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Dialogue with Trypho
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Chapter 86: Various symbols in the Old Testament represent the cross through which Christ reigned.
AFTER QUOTING THIS: I added, "Listen then to how this Man, who the Scriptures say will come again in glory after His crucifixion, was symbolized both by the tree of life said to have been planted in paradise and by events that would happen to all the righteous. Moses was sent with a rod to lead the redemption of the people; with it, he parted the sea while leading them. With the rod, he saw water gushing from the rock, and when he threw a tree into the bitter waters of Marah, he made them sweet.
Jacob, by putting rods in the water troughs, caused his uncle's sheep to conceive, so he could obtain their young. Jacob also boasted of crossing the river with his rod. He claimed to have seen a ladder with Scripture declaring that God stood above it. We have shown from the Scriptures that this was not the Father. Jacob poured oil on a stone in that place, confirmed by God who appeared to him, that he had anointed a pillar to the God who appeared to him.
We have also proven through many Scriptures that the stone symbolically announced Christ, and that the anointment, whether it was oil, stacte, or any other sweet balsam, referred to Him, as the word states: 'Therefore God, even Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy companions.’ All kings and anointed beings received their share of the titles of kings and anointed from Him, just as He Himself received the titles of King, Christ, Priest, and Angel, among others, from the Father.
Aaron’s rod that blossomed declared him to be the high priest. Isaiah prophesied that a rod would come forth from Jesse’s root—this was Christ. David says the righteous man is ‘like a tree planted by the channels of water, yielding its fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither.’ Again, the righteous are said to flourish like the palm tree. God appeared to Abraham near a tree, as written, near the oak at Mamre. The people found seventy willows and twelve springs after crossing the Jordan.
David proclaims that God comforted him with a rod and staff. Elisha, by throwing a stick into the Jordan River, recovered the iron part of the axe with which the prophets' sons were cutting trees to build a house for studying God's law and commandments; similarly, our Christ, by being crucified on the tree and purifying us with water, has redeemed us from the worst offenses we committed and made us a house of prayer and adoration.
Furthermore, it was a rod that revealed Judah to be the father of Tamar’s sons in a profound mystery."