Chapter XC.—The stretched-out hands
of Moses signified beforehand the cross.
“Bring us on, then,” said [Trypho],
“by the Scriptures, that we may also be persuaded by you; for we
know that He should suffer and be led as a sheep. But prove to us whether
He must be crucified and die so disgracefully and so dishonourably by the
death cursed in the law.2302
| 2302
[This intense abhorrence of the cross made it worth while to show that
these similitudes existed under the law. They were ad hominem
appeals, and suited to Jewish modes of thought.] |
For we
cannot bring ourselves even to think of this.”
“You know,” said I, “that what the
prophets said and did they veiled by parables and types, as you admitted
to us; so that it was not easy for all to understand the most [of what
they said], since they concealed the truth by these means, that those who
are eager to find out and learn it might do so with much
labour.”
They answered, “We admitted this.”
“Listen, therefore,” say I, “to what
follows; for Moses first exhibited this seeming curse of Christ’s
by the signs which he made.”
“Of what [signs] do you speak?” said
he.
“When the people,” replied
I, “waged war with Amalek, and the son of Nave (Nun) by name Jesus
(Joshua), led the fight, Moses himself prayed to God, stretching out both
hands, and Hur with Aaron supported them during the whole day, so that
they might not hang down when he got wearied. For if he gave up any part
of this sign, which was an imitation of the cross, the people were
beaten, as is recorded in the writings of Moses; but if he remained in
this form, Amalek was proportionally defeated, and he who prevailed
prevailed by the cross. For it was not because Moses so prayed that the
people were stronger, but because, while one who bore the name of Jesus
(Joshua) was in the forefront of the battle, he himself made the sign of
the cross. For who of you knows not that the prayer of one who
accompanies it with lamentation and tears, with the body prostrate, or
with bended knees, propitiates God most of all? But in such a manner
neither he nor any other one, while sitting on a stone, prayed. Nor even
the stone symbolized Christ, as I have shown.
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