Chapter CXXXII.—How great the power was of the name of Jesus in the Old Testament.

“Yet after this you made a calf, and were very zealous in committing fornication with the daughters of strangers, and in serving idols. And again, when the land was given up to you with so great a display of power, that you witnessed515    [Another Americanism. Greek, θεάσασθαι.] the sun stand still in the heavens by the order of that man whose name was Jesus (Joshua), and not go down for thirty-six hours, as well as all the other miracles which were wrought for you as time served;516    The anacoluthon is in the original. and of these it seems good to me now to speak of another, for it conduces to your hereby knowing Jesus, whom we also know to have been Christ the Son of God, who was crucified, and rose again, and ascended to heaven, and will come again to judge all men, even up to Adam himself. You are aware, then,” I continued, “that when the ark of the testimony was seized by the enemies of Ashdod,517    See 1 Sam. v. and a terrible and incurable malady had broken out among them, they resolved to place it on a cart to which they yoked cows that had recently calved, for the purpose of ascertaining by trial whether or not they had been plagued by God’s power on account of the ark, and if God wished it to be taken back to the place from which it had been carried away. And when they had done this, the cows, led by no man, went not to the place whence the ark had been taken, but to the fields of a certain man whose name was Oshea, the same as his whose name was altered to Jesus (Joshua), as has been previously mentioned, who also led the people into the land and meted it out to them: and when the cows had come into these fields they remained there, showing to you thereby that they were guided by the name of power;518    Or, “by the power of the name.” [1 Sam. vi. 14. Joshua in English version.] just as formerly the people who survived of those that came out of Egypt, were guided into the land by him who had received the name Jesus (Joshua), who before was called Oshea.

[132] Καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἐμοσχοποιήσατε καὶ πρὸς τὰς θυγατέρας τῶν ἀλλογενῶν πορνεῦσαι καὶ εἰδωλολατρῆσαι ἐσπουδάσατε, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν, τῆς γῆς ὑμῖν παραδοθείσης μετὰ δυνάμεως τοσαύτης, ὡς καὶ τὸν ἥλιον θεάσασθαι ὑμᾶς προστάξει τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἐκείνου τοῦ ἐπονομασθέντος τῷ Ἰησοῦ ὀνόματι σταθέντα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ μὴ δύναντα μέχρις ὡρῶν τριάκοντα ἕξ, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας πάσας δυνάμεις τὰς κατὰ καιρὸν γεγενημένας ὑμῖν: ὧν καὶ ἄλλην μίαν καταριθμῆσαι τὰ νῦν εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ: συναίρεται γὰρ πρὸς τὸ καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς συνιέναι ὑμᾶς τὸν Ἰησοῦν, ὃν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐπέγνωμεν Χριστὸν υἱὸν θεοῦ, σταυρωθέντα καὶ ἀναστάντα καὶ ἀνεληλυθότα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ πάλιν παραγενησόμενον κριτὴν πάντων ἁπλῶς ἀνθρώπων μέχρις αὐτοῦ Ἀδάμ. ἐπίστασθε οὖν, ἔλεγον, ὅτι, τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Ἀζωτίους πολεμίων ἁρπαγείσης καὶ πληγῆς αὐτοῖς γεγενημένης φοβερᾶς καὶ ἀνιάτου, ἐβουλεύσαντο ἐφ' ἁμάξης, ὑφ' ᾗ δαμάλεις νεοτόκους ἔζευξαν, ἐπιθεῖναι, εἰς πεῖραν τοῦ γνῶναι εἰ δυνάμει θεοῦ διὰ τὴν σκηνὴν πεπληγμένοι εἰσὶ καὶ βούλεται ὁ θεὸς ἀπενεχθῆναι αὐτὴν ὅθεν ἐλήφθη. καὶ πραξάντων τοῦτο αἱ δαμάλεις, ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ὁδηγούμεναι ἀνθρώπων, οὐκ ἦλθον μὲν εἰς τὸν τόπον ὁπόθεν εἴληπτο ἡ σκηνή, ἀλλ' εἰς χωρίον τινὸς ἀνδρὸς καλουμένον Αὐσῆ, ὁμωνύμου ἐκείνου τοῦ μετονομασθέντος τῷ Ἰησοῦ ὀνόματι, ὡς προελέλεκτο, ὃς καὶ εἰσήγαγε τὸν λαὸν εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ κατεκληροδότησεν αὐτοῖς αὐτήν: εἰς ὃ χωρίον ἐλθοῦσαι μεμενήκασι, δεικνυμένου ὑμῖν καὶ διὰ τούτων, ὅτι τῷ τῆς δυνάμεως ὀνόματι ὡδηγήθησαν, ὡς πρότερον ὁ περιλειφθεὶς λαὸς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου ἐξελθόντων διὰ τοῦ λαβόντος τὸ Ἰησοῦ ὄνομα, Αὐσῆ πρότερον καλουμένου, εἰς τὴν γῆν ὡδηγήθη.