Chapter VI.

He next proceeds to make the following statement about the Jews:—“The first point relating to the Jews which is fitted to excite wonder, is that they should worship the heaven and the angels who dwell therein, and yet pass by and neglect its most venerable and powerful parts, as the sun, the moon, and the other heavenly bodies, both fixed stars and planets, as if it were possible that ‘the whole’ could be God, and yet its parts not divine; or (as if it were reasonable) to treat with the greatest respect those who are said to appear to such as are in darkness somewhere, blinded by some crooked sorcery, or dreaming dreams through the influence of shadowy spectres,1010    ἢ τοὺς μὲν ἐν σκότῳ που ἐκ γοητείας οὐκ ὀρθῆς τυφλώττουσιν, ἢ δι᾽ ἀμυδρῶν φασμάτων ὀνειρώττουσιν ἐγχρίμπτειν λεγομένους, εὖ μάλα θρησκεύειν. while those who prophesy so clearly and strikingly to all men, by means of whom rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunder (to which they offer worship), and lightnings, and fruits, and all kinds of productiveness, are brought about,—by means of whom God is revealed to them,—the most prominent heralds among those beings that are above,—those that are truly heavenly angels,—are to be regarded as of no account!”  In making these statements, Celsus appears to have fallen into confusion, and to have penned them from false ideas of things which he did not understand; for it is patent to all who investigate the practices of the Jews, and compare them with those of the Christians, that the Jews who follow the law, which, speaking in the person of God, says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me:  thou shalt not make unto thee an image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them,”1011    Cf. Ex. xx. 3, 4, 5. worship nothing else than the Supreme God, who made the heavens, and all things besides.  Now it is evident that those who live according to the law, and worship the Maker of heaven, will not worship the heaven at the same time with God.  Moreover, no one who obeys the law of Moses will bow down to the angels who are in heaven; and, in like manner, as they do not bow down to sun, moon, and stars, the host of heaven, they refrain from doing obeisance to heaven and its angels, obeying the law which declares:  “Lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations.”1012    Cf. Deut. iv. 19.

Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ τοιαύτην ἐκτίθεται περὶ Ἰουδαίων λέξιν· Πρῶτον οὖν τῶν Ἰουδαίων θαυμάζειν ἄξιον, εἰ τὸν μὲν οὐρανὸν καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷδε ἀγγέλους σέβουσι, τὰ σεμνότατα δὲ αὐτοῦ μέρη καὶ δυνατώτατα, ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀστέρας ἀπλανεῖς τε καὶ πλανήτας, ταῦτα παραπέμ πουσιν· ὡς ἐνδεχόμενον τὸ μὲν ὅλον εἶναι θεόν, τὰ δὲ μέρη αὐτοῦ μὴ θεῖα, ἢ τοὺς μὲν ἐν σκότῳ που ἐκ γοητείας οὐκ ὀρθῆς τυφλώττουσιν ἢ δι' ἀμυδρῶν φασμάτων ὀνειρώττουσιν ἐγχρίμπτειν λεγομένους εὖ μάλα θρησκεύειν, τοὺς δ' ἐναργῶς οὕτως καὶ λαμπρῶς ἅπασι προφητεύοντας, δι' ὧν ὑετούς τε καὶ θάλπη καὶ νέφη καὶ βροντάς, ἃς προσκυνοῦσι, καὶ ἀστραπὰς καὶ καρποὺς καὶ γονὰς ἁπάσας ταμιεύεσθαι, δι' ὧν αὐτοῖς ἀνακαλύπτεσθαι τὸν θεόν, τοὺς φανερωτάτους τῶν ἄνω κήρυκας, τοὺς ὡς ἀληθῶς οὐρανίους ἀγγέλους, τούτους ἡγεῖσθαι τὸ μηδέν. Ἐν τούτοις δὲ δοκεῖ μοι συγκε χύσθαι ὁ Κέλσος καὶ ἀπὸ παρακουσμάτων ἃ μὴ ᾔδει γεγρα φέναι· σαφὲς γὰρ τοῖς τὰ Ἰουδαίων ἐξετάζουσι καὶ τὰ Χριστιανῶν ἐκείνοις συνάπτουσιν ὅτι τῷ μὲν νόμῳ ἀκολου θοῦντες Ἰουδαῖοι, λέγοντι ἐκ προσώπου θεοῦ· "Οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι [θεοὶ] ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ. Οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ εἴδωλον οὐδὲ παντὸς ὁμοίωμα, ὅσα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ γῇ κάτω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς· οὐ προσκυνήσεις αὐτοῖς οὐδὲ μὴ λατρεύσῃς αὐτοῖς", οὐδὲν ἄλλο σέβουσιν ἢ τὸν ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεόν, ὃς ἐποίησε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα. ∆ῆλον δ' ὅτι οἱ κατὰ τὸν νόμον βιοῦντες σέβοντες τὸν ποιήσαντα τὸν οὐρανὸν οὐ συσσέβουσι τῷ θεῷ τὸν οὐρανόν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἀγγέλους οὐδεὶς τῶν δουλευόντων τῷ Μωϋσέως νόμῳ προσκυνεῖ· ὁμοίως δὲ τῷ μὴ προσκυνεῖν ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, "τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ", ἀπέχονται τοῦ προσκυνεῖν οὐρανὸν καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ ἀγγέλους, πειθόμενοι τῷ λέγοντι νόμῳ· "Καὶ μὴ ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, πάντα τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, πλανηθεὶς προσκυνήσῃς αὐτοῖς καὶ λατρεύσῃς αὐτοῖς, ἃ ἀπένειμε κύριος ὁ θεός σου αὐτὰ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν".