[1461] ophthalmophanos.
[1462] Rev. xvii. 9.
[1463] For hupo pollon Combefisius has hupo laon = by peoples.
[1464] Isa. i. 7, 8.
[1465] 2 Tim. iv. 8.
[1466] Dan. vii. 4.
[1467] For plasas Gudius proposes hagiasas (sanctified) or kalesas (called).
[1468] Jer. i. 5.
[1469] Dan. viii. 2-8.
[1470] Dan. vii. 6.
[1471] For anaxurison others read anakalupsai = uncover.
[1472] Isa. xlvii. 1-15.
[1473] [Note this token, that, with all his prudence, he identifies "Babylon" with Rome.]
[1474] "Stones," rather.
[1475] ta akatharta, for the received akathartotetos.
[1476] kai parestai, for the received kaiper esti.
[1477] kai, for the received epi.
[1478] ischura for en ischui.
[1479] ekollethesan, for the received ekolouthesan.
[1480] agorasei, for the received agorazei.
[1481] amomon, omitted in the received text.
[1482] kai tragous, omitted in the received text.
[1483] apoleto, for the received apelthen.
[1484] ploutisantes, for the received ploutesantes.
[1485] piotetos, for the received timiotetos.
[1486] kai hoi angeloi, which the received omits.
[1487] Rev. xvii.; xviii.
[1488] diathesei = will make; others, dunamosei = will confirm.
[1489] Dan. ix. 27.
[1490] Isa. liii. 2-5.
[1491] Isa. xxxiii. 17.
[1492] Dan. vii. 13, 14.
[1493] John i. 29.
[1494] It was a common opinion among the Greeks, that the Baptist was Christ's forerunner also among the dead. See Leo Allatius, De libris Eccles. Græcorum, p. 303.
[1495] Or it may be, "Malachi, even the messenger." 'Angelou is the reading restored by Combefisius instead of 'Angaiou. The words of the angel in Luke i. 17 ("and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just") are thus inserted in the citation from Malachi; and to that Hippolytus may refer in the addition "and the angel." Or perhaps, as Combefisius rather thinks, the addition simply refers to the meaning of the name Malachi, viz., messenger.
[1496] Mal. iv. 5, 6.
[1497] Rev. xi. 3.
[1498] Rev. xi. 4-6.
[1499] Dan. vii. 8, 9.
[1500] Rev. xiii. 11-18.
[1501] The text is simply kai ton met' auton = the false prophet after him. Gudius and Combefisius propose as above, kai auton te kai ton met' auton, or met' autou = him and the false prophet with him.
[1502] pureia = censers, incense-pans, or sacrificial tripods. This offering of incense was a test very commonly proposed by the pagans to those whose religion they suspected.
[1503] [Not referred to as Scripture, but as authentic history.]
[1504] hoson monon huponoesai.
[1505] isopsepha.
[1506] Teitan. Hippolytus here follows his master Irenæus, who in his Contra Hæres., v. 30, § 3, has the words," Titan...et antiquum et fide dignum et regale...nomen" = Titan...both an ancient and good and royal...name. [See this series, vol. i. p. 559.]
[1507] Euanthas, mentioned also by Irenæus in the passage already referred to.
[1508] proephthemen, the reading proposed by Fabricius instead of proephemen.
[1509] poiesei, Combef. epoiese.
[1510] [Let us imitate the wisdom of our author, whose modest commentary upon his master Irenæus cannot be too much applauded. The mystery, however, does seem to turn upon something in the Latin race and its destiny.]
[1511] Dan. xi. 41.
[1512] Gen. xix. 37, 38.
[1513] Isa. xi. 14.
[1514] Isa. xxiii. 4, 5.
[1515] Ezek. xxviii. 2.
[1516] Isa. xiv. 13-15.
[1517] Ezek. xxviii. 9.
[1518] Quoted already in chap. xv. as from one of the prophets.
[1519] Jer. xvii. 11.
[1520] Reading apephenato for apekrinato.
[1521] Luke xviii. 2-5.
[1522] Jer. iv. 11.
[1523] Isa. viii. 6, 7.
