Book 3

[…]¹⁰ not in the small church of the Jews. And whence this praise of all the nations is to come he expresses well enough, namely from the conversion of all the nations to the Lord, in which their salvation consists, which is the worship of the true God, or his service, as he next expresses thus: "And to him my soul shall live: and my seed shall serve him." See what and what kind of blessing is to be given to the Gentiles and to the Jews through the Messiah, for which he is deservedly to be praised in the universal church, which he calls "great", as at present we see our Christ praised throughout the world. Hence it is evident that these things were said of him.

Chapter 3.

John. The Jews can say that this spiritual blessing is still to come and to be given through the Messiah whom they await, although such a one has been given to the Gentiles and Jews through our Christ. For already very many nations which received this blessing have fallen away from the Christian religion, so that few regions are now inhabited by Christians and very many by pagans, Tartars, Saracens and other unbelievers. Hence it is possible for this blessing to be repeated, even in regions where it was conferred and held before; and so it does not follow that our Christ is the Messiah from the fact that such a blessing was conferred through him, since it can be that a like one is still to come.

Richard. It is evident, and the Jews do not deny, that their Scripture contains one single general blessing of this kind, from the promises to the fathers, to be given only in their seed. Now we have shown one general and true [blessing], and they themselves see it truly brought about through our Christ, who descended from them according to the flesh. Let them now judge, if they have any wisdom, whether it is more right to affirm that this true one, already accomplished, or their own — not accomplished but feigned — is prophesied in their sacred writings. Again, so great a benefit, to be bestowed on the nations of the Jews and on the whole human race, as is the perfect blessing conferred through our Christ, ought not to have been in the Scripture of this people without being foretold, especially since this benefit had its origin from the Jews and was bestowed by God for their sake; since benefits incomparably smaller than this, which God was going to give them, were foretold in the Scriptures. Either, then, let them show [?] that several such blessings on the seed of the fathers are found in the Scriptures — which they cannot do at all — or let them affirm this one of ours foretold in our aforesaid Scriptures¹¹; hence they await in vain a second, not foretold. Again, you do not understand rightly that this general blessing is repeatable, because that one foretold will stand for ever. Just as, if one kingdom is sometimes enlarged and sometimes diminished, it is not said to be another kingdom but the same, so also if this blessing sometimes fails in some kingdom and at another time revives in it, it is not on that account repeated without qualification, since it remains in some in that same kingdom, as also in the other kingdoms of the earth. For it is likely that there is no nation of any of the seventy-two tongues — which nations, as I judge, are often called in the Scriptures "all the kingdoms of the earth" — but that some of that nation will share in the fruit of this blessing until the end of the world; and so it continues in all kingdoms, not wholly, but from the time of its conferral it remains for ever, as the prophet Daniel foretold, as will appear immediately below.

Chapter 4.

Again, Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Daniel chapter 2, and also the interpretation of his angelic vision set out in chapter 7, show that he has come and that this blessing was conferred through him; from which it follows that our Christ was the promised Messiah, since the Jews themselves deny altogether that any other in the past was the Messiah. For see, he described in chapters 2 and 7 four kingdoms then to come, of which he says the first is that of King Nebuchadnezzar himself, namely the kingdom of the Assyrians, which ruled, as he says, the whole world. The second was no doubt the kingdom of the Persians, "inferior" to that first, as he says. And that this is the kingdom of the Persians and Medes the same prophet describes clearly enough in chapter 8, where he relates that he saw a ram pushing with his horns against the west, against the north and against the south, and no beasts could withstand him nor be delivered out of his hands; which ram is afterwards explained by Gabriel in the following chapter to be the king of the Medes and Persians. The third kingdom is evidently the kingdom of the Greeks, which began from Alexander, who ruled the whole world; hence it is said in chapter 8 that the he-goat struck the ram and broke his two horns, and he could not withstand him; which it is evident was fulfilled to the letter in the time of Alexander, who struck the king of the Persians and Medes and prevailed, as is clear in 1 Maccabees chapter 1. Hence in this chapter 8 the he-goat is explained to be the king of the Greeks. Now the fourth great kingdom, which is described as coming after the kingdom of the Greeks, no one doubts was the Roman, of which it is said in chapter 2: "And the fourth kingdom shall be as iron. As iron breaketh into pieces, and subdueth all things, so shall that break, and destroy all these." Which, there is no doubt, was fulfilled to the letter in the Roman empire, which broke and subdued all the nations of the earth more than any other empire, and held all nations subjugated more strongly. These four great kingdoms having been described by the statue which King Nebuchadnezzar saw — whose head was of gold and designated his own great kingdom, which failed even in Daniel's time; and the breast was of silver, and the arms likewise, which designated the kingdom of the Persians and Medes; and the belly and thigh of brass, which designated the third kingdom, namely the kingdom of the Greeks; and the legs were of iron, and of the feet part iron and part clay, which designated the fourth kingdom, namely the Romans', which he describes as to be divided — the prophet Daniel, prophesying and also explaining the remaining part of the dream, adds: "But in the days of those kingdoms, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another: and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms: and itself he shall establish for ever.¹² According as thou sawest, that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and broke in pieces the clay and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold, the great God hath shewn the king what shall come to pass hereafter." Thus far Daniel. Now it is evident that the kingdom of the Romans and the other three kingdoms have been broken, so that none of them holds a sixth part of the earth. Again, it is evident that the kingdom of the God of heaven is now spread through the world, and if not in all parts, yet in all nations; nor can it be denied that this kingdom of God was spread abroad through our Christ. Let us faithfully conclude, then, from these things, that our Christ is the stone cut out of the mountain; of which stone the prophet David says to the letter: "The stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes." With which Isaiah agrees, in chapter 28 of his book, saying: "Behold I will lay in the foundations of Sion a stone, a corner stone, tried, precious, founded in the foundation"; meaning to say expressly that in that Christ, as in a corner stone, diverse nations were to be joined in one faith, their iniquity being blotted out. This the angel, in the person of God, says more expressly to Zechariah, chapter 3, thus: "Upon one stone there are seven eyes: behold I will grave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will take away the iniquity of that land in one day." These seven eyes upon this stone I take, to the letter, to be the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which in Isaiah 11 are described as resting upon Christ: "And the spirit of wisdom shall rest upon him," etc. Again, since it is evident that those kingdoms have now been broken, and he says here that in the days of those kingdoms God will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed — which kingdom both we and the Jews confess and believe was to be set up in the time of the Messiah, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed — it necessarily follows that that kingdom of God was set up by the Messiah before the destruction of the Roman empire; otherwise it would not have been set up in the days of those kingdoms, as was here prophesied. Let us conclude, then, without doubt, that that Christian kingdom is never to be destroyed, as is said here and as this prophet describes most expressly in chapter 7, speaking of the Son of man whom he saw in the vision granted him: "And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom: and all peoples, tribes, and tongues served him: and his power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away from him: his kingdom that shall not be destroyed"; and at the end of the chapter: "That the kingdom and power and the greatness of the kingdom, which is above the whole heaven, be given to the people of the saints of the most High: whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve him and shall obey him."¹³ In which chapter he also describes another vision of the same sense as the aforesaid, in which he had seen four beasts from the sea and the four winds of heaven fighting; which four beasts the angel Gabriel afterwards explains to him thus: "These four great beasts are four kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most high God shall take the kingdom: and they shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever." And after follows Gabriel's interpretation of that fourth beast, and he says thus: "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be greater than all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and diminish it." Of this fourth beast he says twice before that it was exceeding strong and had iron teeth and iron nails, just as in the other vision he says that this kingdom is designated by iron, because iron breaks and subdues all things; so that it seems to me that by this fourth beast the kingdom of the Romans is meant, in whose time the saints were to receive the kingdom of God, which kingdom he says will last for ever and ever, as in the other vision he says that it shall not be delivered up to another people.

