19. And since we have touched on things
connected with Paradise, I am truly astonished at the truth of the
types. In Paradise was the Fall, and in a Garden was our
Salvation. From the Tree came sin, and until the Tree sin
lasted. In the evening, when the Lord walked in the Garden,
they hid themselves Gen. iii. 8.; and in the evening
the robber is brought by the Lord into Paradise. But some one
will say to me, “Thou art inventing subtleties; shew me from some
prophet the Wood of the Cross; except thou give me a testimony from a
prophet, I will not be persuaded. Hear then from Jeremias, and
assure thyself; I was like a harmless lamb led to be slaughtered;
did I not know it Jer. xi. 19: I was like a tame
(R.V. gentle) lamb that is led to the slaughter; and I knew
not that they had devised devices against me. Cyril’s
interrogative rendering is not admissible.? (for in this
manner read it as a question, as I have read it; for He who said, Ye
know that after two days comes the passover, and the Son of Man is
betrayed to be crucified Matt. xxvi. 2., did He not know?)
I was like a harmless lamb led to be slaughtered; did I not know
it? (but what sort of lamb? let John the Baptist interpret it, when
he says, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the
world John i. 29..) They devised against Me a wicked
device, saying Jer. xi. 19.—(He who knows
the devices, knew He not the result of them? And what said
they?)—Come, and let us place a beam upon His
bread Ibid. R.V. Let us destroy the tree with the fruit
thereof. The word rendered fruit is literally
bread. The phrase is evidently proverbial. The
Hebrew word which means “destroy” is misinterpreted
by ἐμβάλωμεν in
the Greek. Hence arose the fanciful application of the passage to
the cross laid on the body of Christ to be borne by Him. Justin
M. (Tryph. lxxii.) charges the Jews with having recently cut out
the passage because of the supposed reference to Christ.
Tertullian (adv. Judæos, c. 10) writes: “Of
course on His body that ‘wood’ was put; for so Christ has
revealed, calling His body ‘bread.’” He gives
the same interpretation elsewhere (adv. Marcion. III. 19; IV.
40). Cf. Cyprian (Testimonia ad Quirinum, Lib. II. 15);
Athanas. (de Incarn. § 33).—(and if the
Lord reckon thee worthy, thou shalt hereafter learn, that His body
according to the Gospel bore the figure of bread;)—Come
then, and let us place a beam upon His bread, and cut Him off out of
the land of the living;—(life is not cut off, why labour ye
for nought?)—And His name shall be remembered no
more. Vain is your counsel; for before the sun His
Name Ps. lxxii. 17. abideth in the
Church. And that it was Life, which hung on the Cross, Moses
says, weeping, And thy life shall be hanging before thine eyes; and
thou shalt be afraid day and night, and thou shalt not trust thy
life Deut. xxviii. 66.. And so too,
what was just now read as the text, Lord, who hath believed our
report?