Chapter CII.—The prediction of the events which happened to Christ when He was born. Why God permitted it.

“And what follows —‘My hope from the breasts of my mother. On Thee have I been cast from the womb; from my mother’s belly Thou art my God: for there is no helper. Many calves have compassed me; fat bulls have beset me round. They opened their mouth upon me, as a ravening and a roaring lion. All my bones are poured out and dispersed like water. My heart has become like wax melting in the midst of my belly. My strength is become dry like a potsherd; and my tongue has cleaved to my throat’ —foretold what would come to pass; for the statement, ‘My hope from the breasts of my mother,’ [is thus explained]. As soon as He was born in Bethlehem, as I previously remarked, king Herod, having learned from the Arabian Magi about Him, made a plot to put Him to death, and by God’s command Joseph took Him with Mary and departed into Egypt. For the Father had decreed that He whom He had begotten should be put to death, but not before He had grown to manhood, and proclaimed the word which proceeded from Him. But if any of you say to us, Could not God rather have put Herod to death? I return answer by anticipation: Could not God have cut off in the beginning the serpent, so that he exist not, rather than have said, ‘And I will put enmity between him and the woman, and between his seed and her seed?’390    Gen. iii. 15. Could He not have at once created a multitude of men? But yet, since He knew that it would be good, He created both angels and men free to do that which is righteous, and He appointed periods of time during which He knew it would be good for them to have the exercise of free-will; and because He likewise knew it would be good, He made general and particular judgments; each one’s freedom of will, however, being guarded. Hence Scripture says the following, at the destruction of the tower, and division and alteration of tongues: ‘And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they have begun to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them of all which they have attempted to do.’391    Gen. xi. 6. And the statement, ‘My strength is become dry like a potsherd, and my tongue has cleaved to my throat,’ was also a prophecy of what would be done by Him according to the Father’s will. For the power of His strong word, by which He always confuted the Pharisees and Scribes, and, in short, all your nation’s teachers that questioned Him, had a cessation like a plentiful and strong spring, the waters of which have been turned off, when He kept silence, and chose to return no answer to any one in the presence of Pilate; as has been declared in the memoirs of His apostles, in order that what is recorded by Isaiah might have efficacious fruit, where it is written, ‘The Lord gives me a tongue, that I may know when I ought to speak.’392    Isa. l. 4. Again, when He said, ‘Thou art my God; be not far from me,’ He taught that all men ought to hope in God who created all things, and seek salvation and help from Him alone; and not suppose, as the rest of men do, that salvation can be obtained by birth, or wealth, or strength, or wisdom. And such have ever been your practices: at one time you made a calf, and always you have shown yourselves ungrateful, murderers of the righteous, and proud of your descent. For if the Son of God evidently states that He can be saved, [neither]393    Not found in mss. because He is a son, nor because He is strong or wise, but that without God He cannot be saved, even though He be sinless, as Isaiah declares in words to the effect that even in regard to His very language He committed no sin (for He committed no iniquity or guile with His mouth), how do you or others who expect to be saved without this hope, suppose that you are not deceiving yourselves?