Chapter 5.

John. It seems that in that vision of chapter 7 the kingdom of the Romans is not meant by the fourth beast, because of it it is said thus: "And it was unlike to the other beasts which I had seen before it, and had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold another little horn sprung out of the midst of them: and three of the first horns were plucked up at the presence thereof: and behold eyes like the eyes of every man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things." And at the end the angel Gabriel, explaining these things, says as follows: "And the ten horns of the same kingdom shall be ten kings: and another shall rise up after them, and he is mightier than the former, and he shall bring down three kings. And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush the saints of the most High, and he shall think himself able to change times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time. And a judgment shall sit, that his power may be taken away, and be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end," etc., as you set down. In the same chapter, too, he says of that little horn: "I beheld, and lo, that horn made war against the saints, and prevailed over them, till the ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the most High, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom." From which it seems that that last king will be Antichrist, and that he will oppress the saints for a year and two years and a half, understanding a year by "time", as above in chapter 4 it is said, "and seven times shall pass over thee," where by seven times seven years are understood; and that then he will be slain and the final judgment will take place; and the whole sequence of the chapter seems to put forward this sense [?]. And if we take that horn so, we shall not find four¹⁴ Roman kings of whom he will pluck up three, since the Roman empire now has only a small portion of the West, in Europe; and so it seems to follow that by the fourth beast is signified not the Roman empire but one still to come.

Richard. It seems to me the reverse, namely that the Roman kingdom is understood by the fourth beast. And note: if you understand the things brought forward by you and said by the angel of the monarchs of one kingdom, it will be false that this king shall rise after them and bring down three of them. For if he rises after them, they will have died before him, at least all but the last; and so he will not pluck up three of those four horns, namely of the four monarchs, according to your sense; for several monarchs of one kingdom cannot be at the same time. But in the vision it is said that that little horn sprang up before the three horns fell; therefore it must be with those three, and consequently with all four¹⁵, since the three which must be plucked up by that horn must be plucked up while the other seven remain, according to the sequence of the vision. For if those seven horns fall before those three horns plucked up at the presence of that horn, since it sprang up among those four, it would rather have to be said that those seven were plucked up at its presence than those three. Since that little horn is seen among those four, and seven of those four, according to you, fell before the other three, which were plucked up at the presence of the horn growing among those four, it follows altogether that that little horn will spring up while those four horns stand; and consequently by the four kings [are meant] four kings who will rise, or have risen, in the diverse quarters of this world where the Roman empire held rule — which is true — and in the midst of these kings, about the middle place of the world, will spring up that little horn, which you and I understand to be Antichrist, the four kings standing — I do not say four certain persons, but four kings remaining in these four quarters of this once Roman empire, not in the midst of the Roman empire as it now is. From what has been set out it is plainly evident that that kingdom of God was lately brought in, namely by the Messiah, in whom all nations were to be blessed; which blessing is, no doubt, this bringing in of the kingdom of God, as was shown above.

Chapter 6.

Again, the aforesaid blessing seems to have been conferred through the coming of our Christ, because through him, in every region of the world, the servants of God are called by a new name, namely Christians, from Christ. And in Isaiah 65 it is said: "and he shall call his servants by another name, in which he that is blessed upon the earth, shall be blessed in God."¹ The same prophet seems to have meant this name a little before, prophesying of the Messiah in chapter 62 thus: "And the Gentiles shall see thy just one ... and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name." Now the sign that this name "Christian" is the name of which the prophet says these things is what he set before this saying, speaking thus to the Jews: "Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink wine, and you shall be thirsty. Behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded: behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit. And you shall leave your name for an execration to my elect: and the Lord God shall slay you, and call my servants," etc., as above.² All of which we see fulfilled in the Jews. For in the time of the Christians the Jews live so wretchedly that not even once a month do they eat or drink their fill of their own; yet they abstain not out of devotion but out of stinginess and avarice. Again, when Christians everywhere praise God in the churches, it is evident that there they blush and are confounded; and wherever and whenever Christians rejoice and praise God on the solemnities of Christ and of the saints, the Jews themselves are troubled at this, grow faint and grieve in spirit. Again, it is evident that the name of the Jews is so execrable that it falls chiefly into the oaths of Christians: when they detest something excessively, they say, "If I did so, or so, may God do to me as to a Jew." Hence it is evident that this blessing promised to the fathers has come to the Gentiles through our Christ, with the newness of this name of Christ, so that from Christ a man is called a Christian.

Chapter 7.

