanding. For what reason, therefore, and in what way will Lebanon fall along with the heights? And how will he not take allegorically both the rod and the flower that will spring from it? Let him show how a rod is said to come forth corporally from the root of Jesse, and whence a ^B flower is to ascend from its root. But if he struggles to provide an interpretation of these things, which is very difficult, observe whether the remaining portions have not also had their full fulfillment for us at the advent of our Savior in a beautiful way.

These, too, came to pass in agreement with the prophecy, when the Lord of Sabaoth broke the former nobles of the earlier people, whom He foretells would be crushed, humiliated, and cast down because of the insult they committed against our Savior. And Scripture says that Lebanon would fall along with them. For thus it was his custom to call Jerusalem and the worship formerly celebrated there by the name Lebanon allegorically; as is evident from that place in Ezekiel, where it is written in this manner: "A great eagle, with great wings, long in limb, full of feathers and variety, which has authority to enter into Lebanon, and it pulled out the tender parts of the cedar." And explaining this same thing afterwards, the same prophet clearly teaches that Lebanon is Jerusalem, saying: "Son of man, say to the exasperating house: Do you not know what these things signify? Say, When the king of Babylon comes to Jerusalem, he shall take its king and its princes." It is manifest, therefore, that this Lebanon also fell—along with those who were lifted up—by their insult at the advent of our Savior, who was born from the root of Jesse, upon whom rested the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, who also shall come again in his second and glorious manifestation, not judging according to opinion, "For God does not accept a person," neither reproving according to speech: "For He is the searcher of reins and hearts, and reaches even to the division of soul and spirit." Moreover, when his incarnation had already taken place, the earth was most truly filled with the knowledge of the Lord, with not only the Jews knowing Him. Then also the prophecy had a more complete fulfillment,

^A when the fullness of the Gentiles, having entered in with the rest of the nations, and all Israel shall be saved, and Christ, having risen from the dead, has been appointed by God to rule over the nations, according to the words, "And there shall be a root of Jesse, and one who arises to rule over the nations; in Him shall the nations hope." ^B Observe, therefore, how neither Israel, nor Jacob, nor Judah is named here at all, but the nations are clearly prophesied to hope in Him who shall arise from the root of Jesse, as this passage concurs with that in Moses, which says, "A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until He comes for whom it is reserved; and He shall be the expectation," not of Israel, but "of the nations." And whose other rest has been at the highest honor with God, except for Him who heard the Father saying to Him, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?

CHAPTER IX.

"And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and one will sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and hastening justice." These things are also prophesied concerning the second coming of Christ, when the Word of God, ^C having had His rule over all things prepared in mercy and loving-kindness, shall sit in the tabernacle of David, judging with truth. I consider that the Church of the saints and the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens, and all who have become partakers of the word of God, are thus designated as saints.

CHAPTER X.

"Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and will come into Egypt, and the things made by hands in Egypt shall be shaken from His presence, and their heart shall be defeated in them." I consider that to take these words as referring to the uncreated nature of the God of all, as if He were about to be carried upon some cloud and to dwell in Egypt in a bodily manner, is neither credible nor religious. ^D For this reason, the prophecy must be referred to the Word of God, and it has already been manifestly fulfilled at His first coming, during which He came into this life, metaphorically called Egypt, upon a light cloud—namely, the flesh formed for Him by the Holy Spirit—and also into Egypt itself in a bodily manner, into which He was brought by His mother and Joseph while He was still a child. At that time, according to certain mystical words, the demons who previously dwelt and were active everywhere in man-made images were shaken and disturbed by His presence. This is what is indicated by the prophecy which says, "And the things made by hands in Egypt shall be shaken." These things shall also be fulfilled through His second and glorious reign in the heavens, by which it is fitting that they, too, should be shaken. And then, most especially, these things made by hands in Egypt, whose heart shall be defeated, shall be disturbed, as it says

when the Divine Word subjects to himself and humbles at that time every height now exalted against the knowledge of God; all the rest of the prophecy will be rendered solely through allegory. ^B

CAPUT XI.

^A "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt, and a pillar by the border of it to the Lord: and it shall be for a sign forever to the Lord in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry to the Lord because of those who afflict them, and the Lord shall send them a man who shall save them, judging he shall save them. And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall make sacrifices and offerings; and they shall vow vows to the Lord, and shall perform them." ^B And who else could be the man sent by the Lord, who is to save the Egyptians by judging, but the Christ of God, who "taking the form of a servant, was found in fashion as a man"? ^C Since Egypt signifies allegorically the life of men, the Egyptians would be those who are vexed by demons and are more inclined toward earthly things, whom the God of all took pity on when they were oppressed by the tyranny of the demons, by sending the aforementioned man, who saved them with a salvation worthy of God, so that those who were formerly excluded from the Church of the Lord under the Law, by the manifestation that occurred to them, might recognize the Lord, the Lord himself making himself known to them. It is clear how in the aforementioned land of the Egyptians an altar was built to the Lord for all the congregations that gather in every place to invoke and worship God. ^D Perhaps someone opposing this passage—namely, "and there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians"—might say: if an altar is any place of sacrifices, where, according to the Word of God, irrational beasts are slaughtered, would it not be more just and more true that an altar to God is made through Christ in every earthly place—Egypt being named metaphorically—because of all the martyrs everywhere, who as sacrifices and victims for the salvation of the human race are offered to God, and in the very physical land of the Egyptians, where so many and such great martyrs glorified God with their own blood? But if those of the circumcision should find this difficult to believe, let them themselves say when and where and what altar was erected to the Lord in Egypt, and who is the man who saved the Egyptians, and how and when the Lord became known to the Egyptians, so that they, departing from their former error, might attain the knowledge of him: for this is what it is to know the Lord. But all the rest of the prophecy contains a deeper meaning, which the present time does not allow to be unfolded.

Chapter XII.

"Lord, in distress I remembered you; in a small tribulation your discipline is upon us. Like a woman in labor drawing near to"

^A conceive, and when she is near to birth, she cries out in her pains; so have we become to your Beloved." A certain title in the Psalms is borne: "For the Beloved;" and again it is said: "The King of the virtues of the Beloved." It is shown in these places that he is none other than Christ, he who is called the Beloved of God. For this reason, we have also noted this beloved one, whom we have supposed to be the same one of whom a voice was clearly heard from the heavens saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

CHAPTER XIII.

