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the tribe by the prophet, "Judah, let your brothers praise you." 8.1.39 For he knows that it, as one deemed worthy of privilege, was honored before the other tribes, and since it went forth first in wars and alone led the whole nation in the battle lines against enemies, it is fittingly said to it, "your hands are on the back of your enemies." Then, because of its ruling and royal dignity, it is said to be "a lion's whelp." 8.1.40 And the forefather and prophet, glorying in the dignity of the tribe, adds, saying: "from a shoot, my son, you have gone up." 8.1.41 And "lying down you have slept as a lion and as a lion's whelp" represents at once its pride and boldness and its dauntlessness against those attacking from without, its fearlessness and contempt for enemies. And being such a one, or rather the tribe being of such a kind, "who," he says, "will rouse him up?" hinting that the one who is to rouse it from its throne and remove the designated tribe from its ruling dignity will be someone great and wonderful, rare and hard to behold. 8.1.42 But who this was, he next draws our attention to, teaching that this is the one who is to be the "expectation of the nations," who is prophesied not to appear among men before a ruler and a leader will have failed and the tribe of Judah will have been removed and made to rise from its rule. 8.1.43 And who was this but our savior and lord Jesus the Christ? At the time of his birth, in accordance with the aforementioned prophecy, rulers and leaders from among the Jews themselves appointed over their nation ceased; and the tribe of Judah, with its whole nation, having been deprived of its age-old ruling and royal dignity, has served from that time until now the Romans who still hold power, who subjugated, along with the rest, the nation of the Jews as well, from whom Herod, being the first from a foreign race, was appointed king specifically of their nation by both Augustus and the decree of the Roman senate. 8.1.44 For Herod was the son of Antipater, and Antipater was an Ascalonite, from one of those called temple servants of the temple of Apollo, who, taking to wife a woman named Cyprine, of Arabian race, begot Herod. 8.1.45 This man, therefore, being the first to spring from such a race, removed by slaying Hyrcanus, the last of the succession of high priests to rule, in whom the proper rule of the Jewish nation ended, and he himself, as I said, was proclaimed king of the Jews, the first from a foreign race. And at the time when Jesus Christ was born, the dignity of the tribe of Judah was taken away, and the rule and kingdom of the Jews were also taken away, and the prophecy set forth was fulfilled, which says, "a ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until the things stored up for him come," who it also says will be the expectation not of the Jewish nation but of the nations. 8.1.46 Since, therefore, the expectation of the calling of the nations, which had been revealed to Abraham long ago, was stored up, as rulers and leaders had failed from the Jewish nation, and their rule had been transferred to the Romans and to the aforementioned Herod from the nations, it is fitting that the evangelist Luke, marking the times of the failure of the Jewish rulers, records that the beginning of Christ's teaching took place "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea." And Matthew, hinting at this very thing, indicates it; 8.1.47 for after describing the birth of our lord and savior, he adds: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?'" by which he clearly represents both the rule of the foreigner over them and the calling by God of the foreign nations from the east. 8.1.48 For at the same time

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φυλὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου τὸ «Ἰούδα, σὲ αἰνέσαισαν οἱ ἀδελφοί σου». 8.1.39 οἶδεν γὰρ αὐτήν, ἅτε προνομίας ἠξιωμένην, πρὸ τῶν λοιπῶν φυλῶν τετιμῆσθαι, καὶ ἐπεὶ ἐξῆρχεν ἐν πολέμοις καὶ μόνη τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους ἡγεῖτο ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθροὺς παρατάξεσιν, εἰκότως ἐπιλέγεται πρὸς αὐτὴν «αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐπὶ νώτου τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου». εἶτα διὰ τὸ ἀρχικὸν καὶ βασιλικὸν ἀξίωμα «σκύμνος λέοντος» εἶναι λέγεται. 8.1.40 σεμνυνόμενος δὲ ὁ προπάτωρ ὁμοῦ καὶ προφήτης ἐπὶ τῷ τῆς φυλῆς ἀξιώματι προστίθησιν λέγων· «ἐκ βλαστοῦ, υἱέ μου, ἀνέβης». 