Demonstratio Evangelica 10 part 3/5

Then next, indicating the very events that took place at the time of the saving Passion, he says, "in that day," says the Lord, "the sun shall go down at noon, and the light shall be darkened over the earth in daytime" — words which received a manifest fulfillment, when our Savior was lifted up, and, according to the evangelist, darkness came over all the land from the sixth hour until the ninth hour; and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani."

These things having come to pass in this manner, he next adds: "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. And I will bring up sackcloth upon every loin, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it like the mourning for a beloved, and those with him like a day of anguish. Behold, days are coming," says the Lord, "and I will send a famine upon the land — not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord" — and so on.

All these things, prophesied to come to pass on account of their pride shown against Christ, displayed a manifest fulfillment of the prediction after their plot against our Savior.

Not before, then, but from that time and to this day, God has turned their feasts into mourning and their songs into lamentation, having deprived them of the far-famed metropolis, and having thrown down the venerable sanctuary within it, in the reign of the Roman emperors Titus and Vespasian, so that not even should they come could they perform the lawful feasts and festal assemblies there. Why need one say how the famine of hearing the word of the Lord has come upon them all, since they drove out from themselves the word of God, unanimously denying him, and having been denied by him in turn? From Zechariah.

"And the Lord my God shall come, and all the holy ones with him. In that day there shall be no light, and there shall be cold and frost for one day. And that day shall be known to the Lord, and shall not be day nor night; but toward evening it shall be light. And in that day living water shall go forth from Jerusalem, half of it toward the former sea, and half of it toward the latter sea; it shall be so in summer and in spring. And the Lord shall become king over all the earth; in that day the Lord shall be one, and his name one, encircling all the earth and the wilderness."

And these things were fulfilled at the coming of our Savior, which he made either with his own sacred apostles and disciples, or with his holy ones — certain divine powers and incorporeal spirits, angels and his ministers, concerning whom it is said in the sacred Gospels that angels came to him and ministered to him.

And with respect to "that day" — for it is thus the sacred Scripture is pleased to call the whole time of his sojourn among men — there was fulfilled, along with the other predictions, also the matter now in hand, at the time when, during his Passion, darkness came over all the land from the sixth hour until the ninth hour. Therefore the prophecy says, "in that day there shall be no light," and again, "and it shall not be day nor night; toward evening it shall be light."

By which I take it to be most clearly signified the condition of that time, in which, the Savior having been lifted up, and it being day, night gripped the surrounding atmosphere from the sixth hour until the ninth; after which, the darkness in turn ceasing, day and light came again, after which again, in the usual way, night overtook it. These things the word of the prophecy hinted at, saying, "and that day shall be known to the Lord, and shall not be day nor night; toward evening it shall be light."

For it was not day, on account of the darkness at midday; and again it was not night, on account of the day that overtook it — which he indicated, signifying it by saying, "toward evening it shall be light." And who would not marvel also at the mention of the wintry season? — which the word also foretold, saying, "and there shall be cold and frost." This fact too the testimony of the Gospel confirms, when Peter, following Jesus, warmed himself with the others, they having kindled a fire in the courtyard of Caiaphas.

John, at any rate, expressly mentioned the cold as well, saying: 'Now the servants and the officers were standing, having made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were warming themselves.'

Now as regards the letter, the things foretold had reached such an outcome; but as regards the sense, the whole nation of the Jews -- the saving light having shone upon them, and they having chosen the darkness rather than the light -- this very thing which they chose befell them: the light withdrew from them, night without radiance took hold of them, their understanding was darkened, so that the illumination of the Gospel did not shine forth in their hearts; and moreover their love toward God grew cold. Fittingly, then, the symbols of these things were being accomplished, and the prediction was in due course fulfilled, on that day of the saving manifestation when living water went forth from Jerusalem, the fruitful and life-giving word of the evangelical teaching going forth to all the nations, beginning from Judaea, and indeed from Jerusalem itself, but being spread abroad into all the earth, and to all the ends of the inhabited world.

