XVIII.
As the Lord Jesus Christ made His sojourn with us in the flesh (which He received) from the holy, immaculate Virgin, and took to Himself the tribe of Judah, and came forth from it, the Scripture declared His royal lineage in the word of Jacob, when in his benediction he addressed himself to his son in these terms: "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hands shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp; from a sprout, [1926] my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lion's whelp: [1927] who shall rouse him up? A ruler [1928] shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader [1929] from his thighs, [1930] until what is in store for him [1931] shall come, and he is the expectation [1932] of the nations." [1933] Mark these words of Jacob which were spoken to Judah, and are fulfilled in the Lord. To the same effect, moreover, does the patriarch express himself regarding Antichrist. Wherefore, as he prophesied with respect to Judah, so did he also with respect to his son Dan. For Judah was his fourth son; and Dan, again, was his seventh son. And what, then, did he say of him? "Let Dan be a serpent sitting by the way, that biteth the horse's heel?" [1934] And what serpent was there but the deceiver from the beginning, he who is named in Genesis, he who deceived Eve, and bruised Adam in the heel? [1935]
[1926] blastou
[1927] skumnos.
[1928] archon.
[1929] hegoumenos.
[1930] ek ton meron.
[1931] ta apokeimena.
[1932] kai autos prosdokia.
[1933] Gen. xlix. 8-10.
[1934] Gen. xlix. 17.
[1935] pternisas.
XIX.
But seeing now that we must make proof of what is alleged at greater length, we shall not shrink from the task. For it is certain that he is destined to spring from the tribe of Dan, [1936] and to range himself in opposition like a princely tyrant, a terrible judge and accuser, [1937] as the prophet testifies when he says, "Dan shall judge his people, as one tribe in Israel." [1938] But some one may say that this was meant of Samson, who sprang from the tribe of Dan, and judged his people for twenty years. That, however, was only partially made good in the case of Samson; but this shall be fulfilled completely in the case of Antichrist. For Jeremiah, too, speaks in this manner: "From Dan we shall hear the sound of the sharpness [1939] of his horses; at the sound of the neighing [1940] of his horses the whole land trembled." [1941] And again, Moses says: "Dan is a lion's whelp, and he shall leap from Bashan." [1942] And that no one may fall into the mistake of thinking that this is spoken of the Saviour, let him attend to this. "Dan," says he, "is a lion's whelp;" and by thus naming the tribe of Dan as the one whence the accuser is destined to spring, he made the matter in hand quite clear. For as Christ is born of the tribe of Judah, so Antichrist shall be born of the tribe of Dan. And as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was spoken of in prophecy as a lion on account or His royalty and glory, in the same manner also has the Scripture prophetically described the accuser as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence.
[1936] After Irenæus, book v. ch. xxx. [vol. i. p. 559, this series], many of the ancients express this opinion. See too Bellarmine, De Pontifice Rom., iii. 12.
[1937] diabolos.
[1938] Gen. xlix. 16.
[1939] phonen oxutetos. There is another reading, spouden = haste.
[1940] chremetismou. [Conf. p. 207, supra.]
[1941] Jer. viii. 16.
[1942] Deut. xxxiii. 22.
XX.
For in every respect that deceiver seeks to make himself appear like the Son of God. Christ is a lion, and Antichrist is a lion. Christ is King of things celestial and things terrestrial, and Antichrist will be king upon earth. The Saviour was manifested as a lamb; and he, too, will appear as a lamb, while he is a wolf within. The Saviour was circumcised, and he in like manner will appear in circumcision. The Saviour sent the apostles unto all the nations, and he in like manner will send false apostles. Christ gathered together the dispersed sheep, and he in like manner will gather together the dispersed people of the Hebrews. Christ gave to those who believed on Him the honourable and life-giving cross, and he in like manner will give his own sign. Christ appeared in the form of man, and he in like manner will come forth in the form of man. Christ arose from among the Hebrews, and he will spring from among the Jews. Christ displayed His flesh like a temple, and raised it up on the third day; and he too will raise up again the temple of stone in Jerusalem. And these deceits fabricated by him will become quite intelligible to those who listen to us attentively, from what shall be set forth next in order.
XXI.
