After something from Apollinaris:--
Hipp. The word of prophecy passes again to Immanuel Himself. For, in my opinion, what is intended by it is just what has been already stated in the words, "giving increase of beauty in the case of the shoot." For he means that He increased and grew up into that which He had been from the beginning, and indicates the return to the glory which He had by nature. [1176] This, if we apprehend it correctly, is (we should say) just "restored" to Him. For [1177] as the only begotten Word of God, being God of God, [1178] emptied Himself, according to the Scriptures, humbling Himself of His own will to that which He was not before, and took unto Himself this vile flesh, and appeared [1179] in the "form of a servant," and "became obedient to God the Father, even unto death," so hereafter He is said to be "highly exalted;" and as if well-nigh He had it not by reason of His humanity, and as if it were in the way of grace, He "receives the name which is above every name," [1180] according to the word of the blessed Paul. But the matter, in truth, was not a "giving," as for the first time, of what He had not by nature; far otherwise. But rather we must understand a return and restoration to that which existed in Him at the beginning, essentially and inseparably. And it is for this reason that, when He had assumed, by divine arrangement, [1181] the lowly estate of humanity, He said, "Father, glorify me with the glory which I had," [1182] etc. For He who was co-existent with His Father before all time. and before the foundation of the world, always had the glory proper to Godhead. "He" too may very well be understood as the "youngest (son)." For He appeared in the last times, after the glorious and honourable company of the holy prophets, and simply once, after all those who, previous to the time of His sojourn, were reckoned in the number of sons by reason of excellence. That Immanuel, however, was an" object of envy," [1183] is a somewhat doubtful phrase. Yet He is an "object of envy" or "emulation" to the saints, who aspire to follow His footsteps, and conform themselves to His divine beauty, and make Him the pattern of their conduct, and win thereby their highest glory. And again, He is an "object of envy" in another sense,--an "object of ill-will," namely, to those who are declared not to love Him. I refer to the leading parties among the Jews,--the scribes, in sooth, and the Pharisees,--who travailed with bitter envy against Him, and made the glory of which He could not be spoiled the ground of their slander, and assailed Him in many ways. For Christ indeed raised the dead to life again, when they already stank and were corrupt; and He displayed other signs of divinity. And these should have filled them with wonder, and have made them ready to believe, and to doubt no longer. Yet this was not the case with them; but they were consumed with ill-will, and nursed its bitter pangs in their mind.
After something from Cyril:--
Hipp. Who else is this than as is shown us by the apostle, "the second man, the Lord from heaven?" [1184] And in the Gospel, [1185] He said that he who did the will of the Father was "the last." [1186] And by the words, "Turn back to me," is meant His ascension to His Father in heaven after His passion. And in the phrase, "Against Him they took counsel together, and reviled Him," who are intended but just the people in their opposition to our Lord? And as to the words, "they pressed Him sore," who pressed Him, and to this day still press Him sore? Those--these "archers," namely--who think to contend against the Lord. But though they prevailed to put Him to death, yet "their bows were broken with might." This plainly means, that "after the resurrection" their bows were broken with might. And those intended are the leaders of the people, who set themselves in array against Him, and, as it were, sharpened the points of their weapons. But they failed to transfix Him, though they did what was unlawful, and dared to assail Him even in the manner of wild beasts.
"Thou didst prevail above the blessings of abiding mountains." By "eternal and abiding mountains and everlasting hills," he means the saints, because they are lifted above the earth, and make no account of the things that perish, but seek the things that are above, and aspire earnestly to rise to the highest virtues. After the glory of Christ, therefore, are those of the Fathers who were most illustrious, and reached the greatest elevation in virtue. These, however, were but servants; but the Lord, the Son, supplied them with the means by which they became illustrious. Wherefore also they acknowledge (the truth of this word), "Out of His fulness have all we received." [1187]
"And my God helped thee." This indicates clearly that the aid and support of the Son came from no one else but our God and Father in heaven. And by the word "my God," is meant that the Spirit speaks by Jacob. [1188]
Euseb. "The sinews of the arms." He could not say, of "the hands" or "shoulders;" but since the broad central parts of the bow are termed "arms," he says appropriately "arms."
