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| Chapter VII.—Fasting, and the goat sent away, were types of Christ.
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Chapter VII.—Fasting, and the goat
sent away, were types of Christ.
Understand, then, ye children of gladness,
that the good Lord has foreshown all things to us, that we might know to
whom we ought for everything to render thanksgiving and praise. If
therefore the Son of God, who is Lord [of all things], and who will judge
the living and the dead, suffered, that His stroke might give us life,
let us believe that the Son of God could not have suffered except for our
sakes. Moreover, when fixed to the cross, He had given Him to drink
vinegar and gall. Hearken how the priests of the people1527
gave previous indications of
this. His commandment having been written, the Lord enjoined, that
whosoever did not keep the fast should be put to death, because He also
Himself was to offer in sacrifice for our sins the vessel of the Spirit,
in order that the type established in Isaac when he was offered upon the
altar might be fully accomplished. What, then, says He in the prophet?
“And let them eat of the goat which is offered, with fasting, for
all their sins.”1528
| 1528
Not to be found in Scripture, as is the case also with what follows.
Hefele remarks, that “certain false traditions respecting the
Jewish rites seem to have prevailed among the Christians of the second
century, of which Barnabas here adopts some, as do Justin (Dial. c.
Try. 40) and Tertullian (adv. Jud. 14; adv. Marc. iii.
7).” | Attend carefully: “And let all the priests
alone eat the inwards, unwashed with vinegar.” Wherefore? Because
to me, who am to offer my flesh for the sins of my new people, ye are to
give gall with vinegar to drink: eat ye alone, while the people fast and
mourn in sackcloth and ashes. [These things were done] that He might show
that it was necessary for Him to suffer for them.1529
| 1529 Cod. Sin. has “by them.”
| How,1530
| 1530 Cod. Sin.
reads, “what commanded He?” | then, ran the
commandment? Give your attention.
Take two goats of goodly aspect, and similar to each other, and offer
them. And let the priest take one as a burnt-offering for sins.1531
| 1531 Cod. Sin. reads, “one as
a burnt-offering, and one for sins.” | And what should
they do with the other? “Accursed,” says He, “is the
one.” Mark how the type of Jesus1532
| 1532 Cod. Sin. reads, “type of God,” but it has
been corrected to “Jesus.” | now comes out.
“And all of you spit upon it, and pierce it, and encircle its head
with scarlet wool, and thus let it be driven into the wilderness.”
And when all this has been done, he who bears the goat brings it into the
desert, and takes the wool off from it, and places that upon a shrub
which is called Rachia,1533
| 1533 In Cod. Sin. we find “Rachel.” The
orthography is doubtful, but there is little question that a kind of
bramble-bush is intended. | of which also we are accustomed to
eat the fruits1534
when we
find them in the field. Of this1535
| 1535 Cod. Sin. has “thus” instead of
“this.” | kind of shrub alone the fruits are sweet.
Why then, again, is this? Give good heed. [You see] “one upon the
altar, and the other accursed;” and why [do you behold] the one
that is accursed crowned? Because they shall see Him then in that day
having a scarlet robe about his body down to his feet; and they shall
say, Is not this He whom we once despised, and pierced, and mocked, and
crucified? Truly this is1536
He who then declared Himself to
be the Son of God. For how like is He to Him!1537
| 1537 The text is here in great confusion,
though the meaning is plain. Dressel reads, “For how are they
alike, and why [does He enjoin] that the goats should be good and
alike?” The Cod. Sin. reads, “How is He like Him? For this
that,” etc. | With a view to this, [He required] the
goats to be of goodly aspect, and similar, that, when they see Him then
coming, they may be amazed by the likeness of the goat. Behold,
then,1538
| 1538 Cod. Sin. here
inserts “the goat.” | the type of Jesus who was to
suffer. But why is it that they
place the wool in the midst
of thorns? It is a type of Jesus set before the view of the Church.
[They1539
| 1539 Cod. Sin. reads,
“for as he who … so, says he,” etc. | place
the wool among thorns], that any one who wishes to bear it away may find
it necessary to suffer much, because the thorn is formidable, and thus
obtain it only as the result of suffering. Thus also, says He,
“Those who wish to behold Me, and lay hold of My kingdom, must
through tribulation and suffering obtain Me.”1540
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