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This very thing, then, the present prophecy also reveals, saying now: Behold, my child shall understand, and shall be exalted and glorified and lifted up, through which it signifies his resurrection after death and his ascension and exaltation into the heavens. But in what follows, it presents his humiliation "unto death," in which it is said: "we saw him, and he had no form nor beauty; but his form was without honor and lacking beyond the sons of men," and again: "he was dishonored and not esteemed. He bears our sins and suffers for us," and again: "as a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away; who will declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth, from the iniquities of my people he was led to death." When, therefore, through these things "his humiliation" and "his death" were presented, the matters of his exaltation after death were consequently prophesied, the prophetic spirit anticipating the better things before the sorrowful ones, which indeed it presents, saying: Behold, my child shall understand, or according to Aquila: behold, my servant shall be made wise. And it fittingly calls him servant "because of the form of a servant which he took up"; for God the Word, "being in the form of God, emptied himself," who according to the sacred Apostle "took the form of a servant and was found in fashion as a man." But this child of God and servant "was filled with all wisdom" and knowledge, having received God the Word into himself. Therefore it is said: behold, he shall be made wise, but also he shall be exalted and glorified and lifted up. And all these things were fulfilled in the man of our savior through the union with God the Word. Then it adds: In the manner that many will be astonished at you, but according to Theodotion: in the manner that many, he says, marveled at him, so your appearance shall be without glory from men, and your glory from the sons of men. For this is what especially caused many to be astonished and to be at a loss, I mean the humble and inglorious nature of his coming among men; indeed, the account of him still to this day produces astonishment and perplexity and helplessness in the many, but also many nations marveled at him, some who believed in him worshiping his divinity, and others who "remained in unbelief" marveling at his power, how it became superior and stronger than those who attempted to war against it. And kings, too, having uttered many blasphemous and godless and impious words against him and having persecuted his church, and then being able to do nothing, finally, after their useless toils, held their own mouths shut and gave way to his teaching, being defeated at different times and in different ways because they were driven about by divinely sent scourges. which indeed we who are compiling these things have received from direct experience, but some of them held their own mouths shut, while others even sang a recantation, commanding by laws and decrees that his church raise its houses of prayer and practice its usual customs. And why kings were moved against him, it adds next: for those to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see, and those who have not heard shall understand; for this was what moved the kings, I mean that his evangelical word ran through even to the most distant nations. But the word quietly and indirectly also rebukes the ignorance of the Jewish nation concerning him; for since the things concerning the one prophesied were announced to them first, and from childhood they learned the prophecies about him, yet they did not understand him when he came. For this reason, he says, it is not these who will see, nor they who will understand, but on the contrary those to whom it was not announced concerning him and those who had not yet learned anything of the things about him. For these, he says, will see him with the eyes of the soul and these will understand his teaching. and these things
