Chap. XVII.—Of the Superstitions of the Jews, and Their Hatred Against Jesus.

But they alleged other causes for their anger and envy, which they bore shut up686    Intus inclusam. Another reading is, “Intus inclusâ malitia,” with malice shut up within.   within in their hearts—namely, that He destroyed the obligation687    Solveret, “He loosened or relaxed.”   of the law given by Moses; that is, that He did not rest688    Non vacaret.   on the Sabbath, but laboured for the good689    Operans in salutem hominum, “by healing diseases and doing good.”   of men; that He abolished circumcision; that He took away the necessity of abstaining from the flesh of swine;690    There is no mention of this in the Gospels.  —in which things the mysteries of the Jewish religion consist. On this account, therefore, the rest of the people, who had not yet withdrawn691    Secesserat: “withdrawn themselves from the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees, and betaken themselves to Christ.”   to Christ, were incited by the priests to regard Him as impious, because He destroyed the obligation of the law of God, though He did this not by His own judgment, but according to the will of God, and after the predictions of the prophets. For Micah announced that He would give a new law, in these terms:692    Mic. iv. 2, 3.   “The law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations.”693    Some read, “evincet et deliget validas nationes;” but the reading “deliget” seems to have arisen from a corrupt reading of the Septuagint,—ἐκλέξει, “he shall choose,” having been substituted for ἐξελεγξει, “he shall rebuke.”   For the former law, which was given by Moses, was not given on Mount Zion, but on Mount Horeb;694    The scene of the giving of the law is sometimes spoken of as Horeb, as Ex. iii., and sometimes as Sinai, as Ex. xix. The difficulty of discriminating the two is very great. See Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine [pp. 29, 32, 36–37, 40–42, etc. Robinson, vol. i. 177, 551.]   and the Sibyl shows that it would come to pass that this law would be destroyed by the Son of God:—  

But even Moses himself, by whom the law was given which they so tenaciously maintain, though they have fallen away from God, and have not acknowledged God, had foretold that it would come to pass that a very great prophet would be sent by God, who should be above the law, and be a bearer of the will of God to men. In Deuteronomy he thus left it written:695    Deut. xviii. 17–19.   “And the Lord said unto me, I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my word in His mouth, and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And whosoever will not hearken to those things which that Prophet shall speak in my name, I will require696    Ego vindicabo in eum.   it of him.” The Lord evidently announced by the law-giver himself that He was about to send His own Son—that is, a law alive, and present697    Vivam præsentemque legem.   in person, and destroy that old law given by a mortal,698    Another reading is, “per Moysen,” by Moses.   that by Him who was eternal He might ratify afresh a law which was eternal.  

In like manner, Isaiah699    The quotation is not from Isaiah, but from Jer. iv. 3, 4.   thus prophesied concerning the abolition of circumcision: “Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah who dwell at Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord your God, and take away the foreskins of your heart, lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it.” Also Moses himself says:700    Deut. xxx. 6.   “In the last days the Lord shall circumcise thine heart to love the Lord thy God.” Also Jesus701    i.e., Joshua See Josh. v. 2.   the son of Nun, his successor, said: “And the Lord said unto Jesus, Make thee knives of flint very sharp, and sit and circumcise the children of Israel the second time.” He said that this second circumcision would be not of the flesh, as the first was, which the Jews practice even now, but of the heart and spirit, which was delivered by Christ, who was the true Jesus. For the prophet does not say, “And the Lord said unto me,” but “unto Jesus,” that he might show that God was not speaking of him, but of Christ, to whom God was then speaking. For that Jesus represented702    “Figuram gerebat,” typified, or set forth as in a figure.   Christ: for when he was at first called Auses,703    i.e., Osee, Oshea, or Hoshea, as Joshua was first called. See Num. xiii. 8. [But note Num. xiii. 16. The change was significant. See Pearson On the Creed, art. ii. 125–128. Thus, “Jehovah-Saviour” = Jesus, and the change was prophetic of “the Name which is above every name.” Compare Gen. xxxii. 29 and Phil. ii. 9, 10.]  Moses, foreseeing the future, ordered that he should be called Jesus; that since he had been chosen as the leader of the warfare against Amalek, who was the enemy of the children of Israel, he might both subdue the adversary by the emblem704    Per figuram nominis. The name Jesus or Joshua signifies a deliverer or saviour. [Nay, more, Jehovah-Salvator, thus: Hoshea + Jah = Jehoshua = Joshua = Jesus.]   of the name, and lead the people into the land of promise. And for this reason he was also successor to Moses, to show that the new law given by Christ Jesus was about to succeed to the old law which was given by Moses. For that circumcision of the flesh is plainly irrational; since, if God had so willed it, He might so have formed man from the beginning, that he should be without a foreskin. But it was a figure of this second circumcision, signifying that the breast is to be laid bare; that is, that we ought to live with an open and simple heart, since that part of the body which is circumcised has a kind of resemblance to the heart, and is to be treated with reverence. On this account God ordered that it should be laid bare, that by this argument He might admonish us not to have our breast hidden705    Involutum. Thus Seneca: “Non est tibi frons ficta, nec in alienam voluptatem sermo compositus, nec cor involutum.”   in obscurity; that is, not to veil any shameful deed within the secrets of conscience. This is the circumcision of the heart of which the prophets speak, which God transferred from the mortal flesh to the soul, which alone is about to endure. For being desirous of promoting our life and salvation in accordance with His own goodness, in that circumcision He hath set before us repentance, that if we lay open our hearts,—that is if we confess our sins and make satisfaction to God,—we shall obtain pardon, which is denied to those who are obstinate and conceal their faults, by Him who regards not the outward appearance, as man does, but the innermost secrets of the heart.706    1 Sam. xvi. 7: “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”    

