Having demonstrated, by how many proofs it was foretold that the Word of God would come to men -- whence, and where, and how he was proclaimed to be seen by those on earth in the prophetic utterances among the Hebrews; and that it was he himself, and no other, the Son of God pre-existing before the ages, whom through the other prophets we have already learned to be God and Lord and Commander-in-chief and Angel of Great Counsel and High Priest of God -- we now, following upon what has been traced out before, must bear witness once more, from the prophetic predictions themselves, to the times of his appearing; and let us begin from this point.
The sacred scriptures proclaim beforehand that these will be the manifest signs of the times of Christ's coming. Whereas formerly there had been three illustrious offices among the Hebrews, by which the nation was held together -- one the royal, another the prophetic, and besides these the high-priestly -- they prophesy that the dissolution and complete abolition of all three together will be signs of the coming of Christ.
And they say that further indications of these same times are the circumscription of the religion according to Moses, the desolation of Jerusalem and of the temple beside it, and moreover the enslavement of the whole Jewish nation under enemies and foes; and they set forth still other signs of the same times: an abundance of peace, the abolition among the nations of the age-old rule of local governors and of the many rulers that existed nation by nation and city by city, the turning away from polytheistic and demonic idolatry, and the recognition of the piety of the one God, creator of all.
All these things, then, not existing formerly in the times of the prophets, the divine oracles foretold would come to pass at the coming of Christ; and that they have come to their fulfillment in accordance with the predictions will presently be shown.
As for the reasons why Christ became manifest to human life not earlier, but only now, in these last times, after the long and many an age, this has indeed already been stated before; nevertheless it shall now also be told briefly.
Long ago, formerly, there was a great drought of folly and impiety overshadowing the souls of men, and a dreadful godlessness holding sway over the whole life of mankind, such that they seemed to differ in nothing from wild and untamed beasts. For they knew neither cities, nor civil constitutions, nor laws, nor anything dignified and beneficial to life; nor did they take thought of sciences and arts, nor did they even come to any notion of virtue and philosophy, but made their dwelling solely in deserted places, on mountains and in caves and villages, attacking their neighbors more like brigands, and procuring the means of life from nowhere else than by tyrannizing over the weaker.
Moreover, they did not even know the God who is over all, nor indeed the manner of true piety; but, being stirred by natural notions, they agreed, by a self-taught instruction, that there does exist among beings a certain divine power, and that it is called God, and that this appellation is one of salvation and beneficence -- yet they were no longer capable of admitting that this ought to be conceived as nothing other than that which is beyond all visible substance.
For this reason, some of them venerated and served the creation rather than the Creator, while others were made vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened, so that they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. These men, then, having fashioned into idols the images of certain dead potentates or even tyrants of old, and having invested these with divine reverence, deified them, exalting the outlandish and licentious deeds of these very men as though they were the achievements of gods.
How then could the all-wise and all-virtuous Word of Christ, proclaiming philosophy in its utmost perfection, be fitted to those found in such a condition of life, and to those wallowing in so great a depth of wickedness? Wherefore the divine justice that oversees all things pursued after them, cutting them away as wild and most harmful undergrowth -- at one time by floods, at another by conflagrations, and at another delivering them over to wars against one another, to slaughters of men and to successive sieges, being goaded on, by the very demons whom they had accounted gods, into war against each other -- so that the life of men at that time was impassable to their neighbors, unmixed and having no fellowship with them; while a few -- as might be expected in such a condition -- and few enough to be numbered,
-- of whom the oracles among the Hebrews make mention, finding them beloved of God; with these she held converse through oracles and more divine manifestations, welcoming the men and tending them by the laws given through Moses, which were introductory and useful for life.
But when, from the legislation given to these men, and from the prophetic teachings that followed after and were poured out upon all mankind like a sweet fragrance, the minds of the many had by now been tamed, and civil constitutions and legislations were being established among the many nations, and the name of virtue and philosophy was proclaimed among many -- as though the old savagery had ceased, and the fierce and harsh manner of life were now changing over to gentleness -- then at last, in due season, the perfect and heavenly Teacher of perfect and heavenly doctrines and teachings, the one who introduces true knowledge of God, the God the Word himself, manifested himself according to the appointed time of his becoming man, proclaiming to all the nations alike, both Greeks and barbarians, and to the whole race of mankind, the good tidings of the Father's love for man, urging all together toward one salvation in God, and betrothing to all in advance truth itself and the light of true piety, and the kingdom of heaven, and the promise of eternal life.
