Chapter LXXXVI.—There are various figures in the Old Testament of the wood of the cross by which Christ reigned.

And when I had quoted this, I added, “Hear, then, how this Man, of whom the Scriptures declare that He will come again in glory after His crucifixion, was symbolized both by the tree of life, which was said to have been planted in paradise, and by those events which should happen to all the just. Moses was sent with a rod to effect the redemption of the people; and with this in his hands at the head of the people, he divided the sea. By this he saw the water gushing out of the rock; and when he cast a tree into the waters of Marah, which were bitter, he made them sweet. Jacob, by putting rods into the water-troughs, caused the sheep of his uncle to conceive, so that he should obtain their young. With his rod the same Jacob boasts that he had crossed the river. He said he had seen a ladder, and the Scripture has declared that God stood above it. But that this was not the Father, we have proved from the Scriptures. And Jacob, having poured oil on a stone in the same place, is testified to by the very God who appeared to him, that he had anointed a pillar to the God who appeared to him. And that the stone symbolically proclaimed Christ, we have also proved by many Scriptures; and that the unguent, whether it was of oil, or of stacte,339    [Myrrh. Christ the (Anointed) Rock is also referred to by Jacob (Gen. xlix. 24).] or of any other compounded sweet balsams, had reference to Him, we have also proved,340    In chap. lxiii. probably, where the same Psalm is quoted. inasmuch as the word says: ‘Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.’341    Ps. xlv. 7. For indeed all kings and anointed persons obtained from Him their share in the names of kings and anointed: just as He Himself received from the Father the titles of King, and Christ, and Priest, and Angel, and such like other titles which He bears or did bear. Aaron’s rod, which blossomed, declared him to be the high priest. Isaiah prophesied that a rod would come forth from the root of Jesse, [and this was] Christ. And David says that the righteous man is ‘like the tree that is planted by the channels of waters, which should yield its fruit in its season, and whose leaf should not fade.’342    Ps. i. 3. Again, the righteous is said to flourish like the palm-tree. God appeared from a tree to Abraham, as it is written, near the oak in Mamre. The people found seventy willows and twelve springs after crossing the Jordan.343    The Red Sea, not the Jordan. [Ex. xv. 27.] David affirms that God comforted him with a rod and staff. Elisha, by casting a stick344    Literally, “a tree.” into the river Jordan, recovered the iron part of the axe with which the sons of the prophets had gone to cut down trees to build the house in which they wished to read and study the law and commandments of God; even as our Christ, by being crucified on the tree, and by purifying [us] with water, has redeemed us, though plunged in the direst offences which we have committed, and has made [us] a house of prayer and adoration. Moreover, it was a rod that pointed out Judah to be the father of Tamar’s sons by a great mystery.”

