3. And I replied, "You have proposed a most sensible and in-

st. justin martyr dowed with those gifts of the Holy Spirit which the above-quoted passages of Isaiah attribute to him as though he had lacked them?"

3. And I replied, "You have proposed a most sensible and intelligent question, in that it appears to raise a real difﬁculty.

But, if you really wish a solution to this difﬁculty, please listen to me. The Scriptures state that these gifts of the Holy Spirit were bestowed upon him, not as though he were in need of them, but as though they were about to rest upon him, that is, to come to an end with him, so that there would be no more prophets among your people as of old, as is plainly evident to you, for after him there has not been a prophet among you.

4. "Furthermore, please pay careful attention to my words, so you may understand that each of your prophets, by receiving one or two powers from God, did and said those things which we have learned from the Scriptures. Solomon had the spirit of wisdom; Daniel, that of understanding and counsel; Moses, that of strength and piety; Elijah, that of fear; Isaiah, that of knowledge; and the others likewise had one or two gifts, as had Jeremiah, and the twelve prophets, and David, and, in short, all your other prophets.

5. "The Spirit therefore rested, that is, ceased, when Christ came. For, after man's redemption was accomplished by him, these gifts were to cease among you, and, having come to an end in him, should again be given, as was foretold, by him, from the grace of his Spirit's powers, to all his believers in accordance with their merits.

6. "I have already afﬁrmed, and I repeat, that it had been predicted that he would do this after his Ascension into heaven.

"It was said, therefore, He ascended on high; he led captivity captive; he gave gifts to the sons of men.32 And again in another prophecy it is said, And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all ﬂesh .l.l. and upon my servants, and upon my handmaids .l.l. and they shall prophesy.33

32. Ps 67 (68).19. See Daniélou, 257–58; Skarsaune, 100: "Justin seems to have taken his quotations of Ps 68.19 from Eph 4.8"; 177: "Ps 68:19 in Dial.

39:4 is a Pauline ascension testimony."

33. Jl 2.28–29. See Daniélou, 259; Skarsaune, 122–23; S. Sabugal, "El vocabJustin, 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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Interpreting Scripture about Christ

c h a p t e r 88 "Now, if you look around, you can see among us Christians both male and female endowed with charisms from the Spirit of God. Thus, it was not because he needed the powers enumerated by Isaiah that it was foretold that they would come upon him, but only because they would not exist any more afterwards. As additional proof, remember what I said about the Magi of Arabia, how they came as soon as the child was born, and worshipped him.

2. "For, as soon as he was born, he possessed his powers, and, growing up like any other man, he exercised appropriate powers at each stage of growth, being nourished by every sort of food, and waiting for about thirty years until John went on before him as the herald of his arrival and precursor of his baptism, as I have pointed out previously.

3. "And when Jesus came to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, he stepped down into the water and a ﬁre ignited the waters of the Jordan;34 and when he emerged out of the water the Holy Spirit alighted upon him in the form of a dove, as the apostles of this our Christ himself testify.

4. "We indeed know that he did not approach the river because he needed either the baptism or the Spirit who came down upon him in the shape of a dove. So, too, he did not condescend to be born and to be cruciﬁed because he was in need of birth or cruciﬁxion; he did it solely for the sake of man, who from the time of Adam had become subject to death and the deceit of the serpent, each man having sinned by his own fault.

5. "For God, in his desire to have the angels and men, who were endowed with the personal power of free will, do whatever he had enabled them to do, created them such that, if they chose to do things pleasing to him, he would preserve them imulario pneumatológico en la obra de san Justino y sus implicaciones teológicas," AugR 13 (1973): 459–67; and Morgan-Wynne (cited above, Dial. 29.1 n

28).

34. See Mk 1.9–10; Lk 3.21–22. For bright light or ﬁre at Jesus' baptism, see Daniel Vigne, Christ au Jourdain: Le Baptême de Jésus dans la tradition judéo-chrétienne (Paris: J. Gabalda, 1992), esp. 72–75, 310–11.

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 mortal and free from punishment, but if they preferred to do evil he would punish each one as he pleased.

6. "It was not his entry into Jerusalem upon an ass, which we have shown was predicted, that gave him the power to be the Christ, but it did prove to men that he is the Christ; just as in the days of John the Baptist men needed proof, that they might discern who was the Christ.

