In addition to these, there were also extraordinary means. Before Abraham they were common to the whole human race, and after Abraham some actually belonged to the Jews, and others to the Gentiles. In the times before Abraham, these means, then common to the entire human race, generally consisted in revelations and in certain particular actions of the power of God. We find three main revelations in Moses at that time: 1) in the comforting words spoken by God to Adam; 2) in the blessings of Noah Shem; 3) in the blessing of Abraham's descendants. In these three declarations of God, the plan of salvation is indicated in general and indefinite features. But it must not be inferred from this that the leaders of the people of that time knew so little as is contained in these passages. It can be said with all reason that they knew more than Moses preserved in his history. Many reasons make you think so. For example, we have never seen in Moses that Abraham saw the day of Jesus and rejoice; but Jesus Christ is clear about it. This already leads to the idea that Moses did not say everything, and that, consequently, the patriarchs knew more than how much he (Moses - ed.) says.

On the other hand, the pagans have left traces of the expectation of the Messiah, much clearer than those that can be found on the basis of the Mosaic narrative. Meanwhile, if these expectations had been affirmed in the story of Moses, they would have been weaker. And this should also lead to the fact that these expectations are not the consequences of small, fragmentary Mosaic legends, but are the remnants of much more complete concepts, which spread among people when they constituted, as it were, one family. This circumstance must always be remembered in order to avoid the perplexities that arise during the reading of the Pentateuch. Reading it, they usually say: how little the patriarchs knew! For this purpose, contrary to hermeneutics, the meaning of the words of Moses is strengthened, ascribing to them more than how much they contain. Hence the stretches in the explanations, which lead to suspicion of theological hermeneutics and give the frivolous a reason for ridicule.

In addition to promises and revelations, some extraordinary actions of this time must be attributed to the supernatural means of preparation. For example, the rapture of Enoch into heaven: this was important for religion, because through such rapture of him into heaven, the barrier between the spiritual and bodily worlds was as it were broken; therefore, a strong sense of faith could be born from this.

What is the thought in the first revelation given to Adam in Paradise? God says to him, "You have fallen, but you will be restored by the seed that will come from the woman; man will participate in his restoration, but God will be the head of all this; for he says, I will put enmity... (Gen. 3:26). Consequently, there are three main ideas in this promise: 1) a restorer is promised to fallen man; 2) this restorer will mainly be God; 3) but this restoration will be accomplished through man. What is the Seed of the Woman? Let us interpret it as it is in itself. Simply - it means offspring; now we know that Christ is understood by this seed, but we already know when the Apostle Paul explained it to us (Gal., ch. 3); and that our first parents understood the same thing by seed, this cannot be asserted.

Thus, this promise is very vague - it does not say how the human race will be restored, when and by whom, and therefore it is itself like the seed of all subsequent promises. Well, was it not enough for Adam? No, very satisfied... This might have protected him from despair and stirred him up to repentance, and the vagueness of this promise might have sought an explanation and a more precise definition, which in all probability he had found. Moses, having described the fall of Adam, abandoned and, as it were, despised everything else related to his life. But during the nine hundred years of Adam's life, did not his powers develop, did not God, who appeared to him when he was in spite of all his sin, not appear when his sin had already been somewhat washed away by repentance? We see that Adam's children, Cain and Abel, offer sacrifices. However one may judge of all this, it must be assumed that they were taught this from above, either from the angels, or from God Himself: for the essence and power of all sacrifices depends on the one that was offered for the sins of the whole world, Jesus Christ. It cannot be that Adam and his children, not knowing about this great sacrifice, approached the sacrifice. Thus, it must be admitted with all reason that Adam and the patriarchs knew more than how much the first promise of Moses contains. The same assumption must be made about the other patriarchs.

For example, it is said of Enos and Enoch that they walked with God. Although it is possible to understand here the moral walk, it is impossible to eliminate the physical, which must consist of the Manifestations of God. But Moses says nothing about this, and therefore it constitutes a new confirmation of our truth. Noah also had several Theophany; but Moses does not speak of them. In general, the patriarchs of the antediluvian had much more concepts than Moses tells us. The memory of this remained with the Jews and served as the basis for fake books: "On the Wisdom of Adam", "On the Prophecy of Enoch", "On the Laws of Noah" and others. All these legends are disfigured, but for all this they are an echo of the antediluvian world, from which the pagans originated and their expectations.