Again, to this blessing seems to belong the giving of the new law, by which law this salvation was to be brought about, as was said above of Psalm 83: "For the lawgiver shall give a blessing."³ And in Psalm 18 it is said of Christ: "And his circuit even to the end thereof: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat"; there follows: "The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls: the testimony of the Lord is faithful." Again, Psalm 39 says in its first part: "Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of me that I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart." The apostle uses this testimony expressly in the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 10. And in Isaiah 33 it is said: "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will come and will save us."⁴ And Isaiah 2, and the same in Micah 4:⁵ "The law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem," where, as it seems, there is set first of the Messiah: "For he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths." And in Isaiah 42 the prophet, speaking of the Messiah, as was clear above, says: "He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, till he set judgment in the earth, and the islands shall wait for his law." Again, Isaiah 51: "Hearken unto me, O my people, and my tribe:⁶ for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a light of the nations. My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth." In this it is shown that this law was then to be given through that Saviour, the Messiah, and also that the law would come forth from Sion, and the word; that is, that it would take its rise there. Again, the Lord through Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31, says of the times of Christ or the Messiah: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda: not according to the covenant which I made with the fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt"; and there follows: "And this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will give my law in their bowels, and I will write it upon their heart: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, nor every man his brother, saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least even to the greatest, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."⁷ The apostle uses this testimony in Hebrews [8],⁸ thereby saying that these things were said in the person of the Messiah, that is, of the God-man — "all shall know me from the least even to the greatest" — in whose time and through whom the Lord was to give this new law of which he speaks. From these it is plain that the giving of a new law to Gentiles and Jews was to come about through the Messiah, by which law the aforesaid blessing, namely spiritual salvation, was to be spread among the peoples; and also that it would go forth from Jerusalem. And it is evident that it was given by our Christ, and given in Jerusalem, and went forth from Jerusalem. Hence in the last chapter of Luke it is written: "Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. And he said to them: Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead, the third day: and to preach in his name remission of sins unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."⁹ Hence it follows, and cannot be denied, that our Christ is the promised Messiah, unless perhaps the Jews say that yet another law is to be given in the future by the Messiah, which will go forth from Jerusalem; which they will nowhere be able to establish from their Scripture, since all the things which were foretold as to come through the law of the Messiah described above have been fulfilled through this law of Christ: namely, that it is unspotted, converting souls; that it shall rest as a light of the peoples and of the islands, as Isaiah says; that through him men shall go from virtue to virtue; and whatever like thing is said of the law of the Messiah. This, therefore, is the law that was foretold in the first scriptures.

Chapter 8.

Again, one effect of his coming was to be the rejection of the sacrifices of the old law, as Psalm 39 says expressly, as I have just now treated here. The apostle uses this testimony to prove the same in Hebrews 10. And in Psalm 49 the prophet says:¹⁰ "I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy flocks. For all the beasts of the woods are mine: the cattle on the hills, and the oxen. I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of the field. If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of praise: and pay thy vows to the most High." Here he not only foretells the rejection of the ancient sacrifices but teaches what the new sacrifice [is]: "The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him my salvation."¹¹ Again, Hosea chapter 6, having first set down what I put above, "He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up," continues soon after: "and thy mercy shall go forth as the light: for I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts."¹² There he plainly says that he does not want sacrifice for that time of which the prophecy is made there; hence Christ himself adduces this saying against the Pharisees, Matthew 9 and 12.¹³ Again, in Psalm 109 it is said: "The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech." Now it is evident that Melchisedech offered nothing but bread and wine; hence it follows that the Messiah would not use the ancient sacrifices in his priesthood, but those which Melchisedech used. The apostle uses this testimony in Hebrews 10,¹⁴ and it finely confirms what Malachi prophesied in chapter 1 of his book: "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord: and I will not receive a gift of your hand"; and there follows: "and in every place there is offered a clean oblation." Behold the rejection and repulse of the ancient gifts, and the approval of the clean oblation according to the order of Melchisedech, of bread and wine. Again, Daniel in chapter 9 of his book, describing most expressly the coming of the Lord and his slaying, says that in the half of the last week of the seventy weeks until Christ "the victim and the sacrifice shall fail."¹⁵ This rejection of the sacrifices, then, the Jews have now seen for [1340] years,¹⁶ and by what I treated above it is to last, according to Daniel, until the end of the world; hence it follows that the Messiah came before this rejection.

Chapter 9.

Again, as to the time of his coming, Genesis 49 says: "The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh" — the Hebrew has "from between his feet" — "till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations. Tying his foal to the vineyard, and his ass, O my son, to the vine. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape. His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk." It is evident that before Herod the Ascalonite, the father of Archelaus, under whom our Christ was born, there was no foreigner king over the Jews. Therefore it follows that Christ, who was the expectation of nations, came while that Herod reigned; [otherwise] this text is not true.¹⁷ But the Hebrew tongue has "till Shiloh come"; now Shiloh is the proper name of a certain village where Saul was defeated, and likewise Roboam was made king there over the ten tribes.¹⁸ So the Jews expound "the sceptre shall not be taken away", that is, the dignity of the leadership of Juda, because the tribe of Juda was leader of the people in Shiloh; or, according to others, until Roboam, who was to reign there and under whom were the ten tribes, so that the monarchy of Juda then failed. But [Shiloh] is ineptly interpreted¹⁹ when "till Shiloh come" is taken as "till that village come". Therefore, because Shiloh is interpreted "sent", it is far more fittingly expounded "till the one to be sent come", or "he that is to be sent". Again, what follows, "and he shall be the expectation of nations", which the Jews expound as "and Juda himself, in going to battle, was to be waited for by the other tribes as their forerunner", cannot fittingly be so expounded or taken. For the peoples of the Jews were not accustomed to be called "nations" simply, without qualification, that is, so as to be called "our nation" or "thy nation Israel" or the like; rather, those are meant who live as Gentiles. Hence Haggai 2 says: "the desired of all nations shall come."²⁰ Again, this relative "he" is more fittingly referred to the nearer [antecedent], namely Shiloh, than to the more remote, namely Juda; and so, since the relative is of the masculine gender, it follows that the other thing to which it refers is of the same gender, as Shiloh [is]; and so it is not taken for the village, in which sense it is of the feminine gender. Again, the Chaldean translation,²¹ which the Jews approve, has "till Christ come"; hence it follows that Shiloh is taken for Christ, for the anointed, that is, for the one to be anointed. Again, I ask the Jews why they call the Christ promised to them "Messiah", and have always called him so since the times of the patriarchs, which sounds the same as "sent". And they will find no chief cause unless that here he is spoken of and described by the patriarch Jacob as one to be sent, so that Shiloh here signifies not the village. For although in chapter 6 of his book Zechariah, in our translation, says "Behold a man, the Orient is his name",²² yet according to the Chaldean translation he says "a man, Messiah is his name". [Though he is there] called Messiah, yet before the times of the prophet Zechariah the Jews were awaiting the Messiah, calling him who was to come, promised to the fathers, Messiah. For this sense also the scripture makes when it says "in the last days", by which saying the prophets are wont to take the last age of the world; and before that age Shiloh²³ had certainly existed for two thousand years. Again, it is ridiculous to say that so great a prophet and patriarch gathered his sons, promising to foretell to them things to come in the last days, and that then he would say, as if prophetically, of his son Juda that his eyes were more beautiful than wine, etc., which he said. These would be childish if they were taken carnally; wherefore it follows that those sayings have a spiritual sense, and not as the Jews take them. Next is prophesied the calling of those same nations and their binding to the church [gathered] from the Jews, when it is added: "Tying his foal to the vineyard, and his ass, O my son, to the vine." Hence Paul in Romans 10 calls the Jewish nation the vine.²⁴ Then his passion is described prophetically under a figure: "He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape"; like which Isaiah says in chapter 63: "Why then is thy apparel red," etc., as I said in the second [book] of this [work]. And next the spiritual beauty of his apostles is described: "His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk." They are called the eyes of the Lord because of the keenness of their judgment, or the prophetic spirit which they had, and because of [that] keenness; and his teeth because of the incorporation of the Gentiles into the unity of faith. Nor does it stand in the way that the Maccabees, who were the leaders of the Jews in their time, are not read to have been of the tribe of Juda, being of the priestly tribe, as is clear from 1 Maccabees; for that tribe was mixed with the royal tribe, and so it is to be believed that they were also of Juda. This testimony seems clear enough that the promised Christ came in the time of Herod the Ascalonite, in whose time the sceptre, that is, the royal power, was taken away from Juda, and from then on there was no ruler of the people from the Jews. Here too the three-day death of Christ is finely foretold by the lion's whelp, which after birth sleeps three days; and the despoiling of hell, by his saying that he went up to the prey; and next his resurrection, by his saying "who shall rouse him?"

