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--- text:demonstration_of_the_gospel_book_9 [2013/09/07 16:53] – created fredmond
+++ text:demonstration_of_the_gospel_book_9 [2014/01/15 11:56] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
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 And if any prefer to apply the prophecy to the people, regarding it as spoken concerning the people of Israel, let him consider the sequence of the argument, which implies that this will take place after the saying addressed as to Jerusalem itself, "And destruction shall be raised up in thy (b) |160 people, and all thy strong places shall depart." And those things, it says, which such and such a king suffered in a war in which he was involved, when they dashed the mother to the ground on her children, the like will I do unto you because of your wickedness. He must mean by "you" them that are called Israelites, who also were cast away with their king, by whom he implies Herod. "And you have suffered all this," it says, "because Israel is a child, (c) and I loved him, and out of Egypt have I called my son." But how can he praise and blame the same people at the same time? The real meaning supplies the explanation. The Christ is called "Israel," in other prophecies, as He is in this. Since then, it says, being obedient to Me, He took the form of a servant, and became My beloved Son, fulfilling all My will, therefore I called Him back as My (d) true and beloved Son from the Egypt whither He descended when He became man, meaning by Egypt this earthly sphere, or possibly Egypt itself. But you, to whom the prophecy is spoken, shall suffer ruin and destruction, together with your king. Such is the prophecy. And we can see that from our Saviour's time by the siege of Jerusalem the independence and national power of the Jewish race that existed up till then was destroyed and utterly cast away. This is the third prophecy concerning Egypt, and His sojourn there.
-But if any one say that it does not apply to our Saviour, yet let him not deny that the words quoted by Matthew were taken by him from the witness of Moses, which I have lately expounded, when explaining the words, '' God led (428) him out of Egypt," and as the evangelist himself never says that the oracle was quoted from the prophecy of Hosea, he can seek for it and find it laid up in any place, whence it is probable that the evangelist quoted it. |161
+But if any one say that it does not apply to our Saviour, yet let him not deny that the words quoted by Matthew were taken by him from the witness of Moses, which I have lately expounded, when explaining the words, " God led (428) him out of Egypt," and as the evangelist himself never says that the oracle was quoted from the prophecy of Hosea, he can seek for it and find it laid up in any place, whence it is probable that the evangelist quoted it. |161
 ===== CHAPTER 5 =====
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 For such words would not apply to God, but only to the tabernacle, which He assumed for our sake, when the Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. Here I think it will be well to quote the words of the other translators, to put what I have said on an exact foundation. Of whom, Aquila said: |169
-"For thou, Lord, my hope, hast set thy dwelling (437) very high. Evils shall not affect thee, and no touch shall come near to thy shelter: for he gave command to his angels to guard thee in all thy ways.''
+"For thou, Lord, my hope, hast set thy dwelling (437) very high. Evils shall not affect thee, and no touch shall come near to thy shelter: for he gave command to his angels to guard thee in all thy ways."
 And Symmachus has:
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 (439) [Passage quoted, Matt. iv. 12-25.]
-I have quoted this passage in its entirety, because the (b) prophecy promised that there would be a great light in Galilee, or in the land of Zabulon and Nephthalim, which are the same as Galilee. Now why did He pass most of His life in Galilee of the Gentiles? Surely that He might make a beginning of the calling of the Gentiles, for He called His disciples from thence. Wherefore, shortly after, in the same Gospel you will find that Matthew was called from Galilee, and in another Gospel, Levi also. And Philip, according to John, came from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew (c) and Peter, which was in Galilee. The marriage too, in the same Gospel, was in Cana of Galilee, when the Lord miraculously transformed the water into wine. "There he made a beginning of signs, when also he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him." Consider whether this first miracle of our Saviour that took place in Cana of Galilee, of the transformation of the water into wine, is not foretold in the beginning of this prophecy, where it says: "Drink this first. Act quickly, land of Zabulon and (d) Nephthalim, Galilee of the Gentiles." And if this miracle were a sign of the mystic wine, that wine of the faith of the new Covenant that is transformed from bodily joy to a joy of mind and spirit, consider whether this too was not suggested in what follows about Galilee, in the prophecy that the inhabitants of Zabulon and Nephthalim would be the first to come into the presence of Christ, to partake of the draught of Gospel preaching. It says, too, that the spring of their joy will be the shining of a great light, for them who before His Coming sat continually in darkness and the shadow of |171 death. But that when the light of salvation has sprung up, they will rejoice as men rejoice in harvest, and as they who (440) divide the spoils. And this was actually fulfilled, when our Lord and Saviour, calling His Apostles from Galilee, shewed forth to them His miracles and His teaching. The prophecy says that they will rejoice before Him, "as men rejoice in harvest." In what harvest, 1 ask, but that of which He spake in His teaching, "Lift up your eyes and behold the lands, that they are already white unto harvest"? By this He meant the gathering in of the Gentiles: of whom it is also said, "They shall rejoice, as they who divide the spoils." (b) Therefore the disciples and evangelists of our Saviour, dividing between them the lands of the nations, and all the earth under heaven, despoiled the countless princes of this world, who were before rulers of the nations. And we should also recognize that He says there will be another reason for their joy, viz.: their relief from the external yoke of the law, that of old was laid on them, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. And not only was this (c) yoke removed from them, but the rod of the exactors which before pressed on their neck. He shews who the exactors are in another passage, where He says: "My people, your factors take your corn, and the exactors rule over you." But these men of Zabulon and Nephthalim will rejoice having seen the great light for these reasons, and they who exacted of them of old will be required to repay even to the last farthing, and repaying every garment and vestment they will be burned with fire in the day of retribution. And all this, (d) He says, they will suffer, because "Unto us a child is born, a son is given to us, the Angel of Great Counsel.'' Who are meant by "us," but we who have believed in Him, and all Galilee of the Gentiles, on whom the great light is sprung up? And what is this light but the Child that was born, and the Son that was given us by God, Who is named the Angel of Great Counsel, and the Prince of Peace, the Potentate, the Mighty God, and the Father of the world to come? But I have already shewn in its right place that these words can only be referred to our Lord and Saviour. |172
