Commentary on Tobit

Origen of Alexandria (185–253)

Once the people fell down in the desert and died. Aaron their chief priest came and "stood in the midst of those who died and of those who lived," so that the devastation of death might not advance even further among the rest. And then came the true high priest, my Lord, and he came into the midst between those dying and the living. That is, he came between those Jews who accepted his presence and those who not only did not accept but also killed themselves more completely than him, saying, "The blood of that one be on us and on our children!" So also "all the righteous blood that has been poured forth on the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah whom they killed between the sanctuary and the altar, will be required from that generation" that said, "His blood on us and on our children." Therefore, these are a part of the dead people because they do not properly perform either the feast of unleavened bread or the feast days. But "their feast days have been turned into sorrow and their songs into lamentations," they who, even if they wished, could not celebrate the feast days in that place that the Lord God chose. And indeed we ourselves did not say…

See also

• More works by Origen of Alexandria

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