(On the fulfillment of prophecy)
"Moreover understand this also, my brothers. When ye see that after so many signs and wonders wrought in Israel, even then they were abandoned, let us give heed, lest haply we be found, as the scripture saith, many called but few chosen. . ." (4:14)

"Therefore the Son of God came in the flesh to this end, that He might sum up the complete tale of their sins against those who persecuted and slew His prophets." (5:11)



(On the "Israel of God")
CHAP. XIII.--CHRISTIANS, AND NOT JEWS, THE HEIRS OF THE COVENANT.
"Now let us see whether this people or the first people hath the inheritance, and whether the covenant had reference to us or to them. Hear ye now what the Scripture saith concerning the people. Isaac prayed for Rebecca his wife, because she was barren; and she conceived.(22) Furthermore also, Rebecca went forth to inquire of the Lord; and the Lord said to her, "Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples in thy belly; and the one people shall surpass the other, and the eider shall serve the younger."(23) You ought to understand who was Isaac, who Rebecca, and concerning what persons He declared that this people should be greater than that. And in another prophecy Jacob speaks more clearly to his son Joseph, saying, "Behold, the Lord hath not deprived me of thy presence; bring thy sons to me, that I may bless them."(24) And he brought Manasseh and Ephraim, desiring that Manasseh(25) should be blessed, because he was the eider. With this view Joseph led him to the right hand of his father Jacob. But Jacob saw in spirit the type of the people to arise afterwards. And what says [the Scripture]? And Jacob changed the direction of his bands, and laid his fight hand upon the head of Ephraim, the second and younger, and blessed him. And Joseph said to Jacob, "Transfer thy right hand to the head of Manasseh,(25) for he is my first-born son."(26) And Jacob said, "I know it, my son, I know it; but the eider shall serve the younger: yet he also shall be blessed."(27) Ye see on whom he laid(28) [his hands], that this people should be first, and heir of the covenant. If then, still further, the same thing was intimated through Abraham, we reach the perfection of our knowledge. What, then, says He to Abraham? "Because thou hast believed,(1) it is imputed to thee for righteousness: behold, I have made thee the father of those nations who believe in the Lord while in [a state of] uncircumcision."(2)" (Barnabas 13:1)



(On the Temple of God)
"Moreover I will tell you likewise concerning the temple, how these wretched men being led astray set their hope on the building, and not on their God that made them, as being a house of God. . . . So it cometh to pass; for because they went to war it was pulled down by their enemies. . . . Again, it was revealed how the city and the temple and the people of Israel should be betrayed. For the scripture saith; and it shall be in the last days, that the Lord shall deliver up the sheep of the pasture and the fold and the tower thereof to destruction. And it so happened as the Lord had spoken. " (Barnabas 16:3-4)

"Moreover, He again says, 'Behold, they who have cast down this temple, even they shall build it up again.' It has so happened. For through their going to war, it was destroyed by their enemies; and now, they, as the servants of their enemies, shall rebuild it... Let us inquire, then, if there still is a temple of God. There is - where He himself declared He would make and finish it. For it is written, 'And it shall come to pass, when the week is completed, the temple of God shall be built in glory in the name of the Lord.' I find, therefore, that a temple does exist. Learn, then, how it shall be built in the name of the Lord... Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, namely this, when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eight day, that is, a beginning of another world." (Epistle of Barnabas)

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