For both David, in the beginning of his Psalms, foreseeing in spirit what a crime they were about to commit, says, [686] "Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the way of the ungodly; "and Solomon in the book of Wisdom used these words: [687] "Let us defraud the righteous, for he is unpleasant to us, and upbraideth us with our offences against the law. He maketh his boast that he has the knowledge of God; and he calleth himself the Son of God. He is made to reprove [688] our thoughts: it grieveth us even to look upon him: for his life is not like the life of others; his ways are of another fashion. [689] We are counted by him as triflers, [690] he withdraweth himself from our ways as from filthiness; he commendeth greatly [691] the latter end of the just, and boasteth that he has God for his Father. Let us see, therefore, if his words be true; let us prove what end [692] he shall have; let us examine him with rebukes and torments that we may know his meekness, [693] and prove his patience; let us condemn him to a shameful death. Such things have they imagined, and have gone astray. For their own folly hath blinded them, and they do not understand the mysteries [694] of God." Does he not describe that impious design entered into by the wicked against God, so that he clearly appears to have been present? But from Solomon, who foretold these things, to the time of their accomplishment, ten hundred and ten years intervened. We feign nothing; we add nothing. They who performed the actions had these accounts; they, against whom these things were spoken, read them. But even now the inheritors of their name and guilt have these accounts, and in their daily readings re-echo their own condemnation as foretold by the voice of the prophets; nor do they ever admit them into their heart, which is also itself a part of their condemnation. The Jews, therefore, being often reproved by Christ, who upbraided them with their sins and iniquities, and being almost deserted by the people, were stirred up to put Him to death.
Now His humility emboldened them to this deed. For when they read with what great power and glory the Son of God was about to descend from heaven, but on the other hand saw Jesus humble, peaceful, of low condition, [695] without comeliness, they did not believe that He was the Son of God, being ignorant that two advents on His part were foretold by the prophets: the first, obscure in humility of the flesh; the other, manifest in the power of His majesty. Of the first David thus speaks in the seventy-first Psalm: [696] "He shall descend as rain upon a fleece; and in His days shall righteousness spring forth, and abundance of peace, as long as the moon is lifted up." For as rain, if it descends upon a fleece, cannot be perceived, because it makes no sound; so he said that Christ would come to the earth without exciting the notice [697] of any, that He might teach righteousness and peace. Isaiah also thus spoke: [698] "Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We made proclamation [699] before Him as children, and as a root in a thirsty land: He has no form nor glory; and we saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness. But His form was without honour, and defective beyond the rest of men. He is a man acquainted [700] with grief, and knowing how to endure infirmity, because He turned [701] His face away from us; and He was not esteemed. He carries our sins, and He endures pain for us: and we thought that He Himself [702] was in pain, and grief, and vexation. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised [703] for our offences; the chastisement [704] of our peace was upon Him, by His bruises [705] we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, and God hath delivered Him up for our sins." And in the same manner the Sibyl spoke: "Though an object of pity, dishonoured, without form, He will give hope to those who are objects of pity." On account of this humility they did not recognise their God, and entered into the detestable design of depriving Him of life, who had come to give them life.
[684] The pagans upbraided Christians, that they worshipped a man who was put to d eath as a slave.
[685] Suspiciunt, "view with admiration."
[686] Ps. i. 1.
[687] Wisd. ii. 12-22.
[688] In traductionem cogitationum nostrarum. Traductio is sometimes used, as here, to denote exposure to ignominy.
[689] Immutatæ sunt.
[690] Nugaces. In the Greek it is eis kibdelon, as a counterfeit.
[691] Præfert. The Greek has makari'zei, "deems happy."
[692] Quæ ventura sunt illi.
[693] Reverentiam.
[694] Sacramenta Dei
[695] Sordidum.
[696] Ps. lxxii. 6, 7, quoted from the Septuagint,
[697] Sine cujusquam suspicione.
[698] Isa. liii. 1-6.
[699] Annuntiavimus coram ipso sicut pueri; and so the Septuagint, anengei'lamen ena'ntion autou hos paidi'on. It is most difficult to account for this remarkable translation. The meaning of the passage is plain, that the Messiah would spring from an obscure source. [Elucidation III.]
[700] Homo in plagâ positus. The Septuagint, anthropos en plegeo`n.
[701] Aversus est. So also the Septuagint, ape'straptai to` pro'sopon autou. Some have supposed that there is a reference to lepers, who were compelled to cover their faces.
[702] i.e., for Himself, as though He were bearing the punishment of His own sins.
[703] Infirmatus est.
[704] Doctrina pacis nostræ, "the correction."
[705] Livore ejus nos sanati sumus. The word "livor" properly denotes the blackness arising from a bruise.
Chap. XVII.--Of the Superstitions of the Jews, and Their Hatred Against Jesus.
