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| Chapter XIII.—Christians, and not Jews, the heirs of the covenant.
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But let us see if this people1630
is the heir, or the former, and if
the covenant belongs to us or to them. Hear ye now what the Scripture
saith concerning the people. Isaac prayed for Rebecca his wife, because
she was barren; and she conceived.1631
Furthermore also, Rebecca went forth to inquire of the Lord; and the Lord
said to her, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples in thy
belly; and the one people shall surpass the other, and the elder shall
serve the younger.”1632
You ought
to understand who was Isaac, who Rebecca, and concerning what persons He
declared that this people should be greater than that. And in another
prophecy Jacob speaks more clearly to his son Joseph, saying,
“Behold, the Lord hath not deprived me of thy presence; bring thy
sons to me, that I may bless them.”1633
And
he brought Manasseh and Ephraim, desiring that Manasseh1634
| 1634 Cod. Sin. reads each time
“Ephraim,” by a manifest mistake, instead of Manasseh.
| should be blessed, because he was the elder. With this view
Joseph led him to the right hand of his father Jacob. But Jacob saw in
spirit the type of the people to arise afterwards. And what says [the
Scripture]? And Jacob changed the direction of his hands, and laid his
right hand upon the head of Ephraim, the second and younger, and blessed
him. And Joseph said to Jacob, “Transfer thy right hand to the head
of Manasseh,1635
| 1635 Cod. Sin.
reads each time “Ephraim,” by a manifest mistake, instead of
Manasseh. | for he is my first-born son.”1636
And Jacob said, “I know it, my son, I
know it; but the elder shall serve the younger: yet he also shall be
blessed.”1637
Ye see on whom he
laid1638
| 1638 Or, “of whom
he willed.” | [his hands], that this people should be
first, and
heir of the covenant. If then, still further, the
same thing was intimated through Abraham, we reach the perfection of our
knowledge. What, then, says He to Abraham? “Because thou hast
believed,1639
| 1639 Cod. Sin. has,
“when alone believing,” and is followed by Hilgenfeld to this
effect: “What, then, says He to Abraham, when, alone believing, he
was placed in righteousness? Behold,” etc. | it is
imputed to thee for righteousness: behold, I have made thee the father of
those nations who believe in the Lord while in [a state of]
uncircumcision.”1640
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