Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Archelaus/Acts of Disputation/Chapter XLIV

by Archelaus

44. Now this word also has the veil. For up to the time of Herod they did appear to retain a kingdom in some sort; and it was by Augustus that the first enrolment took place among them, and that they began to pay tribute, and to be rated.^[1] Now it was also from the time when our Lord Jesus Christ began to be prophesied of and looked for that there began to be princes from Judah and leaders of the people; and these, again, failed just at the approach of His advent. If, then, the veil is taken away which is put on in that reading of theirs, they will understand the true virtue of the circumcision; and they will also discover that the generation of Him whom we preach, and His cross, and all the things that have happened in the history of our Lord, are those very matters which had been predicted of that Prophet. And I could wish, indeed, to examine every such passage of Scripture by itself, and to point out its import, as it is meet that it should be understood.^[2] But as it is another subject that is now urgent, these passages shall be discussed by us at some season of leisure. For at present, what I have already said may be sufficient for the purpose of showing, that it is not without reason that the veil is (said to be) put upon the heart of certain persons in the reading of the Old Testament. But those who turn to the Lord shall have the veil taken away from them. What precise force all these things, however, may possess, I leave to the apprehension of those who have sound intelligence. Let us come now again to that word of Moses, in which he says: “The Lord your God shall raise up a Prophet unto you, of your brethren, like unto me.” In this saying I perceive a great prophecy delivered by the servant Moses, as by one cognizant^[3] that He who is to come is indeed to be possessed of greater authority than himself, and nevertheless is to suffer like things with him, and to show like signs and wonders. For there, Moses after his birth was placed by his mother in an ark, and exposed beside the banks of the river;^[4] here, our Lord Jesus Christ, after His birth by Mary His mother, was sent off in flight into Egypt through the instrumentality of an angel.^[5] There, Moses led forth his people from the midst of the Egyptians, and saved them;^[6] and here, Jesus, leading forth His people from the midst of the Pharisees, transferred them to an eternal salvation.^[7] There, Moses sought bread by prayer, and received it from heaven, in order that he might feed the people with it in the wilderness;^[8] here, my Lord Jesus by His own power satisfied^[9] with five loaves five thousand men in the wilderness.^[10] There, Moses when he was tried was set upon the mountain and fasted forty days;^[11] and here, my Lord Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness when He was tempted of the devil, and fasted in like manner forty days.^[12] There, before the sight of Moses, all the first-born of the Egyptians perished on account of the treachery of Pharaoh;^[13] and here, at the time of the birth of Jesus, every male among the Jews suddenly perished by reason of the treachery of Herod.^[14] There, Moses prayed that Pharaoh and his people might be spared the plagues;^[15] and here, our Lord Jesus prayed that the Pharisees might be pardoned, when He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”^[16] There, the countenance of Moses shone with the glory of the Lord, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look upon his face, on account of the glory of his countenance;^[17] and here, the Lord Jesus Christ shone like the sun,^[18] and His disciples were not able to look upon His face by reason of the glory of His countenance and the intense splendour of the light. There, Moses smote down with the sword those who had set up the calf;^[19] and here, the Lord Jesus said, “I came to send a sword upon the earth, and to set a man at variance with his neighbour,”^[20] and so on. There, Moses went without fear into the darkness of the clouds that carry water;^[21] and here, the Lord Jesus walked with all power upon the waters.^[22] There, Moses gave his commands to the sea;^[23] and here, the Lord Jesus, when he was on the sea,^[24] rose and gave His commands to the winds and the sea.^[25] There, Moses, when he was assailed, stretched forth his hands and fought against Amalek;^[26] and here, the Lord Jesus, when we were assailed and were perishing by the violence of that erring spirit who works now in the just,^[27] stretched forth His hands upon the cross, and gave us salvation. But there are indeed many other matters of this kind which I must pass by, my dearly beloved Diodorus, as I am in haste to send you this little book with all convenient speed; and these omissions of mine you will be able yourself to supply very easily by your own intelligence. Write me, however, an account of all that this servant of the adversary’s cause may do hereafter. May the Omnipotent^[28] God preserve you whole in soul and in spirit!

Footnotes

1. Censum dare.
2. Reading “sermonem, et ostendere ut intelligi dignum est.” The Codex Bobiensis gives a mutilated version: “sermonem, ut intelligi, dignum est.”
3. Reading “Moysi scientis,” which is the emendation of Valesius. But Codex Casinensis gives “scientibus,” and Codex Bobiensis has “scientes.”
4. Ex. ii.
5. Matt. ii. 13.
6. Ex. xiv.
7. Mark viii. 15.
8. Ex. xvi.
9. Adopting “satiavit.” The Codex Bobiensis gives “saturavit.”
10. Matt. xiv.
11. Ex. xxxiv.
12. Matt. iv. 2.
13. Ex. xii.
14. Matt. ii. 16.
15. Ex. viii.
16. Luke xxiii. 34.
17. Ex. xxxiv. 35.
18. Matt. xvii. 2.
19. Ex. xxxii.
20. Matt. x. 34.
21. Ex. xxiv. 18.
22. Matt. xiv. 25.
23. Ex. xiv.
24. Reading “in mari.” But the Codex Bobiensis has in navi = on a ship.
25. Matt. viii. 26.
26. Ex. xvii.
27. The text gives in justis. But the Codex Bobiensis has in istis = in those men. The true reading may be in injustis = in the unrighteous. See Eph. ii. 2.
28. But the Codex Casinensis gives “Deus omnium” = the God of all.