Eusebius's History: Some Peculiarities

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Tom Hart

Puritan Board Senior
I've started reading Eusebius of Caesarea's 'History of the Church'. From the very first chapters there are things that are quite new to me. Frankly I've found them theologically questionable. He suggests that incidents in the Old Testament such as Jacob wrestling with an angel (Genesis 32) or Joshua's encounter with the commander of the Lord's army (Joshua 5). (I'm just reading now that this is known as 'christophany'.)

He also identifies Christ with Wisdom in Proverbs 8. He does this despite quoting verses (such as v. 22) that would seem to me to indicate Wisdom having been created.

I wonder, were such perspectives common in Eusebius's day? And are there any other unusual things to note about Eusebius?
 
Tom,
I'm not sure what your exact question is, something seems to be left out of your first paragraph.

If the question is: Was Jacob wrestling with the pre-incarnate Son of God in Gen.32, that seems rather an unremarkable conclusion to me. I'm sure he was.

Jacob himself says, v30, "I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." The prophet Hosea, reflecting on the same passage, "In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the Angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us—the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD is his memorial name:" Hos.12:3-5.

Hosea shows it was God who repeatedly and directly--in speech and act--dealt with Jacob. The OT phenomenon: the Angel of the LORD, is not a typical created angel, but One who uniquely reveals the LORD. It is not until the NT incarnation of the Son that the full-orbed Trinitarian nature of God is revealed; but with the NT in hand, we are able to see that the OT is full of hints to the Triune nature of God all along. Contrary to Marcion (ca. A.D. 144) and other dualistic heresies, the God of the OT is the same as the God of the NT; nor does the OT contradict the NT.

While Eusebius is a man of his time: probably a bit of a sycophant to the Emperor Constantine, and a bit too hagiographic; being both enabled and limited by the investigative powers of his age; he is a very important and close recorder of events reaching back to the very edge of the apostolic age (Eusebius was born @ 200yrs after the death of Paul). But most important to your questions, Eusebius (along with most of our early Christian writers whose literature survives) reads the OT as Christian Scripture. That's the way it should be read. That's the way the Apostles read it, being taught thus by Christ himself.

Of course, the original Disciples also had background in ancient Jewish interpretation, which was pervasively Messianic in orientation. They were already reading the OT Scriptures (as we call it)--at least the better exegetes--with the coming Christ always in view. Jesus arrives, and begins to point to himself as the One they are looking for. John 5:39, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me." Luke 24:25-27, "And he said to them, "'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them by all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."

Eusebius reads the OT like a Christian, which is the way Reformed men today should read it: looking for Jesus. As for Prv.8, modern interpreters tend to back-off somewhat from a directly Christological reading. But, given 1Cor.1:24, "Christ,... the wisdom of God," perhaps they should look a little closer? At the very least, one should be able to recognize that here is some connection to Heb.1:1-2, "God... hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son..., by whom also he made the worlds." Certainly, in Prv.8 from v22, we should reckon with the poetry in a more figurative and evocative manner, than precise statements.

Even if one cannot see the Son there, he must confess that the wisdom of God is not strictly speaking a creation, if (as we confess) God is eternally wise.

Hope this is helpful.
 
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Thank you! Never has it been suggested in my hearing that the pre-incarnate Christ appeared in the OT. Yet those passages have often been confusing to me! I think of Abraham at Mamre, Hagar in the Desert, Jacob wresting with the angel, and now Joshua before the commander of the Lord's army. It's true, Joshua couldn't fall down and worship an angel.

Would you happen to have any references to theologians who've expounded on this? Is there a typical Reformed position on this christophany business?

To me, Proverbs 8 seems still a bit of a stretch, based on some of the verses about wisdom having been created. But other assumptions of mine have been proved wrong. I wonder if translation from Hebrew might have something to do with the language in Proverbs 8.
 
The Second Person of the Trinity was very active in the Old Testament:

Jude 5
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that the Lord [Jesus] who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Exodus 32:34
“Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

Judges 2:1
Now the angel of Yahweh…said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers.”

The Angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament is a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus as Jehovah.




---The Angel of the Lord (Jesus) destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven (Genesis 19:1, 24).
---He killed the unbelieving Israelites in the desert (Jude 5).
---He killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (2Kings 19:35).
---He had every intent of slaying Balaam (Num 22:23), Moses (Exod 4:24, LXX), Jerusalem and all its inhabitants (1Chron 21:16) and stopped only in response to personal intercession.
---He went before Joshua and participated in killing the enemies of Israel in Canaan (Joshua 5:13-15).


Exodus 23:20–23, 28
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice;…for my name is in him. “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out…”
 
Would you happen to have any references to theologians who've expounded on this?

You're about to enter a goldmine!

Apart from commentaries on the relevant passages, you could consult:

Isaac Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus
Jonathan Edwards, A History of the Work of Redemption
E.W. Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament
Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments
O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants
Edmund Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery
Michael P.V. Barrett, Beginning at Moses
Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method
Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture
David Murray, Jesus on Every Page

There are many more, but I would imagine that at least one or two of these would be accessible from Korea.
 
Also, Flavel's Fountain of Life and Owen's Christologia. Both are freely available at numerous locations online. I would probably start with Flavel. If one is not well versed in older writings, or if the concept itself is new, probably Clowney's Unfolding Mystery is the best place to start.
 
I still can't believe I hadn't heard this before. But this is why I joined the Puritan Board! I am thankful to all of you for your help.
 
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