[1524] Mic. v. 5. The Septuagint reads aute = And (he) shall be the peace to it. Hippolytus follows the Hebrew, but makes the pronoun feminine, haute referring to the peace. Again Hippolytus reads ore = mountains, where the Septuagint has choran = land, and where the Hebrew word = fortresses or palaces. [He must mean that "the Assyrian" = Antichrist. "The peace" is attributable only to the "Prince of peace." So the Fathers generally.]
[1525] Deut. xxxii. 34, 35.
[1526] ouai ges ploion pteruges.
[1527] meteoron.
[1528] Isa. xviii. 1, 2.
[1529] Wordsworth, reading hos histon for hos ton, would add, like a mast. See his Commentary on Acts xxvii. 40.
[1530] kutos, a conjecture of Combefisius for kuklon.
[1531] linon, proposed by the same for ploion, boat.
[1532] psepharoi, a term of doubtful meaning. May it refer to the karchesia?
[1533] The text reads here ainoumenoi, for which hairoumenoi is proposed, or better, eoroumenoi.
[1534] Rev. xii. 1-6, etc.
[1535] ton Logon ton Patroon.
[1536] gennosa ek kardias.
[1537] Ps. cx. 1.
[1538] Rev. xi. 3.
[1539] [Concerning Antichrist, two advents, etc., see vol. iv. p. 219, this series.]
[1540] Mal. iv. 2.
[1541] Matt. xxiv. 15-22; Mark xiii. 14-20; Luke xxi. 20-23.
[1542] Dan. xi. 31; xii. 11, 12. The Hebrew has 1,335 as the number in the second verse.
[1543] Hippolytus reads here ep' autes instead of ep' auton, and makes the pronoun therefore refer to the coming.
[1544] 2 Thess. ii. 1-11.
[1545] Isa. xxvi. 10.
[1546] Luke xxi. 28.
[1547] Luke xxi. 18.
[1548] Matt. xxiv. 27, 28.
[1549] The word ptoma, used in the Greek as = carcase, is thus interpreted by Hippolytus as = fall, which is its literal sense.
[1550] Matt. xxiv. 31.
[1551] Ps. xix. 6.
[1552] Isa. xxvi. 20.
[1553] Rom. i. 17.
[1554] Dan. xii. 2.
[1555] Isa. xxvi. 19.
[1556] John v. 25.
[1557] Eph. v. 14. Epiphanius and others suppose that the words thus cited by Paul are taken from the apocryphal writings of Jeremiah: others that they are a free version of Isa. lx. 1. [But their metrical form justifies the criticism that they are a quotation from a hymn of the Church, based, very likely, on the passage from Isaiah.]
[1558] Rev. xx. 6.
[1559] Matt. xiii. 43.
[1560] Matt. xxv. 34.
[1561] Rev. xxii. 15.
[1562] Isa. lxvi. 24.
[1563] 1 Thess. iv. 12.
[1564] [The immense value of these quotations, authenticating the Revelations and other Scriptures, must be apparent. Is not this treatise a voice to our own times of vast significance?]
[1565] Tit. ii. 13.
Expository Treatise Against the Jews.
1. Now, then, incline thine ear to me, and hear my words, and give heed, thou Jew. Many a time dost thou boast thyself, in that thou didst condemn Jesus of Nazareth to death, and didst give Him vinegar and gall to drink; and thou dost vaunt thyself because of this. Come therefore, and let us consider together whether perchance thou dost not boast unrighteously, O Israel, (and) whether that small portion of vinegar and gall has not brought down this fearful threatening upon thee, (and) whether this is not the cause of thy present condition involved in these myriad troubles.