The forbidding of the flesh of swine also has the same intention; for when God commanded them to abstain from this, He willed that this should be especially understood, that they should abstain from sins and impurities. For this animal is filthy and unclean,707    Lutulentum (besmeared with mud) “et immundum.” See 2 Pet. ii. 22.   and never looks up to heaven,708    [“The swine gorges his acorns, and never looks up to the tree from which they fall,” as a parable of nature for swinish men.]   but prostrates itself to the earth with its whole body and face: it is always the slave of its appetite and food; nor during its life can it afford any other service, as the other animals do, which either afford a vehicle for riding,709    Sedendi vehiculum. “Sedeor” is sometimes used in this sense for riding.   or aid in the cultivation of the fields, or draw waggons by their neck, or carry burthens on their back, or furnish a covering with their skins,710    Exuviis, used in the same sense as “pellibus.”   or abound with a supply of milk, or keep watch for guarding our houses. Therefore He forbade them to use the flesh of the pig for food, that is, not to imitate the life of swine, which are nourished only for death; lest, by devoting themselves to their appetite and pleasures, they should be useless for working righteousness, and should be visited with death. Also that they should not immerse themselves in foul lusts, as the sow, which wallows in the mire;711    Ingurgitat cœno, “plunges into the mire.” [“Sus lota in volutabro luti.” 2 Pet. ii. 22, Vulgate.]   of that they do not serve earthly images, and thus defile themselves with mud: for they do bedaub themselves with mud who worship gods, that is, who worship mud and earth. Thus all the precepts of the Jewish law have for their object the setting forth of righteousness, since they are given in a mysterious712    Per figuram. [This Typology has never yet been fully or satisfactorily treated. Yet the volumes of Dr. Fairbairn (Typology of Scripture, Clarks, Edin.) ought to be known to every Bible student.]   manner, that under the figure of carnal things those which are spiritual might be known.  

CAPUT XVII. De Judaeorum religionibus, ac eorum odio in Jesum.

Sed irae atque invidiae suae, quam in cordibus suis gerebant intus inclusam, alias causas praeferebant; 0499A quod legem Dei per Mosen datam solveret, id est, quod sabbatis non vacaret, operans in salutem hominum; quod circumcisionem vacuefaceret, quod abstinentiam suillae carnis auferret. In quibus rebus judaicae religionis sacramenta consistunt. Ob haec itaque caetera pars populi, quae nondum ad Christum secesserat, a sacerdotibus incitabatur, ut impium judicaret 0499B eum, quod legem Dei solveret, cum hoc ille non suo judicio, sed ex Dei voluntate et secundum praedicta faceret prophetarum. Micheas enim (cap. 4, V. 2) novam legem daturum denuntiavit hoc modo: Lex de Sion proficiscetur, et sermo Domini ex Hierusalem, et judicabit inter plurimos populos, et revincet, et deliget validas nationes. Illa enim prior lex, quae per Mosen data est, non in monte Sion, sed in monte Choreb data est, quam Sibylla fore ut a Filio Dei solveretur, ostendit: Ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε ταῦτ᾽ ἂν ἅπαντα τελειωθῇ ἅπερ εἶπον, Εἰς αὐτὸν τότε πᾶς λύεται νόμος.Sed et ipse Moses, per quem datam sibi legem dum 0500A pertinaciter tuentur, exciderunt a Deo, et Deum non agnoverunt, praedixerat fore, ut propheta maximus a Deo mitteretur, qui sit supra legem, qui voluntatem Dei ad homines perferat. In Deuteronomio ita scriptum reliquit: Et dixit Dominus ad me: Prophetam excitabo eis de fratribus eorum, sicut te, et dabo verbum meum in os ejus; et loquetur ad eos ea quae praecepero ei: et quisquis non audierit ea quae loquetur propheta ille in nomine meo, ego vindicabo in eum. Denuntiavit scilicet Dominus per ipsum legiferum, quod Filium suum, id est, vivam praesentemque legem missurus esset, et illam veterem per mortalem datam soluturus, ut denuo per eum, qui esset aeternus, legem sanciret aeternam.

