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laboring in vain, you will be refuted. For every counsel of yours that you may devise, the Lord will scatter, and a word which you may speak, threatening to do something contrary to Emmanuel, will not remain with you. And we say these things, since Emmanuel is with us. These things, then, have been said to the nations from the person of the prophets, but the discourse, changing again, says these things concerning those who have not yet wished to call upon Emmanuel. 1.51 The discourse, having called upon the nations to recognize Emmanuel, passes over to the people of the Jews, refuting them as disobedient to the strong hand; for being called by it, when it was necessary to obey, they disobeyed and spoke against it. Therefore he says: Thus says the Lord to those who disobey the strong hand and to those who walk not the straight and "royal" road dear to God, but the course of the way of this people; do not say, he says, that the word is hard, concerning the need to depart from the course of this people; for this people considers it hard, but you who have departed from the course of this people, do not say that this is hard. But if the people of the faithless plot against you as apostates, yet you, do not fear their fear, nor be troubled by them when driven out and persecuted, but only, sanctifying the Lord of hosts, inscribe upon yourselves fear; "for 'the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.'" And through this, all fear from men is driven away. Symmachus rendered this in this manner: Thus, he says, the Lord spoke to me as with the strength of his hand and turned me away from walking in the way of this people, saying: you will not say 'rebellion' to everything that this people calls 'rebellion.' What he says is something like this: with his own hand the Lord, taking hold, turned away and separated his own prophet, me, from walking the same way as this faithless people who did not wish to call upon Emmanuel. And he turned me away, saying: You will not say 'rebellion'; for these who refused to call upon Emmanuel consider your departure from them a rebellion, but you will not say this. But if you have only him as your fear, and if you trust in him, take courage, knowing well that he will be a sanctuary to you, so that you no longer need the bodily sanctuary. Among the Hebrews, the temple which formerly stood among them and its inmost parts was called a sanctuary. Therefore, to you who are driven out by them, but who trust in the Lord, the sanctuary will be, not the bodily temple, but the Lord himself sanctifying you, if you trust in him. Therefore, fearing this people in no way, depart from it, but believe and be courageous in your fear; for you will have him as a sanctuary, and you will not stumble against him as against a stone of stumbling, nor will you encounter him as a rock of falling; for such will he be to the house of Jacob because of their unbelief; for as though dwelling in a snare and in a hollow place, those in Jerusalem, because of "disobeying" the "strong hand" of the Lord, had him as a stone of stumbling and a rock of falling, though he is not such by nature; for to those who believe in him he happens to be a sanctuary. You see how he names the Lord himself a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And he says that he will be such to those dwelling in Jerusalem and to the two houses of Israel, but he teaches that to those who have believed in him he will be a sanctuary. How then did Emmanuel become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the aforementioned, except through the conception from a virgin? Whence also the divine Apostle, teaching these things, said: "to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Gentiles foolishness." And there were two houses of Israel: one of the rulers among them, and the other of the ruled. But to these two houses, that is, to the whole nation at once, both rulers and ruled, he says that the Lord himself will be for a snare and for an offense. 1.52 Instead of: Then they will be manifest who are sealing the law so as not to learn, Symmachus interpreted thus: bind the testimony,