7. "For, when John, wearing only a cincture of skins and a cloak of camel's hair and eating only locusts and wild honey, sat by the river Jordan and preached the baptism of repentance,35 men supposed that he was the Christ, but he cried out to his listeners, I am not the Christ, but the voice of one crying; for there will come he that is stronger than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry.36

8. "When Jesus came to the Jordan, therefore, being considered the son of Joseph the carpenter,37 and having no comeliness, as the Scriptures afﬁrmed, he was thought to be a carpenter (for, when he was on earth he used to work as a carpenter, making ploughs and yokes,38 and thereby giving us symbolic lessons of the necessity of leading a just and active life); but then, as I already stated, the Holy Spirit for the sake of mankind descended upon him in the form of a dove, and at the same instant a voice out of the heavens spoke the words which had also been uttered by David, when he, in the person of Christ, spoke what was later to be said to Christ by the Father, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you,39 meaning that his birth really began for men when they ﬁrst realized who he was."

35. See Mt 3.4; Mk 1.4, 6; Lk 3.3.

36. Mt 3.1–11. See Is 40.3; Massaux, 83–84.

37. Mt 13.55; Lk 3.23. But see Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew (London:

Fontana/Collins, 1976), 21–22, for the ambiguity of "carpenter."

38. Marcovich, 224, cites a parallel in Gospel of Thomas 13.1.

39. Ps 2.7. See Skarsaune, 103, 109, 223.

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T H E P R O B L E M O F T H E C R U C I F I X I O N

c h a p t e r 89 "You know very well," said Trypho, "that we Jews all look forward to the coming of the Christ, and we admit that all your

Scriptural quotations refer to him. I also admit that the name Jesus [Joshua], which was given to the son of Nun, has prompted me to incline to this opinion.

2. "But we doubt whether the Christ should be so shamefully cruciﬁed, for the Law declares that he who is cruciﬁed is to be accursed.1 Consequently, you will ﬁnd it very difﬁcult to convince me on this point. It is indeed evident that the Scriptures state that Christ was to suffer, but you will have to show us, if you can, whether it was to be the form of suffering cursed by the Law."

3. "If, indeed, Christ was not to suffer," I answered him, "and if the prophets did not predict that because of the sins of the people he would be put to death and be dishonored and scourged, and be numbered among sinners, and be led as a sheep to the slaughter, whose birth the prophet declares no one can describe,2 your feelings of astonishment would be justiﬁed. But, if these things are marks which reveal him to all, how can we do otherwise than conﬁdently believe in him? And all who have grasped the meaning of the prophets' words, as soon as they hear that he was cruciﬁed, will afﬁrm that he is the Christ and no other."

1. Dt 21.23; Gal 3.13. See Smit Sibinga, 99, 140–41; W. C. van Unnik, "Der Fluch der Gekreuzigten. Deuteronomium 21.23 in der Deutung Justinus des

Märtyrers," in Theologia Crucis, Signum crucis: Festschrift für Erich Dinkler zum 70

Geburtstag, ed. C. Andresen and G. Klein (Tübingen: Mohr, 1979), 483–99.

2. See Is 54.3–12.

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st. justin martyr c h a p t e r 90 "Lead us forward, then, from the Scriptures," said Trypho,

"that we too may believe you. We are indeed aware that he was to endure suffering, and to be led as a sheep to the slaughter. But what we want you to prove to us is that he was to be cruciﬁed and subjected to so disgraceful and shameful a death (which even in the Law is cursed).3 We ﬁnd it impossible to think that this could be so."

2. "You know," I said, "in fact, you already admitted to us, that what the prophets said or did they often expressed in parables and types, thus concealing the truth they held. As a result, it is not easy for the multitude to understand most of what they taught, but only those who take the trouble to ﬁnd out and learn."

"We never doubted it," they replied.

3. "Then, please listen," I said, "to what I am going to say.

Moses was the ﬁrst to make known this apparent curse of Christ by the symbolic acts which he performed."

"What acts do you mean?" asked Trypho.