Hipp. "Blessings of the breasts and womb." By this is meant that the true blessing from heaven is the Spirit descending through the Word upon flesh. And by "breasts and womb" he means the blessings of the Virgin. And by that of "thy father and thy mother," [1189] he means also the blessing of the Father which we have received in the Church through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Gen. xlix. 27 "Benjamin is a ravening wolf; in the morning he shall devour still, and till evening he apportions food."
Hipp. This thoroughly suits Paul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. For when he was young, he was a ravening wolf; but when he believed, he "apportioned" food. This also is shown us by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the tribe of Benjamin is among the first persecutors, which is the sense of "in the morning." For Saul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, persecuted David, who was appointed to be a type of the Lord.
[1139] These fragments are excerpts from a Commentary on Genesis, compiled from eighty-eight fathers, which is extant in manuscript in the Vienna library. They are found also in a Catena on Matthew, issued at Leipsic in 1772.
[1140] i.e., nuchthemeron.
[1141] This must refer, I suppose, to the words, "And it was so."
[1142] me ekzeses.
[1143] me perisseues .
[1144] "My" (mou) is wanting in Origen's Hexapla.
[1145] ouk ese perissoteros.
[1146] [He makes the curse of Reuben applicable to the Church's truth and purity.]
[1147] exaireseos auton, "of set purpose."
[1148] Ps. ii. 2.
[1149] Gen. xlix. 7.
[1150] After "this" (touto) the word "blood" (to haima) seems to have been dropped.
[1151] Matt. xxvii. 25.
[1152] Deut. xxxiii. 8.
[1153] [By the sin of Annas and Caiaphas, with others, the tribe of Levi became formally subject to this curse again, and with Simeon (absorbed into Judah) inherited it. But compare Acts iv. 36 and vi. 7.]
[1154] [Luke ii. 25.]
[1155] ta musteria.
[1156] Matt. iv. 15, 16.
[1157] Deut. xxxiii. 18.
[1158] [In thus spiritualizing, the Fathers do not deny a literal sense also, as in "Aser," p. 166, infra; only they think that geography, history, etc., should pay tribute to a higher meaning.]
[1159] Matt. xi. 28.
[1160] Matt. v. 17.
[1161] kata podas, "quickly," "following close."
[1162] Luke ii. 34.
[1163] [An important hint that by "heel," in Gen. iii. 15, the "foot" is understood, by rhetorical figure.]
[1164] Ps. xliv. 17 (English, xlv. 16).
[1165] Gen. iii 15. [The rhetoric here puts the heel for the foot to emphasize the other part of the prophecy, i.e., the wounded heel coming down on the biter's head.]
[1166] perimenei ton zonta.
[1167] Matt. xxv. 34.
[1168] 2 Cor. xiii. 4.
[1169] John vi. 35.
[1170] stelechos aneimenon.
[1171] Ps. cx. 1.
[1172] Matt. iv. 15.
[1173] Matt. iv. 17.
[1174] Phil. iii. 15.
[1175] Ps. xlv. 11.
[1176] The text is touto pantos katagetai orthos echein hupeilemmenon.
[1177] This passage, down to the word "inseparably," was transcribed by Isaac Vossius at Rome, and first edited by Grabe in the Annotations to Bull's Defens. fid. Nic., p. 103.
[1178] "God of God," Theos huparchon ek Theou. Hippolytus uses here the exact phrase of the Nicene Council. So, too, in his Contra Noetum, chap. x., he has the exact phrase, "light of light" (phos ek photos). [See my concluding remarks (note 9) on the last chapters of the Philosophumena, p. 153, supra.]
[1179] The words from "and appeared" down to "so hereafter" are given by Grebe, but omitted in Fabricius.
[1180] Phil. ii. 7-9.
[1181] oikonomikos.
[1182] John xvii. 5.
[1183] zelotos.
[1184] 1 Cor. xv. 47.
[1185] Matt. xxi. 31.
[1186] ho eschatos. Several manuscripts and versions and Fathers read eschatos with Hippolytus instead of protos. Jerome in loc. remarks on the fact, and observes that with that reading the interpretation would be quite intelligible; the sense then being, that "the Jews understand the truth indeed, but evade it, and refuse to acknowledge what they perceive." Wetstein, in his New Test., i. p. 467, also cites this reading, and adds the conjecture, that "some, remembering what is said in Matt. xx. 16, viz., the last shall be first,' thought that the publican' would be called more properly the last,' and that then some one carried out this emendation so far as to transpose the replies too."