"Hear the word of the Lord, you mocking men, and rulers of this people who are in Jerusalem. For you said: We have made a covenant with Hades, and with death we have made agreements; if the overflowing scourge should pass by, it shall not come upon us; we have placed falsehood as our hope, and by falsehood we shall be covered. Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I cast into the foundations of Sion a stone, precious, elect, cornered, honorable for its foundations; and he who trusts in it shall not be ashamed; and I will place judgment for hope, and my mercy unto weights." ^B And how is the opinion of those who corporealize this, looking for some one of these precious or valuable stones to be cast by the Lord himself into the foundations of a corporeal Sion, upon which stone it is prophesied that he who trusts shall in no way be ashamed, not truly childish and utterly deserving of ridicule? Casting off, therefore, the foolish and Jewish interpretations, which the Apostle calls old wives' tales, let us understand the divinely inspired prophecies in a way worthy of God. He says, therefore: "For this reason, behold, I cast into the foundations of Sion a stone." And why this, except because the rulers of the former people had made agreements with death, and because they had abandoned the covenant of God and, instead of this, had made a covenant with Hades, and supposed that because of these things they would suffer no evil; but also because they had placed their hope upon a falsehood and thought they would be covered by that falsehood? For this reason, since those people had fallen away from their hope in God, he promises to place a precious stone for those who believe. But to those who said: "We have made a covenant with Hades, and with death we have made agreements; if the overflowing scourge ^C should pass by, it shall not come upon us; we have placed falsehood as our hope, and by falsehood we shall be covered," the Scripture adds a little later: "You who have trusted vainly in a falsehood, the scourge shall not pass you by; it shall even take away your covenant of death, and your hope toward Hades shall not remain; if the overflowing scourge comes, you shall be for it a trampling." Which things were clearly fulfilled upon that people at the coming of our Savior. Therefore, consistently, we do not consider anyone else to be the one signified, the elect, ^D proven, and wonderful stone, in whom those who have believed shall not be ashamed, than the holy Word of God, in whom, as in a foundation of stone, the spiritual and celes-

celestial Zion hath been built, being none other than the Church of God. ^B "For other foundation can no man lay than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ." Concerning this, it is also said in the Psalms: "The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner," and it is called "the corner-stone." Daniel also interprets this stone as the kingdom of Christ, where he says: "And the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain, and filled all the earth." Those, therefore, who were building according to the letter of the law rejected this stone; yet nonetheless, though rejected by them, it was revealed as the head of the corner of the Church from the Gentiles, according to what is said somewhere: "You shall set me as the head of the Gentiles." On this stone, therefore, he who believes shall not be ashamed, as this prophecy concerning him also verifies.

CHAPTER XIV

"Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar; his wrath is burning, and heavy to be borne; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire." What else could be meant here by "the name of the Lord" but God the Word, through whom all things were created? This prophecy, then, as I think, is to be understood as referring to his second and glorious manifestation.

CHAPTER XV

"Thus says the Lord: Blessed is he who has seed in Zion, and kin in Jerusalem. For behold, a righteous king shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment." Christ of God, saying, "I have been set up as king over them," is signified in this prophecy. ^C But the princes who are under him are, of course, the apostles, and those who govern the Churches with the judgment of God, or the divine angels, the guardians of human salvation. Because of him, therefore, who rules Zion and Jerusalem, "Blessed is he who has seed in Zion, and kin in Jerusalem"; which can also be fittingly understood of the apostolic spirit, teaching us of the heavenly Jerusalem and the celestial mount Zion.

CHAPTER XVI

"Rejoice, thirsty wilderness, let the wilderness exult, and blossom as a lily. It shall blossom, and shall exult with joy and praise; the glory of Lebanon has been given to it, and the honor of Carmel; and my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God. Strengthen the relaxed hands, and confirm the weak knees. Say to the faint-hearted: Be comforted, and do not fear: behold, your God brings the vengeance of retribution: God himself shall come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame man shall leap as a hart, ^D and the tongue of the dumb shall be opened."

^A For waters have broken out in the wilderness, and torrents in the desert; and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. ^A He foretells that at the presence of God, marvelous healings shall occur. Clearly, therefore, Christ the God is honored here as well by the title of God; at His presence, the aforementioned healings were indeed accomplished bodily among those who were suffering, but more wonderfully they are still being carried out even now through faith in Him, with the whole human race being set free from the passions of the soul. For waters broke out in the wilderness at Christ’s presence, and a torrent in the parched land, as the saving and life-giving Word gushed forth in the once-deserted and parched land—that is, the Church gathered from the nations. In her, although she was formerly arid and thirsty, the fountain of Jesus’ words, as a "fountain of water springing up into eternal life," suddenly gushed forth. Being watered by this fountain, the land that was once a desert is said to blossom as a lily, and it is commanded to rejoice and be glad. The cause of the rejoicing and gladness is also added, since, as it says, "The glory of Lebanon was given to it," that is, of Jerusalem; concerning which it was said in the earlier prophecies: "And Lebanon shall fall with the lofty ones." Upon his fall, that glory which formerly existed in it was given to the now evangelized wilderness—that is, the Church from the nations—along with the former honor of that which was called Carmel, that is to say, the former people. These things clearly received their fulfillment in deed after the coming of Christ, in accordance with the prophecy at hand and with the voice of our Savior Himself, which says: "The kingdom of God shall be taken away, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."

CHAPTER XVII

^C "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and all the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough into smooth ways; and the glory of the Lord shall be seen, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, for the Lord has spoken." John, the forerunner of our Savior, says to those who asked him who he was: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness," and the rest. We have set forth this chapter, therefore, among the testimonies concerning Christ, for this reason: we judge John to be a symbol of the apostolic preaching. For such is indeed the voice crying in the wilderness, being something obscure and inarticulate to those who were just being instructed; but in the once-desert land, that is, the Church from the nations, such a voice having come to be commands to prepare the way of the Lord, and the rest; ^D which anyone who is studious of this knowledge will find if he examines it at his leisure.

CHAPTER XVIII

"Go up unto a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Sion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Juda: Behold your God, the Lord Ku-

^A comes with strength, and his arm shall have dominion: behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall carry those that are with young; he shall himself bear them. We think that these things are said concerning the advent of the Word of God, and perhaps even more concerning the second advent, in which he is prophesied to come as a just judge, having a just reward for everyone according to their works. It is not, however, the time now to explain what remains; wherefore we shall approach another passage.

CHAPTER XIX

^B “Who hath raised up the just one from the East, hath called him to follow him? He shall give nations in his sight, and he shall rule over kings: he shall give them as dust to his sword, as stubble driven by the wind to his bow. He shall pursue them, he shall pass in peace, the path of his feet shall not appear. Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, am the first and the last. The islands saw and feared, the ends of the earth were astonished, they drew near and came. Everyone will help his neighbour, and say to his brother: Take courage. The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him who forged in that time, saying: It is good for soldering; and he encouraged him with nails, that it might not be moved.”

What would this Justice arising from the East be, having its own proper essence and substance, if not the Christ of God, of whom the Apostle says: “Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption”? ^C Him, being the beginning of every spiritual light, the Providence—or the Father himself—raised up from the paternal bosom through his incarnation, and gave him in the sight of the nations; so that their former invisible kings, namely the most wicked powers, might be struck with the wonder of the miracle, seeing such a Son of God bearing neither form nor beauty; and that upon that astonishment their swords might be turned to dust, and their bows become as stubble driven by the wind, so that they might no longer possess warlike arms and fiery darts, with which they formerly harassed the souls subject to them.

