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Jacob from whence he also came forth, shone. 9.1.17 This it is also possible to understand from very many other prophecies, which say to Christ himself, "Behold, I have set you for a covenant of a people, for a light to the nations," but also from the words of Balaam, through which he says: "A man shall come forth from his seed, and shall rule over many nations." 9.1.18 From whose seed but Israel's, as the context has shown? And indeed, having ruled over the nations, the word of our Savior, in accordance with the prophecy, cast down the invisible and wicked powers that formerly ruled them, and "the spiritual forces of wickedness," and the demonic host, more figuratively named in the following passages "the rulers of Moab" and "Seth" and "Edom" and "Esau." 9.1.19 But the text in the Septuagint being unclear, "I will show it to him, but not now; I bless him, but he does not draw near," Aquila rendered it more clearly: "I shall see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near," and Symmachus more plainly, saying: "I see him, but not near." 9.1.20 These things would be said by Balaam as if the things signified were to be fulfilled long ages after him; at any rate, two thousand years after the prophecy, these things were fulfilled at the advent of our Savior among men. 9.2.1 From Isaiah. "Behold, the Lord sits upon a swift cloud and shall come to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be shaken before his face, and their heart shall be defeated within them." The reason for the Lord's coming to Egypt being prophesied seems to me to be this. The Egyptians are said to have been the very first of all to originate the polytheistic and demonic error, and to have become for all other men the cause of superstition, but also more than all others to have been occupied with demonic activities and curiosities. 9.2.2 These have also been witnessed by the inspired scripture to have been enemies of the people of God from of old and from the beginning, and their ancient king is recorded as confessing that he did not know the Lord, when indeed he said, "I do not know the Lord, and I will not send Israel away." Therefore, the word, wishing to present the great wonder of the divine power of Christ, proclaims the arrival of the Lord in Egypt, at which he prophesies that no ordinary change of the Egyptians will occur, saying next: "and the Egyptians shall know the Lord," they who before did not know him, "and they shall make vows to the Lord," and things similar to these. 9.2.3 Therefore, above in the chapter before this, the prophesied "Edom" and "Esau" were called an "inheritance," those estranged from Israel being thus signified; but here Egypt and the people of Egypt are prophesied as belonging no longer to idols but to the very Lord who is spoken of as God by the prophets of the Jews. 9.2.4 If these things are not seen to be fulfilled by sight, it is not possible to say that the prophesied arrival of the Lord in Egypt has occurred; but if the truth beyond all argument bears witness to the facts and clearly shows even to the most ungrateful that the Egyptians themselves have departed from the ancestral superstition from ages past, and have been made kin to the God of the prophets who foretold these things and worship this one alone and embrace every death for the sake of piety toward him, it is time to agree that these things have not happened otherwise than by the Lord's coming to Egypt in accordance with the aforementioned prophecy. 9.2.5 It is therefore also possible for the word to refer figuratively to the earthly world, into which the word prophesies the Lord will come "upon a swift cloud," thus alluding to the man assumed by him from the virgin and the Holy Spirit, and that the "idols" of "Egypt" will be shaken, meaning the wooden images of the nations and the demons in them, and again, that all the Egyptians will be defeated, those who were formerly distraught concerning idolatry. 9.2.6 But yet also when our Savior was brought physically to the land of the Egyptians, when according to the

