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having endured the withdrawal into Egypt with his parents. 9.4.4 But it was part of a greater economy to begin the wonders of his divinity at the fitting time. To him, indeed, gentleness and forbearance are testified throughout his whole life, being ready for good deeds and common benefactions, defending himself against none who would not hear, not even when “he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,” 9.4.5 how was it likely that such a one as a child would not yield to the malice of Herod? To whom even as a man it is testified that he would withdraw and avoid the wicked, and would hide himself and flee the praise for his miracles; for he advised those healed by him to tell no one. 9.4.6 But if someone were to refer the prophecy to the people, saying that it was spoken concerning the people of the seed of Israel, let him attend to the sequence of the passage, which says that these things will be after it said, as if to Jerusalem itself: “and destruction will arise among your people, and all your walled places will be gone,” 9.4.7 and what, it says, such a “ruler” suffered during the war that came upon him, in which “they dashed the mother upon the children,” similar things “I will also do to you” yourselves because of your wickedness—to “you,” to whom but those called Israelites? who have also been cast off with your king, alluding to Herod. 9.4.8 And you have suffered all these things, “because,” it says, “Israel was a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” For how is it possible at the same time to blame the same people and then to praise them again? But the true sense had this interpretation: for Christ is proclaimed Israel in other prophecies as well, as indeed also in the present one. 9.4.9 Since, therefore, this one, it says, having become obedient to me, took “the form of a slave” and became a child beloved by me, having fulfilled all my counsel, for this reason I called him back from the spiritual Egypt, into which he descended when he became man—the earthly place being thus signified—or even from the literal one, as a legitimate and beloved son; but as for you, to whom the word is addressed, destruction and ruin will overtake you, along with your kingdom. 9.4.10 So much for the prophecy; and it is very clear how from the time of our Savior, Jerusalem having been besieged was destroyed, and the autonomy and rule of the Jewish nation, which had existed until then, was utterly cast off. 9.4.11 Nevertheless, the things concerning Egypt and his arrival there have already been prophesied for a third time. But if anyone should say that these things do not at all apply to our Savior, but that the citation of Matthew was taken by him from the testimony in Moses, which we have just gone through, explaining the phrase “God led him out of Egypt,” since not even the evangelist himself said that the saying was taken by him from the prophecy of Hosea, ... so that it is possible, by searching somewhere, to find it written, from where it is likely that the evangelist made his exposition. 9.5.1 From Isaiah. “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, for the Lord has spoken.” 9.5.2 It was necessary for this prophecy also to be fulfilled in the times of our Savior. Therefore, according to the evangelist Luke, “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea,” and of those counted with him. “The word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness”; who came “into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” To these things, then, the evangelist bears witness, saying: “as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

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ὑπομείνας τὴν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἅμα τοῖς γονεῦσιν ἀναχώρησιν. 9.4.4 ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἦν τῆς κρείττονος οἰκονομίας ἐπὶ καιροῦ τοῦ προσήκοντος τῶν τῆς θεότητος ἀπάρξασθαι θαυμάτων. ᾧ γε διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου τὸ πρᾶον καὶ ἀνεξίκακον μεμαρτύρηται, προχείρῳ μὲν εἰς τὰς εὐποιίας καὶ τὰς κοινὰς εὐεργεσίας γενομένῳ, μηδένα δὲ τῶν μὴ ἀκουόντων ἀμυνομένῳ, μηδ' ὅτε «ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤγετο, καὶ ὡς ἀμνὸς ἐναντίον τοῦ κείροντος ἄφωνος», 9.4.5 πῶς εἰκὸς ἦν τὸν τοιοῦτον δεῖν ἐν παιδίῳ μὴ οὐχὶ ὑποχωρῆσαι τῇ τοῦ Ἡρώδου κακίᾳ; ᾧ καὶ ἐν ἀνδρὶ τὸ ἀναχωρεῖν καὶ τοὺς πονηροὺς ἐκκλίνειν μεμαρτύρηται ἐπικρύπτεσθαί τε καὶ ὑποφεύγειν τὸν ἐπὶ ταῖς παραδοξοποιίαις ἔπαινον· παρῄνει γοῦν τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ θεραπευομένοις μηδενὶ λέγειν. 