After this, he says, “And he shall pursue them,” that having pursued them with every kind of weapon, “he may pass in peace the path of his feet.” “Who hath wrought and done these things?” he says. We think this refers to the excellence and kindness of the God of all who calls her—Justice, that is to say, which is no other than his wisdom—because of whom the nations, which previously lived in the contempt of God, have beheld the truth and feared God. ^D Those who were once most remote have become near to the kingdom of heaven. And therefore they were astonished at the miracle of salvation, teaching one another and brother helping brother; and they confess their former error regarding idols, saying these very things. For he was indeed a blacksmith and coppersmith who, with hammer, and nails, and human apparatus, susci—

-^A-rios is coming with strength, and his arm with power. ^B Supporting those who were previously our brethren, they confess their former error concerning idols, saying precisely this: “He was essentially a craftsman and a smith, who by hammer, nail, and human ingenuity raised up and strengthened those whom we formerly considered gods; but they were nothing other than inanimate statues, incapable of any movement of their own; our fathers acquired idols as lies, and there was no profit in them.” Now, that these things were thus fulfilled at the arrival of our Savior is demonstrated by works more than by words.

CHAPTER XX

“Jacob is my servant, I will take hold of him; Israel is my chosen one, my soul has received him. I have put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry out, nor shall he remit, nor shall his voice be heard outside. A bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench; but he shall bring forth judgment in truth; he shall shine forth, and shall not be broken until he places judgment upon the earth, and in his name shall the Gentiles hope.” Thus says the Lord God who made the heavens and fashioned them, who established the earth and the things in it, and who gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk upon it: ^B “I, the Lord God, have called you in righteousness, and I will take hold of your hand and will strengthen you; and I have given you as a covenant of the race, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring forth those who are bound from chains, and those who sit in dark- ^C ness from the house of prison.” That these things from “Jacob is my servant, I will take hold of him; Israel is my chosen one, my soul has received him” and the rest are not prophesied concerning the Jewish people, will be clear to those wishing to examine every word of what is set before us. It is clear even from the precision of the Hebrew text: for neither the name Jacob nor Israel is contained in it; hence that name has been marked with an obelus by the accurate copies of the Septuagint, inasmuch as there is no other of the righteous—except our Savior Jesus Christ—who is designated as the son of Isaac, Jacob, or Israel, and who could be such that these words might adapt to him; I suppose no one doubts this. For even if one granted ^D that these things could apply to others: to whom could it be said, “I have put my Spirit upon him,” “He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles,” and what follows, especially the phrase, “And in his name shall the Gentiles hope”? How could it be credible that it applies either to the Jewish people, or to the son of Isaac himself, Jacob, or to any other of the righteous: “I have given you as a covenant of the race, a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring forth those who are bound from chains, and those who sit in darkness from the house of prison”? These things, however, let us pose as if to those of the circumcision; certainly, the Gospel clearly teaches us that this prophecy was fulfilled in our Savior Jesus, when “the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus perceiving it, withdrew from there; and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all,” and commanded them that they should not make him manifest. For it is added in the Gospel to these things: “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophe-

- ^A and rebuked them, so that they should not make Him known. For it is added in the Gospel: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased; I will put my Spirit upon him," and the rest that are recounted in the prophecy. He Himself would be the one also named Jacob, being the only-begotten Servant of God; as it has been said elsewhere: "It is a great thing for you to be called my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to turn back the dispersions of Israel." This One, therefore, having heard from the Father, among other things, the words: "I have given you for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles, he brought forth judgment to the Gentiles," so that they by a judged reason might be ordered according to the holy Gospel; it is manifest how the Gentiles who believed in Him have hoped in His name, and how He was revealed to them as a light to the Gentiles, so that through the light of His word the eyes of the mind might be opened for those who were previously blinded; but He also drew out from bonds those who were formerly tied together by the chains of their own sins, and from the house of the devil's prison those who, ignorant of the God of all, were sitting in darkness. It is permitted to the studious to examine each word of the prophecy, and to transfer to Christ the God what falls [under it], according to what we have said.

CHAPTER XXI

^B "Be my witnesses, and I also am a witness, says the Lord God, and the servant whom I have chosen." And who would be the servant whom the Lord God chose, whom He also counts among those who will be witnesses bearing testimony to Him, other than He of whom it was also said in the preceding chapter: "Jacob my servant, I will take hold of him," and the rest? Which things are clearly shown to have been prophesied concerning our Savior and Lord Jesus.

CHAPTER XXII

"I have made the earth, and man upon it; I by my hand have established the heaven; I have commanded all the stars. I have raised him up with righteousness as a king, and all his ways are straight. He shall build my city, and he shall turn back the captivity of my people, not for price, nor for rewards, says the Lord Sabaoth." Thus says the Lord Sabaoth: "Egypt has labored, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the high men of the Sabeans will pass over to you, and they shall be your servants, and they will follow behind you bound with shackles, and they will pass over to you, ^C and they will worship you, and in you they will pray, because God is in you, and there is no God except you; for you are God, and we did not know it, the God of Israel Savior. All who oppose you will be put to shame and be confounded, and they will walk in shame." The Father raised Christ from the dead, establishing Him as king with righteousness, reigning over the heavenly Sion, His holy mountain; and for this reason He raised Him up, because "all his ways," as it says, "have become straight," having nothing crooked nor

^A He also built the city of God, his holy Church on earth, and the heavenly Jerusalem, having turned back the captivity of his people—that which once occurred under the spiritual Nebuchadnezzar and the wicked powers subject to him. And indeed, he turned back the aforementioned captivity, not by giving a ransom to the captors, nor by swaying them with gifts, but by warring against them and casting them down in conflict, so that he could exclaim in triumph: "I have conquered the world." The multitude of those who, having turned from their former error, were brought by him to the knowledge of the true God, bears witness to this. Let those who are of the circumcision say to whom the words of this prophecy—which clearly confesses that the person prophesied is God—could fit. For he says: ^B "And they shall be your servants, and they shall follow behind you, and they shall worship you, and in you they shall pray, because God is in you, and there is no other God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know it, the God of Israel the Savior." For it is quite clear here that the text addresses him to whom it is said, "God is in you," and adds, "and there is no other God besides you; for you are God, and we did not know it." And this is to be understood as if spoken by the person of those who recognized the Christ of God having become man, in whom God the Father dwelt, according to the words: "I am in the Father, and the Father in me." And therefore those words apply to him alone: "There is no God besides you," ^C as if the divinity of the Word alone were united and blended with the Fatherly sovereignty, and on this account, the glory and authority of both are conceived as one. But in the passage, "Egypt has labored, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the Sabaim, men of stature, shall pass over to you," I believe there is indicated a struggle of certain opposing spiritual powers that took up arms against Christ and were made subject to him, or also of certain souls that, while primarily opposing the Word, later embraced his rule through their own good works. Concerning such, I think it is also said: "They shall be to you servants, and they shall follow behind you, bound with shackles, and in you they shall pray." But the passage, "All who oppose you shall be shamed, and they shall be put to disgrace, and they shall walk in shame," is prophesied concerning those who did not repent, but remained enemies and foes, and in no way wished to take upon themselves the yoke of the word of Christ. ^D And these things are offered as an explanation of Christ. But it is appropriate to apply the passage not only to those of the circumcision but also to those who have supposed that the Savior was a mere man, namely, the Ebionites, or those who follow Artemon, and Paul of Samosata. For in this place the divinity of Christ is clearly demonstrated to those who believe wrongly concerning him.

