Christian Topography 1 part 11/22

by conveying the entry into the land of promise through Joshua, he prefigured beforehand the dwelling-place in the heavens.

Oh, the surpassing rank of the mediator, recounted through so many wonders!

But what need is there to speak also of the tabernacle, which is an impression of the whole world, in which he also placed the mercy seat, holding the rank of the Master Christ? But, so that we may not prolong the discourse, having already said these things many times, let us come to his prophecy expressed through words.

'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me;'

'him you shall hear in all things, whatsoever he shall say to you;'

'and every soul that will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among its people.' And again the same one writes what was spoken by Balaam, as follows:

'A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall arise out of Israel, and shall crush the chiefs of Moab, and shall subdue all the sons of Seth.' Now the sons of Seth are the whole world, and this fits none other than the Master Christ;

for Seth is interpreted 'foundation.'

Since, then, Cain and his whole seed perished entirely in the flood, and Abel, being younger, died childless, Seth came after them, from whom both Noah and the whole world are descended, being as it were a foundation of mankind.

For this reason, moved by inspiration on this account, Adam named him, calling him Seth, that is, 'foundation';

'and he shall subdue all the sons of Seth' — that is to say, the whole world;

and this fits Christ alone, toward whom all divine Scripture looks.

Marginal note. And this one, having been born fair to God, was brought up in the royal palace of Egypt, being trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians;

and afterward, having been taken up onto Mount Sinai, he was taught also the wisdom of God, and was sent again into Egypt, bearing the type of him who redeems the world from slavery and grants freedom and adoption as sons.

For he redeems the Israelites from the slavery of the Egyptians, having beforehand traced out the sprinkling of the blood and the Passover;

by leading them across the Red Sea, he prefigures baptism;

by the giving of the law, he foreshows the descent of the Holy Spirit;

by the conduct in the wilderness, he presignifies the tradition of the Church;

by the entry into the land of promise, he foreshowed beforehand, through his own successor, the dwelling-place of the heavens;

being glorified in countenance by God, he traced out beforehand, in part, the glories that would come after these things.

And not only through types, but also through words, he prophesied concerning the mystery of Christ.

And again, he himself was the first to show to the world in this life the practice of letters;

having beheld in mysteries the making and the delineation of the whole world, he wrote it down;

he showed the types of the first and second states.

Glory to him who ever wisely administers the affairs of the human race through his own nurslings.

…of tongue, and melodiously, with rhythm and various instruments and dances and songs, singing them;

for he himself was holding a lyre;

and he had under himself also various choirs of the 'lesser prophets' — for so they called those who attended upon the prophets, and often they also named them 'sons of the prophets' — having various instruments: one with cymbals, another with pipes, another with timbrels, another with trumpets, another with the psaltery and lyre, and another with the singers called 'vocalioi.'

And each choir had a leader: one was called Asaph, another Jeduthun, others the sons of Korah, another Ethan the Israelite, another Moses the man of God.

Whenever, then, he was moved by the Holy Spirit to foretell something concerning the captivity of the people, or concerning their return, or concerning instructive morals, or concerning providence, or concerning the Master Christ, he composed each psalm in meter, tending toward a single subject;

for this reason there are both long and short psalms;

and he handed it over to one choir, to whichever he judged fitting or suitable for it to be handed over, and he sang it first in that choir.

But if, again, he judged it fitting, in the middle of the psalm, to hand over the rest of the psalm to another choir, then this handing-on of the rhythm was called a 'diapsalma';

so that also, whenever he wished to hand it over, from the middle of the psalm, to the so-called vocalioi, that is, the singers, then it was called 'the ode of the diapsalma,' since the singers took it up in succession to sing the rest of the psalm.

It is possible for one who wishes to learn about this from what is written in the Chronicles of the Kingdoms, as follows:

'And he sang this song by the hand of Asaph the prophet.'

After thus handing over the psalm first in this way, then each choir, both by itself and with one accord, with delight and rhythm — some with these instruments, others with those — sang the psalm antiphonally with dancing, to the glory of God.