[1187] John i. 16.
[1188] Gen. xlviii. 3, 4.
[1189] Grabe adduces another fragment of the comments of Hippolytus on this passage, found in some leaves deciphered at Rome. It is to this effect: Plainly and evidently the generation of the Only-begotten, which is at once from God the Father, and through the holy Virgin, is signified, even as He is believed and manifested to be a man. For being by nature and in truth the Son of God the Father, on our account He submitted to birth by woman and the womb, and sucked the breast. For He did not, as some fancy, become man only in appearance, but He manifested Himself as in reality that which we are who follow the laws of nature, and supported Himself by food, though Himself giving life to the world.
II.
From the Commentary of the Holy Hippolytus of Rome Upon Genesis. [1190]
Gen. ii. 7 "And God formed man of the dust of the ground." And what does this import? Are we to say, according to the opinion of some, that there were three men made, one spiritual, one animal, and one earthy? Not such is the case, but the whole narrative is of one man. For the word, "Let us make," is about the man that was to be; and then comes the word, "God made man of the dust of the ground," so that the narrative is of one and the same man. For then He says, "Let him be made," and now He "makes him," and the narrative tells "how" He makes him.
[1190] From the Second Book of the Res Sacræ of Leontius and Joannes, in Mai, Script. vet., vii. p. 84.
III.
Quoted in Jerome, Epist. 36, ad Damasum, Num. xviii. (from Galland).
[1191] Isaac conveys a figure of God the Father; Rebecca of the Holy Spirit; Esau of the first people and the devil; Jacob of the Church, or of Christ. That Isaac was old, points to the end of the world; that his eyes were dim, denotes that faith had perished from the world, and that the light of religion was neglected before him; that the elder son is called, expresses the Jews' possession of the law; that the father loves his meat and venison, denotes the saving of men from error, whom every righteous man seeks to gain (lit. hunt for) by doctrine. The word of God here is the promise anew of the blessing and the hope of a kingdom to come, in which the saints shall reign with Christ, and keep the true Sabbath. Rebecca is full of the Holy Spirit, as understanding the word which she heard before she gave birth, "For the elder shall serve the younger." [1192] As a figure of the Holy Spirit, moreover, she cares for Jacob in preference. She says to her younger son, "Go to the flock and fetch me two kids," [1193] prefiguring the Saviour's advent in the flesh to work a mighty deliverance for them who were held liable to the punishment of sin; for indeed in all the Scriptures kids are taken for emblems of sinners. His being charged to bring "two," denotes the reception of two peoples: by the "tender and good," are meant teachable and innocent souls. The robe or raiment of Esau denotes the faith and Scriptures of the Hebrews, with which the people of the Gentiles were endowed. The skins which were put upon his arms are the sins of both peoples, which Christ, when His hands were stretched forth on the cross, fastened to it along with Himself. In that Isaac asks of Jacob why he came so soon, [1194] we take him as admiring the quick faith of them that believe. That savoury meats are offered, denotes an offering pleasing to God, the salvation of sinners. After the eating follows the blessing, and he delights in his smell. He announces with clear voice the perfection of the resurrection and the kingdom, and also how his brethren who believe in Israel adore him and serve him. Because iniquity is opposed to righteousness, Esau is excited to strife, and meditates death deceitfully, saying in his heart, "Let the days of the mourning for my father come on, and I will slay my brother Jacob." [1195] The devil, who previously exhibited the fratricidal Jews by anticipation in Cain, makes the most manifest disclosure of them now in Esau, showing also the time of the murder: "Let the days," says he, "of the mourning for my father come on, that I may slay my brother." Wherefore Rebecca--that is, patience--told her husband of the brother's plot: who, summoning Jacob, bade him go to Mesopotamia and thence take a wife of the family of Laban the Syrian, his mother's brother. As therefore Jacob, to escape his brother's evil designs, proceeds to Mesopotamia, so Christ, too, constrained by the unbelief of the Jews, goes into Galilee, to take from thence to Himself a bride from the Gentiles, His Church.