Texts in Conversation
In 1 Esdras, Zerubbabel says truth is great and stronger than all things, and in John, Jesus calls himself the truth. Augustine connects the two, asking whether Zerubbabel's speech is a prophecy about Jesus, since the Gospel says Jesus is the Truth.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Esdras 4:35
Esdras A, 3 Esdras
Deuterocanon
33 Then the king and the nobles looked at one another; and he began to speak about truth: 34 “Gentlemen, are not women strong? The earth is vast, and heaven is high, and the sun is swift in its course, for it makes the circuit of the heavens and returns to its place in one day. 35 Is he not great who does these things? But truth is great, and stronger than all things. 36 The whole earth calls upon truth, and heaven blesses her. All God’s works quake and tremble, and with him there is nothing unrighteous. 37 Wine is unrighteous, the king is unrighteous, women are unrighteous, all the sons of men are unrighteous, all their works are unrighteous, and all such things. There is no truth in them and in their unrighteousness they will perish. 38 But truth endures and is strong for ever, and lives and prevails for ever and ever.
John 14:6
New Testament
5 Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Augustine, City of God 18.36
On the City of God Against the Pagans
Early Christian
After these three prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, during the same period of the liberation of the people from the Babylonian servitude Esdras also wrote, who is historical rather than prophetical, as is also the book called Esther, which is found to relate, for the praise of God, events not far from those times; unless, perhaps, Esdras is to be understood as prophesying of Christ in that passage where, on a question having arisen among certain young men as to what is the strongest thing, when one had said kings, another wine, the third women, who for the most part rule kings, yet that same third youth demonstrated that the truth is victorious over all. For by consulting the Gospel we learn that Christ is the Truth.
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Notes and References
“... Although there are dozens of citations and allusions to 1 Esdras in the Church Fathers, the most eminent Christian reading of 1 Esdras is that supplied by Augustine in De civitate Dei 18.36. [...] Augustine sees 1 Esd 4:35 (4:41 Vulg.) concerning Zerubbabel’s climactic remark that “truth is great, and stronger than all things” (ἡ ἀλήθεια μεγάλη καὶ ἰσχυροτέρα παρὰ πάντα, magna veritas et praevalet) a prophecy about Christ fulfilled in the Gospel. The Gospel that Augustine refers to of course is the Fourth Gospel, in particular, it appears that he has in mind John 14:6 with the Johannine Jesus’ saying: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Augustine knows full well that 1 Esdras is a historical work and not a prophetic book and there is no question as to whether or not this was the intended point of Zerubbabel’s speech in the text of 1 Esdras—it clearly was not—but Augustine is not engaging in crass allegory or rank eisegesis. ...”
Bird, Michael F.
1 Esdras: Introduction and Commentary on the Greek Text in Codex Vaticanus
(p. 29) Brill, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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