(Early 11th Century)
Translation from Patrologia Latina 141, columns 305-318
Introduction
This treatise demonstrates that the famous prophecy of the patriarch Jacob—’The scepter shall not depart from Judah, etc.’—has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
(Edited by Charles de Villiers, Parisian theologian, in Bibliotheca Patrum volume XVIII, page 42, under the title: Sermons against the Jews.—See the literary notice prefaced to the Works of Saint Fulbert, above, column 167.)
I.
The children of the Jews say: ‘It is not surprising that we are now captives, that we do not hold Jerusalem and do not have our own king; for we were similarly captive in Babylon because of our sins, not having our own king, and afterwards we returned to our homeland and had kings and princes. This therefore is our hope, that something similar will yet happen to us when it pleases God.’ Others say: ‘Perhaps in some part of the world unknown to us there may be gathered a multitude of Jews who have their own king, and therefore the scepter has not yet been taken from Judah.’ Still others say that there are Jews in various regions who are prudent and powerful, who with the rod of direction very well govern their own houses and families, and therefore the scepter has not been taken from Judah.
To these we first respond that if the prophecy is to be understood as they say, neither has the Messiah come nor will he come, until all the Jewish heads of households are either dead or so powerless that none of them exists in the world who knows or is able to govern his own house. Since this will not happen until that day which is the end of all mortals, the Messiah will not come before then. But if this is so, why do we suppose the Messiah would come on the last day, except to bury all the dead whom he was hoped to heal when sick? Is this the expectation of the nations?
They should not make the scepter of Judah a common thing, nor count as many kings as there are heads of households in their nation—something never done before, nor should they portray their patriarch as so delirious that a very aged old man, about to die, would utter great nonsense with great effort, saying: ‘Gather together, my sons,’ etc. Likewise, if the prophecy is to be understood in this way, what did that patriarch prophesy to his Hebrews that any gentile could not prophesy to other pagans? For there would be no lack of heads of households among them until the end. Moreover, whoever interprets it thus diminishes the majesty of the kingdom, detracts from prophecy, and gives no certain sign of Christ’s coming except the destruction of all good things.
We respond otherwise, first, that they interpret this prophecy badly, for by expounding in the plural what was announced in the singular—namely the scepter of the kingdom—they scatter it into the staffs of private individuals. And so they compel a holy and God-filled prophet to be considered like a foolish and delirious old man. For what would it seem that Israel prophesied to his Hebrews that any Greek, Latin, or barbarian could not prophesy to his own nation?
The next response clearly strives to be able to perpetually escape the salvation of Christ’s coming. If he knew there was a king somewhere from among the Jews, he will deny that Christ has come because he will not consider the scepter to have been taken from Judah; if he does not know, it will amount to the same thing, because even though he does not know, nevertheless he will believe one exists somewhere, and therefore he will believe Christ has not come.
But we wish to respond in such a way as to demonstrate that it profits him nothing for denying Christ’s coming, whether he shows one king or many from the race of the Jews who are not kings of Judah. When this has been demonstrated, it will seem superfluous to deal with those who may be somewhere, if perchance they are shown. There are three things without which a kingdom cannot exist: namely, land in which the kingdom exists; people who inhabit that land; and the person of the chosen king, who defends the land and rules the people.
The land of the kingdom of which we are speaking is the province of Jerusalem, which is called the land of Judah. The people of this land was the tribe of Judah. Its kings up to Christ were all from the tribe of Judah. Therefore, just as a house consists of its parts—that is, the land of Judah and a king from the tribe of Judah—and just as there is no house if the foundation, walls, or roof is missing, so there is no kingdom if land, people, or king is missing. Where any part is lacking, the whole cannot exist. And where the whole exists, all the parts must necessarily exist. If therefore when one part is lost the whole does not exist, how much more when all are lost is it reduced to nothing?
Now the kingdom of Judah lacked its land from the time that land came into the hands of foreigners. It lacked its people after the tribe of Judah was dispersed among all nations. It had long before lacked a king. Thus the kingdom of Judah, having lost all its parts, ceased to be a kingdom. Therefore from that time the scepter was clearly taken from Judah, and it was declared that Christ had come.
If therefore you establish or falsely feign one Jew, for example Mordecai, as king in Babylon or certainly in Samaria, where the ten tribes of the Jews dwelt, having their own king who was called king of Israel, he will not however be king of Judah, but king of Israel or of Babylon, to whom the prophecy has no regard, which says: ‘The scepter shall not be taken from Judah.’
Again, the kingdom of the Jews depended effectually on the priests who anointed them as kings. But the people of the Jews lost the priests along with the place of sacrifice; therefore they undoubtedly lost the kingdom and scepter. For where the effective cause does not exist, the effect which is born from it can in no way exist.
II.
Wishing to say some necessary things against the errors of the unfaithful, we begin immediately with the Jews. They themselves say they agree with us Catholics in this, that we worship one Lord, creator of all things. But they disagree in these matters: that they do not acknowledge the Trinity of persons in the unity of the Deity, that they deny Christ is God, and that they say he has not yet come.
We, however, beginning to contradict from this last point, will gradually come to the highest. Innumerable things prove that Christ has come. Among these is one prediction of the patriarch Jacob and the lawgiver Moses, who showed a certain sign of his coming in the scepter of the kingdom of Judah, saying: ‘The scepter shall not be taken from Judah, nor a leader from his thigh, until he who is to be sent comes, and he will be the expectation of the nations’ (Genesis 49:10).
We attribute this prophecy to two men together because one of them uttered it and the other related it and strengthened it by writing. But he who uttered it, that is, the holy patriarch Jacob, was then a stranger and foreigner in Egypt with his sons, and nothing of royal dignity seemed to pertain to them, except only the promise to be fulfilled to their descendants after them.
Nevertheless, that spiritual man foresaw such a kingdom would be from his race, as we read in Exodus when the Lord says to his sons: ‘If you will hear my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my special treasure from among all peoples. For all the earth is mine, and you will be to me a priestly kingdom’ (Exodus 19:5). Therefore he foresaw a priestly kingdom, in which alone sacrifice would be offered to God, and such a one that could not subsist without a priesthood.
The place of this kingdom Moses commends in Deuteronomy, saying: ‘Beware lest you offer your sacrifice in every place you see, but in that place which the Lord will choose in one of your tribes’ (Deuteronomy 12:13). And concerning the choice already made of the tribe and place, the king and psalmist of God sings, saying: ‘He rejected the tabernacle of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved’ (Psalm 78:67-68).
Therefore he chose the tribe of Judah for himself, and from that tribe the priesthood and kingdom. He chose the place Jerusalem, and in Jerusalem the temple, and in the temple the altar, and on the altar the sacrifice. In that chosen place it was proper that the chosen king from the chosen tribe should reign, and that he should not be king without priesthood, nor priest without sacrifice, nor sacrifice without the proper place.
The prophecy of blessed Jacob clearly demonstrates this kingdom, which says: ‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader from his thigh, until he comes who is to be sent, and he will be the expectation of the nations.’ The scepter is said to depart from Judah when the chosen king from the tribe of Judah is no longer able to rule in Jerusalem, nor the high priest from the same tribe to sacrifice on the altar in the temple.
Now since that prophecy said ‘until,’ it demonstrated a definite time after which what had been predicted would cease to be, and by the same word it indicated who would be the cause of that cessation. For the word ‘until’ requires before it something to continue for a while, and to be followed by something else on account of which what preceded would cease.
The prophet therefore says: ‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah,’ that is, a king from the tribe of Judah will rule in Jerusalem, ‘nor a leader from his thigh,’ that is, nor a high priest to sacrifice, until a certain one comes. When he comes, all these things will cease. Who is he? ‘He who is to be sent,’ that is, the Messiah, whom you expect. And what will be done when he comes? ‘He,’ he says, ‘will be the expectation of the nations,’ not of the Jews alone.
Why therefore do you still wait for him whom the prophecy demonstrates has already come? Or do you wish to deny that the scepter has departed from Judah? But it is now almost a thousand years since Jerusalem was destroyed and you were dispersed among all nations, having neither king nor priest nor sacrifice nor altar nor temple. Is not the scepter removed? Is not Christ come? Or do you say perchance that although the scepter is removed from Judah, nevertheless Christ has not yet come?
