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a ruler and commander among the nations. "Behold, nations that do not know you shall call upon you, and peoples who do not understand you shall flee to you for refuge." But these things do not fit any of those from David. For which of those from David, according to Isaiah, was shown to be a ruler of nations? What nations called upon any of those from David as if a god, praying? {ERAN.} Concerning clear matters, it is not fitting to prolong the discussion; for these things truly befit the Lord Christ. {ORTH.} Therefore, let us move on to another prophetic testimony, and let us listen to the same prophet saying: "A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall grow up from his root." {ERAN.} I think this prophecy was written about Zerubbabel. {ORTH.} If you listen to what follows, you will not hold to your opinion. For not even the Jews have understood this prophecy in this way. For the prophet adds: "And the spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him." But these things one could not apply to a mere man; for indeed, to the exceedingly holy the gifts of the Spirit are given by division. And the divine 86 apostle is a witness, saying: "For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit," and so on. But here the prophet has said that the one who sprang from the root of Jesse has all the workings of the Spirit. {ERAN.} To oppose these things is clear madness. {ORTH.} Therefore, listen also to what follows; for you will see that some of them even surpass human nature. He says thus: "He shall not judge by appearance, nor reprove by hearsay, but he shall judge the lowly with justice and reprove the glorious of the earth with uprightness; and he shall strike the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked." Of these prophecies, some are human, and others divine; for justice and truth and the upright and unswerving in judging show virtue according to what is human; but the destruction of the wicked happening by a word and the transformation of the earth to the better hints at the omnipotence of the Godhead. {ERAN.} Through these things we have learned more clearly that the prophet foretold the coming of our Savior Christ. {ORTH.} What follows these things will teach you the truth of the interpretation more clearly. For he adds: "Then the wolf shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the bull shall feed together," and so on, by which he teaches both the difference of dispositions and the harmony of the faith. And we have the experience of things as a witness of the prophecy. For those boasting in wealth and those living with poverty, servants and masters, both the ruled and rulers, both soldiers and private citizens and those holding the scepters of the world, one font receives them, one teaching is offered to all, one mystical table is set before all, and each of the believers enjoys an equal portion. {ERAN.} But these things show that the one prophesied is God. {ORTH.} Not only God, but also man. For this reason indeed, beginning this prophecy at once, he said that a rod would spring from the root of Jesse; and having concluded the prophecy, he took up the 87 proemium. For he said: "And there shall be the root of Jesse and he that shall rise to rule the nations, in him shall the nations hope, and his rest shall be glorious." Now Jesse is the father of David, and to David was the promise with an oath made. But he would not have called the Lord Christ a rod that sprang from Jesse, if he had known him only as God. And the prophecy foretold the change of the world. "For the whole earth," it says, "was filled with the knowledge of the Lord as much water to cover the seas." {ERAN.} I have heard the prophetic decrees. But I wished to know clearly if also of the apostles the divine

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ἄρχοντα καὶ προστάσσοντα ἐν ἔθνεσιν. Ἰδοὺ ἔθνη ἃ οὐκ οἴδασί σε ἐπικαλέσονταί σε, καὶ λαοὶ οἳ οὐκ ἐπίστανταί σε ἐπὶ σὲ καταφεύξονται." Ταῦτα δὲ οὐδενὶ τῶν ἐκ ∆αβὶδ ἁρμόττει. Τίς γὰρ τῶν ἐκ ∆αβίδ, κατὰ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν, ἄρχων ἐθνῶν ἀνεδείχθη; Ποῖα δὲ ἔθνη τινὰ τῶν ἐκ ∆αβὶδ οἷα δὴ θεὸν ἐπεκαλέσαντο προσευχόμενα; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Περὶ τῶν ἐναργῶν οὐ προσήκει μηκύνειν· καὶ ταῦτα γὰρ ἀληθῶς τῷ δεσπότῃ προσῆκε Χριστῷ. