3. And in the words which follow, All who saw me have laughed

How Christians read Psalm 22

c h a p t e r 101 "Now, these are the next words of the psalm: In you have our fathers hoped; they have hoped and you have delivered them. They cried out to you, and they were saved; they trusted in you and were not put to shame. But I am a worm, and not a man; the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.22 This passage proves that he acknowledges as his fathers those who trusted in God and were saved by him, who were also the fathers of the Virgin, by whom he was born and became man, while he states that he will be saved by the same God, and in his humility does not claim to do anything of his own will or power. He did the same when he was on earth.

2. "For, when someone said to him, 'Good Master,' he asked, 'Why do you call me good? One is good; that is, my Father who is in heaven.' 23

"And when he said, I am a worm, and not a man; the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people, he foretold what would clearly take place and happen to him. For he is everywhere a reproach to us who believe in him; and he is the outcast of the people, for he was cast out and dishonored by your people, and he endured all the indignities which you directed toward him.

3. And in the words which follow, All who saw me have laughed me to scorn; they have parted their lips, and wagged their head: He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, seeing he desires him, he again predicted what would happen to himself. For they who beheld him on the cross wagged their heads, curled their lips in scorn, turned up their noses, and in sarcasm uttered the words which are recorded in the Memoirs of his apostles: He called himself the Son of God, let him come down from the cross and walk! Let God save him! 24

Copyright © 2003. Catholic University of America Press. All rights reserved. c h a p t e r 102 "And the continuation: 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 22. Ps 21 (22).5–7.

23. Mt 19.16–17; Lk 18.18–19.

24. See Mt 27.39–43; Lk 23.35–37; Massaux, 85. Justin added the words and walk. See S. A. Panimolle (cited above, Dial. 99.2 n 10), 311.

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 help me. 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 like a potsherd, and my tongue is stuck fast in my throat.25

2. "This passage, too, was a prophecy of events to come. For the words, my hope from my mother's breasts, may be explained in the following manner. As soon as Christ was born in Bethlehem, as I stated above, King Herod learned all about him from the Magi from Arabia, and plotted to kill him. But Joseph, at God's command, took him with Mary and left for Egypt. For it was the Father's design that his Only-begotten be put to death only after he had reached maturity and had preached his message.

3. "But if anyone should ask us if God were not able instead to kill Herod, I reply, in anticipating this question, by asking if God were not able in the beginning to destroy the serpent, instead of declaring, I will place enmity between it and the woman and between its seed and her seed? 26 And could he not have created at once a great throng of men?

4. "Yet, because he knew that it was good, he created both angels and men free to perform acts of justice, and he set the limits of time during which he knew it would be good for them to enjoy such freedom of will. So, too, because he knew it was good, he established general and particular judgments, safeguarding, however, each person's free will. Hence, at the time that the foundation of the tower was laid, when the diversity and confusion of languages originated, the Scriptures say, And the Lord said: Behold, they are one people, and all have one tongue; and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs.27

5. "And the expression, My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue is stuck fast in my throat, was also a prediction of what he would do in conformity with his Father's will. For the power of his mighty word with which he always refuted the Pharisees and Scribes, and indeed all the teachers of your race who disputed with him, was stopped like a full and mighty foun25. Ps 21 (22).10–16.

26. Gn 3.15.

27. Gn 11.6.

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How Christians read Psalm 22

tain whose waters have been suddenly shut off, when he remained silent and would no longer answer his accusers before Pilate, as was recorded in the writings of the apostles, in order that those words of Isaiah might bear fruit in action: The Lord gives me a tongue, that I may know when I ought to speak.28

6. "And his words, You are my God, stand not aloof from me, teach us to put all our trust in God, the Creator of all things, and to seek aid and salvation from him alone and not to imagine, as other men do, that we can attain salvation by means of birth, or wealth, or power, or wisdom. This is precisely your practice, for you once made a golden calf 29 and always appeared ungrateful, and murderers of the just, and inﬂated with pride because of your birth.