For without admitting this, how can we explain what is said in the ancient Persian book about Ormuzd, who is to appear in the form of a man to fight with Ahriman? This face is presented from two sides - from the glorious and the suffering side; hence some represented him in two persons, like the Jews, who recognized two Messiahs. A remnant of this doctrine is not only found among the Persians, who, having remained in the place of the first residence of men, could conveniently preserve it, but also among the Indians and the Romans in the predictions of their Sibyls, according to which a great man must be born for the return of the golden age. Virgil also speaks of him in one of his eclogues. These expectations could not be the fruit of a brief Mosaic story, but are the remnants of complete and more definite oral stories. True, one could call them degenerates of religious instinct, that is, the product of the mute, unconscious self-action of our forces; on this the following saying is affirmed: "The voice of the people is the voice of God." But although it cannot be denied that mute consciousness did not act in this case, for it was also used by Providence as a means to prepare the human race, that is, nature itself demanded Christianity with effort; However, it is impossible to produce everything that is in these expectations from this one source, but it is necessary to recognize their historical origin. For, in the first place, these expectations have been very strong and clear since the remotest antiquity; whereas if they were born of instinct, they would at first be weaker and darker; secondly, they are connected with the fall of man and with stories like the historical stories of Moses; therefore, they are drawn from the same source from which Moses borrowed them, that is, from primitive revelations.

The consequence of the first promise and others was the expectation of a personal Restorer as a Person. There are two hints of this in the patriarchs - in Adam and Lamech. Adam says of the first son: "Man was acquired by God" (Gen. 4:1). Of course, he could say this for joy: the first son for him was almost like God. But in spite of this, in this exclamation it can be seen, although not quite clearly, the hope in the seed of the woman as in the Deliverer, for in it one can see a religious tone and some relation to one's misfortune. A similar hint can be seen even more clearly in Lamech, who says of his son Noah: "This will give us rest from our works, and from the sorrow of our hands, and from the earth, which the Lord God has cursed" (Gen. 5:29). What kind of waiting is this? Some say that he was named so afterward, because he invented the plow. But what kind of rest is this for the earth? It was much calmer when its bowels were not torn apart. No, this must be recognized as an expectation of the Messiah, which in the course of time became clearer and more definite.

The second promise was given after the flood (Gen. 9:26-29). From this promise one can see the lofty Shem's destiny and conversion to God. Therefore, the thought in this passage should be that this will become a special object of God's blessing. This prophecy is extremely indefinite; there is only one trait in him, and that is that in the descendants of Shem the true religion will be established. Thus, the restoration of the human race is now assimilated not to humanity in general, but to the tribe of Shem, a branch of humanity, and therefore this promise is more particular than the one that precedes it. However, how few traces of clear concepts are in it! Judging by what the Patriarch, who was vouchsafed several Theophany and who already lived at the end of the first and at the beginning of the second world, utters it, we must again take this story as a small fragment of what may have been fully preserved in oral tradition.

The third promise is given to Abraham: "Truly I will bless thee... (Gen. 22:17-18). From that time on, the preparation of the human race took on two forms: in relation to the Gentiles and to the Jews. This promise may therefore be more particular than the previous one. For this blessing is no longer given to the whole tribe of Shem, but to one branch of it, the tribe of Abraham. "They will be blessed" means that they will receive the mercy they need, that is, they will be enlightened and cleansed from sins: this is the essence of blessing! Some interpreted this to mean that the descendants of Abraham would be very happy and would be held up as an example in this respect, so that instead of saying, "This is a happy man," they will say, "This is a descendant of Abraham." But such a meaning is forced and not at all natural. Everything else in this promise is simple and clear. Two methods of preparation will follow: one for the Jews, and the other for the Gentiles. The pagans were prepared in the same way as before; but the method of preparation of the Jews has its own peculiarities.