Of this water our Saviour and Lord himself also makes mention, saying to the Samaritan woman: 'If thou knewest who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked him, and he would have given thee living water.' And how great was the benefit that accrued to those who tasted the living and rational stream, he shows next, teaching that those who drink of it, having renounced the many wicked daimons who formerly ruled over them, will confess the one Lord and King who is their own; and that the Lord who before was known to the Hebrews alone will become king of all the nations out of the whole earth who believe in him, and his name will be one, encircling all the earth and the wilderness.

And this very thing -- who, beholding it, would not be astonished? For from the appellation 'Christ' (and he himself was the Christ, the Lord), the name 'Christians' has encircled every place and city and region, and even the nations dwelling in the deserts and in the uttermost parts of the earth, in accordance with the oracles of prophecy. From Psalm 21.

O God, my God, attend unto me; why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions. O my God, I will cry by day, and thou wilt not hear; and by night, and it is not folly to me. But thou dwellest in the holy place, thou the praise of Israel. Our fathers hoped in thee; they hoped, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were saved; they hoped in thee, and were not put to shame. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that beheld me laughed me to scorn; they spoke with their lips, they shook the head, saying, He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him, since he desireth him.

For thou art he that drew me out of the womb, my hope from my mother's breasts. Upon thee was I cast from the womb; from my mother's belly thou art my God. Depart not from me, for tribulation is near, for there is none to help.

Many calves surrounded me; fat bulls encompassed me. They opened their mouth against me, as a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are scattered; my heart has become like wax melting in the midst of my belly. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue has cleaved to my throat, and thou hast brought me down to the dust of death. For many dogs surrounded me; an assembly of evildoers encompassed me.

They pierced my hands and my feet; they numbered all my bones. But they looked and stared upon me; they parted my garments among themselves, and cast lots upon my raiment. But thou, O Lord, remove not my help far off; attend unto my support. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only one from the hand of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, and my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns.

I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I hymn thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye seed of Jacob, glorify him. Let all the seed of Israel fear him, for he has not despised nor abhorred the supplication of the poor, nor turned away his face from me, and when I cried unto him he heard me. My praise is of thee in the great assembly; I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and they that seek him shall praise the Lord.

Their hearts shall live for ever and ever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him, for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he himself is ruler over the nations. All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and worshipped; all they that go down into the earth shall fall down before him. My soul also lives to him, and my seed shall serve him. There shall be declared unto the Lord a generation to come, and they shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, whom the Lord has made.

The phrase, 'My God, attend unto me, why hast thou forsaken me,' at the beginning of the Psalm, is said, according to Matthew, to have been spoken by our Saviour at the time of the passion, thus: 'Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour; and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? that is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' And the Hebrew phrase is taken from the prophecy now in hand.

In these very syllables, then, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,' the opening of the Psalm consists, which Aquila interpreted in this manner: 'My Strong One, my Strong One, why hast thou forsaken me?' And that these words are equivalent to those spoken by our Saviour at the time of the passion, anyone whatsoever would confess.

It is time, then, without controversy to refer the Psalm to none other but him alone, since the contents fit him alone and no other. Indeed, it is directly demonstrated that the other things too have been fulfilled in him, and in particular what is said in the Psalm: 'They divided my garments among themselves, and cast lots upon my raiment.'

And it plainly indicates the driving of the nails through the hands and feet, by which he was nailed upon the cross, saying: 'They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones.' And the rest too would fit him alone, as the discourse proceeding will show; or else let whoever wishes to transfer it to some other person -- whether a king, or a prophet, or any one soever who was ever beloved of God among the Jews -- demonstrate whether he is able to make what is written apply.

For which of those ever conceived possessed such virtue and power that with steadfast reasoning and undisturbed soul and sober understanding he took up the knowledge of God, and hung the whole of his hope upon God, so as to be able to say: 'For thou art he that drew me out of my mother's womb, my hope from my mother's breasts. Upon thee was I cast from the womb; from my mother's belly thou art my God'?