7. "For, if the Son of God clearly states that it is not because he is the Son, nor because he is powerful or wise, but that, even though he be sinless (for Isaiah said that he did not sin even by word, for he has done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth),30 he cannot be saved without God, how can you or others who expect to be saved without this hope, fail to realize that you are deceiving yourselves? c h a p t e r 103 "And the words that follow in the Psalm are, For afﬂiction is near; for there is none to help me. 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,31 were also a prophecy of the things that would happen to him. For, on that night when your kinsmen, sent according to the instruction of the Pharisees, scribes, and teachers, met him at the Mount of Olives,32 they encircled him and were thus called by the Word calves with horns and predestined for perdition.33

2. "By the words fat bulls have surrounded me, he foretold the deeds of those who acted like calves, when he was led before your teachers.

28. Is 50.4.

29. See Ex 32.2–6.

30. Is 53.9.

31. Ps 21 (22).15–18.

32. See Mt 26.47; Mk 14.43.

33. See Ex 21.29.

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st. justin martyr "The Word described these persons as bulls, for, as we know, bulls are the fathers of calves. Now, as bulls are the fathers of calves, so your teachers were the cause of their children going out to Mount of Olives to capture and lead him to them. So also the words, For there is none to help, were indicative of what would take place; for there was not even one single person to help him, sinless as he was.

3. "And the expression, They have opened their mouths against me as a roaring lion, means Herod, the king of the Jews at that time, a successor of that other Herod, who slaughtered all the males that were born in Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth, thinking that he, concerning whom the Magi of Arabia had spoken, would surely be among them. But he was not aware of the designs of almighty God, who ordered Joseph and Mary to take the child and go into Egypt and remain there until it should be revealed to them again that they should return into their own country. And after their departure they stayed there until the death of Herod, the assassin of the babes of Bethlehem. Archelaus, who succeeded him, also died before Christ fulﬁlled by his cruciﬁxion the Father's plan of our redemption.

4. "And when Herod succeeded Archelaus and received the authority that had fallen to his share, Pilate favored him by sending Jesus bound to him,34 which God in his foreknowledge foretold in these words, And (having bound him), they brought him to the Assyrian, a present to the king.35

5. "Or, it could be that by the lion that roared against him he meant the Devil himself, that is, the one whom Moses called the serpent, and Job and Zechariah called the Devil, and Jesus addressed as Satanas, indicating that he had a compound name made up of the actions which he performed; for the word Sata in the Jewish and Syrian tongue means 'apostate,' while nas is the word which means in translation 'serpent'; thus, from both parts is formed the one word Satanas.

6. "It is narrated in the Memoirs of the apostles that as soon as 34. Lk 23.7–12. Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, is the Herod in question here.

35. Hos 10.6. See Skarsaune, 437: "There is a striking lack of correspondence between text and narrative."

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How Christians read Psalm 22

Jesus came up out of the River Jordan and a voice said to him, You are my Son, this day I have begotten you,36 this devil came and tempted him, even so far as to exclaim, Worship me; but Christ replied Get behind me, Satan; the Lord your God shall you worship, and him only shall you serve.37 For, since the devil had deceived

Adam, he fancied that he could in some way harm him also.

7. "Now the passage, All my bones are poured out and scattered like water; my heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my belly, foretold what would happen on that night when they came to Mount of Olives to capture him.

8. "For in the Memoirs of the apostles and their successors, it is written that his perspiration poured out like drops of blood as he prayed and said, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.38

Evidently his heart and bones were quaking, and his heart was like wax melting in his belly, so that we may understand that the Father wished his Son to endure in reality these severe sufferings for us, and may not declare that, since he was the Son of God, he did not feel what was done and inﬂicted upon him.

9. "And the words, My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue is stuck fast in my throat, predicted that he would remain silent; for, indeed, he who proved that all your teachers are without wisdom replied not a word in his own defense. c h a p t e r 104 "The psalm continues: 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. They have divided my garments amongst themselves; and for my vesture they cast lots. This passage, I have already shown,39 was a prophecy about the kind of death to which he would be condemned by the concourse of evildoers, whom he calls both dogs and hunters, afﬁrming that they who hunted him united to use every possible means

36. Ps 2.7. See Dial. 88 and C. Basevi, "Ps 2 e 109 secondo S. Iustino," AugR 22 (1982): 135–47, esp. 137–41.

37. Mt 4.10. On the devil see A. Fernandez, "La escatologia en el siglo II,"

Theologica (Braga) 13.3–4 (1978): 424–27.