Let this much, then, be said concerning the times, and the reason why the Christ of God shone forth upon all men now, and not formerly, long before. But come, let us return and examine one by one the signs of the times of his coming, first noting the evangelical statements concerning his birth.
Matthew, then, records the time of his enfleshed appearing in this manner, saying: 'Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king.' And shortly after he says: 'But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of Herod his father...'
But Luke sets forth the time of his teaching and manifestation, saying: 'Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, in the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.' It will be well, then, to set alongside these the prophecy of Jacob concerning Judah found in Moses, which runs in this manner. Concerning the times of his appearing to men.
And Jacob called his sons and said, 'Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days. Assemble and hear, sons of Jacob; hear Israel, your father.'
Then, next in order, having found fault with certain ones among the earlier sons, on the ground that on account of certain transgressions of theirs they had become unworthy of the prediction about to be pronounced, he prophesies these things to the fourth, as one who had shown a manner of life better than the rest of his brothers: '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 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 the things reserved for him come; and he is the expectation of nations.'
Consider first, then, what he says the things reserved for him to be, and see whether they are not the very things which God declared and prophesied to Abraham and the forefathers around him concerning the calling of the nations. For it is written that God said to Abraham: 'And you shall be blessed, and I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse; and in you shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.'
And again it says: 'Abraham, becoming, shall become a great and populous nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' The oracle proclaims similar things to Isaac also, in this manner: 'And I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.' And to Jacob likewise it is said: 'I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; fear not.' And further on: 'And in you shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed.'
And at another time God said to him: 'I am your God; increase and multiply; nations and congregations of nations shall come forth from you, and kings shall come forth from your loins.'
Jacob, having learned beforehand so many predictions of God concerning the calling of the nations, and having learned beforehand that the number of his children was twelve, at the end of his life called them all together and considered from the succession of which of them the fulfillment of God's predictions would come to its end. Then, having laid upon the first three of his sons the reproofs of their transgressions, he adds, teaching that, on account of the deeds they had dared to do, the fulfillment of the predictions would not be accomplished through them.
But coming to the fourth, Judah, he prophesies that the oracle spoken to him -- 'kings shall come forth from your loins' -- would come to its fulfillment through his succession. For it is manifest that the royal race was constituted from the tribe of Judah. At the same time he sets forth in what times both the predictions of God and the promises to the nations would take effect, and teaches that from him would come forth the one who was to become, for all the nations and all the tribes of the earth, the cause of a blessing similar to that of Abraham.
All these things, then, were the things reserved for Judah -- namely, the things prophesied of old concerning the nations, and the words 'kings shall come forth from your loins.' Therefore, being preferred above the rest of his brothers, he was deemed worthy of a royal tribe, more illustrious than the others.
Immediately, then, in the ordering of the whole people in the days of Moses, God commands that this tribe should lead the rest. For it is written: 'And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Let every man keep to his own company, by their standards, according to the houses of their fathers; let the sons of Israel encamp before the Lord, round about the tabernacle of testimony; and those encamping first, toward the east, shall be the company of the camp of the sons of Judah, with their army.'
And next, concerning the offerings brought at the dedication of the tabernacle, the Lord said to Moses: 'One ruler each day shall bring their gifts.' And the one bringing his gift on the first day was Naasson son of Aminadab, ruler of the tribe of Judah.
And in the book of the son of Nun also, when the land of promise was divided by lot among the rest of the tribes, the tribe of Judah, without a lot and before all the others, receives its own portion of the land.
Moreover, after the death of Joshua, the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying: 'Who shall go up for us against the Canaanite, to lead the war against him?' And the Lord said: 'Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hands.' Clearly, then, by these words God commands that the tribe of Judah should lead the whole of Israel; whence it is written next: 'And Judah went up, and the Lord gave the Canaanite and the Perizzite into his hand.'