Chapter 10.

Again, what Isaiah says in chapter 7, "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel," it is evident was fulfilled in the mother of our Christ, as Joseph her husband faithfully attests. Again, of the place of the Messiah's conception Isaiah says, according to the Hebrew text, chapter 11: "He shall be called a Nazarene," where we have "a flower shall rise up out of his root."¹ Of the place of his birth Micah says in chapter 5 of his book: "And thou Bethlehem Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: for out of thee shall he come forth that is to be the Ruler in Israel."² And it is evident that our Christ was conceived in Nazareth and born in Bethlehem. Again, what Isaiah says in chapter 11, "In that day the root of Jesse, who standeth for an ensign of the people, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious" — which is no doubt said of the promised Christ — is evidently already fulfilled. For never was there a sepulchre so glorious as that of our Christ, to which [men] used to flock from every quarter of the world; and it is evident that all nations in the world beseech him and call upon his help as a Saviour.³

Chapter 11.

John. Here, I pray you, attend a little. For behold, after the Messiah has been described in chapter 11 — "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse," etc., as far as "and faith the girdle of his reins" — there follows of necessity, as accompanying his coming: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb: and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: the calf and the sheep and the lion shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them. The calf and the bear shall feed together, and their young ones shall rest: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp: and the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk. They shall not hurt, nor shall they kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of God, as the covering waters of the sea";⁴ and similarly in chapter 65. But these things do not seem to have happened anywhere in the past; hence the Jews say, or can say, that he who is described here by the prophet has not come.

Richard. Notice well here what is given as the cause of all the things foretold, namely "for the earth is filled with the knowledge of God, as the covering waters of the sea." For if by the calf, the sheep, the lamb, the lion, the leopard, the bear, the asp and the basilisk we take beasts of the earth, then, since these beasts are not capable of knowledge, "for the earth is filled with the knowledge of God" will be irrelevant as the cause of all these sayings about these beasts. Hence, since it is added as the cause of all the sayings, it is evident that those sayings are by likeness and figure, so that by those rapacious beasts we understand men who are powerful and fierce, greedy, cruel, venomous, and by those domestic animals we take the simple, humble and meek; as you frequently find in Scripture men called by the names of such beasts because of fitting properties: as Pharao is called a great dragon, Ezekiel 29, and a lion, [Ezekiel] 32. Notice that this same prophet, in chapter 35, prophesying of the Messiah and describing the signs accompanying his coming, keeps a similar figurative manner of speaking, thus: "Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold our God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will save us. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in the wilderness. And that which was dry land, [shall become] a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the dens where dragons dwelt before, shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush. And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it," etc.⁵ Behold, first he says that he will come; second, he sets down signs which it is evident were fulfilled in the time of Christ, namely "then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." On account of this scripture I think Christ said to the disciples of John, as is read in Matthew 11: "Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again," etc., so that John might understand from these effects that he was the Messiah whom that scripture of Isaiah foretold would do these things. And then he adds other signs figured beneath, namely the outpouring of spiritual grace upon the eyes of the blind, who before were dry and barren like a desert, and trackless, when he says that "waters are broken out in the desert"; as this prophet says in chapter 44: "Fear not, O my servant Jacob, and thou most righteous whom I have chosen. For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land: I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy stock," where, as you see, he expounds the outpouring of water by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As also Ezekiel, in the same sense, says: "And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness," chapter 36 of his book. Now this sign was fulfilled when Christ poured out the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, and they spoke with the tongues of all nations, and next upon other faithful, as is read in Acts, chapters 2 and 8. Again, he states another sign under a figure, "in the dens where dragons dwelt," etc., which I think is to be understood of the expulsion of demons from the men in whom they dwelt; which sign it is evident was fulfilled in the time of our Christ, when Christ and his disciples, wherever they preached, expelled demons from men. Now that these things must be taken otherwise than in the common sense is clear, because if they were so taken, that last [saying] would not be true, that "the unclean shall not pass over" that way; for over every bodily way the unclean and polluted passes as well as the unpolluted and clean. Hence it is evident that this way in the desert is spiritual and holy; hence there follows here immediately: "and this shall be unto us a straight way, so that fools shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by it, nor be found there"; all of which would be false if he spoke of a bodily, earthly, material way, on which no doubt fools can err and evil beasts be found somewhere. And as in these, so also in the other prophecies about Christ you ought to look at the whole sequence of the text, in case some circumstance compels [you] to take things there in another sense than the one commonly called literal; because, as was clear in the first treatise,⁶ that is always the literal sense which the author or composer of the text intended.

Chapter 12.

