Chapter X.—Concerning the Passion of Christ, and Its Old Testament Predictions and Adumbrations.

Concerning the last step, plainly, of His passion you raise a doubt; affirming that the passion of the cross was not predicted with reference to Christ, and urging, besides, that it is not credible that God should have exposed His own Son to that kind of death; because Himself said, “Cursed is every one who shall have hung on a tree.”188    Comp. Deut. xxi. 23 with Gal. iii. 13, with Prof. Lightfoot on the latter passage. But the reason of the case antecedently explains the sense of this malediction; for He says in Deuteronomy: “If, moreover, (a man) shall have been (involved) in some sin incurring the judgment of death, and shall die, and ye shall suspend him on a tree, his body shall not remain on the tree, but with burial ye shall bury him on the very day; because cursed by God is every one who shall have been suspended on a tree; and ye shall not defile the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee for (thy) lot.”189    Deut. xxi. 22, 23 (especially in the LXX.). Therefore He did not maledictively adjudge Christ to this passion, but drew a distinction, that whoever, in any sin, had incurred the judgment of death, and died suspended on a tree, he should be “cursed by God,” because his own sins were the cause of his suspension on the tree. On the other hand, Christ, who spoke not guile from His mouth,190    See 1 Pet. ii. 22 with Isa. liii. 9. and who exhibited all righteousness and humility, not only (as we have above recorded it predicted of Him) was not exposed to that kind of death for his own deserts, but (was so exposed) in order that what was predicted by the prophets as destined to come upon Him through your means191    Oehler’s pointing is disregarded. might be fulfilled; just as, in the Psalms, the Spirit Himself of Christ was already singing, saying, “They were repaying me evil for good;”192    Ps. xxxv. (xxxiv. in LXX.) 12. and, “What I had not seized I was then paying in full;”193    Ps. lxix. 4 (lxviii. 5 in LXX.). “They exterminated my hands and feet;”194    Ps. xxii. 16 (xxi. 17 in LXX.). and, “They put into my drink gall, and in my thirst they slaked me with vinegar;”195    Ps. lxix. 21 (lxviii. 5 in LXX.). “Upon my vesture they did cast (the) lot;”196    Ps. xxii. 18 (xxi. 19 in LXX.). just as the other (outrages) which you were to commit on Him were foretold,—all which He, actually and thoroughly suffering, suffered not for any evil action of His own, but “that the Scriptures from the mouth of the prophets might be fulfilled.”197    See Matt. xxvi. 56; xxvii. 34, 35; John xix. 23, 24, 28, 32–37.

And, of course, it had been meet that the mystery198    Sacramentum. of the passion itself should be figuratively set forth in predictions; and the more incredible (that mystery), the more likely to be “a stumbling-stone,”199    See Rom. ix. 32, 33, with Isa. xxviii. 16; 1 Cor. i. 23; Gal. v. 11. if it had been nakedly predicted; and the more magnificent, the more to be adumbrated, that the difficulty of its intelligence might seek (help from) the grace of God.

Accordingly, to begin with, Isaac, when led by his father as a victim, and himself bearing his own “wood,”200    Lignum = ξύλον; constantly used for “tree.” was even at that early period pointing to Christ’s death; conceded, as He was, as a victim by the Father; carrying, as He did, the “wood” of His own passion.201    Comp. Gen. xxii. 1–10 with John xix. 17.

