Judgment and the Second Coming
Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews 13
Since the sons of Israel insist we are wrong to accept Christ, who has already come, let us prove from their own Scriptures that the promised Christ has indeed arrived—even though the chronology of Daniel's prophecy already makes this clear. He had to be born in Bethlehem of Judah, for the prophet writes: "And you, Bethlehem, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel" (Micah 5:2). If that ruler has not yet been born, he still must arise from the tribe of Judah and from Bethlehem; yet today not a single descendant of Israel remains in Bethlehem, and Jews are forbidden even to dwell in its surrounding territory—fulfilling the prophet's words: "Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire"—that is, what befell them in wartime; "your land is devoured by foreigners before your eyes, desolate and overthrown by alien peoples." Elsewhere the prophet declares: "You will see the King in his beauty"—meaning Christ working mighty deeds in the glory of God the Father—"and your eyes will see the land from afar" (cf. Daniel 9:26): because of your merits, after Jerusalem's capture you were barred from entering your land, permitted only to gaze on it from a distance. "Your soul will meditate on terror"—that is, at the moment they suffered their own destruction. So how can the ruler be born from Judah and come forth from Bethlehem, as the divine prophetic scrolls announce, when no Israelite stock remains there today from which Christ could spring? If, as the Jews claim, he has not yet come, then when he does begin to come, from where will he be anointed? The law forbade the preparation of royal chrism in captivity. And if there is now no anointing for them, as Daniel foretold—"The anointing shall be cut off"—then no anointing exists, because the temple is gone, along with the horn from which kings were anointed. If there is no anointing, how will the ruler born in Bethlehem be anointed? Or how will he proceed from Bethlehem when not a single descendant of Israel remains there?
Latin
Igitur, quoniam filii Israel affirmant nos errare recipiendo Christum, qui jam venit, praescribamus eis ex ipsis Scripturis jam venisse Christum qui praedicabatur; quamvis ex temporibus Danielis praedicantis probaverimus jam venisse Christum, qui nuntiabatur. Nasci enim eum oportuit in Bethlehem Judae; sic enim scriptum est in propheta: Et tu Bethlehem, non minima es in ducibus Juda: ex te enim exiet dux qui pascat populum meum Israel. Si autem adhuc natus non est qui processurus dux de tribu Juda ex Bethlehem nuntiabatur, oportet enim eum de tribu Juda et a Bethlehem procedere; animadvertimus autem nunc neminem de genere Israel in civitate Bethlehem remansisse, et exinde quod interdictum est ne in confinio ipsius regionis demoretur quisquam Judaeorum, ut hoc quoque esset adimpletum per prophetam: Terra vestra deserta, civitates vestrae igni exustae, id est quod belli tempore eis evenerit; regionem vestram in conspectu vestro exteri comedent, et deserta et subversa erit a populis alienis. Et alio loco sic per prophetam dicitur: Regem cum claritate videbitis, id est Christum facientem virtutes in gloria Dei patris, et oculi vestri videbunt terram de longinquo: quod vobis pro meritis vestris post expugnationem Hierusalem, prohibitis ingredi in terram vestram, de longinquo eam oculis tantum videre permissum est. Anima, inquit, vestra meditabitur timorem. scilicet quo tempore excidium sui passi sunt. Quomodo igitur nascetur dux de Judaea, et quatenus procedet de Bethlehem, sicut divina prophetarum volumina nuntiant, cum nullus omnino sit illic in hodiernum derelictus ex Israel, cujus ex stirpe possit nasci Christus? Si enim, secundum Judaeos, adhuc non venit, cum venire coeperit, unde ungetur? Lex enim praecepit, in captivitate non licere unctionem chrismatis regalis confici. Si autem jam nec unctio est illis, ut Daniel prophetavit; dicit enim: Exterminabitur unctio: ergo jam non est illic unctio, quia nec templum ubi erat cornu de quo reges ungebantur. Si ergo non est unctio, unde ungetur dux qui nascetur in Bethlehem? aut quomodo procedet de Bethlehem, cum de germine Israel nullus omnino sit in Bethlehem?