8.1.41 τὸ δὲ «ἀναπεσὼν ἐκοιμήθης ὡς λέων καὶ ὡς σκύμνος λέοντος» τὸ γαῦρον ὁμοῦ καὶ θαρσαλέον καὶ τὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπιόντων ἀκατάπληκτον τό τε ἄφοβον καὶ τῶν ἐχθρῶν καταφρονητικὸν παρίστησιν. τοιοῦτον δὲ αὐτὸν ὄντα, μᾶλλον δὲ τοιαύτην οὖσαν τὴν φυλήν, τίς, φησίν, ἀναστήσει; μέγαν τινὰ καὶ θαυμαστὸν σπάνιόν τε καὶ δυσθεώρητον ἔσεσθαι τὸν μέλλοντα ἀναστήσειν τοῦ θρόνου καὶ μεταστήσειν τοῦ ἀρχικοῦ ἀξιώματος τὴν δηλωθεῖσαν φυλὴν αἰνιξάμενος. 8.1.42 Τίς δὲ ἄρα οὗτος ἦν, ἑξῆς ἡμᾶς ἐφίστησιν, τοῦτον εἶναι διδάσκων τὸν μέλλοντα «προσδοκίαν» ἔσεσθαι «τῶν ἐθνῶν», ὃς οὐ πρότερον φανήσεσθαι ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἢ ἐκλείψειν καὶ ἄρχοντα καὶ ἡγούμενον καὶ μετασταθήσεσθαι καὶ ἀπαναστήσεσθαι τῆς ἀρχῆς τὴν τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλὴν προφητεύεται. 8.1.43 τίς δ' οὗτος ἦν ἢ ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός; οὗ ἐπὶ τῆς γενέσεως, ἀκολούθως τῇ προκειμένῃ προρρήσει, ἐξέλιπον μὲν ἄρχοντες καὶ ἡγούμενοι ἐξ αὐτῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐπὶ τὸ ἔθνος αὐτῶν καθιστάμενοι, ἡ δὲ τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλὴ αὐτῷ ἔθνει παντὶ τοῦ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀρχικοῦ καὶ βασιλικοῦ ἀξιώματος καθαιρεθεῖσα τοῖς εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν κρατοῦσιν ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ εἰς δεῦρο δουλεύει Ῥωμαίοις, μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν καὶ τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος χειρωσαμένοις, παρ' ὧν Ἡρώδης, πρῶτος ἐξ ἀλλοφύλου γένους ὑπάρχων, ἰδίως τοῦ ἔθνους αὐτῶν ὑπό τε Αὐγούστου καὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων συγκλήτου βουλῆς βασιλεὺς ἀναδέδεικται. 8.1.44 ἦν γοῦν ὁ Ἡρώδης Ἀντιπάτρου παῖς, ὁ δ' Ἀντίπατρος Ἀσκαλωνίτης, ἔκ τινος τῶν περὶ τὸν νεὼν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἱεροδούλων καλουμένων, ὃς δὴ Κυπρίνην ὀνόματι, τὸ γένος τῶν ἐξ Ἀραβίας, γυναῖκα πρὸς γάμον ἀγαγόμενος τὸν Ἡρώδην ποιεῖται. 8.1.45 οὗτος δὴ οὖν πρῶτος ἐκ τοιούτου γένους ὁρμώμενος τὸν ἐκ διαδοχῆς τῶν ἀρχιερέων ὕστατον ἡγησάμενον Ὑρκανόν, ἐφ' ὃν τὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἀρχῆς τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους κατέληξεν, ἐκποδὼν μεθίστησιν ἀνελών, πρῶτός τε αὐτός, ὡς ἔφην, ἐξ ἀλλοφύλου γένους Ἰουδαίων ἀναγορεύεται βασιλεύς. καθ' ὃν γεννηθέντος Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καθῄρητο μὲν ὁμοῦ καὶ τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς τὸ ἀξίωμα, καθῄρητο δὲ καὶ ἡ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀρχή τε καὶ βασιλεία, πεπλήρωτο δὲ καὶ ἡ προτεταγμένη προφητεία, «οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα, οὐδὲ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ», φήσασα, «ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ», ὃν καί φησιν γενήσεσθαι οὐ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν προσδοκίαν. 8.1.46 Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἀπέκειτο ἡ πρόπαλαι τῷ Ἀβραὰμ χρηματισθεῖσα τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν κλήσεως προσδοκία, ὡς ἂν ἐκλελοιπότων ἐκ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἀρχόντων τε καὶ ἡγουμένων, μεταστάσης τε τῆς κατ' αὐτῶν ἀρχῆς ἐπὶ Ῥωμαίους καὶ τὸν ἐξ ἐθνῶν δεδηλωμένον Ἡρώδην, εἰκότως ὁ μὲν εὐαγγελιστὴς Λουκᾶς, ἐπισημαινόμενος τοὺς χρόνους τῆς ἐκλείψεως τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀρχόντων, τὴν καταρχὴν τῆς Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίας ἱστορεῖ γεγονέναι «ἐν ἔτει πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Τιβερίου Καίσαρος, ἡγεμονεύοντος Ποντίου Πιλάτου τῆς Ἰουδαίας». καὶ Ματθαῖος δὲ τοῦτο αὐτὸ αἰνιττόμενος σημαίνει· 8.1.47 ὑπογράψας δ' οὖν τὴν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν γένεσιν, ἐπιλέγει· «τοῦ δὲ Ἰησοῦ γεννηθέντος ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἐν ἡμέραις Ἡρώδου τοῦ βασιλέως, ἰδοὺ μάγοι ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν παρεγένοντο εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα λέγοντες, ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ τεχθεὶς βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων;» δι' ὧν σαφῶς παρίστησιν καὶ τοῦ ἀλλοφύλου τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν ἀρχὴν καὶ τῶν ἐξ ἀνατολῆς ἀλλοφύλων ἐθνῶν τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ κλῆσιν. 8.1.48 ὁμοῦ τε γὰρ