Joseph, again, himself was made a figure of Christ202    “Christum figuratus” is Oehler’s reading, after the two mss. and the Pamelian ed. of 1579; the rest read “figurans” or “figuravit.” in this point alone (to name no more, not to delay my own course), that he suffered persecution at the hands of his brethren, and was sold into Egypt, on account of the favour of God;203    Manifested e.g., in his two dreams. See Gen. xxxvii. just as Christ was sold by Israel—(and therefore,) “according to the flesh,” by His “brethren”204    Comp. Rom. ix. 5.—when He is betrayed by Judas.205    Or, “Judah.” For Joseph is withal blest by his father206    This is an error. It is not “his father,” Jacob, but Moses, who thus blesses him. See Deut. xxxiii. 17. The same error occurs in adv. Marc. 1. iii. c. xxiii. after this form: “His glory (is that) of a bull; his horns, the horns of an unicorn; on them shall he toss nations alike unto the very extremity of the earth.”  Of course no one-horned rhinoceros was there pointed to, nor any two-horned minotaur. But Christ was therein signified: “bull,” by reason of each of His two characters,—to some fierce, as Judge; to others gentle, as Saviour; whose “horns” were to be the extremities of the cross. For even in a ship’s yard—which is part of a cross—this is the name by which the extremities are called; while the central pole of the mast is a “unicorn.” By this power, in fact, of the cross, and in this manner horned, He does now, on the one hand, “toss” universal nations through faith, wafting them away from earth to heaven; and will one day, on the other, “toss” them through judgment, casting them down from heaven to earth.

He, again, will be the “bull” elsewhere too in the same scripture.207    Not strictly “the same;” for here the reference is to Gen. xlix. 5–7. When Jacob pronounced a blessing on Simeon and Levi, he prophesies of the scribes and Pharisees; for from them208    i.e., Simeon and Levi. is derived their209    i.e., the scribes and Pharisees. origin. For (his blessing) interprets spiritually thus: “Simeon and Levi perfected iniquity out of their sect,”210    Perfecerunt iniquitatem ex sua secta. There seems to be a play on the word “secta” in connection with the outrage committed by Simeon and Levi, as recorded in Gen. xxxiv. 25–31; and for συνετέλεσαν ἀδικίαν ἐξαιρέσεως αὐτῶν (which is the reading of the LXX., ed. Tisch. 3, Lips. 1860), Tertullian’s Latin seems to have read, συνετέλεσαν ἀδικίαν ἐξ αἱρέσεως αὐτῶν.—whereby, to wit, they persecuted Christ: “into their counsel come not my soul! and upon their station rest not my heart! because in their indignation they slew men”—that is, prophets—“and in their concupiscence they hamstrung a bull!”211    See Gen. xlix. 5–7 in LXX.; and comp. the margin of Eng. ver. on ver. 7, and Wordsworth in loc., who incorrectly renders ταῦρον an “ox” here.—that is, Christ, whom—after the slaughter of prophets—they slew, and exhausted their savagery by transfixing His sinews with nails.  Else it is idle if, after the murder already committed by them, he upbraids others, and not them, with butchery.212    What the sense of this is it is not easy to see. It appears to have puzzled Pam. and Rig. so effectually that they both, conjecturally and without authority, adopted the reading found in adv. Marc. l. iii. c. xviii. (from which book, as usual, the present passage is borrowed), only altering illis to ipsis.

But, to come now to Moses, why, I wonder, did he merely at the time when Joshua was battling against Amalek, pray sitting with hands expanded, when, in circumstances so critical, he ought rather, surely, to have commended his prayer by knees bended, and hands beating his breast, and a face prostrate on the ground; except it was that there, where the name of the Lord Jesus was the theme of speech—destined as He was to enter the lists one day singly against the devil—the figure of the cross was also necessary, (that figure) through which Jesus was to win the victory?213    See Ex. xvii. 8–16; and comp. Col. ii. 14, 15. Why, again, did the same Moses, after the prohibition of any “likeness of anything,”214    Ex. xx. 4. set forth a brazen serpent, placed on a “tree,” in a hanging posture, for a spectacle of healing to Israel, at the time when, after their idolatry,215    Their sin was “speaking against God and against Moses” (Num. xxi. 4–9). they were suffering extermination by serpents, except that in this case he was exhibiting the Lord’s cross on which the “serpent” the devil was “made a show of,”216    Comp. Col. ii. 14, 15, as before; also Gen. iii. 1, etc.; 2 Cor. xi. 3; Rev. xii. 9. and, for every one hurt by such snakes—that is, his angels217    Comp. 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15; Matt. xxv. 41; Rev. xii. 9.—on turning intently from the peccancy of sins to the sacraments of Christ’s cross, salvation was outwrought? For he who then gazed upon that (cross) was freed from the bite of the serpents.218    Comp. de Idol. c. v.; adv. Marc. l. iii. c. xviii.