2. Let him then be introduced before us who speaketh by the Holy Spirit, and saith truth--David the son of Jesse. He, singing a certain strain with prophetic reference to the true Christ, celebrated our God by the Holy Spirit, (and) declared clearly all that befell Him by the hands of the Jews in His passion; in which (strain) the Christ who humbled Himself and took unto Himself the form of the servant Adam, calls upon God the Father in heaven as it were in our person, and speaks thus in the sixty-ninth Psalm: "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I am sunk in the mire of the abyss," that is to say, in the corruption of Hades, on account of the transgression in paradise; and "there is no substance," that is, help. "My eyes failed while I hoped (or, from my hoping) upon my God; when will He come and save me?" [1566]
3. Then, in what next follows, Christ speaks, as it were, in His own person: "Then I restored that," says He, "which I took not away;" that is, on account of the sin of Adam I endured the death which was not mine by sinning. "For, O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from Thee," that is, "for I did not sin," as He means it; and for this reason (it is added), "Let not them be ashamed who want to see" my resurrection on the third day, to wit, the apostles. "Because for Thy sake," that is, for the sake of obeying Thee, "I have borne reproach," namely the cross, when "they covered my face with shame," that is to say, the Jews; when "I became a stranger unto my brethren after the flesh, and an alien unto my mother's children," meaning (by the mother) the synagogue. "For the zeal of Thine house, Father, hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen on me," and of them that sacrificed to idols. Wherefore "they that sit in the gate spoke against me," for they crucified me without the gate. "And they that drink sang against me," that is, (they who drink wine) at the feast of the passover. "But as for me, in my prayer unto Thee, O Lord, I said, Father, forgive them," namely the Gentiles, because it is the time for favour with Gentiles. "Let not then the hurricane (of temptations) overwhelm me, neither let the deep (that is, Hades) swallow me up: for Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (Hades); neither let the pit shut her mouth upon me," [1567] that is, the sepulchre. "By reason of mine enemies, deliver me," that the Jews may not boast, saying, Let us consume him.
4. Now Christ prayed all this economically [1568] as man; being, however, true God. But, as I have already said, it was the "form of the servant" [1569] that spake and suffered these things. Wherefore He added, "My soul looked for reproach and trouble," that is, I suffered of my own will, (and) not by any compulsion. Yet "I waited for one to mourn with me, and there was none," for all my disciples forsook me and fled; and for a "comforter, and I found none."
5. Listen with understanding, O Jew, to what the Christ says: "They gave me gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." And these things He did indeed endure from you. Hear the Holy Ghost tell you also what return He made to you for that little portion of vinegar. For the prophet says, as in the person of God, "Let their table become a snare and retribution." Of what retribution does He speak? Manifestly, of the misery which has now got hold of thee.
6. And then hear what follows: "Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not." And surely ye have been darkened in the eyes of your soul with a darkness utter and everlasting. For now that the true light has arisen, ye wander as in the night, and stumble on places with no roads, and fall headlong, as having forsaken the way that saith, "I am the way." [1570] Furthermore, hear this yet more serious word: "And their back do thou bend always;" that means, in order that they may be slaves to the nations, not four hundred and thirty years as in Egypt, nor seventy as in Babylon, but bend them to servitude, he says, "always." In fine, then, how dost thou indulge vain hopes, expecting to be delivered from the misery which holdeth thee? For that is somewhat strange. And not unjustly has he imprecated this blindness of eyes upon thee. But because thou didst cover the eyes of Christ, (and [1571] ) thus thou didst beat Him, for this reason, too, bend thou thy back for servitude always. And whereas thou didst pour out His blood in indignation, hear what thy recompense shall be: "Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them;" and, "Let their habitation be desolate," to wit, their celebrated temple.
7. But why, O prophet, tell us, and for what reason, was the temple made desolate? Was it on account of that ancient fabrication of the calf? Was it on account of the idolatry of the people? Was it for the blood of the prophets? Was it for the adultery and fornication of Israel? By no means, he says; for in all these transgressions they always found pardon open to them, and benignity; but it was because they killed the Son of their Benefactor, for He is coeternal with the Father. Whence He saith, "Father, let their temple be made desolate; [1572] for they have persecuted Him whom Thou didst of Thine own will smite for the salvation of the world;" that is, they have persecuted me with a violent and unjust death, "and they have added to the pain of my wounds." In former time, as the Lover of man, I had pain on account of the straying of the Gentiles; but to this pain they have added another, by going also themselves astray. Wherefore "add iniquity to their iniquity, and tribulation to tribulation, and let them not enter into Thy righteousness," that is, into Thy kingdom; but "let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous," that is, with their holy fathers and patriarchs.