Chap. X.—Of the Advent of Jesus; Of the Fortunes of the Jews, and Their Government, Until the Passion of the Lord.

In the first place, then, men ought to know that the arrangements of the Most High God have so advanced from the beginning, that it was necessary, as the end of the world535    The boundary of the age. Thus the Scriptures speak of the end of the world, the last days.   approached, that the Son of God should descend to the earth, that He might build a temple for God, and teach righteousness; but, however, not with the might of an angel or with heavenly power, but in the form of man and in the condition of a mortal, that when He had discharged the office of His ministry,536    Magisterio, “teaching.”   He might be delivered into the hands of wicked men, and might undergo death, that, having subdued this also by His might, He might rise again, and bring to man, whose nature He had put on537    An expression frequently used by the Fathers to denote the assumption of our nature by Christ.   and represented, the hope of overcoming death, and might admit him to the rewards of immortality. And that no one may be ignorant of this arrangement, we will show that all things were foretold which we see fulfilled in Christ. Let no one believe our assertion unless I shall show that the prophets before a long series of ages published that it should come to pass at length that the Son of God should be born as a man, and perform wonderful deeds, and sow538    Seminaret, “sow” or “spread.” [I have put “sow” into the text, and brought down “spread,” for an obvious reason.]   the worship of God throughout the whole earth, and at last be crucified, and on the third day rise again. And when I shall have proved all these things by the writings of those very men who treated with violence their God who had assumed a mortal body, what else will prevent it from being manifest that true wisdom is conversant with this religion only? Now the origin of the whole mystery is to be related.  

Our ancestors,539    The patriarchs. The idea appears to be that Christians from the Gentiles, having succeeded to the privileges of the Jews, are, as it were, their posterity.   who were chiefs of the Hebrews, when they were distressed by famine and want, passed over into Egypt, that they might obtain a supply of corn; and sojourning there a long time, they were oppressed with an intolerable yoke of slavery. Then God pitied them, and led them out, and freed them from the hand of the king of the Egyptians, after four hundred and thirty540    The duration of the captivity in Egypt was two hundred and fifteen years. The period of four hundred and thirty years is reckoned from the call of Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to the final departure from Egypt.   years, under the leadership of Moses, through whom the law was afterwards given to them by God; and in this leading out God displayed the power of His majesty. For He made His people to pass through the midst of the Red Sea, His angel541    The Angel of the Covenant, who so often presented Himself to the Hebrews. See Ex. xxiii. 20. [The Jehovah-Angel. Compare Justin, vol. i. pp. 223–226, and others passim, this series.]   going before and dividing the water, so that the people might walk over the dry land, of whom it might more truly be said (as the poet says542    Virgil, Georg., iv. 361. He describes Aristæus as descending to the chamber of his mother Cyrene, in the depths of the river Peneus. The waters separate on each side to make a way for him, and then close over his head.  ), that “the wave, closing over him after the appearance of a mountain, stood around him.” And when he heard of this, the tyrant of the Egyptians followed with this great host of his men, and rashly entering the sea which still lay open, was destroyed, together with his whole army, by the waves returning543    Coeuntibus aquis, “meeting together.”   to their place. But the Hebrews, when they had entered into the wilderness, saw many wonderful deeds. For when they suffered thirst, a rock having been struck with a rod, a fountain of water sprung forth and refreshed the people. And again, when they were hungry, a shower544    See Ps. lxxviii. 24: “He rained down manna upon them to eat.”   of heavenly nourishment descended. Moreover, also, the wind545    See Num. xi. 31.   brought quails into their camp, so that they were not only satisfied with heavenly bread, but also with more choice banquets. And yet, in return for these divine benefits, they did not pay honour to God; but when slavery had been now removed from them, and their thirst and hunger laid aside, they fell away into luxury, and transferred their minds to the profane rites of the Egyptians. For when Moses, their leader, had ascended into the mountain, and there tarried forty days, they made the head546    Some of the Fathers think, with Lacantius, that it was the head only, and not the whole figure, of a calf which they made.   of an ox in gold, which they call Apis,547    Apis is the name given by the Egyptians to the calf which they worshipped.   that it might go before them as a standard.548    In signo.   With which sin and crime God was offended, and justly visited the impious and ungrateful people with severe punishments, and made them subject to the law549    The moral law had been already given to Moses on the mount before the making of the golden calf. The law here referred to may well be taken to express the burthensome routine of the ceremonial law, which Peter (Acts xv. 10) describes as a “yoke which neither their fathers nor they were able to bear.” [Our author expresses himself with accuracy: He subjected them by the oppressive ceremonial law to the moral law He had just given.]   which He had given by Moses.  

But afterwards, when they had settled in a desert part of Syria, the Hebrews550    The Hebrews are said to have derived their name from Heber the descendant of Noah by Shem; or more probably from Abram the Hebrew, that is, the man who had crossed the river,—a name given to him by the Canaanites. See Gen. xiv. 13.   lost their ancient name; and since the leader of their host551    Examinis.   was Judas, they were called Jews,552    There seems to be no authority for this derivation of the name. They were doubtless called Jews from Judah. As those who returned from the captivity at Babylon were principally of the tribe of Judah, though some from the other tribes returned with them, they were called Jews after the captivity.   and the land which they inhabited Judæa. And at first, indeed, they were not subject to the dominion of Kings, but civil Judges presided over the people and the law: they were not, however, appointed only for a year, as the Roman consuls, but supported by a perpetual jurisdiction. Then, the name of Judges being taken away, the kingly power was introduced. But during the government of the Judges the people had often undertaken corrupt religious rites; and God, offended by them, as often brought them into bondage to strangers, until again, softened by the repentance of the people, He freed them from bondage. Likewise under the Kings, being oppressed by wars with their neighbours on account of their iniquities, and at last taken captive and led to Babylon, they suffered punishment for their impiety by oppressive slavery, until Cyrus came to the kingdom, who immediately restored the Jews by an edict. Afterwards they had tetrarchs until the time of Herod, who was in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar; in whose fifteenth year, in the consulship of the two Gemini, on the 23d of March,553    There appears to be no reasonable doubt that the day on which our Lord suffered was the 14th of Nisan, that is, April 7. See Gresswell’s Dissertations, vol. iii. p. 168; also Ellicott’s Lectures on the Life of Christ [Gresswell is not to be too readily accepted in this. See the learned inquiry of Dr. Jarvis, of whom, vol. ii. p. 477.]   the Jews crucified Christ. This series of events, this order, is contained in the secrets of the sacred writings. But I will first show for what reason Christ came to the earth, that the foundation and the system of divine religion may be manifest.  