Come, now, if you have read in the utterance of the prophet in the Psalms, “God hath reigned from the tree,”219    A ligno. Oehler refers us to Ps. xcvi. 10 (xcv. 10 in LXX.); but the special words “a ligno” are wanting there, though the text is often quoted by the Fathers. I wait to hear what you understand thereby; for fear you may perhaps think some carpenter-king220    Lignarium aliquem regem. It is remarkable, in connection herewith, that our Lord is not only called by the Jews “the carpenter’s son” (Matt. xiii. 55; Luke iv. 22), but “the carpenter” (Mark vi. 3). is signified, and not Christ, who has reigned from that time onward when he overcame the death which ensued from His passion of “the tree.”

Similarly, again, Isaiah says: “For a child is born to us, and to us is given a son.”221    See Isa. ix. 6. What novelty is that, unless he is speaking of the “Son” of God?—and one is born to us the beginning of whose government has been made “on His shoulder.” What king in the world wears the ensign of his power on his shoulder, and does not bear either diadem on his head, or else sceptre in his hand, or else some mark of distinctive vesture? But the novel “King of ages,” Christ Jesus, alone reared “on His shoulder” His own novel glory, and power, and sublimity,—the cross, to wit; that, according to the former prophecy, the Lord thenceforth “might reign from the tree.” For of this tree likewise it is that God hints, through Jeremiah, that you would say, “Come, let us put wood222    Lignum.into his bread, and let us wear him away out of the land of the living; and his name shall no more be remembered.”223    See Jer. xi. 19 (in LXX.). Of course on His body that “wood” was put;224    i.e., when they laid on Him the crossbeam to carry. See John xix. 17. for so Christ has revealed, calling His body “bread,”225    See John vi. passim, and the various accounts of the institution of the Holy Supper. whose body the prophet in bygone days announced under the term “bread.” If you shall still seek for predictions of the Lord’s cross, the twenty-first Psalm will at length be able to satisfy you, containing as it does the whole passion of Christ; singing, as He does, even at so early a date, His own glory.226    It is Ps. xxii. in our Bibles, xxi. in LXX. “They dug,” He says, “my hands and feet”227    Ver. 16 (17 in LXX.).—which is the peculiar atrocity of the cross; and again when He implores the aid of the Father, “Save me,” He says, “out of the mouth of the lion”—of course, of death—“and from the horn of the unicorns my humility,”228    Ps. xxii. 21 (xxi. 22 in LXX., who render it as Tertullian does).—from the ends, to wit, of the cross, as we have above shown; which cross neither David himself suffered, nor any of the kings of the Jews: that you may not think the passion of some other particular man is here prophesied than His who alone was so signally crucified by the People.

