2. As Trypho was just ready to add, "as the green herbs," I fore-

Jewish ritual laws as a remedy for idolatry

2. As Trypho was just ready to add, "as the green herbs," I forestalled him by asking, "Why do you not interpret those words as the green herbs 9 in the sense in which God spoke them, namely, that as God gave herbs to man for his sustenance, so did he give him animals for his food? But you object that Noah was ordered to make a distinction between the herbs, because we do not now eat every kind of herb.

3. "Such a conclusion lacks credibility. I could easily prove, but we will not waste time now in doing so, that every vegetable is a herb and may be eaten. Now, if we distinguish between them and refuse to eat some of them, we do so, not because they are common and unclean, but because they are bitter, or poisonous, or thorny; but the sweet, nourishing, and good herbs we eat and enjoy.

4. "Then, God, through Moses, ordered you to abstain from all unclean, harmful, and violent animals, whether they come from the soil or the sea, for, after you had eaten the manna in the desert and had seen all the miracles God wrought for your sake, you did not hesitate to make and adore the golden calf.

With good reason, therefore, does God repeatedly say of you, Foolish children, in whom there is no faith.10 c h a p t e r 21 "As I stated before, it was by reason of your sins and the sins of your fathers that, among other precepts, God imposed upon you the observance of the Sabbath as a sign. He also states that the only reason he allows any of you to remain alive today is for the sake of the Gentiles, that his name might not be profaned among them. If you wish clear proof of this, these are the words spoken through Ezekiel:

2. "I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and take no part in the customs of Egypt, and keep holy my Sabbaths; and they will be a sign between me and you, that you may know ejsti;n ejkrimai`on A ejsti; nekrimai`on. He explains, nekrimai`on = qnhsimai`on. See Dt

14.8 (Aquila) and 20 (21).

9. Gn 9.3. See Skarsaune, 357: "Justin .l.l. shows acquaintance with rabbinical discussions on unclean animals based on Gn 9,3."

10. Dt 32.20. Quoted at greater length in Dial. 119. See Smit Sibinga, 99; Skarsaune, 52–53.

Justin, Martyr, Saint. Dialogue with Trypho (Selections from the Fathers of the Church, Volume 3), edited by Michael Slusser, Catholic University of America Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nottingham/de

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st. justin martyr that I am the Lord your God. And you provoked me and your children walked not in my statutes, nor observed my judgments to do them; which if a man do, he shall live in them. But they violated my Sabbaths.

3. "And I threatened to pour out my indignation upon them and to accomplish my wrath in them in the desert. But I did not do it, so that my name might not be entirely violated in the sight of the Gentiles. I led them out before their eyes, and I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness to disperse them among the Gentiles, and scatter them through the countries because they had not done my judgments, and had cast off my statutes, and had violated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after the lusts of their fathers. Therefore I gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they shall not live. And I will pollute them in their own gifts, when I shall pass over to destroy all that open the womb.11 c h a p t e r 22 "Not because he needed such sacriﬁces but because of the sins of your people, especially their sins of idolatry, did God command you to sacriﬁce to him. You will admit the truth of my statement if you listen to Amos, one of the twelve prophets, who said:

2. "Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord. What does this day of the Lord mean to you? It is darkness, and not light. As if a man should ﬂee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him. And if he should enter into his house, and lean his hand against the wall, and a serpent should bite him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light, and gloom, and no brightness in it? I hate and have rejected your feasts, and I will not accept the odor of your assemblies.

3. "And if you offer me your holocausts and sacriﬁces, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the show of your peace-offerings. Take away from me the multitude of your songs and psalms, for I will not listen to your instruments. And judgment shall run down as water, and justice as a mighty torrent. Did you offer victims and sacriﬁces to me in the desert, O house of Israel, says the Lord? And have you not carried the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raphan, images that you made for yourselves?

11. Ezek 20.18–26.

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Jewish ritual laws as a remedy for idolatry

4. "And I will lead you as settlers beyond Damascus, says the Lord, the God whose name is almighty. Woe to the wealthy in Zion, and those who have conﬁdence in the mountain of Samaria. Those who are named among the chiefs have harvested the ﬁrst-fruits of the nations; the house of Israel came in unto themselves. Cross over all of you to Calneh, and see, and go from there unto Hamath the great; and then go down to Gath of the strangers, the best of all these kingdoms, if their borders are greater than your borders.