38. Lk 22.44; Mt 26.39. See Panimolle (cited above, Dial. 99.2 n 10), 307.

39. Ps 21 (22).15–18. See Dial. 97.

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st. justin martyr to condemn him. This event, too, is recorded in the Memoirs of the apostles.40

2. "And I have pointed out 41 that after his cruciﬁxion they who cruciﬁed him divided his garments among themselves. c h a p t e r 105 "Here now are the next verses of the psalm: 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.42 These words, too, point out what he would be and what would happen to him. I have proved that he is the Onlybegotten of the Father of the universe, having been properly begotten from him as his Word and Power, and afterwards becoming man through the Virgin, as we have learned from the Memoirs of the apostles.

2. "And that he would die by being cruciﬁed, he likewise predicted, for the words, Deliver my soul from the sword, and my onlybegotten from the grip of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns, were spoken by one who foretold by what manner of torment he would die, namely, by cruciﬁxion. I explained already that the horns of the unicorn have the shape of a cross exclusively.

3. "And his plea that his soul might be saved from the sword, from the lion's mouth, and from the grip of the dog, was a prayer that no one should have power over his soul, so that, when we approach the end of life, we may beg the same favor of God, who can prevent every bad and brazen angel from seizing our souls.

4. "Now, I [can] demonstrate to you that souls survive from the fact that Samuel's soul was conjured up by the witch, as Saul demanded.43 And it seems that the souls of other just men and prophets were subjected to such powers, as is evident from the facts in the case of this witch.

40. See Mt 26.57, 59; Mk 14.53, 55.

41. See Dial. 97.3.

42. Ps 21 (22).20–22.

43. Marcovich emends reading of A: ajpedeivxw (I shall demonstrate) to ajpedeivxai <e[cw> (I [can] demonstrate), to obviate Thirlby's suggestion that the demonstration has been lost. On the witch of Endor (1 Sm 28) see K. A. D.

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How Christians read Psalm 22

5. "Thus God through his Son also teaches us (for whom these things seem to have happened) always to do our utmost to become righteous and at our death to pray that we may not fall into any such power. For, the Memoirs tell us that, as he was yielding up his spirit on the cross, he said Father, into your hands

I commend my spirit.44

6. "Further, he urged his disciples to excel the Pharisees' way of living, warning them that otherwise they should know that they would not be saved; his words on this occasion are thus recorded in the Memoirs: Unless your justice surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.45 c h a p t e r 106 "The rest of the psalm shows that he knew that his Father would grant all his requests, and would raise him from the dead.46 It also shows that he encouraged all who fear God to praise him because, through the mystery of the cruciﬁed one, he had mercy on the faithful of every race; and that he stood in the midst of his brethren, that is, of the apostles (who, after he arose from the dead and convinced them that he had warned them before the Passion that he had to suffer and that this was foretold by the prophets, were most sorry that they had abandoned him at the cruciﬁxion). The psalm ﬁnally shows that he sang the praise of God while he was with them, which actually happened, according to the Memoirs of the apostles.

2. "Here are the words: 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.

3. "Now when we learn from the Memoirs of the apostles that he changed the name of one of the apostles to Peter (besides having changed the names of the two brothers, the sons of Zebedee to that of Boanerges, which means 'sons of thunder'),47 we have an indication that it was also he who gave to JaSmelik, "The Witch of Endor: 1 Samuel 28, in Rabbinic and Christian Exegesis till 800 A.D.," VigChr 33 (1979): 160–79.

44. Lk 23.46, "the only Gospel source." Massaux, 92.

45. Mt 5.20. See Massaux, 74–75.

46. See Jn 13.3; Mt 11.27.

47. See Mk 3.16–17.

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st. justin martyr cob the surname of Israel, and to Hoshea the added name of Jesus [Joshua],48 under whose name the survivors of those who escaped from Egypt were led into the land promised to the patriarchs.