But they alleged other causes for their anger and envy, which they bore shut up [706] within in their hearts--namely, that He destroyed the obligation [707] of the law given by Moses; that is, that He did not rest [708] on the Sabbath, but laboured for the good [709] of men; that He abolished circumcision; that He took away the necessity of abstaining from the flesh of swine; [710] --in which things the mysteries of the Jewish religion consist. On this account, therefore, the rest of the people, who had not yet withdrawn [711] to Christ, were incited by the priests to regard Him as impious, because He destroyed the obligation of the law of God, though He did this not by His own judgment, but according to the will of God, and after the predictions of the prophets. For Micah announced that He would give a new law, in these terms: [712] "The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations." [713] For the former law, which was given by Moses, was not given on Mount Zion, but on Mount Horeb; [714] and the Sibyl shows that it would come to pass that this law would be destroyed by the Son of God:--
"But when all these things which I told you shall be accomplished, then all the law is fulfilled with respect to Him."
But even Moses himself, by whom the law was given which they so tenaciously maintain, though they have fallen away from God, and have not acknowledged God, had foretold that it would come to pass that a very great prophet would be sent by God, who should be above the law, and be a bearer of the will of God to men. In Deuteronomy he thus left it written: [715] "And the Lord said unto me, I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my word in His mouth, and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And whosoever will not hearken to those things which that Prophet shall speak in my name, I will require [716] it of him." The Lord evidently announced by the law-giver himself that He was about to send His own Son--that is, a law alive, and present [717] in person, and destroy that old law given by a mortal, [718] that by Him who was eternal He might ratify afresh a law which was eternal.
In like manner, Isaiah [719] thus prophesied concerning the abolition of circumcision: "Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah who dwell at Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord your God, and take away the foreskins of your heart, lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it." Also Moses himself says: [720] "In the last days the Lord shall circumcise thine heart to love the Lord thy God." Also Jesus [721] the son of Nun, his successor, said: "And the Lord said unto Jesus, Make thee knives of flint very sharp, and sit and circumcise the children of Israel the second time." He said that this second circumcision would be not of the flesh, as the first was, which the Jews practice even now, but of the heart and spirit, which was delivered by Christ, who was the true Jesus. For the prophet does not say, "And the Lord said unto me," but "unto Jesus," that he might show that God was not speaking of him, but of Christ, to whom God was then speaking. For that Jesus represented [722] Christ: for when he was at first called Auses, [723] Moses, foreseeing the future, ordered that he should be called Jesus; that since he had been chosen as the leader of the warfare against Amalek, who was the enemy of the children of Israel, he might both subdue the adversary by the emblem [724] of the name, and lead the people into the land of promise. And for this reason he was also successor to Moses, to show that the new law given by Christ Jesus was about to succeed to the old law which was given by Moses. For that circumcision of the flesh is plainly irrational; since, if God had so willed it, He might so have formed man from the beginning, that he should be without a foreskin. But it was a figure of this second circumcision, signifying that the breast is to be laid bare; that is, that we ought to live with an open and simple heart, since that part of the body which is circumcised has a kind of resemblance to the heart, and is to be treated with reverence. On this account God ordered that it should be laid bare, that by this argument He might admonish us not to have our breast hidden [725] in obscurity; that is, not to veil any shameful deed within the secrets of conscience. This is the circumcision of the heart of which the prophets speak, which God transferred from the mortal flesh to the soul, which alone is about to endure. For being desirous of promoting our life and salvation in accordance with His own goodness, in that circumcision He hath set before us repentance, that if we lay open our hearts,--that is if we confess our sins and make satisfaction to God,--we shall obtain pardon, which is denied to those who are obstinate and conceal their faults, by Him who regards not the outward appearance, as man does, but the innermost secrets of the heart. [726]
The forbidding of the flesh of swine also has the same intention; for when God commanded them to abstain from this, He willed that this should be especially understood, that they should abstain from sins and impurities. For this animal is filthy and unclean, [727] and never looks up to heaven, [728] but prostrates itself to the earth with its whole body and face: it is always the slave of its appetite and food; nor during its life can it afford any other service, as the other animals do, which either afford a vehicle for riding, [729] or aid in the cultivation of the fields, or draw waggons by their neck, or carry burthens on their back, or furnish a covering with their skins, [730] or abound with a supply of milk, or keep watch for guarding our houses. Therefore He forbade them to use the flesh of the pig for food, that is, not to imitate the life of swine, which are nourished only for death; lest, by devoting themselves to their appetite and pleasures, they should be useless for working righteousness, and should be visited with death. Also that they should not immerse themselves in foul lusts, as the sow, which wallows in the mire; [731] of that they do not serve earthly images, and thus defile themselves with mud: for they do bedaub themselves with mud who worship gods, that is, who worship mud and earth. Thus all the precepts of the Jewish law have for their object the setting forth of righteousness, since they are given in a mysterious [732] manner, that under the figure of carnal things those which are spiritual might be known.