XIX.
But seeing now that we must make proof of what is
alleged at greater length, we shall not shrink from the task. For
it is certain that he is destined to spring from the tribe of
Dan,1936
| 1936
After Irenæus, book v. ch. xxx. [vol. i. p. 559, this
series], many of the ancients express this opinion. See too
Bellarmine, De Pontifice Rom., iii. 12. |
and to range
himself in opposition like a princely tyrant, a
terrible judge and
accuser,
1937
as the
prophet
testifies when he says, “
Dan shall
judge his people, as one
tribe
in
Israel.”
1938
But
some one may say that this was meant of
Samson, who sprang from the
tribe of
Dan, and judged his people for twenty years. That,
however, was only partially made good in the case of
Samson; but this
shall be fulfilled completely in the case of
Antichrist. For
Jeremiah, too, speaks in this manner: “From
Dan we shall
hear the sound of the sharpness
1939
| 1939
φωνὴν
ὀξύτητος. There
is another reading, σπουδήν = haste. |
of his
horses; at the sound of the
neighing
1940
| 1940
χρεμετισμοῦ. [Conf. p. 207, supra.] |
of his
horses the
whole
land trembled.”
1941
And again,
Moses says:
“
Dan is a
lion’s whelp, and he shall
leap from
Bashan.”
1942
And
that no one may fall into the mistake of thinking that this is spoken
of the Saviour, let him attend to this. “
Dan,” says
he, “is a
lion’s whelp;” and by thus naming the
tribe
of
Dan as the one whence the accuser is destined to spring, he made the
matter in
hand quite clear. For as
Christ is
born of the
tribe of
Judah, so
Antichrist shall be
born of the
tribe of
Dan. And as
our
Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, was spoken of in
prophecy as
a
lion on account or His royalty and glory, in the same manner
also has the Scripture prophetically described the accuser as a lion,
on account of his tyranny and violence.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
