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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 6, 5. My Dispute with a Jew

King Chilperic, who was still in the aforesaid domain,¹ ordered his baggage to be sent on, and prepared himself to depart for Paris. I had gone to him for the purpose of bidding him farewell, when there came in a Jew named Priscus, whom he treated with familiarity, because he helped him in the purchase of precious things. The king took him gently by the hair and said to me: ‘Come, bishop, and lay thy hands upon him.’ As the man resisted, the king said: ‘O hardened spirit, O ever-unbelieving generation, which understandeth not that which hath been promised to it by the voice of the prophets; which comprehendeth not that the mysteries of the Church are figured forth in its own sacrifices.’ To this the Jew made answer: ‘God hath no need, nor hath He provided Him a Son, nor doth He brook any consort in His kingdom. Who said by the mouth of Moses: “Behold now, behold, that I am the Lord; apart from Me, there is no God. I will kill, and I will make alive; I will strike and I will heal.” ’² To this the king replied: ‘God in spiritual wise brought to the birth the eternal Son, neither younger than Himself in time, nor less in power, of whom He Himself saith: “Out of the womb have I begotten Thee before the morning star.”³ This Son, born before the ages, He sent in the latter time to heal the world, as thy prophet saith: “He sent forth His Word and healed them.”⁴ And as for that thy statement that He begetteth not, hear now thine own prophet, who setteth these words in the Lord’s mouth: “Shall I, who make others bring forth, not bring forth Myself?”⁵ Now this He saith of the people which is born again in Him by faith.’ The Jew rejoined: ‘How should God be made man, or be born of woman, or submit to stripes, or be condemned to death?’ The king was now silent, whereupon I broke into the discussion. ‘That God,’ I said, ‘the Son of God, was made man, resulted not from His own necessity, but from ours. Save He had put on mortality, He could not have redeemed man from the captivity of sin, or from his servitude to the devil. But as we read that David of old slew Goliath, so will I now pierce thee with thine own sword, producing for thee testimony, not from the Gospels or from an apostle in whom thou believest not, but from thine own Scriptures. Hear therefore thy prophet, foretelling that God should be made man: “He is both God and man,” he saith, “and who hath known Him?”⁶ And in another place: “This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted in comparison with Him, for He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob His servant, and to Israel His beloved. Afterwards did He show Himself upon earth, and conversed with men.”⁷ And that He was born of a virgin, hear likewise the word of thy prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us.”⁸ And that He must needs be smitten, pierced with nails, and suffer other injury, yet another prophet declareth: “They pierced My hands and My feet; they parted My garments among them”, and so further.⁹ And again: “They gave Me gall to eat, and in My thirst vinegar to drink.”¹⁰ And to proclaim that through the gibbet of the Cross He should restore in His kingdom the world, sinking under the tyranny of the devil, the same David saith: “The Lord hath reigned from the tree.”¹¹ Not that He did not reign before with the Father; but He received a new kingdom over the people whom He had delivered from the servitude of the devil.’ To this the Jew replied: ‘And what necessity was there for God to suffer all these things?’ I retorted: ‘I have already said to thee that God created man in innocence; but, ensnared by the serpent’s guile, he was made to transgress the divine command, and therefore was he cast out from Paradise and condemned to earthly labours; who, by the death of Christ, the only Son of God, was reconciled with the Father.’ The Jew said: ‘But might not God have sent prophets or apostles to recall him to the way of salvation, without being Himself humbled in the flesh?’ I answered: ‘From the beginning the race of man was ever delinquent; neither the Flood might affright it, nor the burning of Sodom, nor the plagues of Egypt, nor the miracle of the sea and the Jordan dividing their waters. Ever hath it resisted the law of God and disbelieved the prophets; and not only disbelieved, but put to death those that preached to it repentance. Therefore if God Himself had not come down from heaven to redeem it, by no other means could the redemption have been accomplished. We were regenerated by His nativity, washed by His baptism, healed by His wounds, raised by His resurrection, by His ascension glorified. And need was that He should come to heal our sicknesses, as thy prophet saith: “By His bruises we are healed”;¹² and in another place: “He shall bear our sins, and pray for the transgressors.”¹³ And again: “He was brought as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. While He was humbled was the judgement removed.¹⁴ Who shall declare His generation? The Lord of Hosts is His name.”¹⁵ Of Him doth that Jacob speak, from whom thou vauntest to descend, in that blessing of his son Judah, wherein he seemeth to address Christ Himself, the Son of God: “The sons of thy father shall adore thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the seed, my son, thou art grown up. Thou hast couched and slept as a lion, as a lion’s whelp. Who hath raised him up? His eyes are fairer than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk Who”, saith he, “hath raised him up?”¹⁶ And though He Himself hath said, “I have power to lay down My life, and power to take it up again”,¹⁷ yet the apostle Paul saith: “Whosoever hath not believed that God hath raised Him from the dead, cannot be saved.” ’¹⁸ Despite these and other arguments of mine, this wretch felt not remorse, so as to believe, but held his peace, whereupon the king, seeing that all that had been said could not move him to compunction, turned to me, and asked my blessing before he departed. He said: ‘I will say to thee that which Jacob said to the angel that spake with him, “I will not let thee go unless thou bless me”.’¹⁹ With these words he ordered water to be brought for our hands. And when they were washed, I offered prayer, and took bread, and, giving thanks to God, received it myself, and presented it to the king. And we drank the wine and parted, bidding each other farewell. The king took horse and returned to Paris with his consort, his daughter, and all his household.

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