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NON-CANONICAL EPISTLES AND RELATED WRITINGS
cross and the one who was about to be crucified. 2 And he again tells Moses, when Is rael was attacked by a foreign people, to remind those under assault that they were being handed over to death because of their sins. The Spirit speaks to the heart of Moses that he should make a type of the cross and of the one who was about to suffer, that they might realize, he says, that if they refused to hope in him, they would be attacked forever. And so Moses stacked weapons one on the other in the midst of the battle and standing high above all the people he began stretching out his hands; and so Israel again gained the victory. But then, when he lowered his hands, they began to be killed.67 3 Why was that? So that they may know that they cannot be saved unless they hope in him. 4 And again in another prophet he says, “All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient people that opposes my upright path.”68 5 Again Moses made a type of Jesus, showing that he had to suffer and that he will again make alive—this one whom they will think they have destroyed. This type came in a sign given when Israel was falling. For the Lord made every serpent bite them and they were dying (since the act of transgression came by Eve through the serpent). This was to convince them that they will be handed over to the affliction of death because of thier transgression. 6 Moreover, even though Moses him self issued this command—“You will have no molten or carved image as your god”69—he himself made one, that he might show forth a type of Jesus. And so Moses made a bronze serpent and dis played it prominently, and he called the people through a proclamation. 7 And when they came together they begged Moses to offer up a prayer on
their behalf, that they might be healed. But Moses said to them, “When any of you is bitten, come to the serpent that is displayed on the tree and hope, in faith, that even though dead, it can restore a person to life; and you will then imme diately be saved.” And they did this.70 Again you have the glory of Jesus in these things, for everything is in him and for him. 8 Again, why does Moses say to Jesus the son of Nauel when he gave this name to him who was a prophet, that all the people should listen to him alone? Be cause the Father reveals everything about his Son Jesus. 9 And so, after Moses gave Jesus the son of Nauem this name, he sent him as a reconnaissance scout over the land and said, “Take a small book in your hands and record what the Lord says, that in the last days the Son of God will chop down the entire house of Amalek at its roots.”71 10 Again you see Jesus, not as son of man but as Son of God, manifest here in the flesh as a type. And so, since they are about to say that the Christ is the son of David, David himself speaks a prophecy in reverential awe, understanding the er ror of the sinners, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’ ”72 11 And again Isaiah says the follow ing: “The Lord said to Christ my Lord, ‘I have grasped his right hand that the nations will obey him, and I will shatter the power of kings’ ”73 See how David calls him Lord; he does not call him son.
l Or: Joshua the son of Nun; Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua mOr: Joshua the son of Nun; Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua
67
Cf. Exod 17: 8–13. 68Cf. Isa 65:2. 69Cf. Lev 26:1; Deut 27:15. 70Cf. Num 21:4–8. 71Cf. Exod 17:14. 72 Ps 110:1. 73Cf. Isa 45:1.