[86] Καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν προσέθηκα: Ὅτι δέ, μετὰ τὸ σταυρωθῆναι τοῦτον ὃν ἔνδοξον πάλιν παραγενήσεσθαι ἀποδεικνύουσιν αἱ γραφαί, σύμβολον εἶχε τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ὃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ πεφυτεῦσθαι ἐλέλεκτο, καὶ τῶν γενησομένων πᾶσι τοῖς δικαίοις, ἀκούσατε. Μωυσῆς μετὰ ῥάβδου ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ ἀπολύτρωσιν ἐπέμφθη, καὶ ταύτην ἔχων μετὰ χεῖρας ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ λαοῦ διέτεμε τὴν θάλασσαν, διὰ ταύτης ἀπὸ τῆς πέτρας ὕδωρ ἀναβλύσαν ἑώρα: καὶ ξύλον βαλὼν εἰς τὸ ἐν Μερρᾷ ὕδωρ, πικρὸν ὄν, γλυκὺ ἐποίησε. ῥάβδους βαλὼν Ἰακὼβ εἰς τὰς ληνοὺς τῶν ὑδάτων ἐγκισσῆσαι τὰ πρόβατα τοῦ μητραδέλφου, ἵνα τὰ γεννώμενα ἐξ αὐτῶν κτήσηται, ἐπέτυχεν: ἐν ῥάβδῳ αὐτοῦ διεληλυθέναι τὸν ποταμὸν ὁ αὐτὸς Ἰακὼβ καυχᾶται. κλίμακα ἔφη ἑωρᾶσθαι αὐτῷ, καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐπ' αὐτῆς ἐστηρίχθαι ἡ γραφὴ δεδήλωκε: καὶ ὅτι οὐχ ὁ πατὴρ ἦν, ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν ἀπεδείξαμεν. καὶ ἐπὶ λίθου καταχέας ἔλαιον ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τόπῳ Ἰακὼβ στήλην τῷ ὀφθέντι αὐτῷ θεῷ ἀληλιφέναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὀφθέντος αὐτῷ θεοῦ μαρτυρεῖται. καὶ ὅτι λίθος Χριστὸς διὰ πολλῶν γραφῶν συμβολικῶς ἐκηρύσσετο, ὁμοίως ἀπεδείξαμεν: καὶ ὅτι τὸ χρῖσμα πᾶν, εἴτε ἐλαίου εἴτε στακτῆς εἴτε τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τῆς συνθέσεως τοῦ μύρου χρισμάτων, τούτου ἦν, ὁμοίως ἀπεδείξαμεν, τοῦ λόγου λέγοντος: Διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε ὁ θεός, ὁ θεός σου, ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου. καὶ γὰρ οἱ βασιλεῖς πάντες καὶ οἱ χριστοὶ ἀπὸ τούτου μετέσχον καὶ βασιλεῖς καλεῖσθαι καὶ χριστοί: ὃν τρόπον καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἔλαβε τὸ βασιλεὺς καὶ Χριστὸς καὶ ἱερεὺς καὶ ἄγγελος, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοιαῦτα ἔχει ἢ ἔσχε. ῥάβδος ἡ Ἀαρὼν βλαστὸν κομίσασα ἀρχιερέα αὐτὸν ἀπέδειξε. ῥάβδον ἐκ ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ γενήσεσθαι τὸν Χριστὸν Ἠσαίας προεφήτευσε. καὶ Δαυεὶδ ὡς τὸ ξύλον τὸ πεφυτευμένον παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων, ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ φύλλον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεσθαι, φησὶν εἶναι τὸν δίκαιον. καὶ ὡς φοῖνιξ ἀνθήσειν ὁ δίκαιος εἴρηται. ἀπὸ ξύλου τῷ Ἀβραὰμ ὤφθη ὁ θεός, ὡς γέγραπται, πρὸς τῇ δρυῒ τῇ Μαμβρῆ. ἑβδομήκοντα ἰτέας καὶ δώδεκα πηγὰς εὗρεν ὁ λαὸς διαβὰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην. ἐν ῥάβδῳ καὶ βακτηρίᾳ παρακεκλῆσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ Δαυεὶδ λέγει. ξύλον Ἐλισσαῖος βαλὼν εἰς τὸν Ἰορδάνην ποταμὸν ἀνήνεγκε τὸν σίδηρον τῆς ἀξίνης, ἐν ᾗ πεπορευμένοι ἦσαν οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν προφητῶν κόψαι ξύλα εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ οἴκου, ἐν ᾧ τὸν νόμον καὶ τὰ προστάγματα τοῦ θεοῦ λέγειν καὶ μελετᾶν ἐβούλοντο: ὡς καὶ ἡμᾶς βεβαπτισμένους ταῖς βαρυτάταις ἁμαρτίαις, ἃς ἐπράξαμεν, διὰ τοῦ σταυρωθῆναι ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου καὶ δι' ὕδατος ἁγνίσαι ὁ Χριστὸς ἡμῶν ἐλυτρώσατο καὶ οἶκον εὐχῆς καὶ προσκυνήσεως ἐποίησε. καὶ ῥάβδος ἦν ἡ δείξασα Ἰούδαν πατέρα τῶν ἀπὸ Θάμαρ διὰ μέγα μυστήριον γεννηθέντων.