4. "And Moses predicted that he would arise like a star from the seed of Abraham when he said: A star shall rise out of Jacob and a leader from Israel.49 And another passage reads, Behold the Man; the Dawn is his name.50 Therefore when a star arose in the heavens at the time of his Nativity, as the Memoirs of his apostles attest, the Magi from Arabia knew the fact from this sign, and came to worship him." 51

48. See Dial. 113.1 n 24.

49. Nm 24.17. See Daniélou, 218 and nn 34–35; Skarsaune, 264–65, 269–73.

50. Zec 6.12 LXX. See also Dial. 121.2.

51. See Mt 2.2, 9–11; Daniélou, 218–19; idem (cited above, Dial. 78.9 n 30), 121–38; Skarsaune, 50–52, 269–73; Massaux, 75; Marcovich, 253.

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T H E S I G N O F J O N A H

c h a p t e r 107 "And these Memoirs also testify to the fact of his resurrection from the dead on the third day after the cruciﬁxion, for it is there recorded that, in answer to the contentious Jews who said to him, 'Show us a sign,' he answered them, 'An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign and no sign shall be given it but the sign of Jonah.' 1 Though these words were veiled in mystery, his listeners could understand that he would arise from the dead on the third day after his cruciﬁxion.

2. "And he showed that your generation was more evil and adulterous than that of the Ninevites, who, when Jonah, after being cast up on shore from the belly of the whale on the third day, warned them that they would all perish within three days,2

Copyright © 2003. Catholic University of America Press. All rights reserved. announced a fast for all living creatures, men and beasts, accompanied by the wearing of sackcloth, unrestrained mourning, truly sincere repentance, and a resolution to shun sin, believing that God is merciful and benevolent toward all those who avoid sin. Thus, even the king of that city and his nobles, too, wore sackcloth, and fasted, and prayed constantly, and so through their prayers the city was spared.

3. "Then, when Jonah was vexed because the city had not been destroyed on the third day, as he had announced, a gourd

1. Mt 12.38–39 (= Jon 2.1). See Skarsaune, 120; Bellinzoni, The Sayings of Jesus in the Writings of Justin Martyr, Supplements to Novum Testamentum (Leiden: Brill, 1967), 121.

2. Marcovich, 254, reads trei'" hJmevra" but notes in the apparatus: "tessaravkonta hJmevrai Aquila, Symmach., Theodotion, Hebr., Syr., LXX, etc."

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st. justin martyr plant3 sprang up out of the earth at God's design, and Jonah sat under it and was shaded from the heat of the sun (now this was a round gourd which had sprung up spontaneously to provide

Jonah with shade, and he had neither planted nor watered it), and when at the other design of God, this withered away and Jonah was grieved, God pointed out to him how unjust was his displeasure over the sparing of the city of Nineveh, and he said:

4. "You are concerned over the gourd plant, for which you have not labored, nor made it grow; which in one night came up and in one night perished. And shall not I spare Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that know not how to distinguish between their right hand and their left, and also many beasts? 4 c h a p t e r 108 "Now, all you of your [Jewish] race were well acquainted with these facts in the life of Jonah, and though Christ proclaimed to you that he would give you the sign of Jonah,5 and he pleaded with you to repent of your sins at least after his resurrection from the dead, and to lament before God as did the Ninevites that your nation and city might not be seized and destroyed, as it has been; [2.] [yet] you not only refused to repent after you learned that he arose from the dead, but, as I stated, you chose certain men by vote and sent them throughout the whole civilized world, proclaiming that a godless and lawless sect has been started by a deceiver, one Jesus of Galilee, whom we nailed to the cross, but whose body, after it was taken from the cross, was stolen at night from the tomb by his disciples, who now try to deceive men by afﬁrming that he has arisen from the dead and has ascended into heaven.6 And you accuse him of having taught those irreverent, riotous, and wicked things, of which you everywhere accuse all those who look up to and acknowledge him as their Christ, their Teacher, and the Son of God.

