And having rolled up the book, he gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Our Savior and Lord, then, is clearly shown through this Scripture to differ from, and to be superior to, the priests of old who were anointed in a more bodily manner — not with prepared oil, nor by men, as the others were, but anointed with the divine Spirit of God himself, his own Father; from whom, having partaken also of the unbegotten Godhead, he has been proclaimed God and Lord by the sacred Scriptures.
Consistently with the prophecy now before us, he is introduced by Matthew as preaching good news to the poor, when, seeing the crowds, he went up onto the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him, and opening his mouth he taught them, saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
And he is recorded as having granted recovery of sight to the blind, in no small number of cases; for he not only bestowed the power of seeing on those whose bodily eyesight had been lost, but also became, for those who had formerly been blind in soul, the cause of intellectual vision and of the knowledge of the God of the universe.
And in another way also, to those who were bound and led away captive by the invisible and demonic power, and fettered by chains of evils, he proclaimed liberty and release from those things that held them fast — provided that they, believing the proclamation, ran to him as to a redeemer and savior, and were persuaded by his precepts. The remaining part of the oracle will, in due course, be examined among the matters concerning the promises. From Deuteronomy.
"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me; him you shall hear, according to all that you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb, in the day of the assembly, saying, 'We will no longer hear the voice of the Lord our God, nor see this great fire any longer, lest we die.' And the Lord said to me, 'They have spoken rightly, all that they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my word in his mouth, and he shall speak to them according to all that I command him; and whoever does not heed whatever the prophet shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.'"
Note that no prophet like unto Moses has arisen among the Hebrews — that is, a lawgiver and an introducer of piety to men — except our Savior alone, the Christ of God. At any rate, toward the end of Deuteronomy it is said, "There has not yet arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses" — and yet countless prophets have arisen after him, but not like him.
And this whole promise of God declares that he would raise up someone — not many — and one like himself. And it signifies him as a lawgiver and teacher of piety to men, such as only our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, and no other, has been shown to be — having become at once lawgiver and prophet of the God of the universe, who is his Father.
But Moses led one nation, and is shown to have legislated for that nation alone, and things suited to it, and not for other nations as well. Christ of God, however, having received the promise from the Father, "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance," set forth a legislation capable of, and fitted to, the calling of all the nations — in order that he might be established by the Father not merely for the Jews, but as a new lawgiver of piety for the whole human race.
At any rate, with a power more divine than that of Moses, he ordained his sacred laws throughout the whole world through his evangelists, legislating with an authority greater than that of a man, saying, "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not murder'; but I say to you, do not even be angry without cause" — and all that follows in accordance with this, as much as is contained in his written teachings; concerning which the evangelist bears witness, saying that "all were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes."
Having, at the beginning of the present work, gone through the manner of our Savior's teaching and legislation, when we brought to light what Christianity actually is, we will now refer those who read this back to those earlier discussions. But it is worth pausing over the reason for which the Lord promises to raise up for them a prophet.
For since he himself had commanded Moses to purify the whole people for three days, that they might become both spectators and hearers together of the divine manifestation, but they proved too weak for the grace of God; wherefore, at the very beginning of the vision, they begged off, saying to Moses, "You speak to us, and let not God speak to us, lest we die" — for these reasons the Lord fittingly accepts them for their reverence, but says, "All that they have spoken is right; I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers, like you."
Thus he also taught the reason why he was to make his manifestation to mankind after the manner of a prophet; and this was the weakness of men and their refusal of the higher vision.
You have, then, the very reason for the enfleshment of the prophet who was foretold. Fittingly, then, those of the circumcision, expecting him, questioned John the Baptist, and said, "Are you the prophet?" And he answered, "No." Yet John, confessing the truth, did not deny that he was a prophet — for he was one — but he denied that he himself was the prophet who had been made known through Moses; and he taught that he had been sent before that prophet.
And since the word had prophesied to those of the circumcision that the prophet would be raised up for them, our Savior and Lord, fittingly, inasmuch as he was himself the one who had been previously proclaimed, says, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And he exhorted his apostles, saying, "Do not go into the way of the nations, and do not enter into a city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Clearly teaching that he had been sent to them first, in accordance with the prophecy. But since they did not receive the grace, he reproaches them elsewhere, saying, "Because I came, and there was no man; I called, and there was none to obey." He says to them, "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits."
And to his own disciples, after their refusal, he gives the command: "Go, make disciples of all the nations in my name." Thus it is that we, the nations, have come to know and to receive the prophet who was foretold beforehand and sent by the Father — inasmuch as he became a lawgiver to all mankind for piety toward the God of the universe — through the saving and evangelical teaching; another prophecy also being fulfilled at the same time, in which it is said, "Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them; let the nations know that they are men."
