Against Celsus 5.59

Then next Celsus says: "So the same God is God both of the Jews and of these," meaning clearly the Christians; and, as though drawing a conclusion that would not be granted, he says this: "Clearly those of the great church admit this, and accept as true the cosmogony current among the Jews, at least about the six days and the seventh," on which, as the Scripture says, God "rested from his works," withdrawing to his own watchtower, but, as Celsus says, not having observed or understood what is written, "took a rest," which is not written. About the making of the world, and the sabbath rest that remains after it for the people of God, there would be "much" to say, and it is mystical and deep and "hard to explain." Then, it seems to me, wishing to fill up his book and make it seem large, he adds some things at random, such as those about the first man, that we say he is the same as the Jews do, and trace the descent from him in the same way as they. And we know of no plots of brothers against one another, except that Cain plotted against Abel and Esau against Jacob; for Abel did not plot against Cain nor Jacob against Esau; if that had happened, Celsus would consistently have said that we report the same plots of brothers against one another as the Jews do. Let it be granted that we also speak of the same journey into Egypt as they do, and the return from there, and not a flight, as Celsus thinks: what, then, do these things contribute to the accusation against us or against the Jews? Where he thought he could mock us in his account of the Hebrews, he called it a flight; but where the substance lay, to examine the recorded plagues brought upon Egypt by God, he deliberately kept silent.