And again: 'And the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; and the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanite.' And once more: 'And Judah went with Simeon his brother.' And further: 'And the Lord was with Judah, and he inherited the mountain.' And after these things: 'And the sons of Joseph also went up, even they, to Bethel, and Judah with them.'
And in the book of Judges too, though at various times different persons stood at the head of the people, and even though the judges appeared to be from various tribes, nevertheless, on the whole, the tribe of Judah led the entire nation -- and this much more so in the times of David and of his successors, who were themselves of the tribe of Judah and who carried on the kingship until the captivity in Babylon; after which, when those from the captivity returned again to their own land, Zerubbabel led them once more, the son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Judah, who also raised up the temple.
Hence also the scripture of the Chronicles, in tracing the genealogy of the twelve tribes of Israel, made its beginning from that of Judah. It follows, then, consistently with these things, that in the times after this too the same tribe must be acknowledged to have led the rest, even though in part different persons stood at the head of the people, whose lineages we can no longer determine with precision, since no divine book has come down to us covering the period from that time up to the time of the Savior.
Nevertheless, reason permits us to say that the tribe of Judah endured so long as the whole nation, enjoying freedom and self-governance, was administered under rulers and leaders of its own. This they possessed from the beginning, and until the times of Augustus, in whose days, when Jesus our Savior had appeared among men, the whole nation was made a slave to the Romans; and instead of those who had led them by inheritance from their fathers and according to the laws, Herod, a man of alien race, first led them, and Augustus was king.
So then, as long as a ruler from Judah had not yet failed, nor a leader from his loins, the times of the prophecies were recorded by reference to the rulers of the nation. Thus, for instance, Isaiah prophesies in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, who reigned over Judea.
Likewise Hosea. And Amos prophesies in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel; and Zephaniah in the days of Josiah son of Amos, king of Judah. Likewise also Jeremiah. But when a ruler from Judah, and a leader from his loins, had failed, since the expectation of the nations prophesied through the Christ was now about to shine forth on human life, no longer were kings called by the name of Judah, nor leaders by the name of Israel.
And when these had ceased, in accordance with the prophecies, at the appointed times, first Augustus, and second Tiberius, were proclaimed kings, among others, also over the Jewish nation, together with the procurators and tetrarchs of Judea under them; and moreover Herod too, as I have already said before, a man not belonging by race to the Jews, who likewise received from the Romans the rule over the Jews into his own hands.
Now that these things have been noted beforehand by us, the moment already calls us to lay hold of the examination of the prophecy: 'Judah, your brothers shall praise you.' Of the twelve sons that Jacob had in all, Judah was the fourth, as we have already said before, himself one tribal father of the Hebrew nation.
But that the words spoken by the father regarding him did not have that man himself in view will become clear to those who attend carefully to the wording of the divine scripture, first from the statement of Jacob addressed to his sons, which says: 'And Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather together, that I may announce to you what shall befall you in the last days; assemble and hear, sons of Jacob; hear Israel, your father.'
For he plainly professes to prophesy to them the things that would befall them in times long afterward, and, as he himself says, 'in the last days.' And besides, the things said with reference to Judah could not reasonably be applied to that first man himself.
For his brothers did not praise that Judah; for on what good deed of his would they have done so? Nor indeed did his father's sons bow down to him. Rather, the saying would have fitted Joseph better, since Judah himself, along with the rest of the brothers, is seen to have bowed down to him -- but this was before the words of the prophecy; for after these words the narrative shows nothing of the kind having occurred, either concerning Joseph, still less concerning Judah.
And the phrase 'you couched as a lion, and as a lion's whelp' would require a greater contemplation than one appropriate to Judah. Moreover, what is said afterward -- 'A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until the things reserved for him come, and he is the expectation of nations' -- seems to me to hint at the times of the coming of the one prophesied. For it says, in effect: 'This shall not be, until that come to pass.'
For the rulers and leaders of the Jewish nation shall not cease sooner than the expectation of the nations arrives, and the things reserved for the one prophesied. These same words Theodotion translated in the same way as the Seventy; but Aquila rendered it after this manner: 'A scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet, until he come, and unto him shall be the gathering of the peoples.'