Now, if the hardness of your heart shall persist in rejecting and deriding all these interpretations, we will prove that it may suffice that the death of the Christ had been prophesied, in order that, from the fact that the nature of the death had not been specified, it may be understood to have been affected by means of the cross229    i.e., perhaps, because of the extreme ignominy attaching to that death, which prevented its being expressly named. and that the passion of the cross is not to be ascribed to any but Him whose death was constantly being predicted. For I desire to show, in one utterance of Isaiah, His death, and passion, and sepulture. “By the crimes,” he says, “of my people was He led unto death; and I will give the evil for His sepulture, and the rich for His death, because He did not wickedness, nor was guile found in his mouth; and God willed to redeem His soul from death,”230    Isa. liii. 8, 9, 10, (in LXX.). and so forth. He says again, moreover: “His sepulture hath been taken away from the midst.”231    Isa. lvii. 2 (in LXX.). For neither was He buried except He were dead, nor was His sepulture removed from the midst except through His resurrection. Finally, he subjoins: “Therefore He shall have many for an heritage, and of many shall He divide spoils:”232    Isa. liii. 12 (in LXX.). Comp., too, Bp. Lowth. Oehler’s pointing again appears to be faulty. who else (shall so do) but He who “was born,” as we have above shown?—“in return for the fact that His soul was delivered unto death?” For, the cause of the favour accorded Him being shown,—in return, to wit, for the injury of a death which had to be recompensed,—it is likewise shown that He, destined to attain these rewards because of death, was to attain them after death—of course after resurrection. For that which happened at His passion, that mid-day grew dark, the prophet Amos announces, saying, “And it shall be,” he says, “in that day, saith the Lord, the sun shall set at mid-day, and the day of light shall grow dark over the land:  and I will convert your festive days into grief, and all your canticles into lamentation; and I will lay upon your loins sackcloth, and upon every head baldness; and I will make the grief like that for a beloved (son), and them that are with him like a day of mourning.”233    See Amos viii. 9, 10 (especially in the LXX.). For that you would do thus at the beginning of the first month of your new (years) even Moses prophesied, when he was foretelling that all the community of the sons of Israel was234    Oehler’s “esset” appears to be a mistake for “esse.” to immolate at eventide a lamb, and were to eat235    The change from singular to plural is due to the Latin, not to the translator. this solemn sacrifice of this day (that is, of the passover of unleavened bread) with bitterness;” and added that “it was the passover of the Lord,”236    See Ex. xii. 1–11. that is, the passion of Christ. Which prediction was thus also fulfilled, that “on the first day of unleavened bread”237    See Matt. xxvi. 17; Mark xiv. 12; Luke xxii. 7; John xviii. 28. you slew Christ;238    Comp. 1 Cor. v. 7. and (that the prophecies might be fulfilled) the day hasted to make an “eventide,”—that is, to cause darkness, which was made at mid-day; and thus “your festive days God converted into grief, and your canticles into lamentation.” For after the passion of Christ there overtook you even captivity and dispersion, predicted before through the Holy Spirit.

CAPUT X.

