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having received an oracle, Joseph arose, took Mary and the child, and came into Egypt, by an ineffable power and operation it is likely that the evil powers formerly dwelling there were not slightly disturbed, and especially when through his subsequent teaching, myriad multitudes of those inhabiting Egypt, having escaped the deception of the demons, even now confess to know only the God of all. But the things said in what follows, being enigmatic and requiring more extensive treatment, we will interpret at our own leisure. 9.3.1 From Numbers. “Balaam son of Beor says, the man who truly sees says, he who hears the oracles of the mighty one says, who saw a vision of God, in a dream, his eyes being uncovered: How beautiful are your houses, Jacob, your tents, Israel; like shady valleys, and as a paradise upon rivers; and as the tents which the Lord pitched, like cedars beside the waters. A man shall come forth from his seed, and he shall rule many nations, and the kingdom of Gog shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased. God led him out of Egypt, as the glory of a unicorn is his; he shall devour the nations of his enemies, and he shall drain out their marrow, and with his arrows he shall shoot down the enemy. having lain down, he rested as a lion and as a lion's cub; who will rouse him? those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed.” 9.3.2 Above, through the previously stated prophecy, the oracle, saying that the Lord would come into Egypt, signified the journey of our Savior Jesus Christ, which he would make with his parents into Egypt; but in these words it prophesies in order and consequently his return from Egypt, which he made together with his parents into the land of Israel, saying: “God led him out of Egypt.” 9.3.3 But our savior and lord Jesus, the Christ of God, was the only one and no other who came forth from the seed of Israel and from the nation of the Jews and ruled over many nations, so that it is indisputably confessed that the present prophecy also has its fulfillment in him, crying out explicitly that from the nation of the Jews “a certain man will come forth” “and will rule many nations.” 9.3.4 Or let anyone who wishes say if he can produce another, from among those ever glorious among the Hebrews, who ruled many nations; but no one could say so, since no such person has existed. But in the case of our savior, even if we do not speak, the truth itself will shout and cry out loudly, clearly demonstrating how his divine power, through the man according to the flesh assumed by him from the seed of Israel, ruled and even now rules “many nations.” 9.3.5 Therefore, he himself was that one and no other whom the prophecy foretold, in whose time also “the kingdom of Gog” was exalted, with the power of Christ increasing together with it. And here they say that it enigmatically indicates, according to the Hebrew manner, the kingdom of the Romans, with which the teaching of Christ also flourished. 9.3.6 And the prophet Ezekiel also mentions Gog, calling him “prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal;” by Rosh, as it seems, enigmatically indicating the city of the Romans, since both 'beginning' and 'head' are signified by 'Rosh' in the Hebrew language, and by Meshech, Mysia and the nations around it, as many as are now subject to the Romans, and by Tubal, Iberia, as Josephus shows, saying that the Iberians, the Thobelians, came from Tubal. Of all of whom he says that Gog, the prince, will be exalted at the advent of the prophesied Christ, whom “God led out of Egypt,” when according to Matthew, as Herod was plotting against him when he was a child, Joseph, “having been warned in a dream,” “took the child and his mother, and returned to the land of Israel.” And “the glory of a unicorn was his,” that is, Christ's, because “in him” “all the fullness of the Godhead” was pleased to dwell, according to the holy apostle. 9.3.7 For this reason, having the God of all and his Father inscribed as his horn, he was also named “unicorn” in other scriptures. And the same of God
