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Translated by Frederick Crombie.
Origen Resources OnLine & in Print
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This Part: 128 Pages
Page 126
3. What, then, are we to say of this, which the prophets had beforehand foretold of Him, that princes would not cease from Judah, nor leaders from between his thighs, until He should come for whom it has been reserved (viz., the kingdom), and until the expectation of the Gentiles should come? For it is most distinctly evident from the history itself, from what is clearly seen at the present day, that from the times of Christ onwards there were no kings amongst the Jews. Nay, even all those objects of Jewish pride, [2707] of which they vaunted so much, and in which they exulted, whether regarding the beauty of the temple or the ornaments of the altar, and all those sacerdotal fillets and robes of the high priests, were all destroyed together. For the prophecy was fulfilled which had declared, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king and prince: there shall be no victim, nor altar, nor priesthood, nor answers." [2708] These testimonies, accordingly, we employ against those who seem to assert that what is spoken in Genesis by Jacob refers to Judah; and who say that there still remains a prince of the race of Judah--he, viz., who is the prince of their nation, whom they style Patriarch [2709] --and that there cannot fail (a ruler) of his seed, who will remain until the advent of that Christ whom they picture to themselves. But if the prophet's words be true, when he says, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without king, without prince; and there shall be no victim, nor altar, nor priesthood;" [2710] and if, certainly, since the overthrow of the temple, victims are neither offered, nor any altar found, nor any priesthood exists, it is most certain that, as it is written, princes have departed from Judah, and a leader from between his thighs, until the coming of Him for whom it has been reserved. It is established, then, that He is come for whom it has been reserved, and in whom is the expectation of the Gentiles. And this manifestly seems to be fulfilled in the multitude of those who have believed on God through Christ out of the different nations.
[2707] Illae omnes ambitiones Judaicae.
[2708] Cf. Hos. iii. 4. Quoted from the Septuagint.
[2709] On the Patriarch of the Jews, cf. Milman's History of the Jews, vol. ii. p. 399 sq., and vol. iii. p. 7 sq.
[2710] Deut. xxxii.
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/principiis.asp?pg=126