In this passage, where it is said 'a ruler shall not fail from Judah,' again it will be necessary to understand this as referring not to Judah himself, that first man, just as neither did 'Judah, your brothers shall praise you,' and what follows, refer to him. For, over very many years, rulers and leaders of the Jewish nation were established who were not of that man's succession.
For first Moses himself led the people, being not of Judah but of Levi; then Joshua, of the tribe of Ephraim; after him Deborah ruled them, of the tribe of Ephraim, and Barak, of the tribe of Naphtali; after them Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh; then the son of Gideon, and after him Tola, of the same tribe; then Ebzan, from Bethlehem; and after him Elon, of the tribe of Zebulun; then Abdon, of the tribe of Ephraim; and again Samson, of the tribe of Dan; then, when anarchy had come upon them, Eli the priest led them, of the tribe of Levi.
All these were judges who judged Israel, not by succession from Judah, but each coming from a different tribe, one from one and another from another; and he who, after these, first reigned as king over them, Saul, was of the tribe of Benjamin.
How then can the saying 'A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins,' as someone might suppose, be referred to the rulers and leaders from the tribe of Judah, when for nearly a thousand whole years from the time of Jacob's death they are seen to have been raised up not from the tribe of Judah alone, but at one time from one tribe and at another from another, right up to the times of David? And if, after all these, David and those who reigned over the Jewish nation in succession from him were of the tribe of Judah, yet you must know that these did not continue reigning over the whole nation for even five hundred whole years, but only over three tribes, and not even the whole of these -- since during that time there were others who happened to be administering the kingship over the greater part of the nation, indeed over the whole of nine tribes.
For after the death of Solomon, when the whole nation had been divided, the successors of David, from Judah, reigned in Jerusalem over three tribes -- and not even the whole of these, as I have said -- until the captivity in Babylon.
In the days of these same kings, at the city called Samaria, others continued leading the nine tribes -- not from Judah, but from other tribes; of these the first was Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, and those who followed him in succession -- so that not even in the intervening times, from David to the captivity in Babylon, did those of the tribe of Judah lead the whole nation.
What need is there to say how, after the return from Babylon, again for more than five hundred years, up to the birth of Christ, they continued under a form of government that was aristocratic, the high priests from time to time leading the nation, and none of them from the tribe of Judah? So that it is established from all these things that the oracle which says 'a ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins' is not to be referred to that first man Judah himself, nor to his successors; and the passage could stand consistently only if we should understand these words, according to what we have set forth before, as spoken concerning the tribe as a whole.
For this tribe, from the very beginning, from the times of Moses themselves, led the whole nation; and it is in accordance with its predominance -- inasmuch as it had been designated by God from the beginning to lead -- that the land is still even now called Judea, after the tribe, and their whole national body is styled 'Jews.' Thus, then, we should understand the saying, as if it had been expressed more plainly: 'The tribe of Judah, leading the whole nation, shall not fail.'
Symmachus says: 'The authority of Judah shall not be taken away' -- thereby indicating, presumably, the authoritative and ruling dignity of the tribe of Judah that was afterward established. For it, then, the text prophesies that neither the scepter -- as Aquila says, this being a symbol of royal rule -- nor, according to Symmachus, the authority, shall be taken away, 'until,' it says, 'he come to whom it is reserved, and he shall be the expectation of the nations.'
And what expectation is this, if not the one anciently declared to Abraham and to the forefathers after him? Now, first of all, it is worthy of admiration how, though there were twelve tribes among the Hebrews, the appellation of the nation has been proclaimed, even to this day, from none other than Judah alone -- for no other reason than that the oracle of the prophecy invested the tribe of Judah with the ruling dignity.
