CHAPTER 1

From Psalm xl.

Of Judas the Traitor, and His Fellow-Conspirators against Christ.

[Passage quoted, Ps. xl. 1-12.] (464)

As it has been supposed by some that the Book of Psalms merely consists of hymns to God and sacred songs, and ^{- 192 -} that we shall look in vain in it for predictions and prophecies of the future, let us realize distinctly that it contains many prophecies, far too many to be quoted now, and it must suffice for proof of what I say to make use of two Psalms ascribed to Asaph, written in the time of David. For Asaph was one of the Temple Musicians then, as is stated in the Book of Chronicles, and was inspired by the Divine Spirit to speak the Psalms inscribed with his name. And what do these Psalms include? Predictions of the siege of Jerusalem, the royal city of the Jewish race, which took place nearly five hundred years after the prediction. For we read in the 73rd Psalm, inscribed "A Psalm of understanding for Asaph":

"Wherefore hast thou rejected us, O God, for ever? | Wherefore is thy wrath kindled against the sheep of thy pasture? | 2. Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed of old, | and hast ransomed as the rod of thy inheritance; | this Mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt. | 3. Lift up thine hands against their pride unto the end: what things hath the enemy done evilly in thy sanctuaries, | 4. and they that hate thee have boasted in the midst of thy Feast: | 5. they have set up their banners for signs, ignorantly as it were in the entrance above. | They cut down its doors at once with axes as in a wood of trees, | they have broken it down with hatchet and stone-cutter. | 7. They have burnt thy sanctuary to the ground with fire, | and have profaned even with the ground the dwelling-place of thy name."

This is in Psalm lxxiii.; and Psalm lxxviii. of Asaph contains this:

"O God, the Gentiles have entered into thine inheritance, and defiled thy holy temple; they have made Jerusalem a store-house of fruits, they have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the birds of the air, the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the fields." ^{- 193 -} 

The first of these passages, I mean the one from Psalm lxxiii., was spoken in David's reign before the building of (465). Solomon's Temple, and it was only fulfilled the first time by the siege by the Babylonians, and the second time in the Roman war against the Jews. For what was predicted and proclaimed in the said Psalms by Asaph was brought to pass in the destruction of the first and second Temples. And the second passage, from Psalm lxxviii., was fulfilled in the time of Antiochus, called Epiphanes, who being King of Syria entered Jerusalem, polluted the Temple, destroyed (b) the Altar, and in his endeavour to compel the Jews to hellenize, slew countless men and women who were martyrs for their law and their father's religion, and he inflicted all sorts of punishments on them. It was therefore to that time, and to Antiochus' successors who emulated his deeds, that Asaph's prophecies in Psalm lxxviii. refer. And the Book of those called Maccabees confirms what I say, which has this passage:

"And to Jakeimon and Bacchides there came a (c) deputation of scribes asking for justice." And it proceeds to say: "And he sware to them saying, We will not bring evil on yourselves and your friends. And they believed him. And he took of them sixty men and slew them in one day, according to the word of Asaph, which he wrote, They gave the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the birds of the air, and the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the land, their (d) blood have they poured out like water on every side of Jerusalem, and there was no man to bury them." 

If these events were thus predicted and fulfilled, it is not surprising that in the same way the oracle quoted from Psalm xl. should announce what would happen in connection with the plot on our Saviour, though not all men should understand, that He being the Word of God, Wisdom, Life, and the True Light, and possessing all the wealth of the good, for our sakes became poor, taking our flesh, and being made like in kind to mortal man and beggars, taking on Him the form of a slave and a poor man, and most of all when He fulfilled the Psalmist's prophecy. He that understands these sayings to refer to ^{- 194 -} Himself, naturally is blessed at the beginning of the Psalm, as receiving the written promise.

(466) So it proceeds in the rest to speak in the person of a poor man and a beggar, that is to say of our Saviour Who for our sakes became poor: "I said, Lord, have mercy on me." And John, the Evangelist, is an independent witness that the words of this Psalm are spoken in the Person of our Saviour. For he records, that:

"Jesus once took a towel and girded himself, and washed the feet of his disciples and said, I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth with me, the same hath lifted his heel against me."

