Against Celsus 7.19
Summary: The law's promises of rule and the slaughter of enemies cannot be meant literally, as a Psalm about killing all sinners every morning shows.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:171
Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴπερ δυναστεύειν αὐτοῖς ὁ νόμος ἐπηγγέλλετο λέγων· „ἄρξεις σὺ [δὲ] ἐθνῶν πολλῶν, σοῦ δὲ οὐκ ἄρξουσι, “ καὶ μηδὲν δηλοῦται διὰ τούτων βαθύτερον, δῆλον ὅτι πολλῷ πλέον κατεγίνωσκεν ὁ λαὸς τῶν κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἐπαγγελιῶν. παραφράζει δέ τινας λέξεις ὁ Κέλσος, ἐμφαινούσας πληρωθήσεσθαι πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν διὰ τοῦ Ἑβραϊκοῦ σπέρματος· ὅπερ ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἱστορίαν μηνίοντος, ἵνʼ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, τοῦ θεοῦ γεγένηται μετὰ τὴν Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημίαν ἤπερ εὐλογίας ἀποδιδόντος. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ εἰρῆσθαι Ἰουδαίοις καταφονεύειν τοὺς πολεμίους λεκτέον (ὅτι), εἴ τις ἀναλέγοιτο καὶ προσέχοι ἐπιμελῶς ταῖς λέξεσιν, εὕροι ἂν ἀδύνατον εἶναι τὴν ὡς πρὸς τὸ ῥητὸν ἐκδοχήν. ἀρκεῖ δʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπὸ τῶν ψαλμῶν παραθέσθαι, τίνα τρόπον ὁ δίκαιος εἰσάγεται λέγων πρὸς ἑτέροις καὶ τό· „εἰς τὰς πρωΐας ἀπέκτεινον πάντας τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς τῆς γῆς, τοῦ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ἐκ πόλεως κυρίου πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν.“ πρόσχες δὴ τῷ ῥητῷ καὶ τῇ διαθέσει τοῦ λέγοντος, εἰ ἐδύνατο ἀνδραγαθήματα προδιηγησάμενος, ἅπερ ἔκκειται τῷ βουλομένῳ ἀναγινώσκειν, ἐπιφέρειν τὸ ὡς πρὸς τὴν λέξιν δυνατὸν, ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλῳ καιρῷ τῆς ἡμέρας ἢ τῷ ἑωθινῷ ἀνῄρει „πάντας τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς τῆς γῆς, “ ὡς μηδένα καταλιπεῖν αὐτῶν ζῶντα· καὶ εἰ ἐξωλόθρευεν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ πάνθʼ ὁντινοῦν ἄνθρωπον ἐργαζόμενον „τὴν ἀνομίαν.“ πολλὰ δʼ ἂν εὕροις καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τοιαῦτα ὡς τὸ „οὐ κατελίπομεν αὐτῶν ζωγρίαν.“
English · Claude translation
Moreover, if the law promised them power, saying, “You will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you,” and nothing deeper is meant by these words, it is plain that the people would have condemned the promises of the law much more. Celsus paraphrases certain words that indicate that the whole earth would be filled with the seed of the Hebrews; which, as regards history, has happened after the coming of Jesus, rather as a sign of God's wrath, so to speak, than as his granting a blessing. And concerning the Jews being promised that they would slaughter their enemies, it must be said that anyone who reads carefully and attends to the words would find that the literal interpretation is impossible. For the present it is enough to cite from the Psalms how the righteous man is introduced as saying, among other things: “In the mornings I killed all the sinners of the land, to destroy from the city of the Lord all who work iniquity.” Consider the literal wording and the disposition of the speaker, whether, after first relating brave deeds, which anyone who wishes can read, he could add what would be possible according to the letter, that at no other time of day but in the morning he killed “all the sinners of the land,” so as to leave none of them alive, and whether he destroyed from Jerusalem every single man who worked “iniquity.” You will find many such things in the law too, like “We did not leave any of them alive.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The passages are Deut 15:6, Ps 101:8 (100:8 LXX), and Deut 2:34 (3:3). The dispersion of the Jews after Christ as a sign of God's wrath is Origen's polemical reading. The editor deletes δέ (“but”) in the quotation of Deut 15:6.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/19/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/19/).
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