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He set the sixty-two weeks first, and after these the seven, in which, he says, the anointing will be destroyed, that is, the grace that flourished for the high priests. And since even those unlawfully appointed were called high priests, he fittingly added: "And there is no judgment in him." For though they are anointed, he says, they are not anointed according to reason, but they dare to do this unlawfully. And he has made it clear above that he has placed the seven weeks last: "For until Christ the leader, seven weeks and sixty-two weeks." For until Christ the leader, he placed the seven multiplied weeks right at the mention of himself, so that we might know that, wishing to count back from Christ, we will find the seven weeks first, and then the sixty-two. And making this clearer: "It will return," he says, "and street and wall will be built, and the times will be renewed." That is, the time before the building. "And after the sixty-two weeks," he says, "the anointing will be destroyed." And he did not say, after the seven, but after the sixty-two, after which are the seven, "in which the anointing will be destroyed, and there is no judgment in him;" when Herod, a foreigner, was reigning—for he was an Ascalonite on his father's side, and an Idumean on his mother's—and the so-called high priests were not anointed according to the law, but were appointed by foreign rulers, Herod and Archelaus, and the Roman 81.1481 generals. Then he also speaks of the utter destruction that would seize both the city, and this very foreign kingdom, and the unlawful high priesthood, and he says: "And he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the coming prince." For the city, he says, will be overthrown, and the holy temple will receive complete destruction. And the city will suffer these things with the coming prince, that is, with the coming unlawful rulers. For he called the foreign kingdom and the unlawful high priesthood a coming prince. Then, teaching that they will endure much worse evils than the former ones, he added: "And they will be cut off as in a flood;" that is, they will endure utter destruction, such as the people of old endured when the flood covered the whole earth. And teaching that they will obtain no recall or respite, "And until the end," he says, "of a war cut short by desolations." For they will endure, he says, complete destruction, being given over to war as to a kind of flood, and to the end they will be subjected to these evils, and will never obtain any recall. Thus having prophesied concerning the utter destruction of the Jews, he returns again to the number of the seventy weeks, and adds the one remaining to the sixty-nine, and says: 27. "And one week will confirm a covenant with many, and in the midst of the week sacrifice and libation shall be taken away, and upon the temple the abomination of desolation, and until the consummation of time a consummation shall be given for the desolation." What then will be after the sixty-two weeks in the seven weeks, I have foretold, he says; but it is fitting to learn also the things that will happen in the other week. For in this the New Covenant will be given to those who believe, and will fill them with all power; "And in the middle of this week, sacrifice and libation will be taken away." The sacrifice according to the law, he says, will cease, when the true sacrifice of the blameless lamb, who takes away the sin of the world, is offered. For when this one is finally offered, that one will come to an end. For this reason, as soon as the sacrifice was fulfilled, and our Savior gave up the spirit, the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, making what was formerly unseen to all, seen, and revealing what was untouchable and inaccessible to be accessible. For since the veil separated the Holy of Holies, which had the mercy seat, and the Cherubim, and the ark, from the holy place, the veil, being torn completely, showed by the events that the attending grace had departed from the inner things, and common things were