4. "When your people," I answered, "waged war with Amalek,4 and the son of Nun, Jesus [Joshua], was leader of the battle, Moses himself, stretching out both hands, prayed to God for help. Now, Hur and Aaron held up his hands all day long, lest he should become tired and let them drop to his sides. For, if Moses relaxed from that ﬁgure which was a ﬁgure of the cross, the people were defeated (as Moses himself testiﬁes); but as long as he remained in that position Amalek was defeated, and the people5 drew their strength from the cross.

5. "In truth, it was not because Moses prayed that his people were victorious, but because, while the name of Jesus was at the battle front, Moses formed the sign of the cross. Who among you does not know that that prayer is the most pleasing to God which is uttered with lamentation and tears, with prostrate

3. Dt 21.23.

4. See Ex 17.9–12; Daniélou, 270–72; Otranto (cited above, Dial. 77.4 n 20); Fédou, 46–47.

5. See Marcovich, 226.

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The problem of the cruciﬁxion

body or bended knees? But on this occasion Moses, or any after him, did not pray in such a manner; he was seated on a stone.

And I have shown that even the stone is symbolical of Christ.6 c h a p t e r 91 "Furthermore, God indicated in yet another way the power of the mystery of the cross when he said through Moses, in the blessing pronounced over Joseph, From the blessing of the Lord is his land; for the seasons of heaven, and for the dews, and for the deep springs from beneath, and for the fruits brought forth by the course of the sun, and for the conjunctions of the months, and for the tops of the ancient mountains, and for the top of the hills, and for the ever ﬂowing rivers, and for the abundance of the fruits of the earth. And let those things which are pleasing to him who appeared in the bush come upon the head and crown of Joseph, who was gloriﬁed among his brethren.

His beauty is as of a ﬁrstling of a bullock, and his horns are the horns of a unicorn; 7 with them shall he push the nations even to the ends of the earth. 8

2. "Now, no one can assert or prove that the horns of a unicorn represent any other matter or ﬁgure than that of the cross.9 The one beam of the cross stands upright, from which the upper part is lifted up like a horn when the crossbeam is ﬁtted on, and the ends of the crosspiece resemble horns joined to that one horn. And the part that is ﬁxed in the middle of the cross, on which the bodies of the cruciﬁed are supported, also projects like a horn, and it, too, looks like a horn when it is shaped and joined to the other horns.

3. "And the words, With them shall he push the nations even to the ends of the earth,10 clearly describe what is now taking place in all the nations. For, men of all nations have been pushed by the 6. See Dial. 70.

7. Falls's original translation, "the horns of a rhinoceros" has merit. In treating Ps 21 (22).22, Didymus the Blind identiﬁes the monokevrw" with the rhinoceros (Psalmenkommentar, ed. and trans. Michael Gronewald [Bonn: Habelt,

1969], vol. 1, 45.24). I owe this reference to J. Kalvesmaki.

8. Dt 33.13–17. See Daniélou, 273; Smit Sibinga, 147–48; Fédou, 40.

9. In the LXX, Dt 33.17 speaks of a unicorn, not an ox. For the relation of cruciﬁxion to impaling, see Martin Hengel, Cruciﬁxion (Philadelphia, Pa.:

Fortress, 1977), 30–32, 69–83.

10. Dt 33.17. See Smit Sibinga, 58–59.

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st. justin martyr horns, that is, goaded to compunction, by means of this mystery, and have abandoned their vain idols and demons to turn to the worship of God. But to unbelievers, the same sign is shown to be the cause of their destruction and condemnation, as when the people had come out of Egypt, and Israel was victorious over conquered Amalek by the sign of Moses' outstretched hands and by the imposition of the name Jesus

[Joshua] upon the son of Nun.

4. "Likewise, the ﬁgure and sign, erected to counteract the effects of the serpents that bit Israel, was clearly intended for the salvation of those who believe that this sign was to show that through the cruciﬁed one death was to come to the serpent, but salvation to those who had been bitten by the serpent and who had sought protection of him who sent his Son into the world to be cruciﬁed. For the prophetic Spirit did not instruct us through Moses to believe in a serpent, since he announces that the serpent was cursed by God from the beginning,11 and through Isaiah he informs us that it will be slain as an enemy by the great sword, which is Christ.12 c h a p t e r 92 "If, therefore, one were not endowed with God's great grace13 to understand the words and deeds of the prophets, it would be quite useless for him to relate their words and actions, when he can give no explanation of them. Moreover, will not those words and deeds seem despicable to most people if they are told by those who do not understand them?