3. "And, in addition to this, even now, after your city has been seized and your whole country ravaged, you not only re3. Sikuwvn, here translated as gourd instead of ivy, as some render it.

4. Jon 4.10–11.

5. See Mt 16.4.

6. See Mt 27.64; 28.13; Massaux, 76–77.

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The sign of Jonah

fuse to repent, but you deﬁantly curse him and all his followers.

But, as far as we Christians are concerned, we do not hate you, nor those who believed the wicked rumors you have spread against us; on the contrary, we pray that even now you may mend your ways and ﬁnd mercy from God the Father of all, who is most benign and compassionate. c h a p t e r 109 "But to prove that the Gentiles would repent of the evil in which they, being deceived, were leading their lives, once they heard and learned the doctrine preached by the apostles from Jerusalem, permit me now to quote short passages from Micah, one of the twelve prophets.

2. "Here are his words: And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mount of the Lord's house shall be prepared in the top of the mountains, and high above the hills; and people shall stream to it.

Many nations shall come and say, 'Come, let us climb to the Lord's mount, to the house of the God of Jacob; and they will instruct us in his way, and we will walk in his paths.' For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and out of Jerusalem the word of the Lord. And he shall judge among many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not take up sword against nation, neither shall they still learn to make war.

3. "And every man shall sit under his own vine, or under his own ﬁg-tree; and there shall be none to make him afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken. For all the peoples will walk every one in the name of its god. But we will walk in the name of the Lord, our God forever. And on that day it shall happen, that I will gather her that is afﬂicted; and her that I had cast out, I will gather up, and her whom I had oppressed. And I will make her that is afﬂicted a remnant and her that is oppressed a strong nation. And the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time now and forever." 7

7. Mi 4.1–7. See Skarsaune, 160: "This text [Is 2.3 and its parallel in Mi 4] is the testimony on the apostolic mission in Justin." See also Smit Sibinga, 26, 27,

30, 36, 54. For Rudolf, Dial. 109–41 deals with the universal religion and its worship of God.

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R E P R I S E O F P O I N T S F R O M

T H E F I R S T D AY

c h a p t e r 110 When I had concluded this quotation, I added, "Gentlemen, I am aware that your teachers admit that this whole pericope refers to Christ; I also know that they afﬁrm that Christ has not yet come. But they say that even if he has come, it is not known who he is, until he shall become manifest and glorious; then, they say, he shall be known.

2. "They further state, everything foretold in the above-quoted pericope will be veriﬁed, as if not a word of the prophecy had yet been fulﬁlled. What irrational beings!1 For they have missed the point of all the cited passages, namely, that two comings of Christ have been proclaimed: the ﬁrst, in which he is shown to be subject to suffering and the cruciﬁxion, without glory or honor; and the second, in which he will come from the heavens in glory,2 when the man of apostasy who utters extraordinary things against the Most High,3 will boldly attempt to perpetrate unlawful deeds on earth against us Christians. For we

Christians, who have gained knowledge of the true worship of God from the Law and from the Word which went forth from Jerusalem4 by way of the apostles of Jesus, have run for protection to the God of Jacob and the God of Israel.

1. On such abusive outbursts see T. Rajak (cited in new Introduction, n 9), 71: "In general terms, we might sum up the Trypho as a defence of the Christian religion organized around an extended engagement with Judaism, an engagement which takes the dual and inevitable forms of appropriation and assault."

2. See Dn 7.13–14; Is 33.17.

3. See 2 Thes 2.3; Dn 11.36; and Dial. 33.

4. See Mi 4.2.

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Reprise of points from the ﬁrst day

3. "And we who delighted in war, in the slaughter of one another, and in every other kind of iniquity, have in every part of the world converted our weapons of war into implements of peace—our swords into ploughshares, our spears into farmers' implements5—and we cultivate piety, justice, brotherly charity, faith, and hope, which we derive from the Father through the cruciﬁed Savior; each one of us sitting under his vine,6 that is, each one living with only his own wife. For, as you know, a prophetic writing says, His wife shall be as a fruitful vine.7

4. "Now it is obvious that no one can frighten or subdue us who believe in Jesus throughout the whole world. Although we are beheaded and cruciﬁed, and exposed to wild beasts, and chains, and ﬂames, and every other means of torture, it is evident that we will not retract our profession of faith; the more we are persecuted, the more do others in ever-increasing numbers embrace the faith and become worshippers of God through the name of Jesus.8 Just as when one cuts off the fruit-bearing branches of the vine, it grows again and other blossoming and fruitful branches spring forth, so it is with us Christians. For the vine planted by God and Christ the Redeemer is his people.