Again, in Numbers 24,⁷ as I treated above, Balaam says: "A star shall rise out of Jacob," and goes on to prophesy many things. And there follows: "Alas, who shall live when God shall do these things? They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish." Behold, designating the time of his prophecy about Christ, he says that [men from] Italy will waste the Jews, which it is evident was done by Titus and Vespasian. And because this devastation of the city and the people was to come on account of the slaying of the Messiah, therefore he says plainly that he will be here: "Out of Jacob," he says, "shall he come that shall rule, and shall destroy the remains of the city." Hence it is a sign that this prophecy has been fulfilled. Again, in Daniel chapter 9 the time not only of the coming of Christ but also of his slaying is plainly foretold and prescribed, and the signs following his coming, which it is evident are already fulfilled, are also set down there. For it is said there thus: "Behold the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice. And he instructed me, and spoke to me, and said: O Daniel, I am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest understand. From the beginning of thy prayers the word came forth: and I am come to shew it to thee, because thou art a man of desires: therefore, do thou mark the word, and understand the vision. Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished; and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the Saint of saints may be anointed. Know thou, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls, in straitness of times. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people, with their leader, that shall come, shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation. And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fail: and there shall be in his temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the end, and to the consummation."⁸ Thus far there. Here he says expressly that from the going forth of the word to build up Jerusalem again unto Christ the prince there shall be [sixty-nine] weeks, namely 69 weeks of years,⁹ and after [those] weeks of years Christ shall be slain, and [the people] that would deny him [shall not be his].¹⁰ This reckoning of years agrees with the time of our Christ whom we worship. For from the time when Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, in the twentieth year of his reign commanded that Jerusalem be rebuilt again, as is read in Nehemiah chapter 2 (for in the time of Cyrus and Darius there was one building, which had been described earlier, as is clear from Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2),¹¹ until the passion of Christ there ran 70 weeks of lunar years, namely seven times 69 lunar years,¹² as the historiographers reckon. For a week of years is 7 years, as is said in Leviticus 25; and in Genesis 29 Laban says to Jacob, "Make up the week of days of this match," calling the week of days the 7 years for which Jacob then served him for Rachel. Here, however, he speaks of lunar years, which he calls "shortened" weeks, or names them so, because they are shorter than solar [years]. And so, in the middle of the seventieth week, when Christ was thirty years old and preaching baptism, the legal victims and the ancient sacrifices began to fail little by little in Jerusalem; and when Christ had suffered, and through his passion his people had been redeemed from sins, the covenant was confirmed which he had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and David concerning the blessing of all nations in his seed. Hence here he says, speaking of the seventieth week: "And he confirms the covenant with many, in one week." Again, the prophetic vision and prophecy were then fulfilled, because from then on they did not have prophets as before. Hence it follows that the Saint of saints, namely the Messiah, was anointed, as he says here; as also the iniquity or transgression of those who belong to Christ was abolished, and sin had an end, namely original sin, so that from then on no baptized person dying in grace descends to hell for it, as before. Or "transgression or sin" means the transgression of the first parents and every kind or kinds of mortal sin in their descendants, which are said to be abolished and to have had an end as to eternal penalty, both of sense and of loss, because from then on no one departing in grace had to undergo eternal penalty for it. And so in the elect dying from then on everlasting justice was brought, namely true beatitude, such as no one before could have, but all descended to hell. Again, next, after the passion of Christ the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus and Vespasian, and the Jews were expelled from Judaea, and the place where the temple was remains destroyed to the present; and straightway after the destruction made by the aforesaid emperors there dwelt in Jerusalem worshippers of abominable idols, which idols are rightly called by the prophet here "the abomination of desolation." And this desolation of the Jews remains to the present, and so, according to these sayings, it will remain, as Daniel says, until the end of the world, namely until, according to the prophecy of Malachi, Elias the prophet comes about the times of Antichrist. And so all these signs which the prophet set down here are past. Marvellous, therefore, is the folly of still awaiting Christ, since this whole prophecy is found so plainly fulfilled in our Christ.

Chapter 13.

But perhaps the Jews could say that the going forth of the word of which the prophet speaks here ought to be taken from that hour at which the angel Gabriel foretold these things to Daniel, and of the going forth of that preaching; and so it is evident that from then until the passion of Christ there ran six hundred and five years according to many historians, or at least five hundred and ninety according to that Africanus who puts 15 years fewer than the rest; and so beyond the 70 weeks, which make 490 years, there ran 115 years, or at the least 100 years, and therefore it does not seem it can be understood of the coming of our Christ. But the text answers that, because it does not say "from the going forth of the word to build Jerusalem", but the text says: "Know thou, therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word, to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ, the prince, there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and the street shall be built again, and the walls, in straitness of times"; so that the text expresses the second building then to come, "to build up Jerusalem again," which was to be done "in straitness of times," as the text expresses. Let them read the fourth chapter of the book of Nehemiah, how they built in such straitness that, building, they did the work with one hand and held a sword with the other; such straitness as there was not in the first building under Jesus and Zorobabel. Hence it is evident that the going forth of the word refers to the going forth of the word of king Artaxerxes in the second year of his reign,¹³ in which he commanded Jerusalem to be built again. But however the Jews take or reckon these 70 weeks, no doubt they ran out in the time of our Christ; and so it is altogether proven that Christ the prince came and that the Saint of saints was slain. It is evident, moreover, that vision and prophecy are now fulfilled among them, as it was in the time of Christ, so that from then on they had no prophets as before. And if they understand the fulfilment of vision and prophecy otherwise and more truly, as we also mean it, namely that the thing prophesied be already [accomplished]¹⁴ — a sense which Christ himself approves, as is read in Matthew 11 and Luke 16, saying: "The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the kingdom of God is preached" — so much the more does the text make for us, that Christ has already come, since the 70 weeks have elapsed and the victim has failed and they themselves are desolate. For from then, from the time of Christ, the victim and the accustomed sacrifice began to fail in Jerusalem, and failed there entirely after the destruction made by the aforesaid emperors; and from then there was the desolation of the Jews, and there, namely in Jerusalem, there was from then the worship of idols, which is the abomination of desolation of the Jews. From which it follows of necessity, according to the sequence of this prophecy, that Christ the prince has already come; that he was also slain by the people; and that the people denied him; and that the Saint of saints, namely the promised Messiah, was anointed. Either, therefore, they must find another Christ in whose time these things came about, whom also they, wretched men, slew and denied according to this prophecy — which neither they nor others can say — or they must confess these things fulfilled in our Christ, whom they denied before Pilate and afterwards slew, according to these truthful words of Daniel. It is exceedingly astonishing why they are so blind as still to await this prophecy to be fulfilled in another Christ, since this Christ of ours was so great a prince that all nations have followed him, and since they themselves also slew him, as is said here; and especially since they plainly see that that time of the weeks passed already 1300 years ago, within which time his coming was prophesied here in the clearest words, not obscure ones.

Chapter 14.

Again, what is said of him thus in Hosea chapter 6 — "He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. And we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth"¹ — can fittingly be referred to nothing else but his three-day death: because on the third day he raised those ancient fathers and all the just from the death of damnation in limbo, so that the just should no more go down there, and freed those who were there, and watered all the just with spiritual grace as the rain waters the earth. Again, next, in chapter 11 he says: "I called my son out of Egypt,"² which it is evident was fulfilled in him when the angel told Mary and Joseph, who were in Egypt with the child, to return. And if the Jews say that it was said of the people called out of Egypt by Moses, this text stands against it, which speaks of the king of Israel: "Because Israel was a child, and I loved him: and I called my son out of Egypt"; for then the people of God had no king.

