And these things would clearly be allegorized in this way, if one should also further interpret figuratively the root of Jesse indicated through the prophecy, and the rod, and the flower, and how one might conceive of him as girded about the ribs with righteousness and wrapped about the loins with truth.
For just as it is not possible to interpret these things otherwise than through an allegorical rendering alone, in the same way it follows that the things said concerning the animals named in those passages must also be understood [allegorically]. From Jeremiah.
Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Dayspring, and a king shall reign and shall understand, and shall execute judgment and righteousness upon the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely; and this is the name by which the Lord shall call him, Josedekeim, among the prophets. In that day, says the Lord, I will break the yoke from off their neck, and I will tear apart their bonds, and they shall no longer serve other gods, but shall serve the Lord their God, and I will raise up for them David their king.
A very long time after the death of David, and indeed of Solomon too, Jeremiah likewise pronounces these things concerning the king who was to arise from the seed of David -- whom he first calls "Dayspring," and not simply so, but "righteous," as one who would be constituted from the Sun of righteousness -- concerning whom we have already treated in the demonstrations concerning the Second Cause, in which we showed that the pre-existing Word of God, who has employed countless titles, is also named "Sun of righteousness," citing the prophecy that says: "But unto those who fear me shall the Sun of righteousness arise.
Just as, then, "Sun of righteousness," so also here the word [Scripture] prophesies that a "righteous Dayspring" will be raised up for David. And it foretells this same one as a king who understands, and who executes judgment and righteousness upon the earth. Then it also calls him by the same name as David, who had long before died.
For attend carefully to the earlier words, "and I will raise up for David a righteous Dayspring," and to what is added at the end, "and I will raise up David their king for them." And for whom is this "for them," but for David? For it was to him that it said it would raise up the righteous Dayspring.
And Zachariah too, prophesying concerning the same one, likewise calls him "Dayspring," saying: "Behold, a man; Dayspring is his name; and from beneath him righteousness shall arise." And again: "I will call my servant Dayspring." But no one, after the times of Jeremiah -- no, nor after the times of Zachariah -- arose among those of the circumcision such as to be called a "righteous Dayspring," and an understanding king who executes judgment and righteousness upon the earth.
But if anyone should say that through these words is indicated Jesus the son of Josedek, it must be said that the statement does not fit him. For he was neither of the family of David, nor did he reign as king.
And how could the words "and I will raise up David their king for them" apply to him, seeing that he was of the tribe of Levi, of the priestly order, and of a family other than David's, and is recorded in history as never having become king at all? So that, if no one else of this kind can be found, it is time to confess that the one prophesied even through these words is our Savior and Lord alone, who is also elsewhere proclaimed as the light of the world and the light of the nations.
He, then, would be the one prophesied here as well, and the prediction stands, free from falsehood. For he alone, from the seed of David, being called by the same name as his forefather in meaning (since "David" is interpreted "mighty in hand"), having been so styled, proclaimed judgment and righteousness through his own teaching to all upon the earth, and he alone of all who ever lived reigned not over a part of the world but over the whole earth, and he alone caused righteousness to rise, in accordance with what is said concerning him in the Psalm: "In his days shall righteousness arise, and abundance of peace.
And Judah, who was to be saved, and Israel, in his days -- these are all who have come, through the piety toward God that is through him, from the people of the circumcision -- namely his apostles and disciples and evangelists -- or indeed all who preserve within themselves the hidden Jew and the true Israel, that is, the one who according to his understanding sees God.
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly (says the apostle), nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God. These, then, who through the calling of Christ bear the hidden Jew and the true Israel, it says shall be called by another name -- not that of "Jew," nor that of "Israel," but by some name foreign to these.
For this is the name, it says, by which the Lord shall call them, Josedekeim -- which is interpreted "the righteous ones of God." I take note whether the name may perhaps have been formed from "Joshua," [as] "Josedekeim" -- the name by which, before God, the disciples of Jesus are called; among men, they are addressed in a more Greek fashion by a name derived from Christ, but according to the Hebrew tongue, and among the prophets themselves, from "Jesus," as those saved through him, "Josedekeim.
Wherefore this too is said: "and this is the name by which the Lord shall call them, Josedekeim, among the prophets." So then, it says, the people who are to be, through the one prophesied, Judah and Israel in understanding, shall be named from Joshua, Josedekeim; and by this appellation, it says, they shall be called, not among men, but by God himself, and by his prophets.
For attend carefully to the statement that says: "and this is the name by which the Lord shall call them, Josedekeim, among the prophets." The name is rendered, as I said, into the tongue of the Greeks as "the righteous ones of God.
And since these are thus to be saved, God promises that he will break the old and heavy yoke of the bitter demons, and will tear apart the bonds of impieties by which they were formerly bound, so that they should no longer be enslaved to alien gods, but should bear fruit pleasingly to him alone.
Compare with these the oracle in the second Psalm, spoken concerning the coming of Christ and the calling of the nations, which says: "Let us break their bonds, and let us cast away from us their yoke." To which I consider akin the passage now in hand, which says: "In that day, says the Lord, I will break the yoke from off their neck, and I will tear apart their bonds, and they shall no longer serve alien gods, but shall serve the Lord their God.
But that the Christ of God was foretold to be born from the fruit of David's body, and from the seed of Solomon, and from the root of Jesse -- which indeed came to pass -- and that, among countless other titles, the divine oracles also name him David, what has been said is sufficient to establish. And that he is also said to come forth from the tribe of Judah would not even need to be sought further, since David himself belonged to no other tribe than the one indicated. And it would also be possible, over and above what is needed, to adduce as demonstrating this the oracle in Moses, which runs in this manner. From Genesis.
Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hands shall be on the back of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the shoot, my son, you have gone up, you have gone up; you couched, you slept as a lion, and as a lion's whelp -- who shall rouse him up? A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until he come to whom it is reserved; and he shall be the expectation of the nations.
Since there are twelve tribes among the Hebrews, through which the whole nation was constituted, Judah became the forefather and chief of one of these, to whom the foregoing words were prophesied, signifying that the Christ was to come forth from him. If, then, one were to gather together and compare with the prophecy now in hand the prophecies set forth earlier, one would find that, in some common token, the same person is being proclaimed.
For the one prophecy spoke concerning him who was to arise from the root of Jesse, saying, 'And he that ariseth shall rule the nations; on him shall the nations hope'; another concerning the son of Solomon, saying, 'He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth, and in him shall all the nations be blessed'; while the one now in hand says likewise, 'until he come to whom it is reserved, and he shall be the expectation of nations.'
If, then, the prophecies concerning the nations agree with one another, and those before them have been shown to look to our Savior, there would be nothing to prevent this present one also from looking to the same, since they are acknowledged to prophesy in harmony with one another -- especially since, up to the time of the appearing of our Savior, the rulers and leaders of the Jewish nation continued in unbroken succession from their forefathers, but ceased at the very time of his coming, while at the same moment the expectation of the nations brought Jacob's prophecy to its fulfillment.
Therefore here too it is the Christ, and no other, who is indicated as about to come forth from the tribe of Judah; and when he was shown to have come from David and Solomon and from the root of Jesse, he was thereby shown to be of that same tribe.
For David was the son of Jesse, and Solomon the son of David, both being constituted of the tribe of Judah. Our Savior and Lord, then, would be of that tribe, just as the admirable evangelist Matthew traces his genealogy, saying: 'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judah,' and so on. But since these matters have received their own proper demonstration, it is time to examine also the times of the fulfillment of the things foretold.