11. We worship those mercies, and bow the knee before the Majesty of His Father, Who converted our worship to Him. We call Him God, just as Moses (was called God); and Firstborn, and Son, just as Israel (was called); and Jesus (Joshua), just as Joshua the son of Nun was so called; and Priest like Aaron, and King, like David; and great Prophet, like all the Prophets; and Shepherd, like the shepherds who tended and guided Israel. And so did He call children as He said:--Strange children shall hearken unto Me. [1083] And He has made us brothers unto Himself, He said:--I will declare Thy name unto My brethren. [1084] And we have become friends unto Him, as He said to His disciples:--I have called you friends, [1085] even as His Father called Abraham My friend. [1086] And He said unto us:--I am the good Shepherd, the Door, the Way, the Vine, the Sower, the Bridegroom, the Pearl, the Lamp, the Light, the King, God, Saviour, and Redeemer. And by many names is He surnamed.
12. This brief argument have I written unto thee, my beloved, that thou mayest make defence against the Jews, concerning this that they say, that God has no son, and concerning this that we call Him God, the Son of God, King, and Firstborn of all creatures. [1087]
[1039] Deut. xxxii. 39.
[1040] Exod. xxxiv. 14.
[1041] Ex. vi. 1.
[1042] Ex. vii. 1.
[1043] Ex. iv. 22, 23.
[1044] Hos. xi. 1, 2.
[1045] Is. i. 2.
[1046] Deut. xiv. 1.
[1047] 2 Sam. viii. 14.
[1048] Ps. lxxxii. 6.
[1049] Ib. 7.
[1050] Exod. iii. 6, 15.
[1051] Gen. xvii. 1; Exod. iii. 14; Jer. xxxii. 18. The Hebrew has "Jehovah Sabaoth."
[1052] Jer. xxvii. 8. The Hebrew has "King of Babylon," and so the Peshitto. But Nebuchadnezzar is addressed as "King of Kings," Daniel ii. 37.
[1053] Ps. xlv. 17.
[1054] I.e., homage, outward reverence.
[1055] Deut. iv. 17.
[1056] Gen. ii. 7 ; Ps. xc. 1.
[1057] Lev. xxvi. 12.
[1058] Jer. vii. 4, 5.
[1059] Ps. xc. 1, 2.
[1060] Is. xliv. 6; xlviii. 12.
[1061] Ps. ii. 7.
[1062] Ps. cx. 3 (Pesh).
[1063] Is. ix. 6, 7.
[1064] Is. vii. 14; Matt. i. 23.
[1065] Gen. xlix. 10. So in Peshitto; similarly in Septuagint.
[1066] Dan. ix. 26, 27.
[1067] Ps. xxii. 17-19.
[1068] Is. lii. 13, 14.
[1069] Is. lii. 15.
[1070] Is. liii. 2.
[1071] Is. liii. 5.
[1072] Ps. xxii. 17, 18.
[1073] Ps. xxii. 23.
[1074] Ps. xvi. 10.
[1075] Zech. xiv. 7.
[1076] Zech. xiv. 6. So in Peshitto; also in Septuagint. Cp. margin of Revised Version.
[1077] This is so read in one Syriac ms.; for "the sheep, my friends," which the other gives.
[1078] Zech. xiii. 7; S. Matt. xxvi. 31; S. Mark xiv. 27.
[1079] Ps. lxix. 22, 27.
[1080] Is. liii. 10.
[1081] Ib. liii. 5.
[1082] 2 Cor. v. 21.
[1083] Ps. xxiii. 45.
[1084] Ps. xxii. 23.
[1085] John xv. 15.
[1086] Is. xli. 8.
[1087] Col. i. 15.
Demonstration XXI.--Of Persecution.
