My LORD’s BibleEpistle of Barnabas 7
1Understand, 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 people 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.” 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. How, 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. And what should they do with the other? “Accursed,” says He, “is the one.” Mark how the type of 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_, of which also we are accustomed to eat the fruits when we find them in the field. 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 is He who then declared Himself to be the Son of God. For how like is He to Him! 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, 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. [They 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.”
Οὐκοῦν νοεῖτε, τέκνα εὐφροσύνης, ὅτε πάντα 6 καλὸς Κύριος προεφανέρωσεν ἡμῖν, ἵνα γνῶμεν ᾧ κατὰ πάντα εὐχαριστοῦντες ὀφείλομεν αἰνεῖν. εἰ οὖν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὧν Κύριος καὶ μέλλων κρίνειν ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς, ἔπαθεν ἵνα ἡ πληγὴ αὐτοῦ ζωοποιήσῃ ἡμᾶς, πιστεύσωμεν ὅτι ὃ vios τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἠδύνατο παθεῖν εἰ μὴ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ σταυρωθεὶς ἐποτίζετο ὄξει καὶ χολῇ. ἀκούσατε πῶς περὶ τούτου πεφανέρωκαν οἱ ἱερεῖς τοῦ ναοῦ. γεγραμμένης ἐντο- Ans’ “Oc ἂν μὴ wucTeycH THN νηςτείδν, θανάτῳ ἐξολεθρεγθής- cetai, ἐνετείλατο Κύριος, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἡμετέρων 9 ἁμαρτιῶν ἔμελλεν τὸ σκεῦος τοῦ πνεύματος προσφέρειν θυ- olay, ἵνα καὶ ὁ τύπος ὁ γενόμενος ἐπὶ Ισαὰκ τοῦ προσενεχ- θέντος ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τελεσθῇ. τί οὖν λέγει ἐν τῷ “προφήτῃ; Kai φογέτωολν ἐκ τοῦ tpéroy τοῦ mpocepoménoy TH? νηςτείὰ ὑπὲρ TAC@N τῶν ἁμδρτιῶν. προσέχετε ἀκριβῶς Kai ? Φαγέτωςδν οἱ ἱερεῖς μόνοι πάντες τὸ ἔντερον ἄπλγτον μετὰ ὄξογο. πρὸς τί; ἐπειδὴ ἐμέ, ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν μέλλοντα τοῦ λαοῦ μου τοῦ καινοῦ προσφέρειν τὴν σάρκα μου, μέλλετε ποτίζειν χολὴν μετὰ ὄξους, φάγετε ὑμεῖς μόνοι, τοῦ λαοῦ νηστεύοντος καὶ κοπτομένου ἐπὶ σάκκου καὶ σποδοῦ ἵνα δείξῃ ὅτι δεῖ αὐτὸν παθεῖν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν. ἃ ἐνετείλατο προσ- ἔχετε" Λάβετε Δύο τράγογς κδλοὺὴς καὶ ὁμοίογς Kal προςενέγκδτε, Lev. χνΐ.;, Kai λδδέτω ὁ ἱερεὴς τὸν Ewa εἰς ὅὁλοκδύτωμδ ὑπὲρ ἁμδρτιῶν. 9° τὸν δὲ ἕνα τί ποιήσωσιν; Ἐπικδτάρατος, φησίν, ὁ εἷς. “προσέχετε πῶς ὁ τύπος τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ φανεροῦται᾽ Kai ἐμπτύή- CATE πάντες Kal KATAKENTHCaTe, Kal περίθετε τὸ ἔριον τὸ κόκ- KINON περὶ τὴν κεφδλῆν δύτοῦ, Kal οἥτως εἰς ἔρημον δληθήτω. καὶ ὅταν γένηται οὕτως, ἄγει ὁ βαστάζων τὸν τράγον εἰς τὴν ὄρημον, καὶ ἀφαιρεῖ τὸ ἔριον καὶ ἐπιτίθησιν αὐτὸ ἐπὶ φρύ- γανον τὸ λεγόμενον ῥαχία, οὗ καὶ τοὺς βλαστοὺς εἰώθαμεν τρώγειν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ εὑρίσκοντες. οὕτω μόνης τῆς ῥάχου οἱ καρποὶ γλυκεῖς εἰσίν. τί οὖν τοῦτό ἐστιν; προσέχετε᾽ Τὸν μὲν Ena ἐπὶ τὸ θγοιδοτήριον, τὸν δὲ ὄνὰ ἐπικδτάρατον, καὶ Lev.xvi. ὅτι τὸν ἐπικατάρατον ἐστεφανωμένον᾽ ἐπειδὴ ὄψονται αὐτὸν τότε τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τὸν ποδήρη ἔχοντα τὸν κόκκινον περὶ τὴν σάρκα, καὶ ἐροῦσιν Οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ὅν ποτε ἡμεῖς ἐσταυρώ- σαμεν καὶ ἐξουθενήσαμεν ἐμπτύσαντες ; ἀληθῶς οὗτος ἦν ὁ τότε λέγων ἑαυτὸν υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἶναι. πῶς yap ὅμοιος ἐκείνῳ; εἰς τοῦτο ὁμοίογς τοὺὴς τράγογς, KaAoyc, icoyc, ἵνα ὅταν ἴδωσιν αὐτὸν τότε ἐρχόμενον, ἐκπλαγῶσιν ἐπὶ τῇ ὁμοιότητι τοῦ τράγου. οὐκοῦν ide τὸν τύπον τοῦ μέλλοντος πάσχειν ᾿ Ἰησοῦ. τι. Τί δὲ ὅτε τὸ ἔριον μέσον τῶν ἀκανθῶν τιθέασιν; τύπος ἐστὶν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ θέμενος, ὅτι ὃς ἐὰν θέλῃ τὸ ἔριον ἄραι τὸ κόκκινον, ἔδει αὐτὸν πολλὰ παθεῖν διὰ τὸ εἶναι φοβερὰν τὴν ἄκανθαν, καὶ θλιβέντα κυριεῦσαι αὐτοῦ. Οὕτω, φησίν, οἱ θέλοντές με ἰδεῖν καὶ ἄψασθαί μου τῆς βασι- λείας ὀφείλουσιν θλιβέντες καὶ παθόντες λαβεῖν με.