Let us follow in the footsteps of this Divine economy. The Jews continued a series of prophecies; the prophecies given to Adam, Noah, and Abraham now became wider, clearer, more perceptible, more instructive, and, gradually increasing at last five hundred years before the birth of Christ, completely ceased. We have seen that Adam was given prophecy indefinitely, in the seed of the woman: according to this the Messiah had to be sought in the whole human race; Noah, more specifically, in the seed of Shem; the origin of the Messiah must therefore be assumed from one part of the human race; Abraham - even more definitely: limited to his descendants alone. But in all its features their image of the Messiah is still indecisive. Then he began to appear more clearly and definitely. Jacob, before his death, blessing his children, said to Judas: "Judas, your brethren will praise you... (Gen. 49:8-10). The features of this prophecy are as follows: first, the promise is limited and determined by the fact that of the twelve sons of Jacob, only Judas is promised the blessed seed. Secondly, to Jewish particularism is added and refers the feature of universalism: and to Him is the expectation of tongues, or: To Him is the collection of tongues (Gen. 49; 10. 28; 3). Thirdly, the future Messiah comes out of the indefinite crowd of humanity, appears as a special, indivisible Being, a Person - in the name of Shilog (Reconciler). Whatever meaning is given to this name, it all contains the meaning of tranquillity, reconciliation. However, how this Shilog will work, and how the nations will receive rest through Him, is not yet seen.

A few years passed, and Moses appeared. At the end of his life, he gives the Jews a prophecy in relation to himself, and therefore the Messiah appears to Him as a prophet: "A prophet," he says, "from thy brethren, as me, the Lord thy God shall raise up for thee" (Deuteronomy 18:15). Here is the new side of the Messiah, the prophetic side, which reveals the way in which all the blessings on the human race will flow from Him. Since the Messiah is called a prophet, and the duty of a prophet is to legislate, to teach religion, it means that the future Messiah will benefit people by imparting the law to them and by teaching them the knowledge of God and reverence for God. A prophecy is also given through Balaam: "A star shall shine from Jacob, and a man shall arise from Israel" (Num. 24:17). Balaam uttered this prophecy unwittingly, and therefore it is dull, mixed with the general features of the glory of Israel.

From Moses to David, a number of prophecies seem to be lost; but new and more definite ones begin with David. David himself prophesies about the Messiah and presents Him in various ways: first, as a King set over Zion (Psalm 2:6), triumphing over those who plot vain (Psalm 2:9); secondly, he sees Him in humiliation and poverty (Psalm 108; 22-23. 40; 10. 26; 8, 9,10. 68; 22, 21, 11); thirdly, he ascends to heaven and beholds Him, who is placed by God the Father, as the Eternal King, as a Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 109); fourthly, then He descends to earth and sees Him ruling over the nations (Psalm 109; 2, 3, 6). In general, the Messiah appears in David from all sides: from the Divine and human sides; in a glorious and miserable state; he also describes in detail all His blessings... Here, in the prophetic psalms, the Messiah is presented especially as King and Lord; it also speaks of His eternal and eternal priesthood; the whole vastness of the prophetic view is concentrated, one might say, in the seed of David and his son Solomon. Thus the promised Deliverer is first the son of Adam, then of Shem, then of Abraham, still more of Judah, and finally of David. It is noteworthy that these prophecies are all taken from the special events that happened to David, and are adapted to them, so that they have two sides: one relating to David or his son, the other belonging to the Messiah proper (of this nature are other predictions left by the prophets, properly so-called).

The prophets who followed David spoke about the Messiah even more clearly; each of them makes some new addition, adding the features of the Messiah not so much external as internal, spiritual. Thus, Isaiah presents the Messiah as suffering (Isaiah 53:1-10), full of wisdom and the Spirit of God (Isaiah 2; 2-5. 1; 21), the King of Peace (Isaiah 2; 4. 11; 12. 9; 6. 11; 6-9), and so on. Joel predicts the grace-filled outpouring of the Holy Spirit as a result of the merits of the Messiah (Joel 2:28-29); Malachi inspires the Jews that the Messiah is coming to punish the Jews (Mal. 3:1-3). This is an addition to the previous prophecies from the moral side. There are also additions from the physical and, so to speak, geographical side. For example, Isaiah adds that the Messiah will come from the Virgin - from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 7:14); Micah brings Him out of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); Haggai says that He will appear at the second temple (Haggai ch. 2); Daniel correctly defines the time of His coming as weeks (Dan. 9:22-24). The distinguishing feature of these predictions is that they do not have such an adjustment as is seen in the prophecies of David. David takes from himself the circumstances of his life and applies them to the Messiah. The prophets, on the contrary, do not remove the traits from themselves, but from the fate of the entire Jewish people. For example, Isaiah speaks of the birth of the Messiah from a Virgin, on the occasion of the attack on the Judean king Ahaz by two hostile kings - Pekah, king of Israel, and Raasson, king of Syria (2 Kings 16; 5).