5. "But the rest of the prophecy will be fulﬁlled at his second coming. For the words, her that is afﬂicted and cast out 9 (that is, from the world), indicate that, whenever you and all other men have the power, you cast out every Christian, not only from his own property but even from the whole world, for you allow no Christian to live.

6. "You object that this same fate has befallen your people.

But, since you have been cast out after defeat in battle, such sufferings are your just deserts, as all the Scriptures testify. We, on the contrary, who are guilty of no such crime after we knew the divine truth, are assured by God that we are to be taken from the earth together with the most just and immaculate and sinless Christ. Indeed, Isaiah exclaims, Behold how the just perishes,

5. See Mi 4.3.

6. See Mi 4.2.

7. Ps 127 (128).3.

8. See Tertullian, Apol. 50.13: Semen est sanguis Christianorum, "The blood of Christians is seed."

9. Mi 4.6. See Marcovich, 259, app. crit.

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st. justin martyr and no man takes it to heart; and the just men are swept away, and no man considers.10 c h a p t e r 111 "I pointed out earlier11 that it was symbolically predicted by Moses by means of the goats offered up at the fast, that there would be two comings of this Christ. The same was ﬁguratively announced and foretold by the actions of Moses and Joshua: for Moses remained upon the hill until evening with his hands stretched out and supported (which was a type of nothing but the cross);12 while he whose name had been changed to Jesus

[Joshua] was the general in the battle in which the Israelites were victors.

2. "And one could understand that these actions were done by both these holy men and prophets of God, because one of himself could not have borne both these mysteries, that is, the type of the cross and the type of the name. For this power is, and was, and shall be, the attribute of only one, at whose name every power shudders and suffers agonizing pain, because it is to be destroyed by him. Our suffering and cruciﬁed Christ was not cursed by the Law, but showed that he alone would save those who hold ﬁrm to his faith.

3. "And the blood of the Passover, which was smeared on the side posts and transoms of the doors,13 saved those fortunate ones in Egypt who escaped the death inﬂicted upon the ﬁrstborn of the Egyptians.14 The Passover, indeed, was Christ, who was later sacriﬁced, as Isaiah foretold when he said, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.15 It is also written that on the day of the Passover you seized him, and that, during the Passover, you cruciﬁed him. Now, just as the blood of the Passover saved those who were in Egypt, so also the blood of Christ shall rescue from death all those who have believed in him.

4. "Would God have been mistaken, then, if this sign had not been made over the doors? That is not what I say, but I do say that he thus foretold that salvation was to come to the human race through the blood of Christ. So, too, the red rope, which 10. Is 57.1. See Skarsaune, 447.

11. See Dial. 40.4; Lv 16.5–10.

12. See Ex 17.10–13.

13. See Ex 12.7–13.

14. See Ex 12.7, 12–13, 21.

15. Is 53.7. See Skarsaune, 299.

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Reprise of points from the ﬁrst day

the spies sent by Joshua, son of Nun, gave to Rahab the harlot in Jericho, instructing her to tie it to the same window through which she lowered them down to escape their enemies, was a symbol of Christ's blood, by which those of every nationality who were once fornicators and sinful are redeemed, receiving pardon of their past sin and avoiding all sin in the future.16 c h a p t e r 112 "But you explain these passages in an earthly17 manner, imputing to God every sort of weakness, when you interpret them literally without analyzing the spirit of the words. According to you, even Moses would be judged a violator of the Law, for he, after ordering that no image of any of the things in heaven or on earth or in the sea should be made, personally constructed a brazen serpent and set it up as a sign, commanding those who had been bitten by the serpents to gaze upon it. And they who looked up to it were healed thereby.18

2. "Shall it be thought, then, that the serpent saved the people at that time; the serpent which, as I pointed out, God cursed at the beginning and slew with the great sword, as Isaiah testiﬁes?19 Shall we, therefore, accept such stupid interpretations of these things as given by your teachers, instead of regarding them as symbols? And should we not see in this sign a reference to the image of the cruciﬁed Jesus, when Moses, by his outstretched hands, and he who was surnamed Jesus achieved victory for your people?

