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| Chapter CXXX.—He returns to the conversion of the Gentiles, and shows that it was foretold.
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Chapter CXXX.—He returns to the
conversion of the Gentiles, and shows that it was foretold.
And when all had given assent, I said: “I
would now adduce some passages which I had not recounted before. They are
recorded by the faithful servant Moses in parable, and are as follows:
‘Rejoice, O ye heavens, with Him, and let all the angels of God
worship Him;’ ”2458
and I
added what follows of the passage: “ ‘Rejoice, O ye nations,
with His people, and let all the angels of God be strengthened in Him:
for the blood of His sons He avenges, and will avenge, and will
recompense His enemies with vengeance, and will recompense those that
hate Him; and the Lord will purify the land of His people.’ And by
these words He declares that we, the nations, rejoice with His people,
—to wit, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the prophets, and, in
short, all of that people who are well-pleasing to God, according to what
has been already agreed on between us. But we will not receive it of all
your nation; since we know from Isaiah2459
that the
members of those who have transgressed shall be consumed
by
the worm and unquenchable fire, remaining immortal; so that they become a
spectacle to all flesh. But
in addition to these, I wish, sirs,” said I, “to add some
other passages from the very words of Moses, from which you may
understand that God has from of old dispersed all men according to their
kindreds and tongues; and out of all kindreds has taken to Himself your
kindred, a useless, disobedient, and faithless generation; and has shown
that those who were selected out of every nation have obeyed His will
through Christ,—whom He calls also Jacob, and names Israel,
—and these, then, as I mentioned fully previously, must be Jacob
and Israel. For when He says, ‘Rejoice, O ye nations, with His
people,’ He allots the same inheritance to them, and does not call
them by the same name;2460
| 2460
The reading is, “and calls them by the same name.” But the
whole argument shows that the Jews and Gentiles are distinguished by
name. [But that Gentiles are also called (Israel) by the same name is the
point here.] | but when He says that they as Gentiles rejoice
with His people, He calls them Gentiles to reproach you. For even as you
provoked Him to anger by your idolatry, so also He has deemed those who
were idolaters worthy of knowing His will, and of inheriting His
inheritance.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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