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν εἰς ἑτέραν μεταβῶμεν προφητικὴν μαρτυρίαν, καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος ἐπακούσωμεν· "Ἐξελεύσεται ῥάβδος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί, καὶ ἄνθος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης ἀναβήσεται." {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ταύτην οἶμαι τὴν προφητείαν περὶ τοῦ Ζοροβάβελ γεγράφ θαι. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἐὰν καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς ἐπακούσῃς, οὐκ ἐμμενεῖς σου τῇ δόξῃ. Οὕτω γὰρ οὔτε Ἰουδαῖοι τήνδε τὴν πρόρρησιν νενοήκασιν. Ἐπάγειγὰρ ὁ προφήτης· "Καὶ ἐπαναπαύσεται ἐπ' αὐτὸν πνεῦμα θεοῦ, πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ συνέσεως, πνεῦμα βουλῆς καὶ ἰσχύος, πνεῦμα γνώσεως καὶ εὐσεβείας, πνεῦμα φόβου θεοῦ ἐμπλήσει αὐτόν." Ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀνθρώπῳ ψιλῷ προσαρμόσειε· καὶ γὰρ τοῖς ἄγαν ἁγίοις κατὰ διαίρεσιν δίδοται τοῦ πνεύματος τὰ χαρίσματα. Καὶ μάρτυς ὁ θεῖος 86 ἀπόστολος λέγων· "Ὧ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος δίδοται λόγος σοφίας, ἄλλῳ δὲ λόγος γνώσεως κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ πνεῦμα," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ ὁ προφήτης τὸν ἐκ ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ βλαστήσαντα πάσας εἴρηκεν ἔχειν τὰς ἐνεργείας τοῦ πνεύματος. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τούτοις ἀντιτείνειν μανία σαφής. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν ἄκουσον καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς· ὄψει γὰρ αὐτῶν ἔνια καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ὑπερβαίνοντα φύσιν. Λέγει δὲ οὕτως· "Οὐ κατὰ τὴν δόξαν κρινεῖ οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν λαλιὰν ἐλέγξει, ἀλλὰ κρινεῖ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ ταπεινῷ κρίσιν καὶ ἐλέγξει ἐν εὐθύτητι τοὺς ἐνδόξους τῆς γῆς· καὶ πατάξει τὴν γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὑτοῦ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ τὸν ἀσεβῆ." Τούτων δὲ τῶν προρρήσεων τὰ μέν ἐστιν ἀνθρώπεια, τὰ δὲ θεῖα· ἡ μὲν γὰρ δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ τὸ εὐθές τε καὶ ἀκλινὲς ἐν τῷ κρίνειν δηλοῖ τὴν κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ἀρετήν· ἡ δὲ λόγῳ γινομένη τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς ἀναίρεσις καὶ τῆς γῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μετάθεσις τὸ παντοδύναμον αἰνίττεται τῆς θεότητος. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Σαφέστερον διὰ τούτων ἐμάθομεν, ὡς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ τὴν παρουσίαν ὁ προφήτης ἐθέσπισεν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἐναργέστερόν σε διδάξει τὰ τούτων ἀκόλουθα τὴν τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἀλήθειαν. Ἐπάγει γάρ· "Τότε συμβοσκηθήσεται λύκος μετὰ ἀρνός, καὶ πάρδαλις συναναπαύσεται ἐριφῷ, καὶ μοσχάριον καὶ λέων καὶ ταῦρος ἅμα βοσκηθήσονται," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, δι' ὧν διδάσκει καὶ τῶν ἠθῶν τὸ διάφορον καὶ τὸ τῆς πίστεως σύμφωνον. Καὶ μάρ τυρα τῆς προρρήσεως ἔχομεν τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν πεῖραν. Καὶ γὰρ τοὺς πλούτῳ κομῶντας καὶ τοὺς πενίᾳ συζῶντας, οἰκέτας τε καὶ δεσπότας, καὶ ἀρχομένους καὶ ἄρχοντας, καὶ στρατιώτας καὶ ἰδιώτας καὶ τοὺς τὰ σκῆπτρα τῆς οἰκουμένης κατέχοντας, μία ὑποδέχεται κολυμβήθρα, μία πᾶσι διδασκαλία προσφέρεται, μία πᾶσι μυστικὴ προτίθεται τράπεζα καὶ τῶν πιστευόντων ἕκαστος ἴσης ἀπολαύει μερίδος. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα θεὸν τὸν προφητευόμενον δείκνυσιν. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐ θεὸν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄνθρωπον. Τούτου δὴ χάριν καὶ εὐθὺς τῆσδε τῆς προφητείας ἀρξάμενος, ῥάβδον βλαστήσειν ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης εἴρηκεν Ἰεσσαί· καὶ τὴν πρόρρησιν συμπεράνας ἀνέλαβε τὸ 87 προοίμιον. Ἔφη γάρ· "Καὶ ἔσται ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ Ἰεσσαὶ καὶ ὁ ἀνιστάμενος ἄρχειν ἐθνῶν, ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσι, καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἀνάπαυσις αὐτοῦ τιμή." Ἰεσσαὶ δὲ ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ ∆αβίδ, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ∆αβὶδ γέγονεν ἡ μεθ' ὅρκων ὑπόσχεσις. Οὐκ ἂν δὲ ῥάβδον βλαστήσασαν ἐξ Ἰεσσαὶ προσηγόρευσε τὸν δεσπότην Χριστόν, εἰ μόνον ᾔδει θεόν. Προείρηκε δὲ ἡ πρόρρησις καὶ τὴν τῆς οἰκουμένης μεταβολήν. "Ἐνεπλήσθη, γάρ φησιν, ἡ σύμπασα γῆ τοῦ γνῶναι τὸν κύριον ὡς ὕδωρ πολὺ κατακαλύψαι θαλάσσας." {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τῶν μὲν προφητικῶν ἐπήκουσα θεσπισμάτων. Ἐβου λόμην δὲ γνῶναι σαφῶς, εἰ καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων ὁ θεῖος