CHAPTER XXIII

the heavens. I will summon them, and they shall stand together, and they shall hear. Who has announced these things to them?" The Lord, loving thee, has done thy will upon Babylon, to take away the seed of the Chaldeans. I have spoken, and I have called; I have brought him, and I have made his way prosperous. Draw near to me, and hear these things; not from the beginning have I spoken in secret; when it came to pass, I was there. And now the Lord the Lord hath sent me, and his Spirit. ^A Since it is one Person who speaks these things in this passage, who else could it be but the Lord who made the heaven and fixed it, and established the earth, and who says, "I am the first, and I am forever," and adds in what follows, according to all who have interpreted the divine Scripture, "And now the Lord God hath sent me and his Spirit," that is, the holy Word of God, who, after the unbegotten beginning, is named the first God of all created things, of whom it is written elsewhere: "He sent his Word and healed them"? For He is the One through whom all things were made, those in the heavens and those upon the earth, whether visible or invisible; whom the Lord God the Father sent, and with Him the Holy Spirit, that He might manage the matters concerning the salvation of men. ^B It would be fitting that the saying be addressed to the Jews, teaching that the Lord who created all things is another, distinct from the God of all, by whom He confesses Himself to have been sent, saying: "And now the Lord hath sent me." He would be the very One to whom the Father, commanding in the creation of the world, says: "Let there be light, and let this and that come to be," and also that: "Let us make man according to our image." For this too is recorded in the Psalms: "For He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created." For it is manifest that he who commands something and speaks to another, both commands and orders one distinct from himself. However, to examine every word of the passage is not the work of the present treatise.

CHAPTER XXIV

^A Kings shall see him, and princes shall arise, and shall worship him, for the Lord’s sake; for the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and I have chosen thee. Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in a day of salvation I have helped thee, and I have formed thee, and given thee for a covenant of the nations, to establish the earth, and to inherit the desolate heritages, saying to them that are in bonds: Go forth; and to those that are in darkness: Be revealed. And they shall be fed in all the ways, and their pasture shall be in all the paths. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them; but He who has mercy on them shall comfort them, and by the fountains of waters He shall lead them, and I will make every mountain a road, and every path a pasture for them. ^B It is likely that the Hebrews suppose the words of this prophecy to be spoken concerning themselves, since it is said: "And He said to me: Thou art my servant, Israel, and in thee I will be glorified." But that these things do not befit them is clearly demonstrated by what follows, and that the things said are prophesied concerning another Israel; for it is written: "And now thus saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring back Jacob to Him, and Israel." And again He said to me: "It is a great thing for thee to be called my son, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dispersed of Israel." But also that which says: "Behold, I have given thee for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth," points to someone wondrous and miraculous for whom the discourse is held. And who would this be but our Lord Jesus Christ, who earlier in the passages above was designated Jacob and Israel through the words: "Jacob is my servant, I will uphold him; Israel is my chosen one, my soul has accepted him"? For He alone is the one who in truth sees God the Father, being named Israel, which is interpreted as "seeing God," according to the sense of His divinity; but Jacob, which is "supplanter," because by becoming man He utterly defeated all opposing powers. ^C Observe how the passages harmonize with one another, both the one in hand and that in which it was said, "Jacob is my servant," which is referred to Christ; for just as there it is said, "Jacob is my servant," so here, "It is a great thing for thee to be called my son"; and as there it is said, "Israel is my chosen one," so here, "For the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and I have chosen thee." And again, it is said there: "I have given thee for a covenant of the race, for a light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to lead those who are bound out of their bonds, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison-house"; whereas in the one in hand: "Behold, I have given thee for a light of the nations, to establish the earth, and to inherit a desolate heritage, saying to those in bonds: Go forth; and to those in darkness: Be revealed." ^D That these prophecies fit none other than our Savior alone becomes manifest to the multitude of the nations who have hoped in Him and through Him in the God of all, to whom He was established by the Father as a light. He says, therefore, "to establish the earth," that is, first toward the soul formerly agitated by tumult and storm.

to bring it to its natural stability and composure; but also "to inherit the inheritance of the desolate," signifying the Church from the Gentiles, which, being desolate before His presence, He took as an inheritance from Him who said to Him, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles as thine inheritance." ^A He indeed, according to the prophecy concerning Him, commanded those who were in bonds to go forth; readily, as in the case of Lazarus, whom He had seen bound with grave-clothes and lying for four days in the tomb, when He said, "Lazarus, come forth," and let him go free. But also, in a way of understanding, towards the daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, whom He also freed, restoring her to complete health from her infirmity; and generally, whenever He granted remission of former sins to all those tied in the chains of their own transgressions, as He alone possessing the authority to forgive sins. To whom also now by His doctrine He commands, that having broken their former bonds, they should go forth, saying to each one, "Behold, you have been made whole; sin no more." ^B Furthermore, He commands those who are still darkened by the shadows of ignorance and malice to be revealed, since He is the Word of God, inquisitive of the heart and reins, and a judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

But that we may run through these things as briefly as possible, and applying the preceding words to what is said about Christ, taking them up from the beginning, we shall set forth our interpretation of them. In many things, therefore, having openly manifested Himself to the people of the circumcision—when he is called by the name either of Jacob or Israel—in the present instance He does not prophesy to them, but calls the islands and the nations to the hearing of what will be said. And there is in this the promise of Christ, spoken concerning the calling of the nations that were formerly entirely infidel and foreign to piety in God, some of which are called islands; souls, that is, which formerly were in a certain manner tossed by the maritime storms of life and the most bitter swells of iniquity. What is to be understood concerning these, the Lord Himself teaches us, saying, "From my mother’s womb He called my name." ^C And this is clearly about Christ; for these are indeed His words, which we have learned from the Scripture of the Gospel. For when Joseph was ignorant concerning the conception of Mary, Gabriel, the minister of the Father’s will, having appeared to him, said in a dream, among other things: "She shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people." And he adds in the prophecy, saying, "And He made my mouth like a sharp sword," and again, "He made me as an elect ^D arrow." For the Word of the Lord is living and sharper than any two-edged sword, and reaching even to the division of soul and spirit, as the divine Apostle shows. These things also most fittingly apply to Him alone, who became obedient to the Father even unto death, namely, "You are My servant, O Israel, and in you I will be glorified." But that which follows, "And I said: I have labored in vain," and what follows, pertain to the Savior, on account of the fewness of those who, according to the Gospel...