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χρησμὸν ἀναστὰς ὁ Ἰωσὴφ παρέλαβεν τὴν Μαριὰμ καὶ τὸ παιδίον καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ἀπορρήτῳ δυνάμει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ τὰς αὐτόθι τὸ πρὶν οἰκούσας πονηρὰς δυνάμεις εἰκὸς οὐ μικρῶς κεκινῆσθαι, καὶ μάλιστα ὅτε διὰ τῆς μετέπειτα διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ μυρία πλήθη τῶν τὴν Αἴγυπτον οἰκούντων, τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων ἀποφυγόντα πλανήσεως, ἔτι καὶ νῦν τὸν τῶν ὅλων ὁμολογεῖ μόνον εἰδέναι θεόν. τὰ δ' ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς ἐπιλεγόμενα, αἰνιγματώδη ὄντα πλείονός τε δεόμενα πραγματείας, ἐπ' οἰκείας σχολῆς ἑρμηνεύσομεν. 9.3.1 Ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀριθμῶν. «Φησὶν Βαλαὰμ υἱὸς Βεώρ, φησὶν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἀληθινῶς ὁρῶν, φησὶν ἀκούων λόγια ἰσχυροῦ, ὅστις ὅρασιν θεοῦ εἶδεν, ἐν ὕπνῳ, ἀποκεκαλυμμένοι οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ· ὡς καλοὶ οἱ οἶκοί σου, Ἰακώβ, αἱ σκηναί σου, Ἰσραήλ· ὡσεὶ νάπαι σκιάζουσαι, καὶ ὡς παράδεισος ἐπὶ ποταμῶν· καὶ ὡς αἱ σκηναί, ἃς ἔπηξεν κύριος, ὡσεὶ κέδροι παρ' ὕδατα. ἐξελεύσεται ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ κυριεύσει ἐθνῶν πολλῶν, καὶ ὑψωθήσεται ἡ Γὼγ βασιλεία, καὶ αὐξηθήσεται ἡ βασιλεία αὐτοῦ. θεὸς ὡδήγησεν αὐτὸν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, ὡς δόξα μονοκέρωτος αὐτῷ· ἔδεται ἔθνη ἐχθρῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ πάχη αὐτῶν ἐκμυλιεῖ, καὶ ταῖς βολίσιν αὐτοῦ κατατοξεύσει ἐχθρόν. κατακλιθεὶς ἀνεπαύσατο ὡς λέων καὶ ὡς σκύμνος· τίς ἐγερεῖ αὐτόν; οἱ εὐλογοῦντές σε εὐλόγηνται καὶ οἱ καταρώμενοί σε κεκατήρανται.» 9.3.2 Ἀνωτέρω διὰ τῆς προτεταγμένης προφητείας φήσας ὁ χρησμὸς τὸν κύριον ἥξειν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ἐδήλου τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ διακομιδὴν τὴν ἅμα τοῖς γονεῦσιν εἰς Αἴγυπτον αὐτῷ γενησομένην· ἐν τούτοις δὲ τὴν ἐπάνοδον ἑξῆς καὶ ἀκολούθως τὴν ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου, ἣν ἅμα τοῖς γονεῦσιν εἰς τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐποιήσατο, θεσπίζει, λέγων· «θεὸς ὡδήγησεν αὐτὸν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου». 9.3.3 μόνος δὲ ἦν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ οὐδὲ ἄλλος ὁ ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους προελθὼν καὶ πολλῶν κατακυριεύσας ἐθνῶν, ὥστε ἀναμφιλόγως ὁμολογεῖσθαι πέρας ἔχειν ἐπ' αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν παροῦσαν πρόρρησιν διαρρήδην ἐκφωνοῦσαν, ὅτι δὴ ἐκ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους «ἐξελεύσεταί» τις «ἄνθρωπος» «καὶ κυριεύσει ἐθνῶν πολλῶν». 9.3.4 ἢ λεγέτω ὁ βουλόμενος εἰ ἔχοι ἄλλον συστῆσαι, τῶν πώποτε παρ' Ἑβραίοις ἐνδόξων, πολλῶν ἐθνῶν ἄρξαντα· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν εἴποι τις, ὅτι μηδὲ γέγονεν. ἐπὶ δέ γε τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, κἂν ἡμεῖς μὴ λέγωμεν, αὐτή γε ἡ ἀλήθεια βοήσει καὶ μέγα κεκράξεται, ἄντικρυς παριστῶσα ὅπως ἡ ἔνθεος αὐτοῦ δύναμις διὰ τοῦ ἀναληφθέντος αὐτῷ ἐκ σπέρματος Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ κατὰ σάρκα ἀνθρώπου ἐκυρίευσεν καὶ εἰσέτι νῦν κυριεύει «ἐθνῶν πολλῶν». 9.3.5 αὐτὸς ἄρα οὗτος ἐκεῖνος ἦν καὶ οὐδ' ἄλλος, ὃν ἡ προφητεία προηγόρευσεν, καθ' ὃν καὶ «ἡ Γὼγ» ὑψώθη «βασιλεία», τῆς Χριστοῦ δυνάμεως συναυξούσης. τοῦτον δ' ἐνταῦθά φασιν αἰνίττεσθαι καθ' Ἑβραίους τὸν τρόπον τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων βασιλείαν, ᾗ καὶ συνήκμασεν ἡ Χριστοῦ διδασκαλία. 9.3.6 μέμνηται δὲ τοῦ Γὼγ καὶ ὁ προφήτης Ἰεζεκιήλ, «ἄρχοντα Ῥὼς Μοσὸχ καὶ Θοβὲλ» ὀνομάζων· διὰ μὲν τοῦ Ῥὼς τὴν Ῥωμαίων, ὡς ἔοικεν, πόλιν αἰνιττόμενος, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ κεφαλὴ κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραίων φωνὴν διὰ τοῦ Ῥὼς δηλοῦται, διὰ δὲ τοῦ Μοσὸχ τὴν Μυσίαν καὶ τὰ πέριξ ταύτης ἔθνη, ὅσα νῦν οἰκεῖα Ῥωμαίων ἐστίν, διὰ δὲ τοῦ Θοβὲλ τὴν Ἰβηρίαν, ὡς ὁ Ἰώσηπος δηλοῖ, ἀπὸ τοῦ Θοβὲλ γεγονέναι φάσκων Θοβεήλους τοὺς Ἴβηρας. ὧν ἁπάντων ἄρχοντα τὸν Γὼγ ὑψωθήσεσθαί φησιν ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ προφητευομένου Χριστοῦ παρουσίας, ὃν ὁ «θεὸς ὡδήγησεν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου», ὅτε κατὰ τὸν Ματθαῖον, ἐπιβουλεύοντος τοῦ Ἡρώδου παιδὶ ὄντι αὐτῷ, «χρηματισθεὶς» ὁ Ἰωσὴφ «παρέλαβεν τὸ παιδίον καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς γῆν Ἰσραήλ». «∆όξα» δὲ «μονοκέρωτος αὐτῷ» τῷ Χριστῷ παρῆν, διὰ τὸ «ἐν αὐτῷ» εὐδοκηκέναι κατοικῆσαι «πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος», κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸν ἀπόστολον. 9.3.7 διόπερ ὡς κέρας ἐπιγραφόμενος τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν καὶ πατέρα αὐτοῦ, «μονόκερως» καὶ ἐν ἑτέραις γραφαῖς ὠνομάσθη. ὁ δ' αὐτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