Chapter 15.

Again, what Zechariah says in chapter 9 — "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold thy king cometh to thee, the just and saviour: he is poor, and sitting upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass"³ — it is evident has already been done by our Christ, poor in temporal things as to use. To him, as he sat on the ass, the people of the Jews came out to meet, and adored him as Saviour, and even infants praised him, as David had said of him before: "Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise." For that [verse] of that psalm had been said of him, as Christ expresses in Matthew 21,⁴ when the Pharisees and scribes were finding fault because the children cried "Hosanna to the son of David"; and he said to them: "Have you never read: Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" Nor did the Pharisees deny that this sense of that psalm was about the Messiah; rather, since they did not contradict the citation, they seemed so to have thought. [The apostle] uses this psalm in Hebrews chapter 2 to prove that Christ was greater than the angels. Again, it is evident that what is said next, in chapter 11, was fulfilled in him: "And they weighed for his wages thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me: Cast them to the statuary, a handsome price, that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them to the statuary."⁵ For for so many pence Judas sold him, and fittingly Judas gave back the same 30 silver pence, with which they bought the potter's, or statuary's, field. Hence another translation says: "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was prized, whom they prized of the children of Israel. And they gave them unto the potter's field, as the Lord appointed to me."⁶ Hence it is evident that this prophecy was clearly and plainly fulfilled in our Christ. Again, what he says next in chapter 12, "And they shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son," seems to be taken of the second coming of the Messiah to judgment, as the following words about the mourning of the several tribes show. For there follows: "and they shall grieve over him, as they are wont to grieve for the death of the firstborn. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem like the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain of Mageddon. And the land shall mourn: families and families apart: the families of the house of David apart, and their women apart: the families of the house of Levi apart, and their women apart."⁷ Hence it is clear that the several families of the Jews must mourn him whom they had before crucified: "they shall look," I say, "upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him," etc. Either, therefore, our Christ is the Messiah, or they await another Messiah to pierce, which they could not confess for shame at so great a wickedness of their own to come; because they themselves affirm that his coming is to be in order to rule them temporally and to restore them fully to their place in the land of promise; hence it is evident that they would never crucify such a king of theirs to come. Therefore what is said here, that they crucified, has been done; it is not awaited that it happen.

Chapter 16.

Again, as to the time of the Messiah's coming, the prophet Haggai says in chapter 2 of his book: "And I will move all nations: and the desired of all nations shall come: and I will fill that house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." And after: "Great shall be the glory of this last house more than of the first." It is evident that the glory of that second house was less than that of the first as to riches and furnishing, because of the poverty of the people and also of the whole Jewish kingdom, and also as to the manner of its structure. Hence those who had seen the former house wept on seeing the second, as is read in 1 Esdras 3.⁸ Hence it follows that that glory was to be greater because of the presence of the Messiah in it, since in all other things the former house was of greater glory. But now there is no doubt that that second house has been destroyed; indeed, the temple has been placed on another site;⁹ therefore it follows that the Messiah came long ago. Again, the preceding words show this; for there precedes: "Yet a little while, and I will move the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will move all nations: and the desired of all nations shall come." Now if the Messiah had not yet come but were still to come, it would not then have been "a little while" until his coming, so that from the nearness of his coming Zorobabel the leader, Jesus the priest and all the people should be the more encouraged to build the temple; although that prediction was made for this purpose, as is clear in the preceding text.¹⁰ Again, that "the desired of all nations shall come" it is evident was fulfilled in our Jesus, whom the nations in every kingdom adored soon after his ascension, and desired, and loved as God. But if anyone should say that this prophecy is still to be fulfilled, because it premises "yet a little while" — "yet once", another translation has, as the apostle cites in Hebrews 12¹¹ — "and I will move the heaven and the earth, the sea and the dry land, and I will move all nations", and such a moving does not seem to have been done yet but to be done about the final judgment, let him attend to the first [point]: where these things [are said] above, he can understand them so, that there was to be a transfer of temporal, movable kingdoms, and by wonderful signs from heaven, and the eternal spiritual kingdom of the Messiah would be established, as Daniel says above.¹² Was not the kingdom of the Persians overthrown by Alexander before the coming of Christ, after this prophecy, and his kingdom, namely that of the Greeks, next overthrown by the Roman empire? Let him read, moreover, 2 Maccabees 2 [...],¹³ what signs from heaven were made in the time of the Maccabees. Of this adoration by the nations Malachi says, moreover, in chapter 1 of his book:¹⁴ "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will not receive a gift of your hand. From the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles." Let the Jews see that they are now cast off and rejected, and the nations of the world adoring the Lord, and let them recognize that "the desired of all nations shall come" is fulfilled. Again, let them note that everywhere clean oblations, namely of bread and wine, are offered to the Lord, but nowhere of goats or of calves; and let them confess that our oblation is clean and acceptable to God and theirs rejected.

Chapter 17.