of Him, live. And because He ^A came "only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," He is rightly said to have come primarily to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to convert the dispersion of Israel. Subsequently, however, because all of those people did not receive Him, it is added as if to Him: "Behold, I have set You as a light for the nations, that You may be My salvation unto the uttermost part of the earth." After this, the Lord God and Father, who delivered Him from all those who gathered against Him, commands us to sanctify Him, saying: "Sanctify him who has brought to naught his own soul." For He most truly brought His own soul to naught, "emptying Himself, and becoming a curse for us," and taking upon Himself our sins, He humbled Himself even to death, "even the death of the cross." He adds, then, "whom the nations abhor, the servant of rulers." For it is manifest that those who serve the rulers of this world not only abused Him at the time of His passion, saying: "He is burdensome to us even to behold," but they also abuse Him even now, attempting to withstand His teaching. This one, therefore, the Lord commands us to sanctify, foreshadowing His glorious presence. But that the discourse, while prophesying concerning the calling of the nations, brings forth the remaining prophecy starting from the words, "I have given You as a covenant for the nations," and what follow—things which, since they are more spiritual and to be rendered only according to the intellect, it is longer to examine—is not the task of the present work. ^C

CHAPTER XXV

"Thus says the Lord: What is this bill of divorce of your mother, with which I put her away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your sins, and for your iniquities I sent away your mother; because I came, and there was no man who would hear. Is My hand not able to deliver? Or do I not have power to save? Behold, at my rebuke I will dry up the sea, and I will make the rivers a wilderness; and their fish shall rot because there is no water, and they shall die in thirst. I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and I will make their covering as sackcloth. The Lord God has given Me the tongue of instruction, so that I might know when it is necessary to speak a word. He has set for Me, morning by morning, He has awakened my ear to hear, and the instruction of the Lord opens my ears. But I do not disobey, nor do I contradict. I gave my back to the scourges, and my cheeks to buffets, and I did not turn away my face from the shame of spitting; and the Lord God has become my helper. Therefore I was not put to shame, but I have set my face as a ^D hard rock; and I knew that I shall not be put to shame, for He who justifies Me draws near. Who is he that contends with Me? Let him draw near to Me. Behold, the Lord God helps Me; who is he that will harm

you? Behold, all you shall grow old like a garment, and the moth shall eat you up. Who among you is it that fears the Lord? Let him hear the voice of His servant. Those who walk in darkness and have no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon your God. Behold, all you kindle fire and strengthen the flame; walk in the light of your fire and the flame that you have kindled. Because of Me this has come upon you; in sorrow you shall lie down. ^A Manifestly, the divinity of the Word is shown by the things we have recounted, both that it pre-existed its incarnation and how, having become man, it was destined to suffer these things which are written in the Gospels. For who else would be the one saying, “Is My hand not powerful?” and what follows, down to “I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and I will make sackcloth their covering,” except the Word of God? For He ^B Himself, having said these things, adds, saying: “The Lord has given Me a learned tongue, that I might know when it is fitting to speak a word;” and again he adds the rest, saying: “But I am not disobedient, nor do I gainsay; I have given My back to the scourges and My cheeks to buffetings,” and the rest down to “For He who justifies Me draws near.” For we say that the Word suffered by power, while sympathizing with the man He took up. We do not know, therefore, whether anyone can provide a reason concerning the prophecy before us, if he does not admit that there is a certain second ^C substance of the Word of God, after the first and unbegotten Father and God of all. We, however, being rightly persuaded, believe this to be in truth the God Word, who also here among other things says: “I will clothe the heavens with darkness,” and adds from the person of the man He took up: “The Lord has given Me a learned tongue, that I might know when it is fitting to speak a word.” For to whom else but the man of our Savior would it be fitting to say also: “Who is it that contends with Me? Let him stand against Me”? Or regarding whom could the words from “Who is among you that fears the Lord? Let him hear the voice of ^D His servant” be spoken, if not of Christ alone, who according to the Scriptures despised shame, emptied Himself, and humbled Himself even to the scourges, when according to the prophecy concerning Him, Pilate scourged Him and handed Him over to be crucified? Then He also endured buffetings and spittings, when, at His words, the high priest tore his garments and proclaimed that He had blasphemed; for then they spat in His face and buffeted Him. And others struck Him, saying: “Prophesy to us, Christ, who is it that struck You?” The beginnings of this chapter seem to look toward the synagogue of the Jews. “For behold,” He says, “by your sins you were sold, and for your iniquities I sent away your mother.” For He came “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” and did not find a man among them, but although He called them first, there was no people listening. Therefore He says: “Therefore I came, and there was no man, and I called, and there was none who would hear.” And finally, the last part of this passage appropriately

refers, after their rejection, to the calling of the Gentiles, starting from: “Who among you is fearing the Lord? Let him hear the voice of His child.” For we were truly “those walking in darkness,” and before the coming of our Savior we had no light; but now, through the grace of God, we trust in the name of the Lord and are supported by God. But to those who did not believe in Christ, to whom it had been said above, “Behold, all of you shall wear out like a garment, and the moth shall eat you,” the Word adds, saying: “Behold, all of you kindle a fire,” and the rest. In these passages, it is clearly said—also the phrase, “Because of me this has happened to you”—from the person of Christ rebuking them and reproaching the transgression of the Jewish people committed against Himself.

CHAPTER XXVI

^B “Thus says the Lord: Because of you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles; therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day, because I am He who speaks, I am present as beauty upon the mountains, as the feet of one bringing tidings of peace, as one announcing good things, because I will make your salvation heard, saying: Zion, your God shall reign.” This prophecy also applies most aptly to the Savior, for at His incarnation the saying was fulfilled: “Because I am He who speaks, I am present.” To the former people, then, it is said figuratively: “Because of you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles,” and the rest. But these words: “Therefore my people shall know my name in that day,” can be understood ^C as referring to the Gentiles who have believed in Him. Thus He is the very One who formerly conversed with men by turns through angels and through prophets; and then, having come again after them, He announced salvation to all through Himself, the meaning of which the studious investigator will easily know.

