to have destroyed on the cross[1] when Israel was falling. For since transgression was committed by Eve through means of the serpent, [the Lord] brought it to pass that every [kind of] serpents bit them, and they died,[2] that He might convince them, that on account of their transgression they were given over to the straits of death. Moreover Moses, when he commanded, "Ye shall not have any graven or molten [image] for your God,"[3] did so that he might reveal a type of Jesus. Moses then makes a brazen serpent, and places it upon a beam,[4] and by proclamation assembles the people. When, therefore, they were come together, they besought Moses that he would offer sacrifice[5] in their behalf, and pray for their recovery. And Moses spake unto them, saying, "When any one of you is bitten, let him come to the serpent placed on the pole; and let him hope and believe, that even though dead, it is able to give him life, and immediately he shall be restored."[6] And they did so. Thou hast in this also [an indication of] the glory of Jesus; for in Him and to Him are all things.[7] What, again, says Moses to Jesus (Joshua) the son of Nave, when he gave him[8] this name, as being a prophet, with this view only, that all the people might hear that the Father would reveal all things concerning His Son Jesus to the son[9] of Nave? This name then being given him when he sent him to spy out the land, he said, "Take a book into thy hands, and write what the Lord declares, that the Son of God will in the last days cut off from the roots all the house of Amalek."[10] Behold again: Jesus who was manifested, both by type and in the flesh,[11] is
- ↑ Literally, "the sign."
- ↑ Comp. Num. xxi. 6–9; John iii. 14–18.
- ↑ Deut. xxvii. 15. Cod. Sin. reads, "molten or graven."
- ↑ Instead of ἐν δοκῷ, "on a beam," Cod. Sin. with other mss. has ἐνδόξως, "manifestly," which is adopted by Hilgenfeld.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. simply reads, "offer supplication."
- ↑ Num. xxi. 9.
- ↑ Comp. Col. i. 16.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. has the imperative, "Put on him;" but it is connected as above.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. closes the sentence with Jesus, and inserts, "Moses said therefore to Jesus."
- ↑ Ex. xvii. 14.
- ↑ Comp. 1 Tim. iii. 16.