0469C CAPUT X. De Jesu adventu; de Judaeorum casibus ac eorum regimine usque ad Passionem Dominicam.

In primis igitur scire homines oportet, sic a principio 0470A processisse dispositionem summi Dei, ut esset necesse, appropinquante saeculi termino, Dei Filium descendere in terram, ut constitueret Deo templum, doceretque justitiam: verumtamen non in virtute Angeli, aut potestate coelesti, sed in figura hominis, et conditione mortali, ut cum magisterio functus fuisset, traderetur in manus impiorum, mortemque susciperet, ut ea quoque per virtutem domita, resurgeret, et homini, quem induerat, quem gerebat, et spem vincendae mortis afferret, et ad praemia immortalitatis admitteret. Hanc ergo dispositionem ne quis ignoret, docebimus praedicta esse omnia, quae in Christo videmus esse completa. Nemo asseverationi nostrae fidem commodet; nisi ostendero, Prophetas ante multam temporum seriem praedicasse, fore aliquando ut filius Dei naceretur 0470B sicut homo, et mirabilia faceret, et cultum Dei per totam terram seminaret, et postremo patibulo figeretur, et tertia die resurgeret. Quae omnia cum probavero eorum ipsorum litteris, qui Deum suum mortali corpore utentem violaverunt, quid aliud obstabit, quominus veram sapientiam clarum sit in hac sola Religione versari? Nunc a principio totius sacramenti origo narranda est.

Majores nostri, qui erant principes Hebraeorum, cum sterilitate atque inopia laborarent, transierunt in Aegyptum rei frumentariae gratia, ibique diutius commorantes, intolerabili servitutis jugo premebantur. Tum misertus eorum Deus eduxit eos, ac liberavit de manu regis Aegyptiorum post annos quadringentos 0470C et triginta, duce Moyse, per quem postea illis lex a Deo data est: in qua eductione ostendit virtutem suae majestatis Deus. Trajecit enim populum medio Mari Rubro, praecedente angelo, et 0471A scindente aquam, 0471A ut populus per siccum gradi posset, quem verius (ut ait poeta) Curvata in montis faciem circumstetit unda.Qua re audita, tyrannus Aegyptiorum cum magna suorum manu insecutus, et mare adhuc patens temere ingressus, coeuntibus aquis cum omni exercitu deletus est. Hebraei vero ingressi in solitudinem multa mirabilia viderunt. Nam cum sitim paterentur, ictu virgae rupe percussa, prosiliit fons aquae, populumque recreavit. Quo rursus esuriente, coelestis alimenti pluvia descendit. Quin etiam coturnices in castra eorum ventus invexit, ut non modo pane 0471B coelesti, sed etiam instructioribus epulis saturarentur. 0472A Pro his tamen divinis beneficiis honorem Deo non reddiderunt, sed depulsa jam servitute, jam siti fameque deposita, in luxuriam prolapsi, ad profanos Aegyptiorum ritus animos transtulerunt. Cum enim Moyses dux eorum ascendisset in montem (Exod. XXXII), atque ibi quadraginta diebus moraretur, aureum caput bovis, quem vocant Apin, quod eos in signo praecederet, figurarunt. Quo peccato ac scelere offensus Deus, impium et ingratum populum pro merito poenis gravibus affecit, et legi, quam per Moysen dederat, subjugavit.

Postea vero cum in deserta quadam parte Syriae 0472B consedissent, amiserunt vetus nomen Hebraei: et 0473A quoniam princeps examinis 0473A eorum Judas erat, Judaei sunt appellati, et terra, quam incoluere, Judaea. Et primo quidem non dominio regum subjecti fuerunt: sed populo ac legi civiles Judices praesidebant; non tamen in annum constituti sunt, sicut romani consules, sed perpetua jurisdictione, subnixi. Tum sublato Judicum nomine, potestas regalis inducta est. Verum Judicibus regimen eorum tenentibus, pravas religiones saepe susceperant; atque offensus ab his Deus, toties eos alienigenis subjugabat, 0474A donec rursus poenitentia populi mitigatus liberaret eos servitute. Item sub regibus finitimorum bellis ob delicta vexati, postremo capti, abductique Babylonem, poenas impietatis suae gravi servitio pependerunt; donec Cyrus veniret in regnum, qui statim Judaeos restituit edicto. Exinde Tetrarchas habuerunt usque ad Herodem, qui fuit sub imperio Tiberii Caesaris; cujus anno quinto decimo, id est, duobus Geminis Consulibus, ante diem decimam calendarum aprilium Judaei Christum cruci affixerunt. 0475A Hic rerum textus, 0475A hic ordo in arcanis sanctarum Litterarum continetur. Sed prius ostendam, qua de causa in terram venerit Christus, ut fundamentum divinae Religionis et ratio clarescat.