CHAPTER XXVII

“And the Lord will reveal His holy arm before all the Gentiles, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation from our God. Depart, depart, go out from there, and do not touch anything unclean; go out from the midst of it, and be clean, you who carry the vessels of the Lord; for you shall not go out in disorder, nor shall you proceed in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be the one gathering you. Behold, my servant ^D will understand, and he will be exalted, and he will be lifted up, and he will be very high. In the way that many shall be astonished at you, so will your appearance be without glory among men, and your form among the sons of men. Thus many nations shall marvel at him, and kings shall restrain their mouth; because those to whom it was not told about him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand. Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We announced it as a child before Him, as a root

^A in a thirsty land. He has no form nor glory; and we beheld Him, and He had no form nor beauty; but His form was dishonored and failing, beyond the sons of men; a man in a blow, and knowing how to bear infirmity, because His face was turned away, He was dishonored, and was not accounted of. He bears our sins, and suffers pain for us, and we accounted Him to be in pain and in affliction and in a blow. But He was wounded for our sins, the instruction of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruise we were healed. We all as sheep went astray; a man went astray in his own way, and the Lord delivered Him up for our sins. And He, because of being afflicted, opens not His mouth; as a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He opens not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away, and who shall declare His generation? Because His life is taken from the earth, because of the iniquities of my people He was led to death. And I will give the wicked for His burial, and the rich for His death, because He committed no iniquity, nor was deceit found in His mouth. And the Lord wills to cleanse Him from the blow; if you should give for sin, your soul shall see long-lived seed; and the Lord wills to take away from the pain of His soul by His hand, to show Him light, and to mold Him by understanding, to justify the righteous who serves many well, and He Himself shall bear their sins; for this reason He shall inherit many, and shall divide the spoils of the mighty; for the sake of which His soul was delivered to death, and He was reckoned among the lawless; and He Himself bore the sins of many, and was delivered for their iniquities. Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, and be glad, you who were not in labor, for many are the children of the wilderness, more than of her who has a husband. ^B And when else, except at the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, did the Father and God of all reveal the great arm, being none other than the arm of His Word, before the nations, which, seeing the salvation given to them by God, is commanded to withdraw from their former error, and no longer to touch the defiled, shameful, and unclean things to which they were formerly enslaved? And since it does not happen by chance that they are deterred from the ancestral way of life and from the common society of men, for this sake the Lord Himself promises that He will walk with them and gather them, carrying His vessels, that is to say, the holy precepts and divine words. Again, for these people, just as in the previous prophecies Christ was diversely called the Son of God, so also it is said here. But He is prophesied as one who will understand, and will be lifted up, and will be greatly exalted because of His humanity, concerning which these things are said: for truly many were astonished and were amazed at Him, regarding Him as a man like themselves. ^C And they were astonished, seeing Him surrounded by no excellence or worldly glory, whereas, having laid aside the form of God, and emptying Himself, and taking the form of a servant, ^D worthy of admiration and astonishment.

He wrought miracles such that those who beheld them, struck with amazement, would say: “Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph? Is not His mother and His brothers with us?” ^A And even to this day, many marvel at Him and are lost in wonder, seeing His doctrine spread abroad and still reaching unto the whole world, and observing the unwavering and steadfast disposition of those who have believed in Him. But wondering at these things, they do not understand the divine power by which He performed and is still able to perform such great and mighty deeds. Truly, kings have constrained and closed their mouths against Him—whether those who were gathered together at the time of His passion, concerning whom it was said: “The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes were gathered together against Him,” ^B or those who were the rulers of the Gentiles at their respective times; they truly closed their mouths, for although they often attempted to obstruct His word and His doctrine, nevertheless He would always prevail, shining forth and being glorified and raised on high, so as to manifest Himself not only to those who had received the prophecies concerning Him from their fathers, but—what is most wonderful—to those to whom nothing had ever been announced concerning Him, namely, us, the Gentiles. We, who had heard nothing at all from our ancestors, nor had we learned anything beforehand concerning His coming, have understood that He has come and have received the prophecies concerning Him. ^C The prophet, foreseeing these things in the Spirit, cries out in wonder, saying: “Lord, who hath believed our report?” which is not the same as saying, “No one will believe our report,” for clearly great multitudes of Gentiles, and certain individuals even from the circumcision, have believed the report concerning Christ. And “the arm,” He says, “of the Lord,” that is, the pre-existing Word of God, “to whom hath it been revealed?” For the Word Himself, at the beginning of the prophecy, teaches, saying: “And the Lord shall reveal His holy arm in the sight of all the nations.” ^D Next, it is said to them: “We have announced before Him as a child, as a root in a thirsty land; there is no form to Him nor glory, and we beheld Him, and He had no form nor comeliness,” and the rest, all of which was fulfilled when, emptying Himself of the form of God, He did not choose the appearance that is considered handsome or pleasing among men, nor did He pass through human life with glory or any excellence of worldly dignity, but taking the form of a servant and minister, He humbled Himself and became as a true man, being in affliction and knowing how to bear infirmity, and He turned away and hid the glorious and divine countenance of His divinity; wherefore He was despised by those who perceived only His human side, by whom He was not even reckoned as a Son of God, nor even as any just man. But those who understand these things in the Spirit say, as if explaining and teaching the reason for this mystery: “He took away our sins and suffered for us.” For they saw, as did the prophet, in what manner He would become the “Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.” After this it is added: “And we thought Him to be as a leper, and stricken.”

^A For those who have been made partakers in the spirit of these things, as if they were recounting and teaching the cause of such an economy, say: “He bears our sins, and suffers pain for us,” looking, as prophets indeed do, at the manner in which He would become the Lamb of God, “taking away the sin of the world.” And it is added to these: “But we reckoned Him to be in pain and in wounds and in misery; yet He was wounded for our transgressions.” For He was wounded in power, when they picked up stones ^B to cast at Him; and “He has been made weak,” He says, “for our sins.” For Christ, having more greatly sympathized with the infirm than Paul, might have said: “Who is weak, and I am not weak?” All these things the prophet confesses both for Himself and for the whole people who were to be persuaded concerning Him of whom the discourse treats: “He was wounded,” he says, “for our transgressions, and has been made weak for our sins,” and reckoning himself in, he adds, saying: “By His stripes we have been healed.” And clearly discerning the error which had come upon the whole people of the circumcision, and that there is no man who shall not sin, even if he seems to be the most righteous of all, he adds: “We all have gone astray like sheep; man has gone astray on his own way, and the Lord delivered Him over to our sins,” and the things which follow these, which are unquestionably demonstrated to have had their fulfillment in our Savior Jesus alone. ^C Whence it is also worth marveling at the stubbornness of those among the former people who refused to acknowledge Him, blaming Him—whom they had provoked with insults and mockery—for having suffered what was unworthy of God's care for Him. Furthermore, the prophet clearly exclaims concerning Him that “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He opens not His mouth,” and that “His life is taken away from the earth.” And who would not marvel at what is added after these things, hearing the prophet saying: “For the wickedness of my people was He led to death?” Or for whom would words not fail, who heard with his own ears the voice of Christ and did not understand, and looked with his very eyes at His presence and did not see? For whom else could they have to show as one of the righteous who was led to death for their sins? Or who has been such a one that he has taken upon himself the iniquities of all the people, and of the prophets themselves, and has suffered for them, so that the prophet confesses that by His stripes all of them have been healed, ^D saying: “This man bears our sins, and is in pain for us, and by His stripes we have been healed?” And who of those who have partaken of human nature could be such that he had not sinned in word or deed, so that the divine Scripture speaks the truth about Him, that “He practiced no iniquity, nor was guile found in His mouth?” For what cause then is He who is testified to in these things as being about to be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and