[102] Καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς: Ἡ ἐλπίς μου ἀπὸ μασθῶν τῆς μητρός μου: ἐπὶ σὲ ἐπερρίφην ἐκ μήτρας, ἀπὸ γαστρὸς μητρός μου θεός μου εἶ σύ, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ βοηθῶν μοι. περιεκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί, ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με: ἤνοιξαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν, ὡς λέων ἁρπάζων καὶ ὠρυόμενος. ὡσεὶ ὕδωρ ἐξεχύθη καὶ διεσκορπίσθη πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου. ἐγενήθη ἡ καρδία μου ὡσεὶ κηρὸς τηκόμενος ἐν μέσῳ τῆς κοιλίας μου: ἐξηράνθη ὡς ὄστρακον ἡ ἰσχύς μου, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου κεκόλληται τῷ λάρυγγί μου: τῶν γεγενημένων τὴν προαγγελίαν ἐποιεῖτο. τὸ γὰρ Ἡ ἐλπίς μου ἀπὸ μασθῶν τῆς μητρός μου. ἅμα γὰρ τῷ γεννηθῆναι αὐτὸν ἐν Βηθλεέμ, ὡς προέφην, παρὰ τῶν ἀπὸ Ἀρραβίας μάγων μαθὼν Ἡρώδης ὁ βασιλεὺς τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν ἐπεβούλευσεν ἀνελεῖν αὐτόν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ κέλευσιν Ἰωσὴφ λαβὼν αὐτὸν ἅμα τῇ Μαρίᾳ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον: μετὰ γὰρ τὸ κηρύξαι αὐτὸν τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγον ἀνδρωθέντα ὁ πατὴρ θανατωθήσεσθαι αὐτὸν ἐκεκρίκει ὃν ἐγεγεννήκει. ἐὰν δέ τις ἡμῖν λέγῃ: Μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ὁ θεὸς μᾶλλον τὸν Ἡρώδην ἀποκτεῖναι; προλαβὼν λέγω: Μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἠδύνατο ὁ θεὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὸν ὄφιν ἐξᾶραι τοῦ μὴ εἶναι, καὶ μὴ εἰπεῖν ὅτι Καὶ ἔχθραν θήσω ἀνὰ μέσον αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς γυναικός, καὶ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῆς; μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἠδύνατο εὐθὺς πλῆθος ἀνθρώπων ποιῆσαι; ἀλλ', ὡς ἐγίνωσκε καλὸν εἶναι γενέσθαι, ἐποίησεν αὐτεξουσίους πρὸς δικαιοπραξίαν καὶ ἀγγέλους καὶ ἀνθρώπους, καὶ χρόνους ὥρισε μέχρις οὗ ἐγίνωσκε καλὸν εἶναι τὸ αὐτεξούσιον ἔχειν αὐτούς: καὶ ὅτι καλὸν εἶναι ὁμοίως ἐγνώριζε, καὶ καθολικὰς καὶ μερικὰς κρίσεις ἐποίει, πεφυλαγμένου μέντοι τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου. ὅθεν φησὶν ὁ λόγος καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐπὶ τοῦ πύργου καταβολῇ καὶ τῇ τῶν γλωσσῶν πολυφθογγίᾳ καὶ ἐξαλλοιώσει ταῦτα: Καὶ εἶπε κύριος: Ἰδοὺ γένος ἓν καὶ χεῖλος ἓν πάντων, καὶ τοῦτο ἤρξαντο ποιῆσαι: καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἐξ αὐτῶν πάντα ὅσα ἂν ἐπιθῶνται ποιεῖν. καὶ τό τε Ἐξηράνθη ὡς ὄστρακον ἡ ἰσχύς μου, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου κεκόλληται τῷ λάρυγγί μου, ὁμοίως τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μελλόντων γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς θέλημα προαγγελία ἦν. ἡ γὰρ τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου δύναμις, δι' ἧς ἀεὶ ἤλεγχε τοὺς συζητοῦντας αὐτῷ Φαρισαίους καὶ γραμματεῖς καὶ ἁπλῶς τοὺς ἐν τῷ γένει ὑμῶν διδασκάλους, ἐποχὴν ἔσχε δίκην πολυΰδρου καὶ ἰσχυρᾶς πηγῆς, ἧς τὸ ὕδωρ ἀπεστράφη, σιγήσαντος αὐτοῦ καὶ μηκέτι ἐπὶ Πιλάτου ἀποκρίνασθαι μηδὲν μηδενὶ βουλομένου, ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἀπομνημονεύμασι τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτοῦ δεδήλωται, ὅπως καὶ τὸ διὰ Ἠσαίου εἰρημένον καρπὸν ἐνεργῆ ἔχῃ, ὅπου εἴρηται: Κύριος δίδωσί μοι γλῶσσαν τοῦ γνῶναι ἡνίκα με δεῖ εἰπεῖν λόγον. τὸ δὲ καὶ εἰπεῖν αὐτόν: Θεός μου εἶ σύ, μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, διδάσκοντος ἅμα ὅτι ἐπὶ θεὸν τὸν πάντα ποιήσαντα ἐλπίζειν δεῖ πάντας καὶ παρ' ἐκείνου μόνου σωτηρίαν καὶ βοήθειαν ζητεῖν, ἀλλὰ μή, ὡς τοὺς λοιποὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, διὰ γένος ἢ πλοῦτον ἢ ἰσχὺν ἢ σοφίαν νομίζειν δύνασθαι σώζεσθαι: ὁποῖον καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀεὶ ἐπράξατε, ποτὲ μὲν μοσχοποιήσαντες, ἀεὶ δὲ ἀχάριστοι καὶ φονεῖς τῶν δικαίων καὶ τετυφωμένοι διὰ τὸ γένος φαινόμενοι. εἰ γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ φαίνεται μήτε διὰ τὸ εἶναι υἱὸς μήτε κατὰ τὸ εἶναι ἰσχυρὸς μήτε διὰ τὸ σοφὸς λέγων δύνασθαι σώζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ ἀναμάρτητος εἶναι, ὡς Ἠσαίας φησίν, μηδὲ μέχρι φωνῆς ἡμαρτηκέναι αὐτόν, ἀνομίαν γὰρ οὐκ ἐποίησεν οὐδὲ δόλον τῷ στόματι, ἄνευ τοῦ θεοῦ σωθήσεσθαι μὴ δύνασθαι, πῶς ὑμεῖς ἢ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι οἱ ἄνευ τῆς ἐλπίδος ταύτης σωθήσεσθαι προσδοκῶντες οὐχ ἑαυτοὺς ἀπατᾶν λογίζεσθε;