It is also possible to learn concerning this, how David himself, by himself, having taken up the ark from the foreigners, danced before it, and being reproached by his own wife Michal, said:

'I will play and I will laugh before the Lord;'

for not only did he not stop, but he also promised to do such things even more.

But some, not having paid attention to this order and precision, nor wishing to be taught by those who knew, turned aside to allegories, declaring that not all the psalms are David's, but asserting that some of them clearly belong to those who received the office from David;

which is refuted by the fact that neither the Apostle nor the Lord ever mentioned, in connection with a psalm, anyone else's name except David's.

Marginal note. This great David, the prophet, was deemed worthy to be the forefather, according to the flesh, of the Master Christ, toward whom all the great and true and eternal salvation of God is fulfilled, being descended from the root of Abraham through Isaac and Judah; he also composed a book of a hundred and fifty psalms, through himself and the prophets under him, moved by the Holy Spirit, chanting — in which you will find, as in a paradise, all the spiritual food of the whole dispensation of God, which was proclaimed and announced through the prophets.

Glory to God, who at every turn orders the affairs of the human race.

We therefore depict David himself seated, and the choirs before him on the right and on the left, so that one may also see the arrangement of this order; and after this, telling also the psalms which he was deemed worthy to foretell concerning the dispensation regarding the Lord Christ, varying them in composition and diversely changing them in form, having spoken in all of them concerning the suffering and resurrection of his humanity, and likewise concerning his divinity, how he is eternal and the creator of all things and the renewer of the universe, to whom the whole aim of the divinely-inspired Scripture looks.

For since Abraham, having left his fatherland and kin, believed God, He fittingly promised to make him father of the nations and to bless all the nations through him and his seed, that is, through Christ.

So also in the case of David, since he was king and pleasing to Him, He fittingly promised to him also that his seed and the throne of his kingdom would remain without succession failing, that is, again Christ.

This David was deemed worthy by the Holy Spirit to foretell concerning the Lord Christ four psalms — the second and the eighth and the forty-fourth and the hundred-and-ninth — having spoken all four of them, throughout their entirety, concerning him.

For indeed both the Lord Christ and the apostles are also seen taking testimony concerning him from these four psalms, as, for example, I say, in the Acts of the Apostles, all the apostles, praying to God, said:

'For truly in this city there gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate' — taking the second psalm as referring to him.

Likewise again in the same Acts, when Paul was discoursing in the synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia, he spoke thus:

'And we bring you good news of the promise made to the fathers, that this God has fulfilled for our children by raising up Jesus,' as also it is written in the second psalm:

'You are my Son, today I have begotten you' — taking and confirming the begetting as referring to the resurrection, he himself too, as the second psalm has been said to refer to him, just as all the apostles also said.

And this, then, concerns his humanity.

For what is said concerning his divinity in this psalm is this:

'You shall shepherd them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel' — as though making known the strength and power of his divinity, and at the same time signifying the renewal, that is, the remolding, of mankind.

For the potter's vessel, being broken while it has not yet been exposed to fire, receives remolding.

Likewise he also spoke the eighth psalm again concerning him, having spoken the opening of the psalm with reference to his divinity, just as the Lord Christ himself also testifies concerning this in the Gospel, when they were acclaiming him with the branches, saying:

'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' And since the Jews were not able to rebuke the crowds and the infants — for what was seen was extraordinary: children and nursing babes and infants and disciples and crowds acclaiming him and crying out the hymn to him — they attempted to cast the blame upon him, and they said to him:

'Do you not hear what these are saying?' And the other evangelist says:

Some from the crowd said to him:

'Rebuke your disciples' — as if to say:

'You blaspheme by accepting a hymn which befits God alone' — both groups having the same intent.

To whom the Lord says, to the one group:

'Yes; have you never read that':

'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes you have prepared praise?' — expressly declaring that the eighth psalm was spoken concerning him, and at the same time also hinting that:

'I do not seize what belongs to God, for this is what I am' — just as the Apostle also proclaims:

'He did not consider being equal with God a thing to be seized, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.'

'Why do you marvel concerning the infants and the disciples? If these should be silent, the stones will cry out.' But they, knowing that it is written, and also seeing with their own eyes the infants and nursing babes extraordinarily crying out the hymn, and considering that it was possible for him who made the infants cry out the hymn beyond nature, that it was also possible for him to make even the inanimate things cry out, were silenced, being put to shame.

