Chapter XCI.—The cross was foretold in the blessings of Joseph, and in the
serpent that was lifted up.
“And God by Moses shows in another way the force of the mystery of the cross, when
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He said in the blessing wherewith Joseph was blessed, ‘From the blessing of the Lord is his
land; for the seasons of heaven, and for the dews, and for the deep springs from beneath,
and for the seasonable fruits of the sun,539 and for the coming together of the months, and
for the heights of the everlasting mountains, and for the heights of the hills, and for the ever-
flowing rivers, and for the fruits of the fatness of the earth; and let the things accepted by
Him who appeared in the bush come on the head and crown of Joseph. Let him be glorified
among his brethren;540 his beauty is [like] the firstling of a bullock; his horns the horns of
an unicorn: with these shall he push the nations from one end of the earth to another.’541
Now, no one could say or prove that the horns of an unicorn represent any other fact or
figure than the type which portrays the cross. For the one beam is placed upright, from
which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it,
and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which
is fixed in the centre, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like
a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns. And the ex-
pression, ‘With these shall he push as with horns the nations from one end of the earth to
another,’ is indicative of what is now the fact among all the nations. For some out of all the
nations, through the power of this mystery, having been so pushed, that is, pricked in their
hearts, have turned from vain idols and demons to serve God. But the same figure is revealed
for the destruction and condemnation of the unbelievers; even as Amalek was defeated and
Israel victorious when the people came out of Egypt, by means of the type of the stretching
out of Moses’ hands, and the name of Jesus (Joshua), by which the son of Nave (Nun) was
called. And it seems that the type and sign, which was erected to counteract the serpents
which bit Israel, was intended for the salvation of those who believe that death was declared
to come thereafter on the serpent through Him that would be crucified, but salvation to
those who had been bitten by him and had betaken themselves to Him that sent His Son
into the world to be crucified.542 For the Spirit of prophecy by Moses did not teach us to
believe in the serpent, since it shows us that he was cursed by God from the beginning; and
539 There is a variety of reading here: either ἀβύσσου πηγῶν κάτωθεν καθαρῶν: or, ἀβύσσου πηγῶν κάτωθεν,
καὶ καθ’ ὥραν γεννημάτων, κ.τ.λ., which we prefer.
540 The translation in the text is a rendering of the Septuagint. The mss. of Justin read: “Being glorified as
the first-born among his brethren.”
541 Deut. xxxiii. 13–17.
542 [A clumsy exposition of St. John iii. 14.]
Chapter XCI.—The cross was foretold in the blessings of Joseph, and in the serpent that was lifted up.
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Chapter XCI.—The cross was foretold in the blessings of Joseph, and in the…