“The smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord hath blessed: therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fruitfulness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: let nations serve thee, and princes adore thee: and be lord of thy brethren, and let thy father\u2019s sons adore thee: cursed be he that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.\u201d The blessing of Jacob is therefore a proclamation of Christ to all nations. It is this which has come to pass, and is now being fulfilled. Isaac is the law and the prophecy: even by the mouth of the Jews Christ is blessed by prophecy as by one who knows not, because it is itself not understood. The world like a field is filled with the odor of Christ\u2019s name: His is the blessing of the dew of heaven, that is, of the showers of divine words; and of the fruitfulness of the earth, that is, of the gathering together of the peoples: His is the plenty of corn and wine, that is, the multitude that gathers bread and wine in the sacrament of His body and blood. Him the nations serve, Him princes adore. He is the Lord of His brethren, because His people rules over the Jews. Him His Father\u2019s sons adore, that is, the sons of Abraham according to faith; for He Himself is the son of Abraham according to the flesh. He is cursed that curseth Him, and he that blesseth Him is blessed.<\/p>\n
–City Of God XVI.37<\/p>\n
Israel, when dying in Egypt, in blessing his sons, prophetically blessed Judah. He says: \u201cJudah, thy brethren shall praise thee: thy hands shall be on the back of thine enemies; thy father\u2019s children shall adore thee. Judah is a lion\u2019s whelp: from the sprouting, my son, thou art gone up: lying down, thou hast slept as a lion, and as a lion\u2019s whelp; who shall awake him? A prince shall not be lacking out of Judah, and a leader from his thighs, until the things come that are laid up for him; and He shall be the expectation of the nations. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass\u2019s foal to the choice vine; he shall wash his robe in wine, and his clothes in the blood of the grape: his eyes are red with wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk” …<\/p>\n
The death of Christ is predicted by the word about his lying down, and not the necessity, but the voluntary character of His death, in the title of lion. That power He Himself proclaims in the gospel, saying, \u201cI have the power of laying down my life, and I have the power of taking it again. No man taketh it from me; but I lay it down of myself, and take it again.\u201d So the lion roared, so He fulfilled what He said. For to this power what is added about the resurrection refers, \u201cWho shall awake him?\u201d This means that no man but Himself has raised Him, who also said of His own body, \u201cDestroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.\u201d And the very nature of His death, that is, the height of the cross, is understood by the single words \u201cThou are gone up.\u201d The evangelist explains what is added, \u201cLying down, thou hast slept,\u201d when he says, \u201cHe bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.\u201d Or at least His burial is to be understood, in which He lay down sleeping, and whence no man raised Him, as the prophets did some, and as He Himself did others; but He Himself rose up as if from sleep. As for His robe which He washes in wine, that is, cleanses from sin in His own blood, of which blood those who are baptized know the mystery, so that he adds, \u201cAnd his clothes in the blood of the grape,\u201d what is it but the Church? \u201cAnd his eyes are red with wine,\u201d [these are] His spiritual people drunken with His cup, of which the psalm sings, \u201cAnd thy cup that makes drunken, how excellent it is!\u201d \u201cAnd his teeth are whiter than milk,” — that is, the nutritive words which, according to the apostle, the babes drink, being as yet unfit for solid food. And it is He in whom the promises of Judah were laid up, so that until they come, princes, that is, the kings of Israel, shall never be lacking out of Judah.<\/p>\n
–City Of God XVI.41<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“The smell of my son is as the smell of a full field which the Lord hath blessed: therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fruitfulness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: let nations serve thee, and princes adore thee: and be lord of thy brethren, and let thy father\u2019s sons adore thee: cursed be he that curseth thee, and blessed be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-augustine-of-hippo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1077,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/hippolytus-on-genesis\/","url_meta":{"origin":849,"position":0},"title":"Hippolytus: On Genesis","author":"Nemo","date":"February 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"An Interpretation of Jacob's Blessings Gen. xlix. 3 Reuben, my first-born, thou art my strength, and the first of my children; hard to bear with, and hard and self-willed: thou hast waxed wanton as water; boil not over. For there was a great display of strength made by God in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hippolytus"","block_context":{"text":"Hippolytus","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/hippolytus\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":227,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/the-martyrdom-of-polycarp\/","url_meta":{"origin":849,"position":1},"title":"The Martyrdom of Polycarp","author":"Nemo","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Gracing His Captors He might have escaped into another place; but he refused, saying, \u201cThe will of God be done.\u201d So when he heard that they were come, he went down and spake with them. 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The Lord has told us that He had this food alone in abundance, as it is written in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ambrose"","block_context":{"text":"Ambrose","link":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/category\/ambrose\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1355,"url":"https:\/\/nemoslibrary.com\/patristics\/constitutions-of-the-holy-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":849,"position":3},"title":"Constitutions of the Holy Apostles","author":"Nemo","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Honour of the Bishop XXIX. 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