For He made it clear there that the Scripture referred (b) to was the Psalm before us, in which it is said: "For the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, he that ate of my bread hath raised his heel against me." He it is, then, Who says at the beginning: "I said, Lord, have pity on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee," and speaks through the whole Psalm. Symmachus gives a clearer rendering of these words, as follows:

"When I said, O Lord, have pity on me, heal my soul, even if I have sinned against thee, my enemies have spoken evil against me, when shall he die and (c) his name perish? And when he comes to gaze on me his heart speaks vanity, it gathers unrighteousness on itself: and when he goes out he tells it. All they that hate me have whispered against me with one consent, conceiving evil concerning me. An unrighteous word is poured out within them, and when he fall may he never rise up. Yea, even the man who was at peace with me, in whom I trusted, who did eat of my bread, has magnified himself against me accordingly. But thou, O Lord, pity me, and raise (d) me, that I may reward them. By this I shall know that thou wishest it, if my enemy does not revile me. Thou hast defended me because of my innocence, and shall set me before thee for ever." ^{- 195 -} 

And Aquila is in exact agreement with Symmachus. With regard first to the words which are apparently said in the Person of our Saviour: "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee," you will notice in Symmachus they are not so rendered, but thus: "Heal my soul, even if I have sinned against thee." And He speaks thus, since He shares our sins. So it is said: "And the Lord hath laid on him our iniquities, and he bears our sins." Thus the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world, (467) became a curse on our behalf:

"Whom, though he knew no sin, God made sin for our sake, giving him as redemption for all, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." 

But since being in the likeness of sinful flesh He condemned sin in the flesh, the words quoted are rightly used. And in that He made our sins His own from His love and benevolence towards us, He says these words, adding further on in the same Psalm: "Thou hast (b) protected me because of my innocence," clearly shewing the impeccability of the Lamb of God. And how can He make our sins His own, and be said to bear our iniquities, except by our being regarded as His body, according to the apostle, who says: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members?" And by the rule that "if one member suffer all the members suffer with it," so when the many members suffer and sin, He too by the laws of (c) sympathy (since the Word of God was pleased to take the form of a slave and to be knit into the common tabernacle of us all) takes into Himself the labours of the suffering members, and makes our sicknesses His, and suffers all our woes and labours by the laws of love. And the Lamb of God not only did this, but was chastised on our behalf, (d) and suffered a penalty He did not owe, but which we owed because of the multitude of our sins; and so He became the cause of the forgiveness of our sins, because He received death for us, and transferred to Himself the scourging, the insults, and the dishonour, which were due to us, and drew down on Himself the apportioned curse, being made a curse for us. And what is that but the price of our ^{- 196 -} souls? And so the oracle says in our person: "By his stripes we were healed," and "The Lord delivered him for our sins," with the result that uniting Himself to us and us to Himself, and appropriating our sufferings, He can say, "I said, Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, (468) for I have sinned against thee," and can cry that they who plot against Him, not men only but invisible daemons as well, when they see the surpassing power of His Holy Name and title, by means of which He filled the world full of Christians a little after, think that they will be able to extinguish it, if they plot His death. This is what is proved by His saying: "My enemies have spoken evil of me, saying, When shall he die and his name perish?"

And since they attacked Him with the words of guile, attempting to entangle Him, as Holy Writ bears witness, (b) telling us how different charges and accusations were engineered against Him at different times, He therefore adds: "And if he come to see me, his heart speaks vanity, he heaps unrighteousness on himself; he has gone out, and spoken the same against me." After this, too, He clearly reveals the vile traitor himself, who, after making a covenant with the rulers of the Jews to betray his master, no more (c) went as he used to the school of His holy teaching, nor went as to His teacher, nor like the others passed His time with the Saviour, but awaited and hunted for an opportunity to lay hands on Him. For this is what he is accused of doing by the Holy Evangelists, of whom Matthew says:

"Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought an opportunity to betray him to them."