But who else, so cared for by God, has become a reproach of men and the contempt of the people? By what sort and manner of calves and bulls must we understand such a one to have been surrounded? What did the one indicated suffer, that he was 'poured out like water'? And how were his bones 'scattered'? How was he 'brought down to the dust of death,' and yet, being brought down to the dust of death, still speaks such things, and lives, and utters sound? And who are the dogs that surrounded him, being other than the aforementioned bulls and calves? And what assembly of evildoers pierced not only the hands but also the feet of one so great, and having stripped him, divided some of his garments among themselves, while others obtained a portion by lot? And what is the sword, and the dog, and the lion? And who are the so-called unicorns that encompass the one indicated? And how, after such a struggle against so many, after being brought down to the dust of death, does he promise to declare the name of the Father -- not to all, but to his own brothers alone? And who are these brothers, and what is this assembly, concerning which he who suffered such things says, 'In the midst of the assembly will I hymn thee'? To which he further adds that it shall not be the nation of the Jews alone, but all the ends of the earth that shall perceive this together, and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. Do thou also, then, examining for thyself each phrase of the Psalm, consider whether it is possible to refer these oracles to any ordinary person.

But you would find these things to fit none other than our Saviour alone, who would be the most faithful and truest of all, having taken up in his own person the voice of the Psalm, as the evangelists have testified: Matthew, through the words we have already cited of him; and Mark, through what he too narrates in this manner, saying: 'Now when the sixth hour had come, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? which being interpreted is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of those who heard it said, He is calling Elijah.'

Come then, let us see accordingly how the things signified through the Psalm will be applied to him. And first let us take up the superscription, which says, 'Unto the end,' or according to Aquila, 'To the Victor,' or according to Symmachus, 'A song of victory concerning the support.'

This occurs to us: that the saving passion, as the words of the evangelists have shown, darkness having come from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, was completed about the ninth hour, when he uttered the loud voice, speaking the words just shown a little before; so that it is clearly acknowledged that his passion occurred about evening, as night was drawing on.

But the events of the resurrection from the dead, which was the support given by the Father, who came to his aid and drew him to himself out of the regions of death and received him, took place about dawn, as again appears from the testimony of the evangelists.

Luke, at any rate, says: 'Now on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared' -- clearly the women, and certain others with them. 'And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And when they entered, they did not find the body' -- because our Saviour had already risen from the dead.

This same thing Mark also shows, saying: 'And very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb, when the sun had risen, and they said to one another, Who will roll away for us the stone from the door of the tomb? For it was very great. And when they came, they found the stone rolled away, for it was already risen.' You have also the same testimony in John, who says: 'Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and sees the stone taken away from the tomb.'

And Matthew too, although he says 'late on the sabbath,' yet adds, saying: 'Now as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great earthquake.'

'For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb.' I have of necessity cited these passages in demonstration of the dawn-support prophesied in the Psalm.

For since it signifies the things concerning the passion of our Saviour, yet the dispensation concerning him did not terminate in the passion, but the end of the passion was the resurrection from the dead and the dawn-support; fittingly, then, the text dedicates the writing to that paradoxical end, since the whole undertaking, and the sufferings prior to the end, occurred for the sake of the resurrection from the dead and the dawn-support.

Our Saviour and Lord, then, having said, 'The God, my God, attend unto me, why hast thou forsaken me,' and next adding, 'But I am a worm, and not a man, a reproach of men and despised of the people,' and further adding, 'Many calves surrounded me, fat bulls encompassed me,' and clearly foretelling his own death through, 'Thou hast brought me down to the dust of death, for many dogs surrounded me, an assembly of evildoers encompassed me, they pierced my hands and my feet'; and further signifying the events attending the passion through, 'They divided my garments among themselves, and cast lots upon my raiment' --

-- having foretold these things and others like them, he did not stop there, but adds: 'Ye that fear the Lord, praise him, for he has not despised nor abhorred the supplication of the poor, nor turned away his face from me, and when I cried unto him, he heard me.'

How could he say he had been heard, unless he had altogether obtained the prayers and the things he had earlier besought, when he said, 'Thou hast brought me down to the dust of death. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only one from the hand of the dog'?