2. "For, if anyone were to ask you why, when Enoch, and Noah with his children, and any others like them, were pleasing to God without being circumcised or without observing the Sabbath, God required by new leaders and another law, after the lapse of so many generations, that those who lived between the times of Abraham and Moses should be justiﬁed by circumcision, and that those who lived after Moses be justiﬁed by both circumcision and the other precepts, that is, the Sabbaths, sacriﬁces, burnt offerings, and oblations, [God would be unjustly

11. See Gn 3.14.

12. See Is 27.1.

13. See Dial. 64.2 n 6.

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The problem of the cruciﬁxion

criticized] unless you point out, as I have already said, that God in his foreknowledge was aware that your people would deserve to be expelled from Jerusalem and never be allowed to enter there.

3. "For, as I have said earlier, you are distinguishable by no other means than by the circumcision of the ﬂesh.14 Abraham, indeed, was considered just, not by reason of his circumcision, but because of his faith. For, before his circumcision it was said of him, Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.15

4. "We also, therefore, because of our belief in God through Christ, even though we are uncircumcised in the ﬂesh, have the salutary circumcision, namely, that of the heart, and we thereby hope to be just and pleasing to God, since we have already obtained this testimony from him through the words of the prophets. But you Jews were ordered to observe the Sabbaths; and make offerings, and you were allowed by God to erect a place in which he could be invoked, so that you might not worship idols and forget God, and thus become impious and godless, as, indeed, you always seem to have been.

5. "Now it was precisely for this reason that God issued his ordinances about the Sabbaths and oblations, as I have already proved by my previous words, but for the sake of the new arrivals today I had better repeat most of my proofs. If this had not been the reason, God could be accused of not having foreknowledge and of not teaching all men to know and to observe the same just precepts (for there surely were many generations of men before the time of Moses), and the Scripture would be judged false that says, God is true and just, and all his ways are judgments, and there is no iniquity in him.16

6. "But, since the Scripture is evidently true, God does not desire that you always remain foolish and conceited as you now are, but that you may be saved with Christ, who pleased God and was approved by him, as I have already shown from the writings of the holy prophets.

14. See Dial. 16.3.

15. Gn 15.6. See Skarsaune, 93, 114.

16. Dt 32.4; Ps 91 (92).16. See Smit Sibinga, 143–44; Skarsaune, 446.

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st. justin martyr c h a p t e r 93 "God shows every race of man that which is always and in all places just, and every type of man knows that adultery, fornication, murder, and so on are evil. Though they all commit such acts, they cannot escape the knowledge that they sin whenever they do so, except those who, possessed by an unclean spirit, and corrupted by bad education and evil habits and wicked laws, have lost, or rather have stiﬂed and stamped out, their natural feelings of guilt.

2. "For one may observe how such persons are unwilling to endure what they inﬂict upon others, and with sinister conscience they criticize others for the very things that they themselves do. Hence, I am of the opinion that our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ very aptly explained that all justice and piety are summed up in these two commandments: 'You shall love the Lord your

God with your whole heart and with your whole strength, and your neighbor as yourself! 17 For he who loves God with all his heart and all his strength has a mind that is devoted to God, and he will worship no other as God, but he will, since God desires it, revere the angel who is loved by the same Lord and God. And the man who loves his neighbor as himself will wish for him the very same blessings that he wishes for himself (and no man wishes evil for himself).

3. "Consequently, he who loves his neighbor will both pray and work that his neighbor may attain the same blessings as himself. Now, a man's neighbor is none other than that creature endowed with reason and passions like his own—mankind.

Therefore, since all justice is directed toward two ends, namely, God and man, whoever loves the Lord God with all his heart, says the Word, and with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself, will be truly just.

4. "But, as for you Jews, you have never manifested any 17. Mt 22.37–39. See Massaux, 67; Daniélou, 319 and n 11: "the formula of the two commandments, even though it appears in Mt 22.37–39, is a grouping together of Dt 6.5 (the Shema) and Lv 19.18, which had already been made in Judaism." See also R. F. Schedinger, "A Note on the Variant Form of the Shema in the Writings of Justin Martyr," HThR (1999): 161–63 and Barnard, 123 n

113.