De exitu plane passionis ejus ambigitis, negantes passionem crucis in Christum praedicatam, et argumentantes insuper non esse credendum, ut ad id genus mortis exposuerit Deus filium suum, quod ipse dixit: Maledictus omnis homo qui pependit in ligno (Deut. XXI, 23). Sed hujus maledictionis sensum antecedit rerum probatio. Dicit enim in Deuteronomio: Si autem fuerit in aliquo delictum, ita ut judicium mortis sit, et morietur, et suspendetis eum in ligno. Sed et sepultura 0625B sepelietis cum ipsa die: quoniam maledictus a Deo est omnis qui suspensus fuerit in ligno, et non inquinabitis terram quam Dominus Deus tuus dabit tibi in sortem (Ibid. 22, 23). Igitur non in hanc passionem Christum maledixit; sed distinctionem fecit, ut qui in aliquo delicto judicium mortis habuisset et moreretur suspensus in ligno, hic maledictus a Deo esset, quia propter merita delictorum suorum suspenderetur in ligno. Alioquin Christus, qui dolum de ore suo locutus non est (Isa. LIII, 9), quique omnem justitiam et humilitatem exhibuit; et ut supra de eo praedictum memoravimus, non pro meritis suis in id genus mortis expositus est, sed ut ea quae praedicta sunt a prophetis, per vos ei obventura implerentur, sicut in Psalmis ipse Spiritus Christi jam canebat, dicens: 0625C Retribuebant mihi mala pro bonis (Ps. XXXIV, 12), 0626A et: Quae non rapueram, tunc exsolvebam (Ps. LXVIII, 5); Exterminaverunt manus meas et pedes (Ps. XXI, 17); et: Miserunt in potum meum fel, et in siti mea potaverunt me aceto (Ps. LXVIII, 23); et, Super vestem meam miserunt sortem (Ps. XXI, 19); sicuti caetera quae in illum commissuri essetis, praedicta sunt. Quae quidem omnia ipso perpessus, non pro actu suo aliquo malo passus est, sed ut Scripturae implerentur de ore prophetarum (Matth. XVI, 56). Et utique sacramentum passionis ipsius figurari in praedicationibus oportuerat; quantoque incredibile, tanto magis scandalum futurum, si nude praedicaretur ; quantoque magnificum, tanto magis obumbrandum, ut difficultas intellectus gratiam Dei quaereret. Itaque in primis Isaac cum a patre hostia duceretur, et lignum ipsi 0626B sibi portaret (Gen. XXII, 6), Christi exitum jam tunc denotabat, in victimam concessi a patre, lignum passionis suae bajulantis. Joseph et ipse Christum figuravit, vel hoc solo, ne cursum demorer ipse, quod persecutionem a fratribus passus est, et venumdatus in Aegyptum (Gen. XXXVII, 28), ob Dei gratiam, sicut et Christus ob Israel, a fratribus venumdatus, a Juda cum traditur. Nam et benedicitur in haec verba Joseph: Tauri decor ejus, cornua unicornis cornua ejus, in eis nationes ventilabit pariter ad summum usque terrae (Deut. XXXIII, 17). Non utique rhinoceros destinabatur unicornis , vel minotaurus bicornis, sed Christus in illo significabatur: taurus ob utramque dispositionem, aliis ferus ut judex, aliis mansuetus ut salvator: cujus cornua essent crucis extima: 0626C nam et in antenna navis, quae crucis pars 0627A est, cornua extremitates vocantur: unicornis autem media stipitis palus. Hac denique virtute crucis, et hoc more cornutus, universas gentes et nunc ventilat per fidem, auferens a terra in coelum, et tunc ventilabit per judicium, dejiciens de coelo in terram. Idem erit et alibi taurus apud eamdem Scripturam, cum Jacob in Simeonem et Levi porrexit benedictionem, de Scribis et Pharisaeis prophetat; ex illis enim deducitur census illorum. Interpretatur enim spiritaliter sic: Simeon et Levi perfecerunt iniquitatem ex sua secta, qua scilicet Christum sunt persecuti. In concilium eorum ne venerit anima mea, et in stationem eorum ne incubuerint jecora mea: quoniam indignatione sua interfecerunt homines, id est, prophetas; et in concupiscentia sua subnervaverunt taurum 0627B (Gen. XLIX, 6), id est Christum, quem post necem prophetarum interfecerunt, et nervos ejus suffigendo clavis desaevierunt. Caeterum vanum, si post homicidium jam ab eis commissum, alicujus bovis ipsis exprobrat carnificinam. Jam vero Moyses, quid utique tunc tantum cum Jesus adversus Amalec praeliabatur, expansis manibus orabat residens (Exod. XVII, 11); quando in rebus tam attonitis magis utique genibus positis, et manibus caedentibus 0628A pectus, et facie humi volutata, orationem commendare debuisset? nisi quia illic ubi nomen Jesu dimicabat, dimicaturi quandoque adversus diabolum, crucis habitus quoque erat necessarius, per quam Jesus victoriam esset relaturus. Idem rursus Moyses post interdictam omnis rei similitudinem, cur aeneum serpentem ligno impositum, pendentis habitu in spectaculum Israeli salutare proposuit, eo tempore quo a