(d) And Mark says:

"And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them. And when they heard it they were glad, and promised to give him money: and he sought how he might conveniently betray him." ^{- 197 -} 

And Luke writes thus:

"And Satan entered into Judas that was called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve, and he departed and spake with the chief priests and scribes, and the captains of the Temple, that he might betray him unto them, and they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he sought opportunity to betray him unto them apart from the multitude." 

So the prophecy before us prophesies the same things, when it says:

"And if he came to see me his heart spake vanity, he gathered iniquity on himself. He went out, and spake the same. Against me all my enemies whispered"; 

where Symmachus renders:

"Coming in to spy on me, his heart spake vanity, he heaped unrighteousness upon it: and when he went out he spake against me. All they that hate me (469) whispered with one voice against me." 

Yes, for he alone went into his master as a friend and a disciple, to spy and search out, while he hid his plot in his own heart. And when he went out, he spake against Him (b) at once with many of the same mind, betraying the Saviour to His enemies, and secretly made a pact with the rulers of the Jews, about other things, but of course about money as well, for which he promised to betray Him, and about which he whispered with them. Wherefore it says:

"He went out and spake at once. All my enemies whispered against me, against me they imagined evils. They determined an evil plan against me."

Perhaps the covenant for the money is meant by the "unjust word" of the prophecy, or perhaps the impious (c) and unjust intentions they had against Him, supposing that He would be extinguished and destroyed after death, and would no longer be reckoned among the living. For such is the meaning of: "When he sleepeth he shall surely never rise up again," which Symmachus has expressed more clearly: "And falling he will not arise"; where Aquila says: "And whosoever sleep, he shall not rise again." So  ^{- 198 -} far it has spoken generally about all those who conspired (d) against Him at the time of His Passion; but it goes on now to speak of the traitor particularly, as of one of His disciples: "For the man of my peace also, in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." Instead of which Symmachus again renders: "And a man, who was at peace with me, in whom I had confidence, who ate of my bread with me, hath magnified himself against me." For of a truth it is the lowest and most accursed of men who after sharing a master's table, and the nurture of his instruction, goes wrong and treats his benefactor in the opposite way to which he has been treated himself.

And since the enemies in their plotting said: "When shall he die, and his name perish?" and thought that if he lay down he would never rise up again, therefore (470) our Lord and Saviour praying for the reverse of this, and assured of an unhindered resurrection by His Father, says: 

"Lord, have mercy upon me, and raise me up, and I will reward them. In this I know that thou hast favoured me, because my enemy shall not triumph over me."

And it is quite clear how after His resurrection from the dead immediate judgment, that did not tarry, fell on the conspirators, so that death who was the enemy of His return to life was made ashamed, and they that mocked (b) Him said, "O death, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory? "And those who have read the history of the times after our Saviour's resurrection, in Josephus, will remember what troubles fell on the Jews and their rulers, involved in which they received the right reward for what they did to Him. All this, then, that fell upon them was the fulfilment of the prophecy: but our Saviour's Resurrection from the dead proved to all that in Him the Father was well pleased, as He tells us when He says:

(c) "Have mercy upon me, and raise me up, and I will reward them. By this I know thou hast favoured me, because my enemy doth not triumph over me."

And notice how in pouring forth this prayer to His God and Father, with what confidence He witnesses boldly to ^{- 199 -} His own sinlessness, although He had said before, "Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee." But I have (d) already shewn that the words, "I have sinned against thee," are not to be taken literally, and Symmachus interprets them more clearly when he says, "Heal my soul, even if I have sinned against thee," as could well be said of our sins, which our Lord and Saviour took upon Himself. Whereas the words, "Thou hast protected me for my innocence," exhibit the absolute integrity of His nature, to which He traces in His teaching the stability and sureness of His life and His preservation after His Resurrection, when He adds, "Thou hast established me before thee for ever": or, "And thou wilt establish me before thee for ever," according to Symmachus.