1. I have heard a reproach, which has greatly vexed me. The unclean (the heathen) say, that this people, which is gathered together out of all nations, has no God. And thus say the impious:--"If they have a God, why does He not avenge His people?" And darkness more exceedingly has thickened upon me, because the Jews also reproach us, and magnify themselves over the children of our people. It happened one day, that a man, who is called wise amongst the Jews, questioned me, saying:--Jesus, Who is called your Teacher, wrote for you, that If there shall be in you faith like one grain of mustard, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove, and it shall remove from before you; and (ye shall say) even, Be lifted up and fall into the sea, and it shall obey you. [1088] So apparently there is in all your people not one wise man, whose prayer is heard, and who asks of God that your persecutors should cease from you. For clearly it is written for you in that passage, There is nothing which ye shall not be able to do.
2. And when I saw that he was blaspheming and speaking much against the Way (the Christian religion), my mind was disturbed, and I understood that he would not admit the interpretation of the words that he quoted to me. Then I also questioned him on sayings from the Law and from the Prophets, and said to him:--Do ye trust that even when ye are dispersed God is with you? And he professed to me, "God is with us, because that God said unto Israel:--Even in the lands of their enemies, I yet did not forsake them, nor did I make void My covenant with them." [1089] In answer I said to him:--"Right good is this that I have heard from thee, that God is with you. Against thy words will I also speak unto thee. For I said the Prophet said unto Israel, as from the mouth of God:--If thou shalt pass through the sea, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not overflow thee; and if thou shalt walk upon fire, thou shalt not be burned, and the flame shall not search thee; because the Lord thy God is with thee. [1090] Thus there is not one righteous and good and wise man out of all your people, who could pass through the sea and live and not be drowned; or (through) the river without its overflowing him; or who could walk over fire and see whether he would not be scorched and whether the flame would not burn him. And if thou shalt bring to me an explanation, I will not be persuaded by thee, just as thou also dost not accept from me the interpretation of the words as to which thou hast questioned me."
3. Furthermore I questioned him about another saying that is written in Ezekiel; namely, that he said to Jerusalem:--Sodom and her daughters shall be built up as of old, and thou and thy daughters shall become as of old. [1091] So he explained this saying to me, and began to make a defence, and said to me "As to this that God said to Jerusalem by the Prophet, Sodom and her daughters shall be built up as of old, and thou and thy daughters shall become as of old; this is the force of the passage, that Sodom and her daughters shall be in their place as of old, and shall be made subject to Israel; and Jerusalem and her daughters shall be in the splendour of royalty as of old." When I heard this defence from him, it was very contemptible in my eyes, and I said to him:--"Inasmuch as the words of the Prophet were said in wrath, is the whole passage wrathful, or is part of it wrathful and part of it gracious?" He answered:--"A wrathful passage is altogether wrath, and there is no peace in it." And I said to him:--"Since thou hast instructed me that there is no peace in that wrathful passage, hear without contention and blaspheme not, and I will instruct thee about this saying. For from the top to the bottom the whole passage is said in wrath. For he said to Jerusalem:--As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom and her daughters did not do at all as thou and they daughters have done. [1092] And he said to her (Jerusalem):--Be abashed and accept thy shame, that thou hast overcome thy sisters in thy sins, and they are justified rather than thou. [1093] Since he says that Sodom and her daughters were justified rather than Jerusalem and her daughters, and that Jerusalem overcame Sodom in her sins, it is right that when Israel shall be gathered together, its seat should be in Sodom and Gomorrha. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the planting of Gomorrha. Their grapes are bitter and their clusters gall unto them. [1094] And Isaiah also calls them rulers of Sodom, and people of Gomorrha. [1095] For if Israel is gathered together, in Sodom and Gomorrha ought they to dwell with the rulers of Sodom and with the people of Gomorrha; and on the vine of Sodom and planting of Gomorrha to eat bitter grapes and gather clusters of gall; and to eat the eggs of the basilisk and to clothe themselves with spiders' webs, [1096] to be used with wild grapes of the vineyard, [1097] and to be turned into reprobate silver. [1098] And Sodom and her daughters, who were justified rather than Jerusalem, shall be built up as of old. And Jerusalem, that surpassed Sodom in her sins, shall continue in her sins, and shall remain in desolation until the accomplishment of the things determined for ever. [1099]