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μάταια πονοῦντες ἐλεγχθήσεσθε. πᾶσαν γὰρ ὑμῶν τὴν βουλὴν ἣν ἂν βουλεύσησθε, διασκεδάσει κύριος, καὶ λόγον ὃν ἐὰν λαλήσητε ἀπειλοῦντές τινα πράξειν ἐναντία τῷ Ἐμμανουὴλ οὐ μὴ ἐμμείνῃ ὑμῖν. καὶ ταῦτά φαμεν, ἐπεὶ μεθ' ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ Ἐμμανουήλ. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν πρὸς τὰ ἔθνη ἐκ προσώπου τῶν προφητῶν λέλεκται, μεταβαλὼν δὲ πάλιν ὁ λόγος περὶ τῶν μηδέπω βουληθέντων τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ ἐπικαλέσασθαι τάδε φησίν. 1.51 Προσφωνήσας ὁ λόγος τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐπιγνῶναι τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ μεταβαίνει ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰουδαίων λαόν, ἐλέγχων αὐτὸν ὡς ἀπειθοῦντα τῇ ἰσχυρᾷ χειρί· καλούμενοι γὰρ ὑπ' αὐτῆς, δέον ὑπακούειν, οἱ δὲ ἠπείθουν καὶ ἀντέλεγον. διό φησιν· Οὕτως λέγει κύριος τοῖς ἀπειθοῦσι τῇ ἰσχυρᾷ χειρὶ καὶ τοῖς βαδίζουσιν οὐ τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν εὐθεῖαν καὶ «βασιλικὴν» τῷ θεῷ φίλην, ἀλλὰ τὴν πορείαν τῆς ὁδοῦ τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου· μὴ εἴπητέ φησι σκληρὸν εἶναι τὸν λόγον τὸν περὶ τοῦ ἀποστῆναι δεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς πορείας τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου· ὁ γὰρ λαὸς οὗτος σκληρὸν αὐτὸν νομίζει, ὑμεῖς δὲ οἱ ἀποστάντες τῆς πορείας τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, μὴ λέγετε τοῦτο εἶναι σκληρόν. εἰ δὲ ἐπιβουλεύοιεν ὑμῖν ὡς ἀποστάταις οἱ τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ ἀπίστου, ἀλλ' ὑμεῖς τὸν φόβον αὐτοῦ μὴ φοβηθῆτε μηδὲ ταράττεσθε ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἐλαυνόμενοι καὶ διωκόμενοι, μόνον δὲ τὸν κύριον τῶν δυνάμεων ἁγιάζοντες ἐπιγράφεσθε ἑαυτῶν φόβον· «ἀρχὴ γὰρ σοφίας φόβος κυρίου». καὶ διὰ τούτου πᾶς ὁ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀπελαύνεται φόβος. Ὁ Σύμμαχος τοῦτον ἐξέδωκεν τὸν τρόπον· τάδε φησὶ εἶπε κύριος πρός με ὡς ἐν κράτει τῆς χειρὸς καὶ ἀπέστησέ με μὴ πορεύεσθαι τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου λέγων· οὐκ ἐρεῖτε ἄνταρσις εἰς πᾶν ὃ ἐὰν εἴπῃ ὁ λαὸς οὗτος ἄνταρσις. ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τῇ ἑαυτοῦ χειρὶ ὁ κύριος ἐπιλαβόμενος ἀπέστησε καὶ ἀφώρισε τὸν ἑαυτοῦ προφήτην, ἐμὲ τοῦ μὴ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁδὸν βαδίζειν τῷ ἀπίστῳ τούτῳ λαῷ τῷ μὴ βουληθέντι τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ ἐπικαλέσασθαι. ἀπέστησε δέ με λέγων· οὐκ ἐρεῖτε ἄνταρσις· οὗτοι μὲν γὰρ οἱ τὸν Ἐμμανουὴλ ἐπικαλέσασθαι παραιτησάμενοι ἄνταρσιν ἡγοῦνται τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀναχώρησιν, ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐρεῖτε τοῦτο. Εἰ δὲ μόνον αὐτὸν ἔχοις σεαυτοῦ φόβον, εἴης τε πεποιθὼς ἐπ' αὐτῷ, θάρσει, εὖ εἰδώς, ὅτι ἔσται σοι εἰς ἁγίασμα, ὡς μηκέτι δεῖσθαι τοῦ σωματικοῦ ἁγιάσματος. ἁγίασμα δὲ ἐκαλεῖτο παρ' Ἑβραίοις ὁ πάλαι συνεστὼς παρ' αὐτοῖς νεὼς καὶ τούτου τὰ ἐνδοτάτω. ἔσται τοίνυν σοι τῷ ἐλαυνομένῳ μὲν ὑπ' ἐκείνων, πεποιθότι δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον ἁγίασμα, οὐχ ὁ σωματικὸς ναός, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἁγιάζων σε, ἐὰν πεποιθὼς ᾖς ἐπ' αὐτόν. διὸ μηδὲν φοβούμενος τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον, ἀναχώρει αὐτοῦ, πίστευε δὲ καὶ θάρσει τῷ σῷ φόβῳ· ἕξεις γὰρ αὐτὸν ἁγίασμα, οὐχὶ δὲ ὡς λίθῳ προσκόμματος προσκόψεις ἐν αὐτῷ οὐδὲ συναντήσεις αὐτῷ ὡς πέτρας πτώματι· τοιοῦτος γὰρ ἔσται τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰακὼβ διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν αὐτῶν· ὡς γὰρ ἐν παγίδι καὶ ἐν κοιλάσματι οἰκοῦντες οἱ ἐν Ἰερουσαλὴμ διὰ τὸ «ἀπειθεῖν» «τῇ ἰσχυρᾷ χειρὶ» τοῦ κυρίου ἔσχον αὐτὸν λίθον προσκόμματος καὶ πέτραν πτώσεως, μὴ ὄντα τῇ φύσει τοιοῦτον· τοῖς γὰρ πιστεύουσιν εἰς αὐτὸν ἁγίασμα τυγχάνει. ὁρᾷς ὅπως αὐτὸν τὸν κύριον λίθον προσκόμματος καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου ὀνομάζει. καὶ τοιοῦτον μὲν ἔσεσθαι αὐτόν φησι τοῖς καθημένοις ἐν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῖς δυσὶν οἴκοις Ἰσραήλ, τοῖς δὲ εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκόσιν ἁγίασμα ἔσεσθαι διδάσκει. πῶς οὖν ἐγένετο λίθος προσκόμματος καὶ πέτρα σκανδάλου τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ ἢ διὰ τῆς ἐκ παρθένου κυήσεως; ὅθεν καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος ταῦτα διδάσκων ἔλεγεν· «Ἰουδαίοις μὲν σκάνδαλον, ἔθνεσι δὲ μωρία». δύο δὲ ἦσαν οἶκοι Ἰσραήλ· εἷς μὲν ὁ τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀρχόντων, θάτερος δὲ ὁ τῶν ἀρχομένων. τούτοις δὲ τοῖς δυσὶν οἴκοις, δηλαδὴ ἀθρόως τῷ ὅλῳ ἔθνει ἄρχουσί τε καὶ ἀρχομένοις, τὸν κύριον αὐτὸν εἰς παγίδα καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον ἔσεσθαί φησιν. 1.52 Ἀντὶ τοῦ· Τότε φανεροὶ ἔσονται οἱ σφραγιζόμενοι τὸν νόμον τοῦ μὴ μαθεῖν, ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν οὕτως· δῆσον μαρτύριον,