O the power of the Lord Christ!

O the compassionate condescension!

How, through the teaching belonging to the form of a servant which he assumed, he deigned meekly to indicate his own divinity, and to receive accusations from his own creatures, and to answer not with anger, but meekly and forbearingly.

For he also speaks concerning his humanity further in the same psalm, from 'What is man, that you are mindful of him?' to the end:

to which the divine Apostle bears witness, saying thus:

'But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death'; and again:

'For it was not to angels that he subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.' But to whom did he subject it, O Paul? He says:

'But someone has testified somewhere, saying:'

'What is man, that you are mindful of him?' To this one he subjected it.

'For in subjecting all things to him,' he says, 'he left nothing that is not subject to him.' Having spoken thus to the believing Hebrews, he said the same things also to the Greeks, and says:

'The times of ignorance, then, God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he has appointed, having given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.' Likewise Peter also:

'that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.' Likewise again David also spoke the forty-fourth psalm concerning him, in which again he is seen speaking both concerning his divinity and concerning his humanity, to which again the blessed Paul bears witness in the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying thus:

'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;'

'a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.' Having said this concerning his divinity, he speaks immediately also concerning his humanity, and says:

'You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity;'

'therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.'

For it is not the divinity that is anointed on account of loving righteousness and hating iniquity, nor is it anointed at all, nor does it have a God;

but his humanity is anointed with the oil of gladness — that is to say, with the Holy Spirit — above its companions, that is, above all the anointed ones.

For the divinity has no other companions;

for God is one, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

But the humanity of Christ has all human beings, especially the anointed ones, as its companions.

For it is precisely because the humanity of Christ was anointed above all — anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, which belonged to none of the other anointed ones — that he spoke thus:

'above all your companions.' And he continued speaking the whole psalm concerning Christ and the Church, as concerning a king who is a bridegroom and a bride who is a queen.

Likewise he also spoke the hundred-and-ninth psalm concerning him:

and the Lord himself bears witness, saying to the Jews:

'How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying:'

'The Lord said to my Lord:'

'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet'? If he is his son, how is he his Lord? Having clearly foretold the 'his Lord' as referring to him as God, the 'sit at my right hand' clearly befits the humanity;

for 'sit' is spoken to one who is not seated;

but the divinity is established in its own honor and glory and blessedness, not being permitted or exhorted to this by another who is greater;

but the humanity of Christ is permitted by the divinity inseparably united to it, hearing:

'Sit at my right hand' — as if to say:

for God, being uncircumscribed, has neither right nor left;

but this is what he says to it, namely:

'Sit in my honor' — as if to say:

'In my person' — being shown to the whole world as the image of God.

'And to him was given honor and kingship and all authority,' and the rest.

But the Lord himself also says:

'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.' And going further down again in the same psalm, he speaks concerning the divinity:

'From the womb, before the morning star, I begot you' — as though the Father were saying to the Son, with respect to his divinity:

without beginning and without end, as from the womb, out of our common essence I begot you, you being co-present and co-existing with me.

Then again immediately, making clear also concerning the humanity, he says:

'The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind:'

'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek;'

For the deity does not act as priest or render service, but rather it itself is served, and receives the sacrificial offerings.

The apostle Paul also mentions this citation in the Epistle to the Hebrews, saying thus:

Just as Aaron also did not glorify himself to become high priest, so also Christ did not glorify himself, but he who spoke to him did:

"You are my Son, today I have begotten you," as he also says in another place:

"You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" — taking all these things as pertaining to his humanity.

Thus, then, the blessed David spoke these four psalms concerning the Lord Christ, and him alone.

For he did not mix in common the things of the Master with those of the servants, but declared the things proper to the Master as of the Master, and the things of the servants as of servants.

But whatever other things the apostles took from the psalms, they did not take as having been said properly concerning him, but as fitting the subject matter, such as:

"They divided my garments among themselves, and cast lots for my clothing," and also this:

"They gave gall for my food," and also this:

"I foresaw the Lord before me continually," and:

"Having ascended on high, he led captivity captive," and whatever other things like these they took as fitting their subject matter.

