Cave of Treasures

Historical source scan page 68

up, and on it grew the tree which held the ram that saved Isaac. And that same place is the centre of the earth, and the grave of Adam, and the altar of Melchisedek, and Golgotha, and Karkafta, and Gefifta (Gabbatha). And there David saw the angel bearing the sword of fire. There, too, Abraham took up Isaac his son for a burnt offering, and he saw the Cross, and Christ [Fol. 26a, col. 1], and the redemption of our father Adam. The tree (i.e. thicket) was a symbol of the Cross of Christ our Lord, and the ram [caught] in its branches was the mystery of the manhood of the Word, the Only One. And, because of this, Paul cried out and said, "If they had only known [it] they were not crucifying the Lord of glory." Let the mouths of the heretics be stopped who in their madness impute passibility to the Eternal God. Now, when Christ was eight days old, Joseph, the betrothed of Mary, rose up to circumcise the Child according to the Law, and he circumcised Him according to the custom that was the Law. In like manner Abraham took up his son as an offering, but he at the same time [fore]saw in this [act] the crucifixion of Christ. And this thing did Christ openly proclaim before the multitudes of the Jews, saying: Abraham, your father, wanted to see My days, and he saw and was glad (John viii. 56). Abraham saw the day of the redemption [Fol. 26a, col. 2] of Adam, and he saw and rejoiced, and it was revealed unto him that Christ would suffer on behalf of Adam. The founding of Jerusalem And in that same year in which Abraham offered up his son as an offering, in that same year [I say] Jerusalem was built; and the beginning of the building thereof was in this wise. Melchisedek having appeared and shown himself to men, the kings of the nations heard his history, and they gathered together and came unto him. The names of the kings who built Jerusalem e Abimelech, king of Gadhar. e Amarphil, (Amraphel), king of Sen‘ar. e Arioch, king of Dalasar (sic). e Kardla‘mar (Chedorlaomer), king of Elam. e Tarîl (Tidal), king of the Gilayé. e Bara (Bera), king of Sodom. e Barsha (Birsha), king of Gomorrah. e Shénabh (Shinab), king of Adhamah. e Shama‘ir (Shemeber), king of Zeboim. 68 of 130