condemned to death, foretold? Let them say also, if the Christ who is expected to come to them will ^A suffer all these things which the prophecies proclaim concerning Him, or whether nothing of the sort will happen to Him. But if, because of the things which have happened to our Savior, they stumble at the faith in Him, they would not spare [to say] concerning Him for whom they hope such things. It is time, then, for them to declare the divine voices to be unfulfilled and, clearly, false; but not so for us, who, although things were not announced to us among our fathers, nor were the things concerning Him handed down, yet having beheld Him and having accepted Him, according to what is said in other places: “A people whom I did not know served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me.” And through the whole of the prophecy, the things concerning Him are brought forth more broadly and more clearly; and the destruction which has overtaken those who plotted against Him is disclosed through the words: “And I will give the wicked for His burial, and the rich for His death; because He did no iniquity, nor was guile in His mouth.” For, He says, because He was such a one, they took Him away; because of this, they will suffer such things. Following these is again the Church from the Gentiles, ^B compared and preferred before the former people, proclaimed glad tidings through the words: “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who do not travail; for many are the children of the desolate, rather than of her who has a husband.” Since there is need of much investigation and examination of the things here, for one who cares for the Savior’s commandment which says: “Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify concerning me,” he who has searched them more diligently will know the things contained in them.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

^A have taken refuge in Him, having escaped our former error and the servitude under the opposing powers. And these things, the prophecy says, you shall do for the sake of the Lord His God, because He glorified Him. It is clear how the Father glorified Him according to the voice brought to Him from heaven, saying: "And I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." Observe whether these things are not akin to the words stated here, saying: "Nations that did not know You shall call upon You, and nations that did not know You shall take refuge in You," and to those things related in the preceding chapter, where it was said that "those to whom it was not announced concerning Him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand." Similar to these are also the things in the seventeenth Psalm, spoken in the person of Christ, according to the text: "A people whom I did not know served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me." We, therefore, believing the prophecies to be true, are persuaded that they were fulfilled at the presence of our Savior, perceiving how we ourselves, being formerly wandering nations and driven about by cruel demons into every kind of idolatry, and knowing neither the only true God nor perceiving the prophetic voice, have passed through the teaching of our Savior Jesus to the knowledge of the God of all, and have believed the God-inspired Scriptures, and have received the preached Word of God, though we knew Him not at all before. Since we have been benefited so much by the teaching of our Savior, how could we not justly receive and extol Him, as He is the Son of God and our own Savior?

CHAPTER XXIX

^C "Behold, how the righteous perishes, and no one lays it to heart; and righteous men are taken away, and no one understands; for the righteous is taken away from the face of iniquity; his burial shall be in peace, he is taken from the midst. But you, draw near hither, you sons of the enchantress, seed of an adulterer and of a harlot. Against whom have you sported yourselves? And against whom have you opened your mouth, and cast out your tongue? Are you not children of destruction, a lawless seed?" Christ, the God of God, alone is found such in truth above all who have ever been called righteous. Wherefore He alone could properly be called righteous, so that the prophecy might say concerning Him: "Behold, how the righteous perishes." And from whom is He taken, it adds in the text: "For the righteous is taken away from the face of iniquity." And as to who is the one that takes Him away, it is possible to hear His own words: "No one takes My life from Me, but I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." Then it says: "His burial shall be in peace." ^D Here it must be noted that the prophetic Scripture signifies not only the things concerning His death, but also those concerning His burial; whence the holy Apostle, writing to the Corinthians, says: "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried." And what Scriptures, if not those which said: "By the iniquities of My people He was led to death, and in peace shall be His burial"? Nor is only the aforementioned righteous one led to death for us;

^A but also, he says, "righteous men are taken away," who themselves might also be the holy apostles of Christ, and His marvelous martyrs, who by participation in His righteousness are also deemed righteous. Of these perfected ones, he says, no one saw, and no one considered, because of the thickness of their heart and the blindness spread over their eyes, to whom the rest of the prophecy refers, namely from these words: "But come you here, children of the sorceress, seed of the adulterer and the harlot."

CAPUT XXX.

"And they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and from the rising of the sun His glorious name; for the wrath of the Lord shall come as a violent river, it shall come with fury. And there shall come for the sake of Zion the Deliverer, and He shall turn away iniquities from Jacob, saith the Lord. And this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord: My Spirit, which is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not fail from thy mouth, and from the mouth of thy seed, and from the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." ^B Again, the prophetic discourse announces here the calling of the Church of the nations established through our Savior. For who else would those be who are called "from the west," or for what reason did nations of every kind fear the name of the Lord, having left behind, through the teaching of Jesus, the former error of the darkness of ignorance, and fled for refuge to the God of all? And who is the one prophesied to come from Zion, to deliver and turn away Jacob from his former iniquities, if not He who came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel that had fallen into impiety, to whom the Spirit of God promises that He will establish in Christ the words of eternal life, which the Father gave into the mouth of the Son; ^C which He also says shall never depart from His mouth, nor from the mouth of His seed, from henceforth and for ever? These, then, would be the words of the Gospel of the New Testament, which, although so many have plotted against them of old and still plot against them even now, have not failed, nor shall they fail from the mouth of the Church composed of the rational and intellectual seed of Christ; for the Lord has said and decreed that they shall not be blotted out from henceforth and for ever; wherefore also, according to John, the Gospel of Christ is seen as the "eternal Gospel."

CHAPTER XXXI

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me; He hath sent Me to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the ^D brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to call the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense to our God; to comfort all that mourn, to give unto them that mourn in Zion glory instead of ashes, the oil of gladness to the mourners, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; and they shall be called generations of righteousness, the planting of the Lord for glory." He who from the root of

dum ^A. Who indeed is Jesus Christ of God, sprung from the root of Jesse, upon whom the seven spirits of God rested, who loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and was anointed by God and His Father with the so-called spiritual oil of gladness; he who once, having taken the book of Isaiah in his hands at the time when he had become man, and having read the passage set before him, ^B closing the book, said: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled." For he was indeed in truth the One sent by the Father to preach the kingdom of heaven to the poor in spirit, to whom he also said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"; and "to heal the broken-hearted," concerning whom it is said: "A broken and humble heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Furthermore, he came also to announce the remission of sins to those who were previously oppressed under the tyranny of the spiritual Nebuchadnezzar. And therefore, encouraging him, he said to the paralytic: "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee"; but he also came to restore sight to those whose eyes of the mind were closed, and who were blinded by the spiritual foreigners and Babylonians, just as were Samson and Zedekiah. Among the number of those who were cured by him were also the physically blind, to whom he restored sight after they believed in him and cried out with a loud voice: "Have mercy on us, Son of David." And this is he who called "the acceptable year of the Lord," which he began to announce after John was cast into prison; and who taught concerning the kingdom of God and our judgment, in which to each one will be rendered according to his deeds, the judgment ^C of justice. In addition to these things, he came to comfort those who mourn with the laudable mourning according to God; to whom he also promised a beatitude, saying: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." He came, moreover, for this also, "that to those who mourn in Zion, glory might be given." And who could these be, if not those who seek their own fatherland and who ever stir up the memory of the heavenly city? Such as was he who, knowing his sojourn among men was temporary, exclaimed: "Woe is me, for my sojourning is prolonged," and those too who wept by the rivers of Babylon when they remembered Zion. For Christ, fulfilling for these the consolation of God which he had promised to those who mourn, will glorify them, once they are freed from mourning, and for the ashes with which they were sprinkled in this life while mourning, he will provide the oil of joy, anointing them also with the oil of gladness, so that they may become partakers of his anointing and kingdom, according to these words of the Apostle: "For we have become partakers of Christ." Moreover, in addition to these things, Christ ^D is prophesied to give to those who mourn in Zion a vestment of praise instead of a spirit of sadness, if they have disregarded the affairs of life, having despised the works of men; and these most of all who mourn, not only because they saw the promises of God from afar, but also because, on account of their own humanity and kindness, they suffered with their miseries and sorrows, and this alone exclaiming with the apostolic voice: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not aflame?"