As also the blessed Paul did, transforming the citation of Moses in Deuteronomy to his own subject matter, as fitting, saying thus:

"Do not say in your heart:"

"Who will ascend into heaven?" — that is:

"Who will descend into the abyss?" — that is:

To bring Christ up from the dead — translating the citation as fitting for his own subject matter.

For neither do the rest of the psalms fit the Lord Christ, from which they took certain [verses]; for instance, the [psalm] "they divided my garments among themselves" is the twenty-first;

[which also has] "far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions," which is unfitting and discordant with the divine Scripture, and it is plain madness to take such a thing as concerning Christ.

But as for these four psalms spoken concerning the Lord Christ, they fit him wholly, through and through.

For neither, as we also said at first, did the blessed David mix in common the things said concerning the Lord Christ with the things said concerning certain other persons.

For the Savior himself also appears to do this, when the Jews accused him:

"Why do you work on the Sabbath?" He answered, saying:

"My Father works until now, and I work." And when they accused his disciples, he says:

"Have you not read what David did, how he ate the loaves of the presentation, which it is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?" — expressly distinguishing himself over against the Father, and the disciples over against the prophets, that is, the priests, as servants to servants and as a son to a father.

A note placed as a parenthesis. When our Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured before Peter, James, and John on the mountain and appeared in great glory, with Moses and Elijah conversing with him, the disciples, beholding the surpassing glory, fell into astonishment, delight, longing, love, and desire for that beauty.

And Peter, answering — having himself in a certain manner become another man instead of himself — astonished at the sight, said to Jesus:

"Master, it is good for us to be here" — as if [saying]:

"Behold, a beautiful sight, and place, and brightness, and surpassing glory:"

"Why do we go down from here, to come again into the hands of those who wish to plot against us and afflict us, continually moving and being persecuted from place to place? If then you wish, let us make here three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." And since Peter considered Moses and Elijah of equal honor with the Lord, numbering the tents equally, saying one for each, the evangelist Luke remarks, saying thus:

Peter, not knowing the things concerning the Lord, spoke thus.

But immediately a cloud from heaven overshadowed them, and separated Moses and Elijah, and hid them from the disciples;

and the Father, as with a pointing finger, shows Jesus alone in the midst to the disciples, saying:

"This is my beloved and chosen Son; hear him." You are deceived, he says, in equating this one with those others:

for this one is my Son, but those, just like you also, are servants.

Therefore hear him in all things, as Master and my Son.

A recapitulation of the foregoing. Thus also the prophet David, moved by the Holy Spirit, did not mix indiscriminately the subject matter of the Master with the subject matter of the servants, but was deemed worthy to foretell and compose specifically these four psalms for the subject matter of the Master, while setting forth all the other psalms concerning the persons, affairs, or histories of others, as a teaching of common benefit to all.

For this reason he also spoke them melodiously and with rhythm, so that they might become, as pleasant things, easily retained and easily remembered by all.

And this is quite evident, that we shall find the [psalms] of David sung in all the churches of the world, and borne on the lips of almost all people, small and great alike, and sung and remembered daily, more than the other prophets and Scriptures.

But having given a conclusion to this also, let us pass on to the great Elijah, expounding also his worth.

It is possible, then, to view his depiction also thus:

ELIJAH. This is Elijah, the first of men to show men how to run the course of heaven, the first of men to show that angels and men have one path, who obtained the earth as a dwelling-place and yet suddenly traverses heaven, who being mortal contends with the immortals, who walks upon the ground and yet, like a spirit, journeys through heaven with angels, who through the sheepskin mantle imparted double gifts to his disciple Elisha, the man of long duration and unaging, the general kept in reserve for the Antichrist, who will oppose and refute his deceit and his arrogance, who will turn all men back from his error to God at the consummation of the age.

This is he who is deemed worthy to be the forerunner of the second and glorious coming of the Lord Christ.

O measures of ministries rivaling those of the angels!

Glory to God who grants these things to men.