3. "For, in this way, we shall no longer be in doubt about the deeds of the lawgiver, since he did not forsake God when inducing the people to place their hope in a beast which was the cause of man's sin of disobedience. Indeed, all these things were said and done by the blessed prophet with much reﬂection and hidden meaning. For no one can rightly condemn any

16. Jos 2.18 (LXX) See Skarsaune, 128; 1 Clem. 12.7; E. Dal Covolo, "'Sangue del Cristo' nel Dialogo di Giustino con Trifone Giudeo," in Sangue e antropologia nella letteratura cristiana (Rome: Ed. Pia Unione del Preziosissimo

Sangue, 1983), 859–70; Otranto (cited above, Dial. 62.5 n 46).

17. Tapeinw'": see Lampe, PGL, s.v.

18. See Nm 21.8–9; Daniélou, 92–93; 1 Apol. 60, explicitly mentioning a cross (Barnard, 65 and 169 n 358); Smit Sibinga, 48–49.

19. See Gn 3.14; Is 27.1; Skarsaune, 399.

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st. justin martyr of the words or actions of the prophets in general, if you have the knowledge that was in them.

4. "But, if your teachers, as many as you have, only explain to you why female camels are speciﬁed in a certain passage, or what the so-called female camels are,20 or why so many measures of ﬁne ﬂour and so many of oil are used in the offerings, and even explain this in an earthly and unspiritual21 manner, while they never dare to mention or explain the really important matters that deserve to be investigated, will they not merit to hear these words of our Lord Jesus Christ spoken against them: You whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones; you pay tithe on mint; you swallow the camel, you blind guides?22

5. "Unless, therefore, you detest the doctrines of those proud teachers who aspire to be called Rabbi,23 and apply yourself with such persistence and intelligence to the words of the prophets that you suffer the same indignities from the hands of your people as the prophets did, you cannot derive any beneﬁt from the prophetic writings. c h a p t e r 113 "Here is an example of what I am talking about. Jesus, as I said many times before, whose name had been Hosea, was named Jesus by Moses when he was sent out as a spy with Caleb into the land of Canaan.24 Now, you are not curious to know why he did this, nor do you ask or investigate the reason.

Hence, you have never discovered Christ, and when you read you fail to understand; when you hear us now telling you that Jesus is our Christ, you do not study the question to discover that he was given this name deliberately and not accidentally.

2. "Instead, you conduct a theological debate of the question why one a was added to Abraham's original name, and you seriously dispute why one r was added to Sara's name.25 But why do

20. A question arose among the Jewish rabbis why in Gn 32.15 only female camels are mentioned, while of the other animals both sexes are speciﬁed.

21. Camerpw'": see Lampe, PGL, s.v.

22. Mt 23.27.

23. See Mt 23.6–7, 12.

24. Nm 13.16. See Dial. 75.2 n 2.

25. See Philo, De mutatione nominum 60–61. According to the LXX, the Greek word Abram was changed to Abraam, and Sara to Sarra.

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Reprise of points from the ﬁrst day

you never inquire why the name of Hosea, the son of Nun, which his father gave him, was changed to Jesus?

3. "Especially since not only was his name changed, but also, after becoming Moses' successor, he alone, of all his contemporaries who ﬂed Egypt, led the rest of the people into the Holy

Land. And just as he, not Moses, conducted the people into the Holy Land and distributed it by lot among those who entered, so also will Jesus the Christ gather together the dispersed people and distribute the good land to each, though not in the same manner.

