Page:Commentaries of Ishodad of Merv, volume 1.djvu/49

Rh let him know this. First, that not from malice or envy He delayed His coming, for He is merciful and the curator and provider of all; but our insufficiency prevented; and, just as we, immediately with the birth of the babe, do not give him nourishment of flesh, nor clothe him with manly garments, nor introduce him to the labour of handicrafts; thus also He the wise and glorious Provider, did not make the coming of His Messiah, before leading us by steps and educating us in the things of the Law; else these spiritual things would have been found unprofitable; and just as if He had, immediately with our coming into existence, made us impeccable and incorruptible, the kingdom of Heaven would have been of no use, so also the coming of our Lord would have been of no advantage beforehand. But secondly, just as the great distinguished Physicians, if some bit of corruptible stuff has crept into the flesh, they do not cure it at once, but they wait till all the noxious matter shall come out, and thus they bring healing to the expelled pain; thus also He, the Healer of our nature, did not immediately, when He had blessed, heal the disease of evil in our race; but He waited till nothing of the form of evil should linger hidden in nature; therefore not immediately alone after the envy and fratricide of Cain, did He bring healing to Man; for the wickedness of those who did corruptly in the days of Noah had not yet arisen, nor had the evil and lawless infirmity of the Sodomites been revealed, nor the contest of the Egyptians with God, nor the haughtiness of the Assyrians, nor the fierceness of the Jews against God, and other such like things. But after the measure of sins was filled, and there was no more any kind of evil among men that had not been dared, then He completely healed all our disease. And if any one contradict our word, [saying] that behold since healing was offered human life is still shipwrecked by means of sins, let him know this, that like as a serpent whose head is trampled on, does not die straightway, but it is his head that is dead, yet his tail still revives in life; thus it is also to be seen with evil, that it is vigorously rooted out on account of our Lord, but in the residuum it is still hurtful to the world.

After these things we will tell in how many kinds and orders the writings of the Old and New Testaments speak; about this therefore we explained in paragraphs, in the preface to Genesis, and in that about the Psalms. But here let us say thus briefly, that the Scriptures speak chiefly under three heads; first, when they call men just as they are, that is to say, living, rational, mortal: but secondly, above what they are, when they call us gods; and thirdly, below what they are, when they call us reptiles