97. Notice that the fact that the prophet Moses remained
the everlasting priest of God and King and Christ.
It is Open to you to see with your own eyes that this has taken place. You curse in your synagogues all those who have become Christians following him, and so do the other Gentiles who make this curse effective when they execute those who only confess themselves to be Christians.
To both groups we say, You are our brothers!, recognize instead the truth of God.
And when neither you nor they are convinced by us, but attempt to force us to deny the name of Christ, we prefer rather to be put to death and we hold out, for we are convinced that God will give us all the rewards which he has promised through Christ.
In addition, we pray for you that you may receive mercy from Christ.
Christ taught us to pray for our enemies, saying, Be kind and pitiful, as your heavenly Father is, and indeed we do perceive that God almighty is kind and pitiful, for he causes the sun to rise on both the unthankful and the good and the rain to fall on the godly and on the wicked?, though he has taught us that he will judge them all.
97.
Notice that the fact that the prophet Moses remained until the evening, when Hur and Aaron were holding up his hands3 in this posture, did not happen undesignedly.
Notice that the Lord remained almost till evening upon the cross, and at evening they buried him; then he rose again on the third day. This was declared through David in this text:
I cried with my voice unto the Lord, and he heard me out of his holy hill.
I laid me down and slept; I rose up again, because the Lord was my helper+. Through Isaiah too a similar prophecy was made about him, concerning the manner in which he was destined to die, in this text: I stretched out my hands to a 11s9,66:5..
= Justin is apparently quoting a conflation of Luke 6:35 sq. and Matt. 5:45.
; SExod. 17:12.
4Ps. 3:5,6.