Again, what David in Psalm 21, which I treated above, says in his person — "They have dug my hands and feet. They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me. They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots" — is evidently fulfilled historically in our Christ. Again, all that David says next in his person was fulfilled through him after his ascension: "I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I praise thee." And there follows: "With thee is my praise in a great church: I will pay my vows in the sight of them that fear him. The poor shall eat and shall be filled: and they shall praise the name of the Lord that seek him in their hearts for ever and ever. All the ends of the earth of the Gentiles shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord."¹⁵ Like which David says in Psalm 17, in the person of the Messiah: "Thou wilt deliver me from the contradictions of the people; thou wilt make me head of the Gentiles. A people which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me." For they have now seen all this fulfilled through all the kingdoms of the world, as I set down here that Malachi said. And note how plainly and fittingly he here describes the present error of the Jews about the Messiah. For he says, "A people which I knew not, hath served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me," where he foretells the conversion of the Gentiles through the preaching of the apostles and disciples, not through the fight of arms. Immediately he adds: "The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths," calling the Jews strange children, and likewise affirming them to have grown old and to halt from the paths of God. For they now lie about the Messiah, affirming that he has not come, grown old in the feigned and false traditions of certain perverse doctors of theirs who falsely understand the prophetic scriptures about the Messiah himself; and so they are halting from the paths of God. For they cannot say that the Gentiles, set in their gentility, ought to be called strange children here, because, being in gentility, they never entered the paths of God; hence they do not halt from them either. Again, what Psalm 15 says of him, "Nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption," was fulfilled in his resurrection, of which Zephaniah says in chapter 3 of his book: "Wherefore expect me, saith the Lord, in the day of my resurrection that is to come." Again, it is evident that that [verse] of Psalm 18 was fulfilled — "There are no speeches nor languages, where their voices are not heard. Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world" — in the apostles and disciples, when they spoke with the tongues of all nations and preached through all kingdoms; or at least their preaching was spread abroad through all the kingdoms of the world. Again, it is evident that that [verse] of Psalm 40 was fulfilled of our Christ in the person of Judas, his disciple: "For even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me."¹⁶ For Judas himself betrayed him. And it is evident from what follows that this saying is of Christ, not of David. For there follows: "But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again: and I will requite them. By this I know, that thou hast had a good will for me: because my enemy shall not rejoice over me. But thou hast upheld me by reason of my innocence: and hast established me in thy sight for ever." For David was not raised again, but is dead to the present. Nor was David innocent, who committed most grievous sins; nor was he established in the sight of God for ever, since he does not remain at present. And the penalty¹⁷ of this supplanting the same prophet described afterwards in Psalm 108,¹⁸ saying: "Set thou the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his right hand. When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin. May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take." Now it is evident that when he was judged by the elders of the Jews, as he brought back the 30 pieces of silver for which he had supplanted his lord and said, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood," it was said to him: "What is that to us? look thou to it"; and going away he hanged himself with a halter; and Matthias succeeded to his bishopric. Peter the apostle uses this testimony in Acts 1. Likewise that [verse] of Psalm 71, "The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts," is evidently fulfilled in the time of his infancy, as to the three kings who came from Tharsis and offered him gifts. Again, of the ascension of the Messiah into heaven Psalm 67 says:¹⁹ "Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth: sing ye to the Lord: sing ye to the Lord, who mounteth above the heaven of heavens, to the east"; which was fulfilled in our Christ as his disciples looked on. Again, of his ascension into heaven and of the sending of the Holy Spirit upon his disciples together, he set down there beforehand thus: "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast given gifts to men";²⁰ which were fulfilled historically in our Christ. For first he ascended as his disciples looked on, and on the tenth day following he sent the Holy Spirit upon them, and they spoke in all tongues; which sending of the Holy Spirit Joel foretold in chapter 2 of his book, after first foretelling the recall of the people from the Babylonian captivity. For there follows: "And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Moreover, upon my servants and your handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit"; which it is evident was literally fulfilled through our Christ. Again, of the various tongues given to the apostles it is said in Isaiah 28: "For with the speech of lips, and with another tongue he will speak to this people"; and the hardening of the Jews which exists at present is described next in the same place: "and they would not hear"; and soon after: "that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." The apostle cites this in 1 Corinthians 14. Again, let the Jews ask what captivity he led when he ascended on high — or will ascend, according to the Jews — and they will find the souls of the holy fathers in hell, as Zechariah 9 says: "Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water." Of which ascension David speaks in Psalm 109 thus: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand: Until I make thy enemies thy footstool." For unless he ascended, he would not say, speaking carnally to carnal men, that he would sit at the right hand of God. Peter the apostle uses this testimony in Acts 2. And in Psalm 18 David said of this ascension of Christ: "His going out is from the end of heaven, And his circuit even to the end thereof." Again, what David says in his person in Psalm 109, "The Lord hath sworn, and he will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech" — is it not evidently fulfilled as to this, that Christ was a priest according to the order of Melchisedech, offering only bread and wine, which had been the oblation for sins before the law, as Melchisedech offered to God, of whom Genesis 14 [speaks]? Hence it follows that the rite of such a priesthood will stand until the end of the world, according to these words of David the prophet. Why therefore should we not faithfully affirm that our priest has come, since we now see present the rite of his priesthood, prophesied so long before, and have seen it now for one thousand three hundred and forty years?

Chapter 18.

John. It seems to me that the things set out above do not, taken singly, suffice to show that our Christ was and is the promised Messiah. For many things could happen in other persons as though they had been foretold as future in his person: as that he was to be sold for thirty pence, that he was to be crucified, that lots were to be cast upon his garments, and many like things; for these and others of the kind can happen to many robbers, and perhaps have happened. Therefore from no such thing can it be sufficiently shown that our Christ was the promised Christ. Come, then: so that the things you have adduced here and there in this treatise may have their force sufficiently and solidly, gather them into one sheaf, adducing any arguments that have occurred to you.

Richard. You can draw the premises together thus. The blessing promised to the fathers was to be given in the person of the Messiah alone, and that blessing was fulfilled in the person of our Christ; therefore our Christ was the [?] promised Messiah.¹ The major and minor of this argument you have proved from the beginning of this third [book] up to the ninth chapter. Again, the new spiritual law, which rejects or makes void the carnal sacrifices of the law of Moses, and which the prophets foretold would go out from Jerusalem, was to be given through the person of the Messiah and through no other. Now this law was given by our Christ; [therefore our Christ] was the Messiah.² The major and minor of this argument you have proved in chapters 9 and 10 of this little book. Again, the time marked beforehand by the prophets, within which the Messiah was promised as to come, elapsed thirteen hundred years ago. Hence it follows that the Messiah has come; but no one says or can say that anyone else who has already come among the Jews, besides our Christ, is the Messiah. The major of this argument you have clearly proved in chapters [?], 15, 16 and [?]³ of this book, by the prophecies of Jacob, Balaam, Daniel and Haggai. Again, the conditions of the person of the Messiah himself, as to his conception and his birth, as to his manner of life and his teaching, as to his betrayal, his death, his passion, the time of his burial, the punishment of the Jews for killing him, the manner of his passion, his resurrection and his ascension into heaven, and as to the accidents and effects accompanying his coming, preceding it and following it, which the prophets have foretold to you with one accord, can be fulfilled in the person of the Messiah alone; but they have been fulfilled in the person of our Christ. Hence it follows that Christ is the promised Messiah. The major and minor of this argument you have proved in chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15 of this third [book]. Again, according to the Jews and to us, no prophet is to be equal to the Messiah; but of our Christ it is evident, through the historians of the Jews and other trustworthy witnesses, that at his birth a star gave guidance to kings coming from Tharsis; that angels announced him to shepherds, calling him Saviour; that at his baptism a voice was heard from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him,"⁴ [and] a dove was seen descending from heaven upon him; that he was transfigured before his disciples, so that for the brightness of his body they could not look upon him; that Moses and Elijah were seen speaking with him; that he rose from the dead; that he ascended into heaven; that he came in to the disciples when the doors were shut; that he walked upon the sea; that angels ministered to him; that he made the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, cleansed lepers, healed the sick, put demons to flight and raised the dead. Either, then, the Jews shall show from their scripture that greater works and a greater nobility belong to the Messiah, which beyond doubt they will not be able to do, or let them confess that our Christ is not less than the Messiah, and consequently that he is the Messiah. For it is evident that the things just said are much greater than the restoration of a bodily kingdom, or bodily peace in the kingdom of the Jews, which the Jews nevertheless set down as the chief things in their future Messiah. From where, then, in their scripture will they prove their feigned Messiah greater than our Christ? They have nothing, unless they say that he is to give spiritual salvation to his people, which our Christ did, not only in his own people but also through all the kingdoms of the world. There is therefore nothing in Scripture by which it could be proved that the Messiah [is] greater than our Christ. Hence it plainly follows, and cannot be denied, that our Christ is the promised Messiah.

