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.For when John remained by the Jordan, and preached the baptismof repentance, wearing only a leathern girdle and a vesture made of camelshair, eating nothing but locusts and wild honey, men supposed him to beChrist; but he cried to them, I am not the Christ, but the voice of onecrying; for He that is stronger than I shall come, whose shoes I am notworthy to bear. And when Jesus came to the Jordan, He was consideredto be the son of Joseph the carpenter; and He appeared withoutcomeliness, as the Scriptures declared; and He was deemed a carpenter (forHe was in the habit of working as a carpenter when among men, makingploughs and yokes; by which He taught the symbols of righteousness andan active life); but then the Holy Ghost, and for man s sake, as I formerlystated, lighted on Him in the form of a dove, and there came at the sameinstant from the heavens a voice, which was uttered also by David whenhe spoke, personating Christ, what the Father would say to Him: Thouart My Son: this day have I begotten Thee; [the Father] saying that Hisgeneration would take place for men, at the time when they would becomeacquainted with Him: Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee. 473CHAPTER 89THE CROSS ALONE IS OFFENSIVE TO TRYPHO ON ACCOUNTOF THE CURSE, YET IT PROVES THAT JESUS IS CHRISTThen Trypho remarked, Be assured that all our nation waits for Christ;and we admit that all the Scriptures which you have quoted refer to Him.Moreover, I do also admit that the name of Jesus, by which the son ofNave (Nun) was called, has inclined me very strongly to adopt this view.But whether Christ should be so shamefully crucified, this we are in doubtabout.For whosoever is crucified is said in the law to be accursed, so that Iam exceedingly incredulous on this point.It is quite clear, indeed, that theScriptures announce that Christ had to suffer; but we wish to learn if youcan prove it to us whether it was by the suffering cursed in the law. I replied to him, If Christ was not to suffer, and the prophets had notforetold that He would be led to death on account of the sins of thepeople, and be dishonored and scourged, and reckoned among thetransgressors, and as a sheep be led to the slaughter, whose generation, theprophet says, no man can declare, then you would have good cause towonder.But if these are to be characteristic of Him and mark Him out toall, how is it possible for us to do anything else than believe in Him mostconfidently? And will not as many as have understood the writings of theprophets, whenever they hear merely that He was crucified, say that thisis He and no other? CHAPTER 90THE STRETCHED-OUT HANDS OF MOSESSIGNIFIED BEFOREHAND THE CROSS Bring us on, then, said [Trypho], by the Scriptures, that we may alsobe persuaded by you; for we know that He should suffer and be led as asheep.But prove to us whether He must be crucified and die sodisgracefully and so dishonorably by the death cursed in the law.For wecannot bring ourselves even to think of this. 474 You know, said I, that what the prophets said and did they veiled byparables and types, as you admitted to us; so that it was not easy for all tounderstand the most [of what they said], since they concealed the truth bythese means, that those who are eager to find out and learn it might do sowith much labor. They answered, We admitted this. Listen, therefore, say I, to what follows; for Moses first exhibited thisseeming 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 ofNave (Nun) by name Jesus (Joshua), led the fight, Moses himself prayedto God, stretching out both hands, and Hur with Aaron supported themduring the whole day, so that they might not hang down when he gotwearied.For if he gave up any part of this sign, which was an imitation ofthe cross, the people were beaten, as is recorded in the writings of Moses;but if he remained in this form, Amalek was proportionally defeated, andhe who prevailed prevailed by the cross.For it was not because Moses soprayed that the people were stronger, but because, while one who bore thename of Jesus (Joshua) was in the forefront of the battle, he himself madethe sign of the cross.For who of you knows not that the prayer of onewho accompanies it with lamentation and tears, with the body prostrate,or with bended knees, propitiates God most of all? But in such a mannerneither he nor any other one, while sitting on a stone, prayed.Nor even thestone symbolized Christ, as I have shown.CHAPTER 91THE CROSS WAS FORETOLD IN THE BLESSINGS OF JOSEPH,AND IN THE SERPENT THAT WAS LIFTED UP. And God by Moses shows in another way the force of the mystery ofthe cross, when He said in the blessing wherewith Joseph was blessed, From the blessing of the Lord is his land; for the seasons of heaven, andfor the dews, and for the deep springs from beneath, and for the seasonable 475fruits of the sun, and for the coming together of the months, and for theheights of the everlasting mountains, and for the heights of the hills, andfor the ever-flowing rivers, and for the fruits of the fatness of the earth;and let the things accepted by Him who appeared in the bush come on thehead and crown of Joseph.Let him be glorified among his brethren; hisbeauty is [like] the firstling of a bullock; his horns the horns of an unicorn:with these shall he push the nations from one end of the earth to another.Now, no one could say or prove that the horns of an unicorn represent anyother fact or figure than the type which portrays the cross.For the onebeam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up intoa horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on bothsides as horns joined on to the one horn.And the part which is fixed in thecenter, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands outlike a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the otherhorns.And the expression, With these shall he push as with horns thenations from one end of the earth to another, is indicative of what is nowthe fact among all the nations.For some out of all the nations, through thepower of this mystery, having been so pushed, that is, pricked in theirhearts, have turned from vain idols and demons to serve God.But the samefigure is revealed for the destruction and condemnation of the unbelievers;even as Amalek was defeated and Israel victorious when the people cameout of Egypt, by means of the type of the stretching out of Moses hands,and the name of Jesus (Joshua), by which the son of Nave (Nun) wascalled
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