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τοῦτο δὴ οὖν αὐτὸ καὶ ἡ παροῦσα προφητεία δηλοῖ νῦν μὲν φάσκοντα· Ἰδοὺ συνήσει ὁ παῖς μου καὶ ὑψωθήσεται καὶ δοξασθήσεται καὶ μετεωρισθήσεται, δι' ὧν τὴν μετὰ τὸν θάνατον ἀνάστασιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνάληψίν τε καὶ ὕψωσιν σημαίνει. ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἑξῆς τὴν ταπείνωσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν «μέχρι θανάτου» παρίστα, ἐν οἷς εἴρηται· «εἴδομεν αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος οὐδὲ κάλλος· ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον καὶ ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων», καὶ πάλιν· «ἠτιμάσθη καὶ οὐκ ἐλογίσθη. οὗτος τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν φέρει καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνᾶται», καὶ αὖθις· «ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείροντος αὐτὸν ἄφωνος οὕτως οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ. ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει ἡ κρίσις αὐτοῦ ἤρθη· τὴν γενεὰν αὐτοῦ τίς διηγήσεται; ὅτι αἴρεται ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνομιῶν τοῦ λαοῦ μου ἤχθη εἰς θάνατον». ὅτε τοίνυν διὰ τούτων «ἡ ταπείνωσις αὐτοῦ» καὶ «ὁ θάνατος αὐτοῦ» παρέστη, ἀκολούθως καὶ τὰ τῆς μετὰ τὸν θάνατον ὑψώσεως προεθεσπίζετο προλαμβάνοντος τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος τὰ χρηστότερα πρὸ τῶν σκυθρωπῶν, ἃ δὴ παρίστησι λέγων· Ἰδοὺ συνήσει ὁ παῖς μου, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· ἰδοὺ ἐπιστημονισθήσεται ὁ δοῦλός μου. δοῦλον δὲ αὐτὸν εἰκότως ἀποκαλεῖ «διὰ τὴν μορφὴν τοῦ δούλου, ἣν ἀνείληφεν»· «ἑαυτὸν» γὰρ «ἐκένωσεν ὁ ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων» θεὸς λόγος, ὁ κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸν Ἀπόστολον «μορφὴν δούλου λαβὼν καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος». ἀλλ' οὗτος ὁ παῖς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ὁ δοῦλος πάσης «ἐπληροῦτο σοφίας» καὶ ἐπιστήμης τὸν θεὸν λόγον εἰς ἑαυτὸν χωρήσας. διὸ λέλεκται· ἰδοὺ ἐπιστημονισθήσεται ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑψωθήσεται καὶ δοξασθήσεται καὶ μετεωρισθήσεται. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἐπληροῦτο περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν λόγον ἕνωσιν. Εἶτ' ἐπιλέγει· ὃν τρόπον ἐκστήσονται ἐπὶ σὲ πολλοί, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Θεοδοτίωνα· ὃν τρόπον ἐθαύμασάν φησιν πολλοὶ ἐπ' αὐτόν, οὕτως ἀδοξήσει ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων τὸ εἶδός σου καὶ ἡ δόξα σου ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων. τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα τὸ πολλοὺς ἐκστῆσαν καὶ ἐν ἀπορίᾳ γενέσθαι ποιῆσαν, λέγω δὲ τὸ ταπεινὸν καὶ ἄδοξον τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους αὐτοῦ παρόδου· ἔκστασιν γοῦν καὶ ἀπορίαν καὶ ἀμηχανίαν ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐμποιεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔθνη πολλὰ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐθαύμασαν, τῶν μὲν εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότων προσκυνούντων αὐτοῦ τὴν θεότητα, τῶν δὲ «ἐναπομεινάντων τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ» θαυμαζόντων αὐτοῦ τὴν δύναμιν, ὡς ἀνωτέρα καὶ κρείττων γεγένηται τῶν πολεμεῖν αὐτὴν πεπειραμένων. καὶ βασιλεῖς δὲ πολλὰ κατ' αὐτοῦ βλάσφημα καὶ ἄθεα καὶ ἀσεβῆ ῥήματα φθεγξάμενοι καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ διώξαντες, κἄπειτα μηδὲν δυνηθέντες τέλος μετὰ τοὺς ματαίους πόνους συνέσχον τὸ ἑαυτῶν στόμα καὶ παρεχώρουν αὐτοῦ τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ ἡττώμενοι ἄλλοτε ἄλλως κατὰ καιροὺς καὶ χρόνους διὰ τὸ θεηλάτοις μάστιξι περιελαύνεσθαι. ὃ δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ ταῦτα συντάττοντες αὐτῇ πείρᾳ παρειλήφαμεν, ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν συνέσχον τὸ ἑαυτῶν στόμα, οἱ δὲ καὶ παλινῳδίαν ᾖδον νόμοις καὶ διατάγμασι τοὺς εὐκτηρίους οἴκους ἐγείρειν καὶ τὰ συνήθη πράττειν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ ἐγκελευόμενοι. διὰ τί δὲ ἐπ' αὐτῷ βασιλεῖς ἐκινήθησαν, ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς· ὅτι οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περὶ αὐτοῦ ὄψονται, καὶ οἳ οὐκ ἀκηκόασι συνήσουσι· τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τὸ κινῆσαν τοὺς βασιλεῖς, λέγω δὲ τὸ διαδραμεῖν αὐτοῦ τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν λόγον καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ πορρωτάτω ἔθνη. ἠρέμα δὲ καὶ πλαγίως ὁ λόγος καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους περὶ αὐτοῦ ἄγνοιαν ἐξελέγχει· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ αὐτοῖς πρώτοις ἀνηγγέλη τὰ περὶ τοῦ προφητευομένου, ἐκ παιδός τε τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητείας ἐξεμάνθανον, οὐ μὴν καὶ ἐλθόντα αὐτὸν συνῆκαν. τούτου χάριν οὐχ οὗτοί φησιν ὄψονται οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ συνήσουσιν, ἐμπάλιν δὲ οἷς οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῖς μηδέπω μεμαθηκόσι τι τῶν κατ' αὐτόν. οὗτοι γάρ φησι τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὄψονται αὐτὸν καὶ οὗτοι τὴν αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίαν συνήσουσι. καὶ ταῦτα