Chapter 19.

Again, although the argument set at the end of the second treatise by itself shows this sufficiently, yet the same can be proved from the persons of the apostles and of others of the Christian sect. Thus all of them, John the Baptist as well as the apostles and disciples of our Christ, and also their successors in our sect whom we call saints, men as well as women, not only believed but said that our Christ was the Messiah and God, and worshipped him as God; and for affirming this and for such worship many of them suffered death. Either, then, he was the Messiah and God, or all these who worshipped him were sinners, liars, idolaters and blasphemers.⁵ If the Jews say the latter, it stands most plainly against them that God, at their entreaty and at their invocation of our Christ, worked through them very great and innumerable miracles, such as he would not have worked at their prayer or invocation if they had been such great sinners; since the scripture of the Old Testament is plain that God does not hear sinners when they ask and call upon him, but turns away his ear from them: Proverbs 1 and 21, Jeremiah 14 and 20, Micah 3,⁶ and in countless other places. These men, therefore, were just and truthful. And it also follows that our Christ was the Messiah and God almighty, since all of them strove to establish this in life and in death.

Again, let the Jews ask why their captivity, brought about by Titus and Vespasian, [is] so lasting that it has now endured for thirteen hundred years, and they will find from Daniel and Amos that it is because they sold the just one and killed Christ, God, as I treated above. For Amos, in chapter 2 of his book, says: "For three crimes of Israel, and for four I will not convert him: because they have sold the just man for silver."⁷ Now it is evident that before the Babylonian captivity they killed prophets, namely Isaiah and Zechariah⁸ and others, and worshipped idols; hence they were captive for seventy years. But now they have been captive for thirteen hundred years; therefore they committed some crime incomparably graver than those earlier ones. That is why Amos says here, "and for four I will not convert him": I understand, until the end of the world, at the coming of Elijah. For their law says, Deuteronomy 25: "According to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be." Let them ask, then, what that sin was, so great that it deserved so great a penalty, and they will find from Daniel and Amos, as I said, the selling of the just one and his killing (by which name the prophets are wont to name Christ or the Messiah); and since they hold this, let them confess their guilt committed against the person of the Messiah, namely that they sold him and killed him.

Chapter 20.

John. Judas his disciple sold him, not the Jews,

as it seems.

Richard. The elders of the Jews induced Judas and fixed his price out of the common treasury, giving nothing of their own; and so together with Judas they sold him for money, and they themselves bought him in order to kill him. And so they were both sellers and buyers; hence Zechariah says: "And they received the wage, thirty pieces of silver."⁹ Again, Judas was one of the Jews, and rightly what he had done with the assent of the chief priests is said to have been done by the Jews.

Chapter 21.

John. I still ask, and you must answer one objection. It seems to me that in the things which you affirm to have been fulfilled in our Christ, and which declare him to be the Messiah, you have used the authority of the new Scripture, namely the Gospel, which scripture the Jews do not accept, as you know. And therefore I asked that you show those things from the old Scripture; and so what I asked does not seem proved from the old Scripture, and thus from what you have set out you do not [?]¹⁰ against the Jews that our Christ is the Messiah.

Richard. I set out nothing from the New Testament to prove that our Christ was the Messiah; but I took many things done concerning him and by him and his followers which are related in our Gospel, in the apostolic writings, and in the writings of innumerable trustworthy historians. Yet I did not set them down because they are said there, but because they were testified among the Jews and the nations of the world by innumerable trustworthy witnesses, and so obtained undoubted credence among the Jews and us, and obtain it at present, so that they are reckoned notorious: as that he from whom we are called Christians was called Jesus Christ; that he preached in Jerusalem and Judaea and introduced our sect and a new law; that he came to Jerusalem sitting upon an ass; that the children of the Hebrews worshipped and praised him; that Judas his disciple betrayed him and sold him for thirty pence; that afterwards he hanged himself with a halter; that the Jews crucified that Christ and divided his garments, and that the soldiers who crucified him cast lots upon his vesture; and the like things which I set down about his priesthood and his death and his resurrection, about his transfiguration, ascension, and the miracles worked by him and his followers, and other deeds: all of which are so spread abroad among all kingdoms, through the writings not only of Christians [but] of Jews and Gentiles, that they cannot be denied; and from these, together with their own scripture, it is proved against the Jews that our Christ was the promised Messiah. But what I said, that his mother remained a virgin, can be sufficiently established from our scripture, since her husband, held to be a just man, said this to the end of his days.¹¹ Some things, indeed, I brought forward in explaining certain [texts] adduced, not that they should have the force of proof against the Jews, but rather that for you and others they might have some force of instruction: as in explaining the saying of Daniel I said that from the time of Christ's passion no just man has gone down to hell, but that the just who were then in hell were led out by our Christ, namely the souls of the just, which Scripture calls by the names of the just; [and] that Zechariah foretold that the Messiah would do this, and Hosea likewise, as I adduced in what was said above in proving that the Messiah must be God.¹² Again, if I had set down the foregoing history from our scripture, I would have done so blamelessly; for about things done in the time of certain men credence is to be given to those same men, and especially if they persist in affirming those deeds to the end of their life; since it is not likely that anyone is so unmindful of his salvation that he would want to continue a lie to the end of his life and die willingly in such and so great a sin. For a pernicious lie, that is, one harmful to others, is in every law, indeed in the law of nature, a very great sin. Therefore to Jews, Saracens, Tartars and any men whatever, and especially to men approved in the justice of their law, in their assertion of such deeds, from which nothing would accrue to them but rather be taken away, and by which they would harm others if they lied, we Christians rightly give undoubted credence. Since, then, we allege the historical writing of men approved in our law for knowledge, holiness and morals, about deeds done chiefly in their own time, either such writing ought to be approved by men, or no credence is to be given to any historian, which is altogether absurd. Therefore what I did was done reasonably.

Here ends the Third Book.