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The problem of the cruciﬁxion

friendship or love either toward God, or toward the prophets, or toward one another, but you have shown yourselves always to be idolaters and murderers of the just; in fact, you even did violence to Christ himself. Indeed, you continue along your wicked way even to this day, cursing even those who prove to you that he whom you cruciﬁed was the Christ. Why, you even go so far as to maintain (and this shows how irrational are your mental functions) that he has been cruciﬁed as an accursed enemy of God.

5. "Though you have starting points to understand, from the signs wrought by Moses, that this man is the Christ, you will not; further, imagining that you can bafﬂe us, you ask whatever comes into your mind, and you yourselves lack sound arguments whenever you encounter a well-instructed Christian. c h a p t e r 94 "Now tell me, did not God, through Moses, forbid the making of an image or likeness of anything in the heavens or on earth, yet he himself had Moses construct the brazen serpent in the desert and set it up as a sign by which those who had been bitten by the serpents were healed, and in so doing was he not free of any sin?

2. "By this, as I stated before, he announced a mystery by which he proclaimed that he would break the power of the serpent, which prompted the sin of Adam, and that he would deliver from the bites of the serpent (that is, evil actions, idolatries, and other sins) all those who believe in him who was to be put to death by this sign, namely, the cross.

3. "If this is not the interpretation of the passage, give me a reason why Moses set up the brazen serpent on the sign,18 and commanded all who had been bitten to look upon it; and they were healed, and this, in spite of the fact that he himself had forbidden them to make an image of anything whatsoever."

4. Another of those who had come on the second day interrupted me by saying, "You are right. We cannot give a reason. I have personally asked our teachers about this question on nu18. On the brazen serpent (= Jn 3.14; Dt 21.22) see Daniélou, 271 and n

21, 330; Skarsaune, 397.

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st. justin martyr merous occasions, but none of them could ever give me a reasonable answer. Therefore, please continue on this topic, for we are most attentive as you reveal a mystery through which the teachings of the prophets are exposed to calumny."

5. "As God ordered the sign to be made by the brazen serpent," I went on, and yet is not guilty, so in the Law a curse is placed upon men who are cruciﬁed, but not upon the Christ of God, by whom all who have committed deeds deserving a curse are saved.

C h a p t e r 95 "For indeed, the entire human race will be found to be under a curse. For in the Law laid down by Moses it is written,

Cursed be everyone that abides not in the words of the book of the Law so as to do them.19 Not even you will dare to assert that anyone ever fulﬁlled all the precepts of the Law exactly; some have kept them more than others, some less. But, if those who are subject to the Law are certainly under a curse, because they have not kept the whole Law, how much more so will all the Gentiles evidently be cursed, since they commit idolatry, seduce youths, and perform other wicked deeds?

2. "If, then, the Father of the Universe willed that his Christ should shoulder the curses of the whole human race, fully realizing that he would raise him up again after his cruciﬁxion and death, why do you accuse him, who endured such suffering in accordance with the Father's will, of being a cursed person, instead of rather bewailing your own iniquity? For, although he suffered for humankind according to the will of the Father himself, it was not in obedience to the will of God that you made him suffer. Nor did you practice piety when you put the prophets to death.

3. "And let none of you say in self-defense, 'If the Father willed him to suffer these things, in order that by his wounds humankind might be healed,20 then we did no wrong.' If you would say this while you repent for your wicked actions, and acknowledge Jesus to be the Christ, and observe his pre19. Dt 27.26; Gal 3.10. See Smit Sibinga, 94–99; Skarsaune, 99, 118.

20. See Is 53.5.

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The problem of the cruciﬁxion

cepts, then, as I said before, you will receive remission of your sins.

4. "But, if you curse him and those who believe in him, and, whenever it is in your power, put them to death, how will you prevent retribution from being demanded of you for having laid hands on him, as of unjust and sinful men who are completely devoid of feeling and wisdom?

C h a p t e r 96 "Now the statement in the Law, Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree,21 strengthens our hope which is sustained by the cruciﬁed Christ, not because the cruciﬁed one is cursed by God, but because God predicted what would be done by all of you Jews, and others like you, who are not aware that this is he who was before all things, and the eternal priest of God, and the King, and Christ.

2. "Now, you can clearly see that this has actually happened.

