Promises that cannot be taken literally
Moreover, if the law promised them dominion when it said, “You shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you” (Deuteronomy 15:6), and nothing deeper is meant by these words, it is clear that the people would have condemned the promises of the law all the more. Celsus paraphrases certain words which suggest that the whole earth will be filled by the Hebrew seed. As a matter of history, this has come about after the coming of Jesus, because God was angry, if I may use that word, rather than because he was granting a blessing.
As for its being said to the Jews, by way of promise, that they would slaughter their enemies, we must say that anyone who reads and attends carefully to the words would find the literal interpretation impossible. For the present it is enough to cite from the Psalms the way in which the righteous man is introduced as saying, among other things, this too: “In the mornings I killed all the sinners of the earth, to destroy from the city of the Lord all who work lawlessness” (Psalm 101:8).
Consider, then, the wording and the frame of mind of the speaker. After first telling of virtuous deeds, which lie open to anyone who wishes to read them, could he go on to state, as something literally possible, that at no other time of day than the early morning he slew “all the sinners of the earth”, so as to leave none of them alive? And did he really destroy from Jerusalem every single man who worked “lawlessness”? And you would find many such sayings in the law as well, such as “We did not leave any of them alive” (Deuteronomy 2:34).
Greek
Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴπερ δυναστεύειν αὐτοῖς ὁ νόμος ἐπηγγέλλετο λέγων· „ἄρξεις σὺ [δὲ] ἐθνῶν πολλῶν, σοῦ δὲ οὐκ ἄρξουσι,“ καὶ μηδὲν δηλοῦται διὰ τούτων βαθύτερον, δῆλον ὅτι πολλῷ πλέον κατεγίνωσκεν ὁ λαὸς τῶν κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἐπαγγελιῶν. παραφράζει δέ τινας λέξεις ὁ Κέλσος, ἐμφαινούσας πληρωθήσεσθαι πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν διὰ τοῦ Ἑβραϊκοῦ σπέρματος· ὅπερ ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἱστορίαν μηνίοντος, ἵν᾿ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, τοῦ θεοῦ γεγένηται μετὰ τὴν Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημίαν ἤπερ εὐλογίας ἀποδιδόντος. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ εἰρῆσθαι Ἰουδαίοις καταφονεύειν τοὺς πολεμίους λεκτέον (ὅτι) , εἴ τις ἀναλέγοιτο καὶ προσέχοι ἐπιμελῶς ταῖς λέξεσιν, εὕροι ἂν ἀδύνατον εἶναι τὴν ὡς πρὸς τὸ ῥητὸν ἐκδοχήν. ἀρκεῖ δ᾿ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπὸ τῶν ψαλμῶν παραθέσθαι, τίνα τρόπον ὁ δίκαιος εἰσάγεται λέγων πρὸς ἑτέροις καὶ τό· „εἰς τὰς πρωΐας ἀπέκτεινον πάντας τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς τῆς γῆς, τοῦ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ἐκ πόλεως κυρίου πάντας τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν.“ πρόσχες δὴ τῷ ῥητῷ καὶ τῇ διαθέσει τοῦ λέγοντος, εἰ ἐδύνατο ἀνδραγαθήματα προδιηγησάμενος, ἅπερ ἔκκειται τῷ βουλομένῳ ἀναγινώσκειν, ἐπιφέρειν τὸ ὡς πρὸς τὴν λέξιν δυνατὸν, ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλῳ καιρῷ τῆς ἡμέρας ἢ τῷ ἑωθινῷ ἀνῄρει „πάντας τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς τῆς γῆς,“ ὡς μηδένα καταλιπεῖν αὐτῶν ζῶντα· καὶ εἰ ἐξωλόθρευεν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ πάνθ᾿ ὁντινοῦν ἄνθρωπον ἐργαζόμενον „τὴν ἀνομίαν.“ πολλὰ δ᾿ ἂν εὕροις καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ τοιαῦτα ὡς τὸ „οὐ κατελίπομεν αὐτῶν ζωγρίαν.“