But the nation of the Jews, not having accepted him who was prophesied, has paid the penalty deserved, in accordance with the divine prediction which said: "And the man who does not hearken to all that the prophet shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."
Accordingly there has been exacted from that people all the blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, and, above all these, that of Christ himself, whose blood they called down upon themselves, and even to this day they and their own children continue to undergo the punishment for the impiety they dared against him. From Job
"...who speaks to the sun, and it does not rise, and seals up the stars; who alone stretched out the heaven, and walks upon the sea as upon a pavement."
And these words could fit none but our Saviour and Lord alone, as being the Word of God, the Maker of all things; for he alone, of all men who ever lived, at the time of his becoming man, having taken a human body and form, is said to have walked upon the sea, when he compelled his own disciples to embark in the boat and to go on ahead of him to the other side, until he himself should send the crowds away. And when he had sent the crowds away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. And when evening had come, he was there alone, while the boat was already in the midst of the sea. And when they saw him upon the sea they were troubled, saying that it was a ghost, and cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, "Be of good courage, it is I; do not be afraid."
For what solemnity or worth is there in saying that the God of all walks upon the sea? And how could a walking upon the sea even be conceived of him who contains all things and fills heaven and earth, and all but says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet"; and "I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord"? But our Saviour and Lord, having emptied himself and taken the form of a servant, and being found in fashion as a man, is recorded to have given his own disciples a demonstration of his divine power, hidden from the many, by treading upon the waves of the sea and rebuking the surge and the winds — at which those who saw it were astonished, saying, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?" And this was also a symbol of something else, greater still, if one takes it to mean that other sea in which a certain dragon is said to have been made for the angels of God to sport with; upon which very sea our Saviour and Lord, walking, is said to have crushed the head of the dragon there and of the other, lesser dragons subject to him, according to the word: "You broke the heads of the dragons upon the water, and you broke the head of the dragon" — clearly meaning a different sea, concerning which he himself again says in the Psalm: "I have come into the depths of the sea."
And to Job also, discoursing of himself, he says: "Have you come to the source of the sea, and walked in the tracks of the deep? And do the gates of death open to you in fear, and did the porters of Hades cower when they saw you?" Fittingly, then, in his life among us, by stepping upon the sea and rebuking the winds and the surge, he fulfilled the symbols of the more mysterious realities. From Isaiah
Be strong, you slackened hands and feeble knees; comfort yourselves, you who are fainthearted; be strong, do not fear. Behold, our God renders judgment and will render it; he himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear; then the lame man shall leap as a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear.
And of these things you have the fulfilment in the Gospels: on the one hand, when they brought to our Saviour and Lord a paralytic laid upon a bed, whom he made whole by his word; on the other, when countless blind and demon-possessed, and moreover those afflicted with divers diseases and infirmities, were freed from their sufferings by his saving power.
Not only so, but even now, throughout the whole inhabited world, he marvellously and beyond all telling heals and cures countless multitudes bound by manifold kinds of wickedness, and whose souls are filled with ignorance of the God over all, by the medicines of his teaching; and that he has thereby been in due course proclaimed as God, inasmuch as he works such things, has already been demonstrated by us earlier in the testimonies concerning his divinity.
And it was fitting, if ever, then now especially, that he should be confessed as God, when he was displaying works of divine and truly inspired power. For it belonged to God alone, and to no other, to strengthen the paralyzed, to give life to the dead, to grant salvation to the sick, to open the eyes of the blind, and likewise to heal the hearing of the deaf, to set the lame upright, and to restore fluent speech to those whose tongues were bound — all of which was done by our Saviour Jesus Christ, as by God, and this has been attested by many who have proclaimed him throughout the whole inhabited world.
And the genuineness and truth of their testimony is confirmed by the trial of tortures and by their steadfastness even unto death, which they displayed before kings, rulers, governors, and whole nations, bearing further witness to the truth of what was proclaimed by them.
And I hold that it is to these same evangelists and apostles of his that the prophetic Spirit addresses the words beginning "Be strong, you slackened hands and feeble knees." For since they had grown weak in their hands — that is, in their practical powers — and in their feet and their course, from the long circuit of service under the law of Moses, the Spirit, rousing them to the manner of life according to the Gospel, says, "Be strong, you slackened hands and feeble knees" — that is, in preparation for the race set before them according to the Gospel.
