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| Chapter XXXII.—Christ predicted by Moses.
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Chapter XXXII.—Christ predicted by
Moses.
Moses then, who was the
first of the prophets, spoke in these very words: “The sceptre
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until
He come for whom it is reserved; and He shall be the desire of the
nations, binding His foal to the vine, washing His robe in the blood of
the grape.”1827
It is yours to make
accurate inquiry, and ascertain up to whose time the Jews had a lawgiver
and king of their own. Up to the time of Jesus Christ, who taught us, and
interpreted the prophecies which were not yet understood, [they had a
lawgiver] as was foretold by the holy and divine Spirit of prophecy
through Moses, “that a ruler would not fail the Jews until He
should come for whom the kingdom was reserved” (for Judah was the
forefather of the Jews, from whom also they have their name of Jews); and
after He (i.e., Christ) appeared, you began to rule the Jews, and gained
possession of all their territory. And the prophecy, “He shall be
the expectation of the nations,” signified that there would be some
of all nations who should look for Him to come again. And this indeed you
can see for yourselves, and be convinced of by fact. For of all races of
men there are some who look for Him who was crucified in Judæa, and
after whose crucifixion the land was straightway surrendered to you as
spoil of war. And the prophecy, “binding His foal to the vine, and
washing His robe in the blood of the grape,” was a significant
symbol of the things that were to happen to Christ, and of what He was to
do. For the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a
village, and He ordered His acquaintances to bring it to Him then; and
when it was brought, He mounted and sat upon it, and entered Jerusalem,
where was the vast temple of the Jews which was afterwards destroyed by
you. And after this He was crucified, that the rest of the prophecy might
be fulfilled. For
this “washing His robe in the blood of the grape” was
predictive of the passion He was to endure, cleansing by His blood those
who believe on Him. For what is called by the Divine Spirit through the
prophet “His robe,” are those men who believe in Him in whom
abideth the seed1828
| 1828 Grabe
would here read, not σπέρμα, but
πνεῦμα, the spirit;
but the Benedictine, Otto, and Trollope all think that no change should
be made. | of God, the Word. And what is spoken of as
“the blood of the grape,” signifies that He who should appear
would have blood, though not of the seed of man, but of the power of God.
And the first
power after God the Father and Lord of all is the Word, who is also the
Son; and of Him we will, in what follows, relate how He took flesh and
became man. For as man did not make the blood of the vine, but God, so it
was hereby intimated that the blood should not be of human seed, but of
divine
power, as we have said above. And Isaiah, another
prophet, foretelling the same things in other words, spoke thus: “A
star shall rise out of Jacob, and a flower shall spring from the root of
Jesse; and His arm shall the nations trust.1829
And a star of light has arisen, and a flower has sprung from the
root of Jesse—this Christ. For by the power of God He was
conceived by a virgin of the seed of Jacob, who was the father of Judah,
who, as we have shown, was the father of the Jews; and Jesse was His
forefather according to the oracle, and He was the son of Jacob and Judah
according to lineal descent.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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