For having prayed and besought to be delivered and saved from these things, and having obtained what he had prayed for, he adds: 'He has not despised nor abhorred the supplication of the poor, nor turned away his face from me, and when I cried unto him, he heard me' -- clearly indicating his revival after death, which took place at the dawn-support, which the Psalm, proceeding further, set forth, saying: 'But thou, O Lord, put not far off my help; attend unto my support.' What support indeed, but that which the superscription of the Psalm hinted at?

But let this suffice, as spoken by us, concerning the superscription of the Psalm. As for 'Eli lama sabachthani,' spoken by our Saviour in these very Hebrew words at the time of the passion, and also set down in the Psalm, consider whether there is not laid up here a deeper contemplation among the Hebrews; for God is named 'Elohim.'

And this you would find throughout almost the whole of Scripture, since it is properly named thus among the Seventy also, and even now it is still so named in the tongue of the Hebrews. There are indeed current among them, for the divine appellation, certain other utterances as well, such as 'Saddai,' and 'Iao,' and 'El,' and other things like these.

The Psalm now in hand, then, consists of 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,' from 'El,' which our Lord also used -- not, however, from 'Elohim.'

Aquila, then, knowing the difference among the Hebrews between the appellation of God signified by 'Elohim' and this one, did not see fit to translate what is now indicated in 'Eli, Eli,' as the others did, 'The God, my God,' but rendered it 'My Strong One, my Strong One' -- and the precise sense is 'My Strength, my Strength.' So that, according to his understanding, the Lamb of God, our Saviour, in saying 'Eli, Eli' to the Father, is saying: 'My Strong One, my Strong One, why hast thou forsaken me?'

And perhaps, since his Strong One had forsaken him, it was for this reason that he was crucified -- as the apostle says: 'For he was crucified out of weakness, and lives by the power of God' -- as one who would not have been crucified at all, had not his Strong One left him.

And see whether it was not fitting that the Lamb of God, who was led as a sheep to the slaughter and was dumb as a lamb before its shearer, should refer his own powers to God, and consider that he had nothing of his own except the Father alone; wherefore he also calls his Father 'Strong,' just as in the seventeenth Psalm too he names the Father his strength and stronghold and refuge, saying: 'I will love thee, O Lord, my strength; the Lord is my firmament, and my refuge, and my deliverer.'

'My God, my helper, and I will hope in him; my defender, and the horn of my salvation, and my supporter.' His Strong One, then, had left him, having willed him to descend even unto death, even the death of the cross, and to be shown forth as a ransom and life-exchange for the whole world, and to become a purification for the life of those who believed in him.

But he, immediately and fully perceiving the divine and paternal counsel, and knowing, if anyone did, the causes for which he was left by the Father, humbled himself yet all the more, and embraced the death on our behalf with great eagerness; and the all-holy and blessed one became a curse for us, and he who knew no sin became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

And moreover, having wiped away our sins upon himself, he was crucified, suffering that which we, the formerly impious, ought to have suffered, having become our life-exchange and ransom-in-our-place; so that we may fittingly say the prophetic word: 'He himself bears our sins, and suffers pain for us, and he was wounded because of our sins, and made weak because of our iniquities, that by his stripe we might be healed. For the Lord delivered him up for our sins.'

Wherefore, as having been delivered up by the Father, and made weak, and having taken up our iniquities, 'he was led as a sheep to the slaughter.' The apostle also agrees with this, saying: 'He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.'

And moving us to inquire into the cause for which the Father forsook him, he says: 'Why hast thou forsaken me?' And this cause was the redemption of the whole race of men, purchased with the precious blood from their former harsh slavery, in which they had been enslaved to invisible masters -- unclean and evil daimons and rulers and spirits.

And the Father forsook him also for another reason: that the disposition of Christ himself on behalf of men might likewise be shown. Wherefore, no one having authority over his soul, he himself of his own will laid it down on behalf of men, just as he teaches, saying: 'No one takes my life from me; I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again.'