But it also happens that their ancestral land is called Judea for the same reason. For why was their nation not named from the first of the twelve, I mean from Reuben, even though the firstborn were honored under the divine law? And why not from Levi, who surpassed Judah both in time and in the honor of the priesthood? And why did it not rather happen that the whole nation and the land were named from Joseph, on account of his having anciently held sway not only over the whole of Egypt but also over his own kinsmen, and because those descended from him, in far later times, led the nation for the greater part over the whole of nine tribes -- on whose account it would have been more fitting for the whole nation and the land to have been inscribed with the forefather's name? And who would not acknowledge that, beyond all these, they might reasonably have taken their name from Benjamin, since to this one's tribe their renowned royal metropolis, and upon it the most holy temple of God, had been allotted? But nevertheless, neither from these, nor from any other, but from the tribe of Judah alone, did the appellation of the land and of the whole nation stand out preeminent, in accordance with the prophecy.
Thus, then, the words 'a ruler shall not fail from Judah' have, for us, been referred to the tribe, and only in this way is the prediction truly rendered. From the times of Moses onward, particular rulers of theirs, coming from various tribes as I have said, did not cease to lead in turn, while as a whole the tribe of Judah stood at the head of the entire nation.
You will accept the point by way of an example. For just as, under the Roman empire, the procurators and governors appointed nation by nation, the prefects and generals, and the kings above all -- these are not all natives of the city of Rome, nor of the stock of Romus and Romulus, but come from countless nations, one from one place and another from another; yet nevertheless all the kings and, after them, the rulers and governors are inscribed with the appellation 'Roman,' and the whole empire is named 'of the Romans,' and from this appellation the entire government of all is derived; in the same way one must understand the affairs among the Hebrews -- the tribe of Judah as a whole being proclaimed over the entire nation, while the individual rulers and kings were established from various tribes, yet all of them being honored, as a whole, with the appellation of Judah. Let it be said, then, that the words spoken by the prophet -- 'Judah, your brothers shall praise you' -- were addressed to the whole tribe.
For he knows that it, the tribe, had been honored above the rest of the tribes, deemed worthy of special privilege; and since it took the lead in wars, and alone led the whole nation in battle formations against enemies, it is fittingly said to it: 'Your hands shall be on the back of your enemies.' Then, on account of its ruling and royal dignity, it is called a lion's whelp.
And the forefather, being at the same time also a prophet, glorying in the dignity of the tribe, adds, saying: 'From the shoot, my son, you have gone up.'
And the phrase 'you couched, you slept as a lion, and as a lion's whelp' represents at once its pride and its boldness, its unshakable calm before attackers from without, and its fearlessness and contempt for its enemies. Being such -- or rather, the tribe being of such a character -- 'who,' it says, 'shall rouse him up?' -- thereby hinting that the one who was to rouse him from the throne, and to remove the tribe here indicated from its ruling dignity, would be someone great and marvelous, rare and hard to behold.
But as to who this was, he next directs our attention, teaching that this one is he who was to be the expectation of the nations, who -- it is prophesied -- would not appear among men sooner than both ruler and leader would fail and be removed, and the tribe of Judah would rise up and depart from its rule.
And who was this but our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ? At his birth, in accordance with the foregoing prediction, rulers and leaders established over their nation from among the Jews themselves ceased; and the tribe of Judah, together with the whole nation, was cast down from its age-old ruling and royal dignity, and from that time to this day it serves the Romans, who still now hold power and who, along with the rest, have also subdued the Jewish nation -- by whom Herod, the first to belong properly to that nation while being of alien race, was proclaimed king both by Augustus and by the senate and council of the Romans.
Herod, then, was the son of Antipater, and Antipater was an Ascalonite, from among those called the temple-slaves attached to the temple of Apollo; he it was who, having taken to wife a woman named Cypris, of Arabian descent, begat Herod.
This man, then, springing first from such a lineage, removed from his path -- putting him to death -- Hyrcanus, who had held the last place in the succession of high priests, in whom the native rule of the Jewish nation had come to its end; and he himself, as I have said, was first proclaimed king of the Jews, being of alien race. In his time, when Jesus the Christ was born, both the dignity of the tribe of Judah had been cast down, and the rule and kingship of the Jews had also been cast down, and the previously cited prophecy had been fulfilled, which said: 'A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until the things reserved for him come' -- which one, it says, was to be, not the expectation of the Jewish nation, but of the nations.