The Envied Son

“Girded, he will gird himself” — that is, he will arm himself like a man of arms and war. “And he will be armed at the heel” — by this he means, rather, that Gad will follow his brothers into battle at the rear. For although his allotted land lay beyond the Jordan, the men of that tribe were ordered to follow their brothers under arms until they too had their allotments. Or perhaps he meant this: that Gad’s people were to live the way bandits live, and that Gad was to take up with a company of raiders — which is exactly what “a robber band” means — and to follow them, practicing piracy, which is robbery, along with them. [a]

Hippolytus: Once the shadow in the law had been done away with and worship in spirit and truth had been brought in, the world needed a greater light. That is why, at last, the inspired disciples were called and put in possession of the place that had belonged to the teachers of the law. For this is how God spoke about the mother of the Jews — that is, about Jerusalem — through the voice of the Psalmist: “In place of your fathers were your sons.” He means that those who were called her sons were given the standing of fathers. And of our Lord Jesus Christ in particular: “You will appoint them rulers over all the earth.” Even so, that authority was by no means going to be free of trouble for them. On the contrary, they were to meet hardships beyond counting and to be at a loss; they were by no means to find the course of their apostleship free of danger. He hinted at this by way of an example when he said, “Let Dan become,” meaning that there would be a crowd of persecutors in Dan, like “a snake by the road, lying on the path, biting the horse’s heel” — that is, striking fierce and dangerous bites, for the bites of snakes are generally very dangerous. And they were “at the heel” in particular, because of the words “he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” And some did persecute the holy apostles in just this way, right up to the death of the flesh. So we may say that their situation was something like what happens when a horse stumbles and kicks out its heels: the rider is thrown, and once he is down he waits, I suppose, for one who is alive. In the same way the inspired apostles are still alive and waiting for the time of their redemption, when they will be called into a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and Christ will address them with the word, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father,” and the rest.

And again: if anyone takes the words to mean not that others will lie in wait against Dan like snakes, but that Dan himself lies in wait against others, then we may say that the ones meant are the scribes and Pharisees — hypocrites who, while they held the power to judge and to teach among the people, fastened on Christ like snakes and worked wickedly to bring about his fall, stinging him as he held to his high and gentle course. But if that rider did indeed fall, he fell at least of his own will, willingly enduring the death of the flesh. And it was settled, moreover, that he would come back to life, with the Father as his help and his guide. For the Son, who is the power of God the Father, filled the temple of his own body with life again. That is why he is said to have been saved by the Father: because he stood in danger as a man, though by nature he is God and himself keeps the whole creation, seen and unseen, in good order. In this sense too the inspired Paul says of him: “Though he was crucified in weakness, he lives by the power of God.”

Asher obtained the parts about Ptolemais and Sidon. That is why he says, “His bread will be fat, and he will furnish delicacies to princes.” We take this as a figure of our own calling, for “fat” means “rich.” And whose bread is rich, if not ours? For the Lord is our bread, as he says himself: “I am the bread of life.” And who else will furnish delicacies to princes but our Lord Jesus Christ? — not only to those among the Gentiles who believe, but also to those of the circumcision, who come first in faith: to the fathers, that is, and the patriarchs and the prophets, and to everyone who believes in his name and his suffering.

Genesis 49:21–26. “Naphtali is a trunk let loose, putting out beauty in its shoot. Joseph is a fine son — my fine son, envied; my youngest son. Turn back to me. Against him the archers took counsel together, and abused him, and pressed him hard. And their bows were broken by force, and the sinews of the arms of their hands were slackened, by the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob. From there is he who strengthened Israel, from the God of your father. And my God helped you, and blessed you with the blessing of heaven above, and with the blessing of the earth that holds all things, with the blessing of breasts and womb, with the blessing of your father and your mother. It prevailed above the blessings of the enduring mountains, and above the blessings of the everlasting hills; and these blessings will be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of the brothers he led.”

Hippolytus: Who is the son who is fine and envied, even to this day, but our Lord Jesus Christ? An object of envy he certainly is to those who choose to hate him, and yet he is by no means to be overcome. For though he endured the cross, as God he returned to life, having trampled death down, just as his God and Father addresses him and says, “Sit at my right hand.” And he has taught us that even those who strive against him with all the madness they can muster are brought to nothing, when he says, “Against him the archers took counsel together, and abused him.” For the “archers” — that is, the leaders of the people — did convene their assemblies and take bitter counsel. “But their bows were broken, and the sinews of their arms were slackened, by the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob” — that is to say, by God the Father, who is the Lord of power, and who also made his Son blessed in heaven and on earth. And Naphtali is taken as a figure of things that concern us, as the Gospel shows: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,” and so on; and, “To those who sat in darkness a light has risen.” And what other light was this but the calling of the Gentiles — which is the trunk, that is, the tree of the Lord, into which it is grafted and bears fruit? And the phrase “putting out beauty in its shoot” expresses how excellent our calling is. And if those words are understood, as they well may be, with reference to us, the clause still makes perfect sense. For by making progress in virtue and reaching better things, “straining toward what lies ahead,” as the blessed Paul puts it, we rise always to a higher beauty. I mean, of course, beauty of spirit, so that one day it may be said to us as well, “The King has greatly desired your beauty.”