A note. This great Elijah, having been taken up as it were into heaven, was shown to both angels and men, so that the nature of men might be honored:

and through this God again laid down beforehand a good hope, that it is possible for men, if God wills, to run the course of heaven.

For it is a great wonder to see this: a man driving a fiery chariot and traversing the heaven.

O marvel — the loving-kindness of him who honored [man]!

Let those be ashamed who do not glorify the great dispensation of God, how wisely and not wrathfully God on each occasion both inflicts punishments on men and preserves the honor of man, who was made according to his own image.

Glory and praise to him forever.

This is Hosea, the first of the twelve prophets, who was deemed worthy to speak concerning the Lord Christ thus: "When they are afflicted, they will rise early to me, saying:"

"Come, let us return to the Lord our God; for he has torn us and will heal us, having struck he will bind up our wound, he will make us whole after two days; on the third day we shall rise up before him and shall know." From this citation the apostle Paul says to the Corinthians:

"For I delivered to you first of all what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; for the statement 'he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures' cannot be found anywhere else."

Again the prophet speaks, applying [words] fittingly to the Lord Christ:

"My flesh is from them." Again he says:

"Ephraim encompassed me with falsehood, and the house of Israel and Judah with impiety;"

[Judah] shall be called a holy people of God from that tribe, because of the Lord Christ who according to the flesh is manifested from it — [Hosea] having named Judah a holy people of God.

Again, once more, the same prophet [says]:

"From the hand of Hades I will rescue them, from death I will redeem them."

"Where is your penalty, O death? Where is your sting, O Hades?" The apostle Paul used this citation concerning the resurrection.

A note. This one also clearly foretold beforehand the three-day resurrection of the Lord, saying:

"On the third day we shall rise up and we shall know;"

likewise he also proclaimed beforehand the abolition of death and the judgment upon the sting of Hades.

How should one not be astonished at the ineffable loving-kindness of God, which always provides for the human race? Glory to his indescribable gift.

This is the second, Amos, he too being deemed worthy to speak concerning the coming of the Lord Christ thus: "For behold, I am he who makes firm the thunder and creates the wind and declares to men his Christ." He also says further:

"In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will build it up again as in the days of old, so that the remnant of men may seek out the Lord, and all the nations upon whom my name has been called — says the Lord who does these things." The apostle James mentions this citation in the Acts of the Apostles.

A note. And this one too, in agreement with the first, proclaims Christ, through whom comes the salvation of the whole world; and again God promises through him to raise up the fallen tabernacle of David and to benefit all the nations — the same things which all [the prophets] proclaim.

This is Micah, the third, who was also deemed worthy to foretell concerning the coming of the Lord Christ, and he says:

"And you, Bethlehem, land of Ephrathah, you are least to be among the thousands of Judah,"

Out of you shall come forth to me one to be a ruler in Israel, and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity. Taking up this citation, the chief priests and scribes of the Jews, when Herod demanded of them where the Christ was born, said:

whence he then sent the magi to Bethlehem.

The same prophet says again: He will return and have compassion on us, and will submerge our sins, and will cast into the depths of the sea all our iniquities;

He will give truth to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as he swore to our fathers in the days that were before. Note. This one likewise foretells beforehand him who is raised up from Bethlehem and Judah from eternity to be a ruler for Israel, through whom the reconciliation of the world comes to pass, abolishing our sins and leading us to a better lot.

Glory to God, who at every occasion wisely orders and foretells the things concerning mankind.

This is Joel, the fourth, he too having been deemed worthy to foretell beforehand concerning the mystery pertaining to the Lord Christ; for he speaks thus:

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your elders shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions;

yea, and upon my menservants and upon my maidservants in those days I will pour out of my Spirit;

and I will show wonders in heaven and on earth, blood and fire and vapour of smoke;

the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes;

and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Of this citation the blessed Peter makes mention in the Acts of the Apostles as being fulfilled, when the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles took place on the day of Pentecost.

and the magi were warned in a dream, as the Gospels show; and Simeon, being warned by the Spirit through visions, received the Lord into his arms;

and again Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, giving thanks to the Lord concerning him;

and those who prophesied, as Agabus and the daughters of Philip;

and the women who were present at the Lord's passion beheld visions of angels, and the disciples likewise.