20. Of this our Saviour the Prophet Jonas
formed the type, when he prayed out of the belly of the whale, and
said, I cried in my affliction, and so on; out of the belly
of hell Jonah ii. 2., and yet he was in
the whale; but though in the whale, he says that he is in Hades; for he
was a type of Christ, who was to descend into Hades. And after a
few words, he says, in the person of Christ, prophesying most clearly,
My head went down to the chasms of the mountains Ib. v.
6: (R.V.) I
went down to the bottoms of the mountains: the earth with her
bars closed upon me for ever.; and yet he was in the belly of the
whale. What mountains then encompass thee? I know, he says,
that I am a type of Him, who is to be laid in the Sepulchre hewn out of
the rock. And though he was in the sea, Jonas says, I went
down to the earth, since he was a type of Christ, who went down
into the heart of the earth. And foreseeing the deeds of the Jews
who persuaded the soldiers to lie, and told them, Say that they
stole Him away, he says, By regarding lying vanities they
forsook their own mercy v. 8.. For He who
had mercy on them came, and was crucified, and rose again, giving His
own precious blood both for Jews and Gentiles; yet say they, Say
that they stole Him away, having regard to lying
vanities By lying
vanities are meant in the original “vain
idols.”. But
concerning His Resurrection, Esaias also says, He who brought up
from the earth the great Shepherd of the sheep Isa. lxiii. 11; (R.V.), Where is He that
brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds (Marg.
shepherd) of His flock? Cyril’s
reading, ἐκ τῆς γῆς
instead of ἐκ τῆς
θαλάσσης is found
in the Alexandrine ms. of the
Septuagint. Athanasius (Ad Serapion, Ep. i.
12) has the same reading and interpretation as Cyril. By
“the shepherds” are probably meant Moses and
Aaron: cf. Ps.
lxxvii. 20:
Who leddest Thy people like sheep by the hand of Moses and
Aaron.
Heb. xiii. 20: Now the God of peace,
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, &c. The word “great” is added by
the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews not by Isaiah.; he added the word, great, lest He
should be thought on a level with the shepherds who had gone before
Him.