+I have quoted this passage in its entirety, because the (b) prophecy promised that there would be a great light in Galilee, or in the land of Zabulon and Nephthalim, which are the same as Galilee. Now why did He pass most of His life in Galilee of the Gentiles? Surely that He might make a beginning of the calling of the Gentiles, for He called His disciples from thence. Wherefore, shortly after, in the same Gospel you will find that Matthew was called from Galilee, and in another Gospel, Levi also. And Philip, according to John, came from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew (c) and Peter, which was in Galilee. The marriage too, in the same Gospel, was in Cana of Galilee, when the Lord miraculously transformed the water into wine. "There he made a beginning of signs, when also he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed on him." Consider whether this first miracle of our Saviour that took place in Cana of Galilee, of the transformation of the water into wine, is not foretold in the beginning of this prophecy, where it says: "Drink this first. Act quickly, land of Zabulon and (d) Nephthalim, Galilee of the Gentiles." And if this miracle were a sign of the mystic wine, that wine of the faith of the new Covenant that is transformed from bodily joy to a joy of mind and spirit, consider whether this too was not suggested in what follows about Galilee, in the prophecy that the inhabitants of Zabulon and Nephthalim would be the first to come into the presence of Christ, to partake of the draught of Gospel preaching. It says, too, that the spring of their joy will be the shining of a great light, for them who before His Coming sat continually in darkness and the shadow of |171 death. But that when the light of salvation has sprung up, they will rejoice as men rejoice in harvest, and as they who (440) divide the spoils. And this was actually fulfilled, when our Lord and Saviour, calling His Apostles from Galilee, shewed forth to them His miracles and His teaching. The prophecy says that they will rejoice before Him, "as men rejoice in harvest." In what harvest, 1 ask, but that of which He spake in His teaching, "Lift up your eyes and behold the lands, that they are already white unto harvest"? By this He meant the gathering in of the Gentiles: of whom it is also said, "They shall rejoice, as they who divide the spoils." (b) Therefore the disciples and evangelists of our Saviour, dividing between them the lands of the nations, and all the earth under heaven, despoiled the countless princes of this world, who were before rulers of the nations. And we should also recognize that He says there will be another reason for their joy, viz.: their relief from the external yoke of the law, that of old was laid on them, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. And not only was this (c) yoke removed from them, but the rod of the exactors which before pressed on their neck. He shews who the exactors are in another passage, where He says: "My people, your factors take your corn, and the exactors rule over you." But these men of Zabulon and Nephthalim will rejoice having seen the great light for these reasons, and they who exacted of them of old will be required to repay even to the last farthing, and repaying every garment and vestment they will be burned with fire in the day of retribution. And all this, (d) He says, they will suffer, because "Unto us a child is born, a son is given to us, the Angel of Great Counsel." Who are meant by "us," but we who have believed in Him, and all Galilee of the Gentiles, on whom the great light is sprung up? And what is this light but the Child that was born, and the Son that was given us by God, Who is named the Angel of Great Counsel, and the Prince of Peace, the Potentate, the Mighty God, and the Father of the world to come? But I have already shewn in its right place that these words can only be referred to our Lord and Saviour. |172
 ===== CHAPTER 9 =====
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 "I am not come but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "And He commanded His apostles saying, Go not into the road of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel";
-shewing clearly that He was primarily sent to them as the prophecy required. But when they would not receive His grace, He reproves them elsewhere, saying, "For I came, and there was no man, I called and there was none that heard." And He says to them, "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bearing the fruits of it." And He bids His own disciples after their rejection, "Go ye and make disciples of all nations in my name.'' So, then, we that are the |176 Gentiles know and receive the prophet that was foretold, and sent by His Father, as being Lawgiver to all men of the religion of the God of the Universe, through His saving Gospel teaching, that other prediction being fulfilled at the same time which says, "Set, Lord, a Lawgiver over them, let the Gentiles know themselves to be men," while the Jewish nation, not receiving Him that was foretold, has paid the fit penalty according to the divine prediction which said, "And the man who will not hear all things whatsoever the prophet shall speak in My Name, I will exact vengeance on him." Surely He has avenged on that people all the blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, yea, even to crown all to the Christ Himself, Whose blood they called down not only on themselves but on their children, and even now they pay the penalty of their presumptuous sin.
+shewing clearly that He was primarily sent to them as the prophecy required. But when they would not receive His grace, He reproves them elsewhere, saying, "For I came, and there was no man, I called and there was none that heard." And He says to them, "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bearing the fruits of it." And He bids His own disciples after their rejection, "Go ye and make disciples of all nations in my name." So, then, we that are the |176 Gentiles know and receive the prophet that was foretold, and sent by His Father, as being Lawgiver to all men of the religion of the God of the Universe, through His saving Gospel teaching, that other prediction being fulfilled at the same time which says, "Set, Lord, a Lawgiver over them, let the Gentiles know themselves to be men," while the Jewish nation, not receiving Him that was foretold, has paid the fit penalty according to the divine prediction which said, "And the man who will not hear all things whatsoever the prophet shall speak in My Name, I will exact vengeance on him." Surely He has avenged on that people all the blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, yea, even to crown all to the Christ Himself, Whose blood they called down not only on themselves but on their children, and even now they pay the penalty of their presumptuous sin.
 ===== (446) CHAPTER 12 =====