Moses and prophecy of Christ

Moses, then, who was the first of the prophets, said in these very words: “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from between his thighs, until he comes for whom it is reserved; and he shall be the expectation of the nations, binding his colt to a vine and washing his robe in the blood of the grape.”

It is for you, then, to investigate carefully and learn how long the Jews had a ruler and king of their own. It was until the appearance of Jesus Christ, our teacher and the interpreter of the prophecies that had not been understood, just as it had been foretold by the divine and holy prophetic Spirit through Moses that a ruler would not fail from the Jews until the one should come for whom the kingdom was reserved. Judah was the ancestor of the Jews, from whom they also received the name “Jews.” And after Christ’s appearance, you began to rule over the Jews and took possession of all their land.

The words “He shall be the expectation of the nations” indicated that people from all the nations would expect him to come again. You can see this with your own eyes and be convinced by the facts: people from every race of humanity await the one who was crucified in Judea, after whose crucifixion the land of the Jews was immediately handed over to you as the spoil of war.

The words “binding his colt to a vine and washing his robe in the blood of the grape” were a symbol indicating both what would happen to Christ and what would be done by him. For a colt of a donkey stood at the entrance of a village, tied to a vine. He ordered his companions to bring it to him, and when it was brought, he mounted it and entered Jerusalem, where the great temple of the Jews stood, which was later destroyed by you. Afterward he was crucified, so that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled.

For the words “washing his robe in the blood of the grape” foretold the suffering he was going to endure, cleansing through blood those who believe in him. The “robe” named by the divine Spirit through the prophet means the people who believe in him, in whom dwells the seed that comes from God, the Logos. And the expression “the blood of the grape” signifies that the one who was to appear would indeed have blood, but not from human seed; rather, it would be from divine power.

The first power after God, the Father and Lord of all, is the Logos, who is also the Son. How he took flesh and became a human being we will explain in what follows. For just as a human being did not make the blood of the vine, but God did, so this signified that his blood would not be from human seed but from divine power, as we have said above.

Isaiah, another prophet, foretold the same things in other words, saying: “A star shall rise from Jacob, and a flower shall spring from the root of Jesse, and the nations shall hope in his arm.” A shining star has risen, and a flower has sprung from the root of Jesse: this is Christ. For by the power of God he was conceived through a virgin descended from the seed of Jacob, who was the father of Judah, the ancestor of the Jews as already stated. Jesse, according to the oracle, was also his ancestor, and by genealogical descent he was a son of Jacob and Judah.