Item de circumcisione solvenda Esaias ita prophetavit: 0500B Haec dicit Dominus viris Juda, qui habitant in Hierusalem: Renovate inter vos novitatem, et ne seminaveritis in spinis. Circumcidite vos Domino Deo vestro, et circumcidite praeputium cordis vestri, ne exeat ira mea sicuti ignis, et exurat, et non sit qui extinguat. Item Moses ipse (Deut., XXX): In novissimis diebus circumcidet Dominus cor tuum ad Dominum Deum tuum amandum. Item Jesus Nave successor ejus: Et dixit Dominus ad Jesum (Jos., V, 1): Fac tibi cultellos petrinos nimis acutos, et sede, et circumcide secundo filios Israel. Secundam circumcisionem futuram esse dixit, non carnis, sicut fuit prima, qua etiam nunc Judaei utuntur, sed cordis ac spiritus, quam tradidit 0501A Christus, qui verus Jesus fuit. Non enim Propheta sic ait: Et dixit Dominus ad me, 0501A sed, ad Jesum; ut ostenderet quod non de se loqueretur, sed de Christo, ad quem tunc Deus loquebatur. Christi enim figuram gerebat ille Jesus: qui cum primum Auses vocaretur, Moses futura praesentiens, jussit eum Jesum vocari; ut quoniam dux militiae delectus esset adversus Amalech, qui oppugnabat filios Israel, et adversarium debellaret per nominis figuram, et populum in terram promissionis induceret. Et idcirco etiam Mosi successit, ut ostenderet novam legem per Christum Jesum datam veteri legi successuram, quae data per Mosen fuit. Nam illa carnis circumcisio caret utique ratione; quia si Deus id vellet, sic a principio formasset hominem, ut praeputium non haberet. Sed 0501B hujus secundae circumcisionis figura erat, significans nudandum esse pectus, id est, aperto et simplici corde oportere nos vivere; quoniam pars illa corporis, quae circumciditur, habet quamdam similitudinem cordis, et est pudenda. Ob hanc causam Deus nudari eam jussit, ut hoc argumento nos admoneret ne involutum pectus haberemus, id est, ne quod pudendum facinus intra conscientiae secreta velemus. Haec est cordis circumcisio, de qua prophetae loquuntur, quam Deus a carne mortali ad animam transtulit, quae sola mansura est. Volens enim vitae ac saluti nostrae pro aeterna sua pietate consulere, poenitentiam nobis in illa circumcisione proposuit, ut si cor nudaverimus, id est, si peccata nostra confessi satis Deo fecerimus, veniam consequamur; quae contumacibus et admissa sua celantibus denegatur ab 0501C eo qui non faciem, sicut homo, sed intima et arcana pectoris intuetur.

Eodem spectat etiam carnis suillae interdictio; a qua cum eos abstinere Deus jussit, id potissimum voluit intelligi, ut se a peccatis atque immunditiis abstinerent. 0502A Est enim lutulentum hoc animal, et immundum; nec umquam coelum aspicit: sed in terra toto et corpore et ore projectum, ventri semper et pabulo servit; nec ullum alium dum vivit praestare usum potest, sicut caeterae animantes, quae vel sedendi vehiculum praebent, vel in cultibus agrorum juvant, vel plaustra collo trahunt, vel onera tergo gestant, vel indumentum exuviis suis exhibent, vel copia lactis exuberant, vel custodiendis domibus invigilant. Interdixit ergo ne porcina carne uterentur, id est, ne vitam porcorum imitarentur, qui ad solam mortem nutriuntur; ne ventri, ac voluptatibus servientes, ad faciendam justitiam inutiles essent, ac morte afficerentur. Item ne se foedis libidinibus immergerent, sicut sus, quae se ingurgitat coeno; vel 0502B ne terrenis serviant simulacris, ac se luto inquinent. Luto enim se oblinunt, qui deos, id est, qui lutum terramque venerantur. Sic universa praecepta judaicae legis ad exhibendam justitiam spectant, quoniam per ambagem data sunt; ut per carnalium figuram spiritualia noscerentur.