4. "For, Joshua gave them an inheritance for a time only, since he was not Christ our God, nor the Son of God; but Jesus, after the holy resurrection, will give us an inheritance for eternity. Joshua indeed made the sun stand still because he had received the surname Jesus and had received the power from his

Spirit. For I have proved that it was Jesus who appeared to and talked with Moses, Abraham, and, in short, with all the patriarchs, doing the will of the Father. He also became man by the Virgin Mary and lives forever. After his coming the Father will, through him, renew heaven and earth.

5. "This is he who is to shine in Jerusalem as an eternal light.26 This is he who is King of Salem and priest of the Most

High forever according to the order of Melchisedek.27

6. "Joshua is reputed to have circumcised the people a second time by means of stone knives 28 (which was a sign of that circumcision by which Jesus Christ himself has cut us off from idols made of stone and other materials), and to have gathered together those who everywhere from the uncircumcision, that is, from worldly error, were circumcised with stone knives, namely, the words of our Lord Jesus. For I have already pointed out that the prophets used to call him ﬁguratively a Stone and a Rock.29

7. "By the stone knives, therefore, we understand his words, by which so many who were in error have been circumcised from their uncircumcision with the circumcision of the heart.

From that time God commanded through Jesus that they who 26. See Is 60.1, 19–20.

27. See Gn 14.18; Ps 109 (110).4.

28. See Jos 5.2; Dial. 24 and 94.

29. See Dial. 70 and 76; 1 Cor 10.1–4; Trakatellis, 57.

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st. justin martyr had the circumcision which began with Abraham should be circumcised again with the circumcision of the heart, for he said that Joshua performed a second circumcision with stone knives upon those who entered into the Holy Land. c h a p t e r 114 "For sometimes the Holy Spirit caused something that was to be a type of the future to be done openly, and on other occasions he spoke of things of the future as though they were actually taking place, or had already taken place. Unless readers are familiar with this manner of speaking, they will not be able to grasp the full meaning of the prophet's words. By way of illustration, I shall quote some words of prophecy that you may follow what is said.

2. "When the Holy Spirit says through Isaiah, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer,30 he speaks as though the Passion had already taken place. And again, when he says, I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contradicting people,31 and, Lord, who has believed our report,32 he likewise speaks of events as though they had already happened. I have shown above how he often calls Christ a Stone in parable, and uses the names Jacob and Israel in ﬁgurative speech.

3. "And when he says, I shall see the heavens, the work of your ﬁngers,33 unless I comprehend the operation of his Word, I shall not understand the passage. Then I would be like your teachers, who imagine that the Father of the universe, the unbegotten God, has hands and feet and ﬁngers and a soul like a compound creature. As a result of this belief, they claim that the Father himself appeared to Abraham and Jacob.

4. "We who have received the second circumcision with stone knives are indeed happy. For your ﬁrst circumcision was and still is administered by iron instruments, in keeping with your hardness of heart. But our circumcision, which is the second, for it was instituted after yours, circumcises us from idolatry and every other sin by means of sharp stones, namely, by the 30. Is 53.7.

31. Is 65.2.

32. Is 53.1. See 1 Apol. 50; Skarsaune, 94, 116.

33. Ps 8.4.

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Reprise of points from the ﬁrst day

words uttered by the apostles of him who was the Cornerstone and the Stone not cut with human hands.34 Indeed, our hearts have been so circumcised from sin that we even rejoice as we die for the name of that noble Rock, whence gushes forth living water for the hearts of those who through him love the Father of all, and who proffers the water of life to those desiring it.

5. "But you fail to grasp the meaning of my words, because you do not know the things which, it was foretold, Christ would do, nor do you believe us when we refer you to the Scriptures.

For, Jeremiah exclaims as follows: Woe to you, because you have forsaken the living fountain, and have dug for yourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water.35 Shall there be a wilderness where Mount Zion is, because I gave Jerusalem a bill of divorce in your sight?" 36

34. See Is 28.16; Dn 2.34.

35. Jer 2.13. See Dial. 19.2.

36. Is 16.1. See Jer 3.8; Skarsaune, 70.

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