For, in your synagogues you curse all those who through him are called Christians, and the Gentiles put into effect your curse by killing all those who merely admit that they are Christians. To all our persecutors we say, 'You are our brothers;22 recognize, rather, the truth of God.' But when neither they nor you will listen to us, but you do all in your power to force us to deny

Christ, we resist you and prefer to endure death, conﬁdent that God will give us all the blessings which he promised us through Christ.

3. "Furthermore, we pray for you that you might experience the mercy of Christ; for he instructed us to pray even for our enemies when he said, Be kind and merciful, even as your heavenly

Father is merciful.23 For we observe that almighty God is kind and merciful, causing his sun to shine on the ungrateful and on the just, and sending rain to both the holy and the evil; but all of them, he has told us, he will judge."24

21. Dt 21.23. See Smit Sibinga, 96–99. See van Unnik (cited above, Dial.

89.2 n 1); Skarsasune, 218–19. On Jewish persecution of Christians see Dial.

16.4 n 22.

22. Is 66.5.

23. Lk 6.36.

24. Mt 5.45.

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H O W C H R I S T I A N S R E A D P S A L M 2 2

c h a p t e r 97 "Besides, the fact that the prophet Moses remained until evening in the form of the cross, when his hands were held up by Aaron and Hur, did not happen without purpose. For the Lord also remained upon the cross almost until evening, and they buried him toward evening.1 Then he arose from the dead on the third day, as David foretold when he said: I have cried to the Lord with my voice, and he has heard me from his holy hill. I have slept and have taken my rest; and I have risen up, because the Lord has sustained me.2

2. "Isaiah likewise foretold the manner of his death in these words: I have stretched out my hands to an unbelieving and contradicting people, who walk in a way that is not good.3 And the same

Isaiah also predicted his resurrection: His burial has been taken out of the midst,4 and, I will give the rich for his death.5

3. "And again, David, in his Twenty-ﬁrst Psalm, refers to his passion on the cross in mystical parable: They have pierced my hands and feet. They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked on and stared upon me. They have divided my garments amongst themselves, and for my vesture they cast lots.6 For, when they

1. See Ex 17.12; Mt 27.57.

2. Ps 3.5–6. See Skarsaune, 80–82.

3. Is 65.2. See Skarsaune, 64–65: "a non-LXX testimony text."

4. Is 57.2. This citation is based on the LXX: see Skarsaune, 80.

5. Is 53.9.

6. Ps 21 (22).17–19. See Skarsaune, 80–81; N. Koltun-Fromm, "Psalm 22's Christological Interpretive Tradition in Light of Christian Anti-Jewish Polemic,"

Journal of Early Christian Studies 6.1 (1998): 37–57. For A. Rudolf, "Denn wir sind

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How Christians read Psalm 22

nailed him to the cross they did indeed pierce his hands and feet, and they who cruciﬁed him divided his garments among themselves, each casting lots for the garment he chose.7

4. "You are indeed blind when you deny that the above-quoted psalm was spoken of Christ, for you fail to see that no one among your people who was ever called King ever had his hands and feet pierced while alive, and died by this mystery, that is, of the cruciﬁxion), except this Jesus alone. c h a p t e r 98 "I would like to quote the whole psalm, that you may hear how he reveres his Father and how he refers all things to him, as when he prays to be freed by him from this death; at the same time pointing out in the psalm what sort of men his enemies were, and proving that he indeed became a man who was capable of suffering.

2. "The psalm is as follows: O God, my God, look upon me, why have you forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.

O my God, I shall cry by day, and you will not hear, and by night, and it is not for want of understanding in me. But you dwell in a holy place, you glory of Israel. In you have our fathers hoped; they have hoped and you have delivered them. They cried to you, and they were saved; they trusted in you and were not put to shame.

3. "But I am a worm, and not a man; the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. All they who saw me have laughed me to scorn; they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head: 'He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him; let him save him, seeing he desires him.' For you are he who has drawn me out of the womb; my hope from my mother's breasts. I was committed to you from the womb. From my mother's womb you are my God. Stand not aloof from me, for afﬂiction is near; for there is none to help me.

4. "Many calves have encircled me; fat bulls have surrounded me.