"Be strong," too, to exhort others and to urge them to hold fast to the evangelical salvation, you who were formerly fainthearted; and let no fear of those from without who oppose the evangelical proclamation seize you, but be strong against these also, and do not fear.
For he who was speaking was God and the Word of God, not one like Moses, nor one resembling the prophets, not only the worker of marvellous wonders, but also the very cause of strength to you yourselves.
A most clear proof of the divine power of our Saviour who was prophesied would be found in this: that by that power he truly once healed the lame, the blind, the lepers, and the paralyzed with a word, according to the Scriptures concerning him — the very power which is even now still at work through his divinity throughout the whole inhabited world of men, and by which it is shown, through the deeds themselves, to those capable of perceiving it, what manner of person he was even then; seeing that, after so long a time since then, the teaching proclaimed by him is demonstrated to be abiding and unconquered and truly the Word of God, surpassing all those who from the beginning until now have set themselves to war against his teaching, drawing to himself countless multitudes from the whole inhabited world, freeing those who come to him from all sin and from the passions and maladies of the soul, calling every race of Greeks and barbarians to his pious teaching, and bringing untold numbers to the knowledge of the only true God and to a sound and self-controlled life — such a life as would indeed befit the profession of the worship of the God over all.
And this same God of ours, being in fact the Word of God, is he of whom it says, "renders judgment and will render it, he himself will come and save us." For according to the Psalm, which says, "O God, give your judgment to the king," and according to the evangelical teaching, in which it is said, "the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son," having received from the Father the authority to judge, judging in righteousness, he rendered to the people of the circumcision the fitting penalty for what they dared against himself and his prophets, while he saved, equally and in accordance with justice, all men without exception who came to him — men whose ears of understanding and whose eyes he opened.
Therefore the divine word also calls the time of his advent a time of recompense, saying elsewhere: "to call the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense."
And this was the time of recompense in which all the blood shed, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, and, above all, the precious blood of Jesus himself, was avenged upon the generation of those who had sinned against him, so that from that time on they underwent the final destruction and the final siege.
And the judgment concerning them wrought such recompense against them; wherefore the prophecy says, "Behold, behold, our God renders judgment and will render it." And what concerns those who were to be saved through him is declared next through the words, "he himself will come and save us; then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear," and what follows.
And this saving judgment another prophecy also promises that Christ shall bring forth, saying: "Behold my servant, I will uphold him; my chosen one, my soul has accepted him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations."
Wherefore it is also said concerning the word of the new covenant: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem, and he shall judge among the nations." For it is likely that he effects the calling of those who turn to him by a divine judgment and by words ineffable to us. But also, in that he teaches us the divine judgment and instructs us to do all things with judgment, he is said to bring forth judgment to the nations. From the same [prophet]
Then those who seal the law shall be manifest, so as not to learn it. And he shall say, I will wait for God who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will be confident in him. Behold, I and the children whom God has given me. And there shall be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord Sabaoth, who dwells on Mount Zion. And if they say to you, Seek the mediums and those who speak from the earth, the babblers who speak out of the belly — is it not that a nation should seek its God? Why do they seek the dead concerning the living? For he has given a law to help.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Apostle, citing the passage that says, "Behold I and the children whom God has given me," works it out further concerning Christ, saying: "Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might bring to nought him who held the power of death."
By "his children" in this passage he names the apostles, teaching that the Lord Sabaoth, who dwells on Mount Zion, would work signs and wonders among them in the house of Israel; and that these same men would be manifest, having their faces sealed, as is our custom, with the seal of Christ, and taught no longer to learn the law of Moses, since it no longer stands, and since the one called Jacob had been abandoned by God.
What is obscurely stated by the Seventy — "Then those who seal the law shall be manifest, so as not to learn it; and he shall say, I will wait for God who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will be confident in him" — Symmachus rendered more clearly, saying: "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my ordinances. And I will look for the Lord who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will wait for him."
And Aquila likewise rendered it in this manner: "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will accept the God who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will wait for him." These, then, are the things which our Saviour's apostles are taught to do. To which he next adds: "Behold I and the children whom God has given me; and there shall be for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord Sabaoth, who dwells on Mount Zion."