9.4.6 Εἰ δ' ἐπὶ τὸν λαὸν τὴν προφητείαν ἀναφέροι τις, φάσκων περὶ τοῦ ἐκ σπέρματος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ λαοῦ εἰρῆσθαι, ἐπιστησάτω τῇ τοῦ λόγου ἀκολουθίᾳ, ταῦτα ἔσεσθαι φησάσῃ μετὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν ὡς πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· «καὶ ἐξαναστήσεται ἀπώλεια ἐν τῷ λαῷ σου, καὶ πάντα τὰ περιτετειχισμένα σου οἰχήσεται», 9.4.7 καὶ ἅπερ, φησίν, ὁ τοιόσδε «ἄρχων» πέπονθεν κατὰ τὸν ἐπελθόντα αὐτῷ πόλεμον, ἐν ᾧ «μητέρα ἐπὶ τέκνοις ἠδάφισαν», τὰ παραπλήσια καὶ «ὑμῖν» αὐτοῖς «ποιήσω» διὰ τὰς κακίας ὑμῶν «ὑμῖν» δὲ τίσιν ἢ τοῖς καλουμένοις Ἰσραηλίταις;, οἳ καὶ ἀπερρίφητε σὺν τῷ βασιλεῖ ὑμῶν τὸν Ἡρώδην αἰνιττόμενος. 9.4.8 καὶ ταῦτά γε πάντα πεπόνθατε, «διότι παῖς», φησίν, «Ἰσραήλ, καὶ ἐγὼ ἠγάπησα αὐτόν, καὶ ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου ἐκάλεσα τὸν υἱόν μου». πῶς γὰρ οἷόν τε κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιμέμφεσθαι καὶ πάλιν τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἐπαινεῖν; ἀλλ' ἦν ὁ ἀληθὴς νοῦς ταύτην ἔχων τὴν θεωρίαν· Ἰσραὴλ γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ καθ' ἑτέρας ἀνηγόρευται προφητείας, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς παρούσης. 9.4.9 ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν οὗτος, φησίν, ὑπήκοός μοι γενόμενος «μορφὴν δούλου» εἴληφεν καὶ γέγονεν παιδίον ἀγαπητὸν ἐμοί, πᾶσαν τὴν ἐμὴν ἐκτελέσας βουλήν, διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς νοητῆς Αἰγύπτου, εἰς ἣν ἐνανθρωπήσας κατελήλυθεν οὕτω δηλουμένου τοῦ περιγείου τόπου, ἢ καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς προχείρου, οἷα γνήσιον καὶ ἀγαπητὸν υἱὸν ἀνεκαλεσάμην· ὑμᾶς δέ, τοὺς πρὸς οὓς ὁ λόγος, σὺν καὶ τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ βασιλείᾳ ὄλεθρος καὶ ἀπώλεια παραλήψεται. 9.4.10 ταῦτα μὲν ἡ προφητεία· πρόδηλον δὲ ὅπως ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν χρόνων πολιορκηθείσης τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καθῃρέθη καὶ εἰς τὸ παντελὲς ἀπερρίφη ἡ μέχρι τότε συστᾶσα τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους αὐτονομία τε καὶ ἀρχή. 9.4.11 Πλὴν ἀλλὰ τρίτον ἤδη τὰ περὶ τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ τῆς αὐτόθι ἀφίξεως αὐτοῦ πεπροφήτευται. εἰ δέ τις αὐτὰ μηδαμῶς ἐφαρμόζειν ἐπὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον λέγοι σωτῆρα, ἀλλὰ τά γε τῆς τοῦ Ματθαίου παραθέσεως ἀπὸ τῆς παρὰ Μωσεῖ μαρτυρίας αὐτῷ παρειλημμένα ἣν καὶ ἀρτίως διεληλύθαμεν, τὸ «ὁ θεὸς ὡδήγησεν αὐτὸν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου» διηγούμενοι, ἐπεὶ μηδ' αὐτὸς ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Ὠσηὲ προφητείας εἰλῆφθαι αὐτῷ τὸ λόγιον ἔφησεν, ... ὡς δύνασθαι καί ποθεν ἐπιζητήσαντας εὑρεῖν αὐτὸ κείμενον, ὅθεν εἰκὸς τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν πεποιῆσθαι αὐτοῦ τὴν ἔκθεσιν. 9.5.1 Ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου. «Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν κυρίου, εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ. πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται, καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ βουνὸς ταπεινωθήσεται· καὶ ἔσται τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν, καὶ αἱ τραχεῖαι εἰς ὁδοὺς λείας, καὶ ὀφθήσεται ἡ δόξα κυρίου, καὶ ὄψεται πᾶσα σὰρξ τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι κύριος ἐλάλησεν.» 9.5.2 Ἔδει καὶ ταύτην ἐπὶ τῶν χρόνων τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπὶ πέρας ἐλθεῖν τὴν πρόρρησιν. διόπερ κατὰ τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν Λουκᾶν «ἐν ἔτει πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ τῆς ἡγεμονίας Τιβερίου Καίσαρος, ἐπιτροπεύοντος Ποντίου Πιλάτου τῆς Ἰουδαίας», καὶ τῶν τούτῳ συναριθμουμένων. «ἐγένετο ῥῆμα θεοῦ ἐπὶ Ἰωάννην, τὸν τοῦ Ζαχαρίου υἱὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ»· ὃς ἐλθὼν «εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν περίχωρον τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ἐκήρυσσεν βάπτισμα μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν». τούτοις δ' οὖν ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς ἐπιμαρτυρεῖ, λέγων· «καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν βίβλῳ λόγων Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου·