Against Celsus 3.5
Summary: Origen rejects Celsus's claim that the Jews were rebel Egyptians, replying that the Egyptians oppressed the Hebrew guests, were punished by God, and slandered Moses, who was a pious lawgiver and truthful historian.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:206–207
Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις ὁ Κέλσος οἰόμενος τοὺς Ἰουδαίους. Αἰγυπτίους τῷ γένει τυγχάνοντας, καταλελοιπέναι τὴν Αἴγυπτον, στασιάσαντας πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τὸ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ σύνηθες περὶ τὰς θρησκείας ὑπερφρονήσαντας, φησὶν αὐτοὺς ἅπερ ἐποίησαν Αἰγυπτίοις πεπονθέναι ὑπὸ τῶν προσθεμένων τῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ πιστευσάντων αὐτῷ ὡς Χριστῷ, καὶ ἀμφοτέροις αἴτιον γεγονέναι τῆς καινοτομίας τὸ στασιάζειν πρὸς τὸ κοινόν. τί δὴ πεποίηκεν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ὁ Κέλσος. κατανοητέον. πολλὰ διαθέντες οἱ πάλαι Αἰγύπτιοι τὸ Ἑβραίων γένος, διὰ λιμὸν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν καταλαβόντα ἐπιδημήσαντας τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ. πεπόνθασιν ὡς ξένους καὶ ἱκέτας ἀδικήσαντες ἅπερ ἐχρῆν ὅλον ἔθνος ὑπὸ τῆς θείας προνοίας παθεῖν, συμφρονῆσαν κατὰ ὅλου τοῦ τῶν ἐπιξενωθέντων αὐτοῖς γένους μηδὲν αὐτοὺς ἀδικήσαντος· καὶ θεοῦ μάστιξιν πληγέντες μόλις καὶ μετʼ οὐ πολὺ ἀπέλυσαν ὅποι ἐβούλοντο τοὺς οὐ δικαίως δουλαγωγουμένους. ἅτε οὖν φίλαυτοι καὶ τοὺς ὁποιωσδήποτε ὁμογενεῖς προτιμῶντες καὶ τῶν δικαιοτέρων ξένων, οὐχ ἔστιν ἥντινα κατηγορίαν καταλελοίπασιν, ἣν μὴ περὶ Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν Ἑβραίων εἰρήκασι, τὰς μὲν διὰ Μωϋσέως τεραστίους δυνάμεις οὐ παντελῶς ἀρνούμενοι φάσκοντες δʼ αὐτὰς γοητείᾳ καὶ μὴ θείᾳ δυνάμει γεγονέναι. Μωϋσῆς δὲ [τὰ συμβεβηκότα] ὡς οὐ γόης ἀλλʼ εὐσεβὴς ἀνὴρ καὶ τῷ τῶν ὅλων ἀνακείμενος θεῷ καὶ μετέχων θειοτέρου πνεύματος καὶ νόμους ἔθετο τοῖς Ἑβραίοις. ὡς τὸ θεῖον αὐτῷ ὑπήχησε, καὶ τὰ συμβεβηκότα, ὡς ἀληθείας εἶχεν, ἀνέγραψεν.
English · Claude translation
Next Celsus, thinking that the Jews were Egyptians by race who left Egypt after rebelling against the Egyptian state and despising the customary religion of Egypt, says that they suffered at the hands of those who followed Jesus and believed in him as Christ what they had done to the Egyptians, and that for both the cause of their innovation was rebellion against the state. We must consider what Celsus has done in this passage. The ancient Egyptians, who treated the Hebrew race badly after they came to live in Egypt because of a famine that struck Judea, suffered, for wronging strangers and suppliants, what a whole nation had to suffer at the hands of divine providence, since it had conspired against the whole race of its guests, who had done it no wrong. And struck by God's scourges, they reluctantly, and after not long, let go where they wished those who were being unjustly enslaved. Being then self-loving, and preferring those of their own race, whatever they were like, even to more righteous foreigners, there is no accusation they have not made against Moses and the Hebrews: not wholly denying the wonders done through Moses, but saying they were done by sorcery and not by divine power. But Moses, as no sorcerer but a pious man, dedicated to the God of the universe and sharing in a more divine Spirit, both gave laws to the Hebrews as the divine prompted him and recorded what happened as it truly was.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The account is Gen 42–47 and Exod 1–12. The claim that the Jews were Egyptian rebels goes back to Manetho (reported by Josephus, Against Apion 1.227–250). The editor deletes the square-bracketed τὰ συμβεβηκότα (“what happened”) in its first occurrence; it is not translated.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray accent in the digital text; stray capital letter in the digital text): τοὺς Οὐ δικαίως → τοὺς οὐ δικαίως; δύνάμει → δυνάμει.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 3.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/5/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 3.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/3/5/).
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