Pascal's Pensees Part 46

Josephus laughs at the Greeks who would not bear ...

Tertullian.[230]--_Perinde potuit abolefactam eam violentia cataclysmi in spiritu rursus reformare, quemadmodum et Hierosolymis Babylonia expugnatione deletis, omne instrumentum Judaicae literaturae per Esdram constat restauratum._

He says that Noah could as easily have restored in spirit the book of Enoch, destroyed by the Deluge, as Esdras could have restored the Scriptures lost during the Captivity.

(Te??) ?? t? ?p? ?a????d???s?? a??a???a t?? ?a??, d?af?a?e?s?? t??

??af?? ... ???p?e?se ?sd?? t? ?e?e? ?? t?? f???? ?e?? t??? t??

p???e????t?? p??f?t?? p??ta? ??at??as?a? ??????, ?a? ?p??atast?sa? t?

?a? t?? d?? ???s??? ?????a?.[231] He alleges this to prove that it is not incredible that the Seventy may have explained the holy Scriptures with that uniformity which we admire in them. And he took that from Saint Irenaeus.[232]

Saint Hilary, in his preface to the Psalms, says that Esdras arranged the Psalms in order.

The origin of this tradition comes from the 14th chapter of the fourth book of Esdras. _Deus glorificatus est, et Scripturae vere divinae creditae sunt, omnibus eandem et eisdem verbis et eisdem nominibus recitantibus ab initio usque ad finem, uti et praesentes gentes cognoscerent quoniam per inspirationem Dei interpretatae sunt Scripturae, et non esset mirabile Deum hoc in eis operatum: quando in ea captivitate populi quae facta est a Nabuchodonosor, corruptis scripturis et post 70 annos Judaeis descendentibus in regionem suam, et post deinde temporibus Artaxerxis Persarum regis, inspiravit Esdrae sacerdoti tribus Levi praeteritorum prophetarum omnes rememorare sermones, et rest.i.tuere populo eam legem quae data est per Moysen._

632

_Against the story in Esdras, 2 Maccab._ ii;--Josephus, _Antiquities_, II, i--Cyrus took occasion from the prophecy of Isaiah to release the people. The Jews held their property in peace under Cyrus in Babylon; hence they could well have the Law.

Josephus, in the whole history of Esdras, does not say one word about this restoration.--2 Kings xvii, 27.

633

If the story in Esdras[233] is credible, then it must be believed that the Scripture is Holy Scripture; for this story is based only on the authority of those who a.s.sert that of the Seventy, which shows that the Scripture is holy.

Therefore if this account be true, we have what we want therein; if not, we have it elsewhere. And thus those who would ruin the truth of our religion, founded on Moses, establish it by the same authority by which they attack it. So by this providence it still exists.

634

_Chronology of Rabbinism._ (The citations of pages are from the book _Pugio_.)

Page 27. R. Hakadosch (_anno_ 200), author of the _Mischna_, or vocal law, or second law.

Commentaries on the _Mischna (anno_ 340): {The one _Siphra_.

_Barajetot_. _Talmud Hierosol_. _Tosiphtot_.}

_Bereschit Rabah_, by R. Osaiah Rabah, commentary on the _Mischna_.

_Bereschit Rabah, Bar Naconi_, are subtle and pleasant discourses, historical and theological. This same author wrote the books called _Rabot_.

A hundred years after the _Talmud Hierosol_ was composed the _Babylonian Talmud_, by R. Ase, A.D. 440, by the universal consent of all the Jews, who are necessarily obliged to observe all that is contained therein.

The addition of R. Ase is called the _Gemara_, that is to say, the "commentary" on the _Mischna_.

And the Talmud includes together the _Mischna_ and the _Gemara_.

635

_If_ does not indicate indifference: Malachi, Isaiah.

Is., _Si volumus_, etc.

_In quac.u.mque die._

636

_Prophecies._--The sceptre was not interrupted by the captivity in Babylon, because the return was promised and foretold.

637

_Proofs of Jesus Christ._--Captivity, with the a.s.surance of deliverance within seventy years, was not real captivity. But now they are captives without any hope.

G.o.d has promised them that even though He should scatter them to the ends of the earth, nevertheless if they were faithful to His law, He would a.s.semble them together again. They are very faithful to it, and remain oppressed.

638

When Nebuchadnezzar carried away the people, for fear they should believe that the sceptre had departed from Judah, they were told beforehand that they would be there for a short time, and that they would be restored. They were always consoled by the prophets; and their kings continued. But the second destruction is without promise of restoration, without prophets, without kings, without consolation, without hope, because the sceptre is taken away for ever.

639

It is a wonderful thing, and worthy of particular attention, to see this Jewish people existing so many years in perpetual misery, it being necessary as a proof of Jesus Christ, both that they should exist to prove Him, and that they should be miserable because they crucified Him; and though to be miserable and to exist are contradictory, they nevertheless still exist in spite of their misery.

640

They are visibly a people expressly created to serve as a witness to the Messiah (Isaiah, xliii, 9; xliv, 8). They keep the books, and love them, and do not understand them. And all this was foretold; that G.o.d's judgments are entrusted to them, but as a sealed book.

SECTION X

TYPOLOGY

641

_Proof of the two Testaments at once._--To prove the two at one stroke, we need only see if the prophecies in one are fulfilled in the other. To examine the prophecies, we must understand them. For if we believe they have only one meaning, it is certain that the Messiah has not come; but if they have two meanings, it is certain that He has come in Jesus Christ.

The whole problem then is to know if they have two meanings.

That the Scripture has two meanings, which Jesus Christ and the Apostles have given, is shown by the following proofs: