“Now I know indeed that certain of the Rabbis, interpreting amiss the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him that was to be born of a virgin, affirm the words of the Prophet to have been fulfilled in the time of Hezekiah; for they say that the prophecy was, that ‘the riches of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria should be taken away from before the king of Assyria;’ and that this was to come to pass before the child, born to the Prophet from the Virgin whom he took to be his wife, had learned to cry ‘my father and my mother;’ and accordingly they say that the prophet took the prophetess to wife, and that she bore a son, who being yet an infant, Damascus and Samaria were destroyed. But we affirm that the prophecy is not thus written; but it is, ‘he, namely the child, _shall take away_ the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria.’ Now who will dare to assert that, in the days of the king Hezekiah, any infant among the Jews, ‘before he had power to cry, my father, or my mother’—for mark this addition—conquered two so great nations?
“Assuredly no one will assert this. But the meaning of the prophecy is as follows. The evil demon who dwelleth in Damascus, and who also may be well termed in parable Samaria, was overcome by Christ as soon as he was born. For I have heard (and it is by all means to be believed, for it is according to the words of Holy Scripture, which needs must be fulfilled) that certain Magi, who dwelt in Arabia—and none of you can deny that Damascus was, and is, in the region of Arabia, although now it belongeth to what is called Syrophœnicia—came from the East to worship Christ at his birth, thereby showing that they had revolted from the dominion of Satan. Now it is said that these Magi came first to Herod, who was the sovereign of the land of the Jews, but who by the Scriptures (on account of his ungodly and sinful character) is called king of Assyria. Nevertheless they gave not their gifts to him, but going forth from his presence, they gave gold, and frankincense, and myrrh,—which were as it were the spoils of Damascus,—to the child Jesus in the manger: and so it came to pass that he who was born of the Virgin, while still a babe, ‘took away the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, from the presence of the King of Assyria.’