And the following words spoken in the Psalm: 'For trouble is near, for there is none to help me. Many bulls have compassed me; fat bulls have beset me round; they opened their mouth against me as a ravening and roaring lion; I am poured out like water, and all my bones are scattered'—were a foretelling of things that likewise befell Him. For on that night when those of your people sent by the Pharisees and scribes and teachers came upon Him on the Mount of Olives, they surrounded Him—those whom the Word called butting and useless bulls.
And in saying 'Fat bulls have beset me round,' He foretold those who acted in like manner to the calves, when He was led to your teachers; whom the Word called bulls for this reason, since we know that bulls are the cause of there being calves. As, then, bulls are the fathers of calves, so your teachers were the cause to their children of going out to the Mount of Olives, seizing Him and bringing Him to them. And the saying 'For there is none to help' is also indicative of what came to pass. For there was not so much as a single man to help Him as one who was sinless.
And the saying 'They opened their mouth against me as a roaring lion' indicates the king of the Jews then reigning, who was himself called Herod, the successor of that Herod who, when He was born, slew all the children born at that time in Bethlehem, supposing that among them must surely be the one of whom the Magi who came from Arabia had spoken to him—not knowing the counsel of Him who is stronger than all, who had commanded Joseph and Mary to depart with the child into Egypt, and to remain there until it should again be revealed to them to return to their own country. And there they remained until the Herod who had slain the children in Bethlehem died, and Archelaus succeeded him; and he ended his life before Christ came to the dispensation, accomplished by Him according to the will of the Father, of being crucified.
And when Herod, who succeeded Archelaus, had received the authority allotted to him—to whom also Pilate, to do him a favour, sent Jesus bound—God, foreknowing that this also would happen, had spoken thus: 'And having bound Him, they brought Him as a present to the king of Assyria.'
Or by the roaring lion that was against Him He meant the devil, whom Moses calls a serpent, but in Job and Zechariah he is called the devil, and by Jesus he was addressed as Satan—showing that he has acquired a compound name from the deed which he did. For 'sata' in the language of the Jews and Syrians means 'apostate,' and 'nas' is the name from which by interpretation the serpent is called; and from both of these words spoken there comes one name, Satan.
For indeed this devil, as soon as He came up from the river Jordan—when the voice was spoken to Him, 'You are my Son, this day have I begotten You'—as it is written in the memoirs of the apostles, came to Him and tempted Him, going so far as to say to Him, 'Worship me'; and Christ answered him, 'Get behind me, Satan; you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.' For as he had deceived Adam, so he expected to be able to work some effect upon this One also.
And the saying 'I am poured out like water, and all my bones are scattered; my heart is become like melting wax in the midst of my belly,' was a foretelling of what happened to Him on that night when they came out against Him to the Mount of Olives to seize Him.
For in the memoirs, which I say were composed by His apostles and those who followed them, it is written that sweat poured down like drops of blood while He was praying and saying, 'Let this cup pass, if it be possible'—His heart being in trembling.
And the saying 'My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws,' which I mentioned before, was a foretelling of His silence—when He who convicts as unwise all your teachers answered nothing to anyone.