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ἑξήκοντα δύο ἑβδομάδας προτέρας τέταχε, καὶ μετὰ ταύτας τὰς ἑπτὰ, ἐν αἷς, φησὶν, ἐξολοθρευθήσεται χρί σμα, τουτέστιν, ἡ τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσιν ἐπανθοῦσα χά ρις. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ καὶ οἱ παρανόμως προχειριζόμενοι ἀρχιερεῖς ὠνομάζοντο, εἰκότως ἐπήγαγε· "Καὶ κρῖμα οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ." Εἰ γὰρ καὶ χρίονται, φησὶν, ἀλλ' οὐ κατὰ λόγον χρίονται, παρανόμως δὲ τοῦτο ποιεῖν τολμῶσι. Καὶ ἀνωτέρω δὲ δῆλον πεποίη κεν, ὡς τὰς ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδας τελευταίας τέταχεν· "Ἕως γὰρ Χριστοῦ ἡγουμένου ἑβδομάδες ἑπτὰ, καὶ ἑβδομάδες ἑξήκοντα δύο." Ἕως γὰρ τοῦ ἡγου μένου Χριστοῦ τὰς ἑπτὰ πολλαπλασιαζούσας ἑβδο μάδας παρ' αὐτὴν αὑτοῦ τὴν μνήμην τέθεικεν, ἵνα γνῶμεν ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω ἀρι θμεῖν βουλόμενοι, τὰς ἑπτὰ πρότερον ἑβδομάδας εὑ ρήσομεν, καὶ τότε τὰς ἑξήκοντα δύο. Καὶ τοῦτο σαφέ στερον ποιῶν· "Ἐπιστρέψει, φησὶ, καὶ οἰκοδο μηθήσεται πλατεῖα καὶ περίτειχος, καὶ ἐκκαινωθή σονται οἱ καιροί." Τουτέστιν, ὁ πρὸ τῆς οἰκοδομίας χρόνος. "Καὶ μετὰ τὰς ἑβδομάδας, φησὶ, τὰς ἑξή κοντα δύο, ἐξολοθρευθήσεται χρίσμα." Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε, μετὰ τὰς ἑπτὰ, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὰς ἑξήκοντα δύο, μεθ' ἅς εἰσιν αἱ ἑπτὰ, "ἐν αἷς ἐξολοθρευθήσεται χρίσμα, καὶ κρῖμα οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ·" Ἡρώδου μὲν ἀλλοφύλου βασιλεύοντος· πατρόθεν γὰρ Ἀσκα λωνίτης ἦν, μητρόθεν δὲ Ἰδουμαῖος· τῶν δὲ καλου μένων ἀρχιερέων οὐ κατὰ νόμον χριομένων, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἀρχόντων προχειριζομένων, Ἡρώδου τε καὶ Ἀρχελάου, καὶ τῶν Ῥωμαίων 81.1481 στρατηγῶν. Εἶτα λέγει καὶ τὴν καταληψομένην παν ωλεθρίαν τήν τε πόλιν, καὶ αὐτὴν ταύτην τὴν ἀλλό φυλον βασιλείαν, καὶ τὴν παράνομον ἀρχιερωσύνην, καί φησι· "Καὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον διαφθερεῖ σὺν τῷ ἡγουμένῳ τῷ ἐρχομένῳ." Καὶ γὰρ ἡ πόλις, φησὶν, ἀνάστατος γενήσεται, καὶ ὁ νεὼς ὁ ἅγιος παντελῆ κατάλυσιν δέξεται. Ταῦτα δὲ πείσεται ἡ πόλις σὺν τῷ ἡγουμένῳ τῷ ἐρχομένῳ, τουτέστι, τοῖς ἐρχομένοις παρανόμοις ἄρχουσιν. Ἡγούμενον γὰρ ἐρχόμενον τὴν ἀλλόφυλον βασιλείαν καὶ τὴν παράνομον ἀρχιερωσύνην ὠνόμασεν. Εἶτα διδάσκων, ὅτι πολλῷ χείρονα τῶν προτέρων ὑπομενοῦσι κακὰ, ἐπήγαγε· "Καὶ ἐκκοπήσονται ὡς ἐν κατακλυ σμῷ·" τουτέστι, πανωλεθρίαν ὑπομενοῦσιν, οἵαν ὑπέμειναν οἱ πάλαι ἄνθρωποι τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τὴν γῆν πᾶσαν συγκαλύψαντος. Καὶ διδάσκων ὡς οὐδε μιᾶς ἀνακλήσεως ἢ ἀνέσεως τεύξονται, "Καὶ ἕως τέλους, φησὶ, πολέμου συντετμημένου ἀφανισμοῖς." Ἀφανισμὸν γὰρ, φησὶ, παντελῆ ὑπομενοῦσιν, οἷόν τινι κατακλυσμῷ τῷ πολέμῳ παραδοθέντες, καὶ εἰς τέλος τούτοις ὑποκλιθήσονται τοῖς κακοῖς, καὶ οὐδεμιᾶς πώποτε ἀνακλήσεως τεύξονται. Οὕτω τὰ περὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίων προθεσπίσας πανωλεθρίας, ἐπαν έρχεται πάλιν εἰς τὸν τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἑβδομάδων ἀριθμὸν, καὶ τὴν λείπουσαν ταῖς ἑξήκοντα ἐννέα προστίθησι, καί φησιν· κζʹ. "Καὶ δυναμώσει διαθήκην πολλοῖς ἑβδομὰς μία, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἡμίσει τῆς ἑβδομάδος ἀρθήσεται θυσία καὶ σπονδὴ, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἱερὸν βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως, καὶ ἕως συντελείας καιροῦ συντέλεια δοθήσεται ἐπὶ τὴν ἐρήμωσιν." Τίνα μὲν οὖν ἔσται μετὰ τὰς ἑξήκοντα δύο ἑβδομάδας ἐν ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἑβ δομάσι, προείρηκα, φησί· προσήκει δὲ μαθεῖν καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ ἄλλῃ ἑβδομάδι γενησόμενα. Ἐν γὰρ ταύτῃ ἡ Καινὴ ∆ιαθήκη δοθήσεται τοῖς πιστεύουσι, καὶ δυ νάμεως ἁπάσης αὐτοὺς πληρώσει· "Μεσούσης δὲ ταύτης τῆς ἑβδομάδος, ἀρθήσεται θυσία καὶ σπονδή." Παυθήσεται, φησὶν, ἡ κατὰ νόμον θυσία, τῆς ἀληθοῦς προσφερομένης θυσίας τοῦ ἀμώμου ἀμνοῦ, τοῦ αἴρον τος τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. Ταύτης γὰρ λοιπὸν προσ ενεχθείσης, τέλος ἐκείνη λήψεται. Οὗ χάριν, εὐθὺς τῆς θυσίας πληρωθείσης, καὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀφέν τος τὸ πνεῦμα, τὸ καταπέτασμα τοῦ ναοῦ ἐῤῥάγη ἀπὸ ἄνωθεν ἕως κάτω, τὰ πάλαι ἀθεώρητα τοῖς πᾶσι ποιοῦν θεωρητὰ, καὶ τὰ ἄψαυστα καὶ ἄβατα ἀπο φαίνων βατά. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ καταπέτασμα διεῖργεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἁγίων τὰ Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων ἔχοντα τὸ ἱλαστή ριον, καὶ τὰ Χερουβὶμ, καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν, ῥαγὲν διόλου τὸ καταπέτασμα διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔδειξεν, ὡς ἀπ έστη τῶν ἔνδον ἡ παρεδρεύουσα χάρις, καὶ κοινὰ γέ