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| Chapter CXIII.—Joshua was a figure of Christ.
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Chapter CXIII.—Joshua was a figure of
Christ.
“What I mean is this. Jesus (Joshua),
as I have now frequently remarked, who was called Oshea, when he was sent
to spy out the land of Canaan, was named by Moses Jesus (Joshua). Why he
did this you neither ask, nor are at a loss about it, nor make strict
inquiries. Therefore Christ has escaped your notice; and though you read,
you understand not; and even now, though you hear that Jesus is our
Christ, you consider not that the name was bestowed on Him not
purposelessly nor by chance. But you make a theological discussion as to
why one ‘α’ was added to
Abraham’s first name; and as to why one ‘ρ’ was added to
Sarah’s name, you use similar high-sounding disputations.2373
| 2373 According to the LXX.,
Σάρα was altered
to Σάῤῥα, and
Ἄβραμ to Ἀβραάμ.
| But why do you not similarly investigate the reason why the name
of Oshea the son of Nave (Nun), which his father gave him, was changed to
Jesus (Joshua)? But since not only was his name altered, but he was also
appointed successor to Moses, being the only one of his contemporaries
who came out from Egypt, he led the surviving people into the Holy Land;
and as he, not Moses, led the people into the Holy Land, and as he
distributed it by lot to those who entered along with him, so also Jesus
the Christ will turn again the dispersion of the people, and will
distribute the good land to each one, though not in the same manner. For
the former gave them a temporary inheritance, seeing he was neither
Christ who is God, nor the Son of God; but the latter, after the holy
resurrection,2374
| 2374 Or,
“resurrection of the saints.” | shall give us the
eternal possession. The former, after he had been named Jesus (Joshua),
and after he had received strength from His Spirit, caused the sun to
stand still. For I have proved that it was Jesus who appeared to and
conversed with Moses, and Abraham, and all the other patriarchs without
exception, ministering to the will of the Father; who also, I say, came
to be born man by the Virgin Mary, and I lives for ever. For the latter
is He after2375
whom
and by whom the Father will renew both the heaven and the earth; this is
He who shall shine an eternal light in Jerusalem; this is he who is the
king of Salem after the order of Melchizedek, and the eternal Priest of
the Most High. The former is said to have circumcised the people a second
time with knives of stone (which was a sign of this circumcision with
which Jesus Christ Himself has circumcised us from the idols made of
stone and of other materials), and to have collected together those who
were circumcised from the uncircumcision, i.e., from the error of the
world, in every place by the knives of stone, to wit, the words of our
Lord Jesus. For I have shown that Christ was proclaimed by the prophets
in parables a Stone and a Rock. Accordingly the knives of stone we shall
take to mean His words, by means of
which so many who were
in error have been circumcised from uncircumcision with the circumcision
of the heart, with which God by Jesus commanded those from that time to
be circumcised who derived their circumcision from Abraham, saying that
Jesus (Joshua) would circumcise a second time with knives of stone those
who entered into that holy land.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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