4. And Ezekiel said:--This is the iniquity of Sodom and of her daughters, that they did not take by the hand the poor and needy; and when I saw these things in them, I overthrew them. [1100] And consider and see that, from the time that Sodom was overthrown until Jerusalem was built, there were eight hundred and ninety-six years. From the time that Abraham was informed by God through the Angel that at this time next year I will return to thee, and Sarah thy wife shall have a son, [1101] from that time till Jacob entered Egypt was a hundred and ninety-one years: and the children of Jacob were in Egypt two hundred and twenty-five years. So all the years from the time that Isaac was conceived and Sodom overthrown were four hundred and sixteen years, and from the Exodus of Israel from Egypt till the great edifice of Jerusalem was built up by Solomon, and the temple was built, there were four hundred and eighty years. Therefore all the years from the conception of Isaac and the overthrow of Sodom till the great building of Jerusalem, were eight hundred and ninety-six years. And from the great building of Jerusalem until the destruction of Jerusalem there were four hundred and twenty-five years. The sum of all the years from the time of the overthrow of Sodom until Jerusalem was laid waste, was one thousand three hundred and twenty-one. These are all the years that Sodom and her daughters were laid waste before Jerusalem. And she that was more just than Jerusalem is not yet inhabited. Therefore the whole sum of the years from the overthrow of Sodom till the six hundred and fifty-fifth year of the Kingdom of Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedon, [1102] is two thousand two hundred and seventy-six years. And from the time that Jerusalem was laid waste by the Babylonians until the present time is nine hundred and fifty-five years. And Jerusalem has been inhabited, after the Babylonians laid it waste, during those seventy weeks about which Daniel testified. Then it was laid waste in its last destruction by the Romans, and it shall not be inhabited again for ever, for it abideth in desolation until the accomplishment of the things determined. [1103] So then, all the years of the former and latter desolation of Jerusalem have been four hundred and sixty-five years, and when thou dost deduct from them the seventy years of Babylon, they have been three hundred and ninety-five years.
5. All this argument have I written to thee, because the Jews pride themselves, (saying), "It has been covenanted to us, that we shall be gathered." For if Sodom, whose iniquity was not so great as that of Jerusalem, is not as yet inhabited, and if we say thus, that it will not be restored for ever, how shall Jerusalem be restored, whose iniquity is greater than that of Sodom and her daughters? As for Sodom God has not had mercy on her for two thousand two hundred and seventy-six years; and shall we say that He will have mercy on Jerusalem? For up to the present there are but three hundred and ninety-five years from the day that she was laid waste, according to the calculation that has been written above. But as to this that he said, Sodom and her daughters shall be possessed as of old, [1104] and with regard to Jerusalem he said, Thou and thy daughters shall become as of old, this is the force of the passage; that they shall not be inhabited for ever; for the Lord also thus cursed the land against which He was wroth:--It shall not be sown, nor shall it produce, nor shall any herb spring up in it, but it shall be like Sodom and Gomorrha, against which the Lord was wroth and towards which He was not appeased. [1105] Therefore be sure, my hearer, that Sodom and her daughters shall not be inhabited for ever; but they shall be as of old, namely, as in that time when they were not as yet inhabited, and as in the time when the Lord was wroth with them and was not appeased towards them. And Jerusalem and her daughters shall be as of old, (that is) as in the former time when the mountain of the Amorites lay in desolation, whereon Abraham built the altar, when he bound upon it Isaac his son; and as it was desolate when David bought the threshing-floor from Araunah the Jebusite, and built there the altar. For consider and see that this mountain whereon Abraham offered his son is the mountain of Jebus, which is Jerusalem. And this place of the threshing-floor that David bought of Araunah is that whereon the Temple was built. Thus Jerusalem shall be in desolation as of old. And consider that when Ezekiel prophesied this passage, Jerusalem still was sitting in her greatness, and those who were in her were rebelling against the King of Babylon. And that which the Prophet spoke, he said in wrath and reproach against Jerusalem.