But the prophecy says: ‘until he comes who is to be sent.’ If he has not come, the scepter has not departed. If the scepter has departed, he has come. Choose one of the two: either deny that the scepter has departed, or confess that he has come. But you cannot deny that the scepter has departed, since it is evident. Therefore you cannot deny that he has come.
Some of the Jews oppose this argument thus: ‘First, we do not believe Christ has come because we do not consider the rod of rule of Judah to have been taken away. For in many regions there are wealthy and talented Jews who strenuously govern their own families, and because we see such rulers still exist, we say the scepter has not yet been taken from Judah, nor has Christ yet come.’
Anyone can mock this with pleasant urbanity and at the same time refute it with reason in this way: O Jews, happy in misfortune! If what you say is true, did he not bless you abundantly with marvels who destroyed and scattered you, if when you lost one king in your homeland, you have now in exile found or recovered so many thousands of kings? But none of them has been anointed with legal or spiritual chrism, none is followed by the people, nor does he himself rule over the people; therefore none of them is or can certainly be called king or pontiff, prophet or leader of the tribe of Judah.
For where the effective causes are lacking, their effects can in no way exist. O therefore sorrow or laughter at the foolish and unhappy lot of that part of the Jews who, when they insolently and shamelessly think they have turned their kingdom into a crowd and applaud themselves for the multitude of kings, are proven to have absolutely no ruler!
This argument which we have given may suffice for the refutation of the first part. But because good reasons abound for good causes, let it not weary us to attack again through the impossible, in this way: The prophecy of which we are now treating either regards such kings, that is, rustics or private individuals, or not at all.
But if it regards them, and on account of their present existence in this life, it is established among you that Christ has not yet come, for the same reason it will be established that he will never come, until all are so deleted that none of them exists in the world who governs his own family. But when will this be, except at the end of the age, when all have died and there will be no place for penance or pardon? And what shall we think he will come then to do, except to bury the dead?
Is this therefore the expectation of the nations? Will the aforementioned prophecy thus be reduced to nothing? Far from it! For it is impossible for God to lie, who promised at a certain time before the end of the age to send his Christ to save the human race.
Let us say again: The king of Judah is a man sprung from the tribe of Judah, chosen and anointed by a legitimate priest with sacred chrism to rule the people who dwell in the land of Judah. But every foreign king is alien to this definition. Therefore none of them is king of Judah. For they cannot have a common essence who do not have a common definition.
Moreover, another conclusion follows from this, in this way: For one from the tribe of Judah could not legitimately be king unless a priest, himself also anointed and consecrated, consecrated him with legitimate anointing. But there was no priest among the people of the Jews after they lost the chrism and were driven from the place where alone they were permitted to sacrifice. After the priests who anointed kings no longer existed, neither could kings exist. For where effective causes are lacking, their effects can in no way exist.
It is concluded therefore not only that the scepter has been taken from Judah, but that not even a king could be made there afterwards.
Now let us come to the third point. ‘It is not,’ they say, ‘such a great sign for us that we are now exiles and without a king, that is, a prince, that we should therefore believe the Messiah has come. For we were similarly in Babylon, yet in no way did the Messiah come, but afterwards we returned to Jerusalem and had kingdom and priesthood. This therefore is our hope, that when we have been similarly restored, as it pleases God, these things will come again.’
We respond that you grieve to be now exiles and without a prince, and it is true. For there the people were gathered in one place in Jerusalem, that is, the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, having with them their king and priests and prophets, and the promise given by the Lord that after completing seventy years of penance they would return to their land, which the Lord had not yet delivered to foreigners to inhabit, but as it remained deserted.
But now you do not have the people gathered as then, nor king, nor priests, nor prophets, nor the land kept deserted for you, nor a promise given by the Lord that after seventy years you will return there, as then. Rather there is a sentence given by the Lord that this desolation of yours will be perpetual, which is sufficiently demonstrated in its own place, which has been paid to you for almost a thousand years now, defrauding you of nothing concerning the rest, until the end.
Source. Patrologia Latina – Translated by Claude.AI. Fulbert of Chartres, Treatise Against the Jews, Migne, PL 141. 1880.