Next to these he says: 'Far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions.' Instead of which, Aquila rendered: 'Far from my salvation are the words of my roaring'; and Symmachus: 'The words of my lamentations are far from my salvation'; and according to another interpretation in circulation, the Fifth, it is said: 'Far from my salvation are the words of my supplications.'

Observe, then, that in neither of these is 'of my transgressions' said, as it sometimes happens by a scribal error that such variations come to be transmitted. It must be understood, then, from the interpretation of the majority -- unless indeed one should say that here too, appropriating to himself our transgressions, he spoke these words.

Next to these he adds: 'My God, I will cry by day, and thou wilt not hear; and by night, and it is not folly to me.' Instead of which, Symmachus again renders: 'My God, I will cry by day, and thou wilt not hear; and by night, and there is no silence.' In these words, then, he marvels at the Father as not hearing him, regarding this as something strange and contrary to custom; but the Father was keeping his hearing in reserve for the fitting time to be heard.

This was the time of the dawn-support, and of the resurrection from the dead; according to which, if to anyone else, then justly also to him it might be said: 'In an acceptable time I heard thee, and in a day of salvation I helped thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.'

But these words might also be spoken in another way by our Saviour, as one accustomed always and at all times to be heard by the Father, but who now trusts that he will be heard -- as if he were saying more plainly: Is it possible, O Father, that I, thy only-begotten and beloved Son, should not be heard, though crying and calling out to thee, my own Father? He teaches indeed this very thing in the Gospel according to John, concerning Lazarus, where, having said, 'Take away the stone from the tomb,' he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said: 'Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always.'

If then he always hears him, not doubting but knowing with precision that even now he will hear him -- since it is impossible for him not to be heard -- he speaks in the interrogative: 'My God, I will cry by day, and thou wilt not hear?' -- we placing a mark of interrogation after 'thou wilt not hear,' and understanding the opposite to be implied by the question.

This indeed he teaches a little later, proceeding next in the Psalm, saying: 'He has not despised nor abhorred the supplication of the poor, nor turned away his face from me, and when I cried unto him, he heard me.' How then could he say negatively, 'My God, I will cry by day, and thou wilt not hear,' except according to the interpretation given us here? Which I think he himself also hints at, saying: 'My God, I will cry by day, and thou wilt not hear? And by night, and it is not folly to me.'

'For it is not for folly,' he says, 'that I speak the word "thou wilt not hear"; for I myself know why I say this, being persuaded that thou art such by nature as to take up and hear not only me alone, but all thy saints as well. For always and continually thou dwellest among thy saints, and thou art the praise of every man beloved of God, who is called Israel.'

'For because of thee, no ordinary praise accrues to everyone who serves thee, and our fathers hoped in thee, and having hoped, were delivered from the evils that rose up against them, and they cried out to thee, and were saved. They hoped in thee, and were not put to shame.'

'Since then all the saints obtained these things from thee, and having cried out were heard and were not put to shame, how much more, then, when I, thy beloved child, cry out beyond all others, wilt thou hear me the more readily? And if I speak also as if in wonderment, "I will cry, and thou wilt not hear?" -- yet my word is not brought forth in folly. For I myself know how I bring forth this prayer, not exulting nor boasting, but as one who thinks humbly.'

'For since I am meek and lowly in heart, humbly, and in a manner befitting my own meekness, I speak lowly things concerning myself, thus indeed also naming myself a worm. For what could be more lowly than a worm? Whence I would not even call myself a man, having descended from my own greatness to such lowliness as to seem no different from a worm at all, because I have reached even unto death and the corruption of the body. For from what else could a worm be born except from the corruption of bodies -- into which I too have descended, and fittingly I know myself to be a worm and not a man.'

'Wherefore also I have become a reproach of men, and despised of the people; for I would not have become either a reproach of men or an object of contempt, had I not reached even unto the worm at the time of the passion. At that time, then, seeing me hanging upon the cross, they derided me, and spoke with their lips, and shook the head, saying: He hoped in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him save him, since he desires him.'