Chap. xii.—The cross of Christ frequently announced in the Old Testament.
In like manner He points to the cross of Christ in another prophet, who saith,[1] "And when shall these things be accomplished? And the Lord saith, When a tree shall be bent down, and again arise, and when blood shall flow out of wood."[2] Here again you have an intimation concerning the cross, and Him who should be crucified. Yet again He speaks of this[3] in Moses, when Israel was attacked by strangers. And that He might remind them, when assailed, that it was on account of their sins they were delivered to death, the Spirit speaks to the heart of Moses, that he should make a figure of the cross, [4]and of Him about to suffer thereon; for unless they put their trust in Him, they shall be overcome for ever. Moses therefore placed one weapon above another in the midst of the hill,[5] and standing upon it, so as to be higher than all the people, he stretched forth his hands,[6] and thus again Israel acquired the mastery. But when again he let down his hands, they were again destroyed. For what reason? That they might know that they could not be saved unless they put their trust in Him.[7] And in another prophet He declares, "All day long I have stretched forth my hands to an unbelieving people, and one that gainsays my righteous way."[8] And again Moses makes a type of Jesus, [signifying] that it was necessary for Him to suffer, [and also] that He would be the author of life[9] [to others], whom they believed
- ↑ Cod. Sin. refers this to God, and not to the prophet.
- ↑ From some unknown apocryphal book. Hilgenfeld compares Hab. ii. 11.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. reads, "He speaks to Moses."
- ↑ Cod. Sin. omits "and."
- ↑ Cod. Sin. reads πυγμῆς, which must here be translated "heap" or "mass." According to Hilgenfeld, however, πυγμή is here equivalent to πυγμαχία, "a fight." The meaning would then be, that "Moses piled weapon upon weapon in the midst of the battle," instead of "hill" (πήγης), as above.
- ↑ Thus standing in the form of a cross.
- ↑ Or, as some read, "in the cross."
- ↑ Isa. lxv. 2.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. has, "and He shall make him alive."