CHAPTER XXXII

^A "Let my soul rejoice in the Lord: for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the robe of joy; He has put a miter on me as a bridegroom, and as a bride He has adorned me with ornament. And as the earth brings forth its sprout, and as a garden makes its seeds to flourish, so the Lord God will make justice to flourish, and praise before all the nations." The soul of our Lord Jesus Christ, concerning which He said: "My soul is sorrowful," and: "Now my soul is troubled," finds joy and exultation in none of created things, save in the Father and Lord alone. For He clothed Him with the vestment of divinity, and the robe of true and perfect justice. But He existed also as the Bridegroom of the Church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, which compassed Him about as a crown; for she is truly the bride of supreme divinity, whom He adorned as a bride with the fitting Spirit of the Lord. Furthermore, He cultivated her as a fertile and excellent land, and as a garden sprouting and flourishing with its own offshoots, with which also the great paradise of God is said to be planted. These things will be, He says, after the just Lord—being God, not only of the Jews but also of the ^B nations—shall have made his justice, that is, His Christ, to flourish before all the nations that believed in Him.

CHAPTER XXXIII

"Lift up a standard for the nations. For behold, the Lord has made it heard to the ends of the earth. Say to the daughter of Sion: Behold, thy Savior comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. And they shall call them the holy people, redeemed by the Lord. But thou shalt be called: A sought-out city, and not forsaken. Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra? This one is beautiful in His stole, walking in the multitude of His strength? I who speak justice, and am a defender to save. Why then is Thy garment red, and Thy vestments like those of them that tread in the wine-press? I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the nations there is no man with Me: I have trodden them in My fury." Here again the prophecy commands to receive a sign ^C concerning the Church of the nations, promising that the Lord will make His report heard unto the ends of the earth; which was also fulfilled at the advent of our Savior Jesus, the preaching of His apostles having been diffused into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Then it is said: "Say to the daughters of Sion" (that is to say, to the Churches from the nations: for these are the daughters of the heavenly Sion, "which is our mother," according to the Apostle): "Behold, thy Savior comes, behold His reward is with Him," and the rest, by which is manifested the second advent of Christ, when He shall come as judge, rendering to each according to the deeds of this life. ^D

^A Following this, the Word, as if asking, says: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with red garments from Bosor," (which is interpreted "earthly,") "redness of garments from Bosor; so handsome in his robe?" He seems to say this in admiration, even after the incarnation, and the emptying, and the sojourn upon earth, and after the passion and the descent into the underworld—that the handsome and bright beauty of the Savior was in no way blurred, nor did it incur any filth, nor spot, nor blemish from the material and bodily condition of the earthly and human ^B things which He assumed. And furthermore, he is struck with wonder at His strength, for having defeated the entire host of the devil. He adds, therefore: "Who is this, handsome in his robe, walking in the multitude of his strength?" To which inquiry the Savior answers, teaching who He might be, and says: "I speak righteousness, and judgment of salvation." And again the Word says to Him, as if on account of the passion: "Why are thy garments red?" and the rest. For as the Lamb of God, taking upon Himself the sins of the world, He put on garments red from our sins; wherefore it is said also in the prophet Zechariah: "And Jesus was clothed ^C with filthy garments." For these were the raiment of our sins; for which it was said a little earlier: "This one bears our sins, and suffers for us." For He Himself "did no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth." Again, the Savior answering the question, from whence His garments became red, teaches by saying: "From the nations." Which nations, with no man helping Him, He alone subdued, having crushed all the power of the wicked and adverse spirits hostile to Him.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

CHAPTER XXXV.

stretched out my hands all the day unto a disobedient and gainsaying people, which walked in a way that was not good, but after their own sins.” ^A And here, the rejection of Israel having been prophesied beforehand, there follows the election of the nations which came to pass through Christ. For as the prophet sent up a prayer in the person of the people, the Word replies, rebuking the hardness and disobedience of the former people and setting forth His own love for mankind. For, He says, how can you say these things, as if I were reluctant to save you? Yea, “I was made manifest unto them that asked not for me; I was found of them that sought me not.” And indeed it is clear how the Word of God, though previously unknown to the nations, was at the consummation of the ages made manifest to them through the goodness and love for mankind of the Father and God of all, having never been asked for by them because of the error in which they were held concerning idols. And He was found by us who did not seek Him, and even those who had not called upon His name, having become incarnate, He answered, as if shouting: “Behold, I am here.” ^B These things, then, the Word clearly prophesies concerning the calling of the nations; but next, He again brings forward with the most moving effect words to the Jews, saying: “But unto thee I have stretched out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.” This may also signify the form of His passion on the cross.

So much for what it pleased me to excerpt from Isaiah. But indeed, in this ninth book of the *General Elementary Introduction*, having concluded the Eclogues which we have unfolded in this and the three preceding books, in the tenth book we shall endeavor, as far as lies in us, to provide another suitable approach for those whose reason has been damaged by impious heresies.

FRAGMENTS OF EUSEBIUS ON THE LIVES OF THE PROPHETS

From the Preface of Jean Curterius, to Dom Jean de La Rochefoucauld, Abbot of Marmoutier, in the epitome of the various Commentaries of the Christian sophist Procopius on the prophet Isaiah. Paris, printed by Nicolas Chesneau, 1580, folio, following page:

“I have added, moreover, the Lives of all the prophets, which an ancient Marchali codex, attributed to Eusebius along with some others, contained; partly so that students of ecclesiastical writers might have from a fragment that from which the work itself, if ever it should fall into their hands, might be restored to its author and to posterity as a verified original; and partly so that what so great an author had noted concerning the prophets might meanwhile survive, until the work itself should perhaps emerge into the light under better auspices.”

EUSEBIUS ON THE LIVES OF THE PROPHETS

^D From the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea on the titles of the prophetic books and what each of them contains in sum.

HOSEA, I.

There were indeed prophets before him: under Da-