and why [do you behold] the one that is accursed crowned? Because they shall see Him then in that day having a scarlet robe about his body down to his feet; and they shall say, Is not this He whom we once despised, and pierced, and mocked, and crucified? Truly this is[1] He who then declared Himself to be the Son of God. For how like is He to Him![2] With a view to this, [He required] the goats to be of goodly aspect, and similar, that, when they see Him then coming, they may be amazed by the likeness of the goat. Behold, then,[3] the type of Jesus who was to suffer. But why is it that they place the wool in the midst of thorns? It is a type of Jesus set before the view of the church. [They[4] place the wool among thorns], that any one who wishes to bear it away may find it necessary to suffer much, because the thorn is formidable, and thus obtain it only as the result of suffering. Thus also, says He, "Those who wish to behold me, and lay hold of my kingdom, must through tribulation and suffering obtain me."[5]
Chap. viii.—The red heifer a type of Christ.
Now what do you suppose this to be a type of, that a command was given to Israel, that men of the greatest wickedness[6] should offer a heifer, and slay and burn it, and that then boys should take the ashes, and put these into vessels, and bind round a stick[7] purple wool along with hyssop, and that thus the boys should sprinkle the people, one by one, in order that they might be purified from their sins? Consider how
- ↑ Literally, "was."
- ↑ The text is here in great confusion, though the meaning is plain. Dressel reads, "For how are they alike, and why [does He enjoin] that the goats should be good and alike?" The Cod. Sin. reads, "How is He like Him? For this that," etc.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. here inserts "the goat."
- ↑ Cod. Sin. reads, "for as he who … so, says he," etc.
- ↑ Comp. Acts xiv. 22.
- ↑ Literally, "men in whom sins are perfect." Of this, and much more that follows, no mention is made in Scripture.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. has "upon sticks," and adds, "Behold again the type of the cross, both the scarlet wool and the hyssop,"—adopted by Hilgenfeld.