For through the Scriptures we are instructed in two advents of the Christ and Saviour. And the first after the flesh was in humiliation, because He was manifested in lowly estate. So then His second advent is declared to be in glory; for He comes from heaven with power, and angels, and the glory of His Father. His first advent had John the Baptist as its forerunner; and His second, in which He is to come in glory, will exhibit Enoch, and Elias, and John the Divine. [1943] Behold, too, the Lord's kindness to man; how even in the last times He shows His care for mortals, and pities them. For He will not leave us even then without prophets, but will send them to us for our instruction and assurance, and to make us give heed to the advent of the adversary, as He intimated also of old in this Daniel. For he says, "I shall make a covenant of one week, and in the midst of the week my sacrifice and libation will be removed." For by one week he indicates the showing forth of the seven years which shall be in the last times. [1944] And the half of the week the two prophets, along with John, will take for the purpose of proclaiming to all the world the advent of Antichrist, that is to say, for a "thousand two hundred and sixty days clothed in sackcloth;" [1945] and they will work signs and wonders with the object of making men ashamed and repentant, even by these means, on account of their surpassing lawlessness and impiety. "And if any man will hurt them, fire will proceed out of their mouth, and devour their enemies. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of the advent of Antichrist, and to turn waters into blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will." [1946] And when they have proclaimed all these things they will fall on the sword, cut off by the accuser [1947] . And they will fulfil their testimony, as Daniel also says; for he foresaw that the beast that came up out of the abyss would make war with them, namely with Enoch, Elias, and John, and would overcome them, and kill them, because of their refusal to give glory to the accuser, that is the little horn that sprang up. [1948] And he, being lifted up in heart, begins in the end to exalt himself and glorify himself as God, persecuting the saints and blaspheming Christ.
[1943] Or, the theologian. The Apocalypse (xi. 3) mentions only two witnesses, who are understood by the ancients in general as Enoch and Elias. The author of the Chronicon Paschale, p. 21, on Enoch, says: "This is he who, along with Elias, is to withstand Antichrist in the last days, and to confute his deceit, according to the tradition of the Church." This addition as to the return of John the Evangelist is somewhat more uncommon. And yet Ephraem of Antioch, in Photius, cod. ccxxix., states that this too is supported by ancient, ecclesiastical tradition, Christ's saying in John xxi. 22 being understood to that effect. See also Hippolytus, De Antichristo, ch. l. p. 213, supra.--Migne. [Enoch and Elias are not dead. But see Heb. ix. 27.]
[1944] Dan. ix. 27. ( Note our author's adoption of the plan of a year for a day, Ezek. iv. 6. See Pusey, Daniel, p. 165.]
[1945] Rev. xi. 3.
[1946] Rev. xi. 6; [1 Kings xvii. 1; Ecclus. xlviii. 3].
[1947] para tou diabolou. [That is, by the devil.]
[1948] anaphanen. But Cod. B reads anaphuen.
XXII.
But as, in accordance with the train of our discussion, we have been constrained to come to the matter of the days of the dominion of the adversary, it is necessary to state in the first place what concerns his nativity and growth; and then we must turn our discourse, as we have said before, to the expounding of this matter, viz., that in all respects the accuser and son of lawlessness [1949] is to make himself like our Saviour. Thus also the demonstration makes the matter clear to us. Since the Saviour of the world, with the purpose of saving the race of men, was born of the immaculate and virgin Mary, [1950] and in the form of the flesh trod the enemy under foot, in the exercise of the power of His own proper divinity; in the same manner also will the accuser come forth from an impure woman upon the earth, but shall be born of a virgin spuriously. [1951] For our God sojourned with us in the flesh, after that very flesh of ours which He made for Adam and all Adam's posterity, yet without sin. But the accuser, though he take up the flesh, will do it only in appearance; for how should we wear that flesh which he did not make himself, but against which he warreth daily? And it is my opinion, beloved, that he will assume this phenomenal kind of flesh [1952] as an instrument. [1953] For this reason also is he to be born of a virgin, as if a spirit, and then to the rest he will be manifested as flesh. For as to a virgin bearing, this we have known only in the case of the all-holy Virgin, who bore the Saviour verily clothed in flesh. [1954] For Moses says, "Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy unto the Lord." [1955] This is by no means the case with him; [1956] but as the adversary will not open the womb, so neither will he take to himself real flesh, and be circumcised as Christ was circumcised. And even as Christ chose His apostles, so will he too assume a whole people of disciples like himself in wickedness.
[1949] anomias. Cod. B gives apoleias, perdition; and for mellei = is to, it reads thelei = wishes. [2 Thess. ii. 3, 4-8.]
[1950] Cod. B gives aeiparthenou, ever-virgin.
[1951] en plane. Cod. B reads akribos, exactly. Many of the ancients hold that Antichrist will be a demon in human figure. See Augustine, Sulpicius Severus, in Dialogue II., and Philippus Dioptra, iii. 11, etc.
[1952] phantastiken tes sarkos autou ousian.
[1953] Organ, organon.
[1954] Cod. B reads ten theotokon egnomen sarkikos kai aplanos, instead of the text, sarkophoron aplanos, etc. [Conf. vol. iii. p. 523.]
[1955] Ex. xxxiv. 19; Num. viii. 16; Luke ii. 23.
[1956] ou men oudamos.