And the Lord Sabaoth — the Word of God, in whom he took up manhood — having dwelt and made his abode on Mount Zion, and having worked signs and wonders, together with his own disciples and all who had believed in him from among all who had formerly been idolaters, exhorts them no longer in any way to fear the superstitious deception; but if the idolaters from among the nations should shake them, or even compel them, to seek the mediums and the oracles of the demons as marvellous things, in no way inferior to the prophetic manner of life of divine and God-beloved men, he teaches that they must answer and say: "Why do they seek the dead concerning the living? For he has given a law to help," and what follows upon this. For those who have once received the law and the saving commandments for the help and healing of their own life have no need to busy themselves further with divinations wrought through demonic deceit. From the same [prophet]
Jacob is my servant, I will uphold him; Israel is my chosen, my soul has accepted him. He shall bring forth judgment to the nations. He shall not cry out, nor relax his effort, nor shall his voice be heard outside. A bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, but he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall shine forth and shall not be crushed, until he has set judgment on the earth, and in his name shall the nations hope. Thus says the Lord God, who made the heaven and fixed it firm, who established the earth and the things in it, and gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who tread on it. I, the Lord your God, have called you in righteousness, and I will hold your hand, and I will strengthen you, and I have given you for a covenant of a race, for a light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring out the bound from their bonds, and from the prison-house those who sit in darkness.
And the evangelist recalls this passage, when the Pharisees went out and took counsel against our Saviour, that they might destroy him, because he healed the sick on the Sabbath. For at that time, as he says, Jesus, becoming aware of the plot against him, withdrew from there; and many crowds followed him, and he healed them all, and charged them not to make him known.
To which he adds, saying: All this happened — that is, his withdrawal and his avoidance of the plotters, and his eagerness to remain hidden in the marvels he performed, and his charge to those healed not to make him known — in order that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, who says: "Behold my servant, in whom I am well pleased, my beloved, whom my soul has chosen; I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim judgment to the nations. He shall not strive nor cry out, nor shall anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, until he brings forth judgment unto victory, and in his name shall the nations hope."
Observe carefully in what manner Matthew, saying, "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased," made no mention of either Jacob or Israel. For he did not say, "Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen," but expressed it without specification, saying, "Behold my servant" and "my beloved."
Whence, since these names are not present in the Hebrew of the prophecy at all, they have been obelized among the Seventy — the names of Jacob and of Israel — and among the other translators they have been passed over in silence, since they are not found in the Hebrew either.
Hence it is fittingly the case that they are not spoken by the evangelist either, since he was a Hebrew and set forth the prophecy in accordance with the Hebrew Scripture. Accordingly, the things foretold do not, in their sense, fit the people of the circumcision at all, but only Christ of God, who is attested by the plain evidence and by the outcome of events. For he alone proclaimed beforehand the judgment that was to come upon the nations, having quietly entered into the life of men and set judgment upon the earth; and he not only did not break the bruised reed, but, if one may say so, bound it up, setting the weak upright and making them strong, along with those who were broken in heart.
And just as he did not overlook the weak and infirm and those in need of his healing, nor crush them by condemnation when they repented, so likewise he did not extinguish those who persisted in evil and were smoldering under their passions, by forcibly preventing them from acting according to their own free choice; nor indeed did he punish any of them before the proper time, deferring the punishment fitting to them until the time of the general judgment.
Wherefore it is said, "and smoking flax he shall not quench." And the words "and in his name shall the nations hope" have manifestly reached fulfilment. For it is upon the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ alone that the nations of the Christians have hoped, inscribing his title, as a father's, upon the piety they have received.
For indeed it was foretold that he was given for a light to none other than the nations; and in accordance with this prediction, the eyes of the blind — of those who formerly had their understanding maimed, and not only these, but also those whose very bodies were disfigured, and those who had formerly wallowed in darkness and ignorance of true piety, bound by the chains and cords of their sins — have, through him, being loosed from their sins, been counted worthy of the light of knowledge and of the freedom that is with God.
And you yourself, if at leisure you examine the passage carefully in accordance with what has been set forth, would find each of the things declared through it precisely fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour alone. From the same [prophet]
"...the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the Seraphim stood round about him." Then, going on further, he says: "And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said, Behold, here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and say to this people: You shall hear indeed, but shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, but shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown fat, and their ears have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and I should heal them."
And you have the fulfilment of these things also in our Saviour, as John says: "Though he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe; for Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I should heal them."
"These things Isaiah said, when he saw his glory and spoke concerning him." And according to Matthew, when his disciples came to him and said, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" he answered and said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it has not been given. Therefore I speak to them in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear, lest they should turn, and I should heal them."
Then was fulfilled upon them the prophecy of Isaiah which says, "Go, and say to this people, You shall hear indeed, but shall not understand," and what follows this. Observe carefully in what manner John adds, saying, "These things Isaiah said, when he saw his glory and spoke concerning him," as though the prophet had seen Christ and the glory of Christ in the vision in which he said, "I saw the Lord Sabaoth sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up," and what follows.