Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

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Giuseppe
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Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by Giuseppe »

The idea is from Arthur Drews.

...the early Christians, who applied the psalm to their saviour, had in mind a crucifixion, and, like Justin and Tertullian, saw in the “horns of the unicorns [wild oxen]” (verse 21) the arms of the martyr's stake

(my bold)
I am curious to know where precisely Justin and Tertullian talk about the horns as arms of the cross.


Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

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Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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GakuseiDon
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Re: Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by GakuseiDon »

In Justin Martyr, looks like it is from "Dialogue with Trypho":
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... rypho.html

Chapter 105:

"And what follows of the Psalm,--'But Thou, Lord, do not remove Thine assistance from me; give heed to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion's mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns,'--was also information and prediction of the events which should befall Him. For I have already proved that He was the only-begotten of the Father of all things, being begotten in a peculiar manner Word and Power by Him, and having afterwards become man through the Virgin, as we have learned from the memoirs. Moreover, it is similarly foretold that He would die by crucifixion. For the passage, 'Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion's mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns,' is indicative of the suffering by which He should die, i.e., by crucifixion. For the 'horns of the, unicorns,' I have already explained to you, are the figure of the cross only.

This appears to be a reference to his passage in Chapter 91:

"And God by Moses shows in another way the force of the mystery of the cross, when He said in the blessing wherewith Joseph was blessed, 'From the blessing of the Lord is his land; for the seasons of heaven, and for the dews, and for the deep springs from beneath, and for the seasonable fruits of the sun, and for the coming together of the months, and for the heights of the everlasting mountains, and for the heights of the hills, and for the ever-flowing rivers, and for the fruits of the fatness of the earth; and let the things accepted by Him who appeared in the bush come on the head and crown of Joseph. Let him be glorified among his brethren; his beauty is [like] the firstling of a bullock; his horns the horns of an unicorn: with these shall he push the nations from one end of the earth to another.' Now, no one could say or prove that the horns of an unicorn represent any other fact or figure than the type which portrays the cross. For the one beam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which is fixed in the centre, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns. And the expression, 'With these shall he push as with horns the nations from one end of the earth to another,' is indicative of what is now the fact among all the nations.

It is really important, in life, to concentrate our minds on our enthusiasms, not on our dislikes. -- Roger Pearse
Giuseppe
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Re: Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by Giuseppe »

Thanks, GDon.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Re: Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by GakuseiDon »

I found two places in Tertullian (there may be others) where he writes about "horns of the unicorn" being related to the cross:
1. An answer to the Jews: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... ian08.html
2. Against Marcion, Book 3: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... an123.html

Both follow the same idea in Justin Martyr's writing. I've quoted from Tertullian's "Against Marcion", Book 3, below. It's interesting, because Tertullian gives several examples of how the crucifixion could be inferred from various passages in the OT:

First, then, Isaac, when he was given up by his father as an offering, himself carried the wood for his own death. By this act he even then was setting forth the death of Christ, who was destined by His Father as a sacrifice, and carried the cross whereon He suffered. Joseph likewise was a type of Christ, not indeed on this ground (that I may not delay my course), that he suffered persecution for the cause of God from his brethren, as Christ did from His brethren after the flesh, the Jews; but when he is blessed by his father in these words: "His glory is that of a bullock; his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them shall he push the nations to the very ends of the earth,"--he was not, of course, designated as a mere unicorn with its one horn, or a minotaur with two; but Christ was indicated in him--a bullock in respect of both His characteristics: to some as severe as a Judge, to others gentle as a Saviour, whose horns were the extremities of His cross. For of the antenna, which is a part of a cross, the ends are called horns; while the midway stake of the whole frame is the unicorn. By this virtue, then, of His cross, and in this manner "horned," He is both now pushing all nations through faith, bearing them away from earth to heaven; and will then push them through judgment, casting them down from heaven to earth. He will also, according to another passage in the same scripture, be a bullock, when He is spiritually interpreted to be Jacob against Simeon and Levi, which means against the scribes and the Pharisees; for it was from them that these last derived their origin. Like Simeon and Levi, they consummated their wickedness by their heresy, with which they persecuted Christ. "Into their counsel let not my soul enter; to their assembly let not my heart be united: for in their anger they slew men," that is, the prophets; "and in their self-will they hacked the sinews of a bullock," that is, of Christ. For against Him did they wreak their fury after they had slain His prophets, even by affixing Him with nails to the cross. Otherwise, it is an idle thing when, after slaying men, he inveighs against them for the torture of a bullock! Again, in the case of Moses, wherefore did he at that moment particularly, when Joshua was fighting Amalek, pray in a sitting posture with outstretched hands, when in such a conflict it would surely have been more seemly to have bent the knee, and smitten the breast, and to have fallen on the face to the ground, and in such prostration to have offered prayer? Wherefore, but because in a battle fought in the name of that Lord who was one day to fight against the devil, the shape was necessary of that very cross through which Jesus was to win the victory? Why, once more, did the same Moses, after prohibiting the likeness of everything, set up the golden serpent on the pole; and as it hung there, propose it as an object to be looked at for a cure? Did he not here also intend to show the power of our Lord's cross, whereby that old serpent the devil was vanquished,--whereby also to every man who was bitten by spiritual serpents, but who yet turned with an eye of faith to it, was proclaimed a cure from the bite of sin, and health for evermore?