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Ἰακὼβ ὅθεν καὶ προῆλθεν, ἐξέλαμψεν. 9.1.17 τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ πλείστων ἑτέρων πάρεστιν ἐκλαβεῖν προφητειῶν, ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸν φασκουσῶν τὸν Χριστὸν «ἰδοὺ τέθεικά σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν», οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Βαλαὰμ λόγων, δι' ὧν φησιν· «ἐξελεύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ κυριεύσει ἐθνῶν πολλῶν». 9.1.18 τίνος δὲ ἐκ σπέρματος ἢ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ὡς ἡ σύμφρασις παρέστησεν; καὶ δὴ κυριεύσας ἐθνῶν ὁ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν λόγος ἀκολούθως τῇ προφητείᾳ τὰς πάλαι πρότερον αὐτῶν ἀρχούσας ἀοράτους καὶ μοχθηρὰς δυνάμεις καθεῖλεν, καὶ «τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας», τό τε στῖφος τὸ δαιμονικόν, «ἀρχηγοὺς Μωὰβ» καὶ «Σὴθ» καὶ «Ἐδὼμ» καὶ «Ἠσαῦ» τροπικώτερον ἐν τοῖς μετὰ χεῖρας ὠνομασμένα. 9.1.19 ἀσαφῶς δὲ κείμενον παρὰ τοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα τὸ «δείξω αὐτῷ, καὶ οὐχὶ νῦν, μακαρίζω, καὶ οὐκ ἐγγίζει», σαφέστερον ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας ἐξέδωκεν· «ὄψομαι αὐτόν, καὶ οὐ νῦν, προσκοπῶ αὐτόν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐγγύς», ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος λευκότερον, φήσας· «ὁρῶ αὐτόν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐγγύς». 9.1.20 λέγοιτο δ' ἂν ταῦτα ὑπὸ τοῦ Βαλαὰμ ὡς μακροῖς ὕστερον μετ' αὐτὸν χρόνοις μελλόντων ἐπιτελεσθήσεσθαι τῶν δηλουμένων· μετὰ γοῦν δισχιλιοστὸν ἔτος τῆς προρρήσεως ἐπληροῦτο ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιδημίας. 9.2.1 Ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου. «Ἰδοὺ κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης καὶ ἥξει εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ σεισθήσεται τὰ χειροποίητα Αἰγύπτου ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν ἡττηθήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς.» Τὸ δ' αἴτιον τοῦ τὸν κύριον ἥξειν εἰς Αἴγυπτον θεσπίζεσθαι τόδε μοι εἶναι δοκεῖ. πρῶτοι μὲν πάντων Αἰγύπτιοι τῆς πολυθέου καὶ δαιμονικῆς πλάνης ἀπάρξασθαι λέγονται, καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις αἴτιοι καταστῆναι δεισιδαιμονίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων μᾶλλον περὶ τὰς δαιμονικὰς ἐνεργείας τε καὶ περιεργίας ἠσχολῆσθαι. 9.2.2 οὗτοι δὲ καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐνθέου γραφῆς ἐχθροὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς γεγονέναι μεμαρτύρηνται, καὶ ὅ γε παλαιὸς αὐτῶν βασιλεὺς ὁμολογῶν μὴ εἰδέναι τὸν κύριον ἀναγέγραπται, ὅτε δὴ ἔφασκεν «οὐκ οἶδα τὸν κύριον, καὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ οὐκ ἐξαποστέλλω». τὸ δὴ οὖν μέγα θαῦμα τῆς ἐνθέου τοῦ Χριστοῦ δυνάμεως παραστῆσαι βουλόμενος ὁ λόγος, θεσπίζει τοῦ κυρίου τὴν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἄφιξιν, ἐφ' ᾗ μεταβολὴν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἔσεσθαι προφητεύει, λέγων ἑξῆς· «καὶ γνώσονται οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι τὸν κύριον», οἱ πρὶν μὴ εἰδότες αὐτόν, «καὶ εὔξονται τῷ κυρίῳ εὐχάς», καὶ τὰ τούτοις παραπλήσια. 9.2.3 ἀνωτέρω μὲν οὖν ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου κεφαλαίῳ «κληρονο μία» τοῦ θεσπιζομένου «Ἐδὼμ» καὶ «Ἠσαῦ» ἐλέγετο, τῶν ἀλλοτρίων τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ οὕτω σημαινομένων· ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἡ Αἴγυπτος καὶ ὁ τῆς Αἰγύπτου λαὸς οὐκέτι τῶν εἰδώλων ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ παρὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίων προφήταις θεολογουμένου κυρίου θεσπίζεται. 9.2.4 ἅπερ εἰ μὲν μὴ ὄψει συντελούμενα θεωρεῖται, οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν τὴν θεσπιζομένην ἄφιξιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον γεγονέναι· εἰ δὲ ὑπὲρ πάντα λόγον ἡ ἀλήθεια μαρτυρεῖ τοῖς πράγμασιν καὶ τοῖς ἀγνωμονεστάτοις ἐναργῶς δείκνυσιν αὐτοὺς Αἰγυπτίους τῆς μὲν ἐξ αἰῶνος πατροπαραδότου δεισιδαιμονίας ἀνακεχωρηκότας, οἰκειωθέντας δὲ τῷ θεῷ τῶν ταῦτα προαναφωνησάντων προφητῶν καὶ τοῦτον μόνον σέβοντας καὶ πάντα θάνατον ἀσπαζομένους ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐσεβείας, ὥρα μὴ ἄλλως ταῦτα γεγονέναι συνομολογεῖν ἢ τοῦ κυρίου ἐληλυθότος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀκολούθως τῇ προκειμένῃ προρρήσει. 9.2.5 Ἔστι μὲν οὖν καὶ ἄλλως τὸν λόγον αἰνίττεσθαι τροπικῶς τὸν περίγειον κόσμον, εἰς ὃν ὁ λόγος προφητεύει τὸν κύριον «ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης» ἥξειν, οὕτω τὸν ἐκ παρθένου καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου ληφθέντα αὐτῷ ἄνθρωπον αἰνιττόμενος, «χειροποίητα» δὲ «Αἰγύπτου» σεισθήσεσθαι, τὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν ξόανα καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς δαίμονας, ὡς αὖ πάλιν Αἰγυπτίους ἡττωμένους πάντας, τοὺς πάλαι πρότερον περὶ τὴν εἰδωλολατρίαν ἐπτοημένους. 9.2.6 πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ σωματικῶς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπικομισθέντος τῇ Αἰγυπτίων χώρᾳ, ὅτε κατὰ τὸν