They have opened their mouths against me as a ravening and roaring lion. All my bones are poured out and scattered like water. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my belly. My strength is dried up jenes Volk .l.l.": die neue Gottesverehrung in Justins Dialog mit dem Juden Tryphon in historisch-theologischer Sicht, Hereditas 15 (Bonn: Borengässer, 1999), Dial. 97–

108 constitutes an excursus on the Christological signiﬁcance of Ps 21 (22).

7. See Mt 27.35; Mk 15.24; Lk 23.34.

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st. justin martyr like a potsherd, and my tongue is stuck fast in my throat; and you have brought me down into the dust of death. For many dogs have encircled me; a concourse of evildoers has besieged me. They have pierced my hands and feet. They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked on and stared upon me.

5. "They have divided my garments amongst themselves; and for my vesture they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not put distance between me and your help; attend to my defense. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the grip of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing your praise. You who fear the Lord, praise him; all you, the seed of Jacob, glorify him. Let all the seed of Israel fear him." 8 c h a p t e r 99 And after these remarks I continued, "I will now show you, by repeating and interpreting it, that the whole psalm referred to Christ. The opening words of the psalm, O God, my God, look upon me, why have you forsaken me, foretold of old what would be said by Christ. For, while hanging on the cross, he exclaimed,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 9

2. "And the next words, Far from my salvation are the words of my sins. O my God, I shall cry by day, and you will not hear, and by night, and it is not for want of understanding in me, depicted the very things that he was about to do. For, on the day of his cruciﬁxion he took three of his disciples to the Mount of Olives, opposite the Temple in Jerusalem, and prayed thus: Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me; but he ended his prayer by saying, Still, let it be as you will, not as I,10 thus making it clear that he had really become a man capable of suffering.

3. "To offset the objection that he did not know then that he was to suffer, he immediately adds in the psalm, And it is not want of understanding in me. Just as it was not from lack of understanding that God asked Adam where he was, and Cain where

8. Ps 21 (22).1–24. See Fédou, 55–63; Skarsaune, 220–22; J. Daniélou, "Le Psaume 21 dans la catéchèse patristique," La Maison-Dieu 49 (1957): 17–34.

9. Ps 21 (22).2; Mt 27.46. See Massaux, 68–69; Skarsaune, 122.

10. Mt 26.37–39. See Massaux, 69–70; S. A. Panimolle, "L'ora del Cristo nel Dialogo con Trifone," VetChr 27 (1990): 303–32.

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How Christians read Psalm 22

Abel was, but to convince each what sort of man he was, and to provide us with knowledge of all things through the Holy Scripture;11 so Christ signiﬁed that there was no lack of understanding on his part, but rather on the part of those who, believing that he was not the Christ, thought that they put him to death and sent him to Hades like any ordinary person. c h a p t e r 100 "And what follows, But you, O glory of Israel, dwell in a holy place, signiﬁed that he intended to do something worthy of praise and admiration, which he did when through the Father he arose again from the dead on the third day after the cruciﬁxion. I have indeed pointed out earlier12 that Christ is called both Jacob and Israel, and that not only in the blessing of Joseph and Judah have things been predicted in a mysterious manner of him, but also in the Gospel it is written that he said, All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son; nor does anyone know the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son will reveal him.13

2. "He revealed, then, to us by his grace all that we have learned from the Scriptures, so that we know him as the ﬁrstbegotten of God before all creatures,14 and as the Son of the patriarchs since he became incarnate by a virgin of their race, and condescended to become a man without comeliness or honor, and subject to suffering.

3. "Hence, he alluded to his imminent passion in this way:

The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the Pharisees and Scribes, and be cruciﬁed and rise again on the third day.15 He called himself Son of Man either because of his birth by the Virgin who was, as I said, of the family of David and Jacob and Isaac and Abraham, or because Adam himself was the father of those above-named patriarchs, from whom Mary traces her descent. It is clear that the fathers of girls are also considered the fathers of the children born to their daughters.

11. See Gn 3.9; 4.9.

12. In Dial. 58.1–2 and 91.

13. Mt 11.27. See Daniélou, 365, citing W. D. Davies, "Knowledge in the DSS and Mt 11.25–30," HThR 46 (1953): 113–41.

14. See Col 1.15, 17.

15. See Mt 16.21; Mk 8.31–39; Lk 9.22–27.

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