It is really important, in life, to concentrate our minds on our enthusiasms, not on our dislikes. -- Roger Pearse
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DCHindley
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Re: Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by DCHindley »

So, it looks like Justin & Tertullian imagined this "unicorn" to have three "horns", one straight up and one each on each side.

This is weird, because the matter of Unicorns came up on this board about a year or so ago. Andrew C suggested, and probably correctly based on my review of the evidence, that the animal being referenced was a now-extinct ox-like creatiure with a prominent brow from which horns projected from each side. This was imagined by the OT writers to be like a single horn (horizontal brow ridge and the horns, which were actually two horns, projecting from each end of the brow) mounted sideways in top of the ox's head.

How JM or T got to think this was a three horned animal is probably a case of active imagination! My guess would be reading the book of Daniel and/or Revelation.

DCH
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Re: Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by Secret Alias »

or it was saltire because Justin references Plato's CHI.

These works are hopelessly corrupt. See Marcovich's notes on Justin in JStor. They are at best poorly preserved compendia of earlier sources. Justin and Tertullian didn't write Justin and Tertullian. Eusebius rewrote Origen. Someone got into Clement. It's called 'the Stromata' because it REALLY WAS a patchwork of earlier writings. I don't know when we get the 'real person' until the fourth century. The gospels are corrupt. Paul is corrupt. Act is no less fake than the Acts of Paul. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Enjoy swimming in the swill.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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Re: Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by Secret Alias »

Were there writings in antiquity as hopelessly corrupt as the Christian writings? That's the question.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
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GakuseiDon
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Re: Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by GakuseiDon »

DCHindley wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:19 am So, it looks like Justin & Tertullian imagined this "unicorn" to have three "horns", one straight up and one each on each side.
I didn't get that impression, at least for Tertullian. Tertullian writes:

"... a bullock in respect of both His characteristics: to some as severe as a Judge, to others gentle as a Saviour, whose horns were the extremities of His cross. For of the antenna, which is a part of a cross, the ends are called horns; while the midway stake of the whole frame is the unicorn."

How I read it: the beast itself is the "midway stake". So the whole creature represents Christ and his cross.

But looking at Justin Martyr, I think you're right, in that he seems to describe a third horn, from which the other two horns project.

ETA: I wonder if they get the idea from skulls? I often think that a lot of the myths come from ancient fossils that ancient people found lying around. So maybe they found those. But even skulls of oxes might be suitable.

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DCHindley
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Re: Allusion to crucifixion in Psalm 22:21?

Post by DCHindley »

Gak,

It was Ben Smith who got me straight on Aurochs. Here's what I had to say on a thread about Unicorns. Apparently those ancient ox were called Aurochs (sg).

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2054&p=45828&hilit=unicorn#p45828

The skull of an Aurochs (now extinct) looked like this:

To some of that time, this must have seemed like a single horn laid horizontally across the animal's head (face on).
Aurochs skull 3883814.jpeg
Aurochs skull 3883814.jpeg (82.9 KiB) Viewed 10427 times

As for Justin & Tertullian:

Justin Apology 91: For the one beam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which is fixed in the centre, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns.

Tertullian Against Marcion bk 3: For of the antenna, which is a part of a cross, the ends are called horns; while the midway stake of the whole frame is the unicorn

erect stake
cross beam

DCH
GakuseiDon wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:03 pm
DCHindley wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:19 am So, it looks like Justin & Tertullian imagined this "unicorn" to have three "horns", one straight up and one each on each side.
I didn't get that impression, at least for Tertullian. Tertullian writes:

"... a bullock in respect of both His characteristics: to some as severe as a Judge, to others gentle as a Saviour, whose horns were the extremities of His cross. For of the antenna, which is a part of a cross, the ends are called horns; while the midway stake of the whole frame is the unicorn."

How I read it: the beast itself is the "midway stake". So the whole creature represents Christ and his cross.

But looking at Justin Martyr, I think you're right, in that he seems to describe a third horn, from which the other two horns project.

ETA: I wonder if they get the idea from skulls? I often think that a lot of the myths come from ancient fossils that ancient people found lying around. So maybe they found those. But even skulls of oxes might be suitable.

Image
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