{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/001/0010345.htm","path":"chr/ecf/001/0010345.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/001/0010345.htm","text":"He speaks moreover concerning our ears, how He hath circumcised both them and our heart. The Lord saith in the prophet, \u201cIn the hearing of the ear they obeyed me.\u201d 1548 And again He saith, \u201cBy hearing, those shall hear who are afar off; they shall know what I have done.\u201d 1549 And, \u201cBe ye circumcised in your hearts, saith the Lord.\u201d 1550 And again He says, \u201cHear, O Israel, for these things saith the Lord thy God.\u201d 1551 And once more the Spirit of the Lord proclaims, \u201cWho is he that wishes to live for ever? By hearing let him hear the voice of my servant.\u201d 1552 And again He saith, \u201cHear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for God 1553 hath spoken.\u201d 1554 These are in proof. 1555 And again He saith, \u201cHear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of this people.\u201d 1556 And again He saith, \u201cHear, ye children, the voice of one crying in the wilderness.\u201d 1557 Therefore He hath circumcised our ears, that we might hear His word and believe, for the circumcision in which they trusted is abolished. 1558 For He declared that circumcision was not of the flesh, but they transgressed because an evil angel deluded them. 1559 He saith to them, \u201cThese things saith the Lord your God\u201d\u2014(here 1560 I find a new 1561 commandment)\u2014\u201cSow not among thorns, but circumcise yourselves to the Lord.\u201d 1562 And why speaks He thus: \u201cCircumcise the stubbornness of your heart, and harden not your neck?\u201d 1563 And again: \u201cBehold, saith the Lord, all the nations are uncircumcised 1564 in the flesh, but this people are uncircumcised in heart.\u201d 1565 But thou wilt say, \u201cYea, verily the people are circumcised for a seal.\u201d But so also is every Syrian and Arab, and all the priests of idols: are these then also within the bond of His covenant? 1566 Yea, the Egyptians also practise circumcision. Learn then, my children, concerning all things richly, 1567 that Abraham, the first who enjoined circumcision, looking forward in spirit to Jesus, practised that rite, having received the mysteries 1568 of the three letters. For [the Scripture] saith, \u201cAnd Abraham circumcised p. 143 ten, and eight, and three hundred men of his household.\u201d 1569 What, then, was the knowledge given to him in this? Learn the eighteen first, and then the three hundred. 1570 The ten and the eight are thus denoted\u2014Ten by \u0399, and Eight by \u0397. 1571 You have [the initials of the, name of] Jesus. And because 1572 the cross was to express the grace [of our redemption] by the letter \u03a4, he says also, \u201cThree Hundred.\u201d He signifies, therefore, Jesus by two letters, and the cross by one. He knows this, who has put within us the engrafted 1573 gift of His doctrine. No one has been admitted by me to a more excellent piece of knowledge 1574 than this, but I know that ye are worthy.\nPs. xxxiv. 11-13. The first clause of this sentence is wanting in Cod. Sin.\n142:1553 142:1554 142:1555\nIn proof of the spiritual meaning of circumcision; but Hilgenfeld joins the words to the preceding sentence.\n142:1556 142:1557\nCod. Sin. reads, \u201cit is the voice,\u201d corrected, however, as above.\n142:1558\nCod. Sin. has, \u201cthat we might hear the word, and not only believe,\u201d plainly a corrupt text.\n142:1559\nCod. Sin., at first hand, has \u201cslew them,\u201d but is corrected as above.\n142:1560\nThe meaning is here very obscure, but the above rendering and punctuation seem preferable to any other.\n142:1561\nCod. Sin., with several other mss., leaves out \u201cnew.\u201d\n142:1562\nJer. iv. 3. Cod. Sin. has \u201cGod\u201d instead of \u201cLord.\u201d\n142:1563 142:1564\nThis contrast seems to be marked in the original. Cod. Sin. has, \u201cBehold, receive again.\u201d\n142:1565 142:1566\nDressel and Hilgenfeld read, \u201ctheir covenant,\u201d as does Cod. Sin.; we have followed Hefele.\n142:1567\nCod. Sin. has \u201cchildren of love,\u201d omitting \u201crichly,\u201d and inserting it before \u201clooking forward.\u201d\n142:1568 143:1569\nNot found in Scripture: but comp. Gen. 17:26, 27, Gen. xiv. 14.\n143:1570\nCod. Sin. inserts, \u201cand then making a pause.\u201d\n143:1571\nThis sentence is altogether omitted by inadvertence in Cod. Sin.\n143:1572\nSome mss. here read, \u201cand further:\u201d the above is the reading in Cod. Sin., and is also that of Hefele.\n143:1573\nThis is rendered in the Latin, \u201cthe more profound gift,\u201d referring, as it does, to the Gnosis of the initiated. The same word is used in chap. i.\n143:1574\nLiterally, \u201chas learned a more germane (or genuine) word from me,\u201d being an idle vaunt on account of the ingenuity in interpreting Scripture he has just displayed.","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol I: BARNABAS: Chapter IX.\u2014The spiritual meaning of...","type":"page"}