serpentibus post idololatriam exterminabantur (Num. XXI, 9), nisi quod hic Dominicam cracem intentabat, qua serpens diabolus publicatur , et laeso cuique ab ejusmodi colubris, id est angelis ejus, a delictorum peccantia ad Christi crucis sacramenta intento, salus efficiebatur. Nam qui in illam tunc respiciebat, a morsu serpentium liberabatur. Age nunc, si 0628B legisti penes prophetam in Psalmis, Deus regnavit a ligno (Ps. XCV, 10) , expecto quid intelligas, ne forte lignarium aliquem regem significari putetis, et non Christum, qui exinde a passione Christi superata morte regnavit. Proinde et Esaias: Quoniam puer, inquit, natus est nobis, et datus nobis est filius (Isa. IX, 6). Quid novum, si non est de filio Dei, dicit: Filius natus est nobis, cujus imperium factum est super humerum ipsius (Ibid.)? Quis omnino 0629A regum insigne potestatis suae humero praefert, et non aut capite diadema, aut in manu sceptrum, aut aliquando propriae vestis notam . Sed solus novus rex saeculorum Christus Jesus, novae gloriae et potestatem et sublimitatem suam in humero extulit, crucem scilicet, ut secundum superiorem prophetiam exinde Dominus regnaret a ligno (l). De hoc enim ligno etiam Deus insinuat per Hieremiam quod essetis dicturi: Venite, mittamus in panem ejus lignum, et conteramus eum a terra vivorum, et nomen illius non memorabitur amplius (Jer. XI, 19). Utique in corpus ejus lignum missum est. Sic enim Christus revelavit, panem corpus suum appellans, cujus retro corpus in panem prophetes figuravit . Si adhuc quaeres Dominicae crucis praedicationem, satis jam 0629B poterit tibi facere vicesimus primus Psalmus, totam Christi continens passionem, canentis jam tunc gloriam suam: Foderunt, inquit, manus meas et pedes (Ps. XXI, 17). Quae propria est atrocitas crucis. Et rursus, cum auxilium Patris imploraret: Salvum me fac, inquit, ex ore leonis, utique mortis, et de cornibus unicornuorum humilitatem meam (Ps. XXI, 22); de apicibus scilicet crucis, ut supra ostendimus: quam crucem nec ipse David passus est, nec ullus regum Judaeorum, ne putetis alterius alicujus prophetari passionem, quam ejus qui solus a populo tam insigniter crucifixus est. Nunc, etsi omnes interpretationes istas respuerit et inriserit duritia cordis vestri, probavimus sufficere posse mortem Christi prophetatam, ut ex hoc quod non esset edita qualitas mortis 0629C , intelligatur per crucem evenisse, nec alii deputandam fuisse passionem crucis, quam cujus mors praedicabatur. Nam mortem ejus et passionem et sepulturam una voce Esaiae volo ostendere: A facinoribus, inquit, populi mei perductus est ad mortem, et dabo malos pro sepultura ejus, et divites pro morte ejus; quia scelus non fecit, nec dolus in ore ejus inventus est, et Deus voluit eximere a morte animam ejus (Isa. LIII, 8, 9, 10), etc. Dicit etiam adhuc: Sepultura ejus sublata est e medio (Ibid.). Nec sepultus enim est nisi mortuus, nec sepultura ejus sublata est e medio 0630A , nisi per resurrectionem ejus . Denique subjungit: Propterea ipse multos in haereditatem habebit, et multorum dividet spolia (Isa. LIII, 12). Quis enim alius, nisi qui natus est, ut supra ostendimus, pro eo quod tradita est in mortem anima ejus? Ostensa enim caussa gratiae ejus, pro injuria scilicet mortis repensandae, pariter ostensum est haec illum propter mortem consecuturum; post mortem utique resurrectionem consecuturum. Nam quod in passione ejus accidit, ut media dies tenebresceret, Amos propheta adnuntiat, dicens: Et erit, inquit, in die illa, dicit Dominus, occidet sol media die, et tenebrescet super terram dies luminis, et convertam dies festos vestros in luctum, et omnia cantica vestra in lamentationem, et imponam 0630B super lumbos vestros saccum, et super omne caput calvitium, et ponam eum quasi luctum dilecti , et eos qui cum illo quasi diem moeroris (Amos, VIII, 9, 10). Hoc enim et Moyses initio primi mensis novorum facturos vos prophetavit, cum omne vulgus filiorum Israel ad vesperam agnum esset immolaturus : et hanc solemnitatem diei hujus, id est Paschae azymorum, cum amaritudine manducaturos praecanebat: et adjecit, Pascha esse Domini (Exod., XII), id est passionem Christi. Quod ita quoque adimpletum est, ut prima die azymorum interficeretis Christum (Matth., XXVI), et ut prophetiae adimplerentur, properavit dies vesperam facere, id est tenebras efficere; quae media die factae sunt: atque ita dies festos vestros convertit Deus in luctum, et cantica 0630C vestra in lamentationem. Post passionem enim Christi etiam captivitas vobis et dispersio obvenit, praedicata per Spiritum sanctum.