After a passage from Apollinaris:

Hippolytus: The word of prophecy passes again to Immanuel himself. For in my opinion what is meant by it is just what has been said already in the words “putting out beauty in its shoot.” For he means that Christ increased and grew up into what he had been from the beginning, and he indicates the return to the glory that was his by nature. If we apprehend it correctly, this is, we should say, simply “restored” to him. For as the Word of God, the only Son, being God from God, emptied himself, as the Scriptures say, humbling himself of his own will to what he had not been before, and took this lowly flesh to himself, and appeared “in the form of a slave,” and “became obedient to God the Father, even to death” — so afterwards he is said to be “highly exalted”; and, as though on account of his humanity he all but did not have it, and as though it came by way of grace, he “receives the name that is above every name,” according to the word of the blessed Paul. But in truth the matter was not a “giving,” as for the first time, of what he did not have by nature — far from it. Rather we are to understand a return and a restoration to what existed in him at the beginning, in his very being and inseparably. And it is for this reason that, when he had assumed the lowly estate of humanity by the divine plan, he said, “Father, glorify me with the glory that I had,” and the rest. For the one who existed together with his Father before all time, and before the foundation of the world, always had the glory that belongs to God. He too may very well be understood as the “youngest son.” For he appeared in the last times, after the glorious and honored company of the holy prophets, and simply once, after all those who, before the time of his stay among us, were reckoned in the number of sons by reason of their excellence. That Immanuel, however, was an “object of envy” is a somewhat two-sided phrase. He is an “object of envy,” or of emulation, to the holy ones, who aspire to follow in his footsteps, and to conform themselves to his divine beauty, and to make him the pattern of their conduct, winning their highest glory by it. And again, he is an “object of envy” in another sense — an object of ill will, that is — to those who are declared not to love him. I mean the leading parties among the Jews, the scribes and the Pharisees, who labored under bitter envy of him, and made the glory of which he could not be robbed the ground of their slander, and assailed him in many ways. For Christ did raise the dead to life again when they already stank and were decaying, and he displayed other signs that he was God. These should have filled them with wonder and made them ready to believe and to doubt no longer. Yet this was not the case with them. They were consumed with ill will, and nursed its bitter pangs in their minds.

After a passage from Cyril:

Hippolytus: Who else is this than the one the apostle shows us, “the second man, the Lord from heaven”? And in the Gospel he said that the one who did the will of the Father was “the last.” And by the words “Turn back to me” is meant his going up to his Father in heaven after his suffering. And in the phrase “Against him they took counsel together, and abused him,” who are intended but simply the people in their opposition to our Lord? And as to the words “they pressed him hard” — who pressed him, and to this day still presses him hard? Those “archers,” namely, who think they can contend against the Lord. But though they prevailed to put him to death, still “their bows were broken by force.” This plainly means that their bows were broken by force after the resurrection. And those intended are the leaders of the people, who set themselves in array against him and, as it were, sharpened the points of their weapons. But they failed to run him through, for all that they did what was unlawful and dared to assail him even in the manner of wild animals. “You prevailed above the blessings of the enduring mountains.” By “eternal and enduring mountains and everlasting hills” he means the holy ones, because they are lifted above the earth, and make no account of the things that perish, but seek the things that are above, and aspire earnestly to rise to the highest virtues. After the glory of Christ, therefore, come those of the fathers who were most illustrious and reached the greatest height in virtue. These, however, were only servants; it was the Lord, the Son, who supplied them with the means by which they became illustrious. That is why they too acknowledge the truth of the word, “Out of his fullness we have all received.” “And my God helped you.” This indicates clearly that the aid and support of the Son came from no one else but our God and Father in heaven. And by the word “my God” is meant that the Spirit is speaking through Jacob.

“The sinews of the arms.” He could not say “of the hands” or “of the shoulders”; but since the broad central parts of the bow are termed its “arms,” he says “arms,” and says it appropriately.

Hippolytus: “Blessings of the breasts and womb.” By this is meant that the true blessing from heaven is the Spirit descending through the Word upon flesh. And by “breasts and womb” he means the blessings of the Virgin. And by “your father and your mother” he means also the blessing of the Father which we have received in the church through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Genesis 49:27. “Benjamin is a ravening wolf; in the morning he will still be devouring, and toward evening he portions out food.” Hippolytus: This suits Paul exactly, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. For when he was young he was a ravening wolf, but when he believed he “portioned out” food. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ also shows us this: that the tribe of Benjamin is among the first persecutors, which is the sense of “in the morning.” For Saul, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, persecuted David, who was appointed to be a figure of the Lord.