5. "They who come to the evil day, they who come near, and cling to false Sabbaths; who sleep upon beds of ivory, and fare wantonly on their couches; who eat the lambs out of the ﬂock, and the sucking calves from the midst of the herd; who applaud at the sound of the musical instruments. They thought these things were permanent, and would not pass away. They drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments, and they are not grieved for the afﬂiction of Joseph. Therefore now they shall go captive among the ﬁrst of the nobles who are carried away, and the dwelling place of the wicked shall be removed, and the neighing of horses shall be taken away from Ephraim.12

6. "And again in Jeremiah we read, Gather together your ﬂesh and your sacriﬁces, and eat. For I commanded not your fathers, in the day that I brought them by the hand out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacriﬁces.13

7. "And David says in his Forty-ninth Psalm, The God of gods, the Lord has spoken, and has summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. Out of Zion is the perfection of his beauty. God shall come manifestly; our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. A ﬁre shall burn before him, and a mighty tempest shall be round about him. He shall call heaven from above, and the earth, to judge his people. Gather together his saints to him, who set his covenant before sacriﬁces. And the heavens shall declare his justice, for God is judge.

8. "Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify to you: I am God, your God. I will not reprove you for your sacriﬁces; but your burnt offerings are always in my sight. I will not take calves out of your house, nor the goats out of your ﬂocks. For all the beasts of the ﬁeld are mine, the cattle on the hills, and oxen. I know all the fowls of the air, and with me is the beauty of the ﬁeld.

12. Am 5.18–6.7. See Skarsaune, 123–24, 171.

13. Jer 7.21–22. See Skarsaune, 111, 171.

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st. justin martyr 9. "Should I be hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Shall I eat the ﬂesh of bullocks, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacriﬁce of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. But to the sinner God has said: Why do you declare my statutes, and take my covenant in your mouth? seeing that you hated discipline and have cast my words behind you.

10. "If you did see a thief you ran with him, and with adulterers you have been a partaker. Your mouth has abounded with evil, and your tongue framed deceits. Sitting you did speak against your brother, and did lay a scandal against your mother's son. These things you have done, and I was silent. You thought in your wickedness that I should be like to you. I will reprove you, and will set your sins in order before your eyes. Understand these things, you that forget God, lest he snatch you away, and there be none to deliver you. The sacriﬁce of praise shall glorify me, and there is the way by which I will show him my salvation.14

11. "Thus, your sacriﬁces are not acceptable to God, nor were you ﬁrst commanded to offer them because of God's need of them, but because of your sins. The same can be said of the temple, which you refer to as the Temple in Jerusalem. God called it his house or court, not as if he needed a house or a court, but because, by uniting yourselves to him in that place, you might abstain from the worship of idols. This can be proved by the words of Isaiah, What is this house that you built for me? says the Lord. Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.15

14. Ps 49 (50).1–23. See Skarsaune, 109, 297; Daniélou, 91.

15. Is 66.1. See Skarsaune, 124.

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A C H R I S T I A N I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

O F R I T U A L L AW S

c h a p t e r 23 "If we do not accept this conclusion, then we shall fall into absurd ideas, as the nonsense either that our God is not the same God who existed in the days of Enoch and all the others who were not circumcised in the ﬂesh, and did not observe the Sabbaths and the other rites, since Moses only imposed them later; or that God does not wish each succeeding generation of humanity always to perform the same acts of righteousness. Either supposition is ridiculous and preposterous.

2. "Therefore, we must conclude that God, who is immutable, ordered these and similar things to be done only because of sinful men, and at the same time we confess him to be sympathetic toward all men, prescient, needful of nothing, just, and good. If I am wrong, gentlemen, let me hear your opinions on this subject."

3. When I received no reply, I continued, "Permit me, therefore, to repeat to you, Trypho, and to those who wish to become converts, the heavenly doctrine I received from that old man.1 Is it not evident to you that the elements do not refrain from work, and that they do not observe the Sabbaths? Stay as you were at birth. For if circumcision was not required before the time of Abraham, and if there was no need of Sabbaths, festivals, and sacriﬁces before Moses, they are not needed now,

1. I.e., the old man who conversed with Justin by the seashore. See Dial. 3–8.

Marcovich, 64, says, "Proselytes must have its usual meaning of 'proselytes to the Jewish faith,'" not Christianity. See Skarsaune (cited in Dial. 8.2 n 21, above).

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